ladies night out (in?)













Rosella told me that Aida was putting together a post new year get together. At first I told her I was not sure because I had a client in town and I had extended an invitation to them. Fortunately for me my client declined my invitation so I got to go to this party and enjoy some home cooked Filipino food. Apparently this was an annual get together. These women had known each other for several years now. That night one of their Thai friends joined in.

Most of these Filipino ladies are part of the Thai academe. Some teaching in universities here for one or even two decades. I remember growing up in the sixties, once in a while a group of "Thailanders" (that was how our neighbors referred to Thais and you will be surprised that some Filipinos still do to this day) would rent an apartment in our street while going to college in the university belt. I cannot remember what their names were anymore because that was a long time ago and I was a very shy kid. My sister was the more social one and she and her friends would drop by and visit them. Sometimes they would invite them for lunch and they never turned down their invitation to my mother's utter distress. Anyway, I am slightly digressing. There were a lot of Thais who were sent by their parents to the Philippines in the'60's and '70's to study in our universities. There they met and fell in love with their Filipino classmates, got married and settled here in Thailand. A lot of these women entered the Thai universities to teach. It is not surprising to find out that a few of the "ajarn" (thai for professor) of my Thai colleagues are Filipinos.

That night they just wanted to get together, catch up with each other and enjoy each other's company.