Rotting durian. There is a durian tree behind my office & apparently my coworkers don't like the stuff as it is now laying on the floor rotting...and the smell is HORRID!!!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Buddhist Lent
This weekend brings Asaraha Bucha Day and the beginning of Buddhist Lent. What does this mean? Well a 4 day weekend for one thing, and I get to spend more time worshiping at the temples (which I really wouldn’t mind if it didn’t mean hours of torture sitting on the hard concrete floors).
I found a bit about Buddhist Lent on the internet: Lord Buddha designated this 3 month period, as the Lent season, 'WAN KHOW PAHNSA'. (Wan = day; Khow = in, enter; Pahnsa = residence period), on the first day of the waning moon (i.e. the next day after the full moon = Raem 1 Khum) of the 8th lunar month. This rule still applies and means that monks must remain in residence. They must spend every night within their own temple and must not travel, except in urgent cases with the temple's permission of not more than 7 days away.
Traditionally, the beginning of 'Pahnsa' is celebrated in the Kingdom in many ways. One of the most important ceremonies is to present special Lent candles ranging in size from as small as 10 in diameter to over 6 feet high. Certainly, these huge candles remain alight in the temple chapel (Bhote) throughout the three PAHNSA months, instead of having to light fresh candles daily. The giving of Lent candles, a symbol or 'Gift of Light', is supposed to bring special merit. Lighted candles have been of daily necessity for Buddhist monks especially in the olden days when electricity wasn't available. These candles are given by the King, government agencies, and ordinary people in all walk of life.
Traditionally, the beginning of 'Pahnsa' is celebrated in the Kingdom in many ways. One of the most important ceremonies is to present special Lent candles ranging in size from as small as 10 in diameter to over 6 feet high. Certainly, these huge candles remain alight in the temple chapel (Bhote) throughout the three PAHNSA months, instead of having to light fresh candles daily. The giving of Lent candles, a symbol or 'Gift of Light', is supposed to bring special merit. Lighted candles have been of daily necessity for Buddhist monks especially in the olden days when electricity wasn't available. These candles are given by the King, government agencies, and ordinary people in all walk of life.
On this occasion, in addition to merit-making at temples throughout the country, various kinds of 'merry-making' can be seen among the people (of course, the monks do not participate in these activities)
Today, the people from my office went to some temples to donated big candles & money (and of course they brought me along). We left at about 9:30 am and went to different temples. They had a ceremony at each one that lasted about 30 minutes. It was really neat to see the different temples (each village has its own). I even noticed a few things about the temple in my village that I hadn’t noticed before…the guy that was driving us parked behind the temple…it has these “interesting” murals painted on the back wall.
We made it to 5 of them before my coworkers rebelled and demanded food so we ended up eating at one of the temples and then set out for the last one. I think that the last ceremony is a bit more memorable because the monk that was conducting the ceremony stopped in the middle to answer his cell phone! And then he handed his digital camera to one of the staff to take pictures (according to my limited knowledge of Buddhism & monks, a monk is only supposed to own his robes, his shoes, his razor (for shaving his head), and the bag that they have to carry stuff in…they depend upon donations for everything else). Everyone thought it was pretty funny though. We got back to the office at 1:30…that is a lot of temple time!
So now I have a 4 day holiday to look forward to. I think I am going to try to catch up on some laundry & cleaning. And then on Wednesday, I get to go to another volunteer’s site to help out with an English Camp…which should be very entertaining!
We made it to 5 of them before my coworkers rebelled and demanded food so we ended up eating at one of the temples and then set out for the last one. I think that the last ceremony is a bit more memorable because the monk that was conducting the ceremony stopped in the middle to answer his cell phone! And then he handed his digital camera to one of the staff to take pictures (according to my limited knowledge of Buddhism & monks, a monk is only supposed to own his robes, his shoes, his razor (for shaving his head), and the bag that they have to carry stuff in…they depend upon donations for everything else). Everyone thought it was pretty funny though. We got back to the office at 1:30…that is a lot of temple time!
So now I have a 4 day holiday to look forward to. I think I am going to try to catch up on some laundry & cleaning. And then on Wednesday, I get to go to another volunteer’s site to help out with an English Camp…which should be very entertaining!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Praying for Rain
There was a bunch of people at the outside meeting “room” when I got to work today. I didn’t know what they were doing, so I just locked up my bike and went in to change into my skirt. About an hour later, one of my coworkers asked me if I wanted to go outside to watch…and I being completely bored as usual said of course.
