Wai Kru Pictures

These are my LVT 1 students Wai-ing to the teachers. The students on the right had to crawl on their knees when presenting the gifts. Ouch!

On the right, you can see some of the gifts my students gave me.There is a palm leaf cone filled with flowers and incense. The white one is pure jasmine. It smells sooo amazing. I have tons of these!

Wai Kru Day

Today we celebrated Wai Kru Day which is a day of respect for teachers. "Wai" is the bow of respect in which you place the palms of your hands together and put them up near to your face. People of inferior status always wai to their superiors. "Kru" is an ancient word for teacher which carries a lot of connotations. It implies that teachers deserve respect because teaching is a very heavy, difficult and important job. This morning there was a ceremony and the students all bowed to the teachers and sang an ancient song about teaching. Then they presented us with these amazing golden bowls filled with flowers arranged in designs. The vice president of our school came and made some offerings to the Buddha shrine. Then a student read an essay about teachers but I couldn't understand it because it was in Thai. Apparently this holiday has been celebrated for about 500 years and every school has this day at the beginning of the semester. It always occurs on a Thursday because that has traditionally been the special day for teachers. Even the flowers the students gave us have symbolic meanings such as endurance, knowledge, patience, etc. Our office is covered with wreaths of jasmine and roses and decorations made from palm leaves and incense. Today, the teachers all had to wear traditional Lanna clothes so I will post some pictures soon showing this style. I felt very happy this morning and proud to be a teacher.

Bathroom Habits

After a month here, I have finally unlocked the secrets to Thai bathroom behavior. I kept noticing these spiggots/hoses behind every toilet. They look like the ones we use in the kitchen sink to spray dishes. Well, I always assumed that these were used to clean the floors in the bathrooms. I only recently discovered that actually these are used to clean your "area" after going to the bathroom. I guess it's a bit like a bedet (biday?) You just use that hose thing and then use the toilet paper to dry yourself off. You throw the toilet paper into the waste basket rather than in the toilet. Seems pretty interesting. However, I refuse to try it in a public restroom. I'm not exactly sure where those hoses have been!

A Lazy Saturday Morning at the Riverside

So this is Hilary and this is me at the Riverside Restaurant one saturday after a long night out.
In the pictures, we are literally sitting over water. The restaurant hangs out a bit and it's on stilts in the river. It's owned by a Dutch woman I think and it has a pretty extensive menu...lots of western food so it makes us happy. The two bottom pictures are the views of the river depending on which way you're looking. That rectangular item on the suspension bridge is a picture of the king (of course) and there is a wat (Buddhist temple) peaking out at the river in the other picture. I think the day I took these pictures we discovered these amazing mushroom souffles at the Riverside. I can't even explain how good it is!

When I grow up, I want to be a drummer

The Good News is...

that Hilary and I are moving out of our apartments! Last week our friend Karen took us to look at a house on a whim. We weren't really expecting anything but we absolutely loved it. There was a Danish couple living there before and they told us that they had no complaints about it at all. It's actually less per month then we're paying at our apartment (which is basically a hotel room). I can't believe it! So this place is like a townhouse so we share one wall with our neighbors. In the downstairs there is a living room, half bath, kitchen (with appliances and disher) and a cool back stoop. Upstairs there are two bedrooms and a bathroom. Only one bedroom has air con but we decided that we would share that room on really hot nights. The other bedroom has a cute little balcony. The whole place is furnished and it's in a really cool neighborhood called Soi Farang (literally "Foreigners' Lane"). A bunch of our friends live down there and it's still in the heart of town so we can easily get around. We went to visit the owner at his shop and he seemed really cool. He said he wanted to clean the place before we move in (which is unusual here so I felt quite lucky). I'm just so excited to have more space and be able to cook more. Right now we only have one hot plate, a water boiler and a fridge. We generally cook noodles or soup or curry in my room. So we'll be moving in on July 22. I can't wait.

Taiko Drumming and New Generation Cowboys

Wow! I had a really amazing day yesterday. After school and a nap, a bunch of our friends went to Kaelang Park to watch an international drum festival. Some students from my school performed a dance with flags which was actually pretty good then the real fun began. The Lampang drum corp went upon stage and played these huge drums. i think it was a kind of traditional music and it was so loud and thunderous...just so powerful. then the main act was a group of Taiko drummers from Stanford. Taiko drumming is a traditional Japanese style of drumming and it involves a lot of dancing around with a the drum sticks and also lots of syncopated shouting and chanting. i've really never seen anything like it. i actually took some videos which i will upload soon. it was such a cool cultural performance. our friend Kazuyoshi was with us and he said he'd never seen anything that good in Japan.

