mi amigo

I went to the tailor shop after church today to take my dress back and (hopefully/finally) get the lining fixed properly.

I put the dress on, and Navin, one of the employees, pinned it. I was all ready to leave, but he insisted that I stay and have a drink of water. Navin and another employee got to telling me about their lives and families back in Burma, how they came here to find good jobs, how they worked illegally for awhile, and about all the struggles they went through as illegal immigrants.

Navin hasn't been home since he arrive four years ago. His mom always asks when he'll be back. "Next year, Mom." But, he told me, next year never comes.

"How can I go home and visit when that money could feed them for a year? So I stay."

Anyway, he said my dress would be ready and he could drop it by on Tuesday night.

This evening, Navin called me up to chat. He said he liked that I really listened as they talked. Then he asked if we could be friends. (Yeah - I know...) I couldn't say no!

Over the next 20 minutes or so, he covered a wide variety of topics including (but not limited to) alcohol, food preferences, astrology, past girlfriends, Thai cuisine, money troubles, and his family life.

Tonight, I had four missed calls from the tailor shop's cell phone. What have I gotten myself into?