Thai Friends

We've managed to make a few Thai friends during our time here:

Saa is our building maintenance man. He's very friendly, and knows everthing there is to know about the dormitory grounds. He's married and has a daughter, but he rarely sees them, because he works all day long every day except once a week, and occasional holidays.

Some guys in the dorm hang out with Saa every night in a triple on the third floor. They all love to sing and some of them play guitar. Surprisingly, they sing mostly older Thai songs. Our favorite Thai song talks about how life is the same for everyone, except for our dreams. We've thrown a couple of parties with them, and at the last one we all sang "Zombie," by the Cranberries (I played guitar). We've also sung, "More Than Words," and "Superman." At the aforementioned party, our Thai friends made some delicious Pad See Iew and fried chicken wings for us! Our contribution? French bread pizza, which they politely ate, but sometimes I'm not sure if Thais share our enthusiasm for Western food. We often chat, sing, and watch movies together. We've also been able to help some of them with English homework. They made a very cool clock for us (see slideshow)!! They are:

Golf (Thai name Santisuk, which means peace) is a computer whiz, and a great singer!

Dong is incredibly enthusiastic and animated.

Neung plays guitar and sings, and loves computer games and drinking.

We are also friends with our landlord and wife (who visited and befriended my parents while visiting their son in Chicago!!).

Mick is my Thai teacher. He speaks English very well, and is actually going to England to do an internship at the end of the month (After finding out that I'm an English tutor, he asked if I could teach him. We just started last week). Mick took us to a really nice cafe that his friend works at. He's been coming to the gym with me on Thursdays for the last couple weeks. We're planning on double dating with him and his girlfriend soon. Her name is Noo, which means "mouse," so he told me that together they make a Mickey Mouse couple (some of you are cringing from the corniness, and some are delighted).

We've also met a lot of people on the basketball court at Chiang Mai University, and many other places around our building and the rest of the city. The next entry by our lovely Lydia will talk about some other people in our lives!