Photo Of The Week
Monday, November 23, 2009
Getting our feet wet!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
So last weekend our school was involved in the cross bay swim challenge. This is sponsored by the rotary club of Pattaya and raises money towards a charity here. Jasmine signed up to participate as a swimmer. This involved a lengthy swim across the bay (gulf of Thailand). Basically, it costs so much to enter, and you raise this money by being sponsored, and that money goes to Charity. As you can see, many students and teachers were involved in this. All the swimmers got medals and t-shirts afterwards, plus a nice little lunch.
I too was involved. Initially I was going to be a swimmer too until one of my friends asked if I would help in Kayak support. I hadn't been on a kayak since grade ten, but I gave it a go. Basically, Kayak support stays alongside those swimmers who choose to do the 3.5 km swim and make sure they are okay. After the start, one of the thai officials assigned me to watch a certain participant, who happened to be the slowest guy there. At one point he was losing ground doing the breast stroke, so I was literally sitting still for about twenty minutes going nowhere. At this point, I decided to put my feet up and tan for a bit, and then proceeded to doze off. Falling asleep on a kayak sounds peaceful enough, unless you put too much weight to one side, which I did. I woke up to the wonderful feeling of ocean water as I flipped over. It was not great, but a lot of fun. Altogether that day, with the extra journey we went on, I kayaked about 12 km, which felt pretty good. Plus, I got a t-shirt out of it as well, so all was good. Jazzy and I have decided to enter an adventure race in early February next year, which would include running, swimming, biking and Kayaking.....so let the training begin.
Do you see the the guy in the blue kayak between the two boats. That's me!
Loy Krathong
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Loy Krathong is held on the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. In the western calendar this usually falls in November.
"Loi" means "to float". "Krathong" is a raft about a handspan in diameter traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk (although modern-day versions use specially made bread 'flowers' and may use styrofoam), decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, many people will release a small raft like this on a river. Governmental offices, corporations and other organizations also build much bigger and more elaborate rafts, and these are often judged in contests. In addition, fireworksand beauty contests take place during the festival.
- Wikipedia
So at our school we celebrated Loy Krathong by dressing up, making "Krathongs" or boats made of wax and banana leaves and having a parade and celebration in the school oval. It was a long day in the hot sun, but it was quite fun. As I understand it, thai people float their Kathongs on the river to float away their sins and begin fresh. Its also a celebration to thank the goddess of the water for the water itself. Its quite a party in the Buddist faith. As you can see, our kids at school looked adorable.
The Power Of The Rumor
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
You know that game where you sit a group of people in a circle, and start with the first person and whisper something in their ear, then that person tells the next, and all the way around the circle, and at the end the last person says what they were told and you see how close it is to the original statement. Well, we are learning in Thailand that that game is alive and well. Here at our school, it is a soap opera of people gossiping about other peoples lives. "Did you hear about", or "Well I heard" statements are quite common in these parts. I am told that gossip and straight forward statements are a part of Thai culture. Here however, at an international school, it has been proved to be quite dangerous. People love to gossip about other people, and even if its not true, they love to spread it. There is nothing that I can do about it, except that, lately I have found myself craving such "gossip" and knowing about other peoples lives as well. I am trying to stay out of those conversations as best I can, but quite honestly, it is very difficult. My friend Vicky tells me that English people LOVE to gossip, and that it is almost a way of life. The truth is its quite dangerous and can demoralize, demean, or devastate people and relationships. So again, I can't do much about it, except try to avoid those types of conversations myself. But did you hear about Scott.....apparently he's finding it quite hard.....