Not Busy, Just Thai'd Up

 

Hmm this week has been filled with a lot of schoolwork, and thus not much exciting to tell you.  Lemme tell ya what though- I’m excited for this 20-page research paper due at the end of the semester.  I’m thinking about doing it on women’s roles in Thai Buddhism.  There’s this whole thing about not being able to be officially ordained.  There’s only one nun in Thailand, and she’s not recognized by the state.  More on that another day, after I’ve done my research and whatnot.

 

Speaking of nuns, Buddhist nuns have 311 precepts, or rules, that they have to follow.  Crazy right?!  Buddhist monks have something like 247 precepts, novices have 10, and laymen have 5.  I learned all of this from the monks I visited on Wednesday.  LauraSA volunteers at Wat San Prahkha (spelling?) teaching English to two monks, M and KK.  She really enjoys it, so she invited me and Emily to go with her and meet them.  They are really super sweet.  KK got us all journals, pens, and plastic bags (for shopping at the market in Bo Sang where we explored later) as presents.  AND he wrote us a message in the journals with the most wonderful penmanship I have seen in a while- he even has different font styles. 

 

Emily asked KK about his daily routine, and whether or not he will disrobe.  It is common for males to enter the monkhood in order to attain an education because it is free, they get to travel, and they have a lot of time to study- there are none of the material, worldly distractions that plague all of us other students.  Then, after they have learned a satisfactory amount, they disrobe, and enter lay life.  Historically, the Buddhist religion and the temples were the center of community life in Thailand, so entering monkhood was pretty much the only one could gain an education for a long time.  But, I’m not going to write up a history paper.  I do enough of those.

M is the monk on the left, KK is on the right.

 

Hmm, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant for Maia’s birthday.  I tried these slimey wrap things, which are her favorite, and they were slimey, but OH SO DELICIOUS.  I regret not knowing what they are called.  We got her a cake, and Emily bought her an over-the-shoulder-strap bag from her volunteering place Healing FamilyFoundation!  It’s an awesome place, and I’d like to go at some point.  It is an organization that serves as a community for disabled people.  They make the most beautifully weaved things, and I think everyone should buy something from them (some of you will get Christmas gifts that I bought from this foundation).

 

Food.  We also went to Birds Nest Café.  Which is amazing- the murals are done by a local artist who also plays an instrument and writes, the books are awesome (I started reading The Little Prince) , and the food is crazy good.  The Friendship Cake tastes like tea, and the banana and black sesame seed shake was so good.  The first night we went, we were there for the viewing of the movie The Lady, which is about Aung San Suu Kyi.  I highly recommend the movie 1) because it’s a great movie and 2) because she is a freakin amazing, inspiring person.  I know now what to write when asked the question about who my role model is.  Just read about her, everyone.  And for those of you in America right now, you should go see her speak because that’s what I would be doing if I were at home.

 

The other night we went to Birds Nest, there was Indian food! Oh how I kind of miss India.  It’s such a magical and puzzling and horrifying place.  But I loved it.  BUT I’M IN THAILAND! So I’m gonna continue to focus on the fact that I’m here for the time being, until I travel somewhere else.

 

Friday night, I took more people to a Muay Thai fight at the Kalare Night Bazaar Boxing Stadium. This time, we got to see International fights, and women fights!  People kept making  jokes about me being up there…oh heck no.  I am not nearly ready for any of that.  Especially after watching this 20 year old women from Canada beat the crap out of this 40/50 year old Englishwomen.  She just went after her face like a banshee bridezilla after discovering the baker didn’t put buttercream icing on her wedding cake instead of chocolate.  It was awkward and awful to watch. The ref stepped in twice, and the fight didn’t even last 2 minutes.  In the middle of one of the fights, the power went off, which was super amusing, but I felt bad for the fighters because they had to wait for about 20 minutes before they could finish their fight.

 

Later, we went to Zoey’s where I met one of my trainers at the Reggae bar.  Lemme tell ya what.  Zoey’s while completely sober is not fun.  It is a shit show- everyone is super drunk, foreigners everywhere while poor Aka villagers selling bracelets try to sell their stuff.  My friend ran into a pimp too- there are prostitutes everywhere.  I saw two Thai people dressed as Pikachu and Yoshi, and I got to watch my trainer kinda make a fool of himself on stage while the reggae band was playing music, and he gave us free beer…so, I guess Zoey’s wasn’t terrible.  

 

The most exciting part of this week is that I got to see the stars one night.  It’s a rare and special treat to see the stars in a city-ish area.  I want to go to Mauna Kea Observatory just for the stars.  But I’m in Thailand.  And I’m lovin’ it, folks.