Coffeelosophy - part III

(part III)

P & R Productions

Gafaae had the resources and she utilized them. With help from her company, she first put on recitals with her husband the baritone. They re-introduced themselves to the Thai society as singers-performers. Right around the same time, they were also invited as guest artists in concerts of local music organizations. Things happen for a reason, and soon Gafaae was offered adjunct voice teaching positions in the music departments of two renowned prestigious universities, while at the same time she and her husband received requests from music lovers to take them as their private students. P&R: P stands for Pradichaya and R stands for Ralph, and one music critic referred to them as, 'an operatic couple, a match made in heaven.' Together, they built their teaching studio, and also produced concerts and productions of their own, their students and invited guests - all of which happened during their 'spare time' When it rains, it pours, but this was for a good reason: a man who had left Thailand decades ago returned with his brand new opera composition in English based upon a Thai drama by HRH King Mongkut (Rama VI), an opera commissioned to raise funds for the renovation of the Grand PhrayaThai Palace in which a large section of the land was turned into a medical school and a teaching hospital. There was a lot of advertisement for the event. By then, the talk of the town was 'KhunGafaae?' - khun is a polite title given to polite people by other polite people, 'She's the top business woman, she also sings opera.' No one put her down for 'sing to eat, dance to eat,' anymore. And by the time the famous opera production took place, Gafaae's youngest baby girl was barely four months old.

The decision

None of these was by any means a full-time job. Gafaae was on cloud nine, but she was exhausted maintaining the balance of her highly competitive business, her teaching, her performing, and her three boys and one girl. When she looked at the love of her life she was filled with worry, for he looked exhausted from being sleep deprived - his waking up at four every morning in order to beat the Bangkok traffic to get to school by six, and having gone on way past midnight every night because of the teaching, performing and socializing could not last forever. Gafaae asked herself if this was worth it. By then, both her parents had retired from their positions; yet, she was not appointed as their successor. Her business was at the point that either she gained total control or she would have to move on. On the peforming front, both Gafaae and her husband felt they fell into the 'local' category, but the even greater frustration came from being so far away from the mainstream singing culture and the consequent lack of access to teachers, coaches and more companies; not to mention all the other factors which are important in order to further their study in order to add to their singing and stage craft. Gafaae realized that she had to make a decision.

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Coffeelosophy

(partII)

Putting her dream on hold

While studying first as an undergraduate and then as a graduate student, all the teachers, directors, and coaches kept telling Gafaae and even her future husband that they both were too young for an operatic career, that they should be patient and wait until they were 28...30....32....older so that their voices had time to grow and settle into the repertoire they would perform. Gafaae had a tougher time since the teachers were too worried about figuring out the right 'fach' for her. She had a rich warm timbre of a mezzo but also a lot of ringing high notes. Was she a mezzo or a soprano? What should we do with Coffee? She graduated with a lot of confusion. Suddenly, the very dear thing that was the biggest part of her life was taken, stripped, and torn down. Since Coffee and the Voice were one, she lost her most trusted friend - herself-

Her mother could not have found a better time to make her this wonderful, out-of-this world, unsurpassed business proposition. While looking for her own 'Coffee-identity' she and her husband had their first child. Like all new parents, they fiercely felt that they had to provide and protect their baby boy, and since being a clerk at a law firm and working retail while trying to gain more singing experience would not be sufficient, Gafaae decided to pack up her small family and move to Bangkok, where she would remain for the next 13 years with three more additions to the family.

After the first five-years

Success was the key word, and success it was! Gafaae, although working under her parents' direction, but still with the belief that soon she would have total control of the enterprise, put in a lot of hard work and it paid off - she was on top of the world. One of the topmost leading business(wo)men she was, and standing by her side was a loving husband with his very highly respected and prominent job as an international school teacher at one of the best schools in Thailand. They were proud parents of three happy and healthy boys. They dined at five-star restaurants and took vacations at their own beach condo and mountain-top get-away villa, and they were regular guests at the Ambassador's residences of several countries. When Gafaae was stressed from work she went to her favorite jewelry stores and, judging from what she brought home with her each time, she was stressed quite often. Still, with all the success she had, she woke up everyday with the same thing that popped into her head - Why am I NOT singing and what am I doing here?

