Sawadee Ka

Sawadee ka (Hello)


Sabaii dii may (how are you?). I have now started my Thai classes, they are two hour long lessons, and take place Monday to Friday until June 26. Today was our seventh course and it is already getting challenging and confusing. Thai is quite the language to learn. Not only do you have to memorize all these new words but also its tone. There are five tones in the Thai language: high, mid, low, rising and falling. So, for a word like mai the tone being used will mean a different word such as: mai said in a rising tone means silk, while mai said in a low tone will mean new. The course Alain and I are taking is only the beginner speaking level, reading and writing are a whole new ball game. For now, we will focus on the speaking.

Salsa Salad
This is salad that I have tried a couple of times in a little restaurant called Blue Diamond. It is totally delicious and should be really easy to replicate. The recipe below is my "guestimate" of it. Feel free to adjust according to your taste, I do not think it is possible to go wrong with so many good ingredients. 

• 1 Mango
• 1/4 green pepper
• 1/4 sweet onion
• 1 medium tomato
• Cilantro to taste
• Lettuce to cover the bottom of the bowl
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh lime juice to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste

Flowers

These are pictures of some of the flowers I have seen. The pink ones on the left and below are very pretty, but they look like they are made out of plastic. I have no idea what they are called, chances are it will be something I will have difficulty pronouncing so I will stick with my "plastic flower"! 

Spirit Houses

In Thailand you will see everywhere spirit houses; it is a place for the spirits of the site to live in. Without these, it is said that you are likely to have spirits living in the house with you, which can cause all sorts of trouble. To make sure that the spirits take up residence in your spirit house rather than in the main house you make it more inviting. This is achieved by making offerings of food, flowers, candles and incense.