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Language of Smiles
7/12/09
In my reading before I came, and since the start of orientation, people have been calling Thailand the “Land of Smiles.”
No one seems to be extra smiley and sometimes the three-to-five-year-olds I work with just stare at me blankly (mostly because of the language barrier).
But I’ve been having what I call “smile moments” lately that are always a boost.
Here are a few:
- Our neighbors’ teenage son had friends over doing laundry on Saturday (they have a washing machine!). So there were lanky teenagers in the standard no shirt/tattoos/colorful shorts uniform, lounging in our shared outdoor hallway.
After failing at a conversation about their tattoos, I was slightly discouraged. It’s always hard to tell where I’ve gone wrong with my horrible Thai skills and where people are just weirded out by the strange falang (white person). Later though, one of the boys flashed me a smile which made me realize they’re not unfriendly, they’re just shy. It also made me smile in response. I’ve found smiling makes me feel better.
- At Prapadaeng we were working at the school’s Saturday program which draws a wider range of ages than the regular pre-school. I’ve been trained to smile, smile, smile when working with children. So I did. One boy smiled back. This was one of the only ways we could communicate.
I tried to send love and safety through my smile and he responded with a child’s friendliness and trust. I’ve been struggling with the feeling of being 'de-skilled' with children because of the language barrier so this was an awesome smile moment for me.
- There are times when I purposefully react with a smile to keep myself from becoming bitter and to try to help embarrassment. I’ve started wearing bright pink, cherry covered pajama pants some days, since I’ve worn some huge holes in one of my regular pairs.
While we were on the street finding breakfast, I saw a man and woman riding on the back of a truck. He leaned over to laugh about the crazy falang as they went by. So I made eye contact and smiled because it’s true – these pants look ridiculous and I had to laugh with them.
So I’ve been feeling the tangible benefits of smiling my way through uncomfortable situations and connecting with people I’m otherwise unable to connect with through words. I think smiling is something that will transition to the rest of my life in any country.
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