Provincial Thailand

And now it's time to enjoy some pictures of the country life in Thailand, thanks again to Ilona the wonderful photographer. The water buffalo is pretty common here. It's called a "kwai" and if you call a person that, it's the equivalent of saying "You stupid oaf!" Those jagged green-yellow plants are called jackfruits. They are very difficult to cut open and sickeningly sweet. Oh and they are huge...sometimes the size of a human torso! Finally, there's nothing like some delicious pig face to really whet your appetite. Actually, these faces are used in ceremonies to ward off bad spirits. This is what I saw in my school when they were convinced there were ghosts. Try to imagine the smell...it's five times worse than that!

Buddhist Rituals

Our friend Ilona is an amazing photographer and she allowed me to steal some of her images. I thought all of these were very interesting because they highlight the rituals involved in making merit at a Buddhist temple. First you will burn 3 sticks of incense and then light a candle and try to balance it on the wax-strewn holder. The second picture is of Buddha's fingernail. I think this must have been from one of the huge statues in Sukothai. Often at temples, you can attach a piece of gold leaf to a statue or shrine. People also put these on the ceiling of their car so that they will have safe travels. The final picture is of Sukothai Historical Park in the late afternoon. Gorgeous!

In a Land of Spirits

The Thai brand of Buddhism, Theravada, is closely intertwined with animism and spirit worship. Luck and karma seem to be connected and I've been reminded of that twice this past week. The Thais believe that you will have good luck if you often go to the temple, "tam boon" (which means to give daily food offerings to monks) and if you have any male relatives who are monks. You can do these things to sort of save up your luck. However, if you don't usually go to the temple or tam boon, you could be struck by bad luck.

One thing happened this week to the girl that I tutor. Her father had some sort of accident involving his eyes at work. I couldn't fully understand what had happened but I did catch that it was pretty serious and that the father wasn't eating and couldn't see very well. I guess he was in the hospital for a couple of days. The mother told me that now there are many bad things happening in her house and she very solemnly stated, "Nowadays, I can talk with spirits." She told me that she had stopped going to the temple and that she would start again as well as swearing to eat a vegetarian diet for the rest of her life if her husband is okay.

The other thing that surprised me this week was a story about my friend Chanika's mom. Her mom has been sick for awhile and she is pretty old. Apparently she suddenly started having problems with one of her legs. It was really swollen and painful but the doctors couldn't figure out what was causing it. They couldn't find any fluid or infections and one doctor said to her, "You probably don't go to the temple much." It turns out that this is true. Chan said that ever since she was a child, the mother had always given offerings to the monks but that she never wanted to go to the temple. In one day, the mother went to 9 temples and made merit by praying with incense and candles, offering oil and walking around the chedi. The next day, her leg was fine. As Chan was telling me this, she kept saying that she would never believe anything like this until she saw it.

I just keep thinking that what we call coincidence and luck are really just intentions and actualization. Can we will things to happen just by believing in them? I think so. What does that mean for our work as human beings? I'm not sure, but I hope it can help us to come up with some solutions for the future.

My students are so cool

No really, they are. This class was so much fun and they had a really high level so we could talk about a variety of things. Unfortunately they are all graduating this year so we had to say goodbye. Good times.

Graduation!

Wednesday was grduation and so i thought i should post some pictures of me with students. Wow, i can't believe that i started crying during the ceremony. The students had to walk down the line of teachers and shake hands while we congratulated them. Of course, a lot of them were crying and you know, I can't see anyone cry without starting to cry myself. I'm really going to miss them! But I was so proud of them and it was great to see them all so happy and excited. Then at the end of the ceremony they sang this terribly depressing song about saying farewell to all your friends and teachers and your school. The students were choking through the song, barely able to sing. Whoa i'm glad we don't have that song in America. I never would have made it through graduation. oh, the last picture is me with my boss Eaumporn who is the coolest boss ever. Aren't we looking very sharp? Ugh, i couldn't wait to get out of that stupid suit. Thank god i don't have to wear that every day. This week, I'm intereviewing at Yonok University. Wish me luck!

Temple Tour

Today I wandered around Lampang until I stumbled upon some very interesting temples. The first picture is of Wat Sri Chum which is the biggest Burmese style temple in Thailand. It is so gorgeous and when I entered the vihara (the main building), I burst into tears because it was so beautiful. The room was covered in glittering glass mosaics and the Buddha image was distinctly different from any I've seen in Thailand. I was very overwhelmed there and so I just sat and meditated for awhile. Then I went into another part of the temple and was greeted by a lovely old monk who spoke english and explained the background of the temple. One thing that I thought was very amazing was that one of the buildings caught fire in 1992 and the monk that was meditating inside just stayed there as the whole building around him burned....and he didn't die! There was some serious energy going on there. And also an herbal garden and a pond filled with huge catfish. One thing I really love about the monks in Thailand is how much they take care of animals. They care for all the stray cats and dogs and also take care of many fish and birds.

As I exited the temple, I saw the beautiful mosque pictured. The third picture was a random temple that I found but that seemed to be in a state of disrepair. Only the main building looked cared for. The last picture is of a very new chedi near the hospital. I just thought it lookedso gorgeous in the sun. It's amazing what beauty you can come upon by just wandering with open eyes.

