Passport Control

Jet and I took a trip to the nearest Thai Immigration Bureau office this morning (Tuesday) to take care of my visa, which is set to expire on Friday (July 3). Remember that I would not have had to worry about a visa extension if I hadn’t crossed into Burma as my original visa was good through July, but once I crossed the border, I was only given a 15-day pass. When we arrived, we stopped at a photo store just outside to get some passport-type photos that were needed with my visa extension application. When Jet explained to the store owner that we needed passport photos, the older (60’s) Chinese man commented to Jet how much he thought I looked like Tom Cruise. Jet could not stop laughing. We almost made it the whole trip without any mention of Tom Cruise, and what made Jet laugh so much was because it was an older Chinese man that brought him up. Oh well. After a 20 minute wait for the photos, we walked into the Immigration office, which was not unlike the DMV’s that I had spent so much time waiting in Wisconsin and Alabama. We waited a minute or two in the “information” counter line to get the right application, filled it out, then waited another minute or two in the “information” counter line so that we could get a ticket and were told to wait until our number came up at the right counter. It was only a few minutes before my number came up and we turned in my application and fee of 1900 baht (about $54). To our surprise, I was only allowed a single 7-day extension to my visa and would then have to pay a 500 baht fee (about $14) for each day I stayed beyond that. As luck would have it, an addtional 7 days extended the expiration date of my visa to July 10, which is the day that we fly back to the US. We had to wait for about 30 minutes for the offical to “process” my passport, but we were all done in about an hour or so. Hopefully we don’t have any more passport problems. Keep your fingers crossed!

I have my last class tomorrow (Wednesday), which will simply be student presentations. Although our final exams are on Friday, Jet and I are planning to have someone proctor the exams for us, then pick them up later that day. We then plan to grade the exams and submit final grades to complete our time teaching in Thailand. We will then either leave that night or Saturday morning for Phitsanulok to spend the last few days in Thailand with Jet’s family before returning to Bangkok for our flight back home. We are looking forward to getting back, though we really have enjoyed our time in Thailand this summer.

Surprise Visit

Since Jet took cooking classes in Bangkok this weekend instead of traveling to Phitsanulok to be with Ben, Jet’s Mom surprised us by driving down to Bangkok with Ben to spend a few days with us. They arrived on Saturday evening, after I had finished doing work at ABAC and Jet had finished her cooking classes, and we spent some time at Jet’s Mom’s condo and at the MBK shopping mall. Kristin mentioned in a previous comment that Sam liked seeing videos of Ben. Well, I took a few more videos of Ben over the weekend to share! The first one is when Ben first arrived at Jet’s Mom’s condo and of him singing, dancing, bouncing, and doing everything else that makes him quite a handful! The second video are a couple of short clips taken at the MBK shopping mall. The first part is of my favorite dessert in Thailand – it is a clump of marshmellow cream wrapped in a wafer. There are other variations you can get (with dried pork, raisins, etc.), but my favorite is just the cream and the wafer. The price for this treat? 10 baht (about a quarter). The last video is one taken on Sunday morning when there were people washing the road. I am rarely around the condo that I am staying at in Bangkok on Sunday mornings, but every time I see people scrubbing the road, I always just shake my head in disbelief.

Jet had the great idea on Sunday to travel to Bangkok’s “Dream World”, which is an amusement park similar to six flags, and was a place that I had never been before. Ben had a great time on some of the rides (well, all except one), seeing the elephants (but not getting too close to them), and running around (until we had to catch him before he got into trouble). Just to follow-up on the ride that Ben didn’t like, there was a “crazy bus” ride that circled up and down, and after a couple of cycles, Jet shouted out to the ride operator to stop the ride because Ben was about to lose it. The ride operator was kind and did stop the ride to let Jet and Ben off. Over and over throughout the day, Ben would always answer that he had so much fun. When we were in the car leaving, Ben said that his favorite ride was the one where he got to paddle in a canoe. What a lot of fun that trip turned out to be … and the only ride I went on was the sky-glide! I split the vidoes I took for this trip into two; the first video covers the first rides Ben went on and did, the second video covers the rest of the rides and a trip to a friend’s house of Jet’s mother. It was raining out by then, so Ben went playing with a Thai boy in some of the collecting rain water – the way Thai boys play in the rain. Speaking of rain, after mentioning that it had been dry for the past two weeks, these past few days we have had some big downpours and storms come through. The storms last for about an hour or so, but we have had about 6 since Saturday night. Jet’s Mom stayed in Bangkok until after lunch today (Monday), so we had breakfast together, Ben came to see all of our students and the administrators, and we all enjoyed lunch together. What a great time it was seeing Ben this weekend. Today is Jet and my “official” Thai anniversary (remember, we were married in the Milwaukee courthouse in April first), so I could not think of any better way to celebrate 6 years together than having Ben around.

