A Thai I met yesterday spoke English extremely well. When I asked him where he learned it, he said he’d taught himself as a child, devouring every piece of American media he could.
So, then, last night when I was sitting in a bar/restaurant and Kanye West’s “Gold Digger” came on, I couldn’t help but wonder how many Thai kids today were learning English from Mr. West. Then, I wondered how many would unknowingly use the n—– word because they’d heard it in the song.
They are everywhere. I didn’t know there could be so many 7 Elevens in one country. Honestly, I can’t walk more than two or three blocks without running into one.
FYI: Slurpees are much smaller here.
In case you hadn’t heard, in Missouri, people can now shoot intruders without having to try to retreat first. I found this out on my flight from Seoul to Bangkok on Friday. Although most of the news about the US in the International section of Thursday’s Bangkok Post leaned more on the “odd news” than the political, I was still surprised to read that. Do people in Bangkok really care about Missourians and their guns? Or is it just because it’s the English-language paper and there are probably Americans reading it? Or is it because Thais, like most other countries think our gun laws are far too liberal? I have a feeling it’s a combination of all three.
One other thing to note, though. The story right underneath the blurb on Missouri and intruders is about how a woman lay dying in a Kansas convenience store; security cameras show five people stepping around her and one stopping to take a photo with a phone camera. Interestingly, though, this is the only article in the whole US section that doesn’t bear a dateline. Yeah! Go, Kansas (even though nobody cares where you are)! I mean, come on…I bet if a Missourian shot an intruder, he’d still call 911.