after the drumming we had dinner and watched the football game. then Karen had this idea that we should go to the biker bar because "it's the best live band in Lampang." i was a little skeptical since all the live Thai music i've heard has been a sort of easy listening. when we got there, the band was playing CCR and they were actually quite good. they played mostly classic rock which we all sang along to. after the show, the band members came over and sat with us since they're friends with karen. the one man, Gaeng, was wearing snakeskin boots with spurs on them and a huge turquoise belt buckle. he looked pretty hardcore, but the minute he started talking you could tell that he was a very laid-back guy. the bikers here are nothing like biker gangs in america (besides the riding bikes part). i started talking to Gaeng about his style and he explained, "I'm a new generation cowboy. I don't ride the horse but I ride the motorcycle." he is in charge of organizing Bike Day which is I guess kinda like Bike Week in Daytona. He showed us pictures from last year and it looked pretty cool. also, Gaeng said that there will be an Elvis impersonator performing with their band in August. Apparently during August there is an Elvis week in Chiang Mai. should be pretty funny. speaking of singin, Gaeng and his band were very keen on getting Hilary and I to sing with their band. i said i might get up and sing with them for a couple songs but that i didn't think i could sing with them everynight and then teach in the morning. all in all it was a great time and i'm glad to know that there's some good music in Lampang.

today Hilary, Noah and Dave all went to Chiang Mai so I'm all by myself. it's actually nice to have some time alone but it's difficult to do things on my crutches without any help. i'm going to hang out with the Philipinos today. Gemma and Divina are really cool and we're going to watch movies and cook. i can't believe how much i miss cooking! however, that will all change very soon....more to come.

King's Celebration

The top two pictures show everyone processing into the park and the huge picture of the king on stage. The girls in the white dresses were preparing for their Thai dancing performance. Directly above is Hilary(she's from wisconsin and is my bff here) and Karen (who is South African). Karen is really awesome and helpful. she always invites us to go out for dinner or go to parties. to the left is a picture of a band playing traditional thai music. it's pretty sweet but a little dischordant.

Sai Sin

Thais are very magical and superstitious people and they have integrated customs from the early, animistic religion into their current Buddhist practices. Recently I've received sai sin which is a white string tied around the wrist. It is blessed by monks before it is tied on. "Sai" means thread and "sin" means magic. An older person must always give the sai sin to a younger person as a form of blessing, protection or good luck. For example, at the beginning of the semester all of the teachers tied these on our students during a ceremony. Then the director of our program tied them onto all of us teachers. These strings are worn for a few days after which time you can cut them off or wait until they fall off.

The sai sin is used in almost every special occassion or Thai ceremony. Usually babies wear the sai sin for the first year of life because Thais see this as a very dangerous period. When people get married, the sai sin is used to bind the hands of the husband and wife. Sai sin is even used in Thai funerals. They tie a long piece of white string to the end of the casket and then family members and friends hold onto the thread as a final connection to the deceased. It's a very beatiful and meaningful tradition.

I'm keeping my sai sin on as long as possible. After my accident, I will do anything for some extra protection and good luck!

Surreal

Last night we were having dinner at an outdoor restaurant when a baby elephant walked by with two mahouts(elephant trainers). I mean, it was seriously five feet away from us and just walking up and down the streets of Lampang which is quite unusual for the city. We were so excited to see it but all the Thais in the restaurant didn't even look up from their meal. It was a definite moment of culture shock.

I Hate You, Dogs of the Street

If there's anything that Lampang has an overabundance of, it's mangy street dogs. at first, i was very wary of them but they're pretty harmless as a whole. they generally lounge around and don't even pay attnetion to the people passing by. they hang around the night market and wait for scraps of food. however, last weekend hilary and i tried to take some pictures of these gigantic lotus flowers at the end of our street and we nearly got eaten by two dogs. they were barking and started chasing us. hilary tried to act calm but i definitely broke into a run. i was just about to jump on top of a car in order to escape from them when an old lady came out and yelled something in Thai at them. it worked and they backed off.

then this weekend, we went out for dinner and decided to walk from the restaurant to the pub where we were going to watch the football match. it was drizzling a little bit so i covered my cast with a plastic bag. as we were walking, a dog started following us and then he discreetly pulled the bag off my leg and absconded with it! i couldn't believe it. what does a dog need with a plastic bag anyways?! it was all very bizarre but i was just glad he didn't attack me or anything. it seems that the dogs here feel a little threatened by my crutches....they always get all riled up when they see me walking so hilary and noah have become my personal body guards. augh!
those crazy dogs, always up to no good.

