And the award for the least fun wedding goes to....

THAI PEOPLE!

okay okay, maybe that sounds a little mean--but I mean it in jest. Thai weddings are perfectly lovely and celebratory... but really, they resemble an award ceremony more than a wedding.

Lets start at the beginning...

So, about a week after I arrived to Thailand, I was told that one of my coworkers was getting married and I would be attending the wedding. I had only met this coworker once, but she was very sweet. I had already been warned about a few things, and man, am i glad I was.

First, NO DANCING... what, did you read that right? yeah, NO dancing! If I really took time to think about it, it makes sense. I went to a "club" last Friday and it was PACKED with people standing around and, well, drinking and slightly swaying. Thai's don't dance.

Second, I was told they would be boring and mediocre--not my words... so I went with an investigative eye more than a enthused guest.

The wedding took place on Sunday, November 15th at the Bang Na Assumption Campus--where loy kathong was held.

The invite... in thai

The Bride is Ja, the Groom is Man.. Ja Man...heehee, makes me giggle.

Here is the picture they had at the entrance.. I am impressed that they had a picture of their wedding day ON their wedding day...

here is what the wedding hall looked like... LOTS of tables... maybe, like, 60?

My coworkers and I didn't attend the church ceremony so while we waited in the hall we took pictures in front of a very "prom like" background.

NOTE: people where anything to thai weddings. Some people were in suits and evening dresses, some where in jeans (like my coworker above). Heels, dress shoes, flip flops, sneakers. NO dress code apparently.

my boss, Ajarn Noppadon, and I. Doesn't it look like a red carpet entrance??

When the bride and groom finally showed up, they actually stood in front of this pink flowerly background for about 90 MINUTES and took pictures with anyone who came up to take one with them.

Preparing for photos... this guy was SERIOUS... like a bodygaurd maybe??

Here is one of my coworkers with the couple. ( there is a professional picture of me in it, but I couldn't get the photographer to use my camera. Jerk)

While they took pictures, people stood in line to sign the guest book and leave their "gift". A gift is just an envelope with money in it. Works well enough.

I found the greatest part to be that when you put your envelope with money in the basket you got your wedding souvenir-- a little bag with 20BAHT in it... haha, you GIVE money to GET money. loooooved it. I mean, no need to mess around... we know what matters. 20BHT is enough for breakfast...

Then we sat at our table. All the food was family style. Start off with a small plate of cashews, then an assortment of pork, then a thai style seafood salad, a little blackened duck, some noodles, fried shrimp with a mayonnaise dip, and last but NOT least, a plate of fruit!

Here is a FARANG eating FARANG! (a foreigner eating guava!)

So, while we were all eating, the bridge and groom went from the back of the room to the front of the room, and went ON stage and had people come up and toast them and their new life together. There were little picture montages of the couple from childhood, school and there MANY engagement photos.

Here is Ajarn giving his speach...

Everytime someone went up to toast, we had to stop eating, stand up and cheers three times. As if someone was winning an award and was getting a standing ovation. Have I proved my point yet...

The only part that felt like a wedding is when they went up this little platform to light three candles and cut the cake. It was in the middle of the room and everyone could see from there seats. It was very nice.

Here are the steps leading up to the cake.

This was my fourth wedding this year and overall it was the most educational (and sober...boo) and I am glad I went, but I would be okay if I never attended another Thai wedding as long as I live.

The end!

Chang Gaow! (cheers!)

B

work trips are fun AND educational

I have mentioned a bit about my job in previous posts- most of you think I just do english editing and facebook updating. This is all true, but I have also been doing a little research project. And by little, I mean huge and time consuming.

Ajarn (teacher in thai) Noppadon is my my boss and professor at Assumption. He runs the poll research center I work at. His big project this season is Refugee policy in Thailand. As you may remember from looking at the map, Thailand is bordered by 4 countries-- Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. Well, all of these countries are considered to be in some sort of civil war, military insurgency, economic crisis, or racial profiling violation. And most of the people that want to escape these things decide to come to Thailand! I mean, thats what I did too, right?

Now, the Thai government has had a hard time (refusing to) "distinguishing" who is a refugee and who is just an illegal immigrant. Some people are running for their lives, literally, they will be killed if they return, and some just have little freedoms (religious, racial and economic) and want to go somewhere else.

