music here in Thailand

There are two main groups of musicians at Dipangkorn--Western style as seen above, and classical Thai as seen below. Both are respected, and both seem quite different from what I'm used to in Massachusetts.

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The man in khaki is Ajahn Burim (Ajahn translates to Honored Teacher, maybe Master Teacher), the leader of the Western-style music until he left last month for a position at a prestigious private school. His young assistant was very much in the background, has now taken over and is doing very well.

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The student band plays for the all-school assembly most days, for the three standard songs: the Thai national anthem and March Dipangkorn (music composed by Burim, words by my Thai teacher Ajahn Siribuhn), both of which I'm learning, and the third Siam Noot Sawam, a more difficult melody (hugely wide voice range; the students mostly fake it...)

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The western music is taught in two different systems: our standard, and a notation with letters, dashes and upright measure-marks, though their upright line denotes the middle of the measure (I'll bring an example). The Thai notation is from the Thai alphabet, single consonants for the musical syllables do, re, mi, fa, son, la, ti. To indicate a note up an octave, write a dot above the letter; a dot below means drop an octave. For songs in a minor key they usually shift the scale to use la through la instead of do through do.

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I've added images of Ajahn Burim teaching the two methods, using Thai letters, translating to English (he has C as do here). The band kids also read "standard" music, though I've found most kids not in the band have no idea what I'm talking about when I say "read music".

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This shows the more traditional Thai music. It's the orchestra that plays for all the Thai dance performances, as well as for religious or traditional Thai ceremonies (the first time I heard them play was for the Teacher Honoring ceremony).

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The same instruments were used for the khon performance. In both settings (school performances and fancy auditorium), the performers sit on the floor, generally cross-legged.

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The teacher for the classical Thai music is Ajahn Siranat, who is also now my saw teacher. He is more flexible than Burim was about how to tune the instrument (precise tuning, but Siranat says you can choose whether to tune do for one string and son for the second, or la and re which Burim requires; Siranat points out that some songs work better with the wider tuning and I think he's right). Siranat also changed my saw strings to thicker, fabric strings; Burim had put on metal strings. I think the metal strings give better tone and the fabric strings hold the tuning better. I'll let Kelley help me decide how best to string it. I know it can sound beautiful with metal strings, as Burim played my saw and I was entranced. So far with my fabric strings it sounds absolutely terrible.

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Burim had quite usable English; Siranat has almost none. We both speak musical syllables, and our singing voices plus smiles can convey a lot. After our last lesson Siranat wrote a single word in Thai on a piece of paper; I couldn't find it in my dictionary so I asked Boom. She found it in her more complete dictionary, and laughed--the word was "resin".

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Even though they mostly don't read music, I find the students are entranced by singing. This week when I finished the lesson on Norasing* early, we had a few extra minutes and I asked what they'd like to do. Several simultaneous voices requested a song; I pondered what to sing and they started the Thai national anthem. I chimed in with the few words I know and la-la for the tune where I don't yet know the words. They clapped as we finished. Then I sang the Star Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful and had complete, attentive silence from a class full of high school sophomores; then they clapped again.

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* the story of Norasing, as presented in my English class:

Norasing was a servant of the king. (in 1704; Thai year 2247)

Norasing drove the boat of the king.

The king was in the boat as Norasing steered.

The boat crashed into a tree at the side of the river.

The king was not hurt. He laughed, and he forgave Norasing.

But Norasing was very ashamed.

Norasing knew he must die.

The king ordered Norasing's execution.

After Norasing was dead, the king built a temple in Norasing's honor.

(True story.)

Thailand under construction

I wish I had Dad's and Uncle Bob's eyes here with me to notice the construction details; you'd speculate about the best concrete mixture for the climate and the structural choices made--

What my eyes notice is the bamboo scaffolding, the utter fearlessness of heights, the artistic detail. From what I can tell there's no non-working boss; everyone on site pitches in and does the same steady work. Occasionally I've seen a monk stroll over to confer. There must be someone behind the scenes making decisions and organizing the project...

