Lost in Translation.

Last week we had a student die in a motorbike accident on his way home from school. None of the Thai teachers even mentioned this to me. He was one of Lia's, a 15 year old. They shared the tragic news with her just as she was walking to his class. Thanks for the heads up, guys.. After Lia relayed the information to us, I ignorantly asked the Thai teachers what happened. As I was being given all the awful details, the woman telling the story was doing so in a very nonchalant manner. She could have been talking about what she had for dinner the previous evening. No emotion whatsoever. I literally had to tell her to stop, as it was just so horrific to hear all the gory details about a child. 

I was perplexed afterwards, and have yet been able to determine if the emotion doesn't translate, or simply doesn't exist. At the funeral we went to, the woman died at 91 of natural causes, so it wasn't surprising for me to see such little sorrow. However, this is a child. It is so so different. Their feelings on death are unrelateable, from what I've gathered in my short time here.