March Monk Ordinations

With school coming to a close for the summer, the number of monk ordinations in our community has surged. In Thailand, young men spend at least a short period of time as a monk, usually at the local wat (temple). After food and ceremony at home, a procession makes its way to the temple, gathering more and more people as it progresses.  As one of these huge processions came down the street towards our house, we decided that we should go outside to watch. Extremely loud music is a typical component of the procession. With music blasting out of huge speakers and the bass turned up so far that it’s hard to believe windows aren’t shattering, the procession moves down the street at a snail’s pace. It being relatively impossible to do anything as the whole house shakes definitely encourages everyone to take part in the festivities. Rather than resist the noise, we crossed the street to sit at the neighbor’s house so that I could record some of the procession on my camera. Here’s the video footage:

For some reason we thought that it would be possible to sit on the side lines. That never seems to be the case for us here though! No matter what, we still tend to stand out…Naturally, we got pulled into the street to dance and celebrate along with everyone else. Moments after being pulled into the street, somebody put hats on us to help keep us a little bit cooler. Little candies and wrapped coins rained down on us as the young man being ordained threw them from the truck we was elevated on.

We continued on our way to the wat, dancing along to the music with everyone else.  Once we arrived, the young man soon to be ordained was lifted onto the shoulders of family members.  We followed him as he circled around the bot (a ceremonial part of the wat) three times and continued to distribute candy and coins to everyone. Once the three laps were complete, he was then lifted to touch the doorframe of the bot before being taken into the building. From there more ceremony took place, but our role and that of most everybody besides close family came to an end. We gave back the hats and wandered back to our house.

Rain on the Roof

                I woke up this morning to the sound of rain gently beating against the roof, roosters crowing, pots and pans clanking, and one of my neighbors, a man, shouting something to somebody across the street. Mornings here tend to start the same way, sometimes with the added stimulant of the gong beating at the wat across the street or Isan folk music followed by the village news being broadcasted over the loudspeaker mounted to a concrete electricity pole in front of our house. Usually first thing in the morning I can also count on the traveling “market,” a pick-up truck that carries various food ingredients and household supplies, to honk its horn loudly as it travels through the main road in our village, notifying everyone of its presence. Our neighbors across the street start pounding their tools, plying tin to make gutters for collecting rain water. As little as a couple of months ago, most of these things drove me absolutely crazy. (Pretty much everything besides the sound of rain, which a couple of months ago was really uncommon, drove me crazy.) Now it’s starting to feel comfortable. It helps that it’s cooling down and that the rain is starting to flow, but despite this, Thailand and my little village are starting to feel like “home.” All of the sounds and stimuli that once seemed so foreign and intrusive are becoming part of my everyday routine. I’ve come to expect them. Today I woke up to the sound of the rain gently beating against the roof and was overcome with gratefulness for the opportunity to be here, living in this rural Thai village on the other side of the world.

The journey continues…