 |
| Megumi and I volunteering with Rotary for Royal Thai Navy Appreciation Day - in thanks for their help in the floods |
On Thursday, March 1st, Megumi and I had a Rotary
presentation at a local club – Bangrak. The
entire meeting was in Thai (except for our presentation), and I began to
struggle through my extremely limited vocabulary as they ran through the
typical lunch time announcements. But at
one point, the announcer paused and said, in English, “Royal Thai Navy
Appreciation Luncheon.” My ears perked –
at first because I was excited to understand something, and second, because she
said Royal Thai Navy – which meant men in uniform. Megumi and I eagerly asked about the
opportunity, and less than 24 hours later, I found myself cooking, waitressing
and bartending for over 300 of Thailand’s finest.
On Thursday afternoon, after discovering that we were able
to volunteer, I asked my Thai teacher to tell us all of the pick-up lines she
knew so that I could practice before my big debut with sailors the following
morning. However, after arriving on site
and serving 300+ people, I realized I should have been asking how to say “Would
you like rice or noodles with that?” or “How many dumplings would you like?” Rotary was hosting a luncheon to thank the
Royal Thai Navy for their help and overwhelming assistance during the
floods. After all, it was the Navy who
quickly dispatched boats all around the country equipped with strapping young
soldiers to paddle and rescue people from their flooded homes.
 |
| The Rotary cooking crew after a long day! |
What I was most surprised to see, after awaiting my man in
uniform, was how young these soldiers looked. It is no secret that Asians age much better than a Westerner, but these
soldiers looked like young boys to me.
They can enlist when they are 18, so although they were young, they were
incredibly strong, smart and constantly smiling.
I had a wonderful day with the Bangrak Rotary group and a
wonderful day with the Royal Thai Navy!
Hi Ashley! What a fun adventure! I can only imagine how hard it must have been to realize you needed to be able to say something other than what you'd prepared for! How did you keep from from laughing? I hope you have lots of photos!
ReplyDeleteYour story reminds me a bit of when the Italian Navy was at the Olympics in LA at the field hockey venue. I could only pick up a few words and phrases here and there, but my, how handsome they looked in their uniforms!