Talking with Don...post movie date

I must say, simply, Don is a really nice guy. Our date night at the movies has come and gone, and the “Hi Jody!” and “Hi Don!”’s haven’t missed a beat.
“Hi Jody!” “Hi Don!”...Without fail, every time I walk into the cafeteria, his joyful greeting is as reliable as a fine Swiss watch. Its amazing how much our smiles communicate, given that our words often fall short of full understanding. For example:

I walk into the cafeteria for breakfast the other day. It was around 8am. And the conversation went something like this:
“Hi Jody!”
“Hi Don!”
“How are you today, Jody?!”
“I’m great Don! Thanks! How are you?!”
...We stand there. We exchange smiles. We fidget awkwardly, as I attempt to keep a hard boiled egg from rolling off my plate. I think of something else to say...
“What time did you get to work this morning, Don?”
Don replies,“At 11.”
“Hmm. No. What time you start work today?” (I thought perhaps if I use simple verb tenses, it might help him to better understand me.)
Don replies, “At 11.”
Hmm, I thought to myself, maybe he really did start at 11. "Did you sleep here last night?"
"No!" As he laughs at me for thinking such a silly thought.
"Don, you arrive today, what time?" (Maybe shaking up the word order a bit would help.)
"Jody, 11!"
“Hmm. No, right now it is 8. What time you arrive today?” (I was impressed at my ability to carry on without losing it.)
With a big smile, Don replies, “Oh! 10.”
I barely hold back breaking out into full hearted laughter and instead, fall back on my charade skills…
I point to my watch. “What time…” I point at the ground. “…today…” I point to him, “…you…” and then pretend I’m him riding on a motorbike. I then ‘park’ it and get off as I point to the ground again. “…come here, to work, today?”
Drum roll please…..Don replies, “Oh! I start 7 today!”
Victory!!

With that, we exchanged smiles of pride from our accomplishment of achieving full understanding of our morning greeting. (This of course doesn’t always happen. On the days that I don't have time to act out my sentences via charades, we generally exchange our morning greetings, both of us saying a few things as we nod in agreement...yet quite evidently without either of us understanding anything.) Being that I had to be at work in a mere 45 minutes (and I need 10 minutes to eat my eggs and at least 8 minutes to get from the cafeteria to my desk), I didn’t feel I had time to embark on another sentence. So we exchanged our final smiles as I put another hard boiled egg on my plate and he walked back into the kitchen.

And, example #2:
But first, a little side note... It doesn't matter if you are a Thai living in Thailand, or some other nationality eating at a Thai restaurant anywhere else in the world, everyone loves the dish, Phad Thai. For those of you not in the 'know,' its basically a bunch of thin rice noodles, fried up with a great blend of veggies and spices, a bit of chicken or perhaps tofu, maybe some egg, and garnished with herbs and peanuts. Well, the staff here at the resort are no exception; everyone loves Phad Thai. Ironically, for some unknown reason it is only served once a month here in the staff cafeteria (while all the other random noodle dishes seem to be endlessly served as if they're always yesterday's leftovers...and they probably are).

But here is the even bigger unknown point: on the day that Phad Thai is served in the cafeteria, we apparently hire outside staff to come in and prepare it. They set up their big frying pots outside on the patio and are there for hours, frying up batch after batch.

So its Phad Thai day. I'm sitting in the cafeteria, eating my Phad Thai, and Don walks over.
"Hi Jody!"
"Hi Don!"
"Do you like Phad Thai?!"
"Yes I do Don! Thanks! But I have a question for you. Why don't we make Phad Thai here, in our own kitchen?"
"Yes, I make Phad Thai," Don replies.
"No. Why no Phad Thai, you (as I point to him) in kitchen here (as I point back to the main cafeteria kitchen)?"
"Phad Thai once month here."
I love this...and continue on, as my determined self must do, this time trying even more simplified sentence structuring...
"Yes. Understand. Once month but me confused. Why we no make here? (as I repeat...) Make (as I motion like I'm cooking) here (as I point again back to the kitchen)?"
"No, no make here," as he shakes his head, no.
I think of a new question, "Phad Thai hard to make?"
"No, not hard make," Don replies.
But I quickly start running out of steam..
"You make here?" I ask.
"Yes. Here next month," Don replies.
Okay, that's it. "Ah, good! Next month!" I realized it was time for me to give up because I couldn't hold back my laughter any longer. So I smile instead. As we both nod affectionately, Don turns around and walks back into the kitchen...to continue making the other entree of the day, which of course, is not Phad Thai.

And last but not least, one of my favorites...
"Hi Don! When is your birthday?"
"Next year."