Stuff. lots and lots of stuff.

14 August 2005 15:35:58 (ICT)
14 August 2005 4:35:58 (EDT)

<Quick Read>
        Okay... so much for updating more frequently. Where does the time go? At the end of my last post, I said I was going to go babysit for Zula (7) and Moses (5). I actually ended up going to Patt's funeral with Idin, Milk, and Brandon. My midterm grades are great, I'm not going to have to worry about anything come finals. I went to a faculty party with some of my mechanical engineering friends Wednesday night. Thursday night was a karaoke party with a bunch of our friends and we picked up Derek from the airport. Friday was uneventful (Drew came in, but I didn't go to the airport) but I made up for my inactivity on Saturday. Greg, Allison, Jen, and I went to Kanchanaburi for a bike tour through the mountains. That brings me to today.

<Funeral>
        Brandon and I decided to go to the funeral with Idin and Milk just to be good friends. Unfortunately, the whole experience was so different and we were so out of place, that I fear Idin and Milk felt like they were taking care of us instead of paying respect to their friend. They were really cool about it though.
        When we arrived at the temple, visitors went to a raised platform where the body was and prayed and offered incense at a small altar. (Brandon and I did not participate here. Instead we talked with Patt's Aunt and offered our condolences.) Then we were fed some traditional Thai food while the monks arrived and sat on the raised platform. After everyone took their seats, the head monk prayed and everyone (sans Brandon and me) prayed along. The monk then delivered a sermon in Thai. I don't know exactly what he talked about, but friends have told me that he probably talked about how life is unpredictable and you don't know what tomorrow holds. At the end, all the monks prayed a traditional buddhist chant and then they waied (bowed to) the buddha image before leaving. Following the service, visitors went and offered incense and prayed again but this time, it culminated in a group picture. Brandon and I joined in the group picture but did not bow at the altar. Instead we stood there and prayed (to God, not Buddha). There are probably alot more things that happened that we didn't follow because we don't speak Thai.

[note: wai]
        The use of the Thai wai is very similar to the western handshake, but is actually much more. There are different types of wais and rules on when to wai. The basic wai is when the hands are brought together in front at about chest height and the head is slightly bowed down to the fingertips. The wai shows respect and the more respect shown, the more dramatic the wai. The hands go higher and the body bends over more. The wai to the buddha is very dramatic where the person starts on their knees and bends all the way over onto his/her face. I haven't seen the wai to the King, but I imagine it is very dramatic as well.
        The wai is also used when saying thank you. Cashiers at the department store always wai when you make a purchase. The ATM even has a little animation featuring a woman waing the customer.
        One rule is that you never wai someone younger than you. (I don't think that applies to thank-you wais.) There is a saying that if someone who is older wais a younger person, the younger person's life is shortened by a few years. Another rule is that monks don't wai any human being except other monks. An 8 year old monk would not wai the King.

<ME Party>
        When you graduate from SIIT, you don't just get a degree. You get an alcohol tolerance. Here, your major is like your fraternity. Freshmen are hazed, upperclassmen help their younger peers, and you have drinking parties together. The party I went to was to welcome the second years (you declare your major in your second year). The whole thing was paid for by the 3rd and 4th years. I've been told that nation of Thailand is 5th in the world for consumption of alcohol. Locally produced alcohol is cheaper than in the states. You can get 300 ml (10 fl.oz.) of SangSom rum for about $2. Most students take full advantage of this. I think that Asian countries in general just don't have the cultural stigma about alcohol that western countries.
        I like the family atmosphere of the student body here better than that at Tech. Everyone works together on everything. Cheating is even widely accepted here. The individual student thinks, "by cheating, I'm risking failing this class, but my friend needs my help." Some of my friends have even given me advice on effective ways of cheating. While I don't condone the cheating, the motivation behind it is pretty cool.

<Karaoke Party>
        On Thursday night we returned to Major Karaoke. There's not really much that I can say about it. We had a great time. I've got some awesome video of Danny trying to rap along with a Thai song. Here are some pictures.



Ka-ra-o-kay!



Yeah Danny.



Idin, Tan, and Stef's camera.



Bird and Pim



The after-party. Welcome to Thailand Derek!

<Kanchanaburi>
        I spent the night at Greg's house on Friday so I could wake up later on Saturday. I still had to wake up at 5:30 so we could be at Andy and Jen's by 6:45. The tour guides from Spice Rides picked us up at Andy and Jen's apartment in Bangkok and set off for Kanchanaburi. It was a 3 and a half hour drive and our guide gave us the tourist treatment. "Do you know where the word 'farang' comes from?" "Here, try this fruit." "Where does the name 'Bangkok' come from?" ect. Once we arrived, we set up our bikes and set off around 11:00. The first half of the ride was mostly on roads (dirt and paved) and was fairly level, with a few hills.
        We stopped for lunch at an elephant camp. It was a good meal that we ate Japanese style (on the floor). The flys also thought our meal was great and a great many of them joined in the feast. I don't know why they found our table so interesting, there were plenty of elephants to go buzz around. After lunch and some pictures of elephants, we set off again.
        About 4 minutes into the second half of the ride, it started raining. It rained hard. At this point I got really discouraged. The last 15 km of the ride were going to be really difficult (the van wouldn't be able to follow) and I wasn't having fun. I decided that I would ride as far as the van could follow and then join Jen in the van and skip the last part. (Jen had to stop a little ways after the elephant camp.) I was climbing one particularly tough hill when I broke a chain (my second of the day, Andy assures me that this was not my fault, that it was a faulty chain.) I figured this was a good stopping point. The van pulled up beside me and the driver pointed to the top of the van and said something in broken English that I assumed to be "You want to put your bike up?" I said yes and before I knew it, he had taken Jen's bike down and got it ready to go. So now I had a brand new bike. It was at the crest of the next hill that the van had to turn back. I felt really bad about having the guy set me up a bike just so I could ride it for 3 minutes so I finished the rest of the trek.
        In the end, I was really happy that I did it. It was hard and I was the guy in the back the whole time. Sweat, mud and rain all mixed together and I was absolutely filthy when we crossed the river Kwai in a small boat to meet the van. That was really cool. So, yeah. that was a great trip.



Greg and Andy waiting for the guide.



Elephant. Sweet.



Jen loves the flies.



Right to left: Guide, Greg, Me, Boat Guy. That's the river Kwai



Yeah C'mon.

16 สิงหาคม 2005 0:59:08 (ICT)
15 August 2005 12:59:08 (EDT)
Yes, it took me 3 days to finish this.