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Singers Unite! - by Ralph Schatzki

http://www.meetup.com/Classical-Opera-Musicians-of-the-Lehigh-Valley-COMLV/

I've posted before about how singers have to take the initiative in creating performance opportunities for themselves and their audiences. Not only is it good business practice, but it is such a unique privilege to be able to bring great music into peoples' lives. There's nothing quite like a live performance to enrich the soul.

Still, musicians often feel that they are “against the world” in their endeavor to perform. Let's face it: it's not as if the want-ads are full of job listings for freelance performers, and audiences aren't usually beating down our doors clamoring for us to perform.

There's a bred-in-the-bone distrust of fellow musicians, as well: in the past, the few jobs that were available were fiercely fought over, and musicians would often try to keep whatever information they had secreted away from others in an effort to remove their competition and hold onto their precious domains.

Now, the competition-cooperation dichotomy is one that truly fascinates me, and I could devote many, many chapters of a book to its discussion. Don't worry: I'm not going to subject you to that, here. What I will say, however, is that we should make a clear distinction between jobs that are advertised versus ones we create.

When the Metropolitan Opera throws out a casting call, you'd be a fool to inform your five closest rivals. After all, you want to be the best singer that gets heard. This is the traditional way of thinking about getting hired.

In creating jobs, however, we are not in competition with each other at all. In fact, there is tremendous strength in numbers that only our cooperative efforts can bring about. If singers can get together and brainstorm various ideas about how to generate performance opportunities, it's the better for all of us. We can introduce each other to our acquaintances thereby generating a large audience base, and we can be there to troubleshoot each others' ideas.

Remember that your product is unique, so there's no need to worry that someone will preempt your product. If I buy a Mercedes today, that means I won't buy a BMW tomorrow. But if I go to a soprano's recital on Thursday it doesn't mean that I'm done with recitals until I get a new one, and that the baritone's performance on Sunday is off-limits.

It's a rough world out there, and we need friends to help weather the storm. Don't be one of those artists who sits on the sidelines and complains about the unfairness of it all, and how you don't get a chance to perform. Take charge, and along with your colleagues band together to strengthen the community of artists wherever you find yourself. It's not only in your best interests, but your duty to the Art.

http://www.pradichaya.com/coffeemelodieandcommunity.aspx

CDs are available for purchase now

The Music Store: http://www.pradichaya.com/themusicstore.aspx
Atists: Pradichaya Gafaae Poonyarit & Ralph Schatzki






















Les melodies d'operas

Contents: O mio babbino caro
Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge
Io son l'umile ancella
Vision fugitive
Depuis le jour
O Carlo ascolta
Col sorriso d'innocenza
I've got a ram Goliath
La ci darem la mano






























































Don Quichotte & Classic Show Tune Favorites

Contents:
Wunderbar
Some enchanted evening
The impossible dream
Show me
I could have danced all night
Chanson romanesque
Chanson epique
Chanson a boire





























For pricing details, please log on to
The Music Store: http://www.pradichaya.com/themusicstore.aspx


Special saving on shipping when purchase two CDs and more!
Please write boutiqueinquiry@pradichaya.com so I can calculate the shipping discount for you!

Looking forward to seeing you all.
Thank you very much,
Pradichaya Gafaae.

CoffeeMelodie MP3 Music Store

So far, everything that Ralph and I do under CoffeeMelodie always goes back to the purpose of making the music become alive (or more alive) here in the Lehigh Valley, PA. I do a lot of crazy things such as selling items from my personal collection, selling smaller items hand-crafted from Thailand, offering sassy, classy performances right at the clients' homes (a program called Melodie-on-the-Go), all the way to downright asking for monetary support. I was born with the music in my heart and music is what I do best. Here I am in this nice town (great for bringing up my foursome) I might as well do what I can in the area that I know best. I would like to be able to pass the musical knowledge to the younger generation. I would like to create and generate the love and the passion in music and plant it into people's hearts. I hear people often say "We're trying to make a living here, we don't have time for this (music, classical, opera - to be exact)" It's up to me to help reminding the people that Music is the cure to all troubles, and singing is the best medicine to the soul. Why, don't we all sing in the shower everyday? Operatic, classical, musical broadway, spiritual and other kinds of music all the way to ((gasp)) pop music - these are music. Think of classical music as green eggs (and ham, Sam I am). Try it and it's your choice, but please don't deny anything you haven't tried. I was raised in a culture far away from classical music. My great uncle was a musician and with the passion in jazz, big band and Thai classical pop (yes, there is such thing) My late uncle was a famous singer and composer who never learned how to read music, yet, he captured everyone's heart by bringing out his passion through his arts of singing. I grew up singing pop music and was not introduced to the 'other' kinds of music until I came to the US many, many years ago. CoffeeMelodie's main purpose is to reach into people's hearts and bring out the gentleness, the kindness, the love, etc. though music.

