High So Salad Dressings in Thai

My two closest Thai friends are two girls named, Aon and Ya. These girls are a HUGE blessing in my life and I don't know what I would do without them. They are my family away from family.

Thai people use the phrase "high so" to mean high society. They use it to describe anything posh, really nice, expensive. Yesterday Aon says, "Jen, I think that you are high so now. When you had no hot water and not a nice home, you were not, but now you are." I replied, "Actually, I am just pretending to be high so, but really I am still low so." For some reason, this was just about the funniest thing I could have said and they both laughed about it for a good ten minutes. Now they keep saying, "You are low so, pretending to be high so!" Every time they say it, the laughter starts up again. Apparently, I am pretty funny.

A couple days ago, Aon and Ya were going grocery shopping and they were going to pick up some salad dressing for me while out. Ya called me on the phone from the store and asked what kind of salad dressing I wanted. Keep in mind that I am living in Thailand where the dressing of choice is salad cream which in my opinion tastes just like mayo. There are not too many other options, the only options that day were salad cream, balsamic vinaigrette and Italian. I told Ya that I would take the balsamic vinaigrette and in the most serious voice possible she says, "Jing la (really)?" I reply, "Jing jing (really)." Ya says, "Are you sure?" I say, "Yes, I'm sure." She says, "Mai cow jai Jen. Jing la (I don't understand, Jen. Really)?" I say, "Jing jing. Why don't you understand?" Ya stammers a bit before saying, "but... but it's black! You will still eat it?!" At this point, I start laughing and can't actually speak for several moments. It is times like this that bring me much joy and make me love living in a foreign country. Aon and Ya brought the salad dressing to my house and when I put it on my salad, they both stared at me like I was about to ingest poison.

Another funny encounter I had with them this week was on a day when I wasn't feeling well. I was tired from not sleeping and I had a horrible cough that was out of control and I had no energy. One of my favorite things about my friendships with Aon and Ya is that they are comfortable enough with me to tease me unceasingly. On this day they started teasing me and my immediate reaction was to defend myself by explaining that I was sick. I said, "but I'm sick and I'm tired and I can't stop coughing and I just want to sleep!" Aon and Ya both started laughing and clapping their hands and looking very excited. I was completely confused about why my sickness was making them so happy until they explained that in a very whiny voice I had complained almost completely in Thai. Apparently, if I can complain in Thai, my language skills are getting better. Korp Khun Prajow (thank you God)!

*If you happen to be a Thai speaking person who is reading this, I apologize for my horrid English spelling of Thai words!