Thrilling New Developments in Chiang Mai

I have to tell you all about three exciting things that have recently happened to me here in Chiang Mai.

First of all, my Thai is improving quite rapidly. My active vocabulary (if I can remember everything) is now around 1300 words and expressions, with 208 more in the “memorization pipeline.” My goal is 2000 words, so I’m getting closer! I have two teachers. I go to a language school for an hour private lesson twice a week with Ms. Lek, and have a Skype lesson for thirty minutes DAILY with Ms. Taantawan. I hold “free conversation” with both of them, as they scramble to note all the new words and expressions that I need. These notes fill my vocabulary notebook. I meet with my language exchange partner Wisamun every day at 6 PM sharp, with our thirty minutes of English and then Thai.

In my Add1Challenge, we are into our second month (there are three months altogether) and I get many ideas from other language learners. One of the best is the use of “Glossika,” an app which allows me to repeat many short sentences at native speed for a “session” of about twenty minutes per day. I was skeptical at first, but I’m finding that it is indeed living up to its promise of fluency: my brain is actually getting re-wired to speak with much less hesitation!

The second thing that has happened is that I’ve had wrist surgery here. Yes! A tendon in my right wrist was too large for the sheath it had to pass through, causing me great pain. Instead of waiting until December for surgery in the States, I investigated having it here. I went for a consultation with a noted hand specialist/surgeon at the Bangkok Hospital Chiang Mai, and HAD THE SURGERY TWO HOURS LATER. The total cost for the doctor visit, the surgery, and pain pills and antibiotics was $420. I thought they forgot to add a zero to the bill! In the US, when I had the same surgery done to the other wrist six years ago, the bill was way over $7500. My insurance covered it, but please note the difference.

And then, the third event was that I did my first “visa run.” It involved crossing the border into Myanmar, and coming back into Thailand with a new Thai visa for thirty more days. It was ten hours on the bus there and back—a bit grueling—but the journey was broken up by a couple of hours at the border, and a nice lunch of one of my very favorite dishes: lahpet thoke, fermented tea leaf salad. There is a picture of it in this entry.

There is always much to learn, and much to experience by living in foreign countries. My immersion in Thai/Chiang Mai life has been thrilling for me. It’s the first time I’ve been so ambitious in learning a new language, the first time I’ve seriously dealt with visa issues, and the first time to ditch the US medical system for one that seems vastly superior in how treatment is delivered. Every day I wake up eager to get going on everything.Read more