Smile :)

They don't call Thailand the "Land of Smiles" for nothing. People are always eager to flash this irrepressible smile upon seeing you. In my opinion this happens for a few reasons: (1) In my case, they're probably just so puzzled and mesmerized by me that they can't help but to grin. I am absolutely a novelty here; I get gawked at, laughed at, and pointed at all the time. It's crazy when people see me - their eyes light up and they have to nudge someone (or the air) to make sure that they ACTUALLY are seeing what's in front of them. Although sometimes I get pissy about it, I embrace it because I think it's innocuous. Such reactions should be expected because, I mean if I were Thai, I'd also be wondering what this big, black, Ghanaian kid riding a yellow bicycle was doing in Khon Kaen.

There aren't many black people around, and white people are a more common "farang" (foreigner) face to see. My appearance here must be shrouded in so much mystery for the citizens of the city that in their nervousness, interest, shock, and desire to know more, but fear of not knowing how to speak or approach me, utilize that very diplomatic tool of a smile to mask how they feel. And although I recognize that some people's laughter might contain some malicious intent, I'm filled with so much joy when through a shared smile I can begin a dialogue with a random person that, by the end of the conversation, leads to a dinner invitation and a cell phone number swap - that just makes my day. I'm definitely feeling that people are getting used to me though, and things are normalizing.

(2) Thais don't like tension. A smile is the best way to break the ice. When a situation is getting tense, all you need to do is make someone smile and it loosens everybody up. I think that Thais smile as a means to remind themselves and others that life doesn't have to be as stressful, or nerve-wracking, or conflict-ridden. You have to be able to take it easy, and nobody takes is easy like Thais. I'm not gonna generalize and call a whole culture lackadaisical, but time is just another word here, not a planner by which to manage your life.

In this sense, Thais are very much like Africans, and I recognize a lot of "African traits" in people. When a Thai person says that they'll see you in 10 minutes, don't expect them to come for another 40. When, on my first day of class, I was buggin' a bit because no students showed up to my class, my office partner, Pi Piyaporn (another English teacher at KKU), just said, "Oh, don't worry about it, the students didn't know what class to go to, we'll figure it out later." You can take a comment like that as a sign of how disorganized and chaotic the society might be, but I see it as a sign of how relaxed and chill everything is. If they're not stressing, I'm not stressing; hakuna matata, baby.

(3) The last reason why I think Thais smile so much is that they are generally very friendly and happy people. Thais pride themselves on being hospitable and making sure that guests are catered for. Thais will go out of their way to make people feel comfortable.

In the short time that I've been here there have been occasions where public transportation has been difficult to find at night. On one such night, while I was looking for a tuk-tuk (a motorcyle taxi) in the rain, an old man who sold flowers on a motorcycle, offered me his umbrella, his cell phone, and his friendship in a little under minute. He probably would have given me his motorbike too, had he not had a heap of flowers stacked on it, and had he not been waiting to drive his wife back home. And just last night, after getting stranded in another part of the city, a couple sitting out on the sidewalk, sensing our distress, offered us a ride home free of charge. This made me wonder whether Thais are as nice to each other as they are to foreigners, but if they are THIS nice to outsiders, they must be decently cordial with their countrymen, right?

So the lesson I'm learning here is: just smile. It's one of the warmest gestures you can show a person, and it expresses a joy for life. We should all smile more.