Howard told me that he once asked what will happen when the King passes away; will Father's Day then fall on the new King's birthday? The response was that the King will never die. Such conversation is pretty taboo, so with such, no more questions asked.
I took another approach and asked one of the Thai English teachers when Father's Day was with the previous King. She shrugged it off and said she could not remember such a time.
So, there's Thailand politics for you, in a nutshell.
Ms. Bpun - the English Department head - took us out to dinner tonight, and brought along her daughter. Her daughter, Benz, just came back a month ago from 3 months of working in Midlands, Texas as a cleaner at Holiday Inn! I asked her about it, and she said that it was through a program that places students throughout the US to work. A cleaner at Holiday Inn?? She was excited about having been to America, and afterwards, she went to visit L.A. and was really excited about having been to Hollywood. Again, I ask a cleaner at Holiday Inn?? She comes from a very well-to-do family here in Thailand. Her mother is the Head of the English Department at Sri Racha School, her father is some bank big-wig and is the Director of the Bangpra Reservoir, among many other things, and she studies at a prominent university in Bangkok, majoring in Korean Studies. She speaks pretty good English, Korean, and of course, her native language is Thai. Kind of makes you think how many other cleaners at such inns we come across and never realize that they might be there on some work abroad program!
Below is a photo from dinner, from left to right: Howard, Jacqueline, Ms. Bpun, Me, Benz and Ms. Mon
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