Paying rent

Evening folks!

Well, it's that time of month and the other day I headed over to the owner's house to pay my monthly rent. The owner of my house is a really funny guy and a real nice guy. He's been wonderful to me and I can't ask for a better place to live, but our interactions are interesting and I thought that they were deserving of an entry on the good ole blog. I wish I had a picture of him (and I'm sure I'll eventually get one) but he's a very cheery looking man. He has a nice belly and a great smile and whenever he speaks to me he speaks in Thai/English and I can't hardly understand anything he says. So, our conversations are drawn out because he insists on speaking in English and I speak to him in Thai and we sometimes go around and around, but that's part of the fun of it. He's married and his wife is really sweet and very different from her husband. She is often times over here watering the plants and taking care of things and is always asking me about school and were I am traveling to over the weekend. They also have a young son (who I would guess is about 8 or 9 years old) and is already taking after his old man in terms of the belly department. Anyway, I've paid rent several times and now have developed an understanding of what exactly this whole process is. You might be thinking that this is very simple. I pay him. He says thank you and I'm on my way. Guess again. Thais are world-renowned for their hospitality and service and nothing is done simply. After being caught in a awkward predicament the first couple times I paid rent, I prepared appropriately this time. You see, paying rent is a about a four hour process that inevitably involves several beers, peanuts, us laughing at something that really isn't that funny and general conversation that seems to go in a big circle. But despite all of that, I really enjoy it (that is, if I don't have anything else I need to be doing). You see that was the predicament I found myself in the first few times I paid rent - I had other things I needed to be doing and he wanted to chat and socialize. One time is was school work and the other was dinner cooking at home. So this time, before I paid rent, I cleared my schedule and made sure I had the whole night free. I headed over and was greeted by his wife who ushered me into the living room where I the owner with a towel around his waist sitting on a stool in front of the TV with his son. We exchanged the necessary pleasantries and asked the inevitable question if I wanted a beer. Now, to be more precise, he asked me if I wanted a Leo (Leo being a type of beer here). He is under the impression that is my favorite beer and as such always offers it to me. So, having previously cleared my calendar I accept and we begin the evening. Conversation shifts from school, extra classes and my general life to his son, work, the gardens around my house and other extraneous topics. After a few beers, the amount of laughing increases not because we are drunk but because as the conversations evolve away from those easy topics into harder, more complex topics we laugh to cover up the fact that we don't know exactly what the other is saying. But, hey, that's why it's fun. And so that's how the evening goes. Us shooting the breeze with him in his towel and his wife and son watching Harry Potter in the background. Several hours later, we call it a night and at this point I finally accomplish what I've come to do and pay my rent and I call it a night and feel a strange sense of accomplishment.