Oct
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Head First Into the Language Barrier
October 1, 2007 |
I hit that wall big time today. Causing a bit of frustration, but we managed to overcome it I hope. What happened was that we did another run into town. This time to purchase a washing machine.
Nan spends a good part of the day cleaning clothes by hand. And part of the wedding present from my folks was money for a such appliances. And since the hong nam is near completion, and that is where she wants to keep it, we need grounding for it.
Now I am by no means a certified electrician. But I do now that if you are going to put a washing machine in a wet room, you better make sure the thing is grounded properly.
I have tried to explain this concept earlier to Nan, but the level of comprehension was about zero. So before venturing to town to buy what is needed. Basically a length of thick electric wire, and a grounding rod. I went online, found pictures, looked up the word for copper in the dictionary and carefully explained everything to both Nan and her brother.
They eventually nodded and Nan confirmed she had understood what I needed, but she clearly did not understand why. But I settled for the “what”, the “why” would just have to wait.
My clever plan was quickly overturned. Well, the first casualty of war is always the battle plan. As we entered the shop in town, Nan spoke with the dude in there. Who shrugged. Bad sign. And yup, Nan turned to me with a “no have”.
I then tried to tell Nan that it did not really have to be a rod. It could be any shape or form, as long as it was big, a plate of copper for example would do the trick. I watched her eyes glaze over.
Ok…think a little bit. I tried again to explain why we needed this and that it was important “mahk, mahk”. But Nan just stood there. No light bulbs going off over her head.
I just repeated the word “copper, copper. Need copper”. That’s when I spotted a copper chandelier inside.
“Look, need metal same same this!”
“Now the shopkeeper had a momentary brainstorm. And told us to wait. And came back with a thick, copper lightning rod.
“Bingo!”
So we got what we needed.
Next order of the day was to purchase the washing machine. And that was easy. They also sold bits and pieces of electricity stuff, so I asked the dude if he knew about any electricians (real ones, not Somchai who has done it many times before). And it turned out his dad was an electrician. So we made a deal for him to come and look at the place.
So now perhaps I’ll get to talk with someone who has at least a rudimentary comprehension of what I want.
That’s it!
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Comments
3 Comments so far
LOL, I feel your pain… Lapee had me use he Fathers truck while in Sakhon Nakhon instead of renting a car, well it turns out while this pickup looks ok it didnt handle worth a danm. We headed to Lao, but all I heard was Michalin… I told her the tires werent the problem it was the tie rod ends and other frontend parts. But NOOOOOOO Michalin,so I said OK when we get back, she said NOOOOOO, I said Take too long, she said NOOOOOOO, finnaly I got tired of hearing her yak, yak and pulled into a tire and front end shop.
Utterly pissed at taking off perfectally good BF GOODRICH TA RADIALS to put on some Michalins, and 18,000.00 baht later to have the frontend fixed also we pressed on, when we got back to her fathers the next day he came unglued, good thing I kept the old tires, to make a long story short, she insisted her father wanted Michalins, I said I dont think so, he said HELL NO, I waisted 11,000.00 baht because he went the next morning and had his goodriches put back on and I havent seen the Michalins. I told he I hoped she was happy because those tires were the gold I was going to buy her :o)
GROUND THE WASHING MACHINE, have you takin a good look at the way they wire stuff here? Scarey to say the least.
Hey mate. Very smart idea my friend. Having it grounded is a very wise and farang thinking.
Noot was the same when we had the hot water heater installed and I didn’t even have to tell the guy to earth it. He had a boy out the back yeard did a hole then bang a copper rod into the ground.
Noot didn’t know what was happening or why it was happening. When I had the telephone line and cable TV instaled they earthed both of them as well without a word from me.
I love the language barrier at times, sometimes hilariously funny and other times ripping your hair out and trying not to scream.
This kind of situation often reminds me of that classic Fawlty Towers episode: “Please try and understand before one of us dies!”.