Today, I proudly would like to present another mean to bring CoffeeMelodie towards its goal. An online MP3 music store is opened for direct purchase of our music both as singles and albums for as little as $0.99.

Please visit our store by clicking on the player, or please copy and paste http://www.soundclick.com/Store/byArtist.cfm?bandID=886780 to go directly to the store,

or http://www.soundclick.com/PradichayaGafaaePoonyaritandRalphSchatzki to go to the main page. Please click on a song title displayed on the player below to hear song sample.

Please help Ralph and me keep the music alive by helping us spread the word.
Thank you very much.

And I ramble on and on...and on

I dropped off from blogging a whole month - many things to do, a lot to think about, that, plus the day-to-day things makes it hard to write without the thought that I could have been doing something else! Okay, so I admit, I'm not so good at keeping journals. If I would just put my thoughts into words, we'd get a lot of ramblings of broken sentences. The way the mind works is very fascinating. Well, I think mine is anyway - since I underestimate the ability of my own mind most of the time! I can start on one subject and things will get rolling and the ending will be quite different. I do a lot of teaching even when I called myself a 'sales person' when I worked at Chuayjuljit. I had to give the sales people reasons to get motivated, and my talk had to convince them. Well, sometimes it worked with certain people, and sometimes it worked with other people. Sometimes it took kind and encouraging words with a lot of praises, and sometimes I had to be pushy and nudging them a little or a lot, that also depends on who and when and where I worked with at the time. I just kept plugging away - my objective was to sell my products to the sales people, and to sell the idea of 'how-to-sell' along with the tools (yet, another how-to) so my people can sell my products for me. Everyone who's doing anything (or not) has to have some sales personality within her/him in order to survive. Now that I'm no longer in the sales business - I still see myself as a sales person, selling my product in which I truly believe. The product is my voice, my art, the love and the knowledge of the music - all the learning that accumulated over the years, and still going. I'm out here selling my product as a performer, and the tools in refining and putting the product together and make it your very own package - as a teacher. Singing is much more than talent. Yes, talent plays a big part, but one has to put other elements into the singing to make oneself a singer. Ever since I was young, I loved to sing, and it made me so happy just to sing. In fact, when I was a young adult and started to sing the 'proper' way, the joy of singing gradually decreased. The more we learn, the more important we need to keep everything balanced, or we can end up being miserable. Knowledge is only good when one knows all the how/where/when to apply it, otherwise, it's like digging a hole while letting yourself sink in it. Knowledge backfires if you serve it, instead of letting it serve you. Well, same with just about everything else, isn't it! I have to keep reminding myself that I can't let what I know become my own handicap - a baggage that I carry with me everywhere. And, at this point in life, having been there and done that, I can't help but knowing a lot, which makes it very easy to slip into the dark side, which draws out the cynical part of me. Cynicism = negativity = holding place = regression = oh boy, I've fallen and I can't pull myself up. The more I learn, the more I see, the more I say 'balance' Again, that goes into everything you do. You know how everyday when you get into the shower you just open your mouth, sing your heart out, when you finish with the shower you feel refreshing and have a sudden splurt of energy? Notice how 'happy' and 'relieved' you feel? That's the feeling I believe we all have to achieve and maintain.


Ha! I just gave a sample of how my mind travels from one subject to another! I've been rambling!!! I don't know what good this does to anyone but it's effective on me! Now I'm going back to my regular work with that refreshing thought as if I had just sung in the shower. May be I'll even sing - putting in all the know-how elements and the talent and the joy, 'as-if-I-had-just-sung-in-the-shower' Woohoo!!!!

Pradichaya Gafaae Poonyarit

CoffeeMelodie - Reaching for the Star --our first official Music Educational Outreach Program at Easton Area High School

My alma mater - Easton Area High School

After pestering my high school music director a little more than a few times, he found a slot for me to come in for a day to give my presentation and to work with the students.

