This afternoon we held our party for the sea gypsies from the south of Thailand. Si Jie put together a picture slide show of their time here. We ate some munchies, played their favorite game Fruit Basket and had a fun photo shoot. Each student wanted an individual picture with Jodie, Si Jie and I. Two cameras documented the 17+ photo shoot. In the beginning I felt like a model and by the end of it I felt like a plastic wax statue.
As we left the party we ran into Father Joe and two other ladies who were surrounded by a group of kids from Mercy 6. During our chat with them, Father Joe invited us to his house for a party. We accepted of course because party’s at Father Joe always promise to be a good time. We had a couple of hours till kill before our second party so we went to Carrefour and treated ourselves to ice cream.
At 6:30 we arrived at Father Joe’s and learned about the two girls that we meet earlier. One girl named Vanessa is a world famous photographer and for the last 4 years has been taking pictures of Mercy and the slums. The book is called Slaughter House Angels and has just been released a month ago and it retails for 100 Canadian and you can find it on Amazon.com. A perfect birthday gift…hint hint. Anyways, during our time together we learned that she was a famous photographer who is currently taking pictures of horses and palaces for the filthy rich in Dubai. In the past she has taken pictures of luxury goods, such as jewelry, and designers such as Christian Dior. She was accompanied by a girlfriend named Kristi who is a Polish horse racer who was incredibly skinny and beautiful and made us all conscious about how much pizza we were eating.
Okay back to Vanessa, she has released another book that features portraits of RINGO (from the Beatles), Andrea Pauveriti (famous tenor), Claudia Schiffer (model), Jacque Veninue (famous race car driver). They are all friends of hers and she photographed them for a book benefiting the Red Cross.
The best part of the evening was when she offered to treat us to the best Japanese food in the world TOMORROW night. Let’s just say all three of us are ecstatic about spending a evening with these hi soi (high society) girls. I would compare it to hanging out with Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City. These girls are jet-setters and live quite privileged lives but at the same time are really down to earth. Mom, I’m warning you. If Vanessa offers to hire me for the summer to travel the world with her and carry her camera bag, I just might have to accept.
The three of us left Father Joe’s walking and talking a million a minute. "What am I going to wear?" "Should I get my hair washed professionally for this?" and I can’t believe I wore my only good outfit today" were just a few of the things that came out of our months on our long walk home. Usually we would have taken a taxi home, but we were so full of energy and excitement that we walked home and discussed our preparations for tomorrow all the way back to Soi 40.
All and all, the events of tonight have made my life. I forgot to tell you that Vanessa also is planning a boat trip for the children of Mercy 6 on April 29th and has invited us to come along. Of course, we accepted but for a moment we hesitated so that we didn’t look too desperate.
I’m sure tomorrow nights post will be even more juicy and eventful. We have a day to get ready and prepare ourselves. Until then….
Sending love from Thailand
Misty
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