Eh?

Today my hairdresser was still on leave.  I was slightly taken aback, which got me thinking about how much my life has changed in one year.

Well for one thing, gone is the wash and go, wild hair all over the place look.  If I had to wash my hair and horror upon horror, blow-dry my own hair, I will be in shock.  As a matter of fact, I have no idea how to do that.

Once a week (or more if needed) I go downstairs and dearest Polly will wash my hair and tame this mop on my head with great vigor. The alternative is unthinkable and I shudder at the thought.  Sometimes when our favorite soaps are on TV (like during the flood), she will turn the chair so both of us can watch in-between the hair session.  Of course, if the boss is not around!  None of them speak the best of English and with my pre-survival Thai, we can just have a bit of a conversation.  Polly calls me Mary and when they give instructions they speak about Madam (with the stress on the 'dam').  It's nice being older!  Once Polly asked me if I have a 'darling'.  In automatic mode I would have said "do I have a boyfriend?', but I refrained from doing so.  I like the word 'darling'!  Once a month we do the color thing.  I started off with something in the chocolate range, but when I looked again I'd turned Thai!  Of course, every time my hair is washed, I think to myself that possibly the reason why I do it is to get the head massage! Bless the ladies from I'm Saab!

It's extraordinary how much time it takes to be manicured and pedicured and done, which is probably why this hardly ever to never happened in my previous life.  Doing the entire nail 'thing' is taking so much of my time that I have in fact decided that at least once a month Polly will have to do this as well.  The rest of the month I'll bite the bullet and do it myself.  For now anyway.

Then of course there is the make-up thing.  Gone are those carefree days of dab and smudge. No people, you don't understand.  There are five (5) colors in the little Revlon make-up tray that must go on each eye before the deed is done.  In a country where false eye-lashes are big, there's no simple swipe of mascara either.  It has to look just right.  Eyeliner, lip-liner, lipstick, eyebrow pencils ... where did simple old me go.

And then my very simple fragrance of perfume bit the dust.  As yet I have not found any Coty products in Bangkok so, eventually I stopped looking.  I am now the proud owner of eight (8) different fragrances of perfume. Seven of those are from Yves Rocher and before you think I've gone completely bonkers, I got that as a Christmas gift!  The last one is a perfume called 'Pretty Doll' (I cringe), by a local actress called Chompoo Araya.  I test drove it before I bought it (sprayed it on and went home, that evening it was still there, the flood happened and then I bought it).

Of course, the clothes.  I miss my Cats.  Beware how your life can catch up with you!  My feet has given up and after a lifetime of abuse, it must be my biggest problem in Thailand.  I've eventually bought a pair of Hush Puppies for work and even that kills me.  My feet is happiest with no shoes or good old plakkies.  Thank goodness I'm living in a country where plakkies are big!  Of course, the reason for that is simple.  You don't wear your shoes in other people's houses.  You leave it at the door.  I've become so used to this that I don't even wear my own shoes in my own house.  My plakkies stand by the door and, in the morning, putting on my sandals to go to work (where I leave my other shoes) is the last thing I do.

I've also found a seamstress who fixed my pants with great success!  How on earth most of the Thai people stay so thin I will never figure out.  They eat only once a day ... all day.  Once at the mall I bitterly commented on all the thin people and Tong pointed to a very nicely built young lady and asked me if I wanted to look like that.  I said that I would never look like that and he commented that she had probably forgotten how to enjoy food.  Men, they always have such simple answers!  Although I've dropped a size, the battle of the bulge continues.  With great success though.  One of the pharmacies downstairs has a scale and I weigh myself there every two weeks.  Since the flood ended I've lost another 2.8 kg!  It would make it much easier to buy clothes if I can at least drop another two sizes.  It has just become too much of an issue because even my taste in clothes have changed and of course, I'm sick and tired of wearing so much black.

But now I have to go ... night cream and all that ... it takes a while and I need to get to bed!