Any advice for how to keep from getting "weird" as a Thai expat?

[The Man Who Sold the World]

Embrace weird. It provides immense amounts of freedom.

[squarethecircle]

"I think his "weird" is 60 year old men sitting around in bars drinking all day and being fawned over by girls a third of their age. Yep it's very weird."

That seems more like disgusting than weird, but I did come across one case where a katoey in his/her/its 20's was with an Australian man in his 60's, and TBH it seemed like there was a genuine attraction between them, not just an obvious money-grabbing situation.

I'm pretty sure long after I return I'll still be bending my head and upper body down when walking past people sitting down, I learned to do that is it seems like it intrudes on Thai people's space and "face" when you walk past them standing straight up over them. Maybe that will look kind of "weird". Oh and beer with ice and a straw, I'm hooked as the ice stretches out the beer and the straw makes it bubbly. WooHoo

[SeaVisionBurma]

Discussion of expat life/banter topic, moving to Pub

[Star Dust]

When I first came a friend who had been here before advised to stay for 1 year MAX as otherwise I would invariably end up getting "weird".

Certainly makes sense, living in an alien culture with alien speak I mostly don't understand, not much contact with others from one's own culture, etc., might make one adopt habits that would appear "weird" back home. And since I'm not a retiree I assume I'll be headed home at some stage.
 
So, does anyone have some good advice for how to keep from getting "Weird" as a western expat in Thailand?

Weird is that most people say that they are either swimming up or down stream and that I'm still lost in the woods looking for the river. :rolleyes:

[Loptr]

Face it, people will think you're weird when you return home and the first thing you do is to remove the dish sprayer from the sink in the kitchen and install it as a bum gun in your toilet... 

 

[squarethecircle]

Face it, people will think you're weird when you return home and the first thing you do is to remove the dish sprayer from the sink in the kitchen and install it as a bum gun in your toilet... 

 

Or when checking out apartments you test to see if the shower hose can extend far enough to go under your behind inside the toilet bowl. 


    

Edited August 15, 2014 by squarethecircle

[canuckamuck]

Actually I found that everyone back home has become weird.

[Ulysses G.]

 

I was friends back home with a few guys in the military who had spent a lot of time in Thailand. I remember thinking about what sexist pigs they were when they told me tales of their experiences. Now, I've lived here more than 20 years and I would imagine that I would fit right in with them. 

So, are you saying you've changed into a sexist pig, or that your perception has changed?

 

A little of both.