Sunday, January 30, 2011

Funerals, Farangs, Fun. Not Necessarily in that Order.

I thought of this ingenious idea, I think you’ll be impressed.  Basically what happens is I type semi-thoughtful and semi-grammatically correct sentences throughout a longer period of time by typing blog entries into word and then pasting them on the page.

Now that I have you….

I went to a Thai funeral which continues on for seven days.  A very interesting experience to say the least; it was easy to feel like the five “farangs” on the front row, the ones weary of the octopus soup (it was delightful as is seemingly all Thai food), were the center of attention rather than the life of which was being celebrated.  “Farang” refers to the “foreigners” that are taking over the province with their crazy bike riding tactics and loud highlighter green bike helmets; as if the issuers didn’t know we stick out enough already!   Day five of Thai funeral…ate broth with pork skin…questionable!  My conversation back home at the dinner table will no longer consist of questions regarding the preparedness of foodstuffs.  Dad, Joe, Boars Head meat will never go bad…

On a more serious note, the last day of the funeral was rather moving and a real gut check.  It has been easy to get lost in the newness of the culture and country but the final day of the funeral helped me to realize how all human beings are related so closely even though we are raised in ostensibly two different worlds.  The daughter of the woman that passed gave a “final speech” before the burning of the body and even though it was given in a different language I could feel what she was saying.  I cried along with the other attendees as she choked through the final words.  The family was so selfless and gracious throughout their grieving.  They fed the funeral guests and showered them with gifts and smiles through such anguish and the pain only showed in the last ten minutes of the funeral.  I don’t know how Thai people do it, but their generosity goes beyond anything I have seen or felt.  Anyway sorry to ramble, I just wanted to share that.
 

Thailand is still fantastic, as it has been since I arrived.  I am slowly but surely learning some language action which is helpful.  I did not realize how frustrating life can be sometimes when you have no idea what people are saying and when people think you are incapable of speaking (if only they knew how awesome I am J).

Thai classrooms are different than in the states.  I observed a fifth grade English class, there was no teacher.  From what I understand class is somewhat optional.  If the teacher is there, class will ensue.  If the students are there but the teacher is not, class consists of playing Takaw (Takaw is the same as volleyball but is played with the feet and with a smaller wicker ball; chicks dig it) or football.  So in short, the observation went really well, instead of observing I took the liberty to teach the American chicken dance which is very different from the Thai version of the chicken dance.  I like to believe that coming from the chicken capital of the world, my version is most likely to be correct (silly Thais).  The students are very eager to learn English.  In Thailand, English is like the P.E. of America (so I will have the best job in the world).  Besides the great job, the Thai kids and people honestly believe I am Harry Potter; my celebrity status is through the roof!


Elephants are big and the ruins in Ayutthaya are pretty awesome.  I got to tour around the province and visit the Tesco/Lotus which is a fairly large “mall” with a “walmart” type store connected to it.  They had an A and W so I went large; cheese sticks, chicken sangwhich (for you jersey shore watchers), French fries and a large root beer in a frosty mug.  The only thing my plate that did not have a “Thai twist” was the root beer, totally worth it.  The Thai version of “Twilight” was filming in Ayutthaya, I was able to watch, I thought the main “actress” was gorgeous, my host mom told me it was not a girl; story over (lesson learned). 



We had an activity called “Thai Day” which was a lot of fun and a much needed break from the day to day activities of PST.  My group performed a cross country performance; I was in the South group so naturally I felt it my duty to teach everyone how to call them hogs.  You may now take pride in the fact that people halfway around the world love and can perform the hog call. HOGS BEAT VANDY! NICE!

Shoot me an email if you have any ideas on how to let family and friends view my videos and pictures…They really are not anything too special but it may help grasp a little taste of Thai culture and what I am trying to explain on this here bloggem..

Cross-Cultural Note of the Day:  The Thai word for “Guava” is also “Farang”.  If you say the sentence “Farang gin farang” (gin=eat) they laugh for days… 

6 comments:

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  2. Your blog is great and I love to hear the stories and that you can laugh at yourself. I can picture your smiling face in all of it. Have you even seen the Harry Potter movies????

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  3. LOVE them posts! Thx for letting us know about things informative "and" feelings! You know us girls! "Feelings" 'are' important! LOVED the twilight comment! Lol-we all learn new things everyday! I'm sure you're jealous, we"ve had the first bad ice & snow storm of the year! REALLY cold! I'm looking @ the temperature now, it's 13 below zero.........NOW, I'll bet thailand is really looking great! Enjoy lukie boy!

    Getting excited about going to Tulsa with your mom for her birthday and my chrsitmas present- we're going to see "Cirque de Soleil's Allegria"........should be awesome! I pulled a couple of things up on you tube about it.....very nice. We're going the 24-5th of feb. Be blessed young man and thx again for the updates!
    Kathy

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  4. Thats cool man
    It hasn't really grasped in my mind that I won't be seeing you this spring (or year for that matter). Your literary prose is quite intriguing and sucks the readers right in. I feel like I am there gazing at hot chicks (or guys) with you. Will be updating you with pictures and email soon. Thinking about ya

    Ryan

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  5. Keep them "blog" comments coming!

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  6. Hi "Harry Potter!" love your blog Luke. Sounds like your making the most of this experience...I'm so happy for you! Take good care of yourself!

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