This past weekend was full of many small adventures.
My friend Mason, originally from South Carolina and currently living in Khon Kaen came up to visit me and spent the weekend at my house. We spent the weekend watching movies, eating at my favourite Khanom shops and going to the internet cafe. It was relaxing, and very normal everyday life for myself; he however was quite sick of the quiet of Nakhon Phanom and I'm sure he was happy to go back to the hustle and bustle of Khon Kaen. I don't mind, I love Nakhon Phanom.
On Saturday morning Mason decided to sleep in and Suzanne and I went to a 5 year anniversary of the death of P Kaew's mother. Like all Buddhist ceremonies there was lots of food, lots of people and monks. For this particular ceremony there were 5 monks and each was given breakfast and a present after the ceremony. I wondered how one person could possibly eat that much food to themselves, but they are only allowed to eat before 12 pm so they must be pretty hungry. We spent a while praying and chanting [I have started to recognize some of the chants in the repeating pattern and try my hardest to speak along with everyone else], then the monks took branches dipped in water and sprayed us with them. The whole time while they waied they had a piece of string lined across their hands. I really love ceremonies like this, I feel so fresh afterwards.
Sunday morning Mason and I went with my host family to Phra That Phanom where there was a big fair going on. Usually when you make merit at a temple you have three incense sticks, a candle and a bunch of flowers that you put in different places and you wish on each before you do so. There were so many people at the temple that they had bonfires set up that you placed your entire bundle of items in. Smoke, chatter and laughter filled the air while we made merit and I started to feel quite claustrophic. We didn't even take our shoes off before entering the temple becuase there was no way we could have found them on the way out. After making merit we wandered through the countless stalls while merchants called out to us. I bought a Rubix cube and that was it. We also stopped to play with a bunch of baby bunnies; I asked my mom if I could buy one but she said "Sai Yo will eat it." I wouldn't want our golden retriever to eat my bunny, so I reluctantly left them behind.
Sunday night my host family set up a dinner party in our driveway with straw mats set up on the concrete and Korean BBQs set up. My parents', aunt's and sister's friends were there as well as Mason and Suzanne. We sat on the mats eating until we were so full it hurt and laughing throughout our conversation. It was wonderful - I love Thai dining.
Last night was Buddha's birthday, a day off school and a day for everyone in all of Thailand to go to the temple. Three laps of the temple, three sticks of incense, a bunch of orchids and two little yellow candles - we were anew. It felt wonderful to be a part of such a celebration. Tonight there will be monks coming to visit my aunt and she is going to take me as well to learn about Buddhism and how to meditate. We will also go to give them food in the morning. Buddhism has reached out to me; Thai ceremony has touched me in many ways. I love going to the temple, making merit, giving food to the monks and taking part in special ceremonies. It feels comfortable, it feels fresh, I feel accepted into their celebration.
"It is not how we are the same, but how we are different"
15 years ago
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