May and Pictures

After she arrived May gave me her beautiful smile (sort of a Princess Di smile where her head is tilted down, her eyes are looking up and is beaming - Picture 2 above). Remember I hadn't seen her in almost three weeks and the tension was high. I smile back and said good afternoon. Today's class was a review session before the final which was the next day. I tried not to be too obvious looking her way throughout the class but I don't know if I pulled it off.

I sent her an SMS and asked her if she like dancing and she said that she did.

Next day was the "Big Test" as I was calling it. May and I greeted each other as always (since she was still a student of mine I did not want the other sudents to get the wrong idea). As we were waiting for other students to arrive I sent her an SMS saying I was happy to see her. Her phone goes off notifying her that a message is available. She looks at her phone and gives me a puzzled look and then smiles after reading the message.

The test ended early and they had a half an hour to kill so everyone was taking pictures with their mobile phones and I got into the act also. That day they were giving roses away in the Canteen and I had received one as it was my last day at Hoya. When we left the classroom I gave mine to May and she was very surpised. Later that night I sent her an SMS asking her if she would like to go dancing and she said yes. That Saturday we went to MK (sort of a Japanese hot pot sort of place). Then we went to the Country Pub which had a Thai Band plying Thai country which is very much like Alabama or CCR when they rock it a bit. The picture at the top was taken there. It just so happens one of my Canon students was there and snapped the picture. We sat across the table from each other and she asked if her sister could join us and I didn't object. Her oldest sister shows up a hour later. Apparently May wanted a 2nd opinion. Well her sister told her that she should sit next to me. (past the first test I guess).

This was all about 4 or 5 weeks ago and we have been seeing each other 2 or 3 times a week. Last Saturday night I met her mother and niece and her sister for a 2nd time. I was invited over to her sister's apartment for dinner and it was delicious (they even had fried bugs which I declined this time - they looked like fuzzless caterpillars). I guess I pass the mother test and May said that her mother liked me.

The "Big test" will be in April. This will be Songran (Thai New Year). I hope to get an invite to visit her family and see what happens. I think this relationship is getting serious.

DERMAN

A day in the Life and May

I am not working many hours right now (4 a week) but making do with my savings. I should triple these hours before the end of the month.

I still get up at 6 or 7 and have a yogurt and a coffee. I see if anything is worth watching on my three English channels (ESPN, Discovery or Star Movie). Occasionally the Thai channels will have something in English. If not then I read (right now I am reading a lot of Dean Kootnz and Ann Rule). Usually I will go on the internet from 9 to 11 looking at job sites, answering mail and playing games on Yahoo - any chess players out there?) At 11 I go to lunch about a block down the Soi. There is a women who makes Sap (a Thai noodle dish with Mu - Pork) or I will have fried rice and mu. Next to her is a lady who makes coffee and tea drinks. Her English is good and I have made a few friends here. It's also a nice place for the ladies to flirt with me (not that I would flirt back you understand). There's also an older lady that comes once in a while that I call Mama - she's in her late 60's and has a dry sense of humor.

In the early afternoon I go back and take a nap or read a book. If it's a school night I will look over my lesson plans for the evening. School night I leave at 3:30 to catch the bus to Future Park (a mall about 4 times the size of Dayton Mall) where I catch a Canon van to the Canon factory. I teach from 5:20 to 7:20 and am back at Future Park by 8.

If it is a non school night or not a date night with May (more about her later) I will go back down to the "Juice Lady" and have another drink and allow the ladies to flirt with me (they are just shameless). I then walk down to the end of the soi (street) to see what's available for dinner. At the night market are many food stalls from rice to curry dishes, fresh fruits and vegetables (the watermelon is the sweetest I have ever tasted - and the juice just runs down your cheek - sorry Trish I couldn't resist).

If I can't find anything I will go the the 7-11 and buy the ingredients to make tuna or ham sandwiches. Pork products are better over here. It is the primary meat in Thailand. Beef is rare and expensive.

I will have dinner and watch a little of the tube, go back on the internet for a couple of hours and read up to 10 or 11. Then off to dream land.

MAY - the lady not the month

May is a 34 year old Thai women who works at Hoya. She has beautiful dark shoulder length hair, brown eyes and one of the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen. She stands up to my shoulders and is not one of those thin Thai women you read so much about. Her family lives about 2 hours northwest of Rangsit. She is the 3rd daughter of four and she has a younger brother. She has a son with the nickname of Golf and apparently lost her husband about 8 or 9 years ago (not a topic she wants to talk about). She has worked at Hoya Lens for about 8 years and is a foreman.

She was in my B1 class. Always very quiet and I ALWAYS had to ask her to speak up when reading or answering questions. Back at Christmas time she sent me an SMS wishing me Merry Christmas and then another one wishing me Happy New Year. I was able to ascertain that she was the May from Hoya Lens. I thought about her (I wasn't to see her until the 10th of January and had a lot of free time). We sort of flirted a bit through SMS messages and I couldn't wait until the 10th. I had a morning class and then the B1 class from 2 to 4. I felt like a school boy and I swear that in the record books the 10th of January was the longest morning on record.

Finally 2 PM made it and she walks in.

To be continued

Aren't I a stinker

DERMAN