Rice Grains

Since I have quit going to the preschool in Pak Nam, I expected to have more free time on Mondays to study Thai and prepare for teaching my 3 English classes. But alas, thus far such has not been the case!

Yesterday morning I did laundry and began cleaning my (very) dirty apartment. I was unable to finish before I needed to meet a friend for lunch, and after lunch I went to a prayer meeting at Anita's new apartment. Following the prayer time, I returned home to finish cleaning my (very) dirty apartment but was interrupted twice by phone calls. I finally finished cleaning my (very) dirty apartment about 7:30, ran out to get some supper, and returned to help my friend Nui learn English. We talked together until almost 11:30.:)

There went my Monday! No studying Thai, no finishing Thai homework, no preparing for teaching English!

This morning I left my apartment about 8:00 to meet my Thai teacher in Bangkok for our 2-hour language session. After that, I had some time to kill before meeting Anita and her friend Lily to take them to The Well, so I got a foot massage. Ahhhhhh, sabai sabai!

Foot massage finished, I met my friends, and we went to The Well, where we stayed until about 5:00 PM. On the way home (the typical hour-long bus ride), I called my new friend Pen to see if she was planning on coming over tonight to study English together. She was delighted that I had called, and promised to come.

After getting off the bus, I walked down Theparak Road, where I found a little restaurant I had not yet tried. So I sat down and ordered kuitiyao, a popular rice noodle dish that can be made in a large variety of ways. I asked the two young girls there if they were sisters because they looked like each other. Somehow, that struck them as extremely funny. No, they are not related, but they went into stitches and made sure to tell everyone else around what I had said. They were really cute---typical young teenage girls.:)

As I continued walking down the street after supper, I met a factory worker who says she has talked to me before, but I have no recollection. Too many people stop me and talk. And, after all, as I tell everyone, I am "keyloom", or very forgetful.:) At any rate she took my phone number down and is excited about coming on Tuesday nights to study English. (I also got a phone call from Guy today--she is a street vendor near my apartment. She is interested on coming Tuesday evenings as well).

So, I had barely gotten home when Pen called, so I went back down my five flights of stairs (10, actually) to let her in the gate. She was laden with food! Oh my, if she does this every week, I will get FAT! No, actually most of what she brought was not fattening. She gave me a bag of fresh salad, a coconut filled with sweetened, thickened coconut milk and bits of raw coconut, a bag of fresh coconut milk to drink right away, and a type of fruit I have never heard of. She kept wanting to know the English name, but alas, I was of no help to her on that.

This is the coconut....

This is the exotic fruit...

...and this is my new friend Pen. At first she wanted to have me sit in the chair with her, but alas, as the Thais say, I have a "tua-yai" (large body), and my "tua-yai" didn't fit very well in the chair with her...:)