the new apartment...

rocks. it is such a great place! big, sunny, nicely furnished. our bedroom has huge floor to ceiling windows, and it's big enough that we fit our extra couch in, so now we have a little reading corner. and we have a gigantic wrap around balcony (will post pictures once it's organized enough to take any) and it has a comfortable, homey feeling that's difficult to pin to one attribute or another.

today was move-in day. we suffered a bit this morning as we invited a bunch of friends out to join us for our last night in chinatown and ended up at a cabaret, karaoke, and an all night snooker hall till 4 a.m. it was one of those mistakes you only realize clearly once you can't turn back.

fortunately, our maid and her family came and helped us today. buie has been working with us for about a year, and in that time we've built a really nice relationship with her. since i work from home, we spend a lot of time together. with all the traveling john does, i think i see her more than him.

this morning she brought her husband, two of her grown kids and one of their friends to move us. after a hot, tiring day, we all sat down and had a late lunch together and talked and laughed and had such a nice, comfortable time. i also saw a different side of buie -- the mom/boss side. usually she's deferential but in front of her kids, she's much more in charge.

coming from america, it's very strange to have a maid. back home i had cleaners, but they were just there to clean and usually were the ones giving me orders (such as, do not be here when i am cleaning, or please make sure to sort your laundry for me). buie takes care of us. she asks me every day what i want for lunch. she picks our dirty clothes up off the floor. she brings me special treats when i'm sick. this week she brought us some home-made isan satol, which is a really yummy, alchoholic rice-based beverage, just because john was asking her about it and mentioned that he'd love to try it (it is so good! like a rice wine cooler).

we could view this woman as our servant or employee, but frankly (for us at least) it's tough to see another human being solely in that manner. most americans can't jibe with the master/servant mentality. anyway, it's especially tough with buie, since she's really become our friend and part of our family.