Renaissance

After a period of sluggish creativity, Hilary and I have decided to start our own poetry workshop. In the evenings we've been reading and discussing poetry. We're also reading Alice in Wonderland which is good, nonsensical fun. We decided that we would choose a topic each week, draft and then workshop on Friday. This week we chose the theme of Childhood. As inspiration, we read the Mark Strand poem here:

http://international.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=59

We are both earnestly working on our poems and we'll see what happens. These are the good results of not having a TV or too many social activities. It's nice to just lay in the hammock and think about childhood memories.

Yesterday, we hosted yoga and then had a mostly vegetarian potluck with all of our friends. We made vegetarian Kao Soi:

Man, I just can't get enough of this quintessential northern Thai dish! We spent the evening chatting with friends and neighbors and watching crazy videos on David's computer. We hope to keep up this tradition every week as it's nice to visit with everyone and enjoy good food and friends.

I Heart T-Bone

YAYAYAY! I have found my new favorite band. Last night, Hilary, Nadine, La, Chan, Matana and I all got together at the Riverside in Chiang Mai for the "Singha Taste of Thailand Challenge." We weren't really sure what that entailed but it turned out to be a blast. In honor of the fun, I wore my tail for the first time out in Thailand. The Thais were very interested and delighted. While we were waiting for the action to begin, Nadine got the idea to write a note and send it down to the people below us. So Hilary wrote it and folded it into a paper airplane. Sadly, they didn't ever open it. But then the next table was full of Thai teenage boys and they really enjoyed their note.

First there was a band called the Tonic Rays. They are Chiang Mai locals and we've seen them around the rasta bars before. They were really fun and we ended up hanging out with them later on. Then there was this really ridiculous game show in which farangs tried to be Thai by doing Thai dancing, Muay Thai boxing, eating peppers and crickets and trying to speak Thai.

After what seemed like forever, T-Bone finally went on. They are Thailand's favorite reggae/ska band and they are so full of energy that it's hard not to dance (not that i really need a reason to dance!) The place was packed but I managed to get up to the front and dance with lots of happy Thai rastas and punks. I was just so excited to hear original, good fun music in Thailand. It was my first Thai concert and it couldn't have been a better night! P.S. this is a picture of me with the T-Bone lead singer/guitarist. He was holding a big statue of Bob Marley and laughing a lot.

Banana Shake? No thanks.

Well it was bound to happen. Noah got it after being here for a month and Becky and Shawn got it after a mere 2 weeks. Yes, I'm talking about food poisoning and I've proudly survived my first bout.

Saturday, Hilary and I spent most of the day helping Karen move into her new house which is an amazing palace I plan on spending much time in. Actually, Hilary and I didn't "help" much in the moving department but we were definitely there for moral support. We mostly sat around eating junk food and watching Karen't kiss-ass international TV. It was a lazy afternoon as most of the things were already at the house and just needed to be unpacked. We went home for a little while and then went to the market. I innocently bought a banana shake, not paying attention to the fact that they added milk to it (I usually get without). We went back to Karen's, had some drinks, played Mad Libs and ended up at More Tao. I woke up with a violent stomachache and had enough time to yell out "Hilary, help!" before I fainted. I ran to the bathroom and couldn't get off the toilet for quite awhile. I had terrible stomach cramps.

Hilary desperately tried calling all of our school contacts none of which picked up. Then she called the hospital to get an ambulance but they couldn't find our house. I could barely move much less give directions in Thai. They finally found us and took me to the hospital where I got hooked up to an IV. I couldn't eat most of Sunday but finally got some food down at night. I came home from the hospital on Monday and spent the rest of the day relaxing. I'm amazed at how fast I feel better. For now, I'll just have to avoid market food like the plague. Props to Hilary for helping me out and for keeping the hospital number in a safe place. She is really the best roommie!