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The pictures above are of our nearby Wat Sala Daeng, means temple of the red pavilion. It's walking distance from my house and the school, so I've been able to watch progress. The temple itself is gorgeous and elegant; this new construction is side buildings, maybe a main meeting hall-to-be. I like the doors. I'm guessing they're teakwood, the favored wood in Thailand as it withstands the weather. Apparently it's quite expensive and saved for special purposes (a temple is a special purpose); most people can't obtain teak for a private residence, though there are lovely old teak homes, weathered but in very good shape. They like the weathered look, similar in feel to Cape Cod shingles--not to be painted, just enjoyed as it ages.

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And I notice the prevalence of construction sites. Many temples are under (continual?) construction, and somehow they're finding space for new construction even in crowded Bangkok. Building seems to go on at least 6 days a week; Sundays may be days off, or maybe it's only holiday weekends they take off.

Construction workers usually wear sun hats and cowboy-style face kercheifs, probably for protection against dust. They are usually fully covered, long pants and long sleeves; they are out in the sun more than anyone else needs to be.

Khon performance

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No photography allowed in the auditorium, so these are taken from the newspaper. A stunning performance, very dramatic even though almost everyone wore a mask, and those who didn't showed little facial expression. The expression and intensity was all in body action and voice. Absolute precision with haunting melody, rich harmony, graceful dance--often all three seemed of super-human difficulty.

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The live orchestra and chorus would have been worth a concert evening in themselves. Maybe a dozen women dressed in teal long dresses sat in the front row in "respect position", sitting with feet discreetly tucked behind and both to one side. I kept stealing glances at them during the two-hour performance and they didn't fidget, didn't move perceptably at all except to sing beautifully. Next to them were maybe 10 men, same except the men's "respect position" is kneeling directly on the calves, feet directly behind. Behind them were the orchestra, traditional Thai instruments. This was a very accomplished group, achieved precise unison of 4 players, each playing octaves in rapid time on their xylophone-tray. I'll send pictures of our school kids playing the same thing. There were also Thai flutes and a very haunting oboe-type instrument.

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That, however, was entirely background flavor for the main show. The dancer-actors captured everyone's attention and held it riveted. The program explained that the choreography and songs are as notated in King Rama VI's time (that's King Mongkut, late 19th century), and are mostly unchanged from centuries before that. Elaborate, dazzling costumes, music and pronunciation exaggerated and stylized, dance amounting to acrobatics.

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Imagine dancing with your toes up at a 90 degree angle to the floor, and maintaining that throughout a 10-to-15 minute performance. Then imagine (wearing a skirt, a beautifully embroidered bodice, a cape, and a crown) holding a position for maybe 5 minutes while it's your co-star's turn to shine, then going from complete stillness to a sudden new position with one knee out to the side, foot flexed, toes still flexed upwards, hands poised in dramatic beauty. And now, imperceptably moving the one foot on the floor, rotate through a smooth and graceful 360 degree turn. This takes at least 2 minutes, maybe more, but the audience can't see any hesitation or discontinuity. I held my breath as the actress playing Sida did this move. It was a dramatic part of the action, also impressive for its sheer impossibility. And then she went on to complete the rest of that dance--

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I feel fortunate to have been invited to this performance. About 20 students and 3 teachers from our school bought a group of tickets, and they were kind enough to include me.

fashion in Thailand

The two women sitting are a mother and daughter at a party last weekend--pretty typical of two types of fashion I notice here: nonsense English words on tee-shirts for the young, and lovely tops using beautifully woven fabrics, often on the bias.

The silk suit is on Maneerat, a lovely English teacher (wife of Ajahn Burim, my first music teacher here). It was one of the school celebration days.

The clothes seem so flattering. Obviously it helps to be a tiny Thai woman--

I do see women my size, and often beautifully dressed. I'm not sure how they do it, maybe with a tailor. I have seen very little in my size in stores.
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The patterns are from a magazine that comes out monthly. This is an old one (I've copied several old issues from Boom's collection, will bring them to share); I've also bought the latest edition of the magazine (they're always mostly crochet patterns), will check out each month's issue while I'm here.

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This was the candle-making ceremony, in preparation for taking the candle to the temple. Many of the women wore beautiful dresses, as this embroidered one.

