Simple Moments!

Today, I woke up tired and felt like I needed a serious break. However, I know I can’t take a break just yet. Instead, I had to make up for the days I spent dealing with immigration matters and handling a couple of visa issues, as well as the days I was sick due to high blood pressure.

Yesterday, I went to a nearby local market to buy some groceries and fruit. I bought two small papayas, and the vendor gave me a discount without me even asking, which made me feel good. There was also a salad shop nearby where I sometimes buy salad. The shop owner once told me, “speak Thai,” and taught me how to ask for the salad dressing I like in Thai.

While I was walking to the market, I was listening to a YouTube channel, and the speaker mentioned that one in nine workplaces in the US is toxic. I wondered if there is similar data for Asia or our country. If there is, I imagine it might say that at least 90% of workplaces are toxic. At the very least, I’m sure it would be over 50%. Asian culture itself seems to be a factor that brings toxicity to the workplace, and non-Asians in Asian workplaces often take advantage of that. Perhaps I’m overgeneralizing my own firsthand experiences, along with what I have witnessed.

This morning, I was reminded of a friend I met online while I was studying in the US. She was very smart and studying at a top university at the time, with a type of scholarship that was very difficult to obtain. I think she commented on my blog posts, and we started chatting online, eventually becoming friends. When I attended a seminar in the city where she was studying, we met up and visited a few places together. I was so eager to meet her as soon as I arrived that I totally forgot about our welcome reception and didn’t attend it. I can become quite attached to certain people like that.

She worked in Thailand and was still working while she was studying. Back then, I used Facebook, and I often saw her posts expressing her frustrations with her job. She was funny and daring. It was through her that I first saw an online cartoon featuring birds sitting on three levels, with one bird in the middle saying, “When I look up, I see assholes, and when I look down, I see shits.” That cartoon stuck with me.

She is younger than me, and we met once more when she returned to our country some time later. Now, I’ve lost contact with her, and I don’t know where she is. 

These are some of the thoughts and memories that came to me this morning.

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