Celebrity

With Aunt Sue mentioning that she might be included in another PSA (thanks for commenting!) and the news of Michael Jackson that has dominated the news online today, I got to thinking about celebrities here in Thailand, which is something that I have not talked much about so far. Sure, I did mention about my current student who is a singer in a Thai boy band, but there are fashion shows that happen almost weekly outside in front of the shopping mall, there are celebrity sightings that happen almost weekly (Jet points them out to me) as they do press conferences here in the shopping mall. The funniest one was just on Tuesday, we passed a Thai actress giving an interview to a handful of news cameras in front of the elevators we take to get to ABAC every morning. It was funny for two reasons, 1) it was in a cramped hallway literally in front of our elevators – Jet and I had to squeeze past the actress and the news media people (and got in some of the video shots I am sure) to get on the elevator, and 2) the actresses nickname (all Thai’s have one) is Pancake. We will occasionally walk by or see video likely being taken for one of the TV mini-series/soap operas that show every night on local TV in Thailand. And just yesterday, Jet and I were walking to the MBK to do some shopping when we walked passed what appeared to be an Indian film crew shooting a music video. You just never know what you will pass on the streets or see in the area I am currently living and working around. Back to Michael Jackson (sorry for including you and him in the same sentence, Aunt Sue!), it was amazing to wake up at 6:00am and it being all over CNN, BBC, and FoxNews only a few hours (or even minutes, I guess) after he was pronounced dead. I heard some reporters comment about “what the world will think when they wake up tomorrow”. I found that pretty funny since I was likely finding out the news before most Americans – and I am halfway across the world! Besides, does the world ever sleep any more?

Just An Update

Nothing too exciting to report in this post, so I will just give an update on things. The weather has been unusually dry for the past week (no rain) and it was actually quite plesant walking to the mall today as there was a slight breeze to cool down the mostly sunny skies. We stopped to have some “Ka Mong Guy” for breakfast, which is boiled chicken over rice (one of my favorite dishes), and on the way, we passed what seemed to be dozens of new food vendors that we had never seen before frying, cooking, and selling all sorts of treats and dishes. Maybe it is a good thing that we do not go out for breakfast too often as I am sure that I would eat much more than I currently do. Speaking of eating, Sup stopped by yesterday after class to talk about research, teaching, and everything else. Afterwards, Jet, Sup, and I travelled to the 6th floor of the mall to eat at Sizzler for dinner. We got the all-you-can-eat soup and salad buffet that came with the meal we ordered (chicken, fries, sausages, fish, etc.), which for the 3 of us cost $17 (600 baht). It is much more expensive than what we could buy out on the street, but the food was good and we had a lot to talk about, so the money was well spent in my opinion.

We are now nearing the end of the semester as I have class tomorrow (Friday), Monday, student presentations on Wednesday, and the final exam next Friday. I am actually glad that our time is almost ending – not because I don’t like it here, but because I am anxious to get back to JSU (I was fortunate to get a class to teach right after I return) and for the upcoming move back to Wisconsin. There are quite a few things on the plate right now. Jet cancelled her class for tomorrow and had it rescheduled for today because she originally planned on returning home to Phitsanulok for the weekend to watch Ben. Jet’s Mom was planning on attending a conference in Chiang Mai, but in the last few days has changed her mind. With this new information, Jet is taking full advantage of the day off tomorrow by staying in Bangkok for the weekend and registering for Thai cooking classes on Friday and Saturday. The classes are quite expensive (around $370 or 13,000 baht), but Jet has said that these are going to be very extensive classes and she should learn a lot. After nearing her first semester of teaching in nearly 7 years, she deserves a chance to enjoy herself. Her classes appear to be going quite well as she is bringing in her second brand manager guest speaker today (from Reuters). The previous guest speaker was from Tipco, a popular juice manufacturer in Thailand.

