To the fine bunch of ladies that I do life with…. I live in a house with six other girls, all of who are volunteers at Wisdom Tree Home, where I used to work. This is a glimpse of what life looks like in our creaky old house.
Oh, we live in a house of seven girls
And bonny lassies are we
Seven girls and a dog (who cries when we leave)
All footloose and fancy-free
Where we’re from…
Lori and Crystal speak Dutch with each other
But Lori speaks it more to the dog
Nancy speaks Platt Dietsch when she talks with her mom
And leaves the rest in a fog
Kim hails from Canada, and so does Melissa
And Brit is a Buckeye at heart
She tries to speak Dutch but Thai comes out
Her brain can’t keep them apart.
Judi comes from where it’s cold all the time
And we like the way she says “sawlt”
We mimic the Canadians and the Thais and each other
And don’t always speak as we ought.
On Saturdays…
Brit goes to the market
And Judi goes to the mall
Where she walks and she looks
And buys nothing at all
Melissa goes to a coffee shop
Kim goes out with a friend
Crystal goes to the pool, and Lori,
Lori does homework till her hair stands on end.
Oh, we live in a house of seven girls
And bonny lassies are we
Seven girls and a dog (who cries when we leave)
All footloose and fancy-free
In the bathroom…
When Lori’s in the shower, she studies Chinese
And Brit plays songs in Thai
But Kim and Nancy play ukulele on the floor
By the tub where the echo rings high.
Judi sings songs like “Country Roads”
And also sings the song about the rose
But the dog outside outsings us all
When he misses his friends and howls out his woes
What we’re like…
Judi likes to kill things like mosquitos and snakes
But spiders make Brit turn white with fear
She’ll stand on her bed and shiver and shake
Till someone comes to smash it. Oh dear, oh dear!
Lori’s in a rush and can’t find her keys
Where Kim left her laptop is quite unknown
Brit wants to take a picture to send to her dad
But now she can’t do it cause she can’t find her phone
At a coffee shop…
Brit likes to journal and Nancy watercolors
And Kim always makes a new friend
Crystal studies Thai and Melissa writes an update,
And Lori does homework till her hair stands on end.
Kim swigs coffee, all black, by the pot
But Judi likes hers with cream
Brit walks the line between coffee and tea
But Melissa drinks just water, or so it would seem.
Oh, we live in a house of seven girls
And bonny lassies are we
Seven girls and a dog (who cries when we leave)
All footloose and fancy-free
At night…
Brit and Melissa go to bed early
Where Brit dreams amazing things
Crystal hums in her sleep, and all the rest
Wait to go to bed till the dtukae** sings
Lori sleeps up top at the end of the stairs
Where the others fear she’ll fall out of bed
Kim sits on her balcony where she sings all night
And Crystal smacks roaches in her room till they’re dead
In the future….
Melissa will get married and have 8 Chinese boys
That keep her on her toes and all look alike
Brit will adopt kids, and kids, and kids
Half of which will be two-year old tykes
And Kim will lead worship in a Chinese town
With her husband who’s 6 foot 4
While Judi sips coffee at her own little shop
On the edge of the Grecian shore
Nancy will marry and move to the States
Where she’ll make fajitas like a very fine wife
Crystal will move to Africa’s horn
Where she’ll look after orphans all of her life
While Lori rides her horse from village to village
As she teaches in the mountains of Pai
But for now we live in this shaky old house
Together and happy, here in Chiang Mai.
Oh, we live in a house of seven girls
And bonny lassies are we
Seven girls and a dog (who cries when we leave)
All footloose and fancy-free
* “Baanies” is a play on words that comes from the Thai word “baan,” which means “home.” Instead of saying “homies” when referring to our housemates, we call ourselves the “baanies,” which is another play on words in the English language, since it sounds like “bonnie.”
** a dtukae is a large lizard like creature that likes goes “Dtu! Gaa! Dtu! Gaa!” at night.
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