Now THIS is Freedom !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEP, that's right, Today I finally got to drive a car!! Oh my goodness, it was SO sweet and what a delightful sense of independence and "NORMALCY".
My roommates were blessed (by a couple from their agency who are going to the states until June) with a nice little car to drive until June!! Jeannie is out of town visiting friends until wednesday, and Eileen left town today..... So I get the car for TWO DAYS hurray!!!
I haven't driven a car since arriving here over 7 months ago..... so it was a real delight to go run errands ALL ON MY OWN today.
First, I drove up and down every street (Soi ) here in the neighborhood (Muuban). It is very odd to have to glance to the Left to look in the rear view mirror, and the turn signal is on the right. So at first I turned on the windshield wipers every time I wanted to make a turn! I am used to driving on the Left side of the road.... but I gotta admit, sitting on the right side of the front seat to drive is very unusual, and knowing where the "left-side: sense of the car is also interesting and different.
When I felt ready, I eased out onto the real road with all the traffic...especially MOYORCYCLES. And off I went. Motorcycles can pass you on either side and squeeze in to the smallest space.... but I was able to negotiate the roads and parking at the store.
Such a blessing..... so much FUN. And Pam drove a car in Thailand today !!!!

Songkran, Thai New Year

Songkran, Thai New Year... is coming this next week. It is NOT your typical USA one shot at New Years eve with fireworks and a toast at midnight. OH NO !!! this is a religious holiday... And a very commercialized holiday and it revolves around WATER WATER WATER. Which works out well, since this is the very HOT season. And it lasts 4-5 days or more. (after the photos, you will receive an explanation of Songkran.... but since I am still technologically challenged, you get what you get hahahahahaha.)

When I went to the grocery store today, I found that they had ALL my Songkran holiday needs to make a great celebration !! Here you see Hawaiian print shirts, for ONLY 79 baht... (30 baht to one US dollar... now you'll be able to figure out all the prices in the photos, if you are that kind of person, ha!) And behind this rack are racks of short-short levi shorts!! Very Festive!!

Down the main aisle of the store are displays of all the essential Songkran items:

Here you have yellow buckets filled with survival-items for the Monks at the temples.

It is filled with toothpaste, toothbrush, a bottle of water, inscence candles, laundry soap

and other things. People purchase these buckets and present them to a Monk when they

go to the temple. It is a one of the ways they can "earn merit" in the Buddhist religion.

Soaking People with water is "VERY important" during Songkran.... the best way to accomplish this is to fill huge garbage cans with water and put them on the back of your pickup truck and drive around town.... looking for ANYONE to SOAK!!! (and after the holiday, you'll have a new garbage can for your house!)

If you don't have room for a garbage can, then you can use a bucket and scoop. These are much easier to carry with you, so you can "chase- after -people" to throw water on them.... AND you can scoop water out of the river, stream, ditch or moat with your bucket.

And then of course , there are the various selections of shapes and sizes of water guns!!! You can't get someone as wet as with a garbage pail..... but these babies are so much more accurate! Do you want to shout someone who is in a car with the window down.... this will do the trick!!!


And Now.... the Story of Songkran.......... just like I promised.

This week during my first grade class's Thai language and culture class, the children learned about the upcoming Thai holiday, SONGKRAN, the Thai New Year.

This holiday is known for the HUGE city-wide water fights!! Yep, that's right. where ever you go, expect someone to squirt you with a water pistol, or soak you with a super-soaker water gun, or DRENCH you with a bucket of water from a garbage can on the back of their pickup truck. Now foreigners, or FORANG as we are referred to, are the favorite target... because we are often "unsuspecting" for the first dousing. After that, we wise-up and join in the fun, or avoid going anywhere for 4-5 days!!!

The children learned that there is a REAL reason for Songkran, AND for how the giant water fights began!

Songkran is a family holiday, where families gather together to eat and celebrate. Once the family is gathered, the elders sit in front of the room, and the rest of the family (especially the children) walk past each elder, pausing to pour water over their hands and giving them a blessing. Afterwards, the elders say blessings over the family. Water is used to show respect and also used as a symbol of washing away old ways and bad things and becoming renewed. Families go to the temples and pour ladles of water onto the buddha statues.

In fact, all the stores in the area have put up temporary buddha shrines and statues, so people can pour water and pray right at the store while shopping. (commercialism, it's NOT just a USA thing, ha!)

The children in class all got to line up and pour water over the teachers' hands and give us a blessing. But our blessings were... "God bless you, Ms. Thomas" and afterwards, we prayed over our children.

The children also got to learn a traditional songkran game to play. We all sat in a circle on the floor. A small cup with water and talcim powder mixed into a wet paste was passed around the circle while music was played. When the music stopped, whoever had the cup, got to draw a paper out of a different cup that had one of three things on it: 1. yourself, 2. person to the right, 3. person to the left. The person with the cup of paste gets to smear the paste on someone's face OR perhaps has to smear it on their own face. Everyone chants Yourself, Yourself.... while the cup person draws out the paper to see who gets smeared..... then on with the game. At first no one wants to be smeared, but as the game goes along, everyone wants it. There was lots of laughing and fun. In the end, we were all smeared.

We ended our celebration with Thai dancing. This is a circle dance, moving your hands from side to side (in a lovely graceful way, hahaha) as we walk around the circle . We had a FUN time learning about Songkran... AND how we can enjoy it without being Buddhist.

So.... If you come visit Thailand in mid-April..... be prepared to wear your hawaiian print shirt and short shorts, grab your bucket and join in the fun of SOAKING everyone.... it is soak or be soaked..... smile and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!! a nation-wide water fight !!!