Last year in 2018, I was working in Ward 4 at Samitivej Chonburi Hospital. It was my first time that I had ever taken care of the first foreign patient of this ward. R was her name. She had undergone the Gender Reassignment Surgery.
I was very worried and frightened as it was my first time that I spoke English with a real person since I had been studying English. Sometimes I said it right, sometimes wrong, but I thought I only wanted to communicate with her just to understand.
I looked after R a total of 7 days from the first post-operation to discharge date. We got acquainted easily and later I felt much more relaxed. I bought her some snacks, ice cream and introduced some activities such as hair braiding and preparing a room for a mother after labor.
R told me that she traveled alone to Thailand. At first, R was afraid, felt lonely and insecure. Since she had met me, she could calm down and didn't feel lonely anymore. She could smile and enjoy her time while she was here.
This made me feel more confident as English is no longer a barrier to being friends. We became close friends. R trusted me a lot.
On the day that she left the hospital, we took a lot of pictures. I gave her a teddy bear and we hugged each other. R was my first foreign friend and she had helped me start learning English.
We have kept in touch. R flew to Thailand again early this year. She visited me and we had dinner together. It was a real good time since we had met last year and could smile with each other again. We chatted a lot about many things of the passing year and we still missed each other as good friends. R promised that she will find another opportunity to meet me again.