SO, what to dooo what to dooo... WELL we decided to survey people in camps. There are camps all over the border provinces and they are full of people who have been caught by immigration police and who are waiting for their cases to be reviewed. Some will be returned, some will not. Since they can't go anywhere we might as well ask them how we can help!

NOW, what is my role in this? Well I have been advising my Ajarn on what problems I see and offer some solutions from my readings, research and background. I also just sit quietly and look confused while everyone around me is speaking in Thai.

We start at our first camp in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Its a three hour drive from Bangkok and the closes province to Myanmar and Bangkok. The people of Myanmar, formally Burma, are facing a government that has been taken over by the military and who is led by a leader who doesn't give a FUCK about anyone who actually lives there. People cannot leave there provinces, certain racial groups are completely disregarded by the government and NOT allowed to marry people from other areas of Myanmar. They have had a political leader under house arrest for 14 YEARS!!! Seriously, just read a little of this to get a picture.... they are BFF with Kim Jong Il...neeeeeed I say more.

So my first two days there consisted of sitting in a room and watching interviews being conducted in burmese. The cool part is that I helped write the SURVEY! Mind you, I went on this trip my FIRST week in Thailand. My first assignment was to write questions for refugees that would not piss off the thai government but give us useful information to try and eventually write an in-depth and useful policy briefing. Sink or swim people. I think I might have won a fucking medal.

With the rise of the H1N1 virus and the fact that these poor men don't get to shower much, we all wore masks. We found out all they really wanted was a little more food, and a shower. Most of them were trying to go to Malaysia through Thailand but got caught on the way. Most of them could not read or write, so we conducted the interviews out loud and my coworkers helped them fill out the questionnaires.

After our 2 days of work we went out to site see. Kanchanaburi is the location of the famous River Kwai bridge . Its a bridge from WWII. I only learned about this from someone else.

My coworkers and I at the bridge. It was RIDICULOUSLY hot that day.

Oh meeeh gaawd.... I'm on a bridge.

We also went to a movie studio where they filmed some crazy elaborate film called "The Legend of King Naresuan". It took them 4 years to make the set and now people go visit it. Everything is made out of styrofoam. All I can say is, that's bad for the environment. But it was very impressive.

Having fun with some of the props. Never hand me an axe.

Then finally, for fun, the awesome hotel we were staying at had a karaoke bar. Some of us rented a room and did what we do best-- laugh at each other.

Oh and I belting it out to a Thai song-- really, I was singing in Thai! Well, more reading the phonetic spelling of thai words on the screen. But I was awesome!

So two weeks after Kanchanaburi we took a trip to Nong Khai, Thailand. This time we flew, so it only took about an hour. Nong Khai is bordered by Laos. There is only a river separating the countries. Water and bridges are very essential in these parts I've learned.

SO, it turns out most Laotians speak, or at least, understand Thai. We conducted more interviews this time since all my coworkers could participate in giving them. I finished reading my book. And also doing some research on how to write policy and such. And making a to-do list. And playing Snake III on my cell phone.....

The refugees at the Nong Khai camp were very different from Kanchanaburi. These Laotians are Hmong, which is a very specific group of people. They have been persecuted by the Laos government for having helped America in the Vietnam war... yeah its been THAT long. They have been living in the jungles of Laos and have gone through hell and a high river to come to Thailand. Many of the refugees we talked to had been living at the camp for 3 years! And this is no Holiday Inn! There is about 150 men, women and children living in 6 rooms with no beds, no furniture, only bags of clothes and a small wash room. Also, when asked if they would ever return to Laos, most said they would commit suicide if they were sent back because they would be tortured and killed anyways. like woah.

Now the Thai government made a deal with Laos to not use the UN regulations of "refugee" for this group and therefore avoid having to follow UN Protocol. This is just a big hot political mess. Read this article if you care for more info.

I was asked not to post any of the photos from the interviews. But I snapped a few of the refugees playing soccer outside. They were also planting vegetables. We gave the kids cookies and candy which totally made my heart tickle. Most of these kids have known nothing else but that small camp territory.