As we were walking over to the group, she explained to me that they were praying for rain. Apparently they haven’t been getting enough rain(even though it has rained more here in the past two weeks than it does all year in Montana) so they decided to hold a prayer session & brought some monks by to help pray for rain.
It was really interesting as they had the usual assortment of gifts to the monks,
but they had also made a fish out of mud and a crab out of a coconut shell which was interesting. 
They had also filled the monks' bowls with rice as usual (this is how the monk gets their food every day). 
We sat and prayed and the people were very encouraged to see clouds appear in the sky (although it seems to be a constant state during the rainy season).
At the end of the “ceremony” a monk walked around the crowd dousing people with water. He uses a bamboo stick to “sprinkle” water on people as a blessing…but it is more like a squirt gun & everyone laughed when he got the “farang” (me).
As we were walking over to the group, she explained to me that they were praying for rain. Apparently they haven’t been getting enough rain(even though it has rained more here in the past two weeks than it does all year in Montana) so they decided to hold a prayer session & brought some monks by to help pray for rain.
It was really interesting as they had the usual assortment of gifts to the monks,
but they had also made a fish out of mud and a crab out of a coconut shell which was interesting. They had also filled the monks' bowls with rice as usual (this is how the monk gets their food every day). We sat and prayed and the people were very encouraged to see clouds appear in the sky (although it seems to be a constant state during the rainy season).At the end of the “ceremony” a monk walked around the crowd dousing people with water. He uses a bamboo stick to “sprinkle” water on people as a blessing…but it is more like a squirt gun & everyone laughed when he got the “farang” (me).
PST II
For the past two weeks, I have been in Kanchanburi for some training (known affectionately at PST II). For those of you unfamiliar with Thailand geography, Kanchanburi is the site of the infamous Bridge on the River Kwai. I had mixed feelings about going to PST II…I was SOOOO ready to get away from my site and I couldn’t wait to see some of the other volunteers, but I did NOT want to sit through more training sessions and I was not looking forward to more language training.
The first few days of PST II was actually counterpart training. Our counterparts came with us and Peace Corps had training sessions set up to teach them more about working with Peace Corps volunteers and what sort of work we can/will do. I hope that the counterparts found the training useful & will now stop asking me to “write a project proposal for youth.” We actually celebrated the 4th of July while the counterparts were with us. Peace Corps had set up a “barbeque”…which consisted of spaghetti, fried fish, and mashed potatoes – a little disappointing to all of the volunteers who were looking forward to hamburgers and hotdogs.
After the counterparts left, we had language sessions in the mornings, and more training sessions in the afternoon. That weekend, they arranged a fieldtrip to an orphanage (see previous post) and then they dropped us off at the bridge for some site seeing & shopping. It was really nice to spend some time with the other volunteers…it really helps to know that you are not the only one having “issues” at your site. That you are not the only one struggling with the language or with the culture or with work.
After spending two weeks in Kanchanburi, we spent a weekend in Bangkok. Have I told you yet how much I hate that city? It smells, it is loud, it is expensive, it is dirty, and have I mentioned that it smells! At least I was able to see some movies…Die Hard 4.0 (aka Live Fast Die Hard in America) and the new Harry Potter. We also did some shopping and got in a McDonalds & Starbucks fix. I was also able to get to Pontip Plaza and buy some DVDs (they sell copied DVDs for about $3.50…you can even get movies that have just opened in the theater although I would not recommend it as you may see someone’s head cross the screen as they get up to go to the restroom). And most importantly, I was able to pre-order the Harry Potter book. They are going to ship it to my house & I can’t wait!
Getting home was pretty interesting. I had called my counterpart on Saturday to let her know that I was taking the night bus on Sunday and would get into Nan on Monday morning. She told me to call her when I got into Nan she would come & pick me up. Well, our bus left at 7:00 pm and we got into Nan at 4:30 in the morning. I figured that that was a little early to call so I decided to wait for a little while. She ended up calling me at 7:00 and told me that I had to catch a songtao (a truck with two rows of benches in the back) to my site (in other words, she didn’t wan to come & pick me up). Well, it turns out that the songtao to Santisuk only stops at the bus station once in the morning and I had just missed it. So I had to get all of my stuff to the local market where the songtaos regularly leave. It is about a 45 minute drive from Santisuk to Nan, so had my counterpart left at 7:00, I could have been at my house by 8:30…I didn’t get home until 12:00 in the afternoon. It was a REALLY long day! But now I know that I can do it by myself & that I don’t have to rely on other people for a ride into town (although I had stopped at the grocery store & by the time I got home, my milk had soured in the heat).
Shopping is so much fun!
