A Crash Course in Thai Culture

Last weekend was fun, crazy, and interesting. We're tired this week, but it was worth it.

Friday

We had a very interesting cultural experience on Friday night. We were invited over for dinner by some of John's students' parents. There were four kids there, and at least one parent to go along with each one. John has a few parents that really care about how their kids are doing, and they often come to him with questions about the homework and tests. Anyways, they were very kind to invite us to their house for dinner.

But when I say house, I should really say mansion. They have a media company right across the streets that is also asking to borrow the house, not to photograph mind you, but for company parties and things.

It was incredible to be shown around some of the rooms, to see the fountain in the front, the jacuzzi on the roof, the huge, flatscreen TVs in every room, and the modern art on the walls, but then we got the experience of a huge dinner. We knew that it was special when the Mom's started saying, "I made this for you all by myself," since this is a rarity for wealthy Thai women. One Mom made us her special phad Thai (which, by the way, was delicious). Every one here thinks that we eat nothing put phad thai every meal; I'm not sure how they decided this except that when we first came, the only food dish we knew the name to was... phad thai. So now everyone thinks that this is the only thing that we eat. (Thai people don't actually eat phad thai very often, it's kind of like their fast food)

After dinner, we were thrown into another Thai ritual: Karaoke... Did I mention they have a whole room dedicated to Karaoke and, like most Asians, they are very serious about it. They kept putting the microphone in front of us, as well as song after song that we did not know. it reminded me of French "Boom", dance parties where everyone else looked like they were genuinely having fun, while I was wondering how much longer it would last... But, in the end, it was fun, and everyone was so kind to us. They invited us to do something again later, and I'm sure we will accept. In a way, I wish the 11th grade parents would also get involved in their students' educational lives.

Saturday

On Saturday, we drug ourselves out of bed at the early hour of 9 am (we have made it our habit to stay in bed until 11 am, catching up on the sleep we missed during the week), and met some friends for an adventure.

The destination: Lopburi, 2.5 hours North of Bangkok by train.

The occasion: The annual monkey festival.

We decided to get a true Thai cultural experience and take the 3rd class, non-airconditioned bus to Lopburi. We waited an hour and a half for the train to finally make it to the station, and then climbed into an incredibly packed car to begin our journey North of Bangkok.

We stood for the beginning of the trip, until a few people got off and we were able to pack 3 bodies into a seat. The aisle was crammed with people standing and bags hanging, but this created a fascinating dance when the vendors selling various food items passed through, about every 20 seconds. They sold their goods in a beautiful chant-like tone, repeating themselves again and again as they walked up and down the train. There were beggers sliding up and down the aisle, and people falling asleep on my shoulder. It was so hot, we started sweating almost instantly, even with the windows open and the fans on. The most irritating part was looking around and seeing the Thai people wearing sweaters all around, looking cool and comfortable. It is their winter after all, with chilling temperatures descending to 70 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrrr!!!! :)

We did eventually make it. It was an experience worth having, especially for 24 Baht (the equivalent of a little less than $1), but we opted to take the air-conditioned mini-van home...

Lopburi is a small, quiet, little town that is famous for its old temple ruins and its mixture of traditional and French architecture. There was a King (or a Prince, I'm not sure which) of Thailand that became friends with Louis XIV of France back in the 1600s, and wanted Thailand to become more friendly with the Western nations. We visited his palace in Lopburi: it was very beautiful, but a completely different style of architecture than everything else here. Apparently, he entertained many foreign dignitaries there. Eventually, he was executed, and that put an end to the friendship with France.

We chose the same day to visit the Lopburi palace and museum as all the schoolchildren in Central Thailand, I think, because as soon as we stepped foot inside, we were literally mugged by a huge number of kids, all wanting to shake our hand and practice the three English phrases that they knew. We felt like Rock Stars.

From there, we walked to the monkey temple. I'm not sure how the monkeys got there in the first place, but they are now the main tourist attraction for the town. To thank them for all the money that they bring in, the people of Lopburi host an annual monkey festival. On Sunday (we missed it by one day), they set up a beautiful table with every kind of food imaginable, and then let the monkeys eat to their hearts content. We missed this amazing culinary experience, but we walked by the temple where they were already laying out some food. Literally, there were monkeys EVERYWHERE: up every street, on every building, walking all the power lines, stopping traffic, and covering the temple grounds.

Everyone warns tourists to put their valuables at the bottom of their bags, so that if the monkeys get into a backpack, they only steal a water bottle. It was crazy!! and a little bit scary! If you'd stop and look up, there were always at least two monkeys sitting right above your head, staring. We were almost attacked by a territorial monkey, but remembered at the last minute that we were supposed to look it in the eyes or smile at it. Yikes!

The ruins of another temple. The statue is actually John.

Sunday

On Sunday, we visited a Thai church that our friends attend. Some people say that God is really starting to do something in Thailand. We have noticed that Buddhism is not providing any answers, and that Thai people are searching for more and seem pretty hopeless. Those who enter the Church have such a hunger for God. Just to give you an idea, the service lasted 4 hours. There was a "pre-sermon" that lasted an hour, like a warm-up, if you will, then an hour of worship, an hour of preaching, and an hour of prayer. We were very glad to have a lady sit beside us and translate, so that we caught maybe half of what was said. It was really nice to have songs that we knew, so that we could sing along in English while everyone sang in Thai. It was just what we needed after a tiring week. God was very good to take us there.

