a hand-made gift

During these last days in my community, I have been showered with gifts. Of course, I appreciate the sentiments, but am rather burdened by the amount of "things" that have been coming my way in the midst of trying to get RID of everything in my house. I had too much to begin with and this has multiplied the problem. Many of the gifts have been "re-gifted" (and I know are more appreciated by their new owners). However, some of the gifts are too sentimental and meaningful to re-gift, and thus, I shall lug and ship them home.

One such example is the home-made grass mat that I received from one of my student's grandmothers. This student, Watcharaporn, is by far one of the most talented in English. I have a special relationship with her and plan to stay in contact with her via letters. She comes from a poor family and her parents live and work in Bangkok to try and support them. Thus, she is being raised by her grandmother (a very common story among rural children in her generation in Thailand).

Watcharaporn came to help us paint the world map last week. I was working with her elementary school and she is very close to the English teacher there. After finishing the map, she asked me to come to her house to learn how to make a grass mat. I agreed, seeing that it was important to her.

Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, her grandmother had already finished the mat. It is made on a loom that sits entirely on the ground.

The parts of the loom are not movable. Instead, the pieces of dried grass and woven between the strings and then pushed into place with the wooden board in grandmother's hands int he picture above. They squat like this on a board above the loom for hours as they make the mat. (This is a pose that people in most developing countries are very comfortable holding for long periods of time.)

Watcharaporn also knows how to make the mats and often helps her grandmother.

Since the mat had already been woven when we arrived, it was time to trim the edges and tie off the ends.

Grandmother cut the end of the grass off to make a nice clean edge for the mat.

Then Watcharaporn and grandmother cut the strings at the head of the mat and tied them off, two by two, to hold the weaving in place.

The mat was finished and grandmother was so excited to give it to me. She even put on a "pretty shirt" to have her picture taken given to me. (Unfortunately, I had on my paint clothes from the map painting session.) I have since given her a copy of the picture. Watcharaporn assures me that she loves it!

This is one gift that I will find someway of shipping home (though it is certainly not an easy thing to ship!)

a monk-ing ceremony

Most Thai men become a monk for a period of time in their lives. Most do it for about a month or two around age twenty. Some stay in longer, those who are truly called spiritually remain in the monkhood for their entire lives. It is sort of a rite of passage for Thai males and a huge part of the culture here.

Last week, I attended the "monk-ing" ceremony of a foreign exchange student who has been studying at a school near where I live. His name is Neils and he is from Belgium (hence the white, non-Thai-like skin). He wanted to have this experience before heading back to his home country. I'm not sure what his religious affiliation is. I do know, however, that he is a seeker of knowledge and understanding. I'm sure this is a part of that journey.

When I arrived at the pre-ceremony, they had just shaven his head (hair and eyebrows). This is done to help prevent monks from focusing any attention and care to their appearance. They are not allowed to have any hair on their head, wear any sort of ornamentation and (slightly beside the point - no underwear....??). Neils was seated in front of the usual centerpiece made from folded leaves, fruit, food and flowers and he was encircled (along with others in the party) by white string. Thais use this string to bless, ward off evil spirits and protect. It is the same kind of string that was tied around my wrists for a goodbye blessing last week.

He held a lotus bud because the lotus flower is the flower of divinity for Thai people. The gift of a lotus flower is only appropriate for monks because it is believed that they are at the level with the divine, not human. In this ceremony, Neils is believed to begin the journey from lowly human to divinely monk.

They did several ritual things that I didn't entirely understand and that they didn't explain. In this picture, the ceremony leader is blowing smoke into Neils' mouth through a banana leaf. Apparently, this goes back to a Brahman story about a divine snake that blew smoke. I'm not sure why this is done in a Thai Buddhist ceremony. They also fed him a hard boiled egg - which I thought was done for fertility (because that's what I was told when I saw it happen in a wedding ceremony) but that doesn't fit with a celibate monk....

After a few rituals, each person attending the ceremony, came up to Neils and tied white string around his wrists (same as what they did to me). They had him hold an orange during this time - again, not sure why. When I arrived, I had to hold a hard boiled egg during one of my ceremonies. I think it is just to keep the hand out.

After all this, blessings and hold water, we all piled into cars and trucks and headed to the temple. Neils rode the "traditional" way in the back of a pickup (formerly probably on a platform carried by villagers) with his close friends and host mother. An umbrella (used only for monk-ing ceremonies) was held over him to shield his (newly balded) head from the sun. It's a good thing - it was super hot that day.

