Friday
was the retirement party for our school director. This was held at our school
with a delicious catered meal of different sea food items, including fish
stomach soup (not my favorite!) After a week of practice, the foreign teachers
went on stage to perform a traditional Thai dance, in traditional Thai costume.
The gents- myself and Michael- had to dance while beating a traditional Thai
drum. We actually did pretty well. After the dance, the director gave us a
“thank you” envelope with about $7 USD (Thai Baht). Then we went and paid
respect to some of the ‘big money’ benefactors of the school. One of them
pulled out a wad of Baht and gave each of us about $30 USD. From my ‘show biz’
experience in Thailand, watching performances at Holland Beer, I knew it was
customary for the audience to tip if they enjoyed the show. This was a pretty
good tip by Thai standards so he must have enjoyed our show!
After
we changed back into our normal clothes, we made our rounds to say goodbye. We
thanked the director again and gave him our retirement present: a pricey bottle
of alcohol. Next was our department head, who wished us all good luck. Then we
said goodbye to my Thai ‘aunties’ who have been so great to us with their
willingness to help and their insistence on buying us lunch throughout the
school semester. There were tears in everyone’s eyes L and I promised to stop by
again if ever I return to Thailand.
Saying
goodbyes at the muay thai gym was the most difficult for me. The trainer, and
his three teenage daughters and I had become very close. They speak about as
much English as I speak Thai, so our bond was formed through exercise and
acting out phrases. Proof that communication can form bonds without spoken
words! One of the daughters sent me a message on Facebook, with the help of
Google translate, saying: “we think you do not want to go to China. Don’t
leave.” They made me pinky promise that I would come back and visit if I return
to Thailand. Then the trainer presented me with my new Thai shorts that I had
ordered the week before. I asked him to have my name, Thailand, and the name of
the gym written in Thai characters sewn into the shorts. I also asked that he
choose a good Thai fight nickname for me and he did not disappoint: หมัดพายุไซโคลน or H̄mạd
phāyu (sounds like: maht-pai-yute), which means
“punching cyclone!” How awesome! I put on the shorts and tried them out.
Somehow, they made me kick faster and made me look better while I was kicking.
These were no ordinary shorts! The trainer gathered all the boxers together and
we took one final group picture inside the boxing ring. Then I gave out some
hugs, handed out pictures of some boxing memories that I had printed, and waved
goodbye. <sigh>
Back
in the Benjasub neighborhood, my good friend Num came over to help us move out
our store of borrowed furniture. We said goodbye and hugged; his parting well
wishes were for me to have “good luck” in China. Luck is a huge part of the
Thai culture. I wished him good luck as well.
My
last meal with my cooking roommate: a cheesy omelet covered in black bean
hummus, with homemade potatoes and gravy, on flatbread, served with
coconut-mango smoothies. Scrumptious! In the evening, I headed up to Bangkok
for a last meal at my favorite pancake restaurant and hangout: Ethos. Mango and
banana pancake, how I love thee. This was with Nick and Kate, two Americans I
became friends with at the teacher training in Phuket. Also joining us was my
Thai friend Aom, who would be my taxi to the airport the next day. After
dinner, we relaxed with an hour Thai massage—I am going to miss those massages!
The
next day came quickly, and it was off to the airport again. Bangkok’s airport
is quite nice, mostly because they have lots of free sweet treat samples! My
plane left in the morning, and touched down in China later that afternoon.
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