You Gotta Have Friends...

And these are ours...

I would like to introduce you to our new friends. They run the restaurant in the apartment building down the street from ours. From Left to Right they are Oy in the black. Her daughter Ohm in the white shirt and Den in the yellow shirt. These are the the sweetest girls and they have been wonderful friends to us.

I met them on one of the days we were out looking for an apartment. We had their building on our list and stopped to see it. The day was hot and only getting longer for us as we went from apartment to apartment being told that there was no vacancy. When we stopped at their building, I was hungry and tired. The idea of stopping to get something to eat was looking really good to me. Den was there and she was so sweet. The menu was all Thai so we had no idea what to ask for because we could not read it. She worked it out with us. She speaks great English and she totally took care of us. She made sure that the food was not too hot, and she stated asking us what we were doing and where we were headed. We explained that we were looking for a place to live, but there were no openings anywhere. She told us to go the next building down. She said it was new and very nice. She said the one we were at was older and not as nice so it was better that it was full. We ate and it was wonderful. Then we went where she told us to go and there was an apartment. It ended up being THE apartment and we love it. We were so fortunate to have met her that day, and opening up to her about all our plans paid off immeasurably.

After we moved in we started going back and eating there. Those trips have since turned into visiting and eating is the byproduct. They have officially declared us friends. They have something special to give us every time we go there. They are helping us with our Thai pronunciation and teaching us many things. They are warm and friendly and so gracious. I love my new friends. I really do.

Here is another shot we took on another day. Den was not there that day she was getting her hair done. This picture includes two of the other girls working there. I have not been able to get their names yet. The one on the right works in the little convenience store so she is in and out. The other is Oy's employee so she doesn't get to spend time with us like the two girls that run the place. She isn't smiling very big and that is pretty much normal for her. Troy can pretty much always get her to laugh. She was the only one who seemed a little reluctant to take us in. She gets friendlier every time we go there. I honestly think it is a social position issue because she never sits down with us like they do.

We have been getting to know the people in our building also. They are very nice as well, but they do not speak English so it is taking longer to get to know them better. The building manager does speak English, but he went to China for a month a week after we moved in so we have not been able to talk to him.