July 20, 2008

Hello everyone!

I wasn't able to get a hold of a computer for awhile because there was no school on Thursday and Friday, because those two days (along with the weekend) are part of the holiday for Buddha. On Wednesday I, along with the students and teachers of the school, went to Wat Khuan Kan (a temple) for the holiday. The school offered the monks a candle and each teacher offered them a new orange robe.

Interestingly, monks are not allowed to touch women or be touched by them. Therefore, when I, and another female teacher, went to give the robe to the monk, the monk laid out another piece of cloth. We then laid our article on that piece of cloth- the monk, then, folded the article with the cloth and received it, ultimately avoiding our touch.

Orange monk pray

Female "monks" are called "shii" or, "nuns." They do not abide by the same 227 rules that monks follow, instead they adhere to a more limited set of rules. Instead of orange, they wear white. In Thailand so far, I have seen many monks but I have not seen a shii yet--I really would like to see and speak with one though.

Also, for the holiday, my family and another close family stayed at a resort in Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park. And it was amazing! The history there is very rich and I had the opportunity to visit camps where young Thai communists got together and planned, even fought. In the picture at the bottom of this blog entry is a waterwheel, designed and built by the Communist students-- the wheel turns and causes the the wood pieces on the left to pound rice, what a way to conserve energy! : ) 

Waterwheel

At Phu Hin Rong Kla I also saw the renowned "rock formations." Stretched a long a vast area were multiple rock formations that had formed with the sole help of Mother Nature, herself. With the wind and rain and erosion, these rocks underwent many changes and ultimately became smooth and round (a picture of this will be up soon).