After living in Thailand for just over two years, I have picked up some very valuable life lessons. As an American, Thai culture can often times feel like everything is upside down. However, living in a different culture allows you to reflect on yourself and your own culture in a very unique way. These are some Thai ways of life that I want to continue to incorporate in my life.
Sometimes, listening to Thai people speak, it seems like the word jai (ใจ) is everywhere.
เข้าใจไหม (Khao jai mai, Do you understand?)
ใจเย็นๆ (Jai yen yen, Chill out.)
คนใจดี (Kon jai dee, Kind person)
But what does jai mean? Jai translates as “heart” and has all the similar connotations that heart has in English, such as “spirit” or “inner being.” So it makes sense that jai is used to construct phrases that have meanings related to one’s heart, mind and spirit. more “Thai is a Language of the Heart”
OK, I know I just posted about moving, and I am the first person to admit that the house I moved into was almost the definition of Posh Corps. If it had air conditioning and hot water, it would have been text book Posh Corps. However, as the title of the post suggests, I have since moved. Not because the house was too nice and Peace Corps told me I needed to rough it more. No. This harkens back to my most recent observation of living in a collectivist culture: the concept of greng jai.
The facets of a collectivist society manifest in many different ways, such as through behavior in the classroom, the culture around eating and living arrangements. But, at least here in Thailand, that collectivism extends beyond observable actions into personal attitudes and it influences interpersonal relationships. This is something that from my chats with other Peace Corps Volunteers is the number one most confiding, confusing and difficult to understand differences between the collectivist culture here and the individualist American culture.