The first few days of PST II was actually counterpart training. Our counterparts came with us and Peace Corps had training sessions set up to teach them more about working with Peace Corps volunteers and what sort of work we can/will do. I hope that the counterparts found the training useful & will now stop asking me to “write a project proposal for youth.” We actually celebrated the 4th of July while the counterparts were with us. Peace Corps had set up a “barbeque”…which consisted of spaghetti, fried fish, and mashed potatoes – a little disappointing to all of the volunteers who were looking forward to hamburgers and hotdogs.
After the counterparts left, we had language sessions in the mornings, and more training sessions in the afternoon. That weekend, they arranged a fieldtrip to an orphanage (see previous post) and then they dropped us off at the bridge for some site seeing & shopping. It was really nice to spend some time with the other volunteers…it really helps to know that you are not the only one having “issues” at your site. That you are not the only one struggling with the language or with the culture or with work.
After spending two weeks in Kanchanburi, we spent a weekend in Bangkok. Have I told you yet how much I hate that city? It smells, it is loud, it is expensive, it is dirty, and have I mentioned that it smells! At least I was able to see some movies…Die Hard 4.0 (aka Live Fast Die Hard in America) and the new Harry Potter. We also did some shopping and got in a McDonalds & Starbucks fix. I was also able to get to Pontip Plaza and buy some DVDs (they sell copied DVDs for about $3.50…you can even get movies that have just opened in the theater although I would not recommend it as you may see someone’s head cross the screen as they get up to go to the restroom). And most importantly, I was able to pre-order the Harry Potter book. They are going to ship it to my house & I can’t wait!
Getting home was pretty interesting. I had called my counterpart on Saturday to let her know that I was taking the night bus on Sunday and would get into Nan on Monday morning. She told me to call her when I got into Nan she would come & pick me up. Well, our bus left at 7:00 pm and we got into Nan at 4:30 in the morning. I figured that that was a little early to call so I decided to wait for a little while. She ended up calling me at 7:00 and told me that I had to catch a songtao (a truck with two rows of benches in the back) to my site (in other words, she didn’t wan to come & pick me up). Well, it turns out that the songtao to Santisuk only stops at the bus station once in the morning and I had just missed it. So I had to get all of my stuff to the local market where the songtaos regularly leave. It is about a 45 minute drive from Santisuk to Nan, so had my counterpart left at 7:00, I could have been at my house by 8:30…I didn’t get home until 12:00 in the afternoon. It was a REALLY long day! But now I know that I can do it by myself & that I don’t have to rely on other people for a ride into town (although I had stopped at the grocery store & by the time I got home, my milk had soured in the heat).
Shopping is so much fun!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
The Orphanage
I had the “opportunity” to visit an orphanage last weekend and I didn’t anticipate how hard it was going to be for me. No, I did not fall in love with a child & want to take him/her home with me. No, I was not appalled by the living conditions. I had a really hard time because I felt as though the kids were trained to put a show on for the people that come to visit & possibly donate money. Let me explain:
If you walk into a Thai school (any age) the students will pretty much hide in a corner and whisper and point at you. You MAY have a few adventurous kids who will come up to you to ask for your autograph or who want to shake your hand, but for the most part, it takes a few visits before they warm up to you (but once they do warm up to you, you will constantly be surrounded by little kids). This was not the case at the orphanage.
As soon as we arrived, we had kids jumping on us, holding our hands, and grabbing the cameras out of our grasps to take pictures of us. The officials at the orphanage didn’t help either as for every “activity” they had arranged they made us pick a kid to “partner” with.
It just felt so insincere. We were supposed to go there to work (we had signed up to plant trees, cut grass, pick up trash, and do agriculture work) but we ended up just playing games.
I think that I have become a bit cynical in my old age.
Group picture.
If you walk into a Thai school (any age) the students will pretty much hide in a corner and whisper and point at you. You MAY have a few adventurous kids who will come up to you to ask for your autograph or who want to shake your hand, but for the most part, it takes a few visits before they warm up to you (but once they do warm up to you, you will constantly be surrounded by little kids). This was not the case at the orphanage.
As soon as we arrived, we had kids jumping on us, holding our hands, and grabbing the cameras out of our grasps to take pictures of us. The officials at the orphanage didn’t help either as for every “activity” they had arranged they made us pick a kid to “partner” with.
It just felt so insincere. We were supposed to go there to work (we had signed up to plant trees, cut grass, pick up trash, and do agriculture work) but we ended up just playing games.
I think that I have become a bit cynical in my old age.
Playing game with the kids.
Watching the games.
Group picture.
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