Pictures from King Bhumipol's Celebration

These are all pictures of my IEP 2 students who are about 19-20 years old. They're so cool! This was at the king's celebration. Though most people were wearing yellow, the students had to wear their school uniforms. The picture with the strange lights was when we were all lighting candles for the ceremony. The lady in the pink shirt is Gemma. She's a Philipino teacher who has been here for 3 years. She's very friendly and motherly...really takes care of everyone in the office.

Football Fever/ King Fever

I'm pretty sure that my fracture was a stress fracture. It seems like it happened gradually rather than suddenly. I'm not really in a lot of pain though the inconvenience of walking up and down endless flights of stairs if pretty bad. I get tired very easily. TGIF! i'm so excited to relax and take it easy this weekend. i'm expecting a call from mom and dad on saturday night. i want talk to dad for father's day. in thailand, father's day is recognized on the king's birthday and mother's day on the queen's birthday. we will also have some sort of ceremony at the end of this month in which the students will pay respect to their teachers. i like the sound of that!

we only did a couple of things for King Bhumipol's ceremony. we went to this park and there were tons of people wearing yellow and the whole park was decorated with banners and pictures of the king. there was a band playing traditional thai music which frankly sounds a bit shrill to me. the timing is very strange to western ears but i suppose there's a science to it. then they had a ceremony and everyone sang special songs for the king and the national anthem. someone read a speech about the king's life and there were large screens projecting the ceremony in bangkok. everyone lit candles and then there were fireworks. after that, there were two different stages with traditional thai singing and dancing. that was the end of the first day. since then, there have been many activities going on in bangkok but very little happening here. there was a parade the other day and then they showed coverage of visiting dignitaries on TV. people are continuing to wear these yellow shirts all of the time. we only have one shirt like this and the school keeps telling us to wear it...sometimes two or three days in a row. since we have no way to wash them, they are getting pretty smelly. there is a laundry service at our apartment but it takes at least one full day. i feel pretty spoiled getting my laundry done for me!

well the world cup is all the rage here. last weekend, our english friend had a party because it was england's first game in the series. before the game, all the english guys played these special world cup songs on the CD player and sang along. after England won, we were treated to more of the rowdy singing. "It's coming home, it's coming. Football's coming home." I guess this means they will bring the trophy home. Apparently there are quite a few world cup songs which are very inspirational. I heard a song called "One" by some Korean performers. It was pretty good.

Some of my students and fellow teachers have admitted to waking up in the middle of the night to catch certain matches. the funny thing is that thailand doesn't even have a team in the competition! on TV there is a commercial playing that says,"We all speak the same language: football." it's actually a really nice sentiment so i'm trying to keep up with the games as a show of global unity. too bad america started off poorly. tonight we will go to this small pub called Au Si to watch some of the matches. tomorrow is Italy vs. US...hope we can do better than in the last game. it's kinda fun to get in the spirit of things. there are so many activities surrounding the world cup that it makes you really want to be a part of it. anyways, i'd much rather watch sports than participate in them. with my current condition, that shouldn't be too hard.

Mysterious Fracture

So i feel like the stupidest person in the world. Sunday afternoon, my left foot started bothering me and I thought it was just a fluke. I went home and was having problems sleeping because the pain was getting worse. Monday morning it didn't feel too bad but by the end of the day it was hurting me again. Today it was so bad that the school ended up taking me to the hospital and getting it x-rayed. Turns out that I have a fracture in the bone of my big toe. The strange part is that I didn't have any sort of accident...I didn't sprain it or fall or drop anything on it. The only thing I can think of is that on Sunday Hilary and I rode on the back of our friend Dave's motorcycle. We had to share the foot rungs so my feet were on the bottom of Hilary's. Maybe they just got crushed or something? However, my feet weren't really bothering me after that bike ride so I can't really understand how this happened. People keep saying to me, "What happened to your foot?" and I feel like such a fool because I'm like, "I honestly don't know." Another part of the problem is that the ground here is so uneven. I usually trip on something everyday so that might have exacerbated the problem.

So now I have a cast and crutches for the first time in my life! Luckily, the school's insurance paid for the hospital visit and everyone at the hospital was very friendly. I only have to wear this cast for three weeks. It's already quite itchy! I can't wait to decorate my cast. My request to you guys is that you send me some mail because I'm going to be sitting around a lot. Email or snail mail is fine or you can even call my cell phone if you get the urge. You will have to use a calling card and remember that my time is 12 hours ahead. Let me know if you need my cell number. Any contact would be much obliged!