I was exhilarated. What a thrill to go back to my old high school, walking the same hallway to the familiar choir department. The building has been renovated, and the choir room now is where the band room used to be, and new rooms were added for voice lab, piano lab, theory, and composition classes. I'm sure a lot of effort and perseverance of one particular person whom I regard as my very first mentor went into making it all happen. I saw the same two small practice rooms through glass windows - an electric keyboard was an addition in one of the rooms. The memories came pouring back - even the smell was the same as I remember! I almost see myself hanging out in the hall with my friends waiting for the bell to ring so we could go to choir - except that this time I wasn't a part of the group. The students gave me quick glances and went back to their conversations. They all are so young, so vibrant and so eager to join the world out there. Immediately my energy tank got filled up, the grogginess of having to get up at five went away. My outreach program is a new addition to my organization - which is, also, new. CoffeeMelodie is my baby. I decided a few months back that since the Lehigh Valley , PA is where my baritone (my DH Ralph Schatzki) and I make our residence, this is where we will make the most out of our musical knowledge. I feel that both my baritone and I have a great deal of life experience, been there and done that, and it's time to pass this knowledge to and share such a wonderful experience with other people who have the same desire and passion and the love of performing arts as we do.

They may not be aware of that yet, but there's no harm in our introducing, poking, teasing, stirring, searching, and, building the love of the music. I have a strong need to do what I can to produce lovers of music - whether they will end up being singers/performers, directors/conductors, instrumentalists, or anyone on the music producing industry side, all the way to fans and audiences. My baritone and I, we are two idealists with strong principles. It doesn't matter that we are only two individuals, we've got to start somewhere - and this is where we start!

Thanks to my high school choir director Ed Milisits, not only did he insert my program into the busy routine of his, and his colleagues - Pete Descher and John Shilanskis- but he also sent a young pianist - Mike Nelson, a high school sophomore- on short notice to work with us on accompanying our pieces. We guided him through our three pieces in the aspect of "vocal accompaniment - how to - the crash course" as best we could within the short period we had. The result turned out really well. I'm sure Mike will agree with me that, now that he has three pieces under his belt, he is able to accompany them any time. Kudos to you, Mike!

We were to give a presentation in the first period choir which is 10th through 12th grades (7:20 am) and the freshman choir (around 9'ish am) and to conduct three classes of voice lab (8'ish, 10'ish, and 11'ish) My concern was the time factor. As any opera singer, or any singer, the body is my instrument: I carry it with me everywhere I go, and I make sure to take very good care of it. Because this was my first official CoffeeMelodie outreach program, I spent a good amount of time on the preparation, which had an unfortunate drawback on my body - I was excited, nervous, and, most definitely anxious - it involved in tossing and turning the night before so I ended up with only two hours of sleep. I didn't let that get in the way and managed to give myself a very thoughftul and careful twenty minute warm-up session before we rushed out and dropped off my youngest daughter off at my adopted parents' house (I adopted them). After I checked in at the front desk I went to the choir room and was told that there was still a meeting going on. I was directed to another room where Mike was rehearsing the pieces and I managed to vocalize for a few more minutes before I proceeded to the choir room. Seeing young faces perked me up. Mr. Milisits let us know beforehand that he kept our coming as a surprise to the students. He also asked our son Brendan who is a senior this year to introduce us. They were surprised, alright! We started the program. The size of the choir is around 180 people - as big as I remember. When the freshman choir is added it becomes almost 250 people - I wonder how many risers they use for a concert?!?! I recognized some students as Brendan's friends. I had on the program "La ci darem la mano" that Ralph and I shared, followed by the ever so popular aria "O mio babbino caro" which works wonders every time - though Lauretta is not my calling card, but then again, neither is Zerlina. Ralph presented "Some enchanted evening" as our last piece. Thank goodness that both my baritone and I were singing well. I wasn't worried about him, it never ceases to amaze me that he wakes up, hums a few notes, and is warmed up and good to go. As for me, it normally takes some time for the throat to remember its soprano-ness. Not yesterday, I was able to get into my soprano-dom and did my soprano thing at the crack of dawn - phew!!! Instead of laying out the story (boring), after each piece, we asked students what they saw, how they felt the piece was saying to them, along with questions such as - from what style or period the piece is, who they thought wrote the piece, etc., then we added just enough info and kept it light. What an enthusiastic group!!! The students were eager to participate. They were responsive, and quite knowledgeable, and, most definitely, curious. Afterwards, we answered some questions and concluded our programs. EAHS music department has a very good group of talent, and I believe that I saw some students who will further their study in music beyond high school. Wow!!!! It was a big success. We felt that we had touched each and everyone of them a little here and there, to various degrees. We are hopeful that what we did helped spark a beginning of new love (if not already) and desire in music in these beautiful young people. We look forward to seeing them again soon. As far as our outreach program, this was a beautiful beginning, and we hope that we will have more opportunities to offer it to other schools in our neighborhood. This is the beginning of something wonderful and we continue going after our dream and reaching for that very star.

