Grace, Better Lay Off the Beer Next Time!

Tuesday, 8 February 2005

No students showed up today (there were about maybe 50 students that showed in Grades 4 - 9), in celebration of Chinese New Year's. Because we live in a predominately Chinese community, most students are ethnically Chinese-Thai and so they took today to visit temples, relatives, and give blessings and offerings. Around the neighborhood, people would put out a table with incense, fresh meat, fruit, and kanom (sweet dessert) on the sidewalk. I "worked" in the office uploading pictures to my blog and had lunch that P'Thoy (one of the workers) brought for me and Matt. She poured me some beer from a thermos she had brought from home. Of course, I was a bit red-faced before I headed out again, so I covered myself in baby powder, then Matt told me she would pack me a bicycle to go to the other side (other campus). I was then going to take the bicycle to go to the post office. As I had a skirt on, I had to sit sideways, and I asked her if she was sure she could ride with me like that. Like many Thais commonly respond, she said "Sure, sure". Well, we made it out the gate of our campus, onto the road, and within a couple minutes, she was wobbling, and BOOM! My heel went flying, my purse went flying, and my right hip hit the ground hard. Good thing there were no cars coming! She wanted to put medicine on my scraped hand, but I said, never mind, I just want to go to the post office. I would be fine. Just a bruised thigh tonight for sure. I told her I would walk the rest of the way. No thank you...no bicycle for me! I sat on an ice pack the rest of the afternoon.