Party like its 2554: Songkran Water Festival 2011

 I have been looking forward to this week for the past year in a half, in preparation for the big move to Thailand.This is the reason I bought a waterproof camera.  April is finally upon us, and it was time to experience Songkran for what it is... 

...So What IS Songkran really about?.. 

The festival falls on April 13 and  it is the annual celebration that is held throughout the kingdom. In fact, “Songkran” is a Thai word which means “move” or “change place” as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac. It is also known as the “Water Festival” as the Thai people believe that water will wash away bad luck from the previous year and bless you with good luck for the following year. 

With that being said, this next year should be the luckiest year of my life!  In every guide book, and any website it stated, " If you do not want to get wet, then do not leave your hotel room." This statement could not be more true, and even in some cases false [Depending who your room mates are]. The festival that originally began as the cleansing of The Buddah statue, to wash away bad luck eventually evolved  into a nation wide water gun fight, also known as the best 2 days of my life. 

The festivities began at school where we were required to 

where our floral Hawaiian shirts. Classes 

were supposed to be cut short so the kids could all "cleanse the Buddah" themselves, but since we started summer school a little later than the others we needed the time to get some work accomplished.  Although the kids did get a chance to take part in the ritual at the end of school when their parents arrived. We too had plenty of time after class to partake in the festivities.  It was really special to be involved and be able to appreciate the meaning behind the event. After school we went home packed our bags and took a taxi to our old school to meet up with our friends. It was extra exciting because our friends from our TESOL class who have been living in Cambodia since January will be meeting up with our gang later! 

The teaching hat's came off and the water guns came out! Off to Khao San road [Some of you may recall that this is known as the backpackers district of  Bangkok, and where we first lived when we arrived in good ol' BKK] It really would not have mattered where we went. Everywhere you go north, south, a small village or a big city everyone participated. 


We immediately hopped in the first taxi we saw. The driver set the tone for the day by instructing us to shoot at the cop with our water guns! With very little hesitation we rolled down our windows and proceeded to soak the cop. What did he do? Shot us a Big smile, and laugh! Could you imagine doing that in the US? Yeah right!!! 

We arrived in Khao San road and expectations were blown. There were people everywhere Thai's and Farongs in all shapes and sizes. I cannot truly explain the level of excitement everywhere I looked! We didn't waste any time as we had already been shooting people the entire car ride there!  The 4 of us jumped right into the madness. [Michelle, Jason, Nick and I] Without hesitation people soaked us down.  Nothing was off limits, Waterguns, hoses, buckets of water, water bottles with holes poked in the top, those old school water bottles that they would have on classic comedy shows where they would randomly spray someone down. Haha, I even saw someone with those containers that pest control people use to spray for bugs!  If you didn't come prepared there were PLENTY of street vendors selling supplies! 

I already had a hand-held but I the water gun back pack was calling my name. Along with water, you are also pleasantly greeted with Thai's coming up to you with bowls of clay and wiping it on your face, and in some cases throwing it. It was shockingly very civilized, and as MOST would come they would either Wai to you, or say "Soowyyy" as they kindly marked ur face with clay. The other 3% would come up behind you and wipe it in your eyes.. this was the only negative thing I could possibly say about the entire day. That and the cold water.

When Monks bless things, like cars or homes.. they usually use chalk. So basically the Clay is supposed to signify that. Again, on a much larger scale! lol As you can see from this photo! At times it would get in your eyes and you would see people walk over to the side and try to rub it out. If any Thai person saw you doing this they would immediately pour water over your eyes and help you clean it off. 

The 4 of us had a freaken blast, shooting people left and right.. dancing to music, occasionally drinking beers. 

It turns out the Hawaiian shirt was THE thing to wear! Luckily we were on top of it!!!

It was a complete blast, and people of all ages were there. 

From adorable little kids like this guy: 

To the more sophisticated, like this lady. 

