I am learning a lot from my Thai Instructor, Ruang. Aside from the language, she teaches me about all things Thai. Recently we discussed Thai dreams and this is what I learned. If a woman dreams about snakes it means she will meet her soulmate/lover that day. If the snake is a white snake then maybe the woman’s soulmate/lover will be a Farang (Westerner) and this makes a Thai woman a very happy woman! If a Thai person dreams about “poo” (as in fecal matter) it means that you will become very rich. Thai people always want to dream about “poo” apparently. Thai people take their dreams very seriously and truly believe in them and their significance.
So with that being said – this weekend Joe and I went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Limoncello. All the Americans here rave about this restaurant and we wanted to try it out. We were definitely NOT disappointed – the food was delicious! So when we arrived we did not have reservations so they seated us in a back table near the kitchen that turned out quite nice. They had a wood fire oven in which they prepared the pizza’s and there was a counter right there and I could clearly see the chef preparing all the pizza’s – highly entertaining. They have every pizza you can imagine – thin crust too. You can create your own combination or order one they have on the menu already created. I ordered a Rustica – mushrooms, Italian sausage and sliced tomatoes. Joe had a stuffed pork cutlet that was quite good. We got an appetizer that was cooked spinach with Parmesan cheese mixed in it and melted on top – yum! Oh and Tiramisu for dessert! So the best part was when we arrived at the table next to us was another couple – an older man either Australian or British but I think Australian AND a beautiful young Thai woman. You see this all the time here. Shortly after we sat down, I heard the man say to the woman, “Do you even remember my name?” She responds, “Peter!” He responds, “No, it’s John!” Anyhow, at some point they get up and she goes to the restroom and he goes out for a smoke. Joe leans over and says to me, “I think she dreamt of a white snake covered in poo!” We both got a good laugh over this one. I told my Thai instructor, Ruang, about this today and she was laughing so hard she was almost crying. The couple was very nice though – they spoke to us a couple times as I ended up ordering the same pizza as they did and they were commenting on how good it was and wanted to know my thoughts. Then they were admiring our dessert too.
So as I am writing this, my new mee-baan (Maid) is cleaning our apartment. It’s quite nice I must say and I am afraid this is going to really spoil me. At first I wasn’t sure I wanted a mee-baan but the Thai’s really do look down upon you if you do not get one. The management office workers here at our apartment complex were starting to make some comments to me about it so I figured it was time. Our mee-baan is Khun Raksi and she is from Burma. She has worked for other embassy families for years and currently does part-time work for two other families – we will be her third. She will work for us on Mondays and Thursdays from 1pm to 5pm. She will clean all the floors, bathrooms, kitchen, do laundry and ironing, clean the balconies, water the plants on the balconies, dusting, run errands (dry cleaning etc), grocery shopping and cooking. She is older than us – probably in her 40’s and has two grown children. She lives with her mother and helps take care of her. She was very happy to learn that we would be in Thailand for three years as this means she is gainfully employed for three years so long as she does a good job. She is very nice, neat, clean and polite. Today is her first day and she asked that I be here the first week in case she has any questions about what to do or where to find items. Fair enough. So I am sitting on my butt writing in my blog while she is hard at work. It is quite nice!
I have many pictures to post, as I have not updated my blog for a while. Hopefully those are soon to come. It’s been so long that I am not sure I remember how to post the pictures! I have been on a number of adventures – Walking tour with the women’s club was one big highlight – included a trip to the Golden Mount in Thailand, watching people make monk bowls, the Giant Swing etc. Last week I went on another walking tour thru China Town. Tomorrow I am going on a private tour of the Counterfeit Museum with the women’s club. Later in the month I will take a one-day Greek cooking class and I hope to eventually take a Thai cooking class too! Oh and I must take a picture of my Thai writing and post it – that is on my to do list. Ruang is teaching me how to write my Thai numbers – she gave me an A+++ and was amazed at how well I did. Apparently many American’s have difficulty with this. She gave me quite a high score and was highly impressed but it was “yaak maak maaaaaaaaaak” (difficult very, very). But everyone keeps asking about them so I’ll have to take a picture of my artwork to post. I call it artwork because it is basically drawing if you ask me. She asked me if I was a talented artist and I laughed. I normally have issues drawing stick figures!
OK think I’ll go do a little reading now and try to put a dent in my current read, “Shantaram,” as it is 1000 pages long and I am only on page 200!
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