Yai

Today was a holiday so I took it easy. I'd contemplated going to Bangkok or even just the beach, but instead decided to stay around town. I went to the mall, and then to Tesco Lotus for lunch. I'm telling you, livin' la vita loca over here. ;) There was a big outdoor market set up next to Lotus, so I wandered around it for a while. It was almost entirely clothes & accessories though... western style stuff and very little of it in my size.

I was looking for a pair of swim shorts so I wouldn't feel quite so big, white & naked next time I go to the beach. As I was looking the sales woman said "Big size for you." and pointed to the next rack. My instinct is to be offended - 'who's she calling big?'. But the fact is, I am big - huge by Thai standards, and I was looking for something I could actually wear. I found a pair that looked good, bought them and wandered off.

These were one of very few pairs that didn't have Doremon or Scooby Doo or some other cartoon character on them - adult shorts!

At the next booth I stopped at, I got the same treatment, the man pointed over to one end of the display with a "Yai, yai" (Big big). This time I wanted to tell him "No, actually this is for my friend and she's not yai!" but you know... language barrier and all.


The language barrier continued at dinner tonight. I went to the market and found a booth I'd been to before and ordered one of my standards - pork fried rice. When the woman brought it out to me she started talking to me. I, obviously, didn't understand what she was saying, and thought maybe she wanted me to pay. I got out my wallet but then she just laughed and signed 'no no'. I said "mai kow jai" (don't understand) but she kept talking. The only word I caught was Philippines. I thought she might be asking if I were from the Philippines, so I told her I was an American... but there was obviously not much communication going on. Smile and nod, smile and nod.


She went back behind the counter to help another customer, but soon enough she came back to me. She grabbed my arm and started motioning to her own chubby arm and then indicated that she was really fat, rubbing her belly etc. I got that she was telling me she was fat, and can only assume she was saying something like "Look - we're both fat!" or "Don't eat that or you'll be fat like me." Or possibly... as she held her arm up next to mine in the way we used to in California to compare tans (we were a similar shade)... "You look like a big, dark, Philipino girl." I really don't know what she was saying, and I'm still trying to work out if I was insulted or not.


TAG for today - Code Pineapple. I want to give it a mango, I mean, I didn't have to work and I spent the day shopping. Oh and I recognized my first full word in Thai today "closed" I had to sound it out. =) But something that I ate today at lunch has been giving me problems and it's not pretty. Just when I thought I'd adjusted to all the Thai microbes... =/