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Some of you will remember our AFS student Aom; I've had a couple of opportunities to spend some time with her and her family. This was school vacation--the full moon weekend in July and the following Monday.
The occasion was the holiday, a religious remembrance of Siddhartha's first sermon, given to the desciples who all convened one day. As I understand it, there was no message sent out, just a bunch of people showed up who wanted to hear the Buddha.
Some current Thai people headed for famous temples to honor the day; many people also headed to the beach as we did, so we found crowds at most restaurants and at the sea. Quite congenial crowds, I must say.
Aom's parents are young and active, friendly, with much better English than they pretended while Aom was with us. Aom's brother Eig speaks very good English; his girlfriend Book is lovely, with little English but attentive and cheerful.
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The green pictures are from Nongnooch Gardens, a fabulous botanical garden with many different habitats; look online and see more. Thailand definitely has an advantage for creating topiary and formal gardens, as the weather is warm and wet all year long.
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From the left: Eig, Maw, Aom, me, Book, Paw.
Aom is doing well, was quite tired from all her studying. She's trying to decide what language to study at university (she's attending Thammasat, one of Thailand's most prestigious universities.) I think she liked being the host, with the opportunity to show off her fine country. It was a fabulous three days.