I've taken lots of photos, for future reference and certainly to share. I keep being impressed by the fun Thai people have in tastefully showing off for their friends. Not a lot of make-up, not much for high heels, never nylon stockings--my kind of dressing up!

Even though the magazines show patterns in detail, I haven't met a single person who sews, except Boom who likes to crochet bags and sews inner linings for them. There are tailors who will do mending, alterations, sewing to order. The women also don't cook, as good food is so readily available and inexpensive. Again Boom is the exception, as she is a cook in her own restaurant, often floats over to her friend's restaurant and cooks there. I have no idea how they keep track of expenses...

I also don't know yet how much such fashions cost. I haven't looked around much, will hope to do more shopping in the months to come.

and they let me be part of the show...

This week is all about the upcoming rainy season: planting rice and helping the monks to prepare for Buddhist Lent, the time when the monks are confined to the temple for three months.

Some of the teachers and students from Dipangkorn went to a local agricultural school on Friday morning. There was song and dance, presentations by several schools. (Ours was best, but all were delightful!) Then the directors of three schools led the way into the prepared rice field--clay-based mud, very hard to walk in.

Once they'd thrown the symbolic first grains of rice (mixed with sand for easier handling), then it was fair game for the rest of the crowd to join in. I was given farmer clothes (which I get to keep!) and waterproof boots (gave those back), and students helped me make my way through the muck. I was afraid several times of an ignominious slurping dip under the mud.

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Then after a bath, I was costumed for the whole-school parade to our nearby temple, Wat SalaDaeng. On Thursday morning was a school-assembly ritual in which we ceremoniously poured melted wax into great candle-molds. The finished candles (gorgeous, and each about 3 feet tall) were placed on a decorative stand, and on Friday afternoon were joyfully brought to the temple. We then all paraded three times around the temple grounds, and finally entered the temple for a formal presentation of the candles to the monks. Lots of chanting and bowing, smiling monks and reverent students.

No classes at all for the whole day!

elephants, crocodiles, and magicians

I am discovering that the Thai people are consummate showmen! At school celebrations and in life in general--in everything they do, it's done with style.

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The above are all taken at Samphran park and zoo; you can find more about it at: samphran@ksc.th.com.

The two young men in red who played with crocodiles also played with their audience; each time one did something dramatic with a croc, the other man elicited a resounding jaw-snap from a background croc, made everyone jump. (To make a crocodile snap its jaws, you tickle it with a stick, then flick the stick on the top of the croc's mouth--easy!)

The magicians were amazing. You can tell from the picture which was the flamboyant ham and which the straight-faced assistant. Both were superb entertainers, worked well together with precision timing--you could almost hear the ba-da-boom drumrolls in their repartee (all in Thai, but their visuals provided ample clues) Slick tricks, too! They made fish appear in an empty tank, produced a live and wiggling rabbit and doves from flat bags, put the sidekick in a box, handcuffed and tied into a bag; the lead magician waved a length of lovely silk fabric in front of the box and presto! the sidekick appeared, opened the box, untied the bag, and there was the leader in handcuffs! The audience lapped it up, and so did I!

The elephants are amazing! There was a "petting zoo" area, mostly young elephants and their mothers. This is Nong JayJay, a 700-pound three-year old. He was able to climb onto the little stand with all four feet (I have pictures of that too); his trainer was a gentle and good-humored man who answered all our questions, and clearly loved being with the elephants.

A mother elephant showed off when I came close to her and her young baby. First I patted the little guy on the head (funny, bristly hairs); I said "funny hair!" and laughed in delight--the mother scowled (have you ever seen an elephant scowl?), batted my hand away with her trunk. She could have been much rougher had she cared to be, but it was enough to make me respect her potential, and to stop touching her baby. Then as if to make up to me for her necessary rudeness, Mama showed me a trick. First she made sure I was watching, and then with timing almost as good as the magicians, she reached over with her trunk to turn on a water faucet. She took a leisurely drink, wavered with her trunk as if to turn off the water, then looked at me. We both hesitated; I turned off the faucet, and she resumed tending to her baby.

I want to go back to see the elephants again; of course I want to go back to every place I've seen so far, and I also want to see more of Thailand--

more "nam" words...