So that is all for now. We are thinking of going to MBK tonight for some shopping. While Jet will be taking Thai cooking classes the next two days, I will be making final preparations for my upcoming class at JSU. Needless to say, things will continue to be busy for us.

Another Video

Just at the office today getting some more work done before I the midterm exams arrive this afternoon for me to grade. I had posted all of the videos yesterday that I had planned to share except one. It is a short video clip of a woman begging for money with her young son in her arms. Now there are no shortage of people on the streets of Bangkok that beg for money, particularly along the footbridges crossing major streets. Each of these individuals would likely be a compelling story as most beggars mamed (missing limbs), disfigured, or disabled in some way. It is also not unusal for woman to beg with young children either at their sides or in their arms. People are encouraged not to give money to beggars in Thailand as I recall watching several news stories last year reporting that the money collected by beggars is given directly to the Thai mafia. I have no idea of those reports were accurate, but ever since then, I have rarely given any money to beggars. I took this video because I did not want to forget the unsettling feelings I had when I first saw this woman holding her son. Quite honestly, however, those vivid images have been difficult to forget. Perhaps it was compelling to me because the boy was only slightly younger than Ben and was such a stark contrast to how active and exhuberent Ben is. The boy was dirty and had both old and fresh scabs all over his face, arms, and legs. I have no idea where the sores were from, perhaps some disease or from extended periods of time being exposed to filty conditions. As heart-wrentching as this sight was, my primary emotion was anger at the mother for using her son (assuming it was her son) as a prop for collecting money and keeping the boy in these awful conditions. I still have anger over this which both disturbs and disgusts me. Who am I to judge? But it is jarring scenes like these that make living in Bangkok, Thailand much different than Oxford, Alabama.

Videos – Hooray!

I have had a huge back load of videos that I have wanted to share over the past few weeks, but YouTube has been very uncooperative with me in allowing me to post them for you to see. I installed a new widget in Internet Explorer to allow me to upload videos in “bulk” (many at one time), and for some reason, that did the trick. So I couldn’t upload videos one-at-a-time, but I could upload them in bulk. Go figure.

This first set of videos are from the trip we just returned from over the weekend in Chiang Rai. The first video are some clips taken looking around from the middle of the Mae Fah Luang University campus. The second video is a short clip from the resort that we stayed at, Wanasom, which is located right on the campus of Mae Fah Luang University.

These next clips are also from this past weekend, but are from the Thai-Burma border of Mae Sai. This first video is me crossing over the bridge into Burma and walking around the bazzar just across the border. The second video is a brief clip of us passing through a security checkpoint on the highway leaving Mae Sai. We actually passed through a half dozen or so of these checkpoints, which were set-up to stop illegal activities (e.g., drugs, human trafficking, etc.).

These next videos are from the beginning of the month during our trip to Pattaya for the ABAC MBA freshman orientation. The first video are some clips from the resort we stayed at as well as a few other spots around the city. The second video is part of the Bai Sri (“Bi See”) ceremony, which is a Thai custom where part of it involves the faculty giving the new students their blessing and good wishes. I didn’t get video of that part happening because I was busy tying strings onto student’s wrists.

This next batch of video clips were taken in Jet’s hometown of Phitsanulok. The first video is one of Ben listening to Thai music being played during the evening ceremony of Jet’s Grandmother’s funeral. The next video shows us dropping Ben off at his daycare/pre-school, taken during the first week of his going there so you can see he was still a bit reluctant to leave us then. The next video is us eating at one of the all-you-can-eat BBQ’s in Thailand, which is one of my favorite things to do (go figure). All-you-can-eat for 99 baht (about $2.80) just cannot be beat. The last video is one taken last weekend when a parade passed by the road nearby Jet’s house in Phitsanulok. I was playing with Ben inside the house when I heard drum-beats. I walked over to the road with Ben to see what it was and I was very surprised to see a parade of school children passing by. Jet told me that the parade was for the teachers as it was “teacher day”.