Once at the temple, they held the umbrella over him as he walked from the car to into the temple area. (Which, incidentally was held in a temple just being built -though there was a finished one near by and which was really just some concrete support beams with a piece of cloth draped in between. Oh well. Before entering the temple, Neils threw coins out to everyone attending. This signifies the man's letting go of worldly possessions and wealth. Yippee - I was five Baht richer!

There was a lot of chanting that I (and probably he) couldn't understand. He had to bow repeatedly at the feet of the head monk. The rest of us just watched. It was hard (literally) to sit with my feet tucked under me, as a sign of respect, on the concrete floor during all the chanting that I didn't understand, but I managed. (Fortunately, I was in a skirt and could site cross legged for a while without anyone seeing).

After the first round of chanting, the other monks helped change Neils' robes from the white ones of the pre-ceremony to the orange/brown ones of a full (divine) monk. Of course they did this discreetly within his robes. Thai clothes are made for that and it is easy to be discreet. This was especially important, as he is not allowed to wear underwear!!

Now, a full monk, Neils sat again for another round of chanting, blessing and bowing. The other monks helped him know when to bow. He looked a little confused, but I'm sure it was meaningful for him all the same.

From this point forward. Neils is a monk. He cannot come in contact with a female, eat food after noon nor focus money or time on material/worldly concerns. I think he's planning on staying at the temple as a monk for about a month before he heads home. Unfortunately, I won't see him again before I leave to hear about the experience. Good luck Neils!

World Map #3

One project that many volunteers around the world do with their schools and communities is the World Map Project. This is espeically useful in Thailand because when Thai students learn geography, they are very rarely taught using maps. So, I've done three world map projects during my time here. I just completed the third one at a rural school about 20 Km from my house. The English teacher there is a wonderful lady and one of my good friends.

We started the map on Friday night. I went out to the school about 6:30. We had to start in the dark because to "draw" the map, we used a projector. Because the map is outside, the projector didn't show up during the day. Thus, I went at night - to trace the map in the dark.

The students trace the map projected on the wall.

AJ Dtree (the teacher) arranged for 4th through 6th grade students to come both Friday night and Saturday morning to work on the map. We traced the whole thing on Friday and spent Saturday doing touch ups and then painting.

After we had all the countries there, I put dots o color

in each one to let the students know what color to paint them.

Dirty job, but someone's got to do it!

The painting starts with the Americas and Africa.

Moving on to Asia. (Europe still had a couple countries missing!)

Europe, here we go!

(This was before the Norweigens filled the entire Norweigen Sea with sand

and extended their country down to Denmark and Estonia!)

After a few touch ups, refilling the Great Lakes, Norweigen sea and the Caspian Sea, rebuilding the Galapagos Islands and giving Lesuthu and Swasiland independence once again, we were finished!

The finished world map.

With the students and AJ Dtree after we finished.

These projects are fun and useful, but I like to joke that I came here to change the world and certainly do every time I work with students on a world map! Long live the study of Geography!!

Preschool Graduation

Knowing Thai people's love for pomp and circumstance, and having attended several preschool "graduation" ceremonies in the US, I was not surprised when I was invited to attend the ceremony for Nong Nan to lap (pick up) barina (certificate) anuban (preschool).

I arrived at her house around 7:15 am to make sure we would have time to take pictures before the ceremony. My 'graduation' gift to her was a large pink teddy bear - which she loved and insisted on taking with her.

When we arrived, we went straight to the window where the families borrowed the graduation robes for the little ones. They were so cute with their uniforms showing underneath their tiny little robes!

Nong Nice (Nan's sister) holds the bear and Nan has me hold

the flowers from her teacher. (She was a little grumpy.)

We took pictures with her friend and with her teachers all around the school. There were about 7 arches set up for photographic purposes, balloons and all.

with some friends and her teacher

with some friend and the teddy bear

(If only Thais liked to smile in pictures more...)

Around 8am everyone filed into the auditorium for the ceremony. The ceremony started, as usual, with about 45 min of talking from the "higher ups" at the school. (The affinity for pomp and circumstance here is overshadowed only by the affinity for microphones!) Needless to say the students, and I, were a little bored.

But, we made it through and after the speeches, the 2nd year preschoolers provided entertainment. Again, it was the usual - Thai "babies" with more make-up than the world has seen since the 80s dancing around on stage. I am always impressed that kids this young can remember all their moves. However, it is also upsetting to see what some of these moves are. The suggestive ways that they teach their young children to dance don't seem to fit with the culture of reserve. This show was not too bad - more cute than suggestive. For that I was grateful!

