Hole in the Dictionary

I was joking around with one of the caregivers about how sometimes life with Jip can be just a little bit crazy—“but always interesting, never boring.” She replied with the word “headache,” which in Thai happens to rhyme with “boring.” At first I thought she had meant to continue the playful mood.

But when I thought about it later, I wondered if she really was beginning to feel frustrated by the job, and what I could do to help. I wanted to ask just how irksome she found some of the strange behaviors that come along with this disease, but I didn’t know the words for “frustrated,” or “irked,” or “it’s really getting to me.”

So I checked with some bilingual people at work, and with my Thai teacher. Nobody knew what I was asking about. The closest they came were words that meant “agitated,” or “oppressed,” or “uneasy,” which I didn’t think really captured the sense of annoyance or vexation that I connect with frustration.

Then it occurred to me that maybe that word doesn’t exist in Thai. Is it possible that an entire emotion is missing from this happy-go-lucky culture?

Burma Update

Life sucks just as much as ever in Burma. So what to say to China, which holds lots of the cards there?

One grassroots group is calling for people to turn off their TVs rather than watch the Beijing Olympics this summer, in protest of the Chinese government’s support of the Burmese rulers. Instead of tuning in, they say, people can plan events to help end the human rights abuses.

I’m not so sure about the impact of that specific protest, but to me it makes sense to take some kind of action to sustain the story of how much the people there suffer under their weird government.

The generals there have said they’ll hold elections within two years, but almost nobody takes that promise seriously. Even if the country gets a chance to vote, Aung San Suu Kyi wouldn’t be allowed to run, because of a provision in a newly drafted constitution that seems written particularly for her. Her party won the last election, 18 years ago, but the results were never honored.

A couple weekends ago, the UN special envoy again saw his proposals rejected, including the suggestion that the government negotiate with Aung San Suu Kyi. Burma knows China will veto any harmful UN Security Council resolutions, and will continue to provide aid and weapons.

Here’s another scheme: “arrest yourself” for 24 hours around the time of Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday in mid-June. The idea is to bring attention to the dozen years she has spent under house arrest, organize some education and/or fundraising, and generally keep the pressure applied.

Change from within is unlikely in Burma, considering how quickly last September’s uprisings were squashed. The country’s neighbors, including the new Thai government, find that maintaining the status quo is in their economic interest. The prospect of swaying a giant like China feels pretty daunting, especially when you consider that things haven’t been going too great in Tibet either this past week.

Behind the Wheel in Bangkok

Word has it that Bangkok has a tenth of this country’s people, but a third of its cars. That lopsided statistic leads to lots of consequences. Tedious traffic is the most obvious, but several other odd adaptations result from the Big Mango’s auto addiction.

One is that people here park behind and perpendicular to one another, in order to fit more cars into a small space. In the States you see this kind of arrangement only at sporting events and county fairs, when for two or three hours it’s necessary to use every square inch of ground within walking distance of the stadium.

But at those events you often leave your keys with an attendant, who takes care of moving the vehicles around if somebody has to leave early. Here, the practice is to lock the car but leave it in neutral. If another car is blocking your exit, you just push it gently out of the way and carry on.

Another peculiarity of getting around in this town is the u-turn. Often the only way to turn right when merging with a major road here is to first turn left, then go quite a distance before using a horseshoe-shaped bridge built especially to allow drivers to go back the way they came.

One stretch of Sukhumvit Rd. is often so busy that it can take as long as 40 minutes in a car to get back to where you started…unless you manage to cut across traffic and enter the Kentucky Fried Chicken drive-through. That daring maneuver can shave about 30 minutes off the u-turn process, but of course there’s a catch.

You have to either buy something at the restaurant, or pay $1.50 for the privilege of using their driveway. People who need to do this frequently can buy a sticker for their window identifying them as members of the “KFC Turnaround Club.” Only in Bangkok.

Good Hours

Summer break starts around now for most Thai public schools. Kids are off for the next ten weeks. Everyone comments on how much better the traffic situation is in on the main roads. For me, the most noticeable result of the school holiday happens on the back streets.

I went for a run about 6:00 tonight. Right away I wondered if I was still in Bangkok. As I ran from side street to side street, it felt like I was jogging from one village to the next. Badminton games fluttered back and forth, night markets pulsed, boomboxes pounded out a steady beat on impromptu jazzercise corners. Families seemed together in a way I don’t generally see. Lots of kids were wearing pajamas, but bedtime looked like it was a long way off.