Ho Hum...my weekend

Last week was harsh...my first real full week teaching and i started up my hospital class again which is inconveniently scheduled at the very end of the day on Friday. it's the worst time cause i always want to bust out early and take the bus to chiang mai. so i ended up going alone to C.M. on friday since hilary was forced to host a very-belated Hallowee party. i was planning to meet up with nadine for dinner but she cancelled. so i ate alone at a lovely place called Kona which had amazing organic fruits and veggies from their farm and then went down to the Reggae Alley. nothing much was going on but i ended up talking with a Thai university student named Otto. it was nice to make a new friend, especially someone that lives in chiang mai (aka not a tourist just passing through).

saturday i met up with hilary and we just bummed around. in the early evening we went to this crazy intense yoga class at the yogasala chiang mai. it was just a vinyasa class but i found it pretty advanced and slightly difficult. it was definitely worth it though! it was 2 hours long and then we relaxed and drank tea and chatted with our classmates. i will definitely go back there...it gave us lots of good ideas for new things to do at our little yoga gatherings at our house.

sunday we met up with Chan and went to the Royal Flora Ratchapruek. What is this? Well, it is to commemorate the king's 60th year on the throne and it's a huge flower/ plant exposition going on for 3 months. however, it's a bit ridiculous that they are closing it after 3 months since it took them 2 years to prepare and tons of money. it was really nice except for 2 things: it was honestly soooo hot on sunday and there were about a kajillion people in the place. i couldn't go anywhere without accidentally stepping in someone's picture and it's annoying to always have to scramble around people just to see an exhibit. there were interesting gardens that represented different countries. definitely enjoyed the bhutan garden of peace...i want to go there! also enjoyed the south african garden, the japanese rock garden and the morroccan garden which had beautiful fountains and stone mosaics. there was an orchid exhibit (of course!) the thais are crazy about orchids and i can understand why. they are freaking gorgeous flowers. there was an interesting yet scary "orchid cave." we walked under a waterfall and found ourselves inside this creepy cave featuring orchids and flashing disco lights. at first I thought it seemed pretty cool but it got darker and all of the sudden hilary screamed when a burst of fake fog came out of the wall. chan grabbed my arm...it was like we were in a haunted house. i could hear a robotic woman's voice speaking in thai and saying "DNA" over and over again while laser lights flashed on the wall. apparently she was explaining how they use DNA to make various new strands of orchids. anyhow, i found it quite strange but funny and hilary just wanted to get the hell out of there.

we also visited a kind of jungle Thai tropical garden and an herb garden. actually i was too hot and exhausted to notice much about either of these. i wanted to find what was labeled as "the mushroom cottage" on the map. it was a bit disappointing but still interesting nonetheless. we found our way back into town and ate at this amazing vegetarian restaurant introduced to us by becky and shawn (thanks guys!) the kao soi there is wonderful. it's the definitive chiang mai dish. thais usually eat it for breakfast. it's a kind of noodle soup made with yellow curry, bits of fried tofu, mushrooms and fried noodles on top. delicious!

sunday night we went to visit david in the hospital. he had a bad motorcycle accident on friday. he collided head-on with another bike and was thrown off his bike, shattered his right pinkie and really messed up his face. he had to get plastic surgery and skin grafts. luckily he didn't have any brain damage. he seemed in good spirits and it looks like he's going to heal alright. right now, i'm quite scared of motorbikes and plan to continue riding on the song-taew. there have been a lot of injuries lately so i'm feeling reluctant to go anywhere near a bike. along the line of bike-related injuries, hilary got a burn when she was getting off karen't motorbike the other night. it's bubbled up but should be okay if she keeps it away from the water here which is ridden with bacteria.

not much planned for the week...had yoga with nadine last night and got a sweet massage. i will hang out with chan today since i have the afternoon off. we have a weekly tuesday-afternoon get together. we usually just chill in the park, read or get facials. tomorrow we are having an art night with david and then yoga again on thursday. i don't know what the plan is for the weekend but hopefully it will be relaxing and more interesting than the last!

Very Superstitious

I was innocently walking to class last week when, much to my horror, I discovered a severed pig's face on a table just outside my classroom. There were burning sticks of incense protruding from each of the eye sockets and other various, roasted innards lying around on plates. The hallway stunk of pork and smoke. When I inquired about this, the students seemed just as clueless though they didn't really appear to be disturbed. I soon learned that the whole thing was an offering to the spirits in our building. Apparently, the building caretakers had been observing some suspicious activities in the building at night. Lights and air conditioners had turned themselves on and people were witnessing bits of fog in the corners of rooms. Furthermore, most of the buildings on campus had had spiritual cleansings about once a year but it seemed that our building had been overlooked for the past decade. It was very likely that the bad spirits had started to multiply in the building.

