Fat and Fat

Today in class I had about twice as many students than the first day. Maybe it's not cool to show up on the first day of class? I think it's cool, especially when I have to review everything I already went over on the first day. It's ok. The students who were there probably didn't understand me the first time around anyway. Now that I had a full class of mostly new students, I asked them to go around again and tell me their nicknames. (This was mostly for my own amusement. Not like I'd remember them all.)

So about half-way through, one of the young ladies stands and says "My name is Fat." I smile and say ok. The next young lady stands up and says "My name is Fat too!" I think to myself, oh my goodness, they are playing a sick joke on me. I look back and forth between these girls and I realize that they look extremely similar. They then confirm my worst nightmare. "We are twins!" Twin sisters. Fat and Fat. First of all they're not even fat. How they came up with these names is a question I'll have to ask at another time. My main concern is how in this crazy ironic world am I going to tell these two apart? My next question is why, why do they both have to have the same name? I'm thinking to myself, maybe I should give them slightly different nicknames for class so I can distinguish between the two. Fatty and Fatso? I am laughing out loud as I write this. "Fatty, please be quiet and let Fatso speak." Oh man. I would bust a gut.

The remainder of class went by fairly quickly. Maybe because I was stressing about the Fat sisters. In any case, I paced myself well throughout the remainder of class and walked across campus to my office. I always get a little kick from the students wai-ing me in passing. A wai is a special kind of bow that you do to show respect. You put your hands in a prayer pose under your nose and bow your head. Random students do this to me as I walk along the sidewalk. I have to admit, I kind of like it. I give some friendly wai's to my fellow Ajaans, especially the older Thai ones. They appreciate it.

Speaking of the other Thai ajaans, I was stopped the other day by an Ajaan in my department and she just invited me to a party at her house on Saturday. Her daughter Weerin also works in the English department, and I had coffee with Weerin the day prior. We started talking for a bit and she explained how her house is very big and empty and she wants to have a party for the teachers in the department, especially the new ones. She then said she can pick me up since she lives farther away from the campus. She would need to pick me up early so she has time to prepare. I offered to help her make pizzas and salad and garlic bread for the party, and she was delighted. She invited me to stay over for the night if I wanted to. It's amazing how the Thai open up their homes to new friends. We exchanged cell phone numbers and I agreed to be ready at 4pm on Saturday to catch a ride from her and help her make food. My favorite part of the whole conversation was her final question: "So, what's your name?"