I am absolutely thrilled with the variety of words that use my favorite word: nam = water.

Hong nam = room water (water room) = bathroom
nam kang = water hard = ice
nam poeng = bee water = honey
nam nuk = nose water = snot

So you use lime water and bee water to cure your nose water--they put salt in the recipe, pretty helpful, actually.

food

The first three pictures are from the Barbeque Resort, my pleasant surprise, as I don't generally love barbeque.

The barbeque is actually a wonderful soup; the turine is a charcoal-filled brazier with a soup-moat around the perimeter. The top is primed with two pieces of pork fat; you're invited to go up to the buffet line and help yourself to unlimited quantities of raw pork, beef, fish, chicken, seafood--then you return to your table with its own private brazier, braise the meat on the top section. Meanwhile, you've also chosen a variety of vegetables and flavorings (raw ginger, basil, chilis, etc.), and add those to the water in the moat.

The drippings from the meat flow down into the soup, flavoring it further. The meat is crispy and delicious on its own, of course. A variety of sauces, ranging from a simple sweet-and-sour to very spicy. And then there are prepared papaya salad, a variety of fruits, sweet desserts if you're still hungry. All for 190 baht/person, about $5.

I've been treated to many variations on that theme--a central soup with constant additions, all in the party digging in with spoon or chopsticks. This was probably the most picturesque--

The seafood is another adventure. The shell above is all that was left of our crab feast at the seashore on July 4th. We remembered the Americans celebrating at Rockport and throughout the land; I'm pretty sure none of you ate the variety of tasty seafood that we had. A special treat (not likely to ever be my favorite, though thoroughly enjoyed by Boom and Lek): tiny crabs, maybe 2" including legs, crisp-fried with shell and all, spiced and breaded. Pop it into your mouth and crunch. I ate one; it's definitely louder than a potato chip. So I enjoyed the big crab, also fried clams.

I actually didn't eat any of the lovely squid; I have tried bits of it several times, don't seem to enjoy it nearly as much as the Thai natives, so I leave it to their enjoyment. I have, however, learned to thoroughly enjoy crispy fresh-caught fish, served with heads and tails intact. Hello, fish--mmm, delicious!

Yesterday morning I ate bamboo with oysters, rice and a fried egg. I didn't ask for the egg, but the cafeteria lady looked askance at my choice, said "Paet!" ("spicy") and added the egg for balance. I was grateful for her addition, enjoyed the whole meal.

This morning I decided to try a few crispy nuggets--turned out to be fried dough (rice flour?), pretty tasty. I declined the offered sauce, am still being wary of spicy red sauces.

I learned to make a delicious sauce, though; I'll share when I can get the ingredients. It's a shrimp paste (ground-up shrimp and salt, aged 6 months or more) with garlic, chilis, basil and lime juice. For my batch I put in 5 chilis, spicy but good. Boom put 20 chilis in the same-size batch she made for her and her friends.

My favorite is the fruits. Durian is hard to open, delicious inside. Dragon fruit in both white and red (magenta flesh, beautiful!). Mangosteens are my current favorite--the beautiful bas-relief flower at the base of each fruit has the same number of petals as the number of succulent fruit sections inside. Mangos are just now ripening, hanging heavy on the trees. Many wonderful fruits whose names I don't remember, just enjoy them.

I'm getting better at eating noodles with chopsticks. I think the entertainment value of watching me try is half the fun of inviting me for meals--

I have learned to say "I'm full!", probably the most important Thai phrase in my vocabulary so far...

addendum to teaching English at Dipangkorn (so far)

The word list for the Dictionary Contest was as follows:

skipper, gobble, shatter, bunker, gravel, retrieve, anchor, foliage, viand, raven, mellow, wonky, effort, differ, outgrow, pucker, illusion, assure, horrid, daunt, nail, unbend, rustic, organ, coup0le, wangle, pensive, lush, berth, firm, rake, wale, magnate, climate, pander.


