Wow, hard to believe it has been
a whole year since I got to Thailand. So much has happened yet it seems to have
flown by, a month at a time. SongKran is the time Thai people really let loose
and have fun. It’s their new year, and it’s also the hottest time of the year,
so what better way to celebrate than by having the biggest squirt gun fight of
all time? Weeks in advance, vendors are set up all over the city to sell squirt
guns and water buckets, and the moat fills up with water. They put up signs
that say “danger, deep water zone” and I always thought “don’t they know that
just makes me want to jump in even more?” The traditional way to celebrate is
by giving honor to one’s elders. This is done by giving them flowers,
apologizing for any wrongs committed in the past year, and asking for a
blessing. The elders (parents, grandparents, teachers, etc) then dip their
hands in water and put it on the top of the younger person’s head, blessing
them with water to start the new year fresh and clean.
For Taw Saeng SongKran, we had a
special day planned. We all dressed up in our best Northern Thai clothes (long
wraparound skirt and loose top for women, baggy linen pants and shirt for men)
and did a program. Amelie, my sweet piano student, played Fur Elise (well, the first
two pages anyway, which is all anyone every recognizes) with such confidence,
you would never guess she just learned it a month ago! The little girls did a
dance that Orawun taught them, Sophie choreographed a traditional Lam Thai
dance for another group of girls, including herself (I was so proud of her!), Matt
(one of our part-time English teachers) played a popular Thai love song with
backup from our teen boys on guitar and vocals, and the women all sang a
Northern Thai ballad that is as well known as America the Beautiful would be in
US schools. It was funny though because it is Northern Thai, so some words I
don’t know at all, and some are words that I know but mean something entirely
different. For example: Miow means cat in Thai, but is the name of a hill tribe
in Northern Thai. Don’t want to mix those up! Everyone did such a great job
performing and the whole day was capped off with the kids lining up in rows for
blessings from 4 people: P’Bua our chef, P’Anhkhana one of our Thai staff, the
wife of our CEO, and myself. Not sure how I ended up in the group, I think it
was partly because I was the next oldest, partly because I was leaving and
partly because the other people we invited to partake in the ceremony didn’t
show up. I don’t really care, it was fun either way. The last person in my line
was Sophie, so that was kind of cool to get to take part in this traditional ceremony
with her. The rest of our day was spent getting soaked with water by our
neighbors on either side and joining them in soaking passersby.
The next day was time we had
planned for a while to go visit Sophie’s parents’ graves up in Mae Taeng. It’s
hard to get up there or to get directions from anyone as to how exactly to get
there without someone who had been there a million times, but we finally, after
about 5 attempts over the year, made it. Ahna had Jasmine’s car and we had a
couple people set up from TS to come with us too so we could do some songs and
pray and plant some flowers. Well, at the last minute, Angkhana and Napapon had
to back out, so Sophie invited some of her friends from her old village to go. We
caravanned to Ahna’s place, went to pick up some flowers to plant and a spade
to do it with, and were on the way. We had to call the Akha pastor a couple
times to get more specific directions, but we finally got there! I took
pictures of all the turns this time, so we can find our way again next time.
I was really happy that we got to
do this before I left for the States, I think it was a good healing time for
Sophie. She hadn’t been there since her mom’s funeral, and she was in shock, so
I don’t think she even remembers much about that day. We bought several pots of
flowers and transplanted them into the dirt around the graves, so it looked
really nice. Ahna brought her harp, and I had my guitar, so we sang some songs,
and said some prayers, took some pictures and headed home, stopping for lunch
on the way. We left Ahna’s house, dropped off Sophie’s friends and planned to
meet up at Taw Saeng to go throw some water at strangers, when disaster struck.