These last couple of videos are a few random ones taken a little over two weeks ago. The first is a very short one at the “JJ” shopping market/bazzar in Bangkok. The second (and last) video is one watching people worship at the spot just across the street from the condo I am staying atin Bangkok. The first part of the clip is taken during the day up-close, the second part is in the evening looking down from up at the BTS (Bangkok Transportation System – Train) walkway.

Father’s Day Update

I have a few moments with Internet access, so I can give a much overdue update of things that have happened.  It was a quick weekend trip to Phitsanulok last weekend where it was just a chance to see Ben again and relax after the first week of class had finished.  Now Jet and I have just returned to Bangkok after spending this past extended weekend (Wednesday night – Saturday night) traveling to Phitsanulok to meet up with Jet’s Mom and Ben, then going on to Chiang Rai in the far north of Thailand (another 4-5 hours of driving).  We decided to take the trip a few weeks back as this would likely be the only free time we had (no class Friday for us due to the midterm exam being proctored by someone else) before the end of the semester, thus likely being the last time we could visit Jet’s uncle in his capacity as the president of Mae Fah Luang University – he retires in three months.  We had a great time in Chiang Rai as the weather was just fantastic – mid-upper 80’s under partly sunny skies and no rain.  This was my fourth visit to Chiang Rai, and just like every other visit there, we found some time during our stay there to make the short 30 minute drive north to the Thai-Burma border (Mae Sai) to do some shopping.  I took some video this time to show what it is like walking across the border, hopefully I can get it up on YouTube in the next few days.  I actually have about a dozen new videos to post, but I have had problems uploading them to YouTube.  I am not quite sure if I am being blocked from uploading videos as I do have fast Internet connection speed.  I was able to upload a few other videos to YouTube before, however, so I don’t really know what’s keeping those videos from being posted. 

The trip was just another great time, save for the fever that Ben came down with that was thankfully short-lived (24 hours).  Ben’s fever showed up almost right after we walked into Burma, so the time we spent shopping was a bit tense for me and cut shorter than we would have liked.  The only other snag from our trip was me getting back into Thailand.  I had gotten a 3-month visa to Thailand before arriving this year to cover my 2-month stay teaching.  I got the same 3-month visa last year for my 4-month stay teaching.  When my visa was expiring (with 1 month left to go in my stay), we traveled to Mae Sai last year for a “visa run”, or a trip across the border and back so that I could get another 30 days to stay in the country – the 30 days is the default given to US citizens.  I bring this all up because when the Thai immigration officer stamped my passport, he stamped it, granting me 15 days instead of 30.  This was an unexpected problem as I my flight returning to the US is in 22 days, to which a 30-day extension would not have been an issue.  The 3-month Thai visa that I got is a single-entry visa,meaning that once I crossed the border, it became invalid.  Jet and her Mom had no problem as they just went through the border crossing with their Thai national ID’s (a separate line).  Ben crossed with Jet as they didn’t bother to check him because he is a child.  Once Jet realized that something was up, she walked back over to me and started complaining to the immigration officer.  That conversation didn’t go anywhere as he threatened to reduce my 15-day extension to just 1-day.  We both walked away just happy to have the 15-days at that point.  After doing some investigation, Jet found out that last October, they changed the rule for those visa-renewals from “walk-ins” to the country from 30-days to 15-days.  When you fly into Thailand, it is still 30 days, however.  What this means now is that I need to find a way to get my visa extended a little longer before we return back to the US or else face a 500 baht ($14) per day fine for every day I spend after my visa is expired.  One option is to return to Mae Sai or another border town within 15-days of returning back to the US, but before my current 15-day visa expires.  I don’t think that we have the time to make such a trip in the next week or so.  Another option is to get it renewed here in Bangkok for about 1900 baht ($55), which we may just end up doing.  Jet has some connections here in Bangkok, so there may be other possibilities for getting my visa extended.  We’ll see how this progresses in the coming days.