Also, I just came from a very interesting presentation by an organization called We Love English 2010. I'm not sure whether they were selling anything (curriculum?). It was a very polished, and well-received, attention-grabber. The auditorium was packed with students: all of levels 4 to 6 (soph to senior) and the top sections of levels 1 to 3 (grade 7 to 9). Even though I was probably the most proficient speaker of English in the room, I was by no means the best at answering the questions. Action-packed games, with prizes, included rapid-fire math problems--in English, about as fast as I could have pronounced the words: forty plus fourteen multiply by six divide by three divide by eight and multiply by seven. Many hands were in the air as soon as the speaker was done, and usually with the right answer. If not, the MC dismissed the wrong answer with a flourish, and swept on to the next eager contestant. Then grammar questions--fill in the blank and explain the part of speech. Then knowledge-testing: what color is the rose associated with AIDS day? (yellow), with what royal animal was Prince William recently shown? (horse), what was the major factor in Michael Jackson's death (overdose), who is the current minister of Foreign Affairs of the United States? (Hillary Clinton), what was the name of the hamster-fortuneteller in the recent World Cup? (Paula), what was the major site of confrontation between the Red Shirt protesters and the army? (??? couldn't understand the answer) The whole room was at fever-pitch, with deafening noise and kids straining to raise their hands more visibly than their neighbors, though they maintained their general grid pattern, sitting on the floor. And then the MC shifted to his finale--a dirty-dancing contest among student-volunteers. Three boys and about 20 girls came forth, MC-eliminated to a group of three girls. They never disrupted their school uniforms, but it was very clear that there were very sexy and nubile young bodies in there--I was blushing. Jiaranai grinned at me, said "not in America, eh?" Not in a million years.

So that's the way English is taught in Thailand, and it's clear some of the students have absorbed a lot.

more teaching tales

Thursday's post ended in a computer glitch; sudden internet failure gave me the tough choice to publish or perish, so I decided to post what I'd written, unedited. Way too much TTT (teacher talk time) when what I really wanted to do was show you the students.