Thank you EAHS choir members, thank you Pete and John. Big thanks to Mike and Brendan. And, Mr Milisits, thank you for telling me to go after my dream, and for believing in me.

From a coffee bean to an opera singer -- continue

Now that I told you a little bit of the story behind Thai nicknames, I can continue with my given nickname.

At his first glance at me, my dad burst out his impression, "Her skin color is as dark as roasted coffee beans" beaming, he reached for me. My mom -who never told me how she actually felt about that comment - assumed that my dad wanted to name me กาแฟ because of my (dark) skin color (as dark as coffee bean)

กาแฟ = Gafaae = Coffee There! You have it! I proudly present my nickname - Gafaae or Coffee.

My dad explained to me when I was a lot older that what he said didn't have any negative connotation to it. (Right! Not to HIM) He was just amazed to see a cute little baby (me) with dark skin, big black eyes, jet black hair that was so thick and shiny, and looked cropped as if I was one of The Beatles (maybe because they were so popular at the time - Now you know to which generation I belong). Because he was so excited to see me - his first born, he didn't realize that the story behind my name would be told over and over by close, and not-so close relatives, and he felt sorry that I had to put up with it for all these years! Later on, I was grateful that he didn't say "She looks like The Beatles, let's name her John, Paul, George, and Ringo" Now, you try adding 'Nong' to those!

Ok, so I became NongGafaae to everyone. When I was very young, I didn't like the name, and often felt embarrased when I was asked. Most common comments that came right after would be, "Oh...you're so dark you must be Black Coffee" (Gafaae Dum กาแฟดำ). I would get very angry and started making faces at the person(s) who made this comment, which then brought on another comment, " Uh..oh, now you're angry. You need to add a lot of milk and sugar to the coffee" (Gafaae sai namtaan sai nom กาแฟใส่น้ำตาลใส่นม) I was only a little girl, raised in a culture that taught me to be respectful to adults, as a kid, I could only swallow my feelings. Now as an adult, a mother myself, I remind myself to carefully choose my words around children. Things that are not that big of a deal to us, might be a big deal for children.

My mother, we never spoke about it, but she later started to call me 'Faae' short for Gafaae - which, on its own has no meaning - but I have a feeling that it was her way of helping me out. I wasn't embarrassed anymore when was asked for a nickname since it was just 'Faae' - a meaningless word that was just cute-sounding (Please don't forget to add Nong to the front of the name - NongFaae - now, doesn't that sound much better - and super cute!!!) Little did I know, when I later came to The United States, this shortened nickname would have great effect on my personality into adulthood- specifically relating to my self-esteem and self-confidence.

Hmmm.... Should I change the title to "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"

Naaaah!! Let's continue with the story.

My parents' business had a lot to do with westerners and those of western descents The Thai word for westerners and the like is farang ฝรั่ง - the same word also means guava, a delicious fruit that I turn to whenever I feel that I need to go on a diet. How a westerner is related to the fruit I have yet to find out. My first encounter with the farangs (oh, yes, all ex pats in thailand adapted the word and have been using it as an English word) was when I was a little more than three years old (yes, I remember!!!) There were two , one Australian and one British men. I called them LoongNoel and LoongJack. Loong means 'older uncle' Again, with the Thai's respect system, we call people by relating their ages (by estimating how old we think they are - from the way they look) to our parents. Well, in this case, my parents asked me to call them Loong I didn't figure that out on my own! Anyway, my two farangs spent so much time with my parents and I felt close to them. (Also, every time they visited Thailand, LoongJack would bring me the cutest teddy bears!) They first attempted to call me Faae, but failed miserably. Every time my name would be pronounced differently as if they were referring to different persons. They giggled and gave up, and called me "Coffee" From then on, my farang nickname is Coffee, while my real one remains 'Faae'. You know what, I did not get a single 'coffee' comment from any of the farang Loong. Whether they thought that having 'Coffee' as a name was odd, I'd never find out since they never made any comment. Later observation taught me that the farangs' mannerism is quite different than the Thais' The Thai adults - those who love you and mean well will comment and criticize you (the younger ones) and give you unsolicited advice relentlessly. The farangs that are close to me will make a comment only when I ask for it. With just the right amount from both Thais and farangs, it would be perfect!

