The Final-ish Goodbye

Yesterday was my last day of school. I’d finished classes the week before, making over 400 Thai-English Apples to Apples cards so the students could play this super fun game while I snapped photos of them.

Apples to Apples (Thai Style) VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Monk Visit

I don’t know if the date had any significance, but yesterday a group of monks visited Hang Chat Wittaya School. It was quite an amazing ordeal, and many people from the community joined the students in offering alms. Teachers and students alike lined up around the school with their bags of rice, juice, soymilk, and snacks.

Loy Krathong-ta-tong-tong-tong

After five weeks on the road, Sara and I returned to Hang Chat ready to get back into a routine. Luckily for Sara, who had gotten quite used to not working forty-plus hours a week, that routine consisted of two four-day weeks, a three-day week, and, my personal favorite, a two-day week. The two-day week wrapped up the last week of November, and Sara was set free for five days in honor of Loy Krathong, yet another Buddhist holiday honoring the spirits.

(not my video)

Ubiquity

Of course there are the obvious things you can’t miss when you visit Thailand—rice fields, temples, and orange-clad monks. Instead of the obvious, here’s a list of things I didn’t expect.

The Temple on Top of a Mountain (Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep)

Yesterday Pii Pan had to go to Chiang Mai to pick up her daughter and she was sweet enough to invite us along. Chiang Mai is about an hour and a half drive from Hang Chat, through some beautiful (and sometimes treacherous) mountains. We are always up for an air-conditioned car ride anywhere, especially with our good friend Pii Pan. We had some extra time before we had to pick up her daughter, so she brought us to the most famous wat (temple) in all of northern Thailand—Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. It is a beautiful temple on top of a mountain overlooking the city. Jack is somewhat “wat”-ed out, having seen a dozen temples already. I agree that many Thai temples are similar-looking, but they are always very beautiful and we can appreciate the craftsmanship and work put into creating them. Besides we couldn’t pass up the trip to the top of a mountain.

Wan Wai Kru (Teacher Appreciation Day)

Today was teacher appreciation day at Hang Chat Wittaya. There was a big ceremony where students presented the teacher and principal with beautiful pan (bouquets) decorated with hand-folded banana leaves and fresh flowers.

What the Heck Do I Know?

I didn't really know all that much about Thailand before I applied to this program. I knew it's a predominantly Buddhist country, I'd heard it is pretty inexpensive to live compared to the states, and I'd seen pictures of elephants and amazing beaches. We've done some research since then and also started learning the language.