The Culture and Etiquette Challenge

Yesterday I arrived in Khon Kaen, the city I will be based in for the semester. It is located in northeast region. See map below.

In Khon Kaen is Khon Kaen University, one of Thailand's 3 largest universities. I am not officially taking classes at the university because my program organizes its own studies. We are living in the dormitories of the university and we each have a Thai roommate.

It finally hit me yesterday when I moved in that I'm really in Thailand! Hellooo culture shock.

Earlier this week we had an orientation session called Thai Culture and Etiquette. These are some things I learned.

1)Thais are very non-confrontational. They don't usually show anger or extreme emotion and like to smile. They frequently will say mai pen rai which loosely translates as "that's OK" or chai yen yen meaning "calm down, take it easy." We were warned that our roommates probably wouldn't tell us we did something wrong even if we did and instead would just say mai pen rai. Let's take a lesson from the Thai people and just go with the flow...

2)The Wai

Ahh the famous Thai greeting. This is the traditional hands clasped in prayer position when you greet someone to show respect. However, you must know who you are greeting and make sure to do it properly.

To monks: Bring your head to your thumbs in prayer position.

To teachers: Bring your nose to your fingers

To fellow peers: hands clasped at chest and nod your head.

And don't forget, never to wai too often or it loses its value.

3) The head and the feet- The head is holy/sacred while the feet are considered dirty. Don't touch people's heads (Yes, hairdressers can touch your head to cut your hair). Don't step over or sit on a pillow because it relates to the head. Never point your feet directly at someone. This has been difficult because when we sit on the floor for discussions and meetings my knees cramp up but I can't fully extend them because I don't want to be rude. I'm still figuring it out.

4) Don't point with your finger at people. It's rude.... I never realized how much I pointed at people. When you beckon people to come your way don't do it with palm up and fingers waving towards you but instead with palm facing down and waving fingers towards you. It feels awkward.

5) No shoes in houses or rooms. My feet are actually more dirty now from not wearing shoes inside because my feet are picking up all the dirt from the floors inside. I don't like the system yet because it's inconvenient.

It will take some time to adjust to the culture shock that I wasn't quite anticipating. I'm thankful for the familiar 7-11 convenient store located around the corner to bring a little bit of home here to Thailand.

Below are some pictures of my first week. The bottom ones are at the royal palace which is beautiful.

The Ronald McDonald Wai...

An Israeli owned restaurant in Bangkok where I ate falafel.