Wednesday, October 13, 2010

14 October 2010 Kindness

Two days ago I sat in the administration building using the internet (still waiting at home; should be by the end of this week, they say), and as I was about to walk out, one of the front office girls who I barely know, said to me "Lung (Uncle), your car has a flat tire."
Well, I was like a deer in the headlights.  I just zoned out.  I hadn't changed a flat in 20 years, wasn't even sure if my car had a jack.  I "came to" long enough to phone my neighbor, a Thai guy who lived in the US for 40 years.  He set off with his wife to rescue me.
Meanwhile, the front office girl called a couple of guys to come change my tire  They and my neighbhor arrived simultaneously and formed a tire changing committee, with very positive results. 
This young lady did not go more than 2 meters away from me during this whole time, making sure the tongue-tied Farang was completely taken care of.  On the one hand, it was a reflection of what a nice person she is.  On the other hand, it was not at all unusual for Thailand.
After the tire was fixed, my neighbor took me to a nearby tire repair shop (they are everywhere out here in the boondocks, as the many trucks often get flats on the good but sometimes complicated roads).  He made sure the tire repair shop understood me, and $3.25 later, I had a perfectly patched tire re-loaded on my car, with the spare back in the trunk.
Footnote on spare:  The cars here come with REAL spare tires, not those little donuts you get in the US nowadays.
It's not hard to find stuff to criticize here, but the kindness is extraordinary.

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