Before I dive into the last couple of weeks, I want to point out that I finally have some pictures from Jenny's wedding - hooray!

Before school started, I had to head for the Thai Consulate in Penang, Malaysia to get a new visa. The process is convoluted and annoying, but I hired an agent upon arrival (for all of 20 ringits - $6) who helped with the paperwork and took care of delivering my passport. Which left me free to go see the Penang Butterfly Farm! I did approximately zero research on Penang before heading down, so the Butterfly Farm was a totally random pick off the free tourist map - and a good one. They have about a dozen species of butterfly in huge numbers flying free throughout a sprawling greenhouse complex filled with lush tropical foliage, lovely koi ponds, and insect/reptile/animal enclosures. Aside from just blissing out watching the butterflies flutter all around, I learned quite a bit about the insect life of the Malay peninsula (which southern Thailand is also on). Mostly that they have some HUGE bugs. In the pictures with bugs on bananas and cucumber slices, please note that those are not mini fruits of some kind - it's the bugs that are skewing the proportions.

Arriving back in Hat Yai, I had a few days to get everything ready for school to start - last minute copying, planning, and shoe shopping - before catching the bus for my first day of class! Pitt (my Thai teaching assistant / all-round guide to Hat Yai) and I catch the bus every morning about 7:15. It takes about 40 minutes to get to our stop, then the school sends someone on a motorcycle to take us the last five minutes to the school. There isn't much out there - the classrooms out back open onto a field where the cows graze.

The kids are mostly sweet, and everyone at the school has been really nice to us so far. I think. No one there speaks much English, but they smile at me, and feed me well. They've even started giving me my own little bowl of cucumber slices with lunch every day - boy do they have me figured out! Lunch is a generous scoop of rice (carefully molded into a little upside-down bowl shape) along with a bowl of curry of some kind and a bowl of soup of some kind. Basic and yummy. We have two 2nd grade classes and two 1st grade classes, and one class each of 3rd, 4th 5th and 6th grade. Classes are mostly around 30 students, but we have one 2nd grade class of 21 (mostly because the room is so tiny they had to make that class small enough to fit) and the 3rd grade class is 42! I think they would have split it, but they're just completely out of room. I'm not sure what the timetable is on the construction of the new building, but they need it! The area is definitely not on the tourist map, nor is it any kind of major business center, so there's a pretty good chance I'm the first foreigner a lot of these kids have ever seen, let alone spoken to. They're warming up though. Umpteen million rounds of the Happy Song (if you're happy and you know it...) will do that. I only see each class twice a week, but they have English with a Thai teacher a couple times a week, too. Overall, it's really a lot of fun. We play games, sing songs, and generally try to have enough fun that the kids don't realize they're using English. I'm working on learning some of the names... Thai names are incredibly long (Natthapong, Wattanachai, Gsmmonchanok, Kalanachan... ) but luckily they all have one- or two-syllable nicknames, so I'm working on those. I'll try to get some school pictures when I have an excuse to take the camera to class - so far I haven't wanted the extra distraction - I'm distraction enough as it is.

Sunday was the much anticipated Loy Krathong festival. Sometimes translated into "Floating Festival" in English, highlights of the festival include the making and releasing of floating offerings to the river, a beauty contest for the littlest girls, and flying "floating lanterns" (more information on Loy Kratong).

Here's the song, which they pretty much play non-stop (the Thai version) in the run-up to the festival:

November full moon shines,

Loy Krathong, Loy Krathong,

and the water's high in the river and local klong,

Loy Loy Krathong, Loy Loy Krathong,

Loy Krathong is here and everybody's full of cheer,

We're together at the klong,

Each one with his krathong,

As we push away we pray,

We can see a better day.

We kicked off the day by doing some shopping at the market. We got the fixings for chicken curry for lunch, and all of the pieces to make our krathongs. All day long, I kept finding funny little parallels with holidays at home - this tradition that felt a bit like something we do for that holiday, family all coming together to cook and celebrate... I even got my "usual" job of chopping up veggies!

After a delicious chicken curry lunch, Pitt taught me how to make a krathong. We started with slices of banana tree trunk, and cut banana leaves to cover them. Then we cut more banana leaves into little rectangles, and folded them into an assortment of little triangles, which are pinned to the wooden base in a number of different designs. Some flower decorations provided the finishing touches. As we were finishing up, Grace and Dia, two more of the cousins, showed up in all of their beauty pageant finery. About five years old, they looked adorable, but I didn't envy them their pancake makeup and fake eyelashes that would have to stay on until late that evening. I helped one of the aunties sort ribbon chain necklaces that would be used later for the pageant. There were several huge bags that needed to be gone through, the broken chains fixed, and all of the necklaces tied into bunches of five to be sold by the pageant organizers (I didn't know any of that until later - she just showed me to tie them into fives).

At the pageant, they fed us tasty chicken and rice soup, some fried donut-hole type things, and glasses of soy milk while we were waiting for the show to start. Before the little queen hopefuls took the stage, there was plenty of long-winded talking by the MCs - nobody can drag an event out like the Thais. There were some songs by adults, and a few youth dance groups. The contestants were finally announced, making careful wais (bows) and pageant waves to the audience and judges. Members of the crowd were encouraged to buy those chains I helped with earlier, and I think the revenue from that paid for the prizes, food, etc. Then each girl's chains were counted up, for some kind of "popularity" award component. By the time the show was finally over, half of them were falling asleep, and poor little Grace had been sick for the last two hours. But they each got a brand new umbrella and a doll. Overall I think the event was much more for the adults than the girls - some of them seemed to enjoy it, but the majority looked less than impressed.

As the event was winding down, P Noot decided to launch one of her floating lanterns, so Kro lit the ring, and everyone held on until enough hot air built up for it to soar away. It took off in the direction of the full moon, and eventually disappeared from sight. The lanterns aren't as popular in the south as up in Chiang Mai, where they are a major part of the festival. It was P Noot's birthday, though, and she wanted some, so we did them. Happy Birthday P Noot!

After another dinner, it was finally time to float our krathongs. We went out to the edge of the city, where there were hundreds of other people doing the same in a park with steps leading down to the river. It was a lot like the ghats in India, even the smell of the incense from the krathongs. My candle and joss sticks lit, they aimed me at the river, with instructions to pray and send it off. I hadn't thought much about what kind of prayer to make... that bluegrass song by Alison Krauss popped to mind "As I went down to the river to pray..." and some thoughts about giving thanks for water, and showing appreciation to the river. I thought about the state of the world's fresh water, and how we take it for granted. There were people and krathongs everywhere, everyone jostling for position at the waters edge, and thousands of krathongs lazily eddying around in the river. I made my way to the front, and gave my krathong a nudge out toward the middle, with Get and Kro helping paddle the water out to send it off. I would have liked to stay and watch, but the space was in demand, it was late, and we were all sleepy. I had a great time, and learned lots of new Thai words!

Next weekend Trevor comes to visit on his way to Penang! We're having a late celebration for P Noot's birthday... something about going dancing. And I have a full week of teaching ahead. For now I'm off to bed!

Labels: butterflies, Loy Krathong, Penang, teaching, Thailand, visa