The student response to my request to read in front of the class: shy hesitation, some students eager and excited, some clearly appalled at the idea. They all came up front eventually, seemed relieved that everyone is in the same boat. I get the impression that some students are used to participating, many more are used to sinking into the background.
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Specific difficulties: confusion of boy/dog, smiles/smells ("The boy smell at the gull?" (really?)), person/animal, long/short, shirt/skirt, also verb form (most omitted the "s" on third person singular present tense verbs). The students generally know when they aren't sure on something, know the polite way to ask: "would you repeat, please"
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Politeness, by the way, is definitely part of the picture. Each class period I wait quietly for the signal by one designated spokesperson who surveys the room to make sure all (or most students, at any rate) are present, then says: "Stand up, please!", at which all students stand, pause, and shout in unison "Good morning, teacher!" or "Good afternoon, teacher!" I pause, say "Good ___, students. It's good to see you today. You may sit down." They then shout in unison, "Thank you, teacher!" and sit. After that, pandemonium is de rigeur, but the formalities have been observed.
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I've found the most successful technique for me is to take my questions around to small groups in the class. Even when the designated Bright Students have successfully answered questions such as: who are the characters in this story? How does the story begin? How does the story end?, I find as I go around that half to two-thirds of the class didn't absorb the import of that question-answer exchange.
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I'll walk around with my written story, lean in on the desks between 4 students. Eager faces of those four; the rest of the class takes advantage of the freedom to babble away in Thai. "Who are the characters in this story?" "Repeat, please." I repeat, with variations: "Who is in the story?", "Who means a person or an animal. Who are the people or animals in this story?" One of the four will glow with a "got it!" expression, gives an explanation in Thai, at which all four are with me--now we see what "who" means! They then scan through the story on the paper in my hands, which I've placed so they can see it right-side-up. "Girl, cat, dog, boy!" or in the case of the song-story (next lesson), "Mary, lamb, children!" They get it! Characters! They practice saying characters, and are ready for the next question: "how does the story begin?" This time it's pursed lips, determination. We got the "characters" part, what's "begin"? I paraphrase: "What is the first thing in the story?", "How does the story start?" I point to the first line in the story. Again, someone will usually say something in Thai which gets everyone reading aloud together: "The girl sits with the cat." By the next lesson it seems some more of the students answer readily, while there are still some who need all the steps before they can point to the beginning: "Mary had a little lamb." A very few made the intuitive leap from "How does the story begin?" to "How does the story end?" Most needed a hand gesture: "beginning is here, end is here. How does the story end?"
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I think the most fun for me is the pleased astonishment of kids who initially insist "I no sapik English!" and then find that they can be understood, in English, by this person who understands only English! And they answered a question correctly! If I could do the same to help kids "get" algebra or calculus, I'd gladly be a math teacher...
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Re-reading my previous paragraph, I recognize that I shifted tenses and person without much rationale. I leave it as is to pay homage to the difficulty for learners-of-English as they ask me: how do you know when to use...? My most honest answer is: I use whatever sounds good to me at the moment. Not very helpful for students who really want to know the Right Answer.
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I got another glimpse into the Thai student of English, as I was asked to assist with a Dictionary Contest. Twenty-four teams of two students each met after school; each team was issued an English-Thai/Thai-English dictionary. My role was to read a word (30 words in the list), spell the word, re-pronounce the word. Then the first team in each grade level (this was only levels 1-3, grades 7 to 9) to find the word in the dictionary would raise their hands. A teacher verified that they had the right page and definition, recorded a point for that team on the board. No time to give a definition or explanation for the benefit of those teams who hadn't found the word; that would break the momentum. The students were avidly interested throughout the hour to get through the first 25 words. At that point every student was given a piece of candy and all but the top 9 teams were excused. Then the winners vied for first-first place using the last 5 words. Cheering and candy all around! Words I remember from the list: skipper, wale, viand, wonky, wangle. Those are the oddities, which is why they stay in my mind. In general, it wasn't what I would consider low-level words. Maybe just interesting to find in the dictionary, and once you can look things up in the book, you're golden.
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I asked, was given a dictionary on loan for the duration. I've found it very difficult to use, as I can never remember what order their alphabet goes in, also don't know exactly where word breaks are as they run all together, similar to computerspeak.
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I've purchased a few kids' books, obviously the easiest of the easy; still I can do no more so far than speculate from the pictures what might be going on. I chose the books based on what I think Remy might like.
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I have been able to sound out a few words in the Real World. I saw the sign for paddle boats at the park yesterday, was delighted to phonetically push out: jak-ri-yan. Isn't that bicycle? Next part nam! my favorite word! Water-bicycle, paddle boat! What fun!
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The other chuckle was a few nights ago, as I tried to sound out the name for the barbecue place. Sounding each letter, I came up with: Bahbikiowreesohart--Barbeque Resort!
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Fun with language; that's what it's all about (for this moment; other moments it's fun with food, with elephants and crocodiles and orchids--more about that later).

teaching at Dipangkorn

No pictures for this blog, as you've seen the school.

Teaching is settling into a quite pleasing structure. I've taught each class 4 lessons so far (the final Lesson 4 curriculum goes to my Friday class tomorrow). By the end of each week, I've figured out what works and what doesn't, so I'm pretty confident and comfortable for my Thursday and Friday students.

I teach 2 classes on Monday (my "guinea pigs"; good sports), 2 on Tuesday, 3 on Wednesday, 4 each on Thursday and Friday. I continue to teach the same concepts to all levels (grade 7 through 12, called levels 1 through 6 in Thailand). So far I've introduced "courage", which they are finally taking to a next level. I've found they are eager and attentive if I go around the class and talk with 4 students at a time, at their desks. They help each other, which I think is fine; I don't leave that bunch of students til I'm pretty satisfied that they understand the concepts.

The concepts (building through the lessons 2-3-4) are pretty straightforward storytelling. I wrote a simple story in present tense. Week 2 I introduced the characters: girl, cat, dog, boy. The students were able to answer: who is an animal?, who is a person? and describe who has long hair, who has short hair (new concept, that in English a cat and dog also have hair), what does the girl wear, what does the boy wear. Some answered easily; other classes took the whole hour to clarify animal/animals, person/people, skirt/shirt, short hair/long tail, etc. No correlation that I can see between the quick-to-perceive and the level in school.

