Well, today was the monk ordination for the son of the wonderful lady I live with. Things might get awkward from time to time, but she has been very kind to offer a spot in her house for me. Some of the details get lost in translation, but we generally can find some level of understanding if we try. Except for the bag of mangoes she asked me to take to school last week. I am used to people giving me mangoes, so I didn't understand I was supposed to take the mangoes and give them to someone else. Mangoes literally grow on trees here though, so not too big of a mix up.
Last night I spent the night in a house of another teacher in my school, so that my room could be used for the many many friends and family that had traveled to come to the three day celebration. Women cook and wash dishes the entire time. Men drink and children play for three days. And people are always eating. A three day family and friend reunion. Everyone helping, everyone happy.
The father of the monk became sick last year and died on this day one year ago. The family and village loved him very much. You can tell he is missed every day here. He was a teacher at the school and drove the children to school every day. Now his widow, who teaches at the school drives the school van.
Buddhism in Thailand is a mixture of Buddhism, animism, and ancestor worship. Buddhists believe that when you die, your spirit is put into a holding pattern until you are reborn. If you have lived a good life, you are born better off than before, if you have acquired some bad karma, you might be reborn as an animal, or into a more difficult existence. Family members can dedicate good deeds to help their loved ones to be reborn into a better life.
I spent the day first helping to tear banana leaves to wrap rice into, then cooking ground pork for lap moo. Then eating and drinking beer and of course sleeping. Next came the part of the ceremony I am not sure about. It always involves an MC all in white, maybe a Brahman priest?. All of the grandmother's gather around for this part. I always joke that I am a Thai Yai (grandmother) although I have in no way earned this title of respect. I just dress like a yai, smell like a yai (tiger balm), walk like a yai at times (hunched over), like to eat dinner before 6pm, and today as I sat with them, I realized I had a small hand towel thrown over my shoulder, just like a Yai. It was hilarious to me that I unwittingly took on another characteristic of a Yai. All I need now is the hair comb, I'll skip chewing beetle nut which dies your mouth blood red.
As soon as the ceremony got going a huge down poor came and lasted for about thirty minutes creating a river out of the street. Once it ended the ceremony continued, then, of course, we had a parade of dancing around the village while the monk to be throws baht decorated with ribbon and everyone scrambles to gather as many as they can. It's like at an American parade, only better. My sweet neighbor Bam, who is eleven and is my shadow joined me at the end and when we got muddy going after some of the baht she cleaned my hand with her scarf.
My students have really brought joy into my time here in Thailand. They are super cute and very sweet. They are picking up what I teach them quickly and taking it home and teaching their parents. After teaching one week, I hear twice as much English as I did one week ago. I will begin teaching the teachers at my school one day a week when I get back from a seminar in Khon Kaen. I will be teaching how to teach speaking in an English classroom to teachers who did not major in English.
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