Everyone had 1 thing in common, a big smile and good intentions.  It was really amazing how respectful everyone was, I went to bed that night with such ease as visions through out the day of smiling faces drifted me right of to sleep.. only to wake up and do it all over again the next day !

A Thai New Year surprise for you !! 

For Nick's take on the Songkran MaDnEsS Click HERE or read the following blog!  

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Question of the Day! 

What's your take on all of this!? 

I want to hear from you! If you randomly clicked my blog, you are an avid reader or secret Facebook stalker, it would be lovely to hear some comments from people other than my family! :) [No offense]

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The Periodic Cameo Blog with your pal, Nick Watt

I’d like to start by thanking Lisa for letting me cameo in her Thai blog. We can all agree, her blogging is wonderful and I couldn’t be happier that she has so many readers. That being said, I feel it’s necessary to have a second opinion on our amazing experiences in Thailand from time to time. So, here’s my crack at it..

At last, we are completely moved in to our final apartment in Thailand. I honestly can’t recall the how many living arrangements we’ve had over here. Ballpark figure? Nine. Also, we’ve started full-time teaching. Well, it’s not completely full-time; just summer school, so our Monday to Friday is a simple 7:30-Noon with the new school year starting on May 16^th.  I’m pretty sure Lisa’s already brought all that good stuff up, so I’ll jump into our newest adventure: The Songkran Festival.

It’s Thailand’s new year, and celebrated with ample supplies of water and grey clay. To join in on the festivities we visited a popular area in Bangkok for tourists from all over the world, along with thousands of Thais, of course. Almost everyone participating is armed with some form of water gun. If you find ice-cold water for loading, use it. Cold water reigns supreme in most battles. Those unarmed should be holding a small pail filled with the grey clay. The basic routine is: you shoot them with water, they smile and walk over to you while covering their fingers with the clay, then they wipe it anywhere on your face while saying either, “Happy New Year!” or “Thank you, sorry!” The oceans of water used by everyone celebrating represent the washing away of the year’s sins, and all that good stuff. The clay used in the event is a sort of a “spin-off” of the holy clay used by the Monks to bless Buddhists with good luck. So, with three full days of non-stop face smearing and water drenching I should be pretty set for the New Year, 2554.

The festival was better than I thought it would be. In fact, it was spectacular! The Thai people are overly gracious and light-hearted, and their hospitality towards foreigners is remarkable. Regardless of the obvious translation gap, it’s very easy to tell that they are filled with pride seeing so many walks of life joining in on their favorite religious ceremony. To sum it all up: I loved Songkran and I love Thailand. Happy New Year, Everyone!

The Good. The Bad. and The Ugly.

Hello my friends, I apologize for the delay in post but as soon as I posted my last message we had a meeting with our boss and were told it was time to move.... AGAIN!! 

The Good.

I was not excited for this at all, but I was really trying to trust that everything will work out. It's just that after 3 months we were finally beginning to settling down.  And here we are, 2 days later were were moving again, leaving all of our friends, and moving into the middle of no where, Bang Phao.  About 2 hours outside of  Bangkok.  

It was finally pay day and we went to get our money from our Boss, is always a production as she is a very popular woman especially when it comes to pay day. However she has grown quite fond of our little group. (And that IS an understatement) She actually refers to the 4 of us (Nick, Me, Michelle, and Cas) as  "Her Angel Crew". She is so thankful that we are working at her school, because we are so "smart, professional, and beautiful" (and these are direct words lol) After receiving more money than we actually were supposed to get,  she gave us even better news. 

[to be read in an Asian accent]

"I want you and teachuur Nicholas to be team leadars, and I want you to know dhat I am looking out for you, and care about you vewy much, so because of dhis I am going to let you keep your room here in Bang Bon. Dis way you can come back on dhe weekends to hang out with your fwiends and go in dhe swimming pool." 

This news was amazing, but I did feel a little guilty, there was no need for us to take up a room only for the weekends, but what Boss says goes! The following day, 8 new teachers piled in to a van taking all of our belongings. We were keeping our news a secret, we didn't want anyone getting jealous, or start any unnecessary drama.  