Well, it is Father’s Day today, so why not end it with some updates about Ben.  It was such a joy spending time with him over the past few days that it was really hard leaving him last night, then again, when is it not hard to leave Ben.  Before we put Ben down to sleep and Jet and I caught a bus to Bangkok, I sat and played Lego’s and blocks with him for about an hour.  I put on a Thai CD of children’s songs and Ben got up and started dancing, swinging his arms, moving his hands like a Thai dancer, and singing along to parts of the songs.  It just blew me away and I had such a fun time watching him.  During one song, a song about the days in the week, Ben started to correct me with the way I was holding my fingers for each day of the week.  It was clear to me that although I couldn’t understand a word of the song, Ben did and had likely been taught how to sing and perform it with his classmates.  Ben is also getting more and more comfortable speaking Thai, perhaps from attending a Thai pre-school, watching Thai children movies, and everyone around him speaking in Thai, but there are times when Ben just wants to speak English.  For example, on the drive back from Chiang Rai, we passed some pictures/sculptures of elephants – something that happens often here in Thailand.  When we passed them, I pointed them out to Ben and said, “Look, Chang!” (“chang” is the Thai word for elephant).  Ben said, “No, elephant”.  I repeated back, “No, chang”, and Ben came back saying “No, elephant”.  This game went on for about a minute or so and was a lot of fun for both of us.  After we arrived back in Phitsanulok yesterday, I took Ben aside and told him that “Daddy and Mae” would have to leave to go working.  I told Ben this so that he could understand what was happening and why we were leaving.  Although Ben has finally gotten much closer to Grandma or “Yai”, he did not like this and said, “No, Daddy stay.”  For the rest of the evening, Ben was very clingy to both Jet and I, which made leaving him very difficult.  Jet told me that after he awoke this morning to not find us there with him, he told Yai, “Daddy, Mae working … Ben working too!”, which I guess was Ben trying to tell Grandma that he wanted to be with Jet and I.  A funny part of the trip to Chiang Rai was just before we checked-out of the resort that we stayed at.  Ben was waiting outside the door for me as I passed through the room checking to see if we had left anything behind.  All of a sudden, Jet and I heard Ben screaming as if he was hurt, which scared us both.  We both ran to the door to see Ben outside just a few feet with an absolute look of panic on his face as he watched a huge beetle walk past him.  The only way I could calm Ben down was by picking it up (with a sandal) and tossing it away into the bushes.  The most memorable part of the trip to Chiang Rai (for me) was breakfast on Friday morning.  Ben was a handful (as usual) and Jet and I took turns watching him while the other ate.  As I took Ben hand-in-hand walking around all of the lovely flowers and plants around the resort, I told Ben, “Benja, Daddy like walking with Ben”, to which Ben surprised me by walking in front of me, grabbed my left leg and said, “Ben ruk Daddy” (Ben loves Daddy).  There is no better Father’s Day gift than that.

One Month Left

The new semester has begun, which is the last semester that I will be teaching this summer over in Thailand.  I can already say with confidence that my current class will be very different than the last class that I taught.  Most notably, I have 31 students (compared to 17 before) which seem like more since the classroom that I teach in is not that large.  While my last classroom was always too cold, with so many people in my class this semester, I end up working up a sweat walking around the classroom.  Another big difference is the work experience of my students.  In my last class, only two had any previous work experience, while this semester, more than half of the class has work experience.  This has made teaching a bit easier as I have been able to draw upon the experience of my students to relate personal examples of the technologies that they have used.  Having a larger group of students, however, there have been instances where a few students have dominated class discussion by always sharing their experiences and opinions – regardless if they are correct or even related to the discussion.  As a result, during the breaks of my first two classes, I have had to approach those students and thank them for their ambition and interest in the class, but that I needed their help by letting me get other students to get involved as well.  I guess it will just be up to the “other” students to participate now.  And speaking of the work experience of my students this semester, it brings perhaps one of the most unintentionally funny experiences I have had while teaching in Thailand.  At the start of the first class, I have students introduce themselves by stating their names (which I usually can’t repeatcorrectly), their previous work history, and what their plans are once they graduate from ABAC’s MBA program.  About halfway through classroom introductions reached a male student in the front row who told me that his profession was a “singer”, to which several of the girls in the rows behind him smiled and giggled to themselves a little.  He then gave me (as a gift) his latest CD.  It turns out that he is a singer in a popular “boy band” here in Thailand called “C-Quint“.  The unintentionally funny moment came when the next student introduced himself and his previous work experience, which was working for his family business packaging and selling canned goods, and then giving me a can of tuna (as a gift) from his family business – a can of tuna?  This is the fourth class that I have taught in Thailand and these were the first (and only) students to ever offer me a “gift”.  I do not accept gifts from students because I do not want to put myself into a situation where it appears that students will receive special treatment as a result of these actions, but I ended up relenting and accepting these gifts as it became clear that my refusal to take them came off as a rejection of their generosity and seemed to be a cultural slight.  It has been rare, however, when I have been put into such uncomfortable positions while teaching in Thailand.  When I told Jet of the CD “gift” I received, she insisted that she meet him, and for a moment, appeared to be like a teenager when she talked (and giggled/laughed) with him, which I also thought was pretty funny.  Afterwards, Jet claimed to tell me that she must have known that he was in a band because he “looked too good” to be just a regular student.  How funny.  I will actually not see this student too much this semester as he will be missing a few classes because he will be on tour.  That is an excuse that I have never gotten from a student before.

