In America, if you’re in an important meeting and your phone rings you will get stares of disbelief. If you picked up said phone and started having a conversation with someone during said important meeting you’ll probably get fired, yelled at and completely ostracized. If you’re in Thailand however, this is just par for the course. In a meeting with 20 people yesterday about 10 cell phones went off about 30 times and just about each time the phone was answered. Some people were nice enough to go out of the room… most were not. I do not understand it. Perhaps its because of a cultural phenom of a lack of personal space- because people don’t really have that here. Perhaps they don’t assume that their phone conversation is invading your need to listen to the important meeting thats going on. Not that it bothered me anyway—the entire meeting was in Thai so its not like I could understand it but I find it very very interesting.
And just like answering a cell phone mid meeting is odd for us so goes other odd fascinating cultural Thai things. If you go to a meeting of any sort do not expect paparazzi but you should expect Thai-arazzi. Thai-arazzi is every known person in the universe. Every person in the meeting (just about) will have a camera in hand and they will want photo’s of the event. When a lead local official gets up to speak you would think that Michael Jackson had been resurrected from the dead… the flashes can be incredible. Every hand shake, speaker shift and powerpoint presentation is worthy of photography. This means, that if I wanted to (which I do not) I could post every little meeting I’ve had since I’ve been in Phrao (but, on second thought... I will post just one..). Thai-arazzi aside the ever present need to take photos of everything at every interval is something I have never seen before.
Lastly, toilet manners (one of my favorite subjects) in Thailand are both hilarious and awesome. Firstly, most toilets out in the boonies don’t “flush” in the American standard way of thinking. Most toilets sit next to either a bucket of water or a basin full of water and inside each is scoop. After one “takes care of their business” (for lack of better words) you take the scoop and flush a few scoopfuls of water down the toilet to get it down the drain. In every bathroom there is a trashcan… why? Because when you have low-flow toilets such as these you cannot put toilet paper down there or very quickly you will have a clogged toilet. Never fun in 90 degree heat with 90% humidity I can assure you. So things to remember: don’t put toilet paper in the toilet… no matter what! Flush the toilet with the scoop of water (twice is sufficient for number 1 business).
So the next time you’re in Thailand a few things to remember: 1) no worries about your phone ringing in a meeting—nobody cares if you get disrupted, 2) take a camera to even the silliest of events or you will feel incredibly left out 3) toilet paper in this country isn’t for flushing and toilets don’t even really flush anyway.
Here ends your cultural lesson.
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