There was one thing, though, that I did, that stopped people from paying attention to my name (or anything else about me - "Oh, she's so dark, just like her dad" "Why is she so tall? She doesn't look 'Thai' at all") It's the singing. Every time I sang - which was all the time - they (the adults) literally stopped and listened. I was told that I started singing even before I could walk, that my singing voice was big, full, and warm - not the sound that anyone expected to come out of a child's mouth. If someone has proof for that it would be my LoongJack, with whom I lost touch since the early 80's! He had several recordings of my singing. I have a lot of memories about how I'd burst into songs anywhere and at any time. I'd remember being on a bus going into the city with my grandparents and I would start singing. I'd be walking in a department store and burst into song. I'm not talking about singing children's ditties, I was singing songs that were played on radio stations at the time. Thanks to my parents who always have the music in their hearts. They'd sing together, play the recordings, and took me to places where there were live performances. Also, the hired help around the house, who listened to their favorite radio station while doing chores. My parents told me about the time that they took me to a small concert, and before they knew it, I was up on stage (uninvited) and started to sing along with the performer. Yikes! I can't imagine how awful that was for the singer and the embarrassment I caused my parents! I don't remember how that ended, but do remember very well through my pre-school years that I was not to run up and take over the stage from the singer, or, the police would put my parents in jail. The thought of my parents being put away really scared me, and stopped me from trying to take the stage. Little it did to my desire to be there, singing away. It was so bad that it hurt - have you wished for something so badly that it hurts? That's the feeling. I believe that my parents sensed it. From way back then, even until now, the notion of singing and wanting to become a singer was not a usual career choice. My mother, especially, kept telling me over and over that it was ok to sing for relatives (especially when my mother was the one making the demand), but never ever sing in public - not on the stage, and never, ever sing for money!!!! Here's a Macauley Caulkin Home Alone moment for you. (((Gasp))) As it turned out, I did everything my mother told me not to do.

Well, a small coffee bean was going on a big journey!

From a coffee bean to an opera singer - an intro

I simply started out as a coffee bean.

Hi, I am Pradichaya from Bangkok, Thailand. Many years ago, when I was born, I was given this beautiful name - Pradichaya . It's Sanskrit, and I was told that its meaning is 'a person who speaks with honesty' Also, my name was to match my mother's 'Sutcharit' - honesty.

But I was also given another name. Just like any Thai, we have nice long lavish first names. But because of the nice long lavish names, our parents would come up with nicknames for us to simplify the process of calling their children, especially when they are in trouble and parents are angry. Who has time and patience to call out fancy long tongue-twisters too difficult to pronounce anyway? (Never mind that they were the ones who gave us these names!) Nicknames usually come from favorite pets - cat, mouse, pig, elephant (they sound better in Thai, really) - anything but dog (no dog - it's considered rude, disrespectful and insulting all the way up the family tree), things, anything cute - they're big on insisting that their kids will be cute forever.

To sum it up, we often hear: Maew-cat, Mu-pig, Noo-mouse, Chang-elephant, Fa-sky or the color blue, Sai-sand, Naam-water, Mamuong-mango, Shompu-rose apple, Chompu-pink. My favorites are names that derived from English (they're all considered cute): Jawd, Jeb, Cookie, Pinky, Top, Mikeun, Samy or My, etc. These names are equivalent to George, Jeff, cookie, pinky, top, Michael, smile, respectively. To top it off, children are referred to as 'Nong' by parents, relatives, family friends, hired help in the household (lived in maids, nannies, drivers, gardeners) Nong literally translates to younger sister and brother, also indicates the respect that the person has for you (if you're called 'Nong') and for your parents - when added to the already cute and adorable names, it emphasizes that the already cute and adorable names are even more cute and adorable. Here are some samples of how we (Thais) are referred to: NongChang, NongTop, NongNoo, NongShompu, NongJeb. The term Nong remains with you for a long, long, long time, may be until you grow old - really, really old.

At this point, you probably wonder: To which nickname is she referred?!?!?!?

If you haven't found out already (of course not, then you wouldn't be wondering) I'll fill you in after I come back to the blog. (No, it's not coffee bean - though, that sounds pretty good)