In Chinese her name means “Sky” or “Heaven.”
We met Tian at tie dye class, of all places. I had no particular interest in tie dye. Heidi certainly has had an interest in the textile arts, but this was more about meeting people.
Expats often gather for activities like these when stationed away from home, not necessarily because they have a particular interest in the topic, but because they want to make friends.
Among the 20 participants, there were people from Thailand, America, China, Spain, Korea, Britain, Australia, Myanmar, and Malaysia. A spuny Irish woman in her 70’s talked of wanting a job, not for the money but because she was bored. In Bangkok!
Other than the retired Irish woman, people were younger than us. Most worked in private companies, as teachers, or for the U.N. A young Spanish couple next to us, both teachers, talked of their one-year-old son who was born in Mongolia before they relocated to Bangkok. That kid is going to get around.
We took an interest in Tian, and she in us, due to the China connection. In fact, she grew up in Sichuan, where we had twice lived. She was fascinated by our perceptions of the changes in China over time, since we first lived there before she was even born.
Along the conversation about China’s transformation, I asked her the most important question: “Have you found decent Sichuan food in Bangkok?” We hadn’t.
“Of course,” she said. “I always order it for delivery. I’ll order you some.” That’s the kind of promise that is graciously made and rarely kept, but we appreciated the sentiment.
I’m generally so impressed with the people I’ve met when hanging out with expats, at their experiences and competencies. We shared a cab with a Korean woman in her mid-30’s whose second language was French and had lived for 5 years in France, who spoke excellent English as well, and who served as our intermediary with the taxi driver because she was competent in Thai. She could not just operate effectively in all those languages, but across those cultures as well.
Our new Chinese friend, Tian, attended university in Sweden and now works for the U.N. in Bangkok. Her work has taken her to different regions of the world.
She was also well-trained in Chinese courtesy by her parents. The morning after our tie dye class Tian messaged me: would lunch or dinner be better for her to send Sichuan food to our condo? That brought back so many memories of kindness and generosity by Chinese people toward Heidi and me.
All of this from a tie dye class.