Chapter 7 Part 1

Communicating in Asia poses the greatest challenge.  Main reason:  the written language is crazy.  It's symbols and each Asian country is different.  Example:  Thai: สวัสดี  Korean:  안녕하세요  Chinese:  您好   Japanese:  こんにちは…you get the idea.  Can you figure out what that says?  Didn’t think so…they all mean hello.  Also, the inflections they use are quite difficult as well as the not being able to understand anyone who isn't fluent in their language.  In English, if a foreigner says a word, we can pretty much figure out what they are saying.  If we say something to them, they look at us like we are stupid and either stare or brush us away because they don't understand even the simplest words.

Transportation also proves to be challenging.  In Thailand, people were absolutely crazy…it’s hard to imagine any worse drivers.  We were scared to even walk out on the street.  They drove all over the place—sidewalks, wrong side of the street, anything goes.  Traffic lights and stop signs are more of an optional thing rather than mandatory.  There was even one light in Sungnoen that stayed red and green—what exactly do you do in this case?  I’m so confused.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of it.