The next week I had groups of 15 students at a time come to the front of the class, each to read a line of the story, (three groups for most classes; if there were an uneven number, I had them come up anyway, asked them questions.) The story: The girl sits with the cat. The boy walks with the dog. The girl sees the boy. The boy sees the girl. The boy smiles at the girl. The girl smiles at the boy. The cat sees the dog. The cat sits very still. The dog sees the cat. The dog barks! The dog chases the cat. The cats runs away. The dog runs after the cat. The boy runs after the dog. The girl sits alone.

wildlife in Thailand

Animal life in Thailand is part of the environment, seems to be tolerated rather than revered. Dogs, cats, birds, lizards, insects, all survive in close proximity to the humans; unless they've been discovered to be delicious, no one disturbs the animals, and the animals mostly don't disturb the humans. This is in Bangkok, of course; in other provinces where elephants and tigers still roam, there may be more distance and awe.

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Dogs are ever-present, seem to belong to everyone and to no one. They roam around the school (especially the cafeteria area), in all the streets, through the open seating of outdoor restaurants. The caf ladies have a slop-bucket for all uneaten food; students are pretty concientious about it, and I'm sure the dogs appreciate it. Temple dogs are reputed to be the hungriest in Thailand (sort of like the proverbial churchmice of our European heritage). The dogs are nonchalant, not fawning but never aggressive. You'll hear an occasional brief dog-spat at night, may be about dog-romance. The dogs are mostly not neutered, though apparently the Thai government has offered free dog-neutering to any who are brought in to a clinic; no one takes ownership of any given dog, so it just doesn't happen.

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Cats seem to be pretty scarce. There is a famous "diamond-eyed" breed specific to Thailand and a favorite of a previous king. The cats I've seen have been even scrawnier than the dogs, and more skittish around humans; I don't think I've seen a diamond-eye.

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Birds come in huge flocks--these are in the canal in Samut Sakhon, resting on mats of floating lotus. They're beautiful in flight...

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The interesting creature with the fish tail and legs is an amazing amphibian--we had a very entertaining half hour watching the interaction between these guys and the pretty little crabs in the muck at canal-side, also in Samut Sakhon. First you see a school of fish, each one swimming quite quickly, the school as a whole mostly swirling in place; they seem to be having a fine time and are clearly quite at home in the water. Each fish is between 4 and 7 inches long; the school covers maybe a ten-foot by six-foot area in the water, consists of maybe 30 fish. Then one decides to come ashore, butts its nose against the sandbar, pulls itself up and out of the water using finny legs (leggy fins?) The fin-legs function quite well on the sand, where our critter makes pretty good time once he decides on a direction and destination. Immediately out of the water, he flicks his back-fin up like a Japanese fan, as though to dry it out. Then scopes out the crab situation--the mucky sand is dotted with inch-diameter crab holes, with pretty little red crabs and blue crabs scuttling along the sand and into the holes. Each crab is about an inch to 2 inches wide, feet and claws included. We watched a legged-fish capture and devour a crab in about ten minutes, seemed pretty efficient.

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We noticed a wild bee-hive in a tree; I don't yet have enough Thai to find out whether people keep hived bees here.

And here's me, as in Feed the Birds from Mary Poppins. The pigeons are fat and plentiful.

I've seen one snake, about 2 feet long, yellow, stopped pedestrian student traffic on the way home from school until one brave boy shooed the snake off into the brush.

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I don't have a good picture of the 6-inch-long centipedes. I've only seen singletons. They roll up into pretty, shiny mahogany curls, look kind of like a snail, about an inch and a half in diameter. Then (when their coast is clear?) they poke one end out (must be the front...) and crawl along on quick little legs. I'd believe there might actually be a hundred legs on one of them.

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Tiny lizards flit along walls and ceilings; people generally like those, greet them affectionately.

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Mosquitos are a menace; one of the teachers gave me what I thought was a tennis racquet, turns out to be an electric mosquito-zapper. It hasn't helped much; I was never very good at tennis, either.

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It's interesting to see the zoo that is simply everywhere here.

school days, early July

It seems the beginning of the month is the time for students to get a haircut--you can see the boys newly shorn. I think the girls also had a trim, though it's harder to tell for sure. Already I'm starting to feel nostalgic; I'll only witness three more shearings before it's time for me to leave :(

The left picture above is of the "welcome circle" for YaiJing, an AFS teaching assistant from China. They did the same for me; it's quite something!