Sweet and Spicy

Well, our cool, rainy weather has sadly come to an end. We're finally beginning to understand the true meaning of the hot season. It's been so warm and humid that I get a sunburn just from being out for a few minutes. We're constantly sweaty and running the air conditioning more than usual. Luckily we've been able to find air conditioned coffeeshops and internet cafes. Yesterday our friends took us to an outdoor cafe that was in a shady garden. It was breezy and the coffee was cheap but good. I was finally able to get a decent americano, that is, one that wasn't full of sugar. Thai people seem to love two very distinct tastes: spicy and sweet. Whatever is not spicy is generally very, very sweet. If you've ever tried Thai iced coffee or Thai iced tea you'll know what I'm talking about. It makes sense because drinking a very sweet drink really balances out the spice from the food. We've also discovered that the Thais have amazing pastries and ice cream. The ice cream here tastes so rich. It's like ice cream mixed with whipped cream. Hilary and I can devour a box in one sitting. We're all being very careful about what we eat after Noah's food poisoning incident. Because it's almost the rainy season, the flies are very bad right now. They're everywhere in the market and so we've been avoiding buying anything that's not sealed up. We're staying away from most street food and only eating at very clean restaurants. Noah has even become a semi-vegetarian and only eats meat fromt the very top-notch places. Hilary and I have discovered a new favorite food. Mostly we've been eating so much green and red curry. Yesterday we were finally able to find vegetarian suki-yaki which is a Japanese-style soup. It has vermicelli noodles, vegetables and tofu in it and there is a special kind of dipping sauce. There are restaurants in Lampang where you cook your suki at your table. Each table has a hot plate and a large bowl and you order whatever you want to put in your suki. It's pretty cool. Tonight there is a tea party hosted by the director of the international department. I'll let you know how it goes!

Cell phones and Thai tattoos

I can't believe it but i finally had to break down and buy a cell phone this week. I've been having problems with my land line because it's shared with everyone in the building and it kicks you off the line every 15 minutes. Plus, the cell phone system in Thailand is so much sweeter than in America. You don't use up any minutes for incoming calls and you just buy these SIM cards that are fairly inexpensive. You don't have to sign a contract or anything and your phone number is associated with you card, not the phone itself. It's been crazy having a phone but it has already helped me out this week. Unfortunately, i had to call one of the thai teachers wednesday night because noah had a terrible bout of food poisoning. he ended up having to stay in the hospital overnight because he was so dehydrated that he needed an IV. luckily, he got the poshest room that i have ever seen in a hospital. the hospital gowns here are neon pink so noah looked quite festive! don't worry, he's feeling much better and has been eating regularly.

today was declared a national holiday so school was cancelled. of course, we only heard about this two days ago. as everyone keeps telling me, it's just the "thai style, thai style." we've taken advantage of our day off by practicing riding motorcycles. our friends dave and karen were gracious enough to pick hilary, noah and i up on their bikes and take us to a park to practice driving. i think it's exciting and pretty exhiliarating. the only thing i'm afraid of is getting a "thai tattoo" which happens when you burn your leg on the exhaust pipe. hopefully avoiding it will just become instinct. we're going to practice some more tomorrow. hilary already had a little spill but she's just got a couple of cuts. she turned too quickly and got scared so she and the bike fell over. other than that little mishap, it's mostly like riding a bicycle. we plan on renting the bikes because the rental rate includes maintenance...oil changes, new tires, etc. we just have to pay for gas.

so tonight we are going to enjoy the festivities at Kaelang Park. there is a procession to the park and then there will be some performances and fireworks. i think i forgot to mention that hilary and i were rejected from the thai dancing. i think this happened partly because we weren't very good at it and also because we couldn't stop laughing because we kept falling over. i hope i can learn thai dancing at some point but it's a relief to not have to perform in front of everyone. i will be sure to post pictures from the events tomorrow. oh how i love three day weekends!

Chiang Mai Pictures

The picture directly above the text is a gorgeous white chedi. To the left is a picture of the night market in Chiang Mai which is a series of millions of stalls. Amazingly, the vendors speak almost every language you can imagine. Anything to make a baht. One guy said, "You are pretty and I'm a gentleman." Pretty good pick up line.

I've also included two pictures of the double rainbow I saw outside my window in Lampang last night. Since there's so much rain here, there are also so many spectacular rainbows. It's an almost everyday occurence.

More Chiang Mai Pics

I love the picture of the temple at night. We just stumbled upon it when we were looking for a place to eat.

Pictures of Chiang Mai Temples

These dragons outside the temples are my favorite! They're actually quite scary though glittery as well. Here is the outside of a temple as well as some of the Buddha statues inside.

