I just realized that every time someone asks me how long I'll be in Thailand I always say, "just for the summer". It dawned on me yesterday that this was stupid. It's not summer here, there is no such thing as summer here... people must be really polite when they nod and pretend to understand. I should say "for the first half of the rainy season".
In other news, I am constantly tempted to ask questions that I know are stupid but pique my curiosity anyway. For instance, I want to ask people, "how often do toddlers fall off of motorcycles? How do you teach them to hold on? Do they have better balance than other children? Is there a trick?" because to me it seems really dangerous to ride motorcycles with infants, toddlers, and little kids. But that's the main source of transportation so I'm wondering if there's some secret, like "we feed them this nutritional supplement that enhances their balance" or "we have a practice motorcycle at home where we train them". In the US we keep our kids belted in to a special seat in vehicles that are enclosed already! How do these children stay safe straddling an open vehicle gripping mom's shirt?
I've suppressed the urge to inquire because I think it will be a question in the same realm as "how do you know which goats are yours?" in Morocco or "do the kids get hurt on all the barbed wire around your house?" in El Salvador. It would invoke that classic look that says 'silly foreigners... stop worrying, we've got this all figured out'.
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