all pics...

Some kids chillin' watching the dancers from Makha Bucha Day.

Putting gold flakes on Buddhist sculptures and statues is pretty common during festivals and holidays.

This was also part of the ceremony. You made a donation of whatever you wanted and then received a bowl of coins. You walked around the temple putting one coin into each of the little black pots.

Here I am throwing in my two cents.

AHHH! A fat baby, Buddha statue playing with his toes!

One of my sixth grade students performing a Northern Thai dance.

One of my friends from school helping serve coffee for the holiday.

The local band rockin' out, or not.

Before the ceremony begins.

During prayer.

Lighting candles and incense as offerings.

Trip to Roi Et to see some fellow Peace Corps friends.

Monk tending the flowers.

I was really interested in this statue. At the way he is so emaciated. I didn't have the chance to ask anyone why he looks like that, but I'm thinking it may be one of the stages the Buddha went through on his way to enlightenment. Complete guess.

These were some other statues near by the previous one. Looks like the Buddha teaching under the .......... tree. Anybody know the name?

It is a yellow watermelon! I couldn't believe my eyes. They call it honey watermelon and it pretty much tastes like red watermelon, but it's so entertaining to eat something you've always had, but in another color. Like making blue spaghetti sauce.

Meghan and I after the race! Yeay!

Posin' with our medals.

A few post-race drinks by the pool!

A cock fight at a town about 5 kilos from me. They have this every Saturday and it was packed with gamblers. They set up about 10 of these rings and then a crowd gathers around each to watch and place bets. The cock that loses is the one that runs away first. These guys had some sweet Kung Fu moves.

The giant, standing Buddha in Roi Et. It must have been at least 10 stories high. A monk let us climb up into the thing and out on an observation deck, which was really cool.

Near a year...

I haven't posted anything in nearly three months! Sorry for the lack of updates on my time here in Thailand. I am now past my one year mark in Thailand, and nearing my one year mark since being at my site (the first three months of service were spent training in a different province). I am also coming to the end of my first full year as an English teacher. It's been quite the trip, and I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite like it. I feel very comfortable where I am. I'm finding out that between my town and the town 2 km. from here we are about the size of my Jasper, Indiana (my birthplace). The people here continue to be extraordinarily welcoming and friendly. I've made some good friends and even a few best friends I believe I will have for the rest of my days. I look forward to seeing my Thai friends when I am away from site for too long. Surely this is a good thing.




Just this morning, at the local temple, I continue to have wonderful cultural experiences, and I just love how "in the thick of it" I am. I participated in the opening ceremonies of a festival called Makha Bucha Day, which is actually Thursday, but many towns will have a few days of festivities leading up to it. The temple was decorated in all colors and people from all over our district came to watch as troupes from different schools performed traditional dances originating from all the regions of Thailand. Everyone also also did a "tamboon," or ceremony to honor Buddha. This usually includes monks chanting, lighting of incense and candles, ringing of bells and even putting gold foil on the buddha statues. It's a really cool ceremony, and I enjoy the music that goes with it. A traditional band consisting of different xylaphones, drums and bells was playing throughout the morning. This evening I'll go back to the temple to listen to a live band from a nearby school perform.


Also, recently I completed a marathon here in Thailand. It was held in a town called Khon Kaen, which is in the same region as I live. The race started at 4:30 a.m. and we ended at about 9:00 a.m. The weather was nice and cool with a little rain. We really got lucky because the weather can get really hot unexpectedly. I ran it with two other friends and all three of us finished feeling pretty good. We just hobbled like cripples for about 24 hours!




I do, however, have a claim on a possible "first" for a marathon...





As I was running at about mile 13 or so, I started getting really dizzy and realized that I was just starving. Of course, I didn't bring any money with me, so I couldn't buy anything. We were running down these streets filled with people cooking grilled chicken, selling fruit, making soups. And the smells! I could taste that savory chicken and those sweet oranges if I just closed my eyes. Drooling, something had to be done. We were starting to leave the "town" area, and you never know when you might next come across vendors. Then, I spy her. A sticky rice lady. She's taking the rice fresh out of the pot! If you've never had sticky rice it's similar to white rice except that it's so sticky you can grab hand fulls of it and squeeze it into little dipping balls. It's great to eat using your hands and an assortment of dips, veggies, etc. She saw me seeing her. We locked eyes. I gave a smile and slightly widened my eyes at her huge wicker basket full of sweet, sticky carbs. She smiled back and without hesitation motioned me over as she tore off a great hunk of goodness! I was so relieved! I smiled at her over and over saying thank you in Thai as I shoved a little rice in my mouth and said, "It's delicious!" in the local language before running off. She laughed and laughed and I could hear her yelling to her friends sitting nearby as they started to laugh too. And everybody after her along the road got such a kick out of watching this crazy white guy run along the road as he chowed down on their favorite staple. I gotta say though, after eating a couple of mouthfuls I was right back in action. And, sticky rice is famous for making you clogged up (if you know what I mean!), which is awesome when you're running for four hours!

(side note and a little gross - if you ever eat sticky rice while running a marathon and you don't have anything to eat it with....the salt from either your lip or your forehead makes for great seasoning and replenishes your body salts too!)