After church, we went upstairs for a post-dinner lunch, and had a really great talk with the couple that we came with, a Thai couple, and one of the pastors. They told us about how many Thai people are afraid to hope because they have heard so many people promise to bring change in the government, but things never get better. They told us about all the corruption that they see, and how it is easier for a Thai person to ignore it then to deal with it. And they told us that many people are coming to the Lord because they see that He actually changes lives and offers that hope that they desperately want. We pray that God will use us to be a part of what He is doing in Thailand.

Thanksgiving Lessons

This week has been incredibly frustrating for both of us, and it sort of culminated yesterday. We've been having trouble with our hiring agency, and we have found them pretty unhelpful recently. Other people warned us that this would happen after a few months with them, and now we are experiencing that firsthand, unfortunately. They were very helpful when we first got here, but now that they have a lot of new teachers (that bring in more income for them), we don't see or hear much of them.

Anyways, it all came to a head when our electricity was shut off in our apartment yesterday because of a bill that we were unable to pay (it's very confusing trying to pay your bills here because you have to go to so many places to pay them, and no one speaks English). No electricity means no air-conditioning after a hot day, no power for the food in the fridge, and no light after the sun goes down at 6 pm. It just sort of proved to us how spoiled we really are, since there are still people who live without power and air-conditioning all the time. We were told that the soonest they could turn everything back on would be the next day sometime.

On top of all this, our phones were having issues. We could receive calls, but whenever we tred to call or text someone, we would hear a message in Thai and it wouldn't connect us. To sum it all up, we were really frustrated!!

But during this time of stress, God has been taking care of us. We were able to go spend the night at the MacArthurs' house (our small group leaders). Jack was so kind to open his home to us, and give us a comfortable bed and nice breakfast, and since his wife is in Canada until Monday, it meant company for both of us. It wasn't until we were sitting talking about Thanksgiving plans that all three of us remembered that it was Thanksgiving already!! And it was so nice to know that God has made special plans for us before we even realized that it was Thanksgiving. Also, for no apparent reason, the agency paid us a day early this month (yesterday instead of today), and so we were able to do all these things.

I (Dana) got to call my family last night, and Mom reminded me that there are 3 stages to adjusting to a new culture. At first, you love everything about the culture, then that passes and you hate everything about it. Finally, you sort of find a middle ground, and can see the positive and negative a little more objectively. Right now, we are smack in the middle of stage 2, but God has reminded us that he is with us through it all, and we are open to whatever he wants to teach us.

More next time...

Sports Day

Every school is Thailand participates in what is called Sports Day. The school is divided into different teams that compete against each other in different sport activities. Saint Francis has a Thai side and an English program side. We teach in the English program side (it basically means that all the classes are taught in English, except the obvious subjects like Thai language and social studies). Anyways, our side is small enough that we were one team: team orange.

There was a typo on the T-Shirts that said Sport Days, instead of Sports Day, but that is actually a much more accurate description. Thai schools love school activities because they love to have fun, if only it could be said that they loved learning as much as the activities! So to get ready for Sport’s Day, our classes were cut down to 40 minutes for 2 days so that the kids could practice in the afternoon. The last week, most of the classes were completely cancelled (officially or unofficially).

Friday was the actual celebration. The day started out with an extravagant parade. Since Dana’s 11^th graders were in charge of organizing the parade, we were asked to bring up the end of the whole thing carrying a heart. I guess we were the love couple or something… Thais love corny, cutesy things!! Aren’t we adorable?

Everyone was dressed up in awesome costumes, ranging from extravagant Victorian costumes,

to kids with Doraemon (a very popular cartoon) heads holding signs saying “No smoking,” “No alcohol,” “No sex before you’re 18,” that sort of thing. I don’t know how they decided on 18, but whatever. Here are some of my 11^th grade boys. They are dressed up as a security guard, a construction worker, and an old man? Ok. There was even a guy dressed up in traditional Thai garments who was carried in on a litter. I think I’ll make my kids carry me around the school on that litter on Monday.

After that, the races began. Unlike the US, were sport teams train before competitions, it seems like the actual sports were the least important thing of the day. No one had practiced before hand, and no one had ever been taught to run. John decided on the spot that he would like to start a running club for those interested, since some of the kids have natural talent but no training. Basically, when as whistle blew, the four contestants would charge off as fast as they could, run out of energy after a trip around the track, and then walk for a while.

But the best part was the cheerleading. Cheering is really huge in Thailand, starting with the really tiny 2^nd and 3^rd graders all the way up to high school. The little girls were so cute!! There was a whole section of "sitting cheerers" on one side of the field whose sole purpose was to yell cheers and clap all day.

It was a lot of fun, but we're glad to get back to regular classes tomorrow. We only have 3 weeks left until midterm exams. Yikes!