A Place Where Dreams Come True

(I began this post before leaving for Thailand...obviously. I never got a chance to post it. So here it is months after my return!)

Wes and I finally had the chance to sit down and begin my first Thai lesson. He began palms together over his heart, "Sawat dee krap." Easy, I thought. I know this one. I responded with the female greeting, "Sawat dee ka." And we began.

Typically, I can pick up on the basics of languages fairly quickly. In high school I received the Spanish Award by our Senor. In college I took two semesters of Hellenistic Greek with about eight other students. My teacher also awarded me with the "Excellence in Hellenistic Greek" award gifted with a book of Greek Proverbs. In Germany last summer I studiously flipped through the pages of the German guidebook in the airport and fervently asked vocabulary and sentence structure questions to Annett. By the end of the two weeks I could pick up some pieces of conversations and ask/answer more than just basic questions (in rough German). Languages to me are a peek into cultures. Many words and phrases are inappropriately translated because the cultural interactions behind them are missing.

"Kun bpai nai?" "Pom ja bpai Thailand."

We went over all the phrases to help Daniel and I find places, ask for prices, tell people where we are going, etc. Wes iterated that it did not matter how well we could say the inflections, because about 90% of the tourists in Thailand do not even worry about learning the language.

He then transitioned to the "magic" of Thailand. "It is a place where dreams come true," came very matter-of-factly out of his mouth. My first thought traveled to Disney World set in Thailand. But he continued, "If you open your heart to Thailand, it will answer your questions and dreams." Wes followed that statement with personal stories of his and friends that had similar experiences.

Wouldn't it be nice. For my dreams to come true. All I desire is an answer to my single question, "What actually is my dream?"