Preparation for Christmas/International Languages Day

So at school, the Christmas celebration has been combined with International Languages Day ever since our department started teaching Japanese and Chinese as well. The teachers including me had to wear 'cultural' outfits from around the world to promote this event. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to represent, but they tell me I'm wearing the same costume as a prince in a famous Korean drama...Our photos are now slapped on every building at school. I'm trying to convince everyone that my costume is representing someone from the colonial times in America. So far, I haven't convinced anybody...555

Still a pop star...

I went to my usual som tum/gai yang (papaya salad/grilled chicken) shop today, and as I was waiting for the Khun Pi to make my som tum bpuu, I saw a group of about 9 of my M1 kids come in to sit down and order food at the next stall. They wai-ed me respectfully with not a lack of giggles when they spotted me. While I was observing another Khun Pi making fried snacks, I kept seeing the M1 kids come to the road in pairs behind me appearing to hold their cellphones up the the road. What? The Khun Pi smiled as I, still clueless, kept staring at how the other Khun Pi was making beautiful fried taro cups. Another pair of kids came up and this time, they were facing me and as I stole a glance, they got startled and ran back to their seats. Unbeknownst to me, they were each taking a photo of me on their cell phones! I chuckled and chased the two boys back to their seats at which all the kids exploded in laughter and nervous giggles. The other people at the restaurant all shifted their gaze toward me as I told them they can take photos with me and that they don't have to be shy to ask. Each of them went home with a photo of me and them. This is Thailand. I am still a pop star here in this small town.

Loy Krathong

We celebrated Loy Krathong festival in Thailand last weekend. During this festival, people float little banana boats called "krathongs" in the river. People release krathongs to let go of the past year and look forward to the coming days. On Saturday, my teachers took me to Tak province where the krathongs are made of lighted coconut shells "Krathong Sai". The tradition there is to release thousands of shells at once, thus the scene is quite spectacular. We also got front row seats to watch a competition where teams had to release 1,000 krathongs in the neatest manner.

On Sunday, the younger teachers and I went to the Loy Krathong celebration in Sukhothai historical park. Before that though, we went to a teacher's house to make traditional Sukhothai style krathongs which are made of a cut banana stem decorated with folded banana leaves. It actually wasn't too difficult to make it, and I made one of my own. Everyone laughed at my krathong, because it was not very traditional (I added my own touches like a fish and crane made out of banana leaves). My sense of style caught on though, because all the other teachers started adding elements of my krathong to theirs. This festival at the historical park was quite overwhelming and crowded with thousands and thousands of people and vendors. We watched a light and sound show amid the ruins and then released our krathongs. We also released a lighted floating krathong in the Lanna style "Yi Peng". On the way back, our good luck of the new year was manifested in our car breaking down. We got back home alright though....at 3 AM in the morning. I had classes the next morning.

King Taksin Shrine (Tak Province)

With the teachers

The krathong sent my HM King Bhumibol to Tak Province

A coconut krathong "Krathong Sai"

Lighting a floating krathong

Releasing the krathong with some teacher friends (Kuk and Aom)

Thousands of Krathong Sai

Making a krathong with Nada

My krathong

My avant-garde krathong

Aom and her krathong

All of our krathongs

Wat Si Chum Buddha

With Nada in front of Wat Si Chum

Releasing our krathongs

Lighted krathongs above Wat Mahathat, Sukhothai Historical Park

Fireworks at Wat Mahathat