This all lead the director of my program to organize a kind of "building exorcism" which occurred yesterday. Of course, classes were suddenly cancelled and everything was put on hold. Nine monks were invited (it MUST be an odd number) to expell the bad spirits and bring good luck to our school. Our library room was cleared and the entire room was wrapped in thick "sai sin" which is to say that there was a white cord going around the perimeter of the room and even outside of the windows. The monks arrived and we all knelt before them and listened as they chanted for what seemed like forever. I always feel a bit emotional and spiritually enlightened when I listen to them but after 30 minutes on my knees, I was feeling that I didn't care anymore if our building was haunted. The head monk burned a candle and let the wax drip into a bowl of water which he then stirred with some sticks. He generally spoke in Pali which is just as foreign to the Thais as to us. It was funny because he was about to pray and he suddenly said, "Listen to me" in English. All the students and teachers were cracking up cause they didn't expect him to speak English. Then he walked around the room and thoroughly doused us all with holy water. All of the teachers presented offerings of food, toiletries and money to the monks and then our school fed them lunch. I'm not sure, but I think the energy in the school today is a bit more positive and I haven't seen any fog lurking anywhere :)

More pictures from our crazy friday night...

One night in Bablyon featuring: Becky and I- intrepid travelers together again! The ever-amazing Canadian Nancy. The always fun Becky and Shawn! One guy at the bar asked Shawn, "How did you end up with the hottest girls here?" Whew! Nadine, Hilary and I were scorching on the dance floor! Exhibit A: free roses left and right.

Elaine, you are the best!

Rasta Fun

Loy Kratong at Babylon

So yesterday I completed my first week of teaching for the new semester. Hilary and I quickly hiked it up to Chiang Mai to meet up with Becky and Shawn. It turns out that Shawn randomly ran into his friend Pam from Salt Lake so she came along with us for the night. We ate Indian food and hung out near Taepae Gate where there were lots of Loy Kratong festivities. Loy Kratong is a holiday when Thais pray to the "water angel" of the rivers and apologize for polluting the water and thank her for letting them use her resources. They make these little boats called Kratongs out of banana leaves and flowers. They fill it with incence, coins and a candle. Then they float the kratongs in a river on a full moon night. We are going to the festivities tonight so I will get some pictures. The river will be full of a thousand little lights and the sky will be full of hot air lanterns.

So anyways, we met up with Nadine and ended up at the Rasta bar called Babylon. There was a Thai reggae band playing and the singer was soo cute with long dreadlocks and a voice like Bob Dylan. Hilary, Nadine and I started dancing and suddenly the whole place was on its feet. We were dancing with the cutest little Thai girl who wore antennae on her head and tried to steal my scarf. I ended up giving her a bunch of glitter instead :) Well we spent the night dancing, laughing away with various international travellers and making tons of new friends. It was such a great night. I feel like I've been having more and more interesting experiences lately. I'm just happy in general. Shine!

Isn't She Lovely?

Pre-wedding pics. We were busy helping Chan do her hair. I was a bit nervous actually but she looked gorgeous, especially with those white orchids in her hair. And then there was Hilary and I in our crazy Thai outfits. They were quite comfortable although it may appear otherwise. I felt like a princess. It was soo much fun!

Finally, some wedding pics!

After trying and trying again, I was finally able to upload some pictures. I chose the first two because well i think they are the best pictures. I absolutely love the one of Hilary, Becky and I as we were having a great time after dinner and kept laughing and laughing away. Then there is a picture of the happy couple just after Rick "found" Chan. They looked spectacular! Here are 2 of Rick's little nieces all dolled up in Thai garb. Then there is Chan with Matana, her maid of honor and crazy niece. The final picture shows a friend tying some "sai sin" around the couple to bind them together for life.

Chan's Butterfly Night

Miscellanious pics from the raucous night...Chan's sisters completely went for the whole photo scavenger hunt. Mind you, hilary and I made it as tame as possible because we weren't sure how Thai women would take it. So some of the dares: ask for a guy's phone #, public display of dancing, ride on a guy's motorcycle, ask a guy for a condom, get a guy to serenade you, kiss a balk man's head, sit on a guy's lap, etc. we got kicked out of the restaurant for lighting sparklers in it. then we bar-hopped all night and eventually met up with the guys who were in much worse conditions than us. it was a very successful soiree. all night long, Chan kept saying, "I just feel so special." and she is.

This is Chan at the beginning of Hen Night. She loved her veil and wand that lit up!