After the performance, each student had a moment in the spotlight as they walked across the stage to receive their certificate, barina. They had obviously practiced quite a few times (fortunately not while we sat and waited, as is usually the case) because each student walked to the middle of the stage, did a 90 degree sharp turn, made a deep wai (bow with prayer hands) and reached his/her right hand straight out to receive the certificate. I was amazed at how perfectly each of these five year old performed their 'duties' in receiving the certificate.

After they had the paper, they did another sharp 90 degree turn, held the certificate against their bodies in their right hand and continued off the stage.

Nong Nan walks off stage after receiving her certificate.

Though the students were a bit fidgety, they were really very patient as they waited for all their friends to lap barina anuban.

I snap a quick picture of Nan and her friend

while they are waiting.

After all the students had their certificates, each class was brought on stage to take a picture with the directors/ sponsors of the school, the principal and the class teachers.

Nan's class picture

An up-close of Nong Nan in the class picture setup.

Goodbye Party #2

Tuesday night, Wat Prachanimit school hosted my Goodbye party number two. The first one was also at this school - last week's assembly with the students. This time, it was a "thank you" and "farewell" from the teachers. The theme was "Friendship Beyond Frontier" - which they came up with themselves (very impressive!)

When I arrived, the tables were set with the usual party set up.

Dinner included about 8 courses starting with nibbles (cashews and chips), going through fried pork, fried rice, soups, steamed sea food, a whole fish and ending with sticky rice and dried fruit. We were stuffed.

While we ate, the school band played. I have been somewhat of a "groupie" for the band, so it was really meaningful to me that they came to the party to perform.

We took a picture together.

In the middle of the party, the teachers performed the traditional Isaan (NE region of Thailand) ceremony for good luck and blessing. This ceremony is often performed to bid people welcome or farewell.

This is the center point of the ceremony. It is made by hand from banana leaves and flowers. The strings are soaked in jasmine water for fragrance and good luck.

Each person removes one string from the display and ties it around the arm of the person being honored. As they tie the string they offer prayers and good wishes for that person. My blessings included some for good heath, good luck and good money! They also each reminded me not to forget them! :)

It was very nice to touch base with each person who came to the party. This is my co-teacher Wasana - one of my closest friends here.

After the string ceremony, each department (and some individuals) offered me a gift. At first I was not very excited about being given anything more prior to my packing and departure, but most people gave me beautiful traditional Thai silks and cottons. The principal and his wife were so sweet, giving me a gift from them and from the school. They called me their daughter and promised to miss me!

The English department had shirts made with our caricatures on the back. I don't think it really looks like us, but it's fun all the same. The front of the shirt says Thailand (heart) America. We're friends! So cute! Their gift to me was the picture from our shirt framed.

The picture is the "five angels" - like Charlie's Angels, so we had to have a pose as well.

And of course, no Thai party is complete with out karaoke and dancing (to the karaoke of course). There were no English Karaoke songs (unusual) so I listened and danced. Honestly, I didn't mind NOT being pushed to the mike. Usually the only songs to be found are ones I've never heard of. (Though I've learned a great version of "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Take me to your heart"!)

River Fun

This past weekend was a three day weekend in Thailand. Actually, I didn't know this until Friday evening, so hadn't made any plans other than writing scholarship essays - yippee! My Thai friends had other ideas. Saturday I went into Korat city with P Noot and we spent the day eating yummy "falang" food and ice cream and shopping. Sunday I did work on essays, but Monday was a fun adventure.

On Monday, I traveled to the neighboring province of Chaiyaphum with P Noot, P Noy and 2 of P Noy's "Ps" (P means older sibling and is used loosely to refer to people who are older than you.) I'd been to this national park before. Actually, it was one of the first adventures I had in Thailand, so it seems that even this has come to a full circle.

The water was cold and refreshing and it seemed like lots of people had our same idea.

One beautiful thing about Thai people is that they rarely worry about acting "childish". Though all three of us are old "spinsters" by Thai standards (though myself considerably less so) we joined in with the kids to slide down the slippery rock. We laughed and had a great time as we did it.

Here is P Noot and P Noy after they came down the slide

And here's me as I went down.

The man that was with us, appeared to be rather grandfather like (though he joked that he should only have to pay child's entrance fee because he only had a few teeth!) but had as much fun as anyone rolling and sliding around in the water.

Here he is emerging from the water! What fun - and so cute!

We also played and wrestled around - splashing each other and having a great time of it.

P Noot tries to resist as I try to dunk her - not all the way, don't worry. (She can't swim)

It was a refreshing and wonderful day of vacation and fun.