Day 3 - August 7, 2018
"Laughter is a language that everyone shares"
Laughter can be read, represented, written or spelled in many different languages or dialects. The laugh I know is limited to “haha”, “hehe”, or “hoho” like the character, Santa Claus. Never did I know that it’s different in Indonesian and Thailand. In Thai, they use number five “5” since it stands for “ha”; three fives are read like this, “HaHaHa”. In Indonesia, they laugh like this “kwkwkwwkw”, sounds like “weka-weka-weka”, the reason is still unclear for me. Other countries may also have their own way of laughing, but my point here is that when one person laughs, you understand it’s laughter, what more if you’re laughing at the same thing, laughing with each other.
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Meeting with the President
Day 3 is actually our first official day in Nakhon si Thammarat Rajabhat University. My dorm mates and I were getting along well so far. We work up early to meet our call time. We waited for each other before leaving the dorm. After that, we met Kier and Dino outside and we walked towards the President's Building. We took photos while waiting.
Our morning was spent with a meeting with the president, Dr. Kanata Thattong. It was a great meeting because he was very welcoming. For a person in high position, I rarely see someone who can joke around and laugh with all the people in the room while still holding decency and respect. I found it as a modest way of humility. He even let us borrow one of his bikes for our stay there. I know that short meeting is not enough for me to conclude whether he is a good person or not, but I guess that is enough for me to be reminded of the power of laughter, the power of humility.
Music Videos in the Immigration Office
After the meeting with the President, we went to the Immigration Office of Nakhon Si Thammarat. It was my first time to remove the shoes before entering an office. I felt the cold tiled floors on my feet that’s why I hurried to find a seat. I couldn’t forget the Music Videos playing on the television at that time. I didn’t know why they chose the Music Videos to be shown in an Immigration Office but I really felt heart broken even though I couldn’t understand the lyrics since they were sang in Thai. As I said, Laughter is a language that everyone shares, in addition to that, so do tears. The MV’s were mostly about love, death and regrets. Me and MJ, who was sitting beside me then, were so close to tears but helped it because it felt so inappropriate to cry in an office.
Campus Tour with IRD
Despite the rain showers, we still decided to have our first tour around the campus. Yes, it was very exhausting, but I enjoyed how we met new friends along the way. We went to the temple in the university, Graduation Building, Fitness and Sports Complex, Meeting Hall, Central Library and to the RACE building where we found English books and I borrowed. It was fun and exciting to see new people and new things. I also got amazed at the movie corner where there were five pairs of headset for you to hear the audio from the screen. I know the movie is The Conjuring, but the audio was unrecognizable, all were dubbed in Thai! Later on, that night, we had dinner with our Thai Buddies.
