So I take a break from writing about my first impressions to give you a glimpse of what I’ve been doing with my weekends. When I’m not out dancing with Chacey Bryan (hi, darling) – You can usually find my halfway across the city at 农大 – a university almost two hours away by bus from my own school.
“Over the river and through the woods”, almost works perfectly in describing how to get there -- but there’s actually two rivers, not one – and it’s not woods, it’s fields and fields of farmland. My roommate and I switch buses twice, and the final bus goes through a section of “paved” road that would put off roading to shame with the amount of potholes, mudholes, and near death experiences because of the oncoming traffic of cars, vespas, bikes, motorbikes, and pedestrians on a road meant for one way traffic.
But when we finally do get there – it’s worth all the trouble, 5 RMB for bus fares, dirtied shoes, and two hours of sitting or standing time (depending on whether or not we were lucky enough to get seats on the buses) – because we’re finally hit with the pungent smell of spice and a battering ram of music and laughter.
“Welcome to Thailand!” they joke as we walk in.
“Sa-wat dee kaa! ” I reply.
I’m an honorary Thai person– as my roommates and everyone at 农大are Thai. We converse in a mix in a mix of English and Chinese… but often I just happily sit back and listen as they quickly go back and forth in Thai. If I’ve learned anything while I’ve been in China, it’s that I can spend hours just listening.
I silently watch their facial expressions, the hesitations, the stammers, their eyes dancing forewarning a joke that’s about to be told, their hands – clenched, open, expressively dancing in the air and fingers unable to stand still, the slight lift of the eyebrows, the twitch playing above the right side of the lips, the wrinkling of the nose or the furrowing of the eyebrows, and the air that’s caught in their throat as they try not to laugh. Surprisingly, I’m okay with the fact that I don’t understand a word of the conversation around me. I don’t have to.
Then I try not to watch, and try listening for a change. I’m quite content with just soaking in the atmosphere… it’s a little like music – where I listen to just the sounds and how they come together. I like noticing the differences and similarities in languages. How interesting... that there are so many ways to express one self – yet we confine ourselves to just one language. There are so many sounds we will never make because they’re not a part of our native language. Sounds that fit perfectly for certain situations, that we'll never know. So many words that don’t have translations. So many different rhythms that exist that can be found in different languages. Some languages are a constant staccato while others are more like whispers, like the soft brush of leaves in the wind. Some sound angry, harsh even, yet some are butter and melt away in your mouth, disappearing as quickly as its spoken. I love just listening, basking in wonderment, reveling at the fact that languages will never cease to amaze me. So many languages to listen to, and a lifetime to explore a never ending amount of sounds it seems.
I connect different languages with ones I’ve already heard, or quietly (in my head) repeat and fumble around with certain words that sound interesting, funny, melodic, impossible to say, intricate, discordant, or are just fun to say. Certain words tease my mouth, like candy for my tongue… slowly tasting the words and savoring them – hastily flipping them over in my mouth and on my lips. Pressing them to the roof of my mouth, I purse my lips smiling, quickly devouring them. They tickle my mouth and I can’t help but smile when I say them. I could go into more about how much I love languages in general – but I’ll leave that for another time.
What was I talking about again?
Ah, yes - we'll leave that for the next post.
A little Thai music so you don’t hate me for suddenly stopping:
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