Je n’ai plus d’age/My age has gone.

(English at the end)

- Tu es eleve d’echange ?
- Euh… Non
- Tu etudies quoi alors ?
- J’ai fini l’universite il y a 6 ans. J’ai 28 ans.
- … ? ! ?
Cette conversation s’est repetee plus d’une dizaine de fois en deux semaines. Tout le monde me donne 21 ans.

Je traine avec des lyceens, vais a la cantine, rigole avec eux, me sens comme a mes debuts en Norvege, j’ai 17 ans.

Les thailandaises ont le contact physique facile, du coup tres souvent mes hotes m’attrappent par le bras pour traverser ou aller quelque part. Et quand je prends le bus, la mere me conseille de ne pas accepter de nourriture de la part d’etrangers. J’ai 10 ans.

J’essaie de lire les panneaux, dechiffre peniblement une syllabe par-ci par-la et m’initie gauchement a la graphie. J’ai 5 ans.

Je roule seule a velo a travers Chiang Mai, le sourire aux levres. Je n’ai plus d’age.

————————–

- Are you an exchange student here?
- Mmmmh… No…
- What do you study then?
- Well, I graduated from university 6 years ago. I am actually 28.
- … ?!?
I had this conversation over a dozen times over the last two weeks. Everybody thought I was 21.

I haged around with teenagers, went to highschool, had fun with them, felt like during my first weeks in Norway. I was 17.

Thai people hold each other easily, so my host often grabbed my arms to cross a street or go somewhere. This plus the fact that the mum at my host’s often told me not to accept food from strangers as I was taking the intercity bus, I felt like I was 10.

I want to read the signs and all I can make out is a syllable here and there, while my attempt at copying letters ends up in strange crooky signs. Am I 5 or what?

I bike alone across the city of Chiang Mai, a smile on my face. I feel good. My age has gone.