Smiles and Thank you's

I often receive emails from my Uncle Gene. We chat about many things, but we mostly just chat about life. In his most recent email he said something that I found pretty dang cool.
He said, "Many times being immersed in another culture the survival props with which we have grown up: manners, speech, values, even gestures and facial expressions are pulled out from under us. Sort of like going on your first date or first birthday party and not being sure how to act. But then you adapt and can look beneath the props and discover the common thread of humankind." 
I found this to be incredibly true, moving and frankly just very well written. It got me thinking what I have found so far to be the common thread of humankind, at least for me here in Thailand. The two things that I find myself doing the most are smiling and saying thank you. Since most people don't speak enough english to have a conversation, a smile, I've found, can really say a lot. Some of the things it has said for me in the past few weeks are: "Hello" "I'm sorry" "I don't speak Thai" and the classic "How funny!". I know they say that a smile is the universal language, and I can't speak for other countries I've never been to, but they couldn't be more right for Thailand.
Thank you on the other hand can be a little more finicky (I've always wanted to use that word in real life). Due to my general laziness and lack of motivation, I haven't learned much thai. I regularly feel bad about it in the moment, but then excuse the guilt with a "if its meant to be, it will happen" state of mind. So thank you is one of the few phrases I know in thai "Kap Kun Kah" (I probably spelled that wrong). It took me forever to remember the phrase for some reason. I tried to come up with means by which to remember, but an anagram didn't quite remind me of the proper words. I've no idea why! Just kidding obviously KKK wouldn't necessarily bring the words to mind. So anyway I finally got the phrase down and tried to say it as much as possible, but it started to sort of eat at me inside that it didn't sound as sincere as "Thank you" does. It just sounded like I was saying a bunch of sounds with little to no feeling behind them and I could't stand it. So now I simply say "Kap Kun Kah Thank you!" each time. I'll continue doing this until I find a way to express my true gratitude with the thai phrase.
So to conclude, in my 22 years of age, whether you see me as young or old, I have at least come to the conclusion that 2 things that make up the common thread of humankind consist of smiles and thank you's and well thats quite the achievement in my opinion.

When in doubt smile

Even when you're supposed to be reading and ignoring the camera