Clothes for health or a girdle pyramid scheme?!!?

Yesterday I was at the pre-school hanging out with the teachers. We have become closer recently and I enjoy chatting with them; I'm particularly close with PiPong. PiPong kept asking me about "clothes for health" and pointing to her stomach and then my stomach. I just didn't understand. She kept telling me that I should put clothes for health on and I asked questions like "When will I put these clothes on?" and "What type of clothes?" to try to understand, but alas, I had absolutely no clue. I was frustrated because I feel as though my Thai has gotten to a point where I understand most of what is said around me and this conversation made me doubt my language ability. I just told her I didn't understand and she replied "It's okay, I'll go to your house and show you." I had visions of her coming over and going through my closet and seeing all of my not-so appropriate Bangkok going out clothes. Anything that's not a collared shirt and long pants is not appropriate in rural Thailand, but you better believe I wear tank tops and dresses when I can in Bangkok. Regardless, we switched topics, because when I don't understand, I just don't understand and there's not much to be done about that.

That evening, I was watching a movie and hanging out in front of my fan and there is a knock on my door. It's PiPong and 3 other ladies. One of the ladies speaks English because she married an American and has lived in California for 17 years. We sat on my porch and did the usual conversations with unexpected guests. Then they ask if they could go inside. We all sit on the floor and this one woman who is really dolled up with fancy hair and make-up opens up her briefcase. Turns out she sells girdles that are apparently good for your health and make you more firm and healthy. Aha, it all makes sense now! All the women, including PiPong, were wearing these black and purple girdles under their clothes. They want me to try it on, and before you know it, I was standing there naked in front of these women as they attempted to squeeze me into a Thai-sized body girdle. I couldn't believe it and all I could do was laugh as the sales woman was snapping a "healthy" bra on me. There I stood in a full, 3-piece girdle.

Now came time for the sales pitch. So we all sat back down on the floor, me still wearing the tighter than tight black girdle from my knees on up. The woman who lives in California acted as the translator and explained all of the health benefits of these clothes. This lasted for at least 25 minutes - and that's a long time to be sitting in nothing but a tight girdle on the floor! They informed me that you can wear this under your clothes all day and night - even when sleeping and exercising. There is a special soap you can buy to wash it every 3 days. They showed me before and after pictures of very obviously different women and the wonders it did on their beauty; I just smiled politely. Apparently there was a seminar at a hotel on Sunday about all of this and they invited me. I politely declined. How lovely.

I wasn't really sure how this was going to end and how I was going to get these women out of my house, so I just sat there. Out of curiosity I asked how much this all costs. Get this... 3-pieces were $1,500 American dollars! Ridiculous! They proceeded to tell me that if you bought a set and then sold more sets, you would get some money, and so on. It was a girdle pyramid scheme!

About an hour later, they left; letting me try the girdle for the night to decide if I wanted to buy it. I said my goodbyes as I was still in the girdle getup. The second they left, I peeled that 3-piece girdle off of my body baffled about what just happened. Part of me still doesn't believe that I was stripped down, basically felt up, and squeezed into a tight black 3-piece girdle by one of the pre-school teachers and 2 strangers. Just another day in Thailand?