When it comes to rats...
How big is big? OR How was your Valentines Day?
When Troy and I lived in Tulsa we had this Italian restaurant we loved. It was a great place where a guy played the piano and the food was authentic because it wasn't a chain. I had a favorite and so did Troy and we went there when we were really wanting to eat our favorite and have a romantic dinner. So when Valenines Day rolled around it made perfect sense that we go there to celebrate the day of love. We made a reservation well in advance and looked forward to the day. When we got there things were not the same. They had changed everthing because of the holiday. They had limited the menu to two choices. Neither of our favorites were available. The price for the meal was twice the price of the normal entrees, and it was so rushed and precooked that the taste was awful. They whipped us through our meal in order to meet the next reservation for that table, and we learned a cold hard lesson about eating out on one of the highest volume nights of the year. That lesson being: Don't do it.
Since then, I have learned to place a great deal less importance on days like that and usually Troy and I honor the day with a celebration at home that we can enjoy. Being in Bangkok, I assumed that the day would pass without my even noticing.
I was wrong.
Apparently they find the idea fabulous here and the place was covered with Valentine present possibilities. The newspaper was filled with adds. The news was showing childen making home made valentines in school. I don't know when they got the holiday here, but it has certainly arrived in full force. People were wishing me a happy valentines day on the elevator. I only know 4 people and only 3 of them speak any English, but I still got asked what our plans were. It was a little annoying to be honest, and I really appreciated a T-shirt I saw a young girl wearing as I walked down the street. It said "I hate Valentines."
It was here and there was nothing I could do about it so when dinner time came we headed out to get something to eat. Remember, we have no kitchen so out is where the food is if you want any. So out is where we went. We came upon a food stall that had it's wares all spread across the tables set up, and the guy running it got real excited. He started telling me how good it all was and I figured this was as good a place as any. Troy and I were usherd to a little table right behind the display so when you looked at his food you would see us behind it sitting at the table. I thougt little of it until later. I picked out a whole fried fish from the pile of whole fried fish he had and Troy ordered a soup. (They seriously do soup here) Our food was put on plates and we began to eat. Then the the guy running the stall stood proudly in front of it and started helping all the people who came up to get food. I realized then that the picture must have been perfect for him. Nothing says "eat here" like two big, white foreigners eating at your stall. It got crazy busy. People joined us at the two other little tables he had. People came up and made their orders. There was no one there when we got there. I actually sat down because I thought we would be a blessing to him, I was so right.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving beside our little table. My first reaction was that it must be one of the hundreds of cats and dogs that hang around wherever there is food, but when I looked it was a big ole rat! He wasn't running, he wasn't even scurrying. He was on the prowl and taking his time about it.
Now. Here I sit. Eating my whole fried fish. I have on flip flops so my feet are mostly exposed and that makes me think about them and then him. All this time we are in full view of the crowd out front. I play it cool. Troy sees him too. He says "there's never a cat when you need one" and I laugh. Then low and behold a cat comes. We see him. We see the rat. He sees us and he sees the rat. The cat looks at us and makes no move whatssoever. The cat was not about to take on this rat. It was just about who was gonna get the scraps. At this point every swallow is going down hard and taking a while. The rat is crawling around and climbing on things. The guy running the stall sees him and he plays it really cool, but is visibly relieved when he realizes that we see the rat and don't seem to be botherd by him. We all look at the cat and shake our heads. The cat looks back and basically says "What?"
Troy and I spend the rest of the meal discussing the relative size of the rat. Troy says he's not very big. To this I say "What?" Like there is such a thing as "a not big enough to be a problem rat." Even the cat agreed with me.
Now the best part about this whole experience is that I found myself a little relieved. All the commercialism surrounding Valentines day had dampend my "Missionary Experience." My romantic dinner with the street vendor, the cat, the rat and Troy...now that made for an awesome Valentines Day!
When Troy and I lived in Tulsa we had this Italian restaurant we loved. It was a great place where a guy played the piano and the food was authentic because it wasn't a chain. I had a favorite and so did Troy and we went there when we were really wanting to eat our favorite and have a romantic dinner. So when Valenines Day rolled around it made perfect sense that we go there to celebrate the day of love. We made a reservation well in advance and looked forward to the day. When we got there things were not the same. They had changed everthing because of the holiday. They had limited the menu to two choices. Neither of our favorites were available. The price for the meal was twice the price of the normal entrees, and it was so rushed and precooked that the taste was awful. They whipped us through our meal in order to meet the next reservation for that table, and we learned a cold hard lesson about eating out on one of the highest volume nights of the year. That lesson being: Don't do it.
Since then, I have learned to place a great deal less importance on days like that and usually Troy and I honor the day with a celebration at home that we can enjoy. Being in Bangkok, I assumed that the day would pass without my even noticing.
I was wrong.
Apparently they find the idea fabulous here and the place was covered with Valentine present possibilities. The newspaper was filled with adds. The news was showing childen making home made valentines in school. I don't know when they got the holiday here, but it has certainly arrived in full force. People were wishing me a happy valentines day on the elevator. I only know 4 people and only 3 of them speak any English, but I still got asked what our plans were. It was a little annoying to be honest, and I really appreciated a T-shirt I saw a young girl wearing as I walked down the street. It said "I hate Valentines."
It was here and there was nothing I could do about it so when dinner time came we headed out to get something to eat. Remember, we have no kitchen so out is where the food is if you want any. So out is where we went. We came upon a food stall that had it's wares all spread across the tables set up, and the guy running it got real excited. He started telling me how good it all was and I figured this was as good a place as any. Troy and I were usherd to a little table right behind the display so when you looked at his food you would see us behind it sitting at the table. I thougt little of it until later. I picked out a whole fried fish from the pile of whole fried fish he had and Troy ordered a soup. (They seriously do soup here) Our food was put on plates and we began to eat. Then the the guy running the stall stood proudly in front of it and started helping all the people who came up to get food. I realized then that the picture must have been perfect for him. Nothing says "eat here" like two big, white foreigners eating at your stall. It got crazy busy. People joined us at the two other little tables he had. People came up and made their orders. There was no one there when we got there. I actually sat down because I thought we would be a blessing to him, I was so right.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving beside our little table. My first reaction was that it must be one of the hundreds of cats and dogs that hang around wherever there is food, but when I looked it was a big ole rat! He wasn't running, he wasn't even scurrying. He was on the prowl and taking his time about it.
Now. Here I sit. Eating my whole fried fish. I have on flip flops so my feet are mostly exposed and that makes me think about them and then him. All this time we are in full view of the crowd out front. I play it cool. Troy sees him too. He says "there's never a cat when you need one" and I laugh. Then low and behold a cat comes. We see him. We see the rat. He sees us and he sees the rat. The cat looks at us and makes no move whatssoever. The cat was not about to take on this rat. It was just about who was gonna get the scraps. At this point every swallow is going down hard and taking a while. The rat is crawling around and climbing on things. The guy running the stall sees him and he plays it really cool, but is visibly relieved when he realizes that we see the rat and don't seem to be botherd by him. We all look at the cat and shake our heads. The cat looks back and basically says "What?"
Troy and I spend the rest of the meal discussing the relative size of the rat. Troy says he's not very big. To this I say "What?" Like there is such a thing as "a not big enough to be a problem rat." Even the cat agreed with me.
Now the best part about this whole experience is that I found myself a little relieved. All the commercialism surrounding Valentines day had dampend my "Missionary Experience." My romantic dinner with the street vendor, the cat, the rat and Troy...now that made for an awesome Valentines Day!
posted by Troy and Grace Elliott at Monday, February 18, 2008
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