Last Teaching Days and Abbot's Parade

Last Teaching Days and Abbot's Parade

Last Teaching Days

Adjusting the Monk Robes

One thing I have noticed is that the novice monks are constantly adjusting their robes.  I'm not sure if it's because the robes are tricky to wear or if it's a teenage fashion consciousness. I've never seen adult monks do this except in the most subtle of ways.

Following the King's Birthday, I expected to have three days of teaching.  Monday and Tuesday of the week I extended the "Snacks" lesson I had started.  Basically these were flash cards with the English word written on one side and the Thai translation written on the other. The week before I had used flash cards about family relationships which someone else had developed and Adjan Nathanon had loaned me. 

Adjan Nathanon Teaching a Class

My lesson plan was simple:

• Show the English word:

Snacks          Apples     Bananas

• Sound out the English word
• Show the Thai word (so they would know the meaning of the English word)

ของขบเคี้ยว     แอปเปิ้ล    กล้วย

• They say the Thai word
• I repeat the Thai word (this was the best part) they would laugh and I would try again and again until they either gave up or thought I'd done it well enough
• One surprise for me at this point was that some of the snack words such as "cake", "cookie" and "chocolate" were pronounced exactly the same in Thai as they were in English!
• Show the English word and sound it out again
• Have one third of the class repeat the word in English, the other third, etc.
• Students with wandering eyes, hands, or silence were given the special opportunity to sound the word individually.

Novice Monks in English Class

Working In Class

Special Chips - Crab Curry Flavor and Shrimp Flavor - Umm, Umm

After we went through the cards, we played hangman using the words from the lesson.  I was surprised for the first couple of words that they did them so well.  Then I realized they had written down the English words and were counting the spaces for the letters to find the right word.  After that, I mixed it up with other words not in the lesson.  That threw them for a loop, but we had fun and I think they learned a few words.

One of My Best Classes

As class ended, I wanted to get a picture of me with the class. The young novice monk wanted to have his own picture with me because he wasn't in the group picture.

The Novice Monk/Photographer

The wind up of the lesson plan was to have each student vote on their favorite fruit snack.  I then introduced them to graphing the results. It you look closely, you can see that oranges won by a landslide!

Each day as I walked to school, I passed a sidewalk tile shaped like a heart. I often thought of taking a picture of it, but didn't.  This last day, there was a Clementine Orange in the middle of the heart.  It was a good omen and a good day!

Sidewalk Tile with Clementine

Abbot's Parade

My last day was cut short because the abbot for the school was in town.  He is the third highest ranking monk in all of Thailand and was coming to bring the King's birthday message to the community. This called for a parade.  The students were let out at noon to participate.  I was invited by the school's former headmaster to wait with him at the temple. At first it was going to be a 15 minute wait. 

Prasingh Temple Decorated for Abbot's Visit
The Former Headmaster Said the Lanterns were the Blending of Hindu Influences into Buddhiam

When I was told it would be an hour, I headed for the parade.  That was a good decision. The parade didn't get started until hours after the scheduled time.

Chinese Lanterns and Monks

Chinese Lanterns and Monks

Chinese Lanterns and Monks

King's Flags (yellow) and Thai Flags

Bringing the King's Proclamatin
Traditional Uniforms

Carrying the King's 

Portrait

 in the Parade

Monks Joining the Parade

King's Birthday Weekend and Andrea and Kathryn Farewell

King's Birthday Weekend

King's Birthday and Shopping

Back in Chiang Mai on Saturday evening and I opted to go to dinner and then to the Night Market out Thapae road.  Mostly I was going to be with the group. First we sort out the shoes in the house - with 13 people here now and each with about 3 pairs of shoes and leaving them at the door... you get the picture.

I also to scout out bargains for another time. It's difficult to drive a hard bargain when several people in the group are worried they aren't paying enough for things and nearly always fork over the first price and others are so enthusiastic about how fantastic things look. For me, a lot of the fun is in driving a good bargain. Part of the idea of the shopping expedition was for Andrea and Katheryn to buy gifts for home because they are leaving soon.

Cashew With Chicken

Blue Diamond Again

Following dinner at one of our regular spots, we stopped for banana rotee's at a favorite stand. Watch the girl in the middle slap that dough!

Larger than Usual Spirit House At Temple Near Rotee Stand

Paintings at the Night Market

The King's Birthday was coming up Monday and we saw stages and seating being set up for the activities. Other than watching the fireworks, we avoided the speeches.







Andrea and Kathryn Farewell

We took Andrea and Kathryn to the Roof Top Bar for their farewell. The bar is on the roof of a three story building. The whole place is a throwback to the psychedelic 70's.  On the third floor there was a sign to take off your shoes and narrow 4 inch stairs leading to the roof. The roof was about half covered with a lean to. The floor was covered with mats. There were black lights around with psychedelic paintings.

Roof Top Bar - Black Lights and Slow Shutter Speed - Throw Back to the 70's

Kathryn

Lauren, Rebekka, and Andrea

Everyone sat on the floor at low tables drinking Mai Ti's, Sex on the Roof, and water for some of the gals. We closed the place down and left at about 2:30 am.  

Jerry, John, and Andrea

View of Traffic From Bar

Fritzi and Lauren

Oh that John!

On the way home we went to Mike's Burgers and Hotdogs for burgers and fries. It was a great time but I was beat the next day. Good thing we had a holiday that day!

The Farewell Gang - Andrea, Kathryn, Fritzi, Laugen, Leena, Rebekka, and John

Lampang Return By Train

Lampang Return By Train

I decided to return to Chiang Mai by train. I started writing this while waiting in the train station. No wrong station this time!

Train Platform at Lampang

Restored Train Outside of Station

Detail of Engine Wheels

Engine on its Way

Old Caboose at Station

My ticket cost less than the Mars bar I just got at a nearby shop - about one dollar. 

A Favorite Snack - Nori Seaweed Chips

Snack Shop

The train was reasonably prompt in arriving. The engines, car one and car two soon departed. I was in car three.  I looked out the empty end of our car and wondered if they noticed we weren't there. About 10 minutes later there was a bump and we were off. We slowed down as we headed into the mountains. Students in seats next to me we're kind enough to take my picture. 

On the Train

He Passed it to Her and She Took the Picture

Handed Him my Camera for the Picture

The passengers were a mix of Thais, young asian tourists, and westerners like me. A man in a uniform passed by a couple of times. I supposed he was the conductor but I didn't seen him look at any tickets.

Touring Asian Students

Passengers

Conductor?

Passenger

Harvesting Rice Straw

Drying River Bed

Motorcycle Cart

The view from the train was much more rural than it was from the bus. We passed hillsides, drying river beds (its the dry season), rice paddies with newly planted rice and paddies where they were cutting the rice straw.  

Hillsides

Water Buffalo and Bug Eating Bird

A woman was selling fried chicken and ??? going from car to car.  Looked pretty good!

Chicken Anyone?

Once in a while we stopped to let someone off at a small station...
                - a village may or may not be evident. 

Country Train Station

Sometimes No Station Was Apparent

The dogs along the way seemed well fed and just curious to check out the stopped train. 

Dogs on The Tracks

Rolling Through the Countryside

Rolling Through the Countryside

After an hour or so, people were hanging out of the windows and the stairs between cars to take pictures and just watching the scenery go by.

Getting a Better View and Having Fun