I saw it happen and I still don’t really understand how it happened. We were
driving through a green light, Sophie in front of me, when all of a sudden, she
was skidding along the street on her elbow! Apparently, the car in front of her
had slammed his brakes on, even though the light was green and there was no
reason to stop. They had been doing construction there recently, and I think
there was still some sand on the ground, so when she slammed on the brakes,
they locked and she tipped. It was SO scary. I drove up on the curb, tossed my
bike down and ran into the street to get her off the ground. Luckily, it was a
busy time of day, so there were many people to help. She was scraped up, but
not bleeding too badly, so she was able to drive home, but we didn’t leave the
house again that day. I just went out to get us dinner and ice cream and I
patched her up as best I could. Worst timing EVER, because the following day
was her birthday! She just kept saying, “I don’t understand! I’ve been driving
for 2 years and I never fell before. Why did I fall now?” I kept explaining
that is how accidents happen. Even if you are super careful, there are always
unexpected things that occur to cause accidents.
Poor thing, the next day, she was
so sore, but wanted to go at least watch people playing in the water by the
moat and hang out with her friends. We went to the pharmacy in the morning to
get some new bandaids and some advice on how to make sure she didn’t get
infected. We left with iodine, saline solution, bandaids and cotton balls. It
was a painful process to keep infection from setting in, but worth it. Poor
Sophie, I have been in her place before, and I know how excruciating that pain
is with saline and iodine. We did make it to the moat, but I forbid her to
drive the rest of the week with anyone other than me because it was such a
dangerous time to be driving at all, you never know when someone is just going
to dump a truckload of water on you from the side and try to tip the motorbike
over!
Well, I met up with my friends
that day at the wall and kept checking in with Sophie on her end of the moat.
We met up in the afternoon because she wanted to go eat moogataw at the
restaurant with her friends, so I drove her home to change and she picked up
her birthday cake that Ahna and I made FROM SCRATCH! (I know, never would have
guessed it, huh?) and went out with her friends. I guess the whole restaurant
ended up singing happy birthday to her. I was so bummed that I missed it, but I
guess that is what happens with teenagers, they don’t want you around when they
are with their friends. Sad. :(
Funny thing is, her friends all wanted me to come, but I let them have their
night.
Saturday was the next day, and we
changed her bandages, went back to the moat and spent another day flinging
water at people. I must have walked 3 miles at least that day! I met up with
Lucy (remember her? My Thai teacher from last year?) and we walked around with
her boyfriend and saw so many Taw Saeng kids swimming in different places. I
even saw Molly out! I was shocked, because she is NOT the kind of kid who wants
to be around groups of people at ALL, let alone getting water dumped on her
unexpectedly. When I asked her about it, she was like “yeah, my friends called
and wanted to know what I was doing. I was like ‘I’m staying home. I’m not
gonna throw water today’ but then they came to my house and forced me to come
throw water, so here I am.” I was like, “Yeah, that sounds about right.” Hahaha
Monday, April 16, we ate moogataw
with Winnie’s family at their house, and it was a great time! We all went shopping
together in Jasmine’s car at the huge market and got all sorts of food. Kilos
and kilos of food! I kept trying to get other people in the neighborhood to
come share with us, but they were all going to sell stuff at the markets. All
the other parents of the Taw Saeng kids were saying goodbye and how much they
were going to miss me and saying “you are coming back, right? Taw Saeng won’t
be the same without you!” It was good to get a chance to say goodbye to
everyone, but so hard too because I will miss them all so much! It was almost
better that there was no big farewell moment at Taw Saeng when I left because I
know I would have cried. At the end of dinner, when I was saying goodbye to
Winnie’s family, we were all crying. Well, not Sophie, but she doesn’t cry at
anything, so she doesn’t count.
I finished packing and moving all
our stuff to Ahna’s house (Sophie’s stuff) and Grace’s house (my stuff) and
then we had one final farang family dinner with Ruth and Sacha and Rachael and
Sophie before we all went to the airport. The weirdest thing happened. Even
though I had been choking on my tears all week and would nearly break down at
the slightest provocation, when we got to the airport, I was totally fine. I
said goodbye to my dear friends and my daughter and got on the plane. Then, at liftoff,
I cried.
No comments:
Post a Comment