Monk Arrival

Day 3 Pla Pak

Today was the coolest I have had since arriving in Thailand. We got up just before dawn this morning to get ready for school and head to the ceremony in town happening before the school day starts. One hundred and eleven Buddhist Monks came to Pla Pak today to take Merit from the community members (food is given from the community to the temples since money is not spend on feeding them but provided by the people). The typical offerings range from rice and vegetables to juice boxes, candy bars, and milk. We brought packaged noodles (like ramen) and fresh fruit to offer. We placed in all on a tray once we made it to the center of the village and went and sat at the spot they asked us to in the middle of the road where they had lain yards upon yards of cloth and plastic mats along the street. We sat on the ground with our feet behind us since in Thai culture it is rude to show the bottom of your feet to people and extremely disrespectful to point your foot at someone. Needless to say this position got extremely uncomfortable, but every Thai person seemed just fine so I tried to grin and bear it!

The ceremony began just after dawn. Prayers, ceremonial chants and speeches were performed and then the monks began their journey down the lain out path of village people with their offerings in front of them. With the passing of each monk we handed one or two items to each monk and they placed it in a bowl or canister they were carrying and once it was filled they transferred the goods into large plastic bags to take back to their Wat. I had to make sure I was doing a proper Wai (hands up in front like a bow) since with Monks the Wai is held in front of your face instead of at your chest.

Caitlyn and I had to rush out at the completion of the ceremony to meet Khru Kim to drive us over to Wang Yang - Caitlyn's first school. School began at 8:30 for the students and they do prayers, country pledges, and role call as well as cleaning before class begins at 9am. Caitlyn teaches grades 5, 6 and a combined class of 3rd and 4th graders each week at Wang Yang. The children are amazingly well behaved and respectful, it was quite a change from what I know in the states and very refreshing to experience!

Her first class was the 6th graders and they seemed genuinely interested in learning English and inquisitive in their own way. Caitlyn does quite well with them! I know I would struggle with the situation knowing that if I also spoke their language it would be so much more efficient, yet almost no one hear speaks any English and NO ONE is fluent. Its especially difficult since in Pla Pak they use Isan dialect which is almost an entirely different way to speak Thai so even a trained English teacher fluent in Thai would struggle in Pla Pak.

Between each class Caitlyn gets a one hour break to prepare and a one hour lunch break. Her classes are quite small (12-15 on average and one larger class with about 25). At lunch I received my Thai nickname, Bai Bua, which means Lotus leaf :) Cailtlyn's name is Bai Khao which stands for rice leaf and Steph is Pla Noi meaning small fish! The whole idea is very sweet and is just much easier for the Thai people to say and remember. It spread quickly that Bai Bua was my name and the children in the subsequent classes and days knew within minutes!

The craziest part of the day was really realizing how hard it is for these students to pronounce English words and sounds. They exchange their R's with L's since that is the sound in Thai and when you say the name for the letter H and ask them what it is they get it confused with the letter X because when they pronounce each they sound very similar. Some get it much better than others and I am sure, as in the States, much of that is influenced by family interactions.

After the day at Wang Yang we went over to the town Aerobic dance class and got a quick workout! It was a really relaxing and funny way to wind down after a very eventful day. They played some pretty riske music and it reminded me of aerobics in the 90s! We got back to the house and PiYok had gotten us some rice with chicken (well mainly chicken fat) and some veggies. Then Caitlyn and I rode into town on our bikes (somehow we miraculously had 3 bikes when we woke up this morning - I told you they are taking care of me!) and fulfilled our sweet tooth with an ice cream bar. Its not very usual to go out of the house after dark in Pla Pak so we got a few funny looks, but its definitely safe to do so.