Is It Hot Yet?

Every day when I get back from school, my host father asks me 2 questions (in Thai): 1) Are you tired? And 2) Are you hot?  The answer to both these questions is invariably “yes,” but I try to mix it up a little by varying the degree in my responses.  Of course, this is still limited since I only know how to say “a little” and “a lot.”  I haven’t really given much thought to how hot, but today I asked my host father what the temperature was, and apparently it was 35 or about 95 degrees Fahrenheit.  Now this isn’t anywhere near the most extreme heat I’ve ever experienced—that was the 114 degrees in Delhi—but if you throw in the over 80 (and sometimes 90)% humidity, it feels pretty darn hot.  And here’s the kicker, it’s still the end of the cool season.  The hot season won’t start until next month and will reach it’s peak in April, just in time for my birthday, which as it turns out, will overlap with one of the biggest holidays here, Sonkrang, which is basically a giant water fight.  (We been advised, especially the women, to wear dark colors and loose clothing on that day.) 

Thus, unfortunately, the answer to the question, Is it hot yet? Is No. Still, even though it’s not yet “really” hot, I’ve taken to taking 3 and sometimes 4 showers a day, which sort of helps, though I’m usually sweating again 5 minutes after I get out.

So I guess I should be thankful that it’s not hot yet, since tomorrow (Saturday, February 8) we are having a sports day during which we’ll be learning and playing Thai sports like dta graw, which is sort of like volleyball only with your feet.  After a morning of getting sweaty and disgusting, we’re off to see a performance of traditional Thai dancing with masks.  I’ve heard two things about this, one of which seems too good to be true, the other could be tough but if the first is true, I’ll gladly take both.  So: 1) the performance space is air-conditioned; and 2) the performance is over 3 hours long.