FIRE PIG!

Yes, more than 1 out of 4 Thai people are of Chinese descent so there have been many festivities in Lampang this weekend. Actually, this is just the beginning of the festival which will last about 15 days. Saturday was new years eve and we could see so many people wearing red as a symbol of good luck. There were also copious amounts of firecrackers going off for 10-minute intervals. It's deafening! Lots of red lanterns and decorations all over town. We got to see some performances at our little student Jenny's school and then on Friday all of our students participated in the new years party. We got to eat dumplings and steamed chinese desserts and drink tea. It's been a blast!

For those of you who want to know more about Chinese astrology, here's some info I copied:

Welcome to the Year of the Fire Pig!

The Chinese New Year, also called the Spring Festival, is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. Calculated according to precise astrological observations, it essentially is the second New Moon after the Winter Solstice and is always named after an animal in the Chinese Zodiac paired with one of the traditional five Chinese elements.

The Year of the Fire Pig begins on February 18 and will be observed all around the world by a 15-day celebration including colorful parades, fireworks, family reunions, and sumptuous meals.

Chinese astrologers predict that this will be an unstable year filled with conflict, because the Pig is a water sign, and water is incompatible with fire. Many people will experience sweeping changes, but there will be plenty of opportunity for prosperity for those who are able to meet the challenges and find a place of inner calm.

Sing-Toh (Chinese Lion/Dragon)

WOW! I was mesmerised! I could seriously watch these things all day. Will post a video soon...

Dance of the 4 Parts of Thailand

On Thursday night, we went to a Chinese New Years celebration at the local Thai/Chinese school. Hilary and I tutor a private student who is 6-years old. She has amazing English skills and she also dances, plays piano, speaks Chinese, etc. She's multi-talented! Anyways, they had a show with the Chinese dragon/dogs and lots of different Chinese and Thai styles of dancing. This dance was particularly of interest to me. There were 4 groups of girls that recognized different parts of Thailand: The north, east, central and south. I thought the costumes and choreography were very interesting.

Relaxin in Lampang

Ah the glorious Wednesday night potluck. On this night, we made Tom Ga soup after yoga and sat around eating tons of sald and fresh fruit. Clockwise: me, David (Manchester Boa), Jeab (an awesome thai gal who also works at our school), Natsumi (Japanese teacher at my school...she's very funny and cheerful!), Jonas (energetic and talkative guy who is new to our yoga group), and Illona (peaceful, quiet lady who has lots of yoga expertise to share). Potluck is always a good time.

The other two pictures are of a temple in Lampang: Wat Suandok. We walk by it quite often and Hilary finally decided to take some pictures of it. It's quite a new temple and this is where i came on the last day of Buddhist lent. There was a beautiful ceremony that day.

Random Pics

I've been slacking on posting pictures and found three that i thought were interesting. the top one is of Loy Kratong (see November posts). we were in chiang mai and hilary was getting ready to float her kratong in the river. i didn't get a kratong but opted for sparklers and a pinwheel.

Picture #2: the stunning view at the dam outside of lampang. this is where we spent the day of my birthday on the boat trip. it was mystical!

and the last picture is from the Royal Floral Exposition in chiang mai. we went there is chan and though we didn't really enjoy ourselves due to the heat and massive crowds, we still made some time to make a turtle friend.

Rediscovering Lampang

This weekend has been my first proper weekend back in Lampang. I've been traveling so much that i haven't had a chance to catch up with all the Lampang folks. Friday, I was forced into going to a khantoke dinner sponsored by my school. Khantoke is a traditional northern thai-style dinner followed by a performance. i would have been interested in this performance had it not been madatory and super-expensive. the ticket was 300 baht which is a lot to pay for a meal that i couldn't eat. it was interesting to see the park decorated and to watch my students act. the play was about the history of the lanna kingdom but i couldn't really glean that much of the plot (my thai is not THAT good). we sat for 2 1/2 hours shivering as it got colder and desperately trying to understand what was happening onstage. i left a bit early cause i wanted to go back to my warm bed and drink tea.

saturday morning, hilary and i embarked on a mission to redecorate our house or at least give it some more character. we bought some lovely plants and cacti...we decided that we will each buy a plant every time we go to the supermarket. since we don't have a yard (it's concrete) we have to buy potted plants but it's still an improvement. we've also decided to make the little area under the stairs into a nap hut/casbah/ art area. we're going to make little curtains and fill the space up with cushions, put art on the walls. i actually enjoy home improvements.

in the afternoon, we met up with friends at the park. i brought the hula hoop and this rattan ball (which you use like a hackey-sack). we watched the people doing tai-chi with red fans and we tried to remember how to hack. we did not look cool. but it was fun and we had snacks and waited for the sun to go down. i forgot how much i missed everyone so it was good to catch up.

today, we bought a plethora of herbal teas (they're so good and cheap) and are planning to watch a ridiculous amount of movies. also, it's now officially mango season so there will be mango with sticky rice and coconut milk often. arroy mak mak!