Goodbye Noah
This is gonna be a long post so i apologize in advance. so this weekend we said goodbye to noah who has been having medical problems. it was really hard but it was clear that he needed to go home and talk to his doctor. our school is now looking for another native english speaker to try to replace him but it's really difficult to get someone on demand. it's just a sad situation overall but not much can be done.
the weekend started out with a birthday party for our friend La who is married to a vibrant bostonian named nadine. La used to live down on the islands and worked as a fire dancer so during the party, he brought out his equipment and showed off his skills. he's amazing! i think this kind of dancing is called poi poi but it's just like a ball of fire at the end of a chain and you have one in each hand. some of the other guys were trying it but i passed since i've already had enough accidents here. there was also a dance competition but i didn't really compete in it since my foot wasn't fully healed.
sunday, the school car took us to chiang mai since noah had to bring all of his luggage. i could tell he was feeling very torn about leaving but he also seemed excited and ready to go. we went to the walking market which was just outside of our guesthouse and then after we dropped noah off at the airport, hilary and i went to see our first movie in thailand: Pirates of the Caribbean 2. yay i loved it! it was actually in english which we don't have in lampang (everything is dubbed). the most interesting thing was that before the movie played, everyone had to stand up and sing this song about the king while the screen showed images of the king doing lots of humanitarian work.
yesterday, was the anniversary of the buddha's first sermon, so everyone went to the temple to make merit. actually i really wanted to go cause i was feeling like i was on a bad luck streak and all the thais kept telling me that i needed to make merit. the temple was really crowded and we bought these packages that had 3 sticks of incense, one yellow candle and a lotus flower. we had to light the incense and candle and put in them in a certain place. then we prayed with the lotus flower in our hands and went up to the buddha statue and laid it at his feet. inside the main temple, the thais were giving offerings of food to the monks.
today was khao phansa or the beginning of buddhist lent which is like a time of more strenuous religious study and sacrifice for most buddhists. it also coincides with the rainy season. everyone wore white to the temple and last night they walked around the temple three times with a candle and then placed their candle on a table marked with the day they were born. i'm not exactly sure about the symbolism of this but everyone just says it's for good luck. they also released birds into the air and fish into the rivers and streams. again, i didn't really participate in this cause i didn't like the cages they kept the birds in. i'm very interested in buddhism but there is still so much i don't understand about it. i'm reading a book right now called The Gods Drink Whiskey and it's written by an american who is a buddhist professor at the first buddhist university to open up after pol put. it's a series of short essays about buddhist philosophy and practice spiced with stories about life in southeast asia. it's really good..thanks hilary!
so hilary and i bummed around the chiang mai university area yesterday. of course, there were lots of cute shops, cafes, chic clothing stores. i actually got my hair cut and i love it! even though it was hard to communicate what i wanted it was worth it in the end. we went to dinner at this amazing place called the Whole Earth Restaurant. it kinda reminds me of victory's banner in chicago. it was right in the middle of the city but it was tucked away in this immaculate garden. the building was a huge traditional thai teakwood house and the menu offered indian and thai food. it was a very serene eating experience. we bummed around the night market and had a beer at an english pub. met a british couple on their honeymoon and talked to them for awhile. it's so interesting to talk to people when they're still forming their impression of thailand. it's fun to see what interests them and catches their eye or how they interpret different experiences. we tried to go to a couple bars suggested to us by a friend, but they were closed because of the buddhist holiday. ended up back at the guesthouse which was literally like a log cabin. we went there because most of the other places were full because of the holiday and this place was really just a thai family's house which had a couple of extra rooms. it was cute and clean though noisy...there was constant construction going on right outside our window and lots of dogs barking incessantly. oh well.
getting ready to go back to lampang. i really love hanging out in chiang mai but i don't want to live here. i'm glad to be where i'm at.
the weekend started out with a birthday party for our friend La who is married to a vibrant bostonian named nadine. La used to live down on the islands and worked as a fire dancer so during the party, he brought out his equipment and showed off his skills. he's amazing! i think this kind of dancing is called poi poi but it's just like a ball of fire at the end of a chain and you have one in each hand. some of the other guys were trying it but i passed since i've already had enough accidents here. there was also a dance competition but i didn't really compete in it since my foot wasn't fully healed.
sunday, the school car took us to chiang mai since noah had to bring all of his luggage. i could tell he was feeling very torn about leaving but he also seemed excited and ready to go. we went to the walking market which was just outside of our guesthouse and then after we dropped noah off at the airport, hilary and i went to see our first movie in thailand: Pirates of the Caribbean 2. yay i loved it! it was actually in english which we don't have in lampang (everything is dubbed). the most interesting thing was that before the movie played, everyone had to stand up and sing this song about the king while the screen showed images of the king doing lots of humanitarian work.
yesterday, was the anniversary of the buddha's first sermon, so everyone went to the temple to make merit. actually i really wanted to go cause i was feeling like i was on a bad luck streak and all the thais kept telling me that i needed to make merit. the temple was really crowded and we bought these packages that had 3 sticks of incense, one yellow candle and a lotus flower. we had to light the incense and candle and put in them in a certain place. then we prayed with the lotus flower in our hands and went up to the buddha statue and laid it at his feet. inside the main temple, the thais were giving offerings of food to the monks.
today was khao phansa or the beginning of buddhist lent which is like a time of more strenuous religious study and sacrifice for most buddhists. it also coincides with the rainy season. everyone wore white to the temple and last night they walked around the temple three times with a candle and then placed their candle on a table marked with the day they were born. i'm not exactly sure about the symbolism of this but everyone just says it's for good luck. they also released birds into the air and fish into the rivers and streams. again, i didn't really participate in this cause i didn't like the cages they kept the birds in. i'm very interested in buddhism but there is still so much i don't understand about it. i'm reading a book right now called The Gods Drink Whiskey and it's written by an american who is a buddhist professor at the first buddhist university to open up after pol put. it's a series of short essays about buddhist philosophy and practice spiced with stories about life in southeast asia. it's really good..thanks hilary!
so hilary and i bummed around the chiang mai university area yesterday. of course, there were lots of cute shops, cafes, chic clothing stores. i actually got my hair cut and i love it! even though it was hard to communicate what i wanted it was worth it in the end. we went to dinner at this amazing place called the Whole Earth Restaurant. it kinda reminds me of victory's banner in chicago. it was right in the middle of the city but it was tucked away in this immaculate garden. the building was a huge traditional thai teakwood house and the menu offered indian and thai food. it was a very serene eating experience. we bummed around the night market and had a beer at an english pub. met a british couple on their honeymoon and talked to them for awhile. it's so interesting to talk to people when they're still forming their impression of thailand. it's fun to see what interests them and catches their eye or how they interpret different experiences. we tried to go to a couple bars suggested to us by a friend, but they were closed because of the buddhist holiday. ended up back at the guesthouse which was literally like a log cabin. we went there because most of the other places were full because of the holiday and this place was really just a thai family's house which had a couple of extra rooms. it was cute and clean though noisy...there was constant construction going on right outside our window and lots of dogs barking incessantly. oh well.
getting ready to go back to lampang. i really love hanging out in chiang mai but i don't want to live here. i'm glad to be where i'm at.
posted by Jen @ 9:31 PM
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