The Buddha sits in his pavilion at the side of the central court, thus oversees each assembly, all the ceremonies, also the pick-up basketball, soccer, and volleyball games. Buddha is a conscious part of the morning assembly, is acknowledged with more or less decorum in each ceremony. The sportsmen and -women on the court may also be glad of a Buddha-presence; I'm not sure.

And now some logistics about campus life; I'm sure some of you have been curious--

water in and water out, respectively; on the left is the re-fill stand for water bottles.

I've actually come to appreciate the squat-toilet, works fine, minimal water use, feels clean and sensible once I'm used to it.

Long time no post; I lost my flash drive the same day I was invited with a teacher and her family to a ceremony in Petchiburi--I was able to take pictures, but it took until now to buy a new drive, sort out the pictures, and post them to you...

The event in Petchiburi was the novice-monk ceremony for a relative of Teacher GanJanNa's husband--a 20-year-old entering the monestery for the rainy season, means a stay of about three months. It's a standard for young Thai men, gives them a grounding in Buddhism as they head into adult life. GanJanNa said parents of marriageable women know that a man who has been a monk makes a better husband for their daughter. Do the young women agree? She didn't say...

The ceremony was a wonderful mix of devout Buddhist practice, beer and dancing, great scenery. Hard to choose the best 5 photos to share, but this gives an idea.

We arrived as people were just unloading cars and vans at the local pub--parents of the novice hauled out shrines, water and beer to share, kneeling mat, straw hat and sunglasses for their son's comfort. He was dressed in white, a dramatic contrast to his brown healthy body, tattoos showing through the lacework on his back. Newly shaved head, joking with his buds but also reverent to his father and then to the whole Buddhist ceremony before the dancing began. The green papier-mache horse was honored, as was a small portable shrine to Buddha.

Then the novice (I never did learn his name) mounted the green horse, and six men picked up the bamboo poles at the horse's base. The men danced, the horse bucked and swayed, the young monk sat the horse with aplomb, mainly kept a serious face. Musical instruments--modern drums, loudspeaker, bells, strange and wonderful flutes; people sang and danced. I had to get in there and try the dance steps, very primal and lovely--hands important, hips and shoulders swaying, feet stepping side to side with the music. As I tried to mimic the best dancers (mainly women), they grinned, swayed a little more definitively, emphasized the hand movements--a teaching moment well seized. They carried the horse, danced, drank beer and water through the streets for 2 1/2 kilometers. We followed along for a short while (an hour or so), then dropped out to drive to the temple. The dancers were still going 4 hours later when we left (not so sprightly in their dancing by then), boy still on his horse, still sitting straight and riding well.

The temple was all set up for a banquet (we didn't stay, but I think these things can go all night). As we got there before most of the revelers, we had time to explore the temple cave (wonderful, cool, lit by a far-up-there opening in the rock, with three Buddha images and mats set for worship. It would be a great place for meditation, cool and comfortable. I went for a walk with GanJanNa and her husband; familiar territory for them as they frequently visit relatives here. Rice fields ready for harvest, palms laden with coconuts, a "Thai cowboy"--not at all familiar territory for me, but quite beautiful.

From there we went to the Floating Market--just as lovely as the pictures you've seen, more interesting because of the smells and sounds--each boat is selling something, mostly food and all delicious. I wish I'd dared take a picture of GanJanNa's daughter feeding her brother a cooked octopus--he blissfully accepting the offering, legs dangling from his mouth. That's one I didn't try, but I quite enjoyed the herb-crusted fish, shrimp with ginger, fried rice with clams.

And after it became quite dark, we climbed into a sight-seeing boat and headed slowly down the river to view the fireflies. The area is famous for its fireflies, and the darkened river has exactly the type of vegetation the fireflies love. They flicker faster and longer than ours back home (is that a function of ambient temperature?) It ended up looking like a gaudy Christmas light show, but all in glittery firefly color on dark green in the river night, quiet and peaceful.

I'll leave you with that incomparable day--I'll try to keep track of my flash drive from now on.