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+---- Thread: Joe's Journey, part 15: The first fitness coach (/showthread.php?tid=10615)
Joe's Journey, part 15: The first fitness coach - Haramcha - 2026-08-23
”Are you making sure to stay in touch with everyone else?” Sem’s voice asked from the phone. He must have been referring to the many friends he and Joe shared, both from the football pitch near Tok’s fruit stall, and their friends from school.
“Yeah. Well, I try to, anyway,” Joe responded, wholly aware that his words were not entirely truthful. He would try to respond to texts, if nothing else then with a reaction on Instagram, or a sticker on Line, but that most likely did not really deserve the definition “staying in touch.”
“So, I’m getting special treatment?” Sem laughed, and Joe followed suit. “Is that it?”
“I guess so!” There was no doubt that Sem understood that Joe was not only busy with his football, settling into yet another country, and had to prioritise his father and sister with what energy remained for this kind of virtual socialising.
“So, what was with that girl the other day?” Sem changed the topic.
“What girl? Oh, wait, you mean the Thai girl?”
Sem burst into laughter again, asking “what do you mean ‘what girl’? How many girls have you got in your life, Mr. Footballer?!”
“No no, if anything, it’s that I thought there were no girls!” Joe laughed along.
When the laughter settled, Sem asked what had been the deal with that whole story.
“I don’t know, it was just so weird. I don’t think she knew that I would understand her, and then I did. So, I said something back to her,” Joe explained.
“I guess the language never leaves you!”
“Yeah, it’s like instinct, no matter what,” concluded Joe. Knowing how accomplished Sem was in English, it felt strange for Joe to be the one who was now unused to speaking their mother tongue. It had been just over a year since they’d been in school together, where Sem was the one who scored top grades in their English classes, and who would take over when a lost foreigner occasionally asked them for directions. Now, instead, it was Joe who was out experiencing the world, barely getting to use his own language. The little run-in with the girl had been the first time he’d spoken Thai in person since moving. He would frequently call his father, and occasionally his younger sister and a couple of friends, typically Sem, but at the end of the day, is it really the same to talk to someone on the phone as it is to have a conversation in real life? Probably not. Not even when it comes to using a language. After all, it’s probably more akin to talking to oneself while watching TV or something. So many things are lost when you are not in the same room.
Realising this, Joe continued: “Maybe that’s why it stood out to me. I didn’t speak Thai in person for so long.”
“Even being yelled at is a positive experience now?” Sem laughed again.
Joe joined in, but attempted to clarify that it wasn’t positive. It just stood out to him.
“What’s up on your end, what have you been up to?”
“Well, I started working in a gym, y’know.”
“You what? Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“Didn’t ask before! It probably didn’t hurt that I name-dropped you, saying that I had been in charge of your physical training. Hope that’s OK!”
Joe couldn’t tell if Sem was joking. He definitely was the type. The type to make this kind of joke, and the type to actually have done it. “If that’s what it takes! So, how is it?”
“Don’t you mean ‘where is it’? It’s in Sathorn. I get the honour of training the office folks,” Sem said with reference to the many white-collar workers they had often seen on the way back from school to where their respective parents worked.
“Yes, and then I’ll ask again: how is it?” Joe asked with a smile.
“The question matches better now, doesn’t it! It’s quite nice. Lots of farangs, so I get to speak English as well.”
As usual, it was really nice talking with Sem. He’d been Joe’s first friend at the school he’d attended in inner Bangkok, and also ended up as his best friend. He was part of just about every sports club at school, as sort of a wildcard member, who would just slot in wherever he was needed, due to his excellent athleticism. That was how they had first caught a sight of one another, at the school’s football club. Now, a few years later, it was also the reason that Sem’s sudden employment-news had not been all too surprising to Joe, except for the part where he hadn’t been informed about it immediately. It kind of just made sense.
The conversation also served as a reminder to Joe that he should really put in more efforts towards achieving fluency in English. He had all the opportunities. Living in a foreign country, having foreign teammates, and if he were to request it, he surely would also have easy access to excellent teachers. Maybe it would be more appropriate for him to learn Hungarian first, but after having looked through a “Hungarian for Beginners”-style of textbook not long after his arrival, he had already dismissed the idea. English would be the way forward for him.