After finishing our work, we went site seeing again. Since we were SO close to Laos, I had convinced my coworkers to go with me to check out Vientiane, the capital of Laos. To my incredibly pissed off American surprise, it was going to cost me 1500BHT (about $50) to go into Laos for about 4 hours. So I gave them a big USA f-u and made a promise to come back when I had more time--like in May (since I just bought my tiiiiickets!)

So, we decided to explore Nong Khai! First, here is a picture of me with the Mekong River behind me. This river goes through 6 countries in South East Asia. That is Laos in the background.

The one thing I knew I HAD to see in Nong Khai was Sala Keoku or Buddha Park. This place is full of trippy ass concrete statues of buddhist and hindu belief. Again, it was crazy hot the day we decided to explore the city and there was little coverage with these creations. Here are just a couple of pics...

The best structure was this 7 headed snake buddha thing. MAN it was massive and just astounding. Here is me being silly. Hee.

ALRIGHT, thats some of the stuff I did last month. I have one more work trip coming up on Nov 25--- I'l be in Ranong for Thanksgiving. I wonder if they have Turkey in the South of Thailand :)

Thanks for reading. Happy belated veterans days and have a good weekend!

joob joob (kiss kiss),

B

Drinks, beaches, dancing cameras and festivals

Well, MUCH to my surprise, last week I went out and found a life here in Bangkok! I am actually doing a whole bunch and my blog is already escaping through my little farang fingers.

I may have been slacking on the blog posting, but I have been good about taking at least one or two pictures of what I am doing. Although not really artistic or professional, its just a small glimpse of life on the other side of the world.

SOOOOO, last Friday I went out with my coworker Oh to gets drinks with his old high school friends. They are all from the Eastern part of Thailand and most of them live here but they try to meet once a month in BKK for drinks and to catch up.

They didn't speak much English, but after a few glasses of beer and A LOT of cheers-ing we just started teaching each other. I learned how to say "I am drunk" (Chan mi Maow!) and there was a BIG lesson on tones. Overall, I learned fun in a universal language....awwww.... :)

Nice cold glass of Singha beer over ice! yes--its so warm you gotta add ice... and beers come in towers! more on THAT to come (still).

On Saturday, which was Halloween I went with my new-found friends, Shannon and Heidi, to Koh Samet. I met my new American friends through Chalan (hi Chalan!) who was here before me at ABAC Poll. They are awesome ladies from Chicago who have already been here a year and know the lay of the land.

We ran off to Koh Samet (about 3 hours from BKK) and spend two days just relaxing by the beach, drinking whiskey, smoking hookah and enjoying fucking life! (thats me in the pic, workin on my tan!)

I returned to work on Monday which was the big Loy Kathong Festival! This is the day Thai people let go of all negative thoughts and "sins" by putting candles and incense on a little floating bed in the river. I decided to wait until Assumption's Loy Kathong festival on Tuesday and instead went dancing Monday night!

Shannon and I went with her Thai friend Guitar to Temple Bar--a farang bar that has latin dancing Mondays and Wednesdays. It was the MOST fun I have had in a really long time! I met really sweet people, both farang and natives, who just wanted to dance!! And that's all I ever want to do anyway so it was perfect!

The photo is blurry because flash kills anyone's mellow--but here is me getting a dance lesson from Mike, an instructor of Zouk and a very awesome guy who has lived in BKK for a total of 6 or so years.

Man, so THEN Tuesday I took part in a television recording of a birthday message for the King's Birthday (Dec 5). I have a great blog coming on The King, but here is one photo of the recording.... um, do I fit in OR WHAT?!?

Find the farang.... ha ha.

LASTLY, Tuesday night I went out to Assumption's Bang Na campus out in BFE and saw some of the Loy Kathong festivities. They had a beauty contest, dance contest, best kathong contest and cheap food being sold by the students. The weather kinda sucked--it was sprinkling and cold-- but overall it was a real nice view into some Thai cultural traditions.

OKAY!! I told you I had a busy week! Tomorrow morning at 5AM I am heading to Nong Khai until Sunday for a work trip. It's actually my second work trip since being here, so I will tell you about both next week.

Hope the States and SF are doing well. I read about you all the time. But let me know what you think and what you want to know and how you are in the SAY WHAAAT section...hehe

B

Thai phrase of the week:

Khao hai choke dee kah! (good luck!)