Who’s That Mysterious Woman In The Dining Room?

written: March 4, 2008

Really settling in now. It feels sooo good to not have 100 new things to learn and adjust to everyday. Work is pretty great, I must say. I laugh a lot. Talk to people from all over the world. Explain what natural medicine is to everyone (whether they’ve asked or not…I can’t help it. I just love spreading the wisdom and when you plant 100 seeds, you’re bound to have at least a handful sprout!) Sitting at a desk all day is nothing I’ve ever done before and is something I’m still adjusting to. Skipped lunch today and went to the gym to give my ass a break from being sat on. My co-workers are all fun. I love having the sun shine in through my window in the morning (even though it gets so hot I sweat…what a treat to just even be able to say that being from Seattle! It’s never too hot for me here! I think I must be de-thawing from the last 30 winters in Seattle.) I work a ton so my day off is always a treat. And speaking of, what do I do on my treasured day off, you might ask? Let me explain…

Imagine: no car, no errands, no friends (well yes, I have some but we all have different days off so they are working on my day off). Just me. And the beach. And the sunshine. So I sleep in….get a good 10 hours usually. When I wake up, I open my blinds and then the sliding glass doors… and stand naked while the morning sun beams in on me…Heavenly. (Hope that’s not too visual for anyone. But come on, if you know me, are you surprised?). If I’m feeling energetic, I’ll get a quick workout in at the gym on the second floor, then have breakfast/lunch, and then head out.

The beach in front of where I live stretches for at least a mile in both directions. Its relatively clean but there is certainly a bit of trash here and there. Some stretches are bare while others have an assembly line of lawn chairs available for $1/day, associated with a little hut that sells food and drink. Then there are the massage tables where I can get an hour long massage on the beach for a whooping $8. And yes, I do! Then there are the beach fronts associated with the Hilton, or the Hyatt, or the Marriott….and if you have white skin, you can get away with lying there all day for free. (Well, that’s just the truth of it, really….and yes, I do indulge in such a luxury and I must admit, I try not to wear anything flashy to get noticed. I mean, if I continue to do this on my day off for the next year, the chances of being recognized…..) I must digress…

It’s actually quite challenging to figure out where to go or what to do. I’m not much for town…its loud and busy and well, I think a bit dirty. And then there is the beach. I can lay out with 100 tourists in the chairs for $1/day and get hounded by locals trying to sell me clothes, bananas, sarongs, silk scarves, dried squid (haven’t had the guts to try yet…its the whole damn thing, eye balls and all)….or I can hang out on the lawn chairs at one of the aforementioned hotels….so that’s what I do. I suppose one of these days if I get homesick, I could take my laptop and work on writing more blogs as I sit in the totally-decorated-exactly-the-same-as-home Starbucks and use their wireless internet as I cozy up to a hot latte. (They don’t have a fireplace but I could still cozy up to a hot latte because the AC is always blasting away.)…and yes, I suppose I’ll probably do that one of these days. But as for now, I never get sick of the beach!

So I find a chair in the shade and chill out. (Speaking of the shade, I’m being very good about protecting my skin! I haven’t laid out in the direct sun yet! I must say, it’s easy to skip doing that when I know the sun will be out everyday all year round. It’s not like I’m on vacation and have 5 days to get a tan. No pressure! And the shade is much cooler anyway!) So, back to me chilling out. It’s amazing really. I’ve never been very good at chilling out…but I’m getting a lot better. My mind still likes to carry around this ‘list of things to do’ wherever I go. But I’m really getting good at letting that go. I had this silly list with me the last few weeks that included items such as blog topics I wanted to write about (I get 10 ideas for every one of these I actually ever get to writing!), websites I wanted to check out, silly little errands to do (like buying a seat cushion for my poor ass who’s sooo not used to sitting all day), music I wanted to download… Seriously, this kind of menial stuff is what makes it hard for me to relax. I’m always thinking of all the stuff I want to do, always. (Let me take a moment to ask, do you people whom are reading this ever even put stuff like this on a list to do? It seems much more go-with-the-flow if I just let go of my damn list obsession and just do this kind of stuff whenever it just seems like a good time to do it, right?!) Anyway, I must say, I’m very proud of myself because I threw away the list last Sunday and headed for the beach. (Truly, this is a huge for me!!)

After I find my comfy lawn chair, I either take a nap or read my fabulous book, “Eat, Pray, Love,” by Elizabeth Gilbert. I love this book! It’s the best book I’ve read in years! It makes me laugh out loud, right there in front of everyone around me. I wont let myself read too many pages at once these days because I’m getting sad that I’ll finish it soon. Anyway, I just keep laying there, watching people, taking a dip in the ocean, dozing off…unwinding from my 5 years of med school…and think deep thoughts like, “Wow, this is really cool.” Occasionally, I get sad and perhaps shed a tear or two when loneliness visits me and I think of how nice it would be if one of you fabulous people were next to me, to laugh and chat with. But I remind myself, that I will love all of you forever and that this life in Thailand will be but just a memory someday, and I will see all of you again.

The beach faces east so the sun is behind me by 4. But I just keep laying there, usually until it gets dark around 7 because, well, why not? Where else would I go?! The only thing that gets me up is hunger. So last week, I headed to one of the swanky tourist restaurants on the beach. (no cheap Thai prices here folks. Might as well be eating at a hip restaurant in downtown anytown, USA.) I walk in and they say, “Two for dinner?” “No, just me.” I am wearing my big straw hat and my loud stripped skirt. They seat me at a large table in the middle of the dining room and bring me some magazines….not sure if this is customary to bring to the table, or if they just didn’t know what else to do given that a woman was eating by herself in the dining room. I order a tropical papaya-pineapple drink, a delicious zucchini and tomato salad, and a uniquely divine seafood entree served in a coconut. I start feeling like I’m in a movie and feel compelled to keep my big straw hat on throughout my entire dinner. In order to see anyone, I have to tilt my head back a bit and look up from underneath my big straw hat. Otherwise, I just sit there enjoying my scrumptious meal, as the mysterious woman hidden under her big straw hat, eating alone in the dining room.