We pulled up to our brand new apartments and unloaded our things. In the Thai tradition when there is  a new building or home there is a ceremony that takes place. There were monks praying and blessing the rooms and a big tent and tables set up with more food than you could imagine. Many new foods I have been very curious to try but wasent sure exactly what it was. It was so sweet. The apartment building is run by a very big Thai family of which 2 speak English.  Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. 

To the left is a collection of Thai Desserts, mostly coconut and rice flavored, all very delicious. 

The Bad and The Ugly.

Time came for the passing out of the keys and picking of rooms. After a quick speech of how, important it is to represent ourselves correctly and if we are going to bring a prostitute home to make sure that she is a "Nice girl, and speaks good" Of course Boss comes to us first and asks which room I would like, and which room Nick would like. Hold up, we get our own rooms? Hmm.. Interesting. Well they are much smaller than our apartments in Bang Bon, but was that really necessary? Boss said that we could use one room as a hang out room or kitchen since that was the only thing lacking from these BRAND NEW apartment. Fully furnished and stocked with a refrigerator, microwave, iron/board, air con, plates and silverware and bedding! [All provided by the school] So up we go to our new places. As we head up we see some sad faces! Our Philippino foreign teachers were forced to share  a room, and a bed. Why? Because they aren't westerners. So here we are, sitting on 3 pieces of prime real estate and the Philippinos have to share a room, and a bed, with someone they didn't know, and to top it off , if they wanted to get their own room they both had to pay 2,000 Baht.  This didn't sit well with me at all! SO racist, I spent the greater half of the day trying to accept the situation but there was not much I could do. If I gave up my room to one of them, they would make them pay anyways. Here I am being treated better than a King, and they are being treated like dirt. Many rationalizations crossed my mind.... " Well there flight was only 3 hours, compared to our 28?" "  English is OUR native language, it is their second..." But nothing made me feel better. I talked to them and expressed that I did not agree with how they were being treated, they didn't like it either, but that is the way it goes. This is Thailand and they do things their way, and there is not much else you can do than Smile and carry on. 

 Having our own rooms is going to be interesting, like I said in my previous post  I am excited to finally get settled in [for real this time] decorate, and start making Thailand feel more like home. Nick of course calls his room "The Man Cave" and plans on decorating accordingly, I just want my room to be cozy and make sure it smells good. Im a sucker for candles and such, Now if only I could find some Glade candles ANYWHERE in Thailand I could be happy. For now I will settle for scented oils, and tea light candles. The next couple of weeks are going to be very exciting. Summer school started on April 1st and we moved in the weekend prior. I am teaching kindergarten again, and 2 classes of pre-school, subjects English and Drama! Hahah This should be interesting! :) Nick is teaching 2nd, 3rd,4th,5th, and 6th Social Studies and Science. Summer school is only a month long and then we get ANOTHER 2 week vacation. Life is pretty rough at this point ;)  [Sarcasm of course] To make things even better we have 1 day off for the Thai Memorial Day in the first week, than the following week is the Thai New Year, also known as The Songkran Festival, this tradition started with the cleansing of the Buddah. They would pour water over all the statues to cleanse them and make a good luck wish. As the New Year is during the hottest month of the year, this tradition eventually turned into a country wide water fight. No one is safe. Elderly, police men, woman, children... if you walk outside at any point during the week, [oh yeah, did I mention it is a week long celebration in which we, yet again get the entire week off from school] You will get SOAKED! Buckets, Guns, Balloons, everything is an option! I have been looking forward to this event since the moment I chose to come here! The week is finally upon us, and to Bangkok we go!! Our friends are actually joining us from Cambodia and I am very excited to see everyone again!! :) 

More to come, pictures, stories... I hope I survive this one and yes I will be safe! :) 

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Question of the Day!

If you were to become a teacher, ideally which grade would you want to teach and why?

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