Visit to Chiang Mai

Well after spending a weekend in Chiang Mai, I've discovered that I'm really glad to be staying in Lampang. Chiang Mai is wonderful...it's up in the mountains, has a really interesting history and there's lots of foreigners there. I had a really great time but I felt like there were so many foreigners there that all of the businesses and vendors were constantly trying to take advantage of us. Luckily we knew enough Thai to tell them that we didn't want their goods and that we knew their prices wer too expensive. I feel like I will learn so much more about Thai culture by staying in Lampang and that I will really improve my Thai speaking. It's nice however to know that Chiang Mai is nearby and that we can visit anytime. Maybe once a month would be enough for me since wee also spent quite a bit of money there.

So we had to take the bus to Chiang Mai and even though we had tickets, once the bus pulled in, it was like a crazy race to grad seats. People were pushing and shoving and a lot of people had to stand on the two hour bus ride there. Once we got to Chiang Mai we went to this quaint little guesthouse called Rendezvous. It was nice enough and it was located right in the midst of the city. The old part of the city is surrounded by this moat and bits of an old wall so it's really quite romantic to walk around there. We were definitely in farang (foreinger) territory. There were tons of cool restaurants and bars. We ended up going to this place called the Art Cafe. It actually had Mexican food which I did not expect to see at all in Thailand. Then we had some beers at an outdoor pub and managed to find an Irish pub owned by an old Irishman turned Thai named D0m. He gave us some good advice about living in Thailand and was interesting to talk to since he's travelled all over the world for the past 30 years.

Saturday we got up early and walked around to various wats or temples. Don't worry I took lots of pictures though i'll have to post them tomorrow. Unfortunately I got a terrible sunburn just from walking around a couple of hours. Even though I put sunscreen on, I still keep forgetting how much more powerful the sun is here. It's crazy! In the evening we went to the Night Bazaar which is similar to the night market in our town except a million times bigger. It was like being lost in a labyrinth. It was fun to practice my haggling skills there and i managed to buy a cute skirt, some island pants, and a beautiful tiger's eye pendant all for under 300 baht (=10 dollars). Then we ate at an Indian restaurant which we were also ecstatic about.

Sunday we had a late breakfast and went to this mall by the airport. The only reason we went there was because I needed to buy some black pants for school and I haven't been able to find any in my size in Lampang. It's been pretty frustrating! Even though I've already lost some weight I still feel like a giant here. Actually it was lucky that we were at the mall today because there was this breakdancing battle happening only this weekend there and i captured some of it on my camera. i made my first film! hopefully i can upload it here cause i also want to take a video walking around my house in Lampang. I know that we'll be back to visit Chiang Mai many times...there's so much more to see but I figure that I've got a few months to check it out. Next time, we're going to go up into the mountains on a trek! Can't wait!

Thai Dancing

This year is King Bhumipol's 60th year governing Thailand so there will be many celebrations to mark the occassion on June 9. To prepare for this day, Thai people wear yellow polo shirts embroidered with the king's insignia or shirts that say "We love the king!" We are required to wear these shirts every Monday. The town is covered with yellow banners and huge pictures of the king. At night, there are yellow lights criss-crossing the streets and hanging on telephone poles. I was really looking forward to attending the celebration until I came into work yesterday. Apparently the mayor had decided that all of the female foreigners in Lampang should learn traditional Thai dancing to be performed at the celebration. Of course, I really want to learn Thai dancing...it's beautiful and very slow and graceful. However, I'm not quite prepared to learn and perform it in one week! So last night, we had to wait after school and then we were taken to the place where we would learn to dance. Actually, the class is being taught by a very pudgy, little old man. We have to dance with scarves called sa-bai. We twirl the scarves around our necks and wrists, wrap it around our head, tie it on our waist, etc. Unfortunately, we couldn't understand the man's instructions because they were in Thai. At the beginning of the class, he explained the history of the dance and where it came from. Then a girl came over to us and said, "He said about the history of the dance." But she didn't tell us exactly what that history was. Then he explained the symbolism of the scarf but again, we didn't get too much information out of that. So after dancing with the scarves, we had to lift one leg off the ground, bounce up and down while turning in a circle and rotating our hands. Needless to say, Hilary and I were losing our balance the whole time and laughing since we were clearly the biggest and bulkiest people there. Then we had to join hands with two other people and make a bird formation called the peacock walk. It was interesting, but by that point in the evening I was already so tired. We had a 13 hour work day! Next week, we will practice every day and then perform on Friday night and guess what? They're video-taping it so I will have my own copy to cherish for the rest of my life. I just hope I don't fall!