Jet has been having a good time teaching her Brand Management class here at ABAC, her first class teaching in Thailand.  Jet has spent a lot of time preparing for class and it really seems to have paid off as she will tell me stories of the great discussions that she has had with her students in class.  Jet has also joined a membership to a health club on the 9th floor at the shopping mall and has been attending some “extreme” yoga classes each day, coming back to the condo soakedin sweat each evening.  We will be leaving for Phitsanulok after class tomorrow (Friday) so that we can spend some time with Ben this weekend.  Tonight we are planning a “date” night, which may end up being going out to eat followed by some shopping.  We are taking your advice, Kristin.  Who knows when we will have this chance again.  Besides, it should be nice to get out after spending most nights preparing for upcoming classes.

Thank you for commenting on the videos of Jet’s Grandmother’s funeral.  Although I did feel a little awkward standing up in front of large groups of people taking video, I was actually taking the video with a digital camera so it appeared that I was just taking snapshots, not video.  What was a little awkward was being the only foreigner there, which only became highlighted asI stood in front of the large gatherings of people taking pictures and video.  The awkwardness was not that bad, however, after having spent a lot of time being the only foreigner in a crowd of people in many different situations over the past few years.  I have a few other videos that I have taken and that I want to share with you, but I have had a hard time uploading them to YouTube over the past three days.  I am not sure if this is a problem with YouTube or something that is preventing me from uploading the videos either at ABAC or in Thailand.  I guess these videos will just have to wait.  I did post some pictures from the funeral (added tothe previous post) and pictures from the weekend in Pattaya along with some other random pictures (see below).

The freshman orientation was a good experience in Pattaya over the weekend.  After arriving at the hotel, the faculty were able to check into their rooms before attending a welcome session just before lunch (students had to wait until the evening before they could check into their rooms).  The welcome session was a little boring as it was just several administrators/faculty introducing themselves and their expectations of them as students of ABAC which lasted a little over an hour.  After lunch, a Bai-Sri (“Bi See”) ceremony took place, which is a traditional Thai ceremony where students ask for blessings from faculty.  Jet and I sat in chairs front of the rows of students with all of the other faculty members, we were given several pieces of strings, and then students approached us and got on their knees in front of us.  I simply asked the students their name, where they were from, and what their major was before I said “I hope you do well in your studies” or something goofy like that as I tied a piece of string around their wrist.  The Bai-Sri ceremony typically takes place in the evening when it is dark out as the students all have candles and a dramatic ceremony takes places involving those candles, but ABAC decided to move the ceremony to right after lunch so that all students could participate.  I guess many students would skip the ceremony when it was held in the evening to go out “on the town” to dance clubs and pubs instead.  It was a nice ceremony to see for the first time and Jet told me that the Bai-Sri ceremony that she participated in while an undergraduate student at Bangkok was different than this one.  After this ceremony, the students were broken up into groups to work on skits and investment/business games for the entire afternoon (until 5:00pm).  During that time, Jet and I had the freedom to do whatever we wanted, so we caught a free hotel shuttle to do some shopping at some malls and along the beach in Pattaya.  I let Jet do some shopping on her own while I walked around taking in the sights while listening to my iPod.  During this time to myself, I was reminded of the primary reason why I don’t like Pattaya – all of the foreigners walking around everywhere with their Thai “companions”.  This has always made me feel uncomfortable walking around with Jet in these locations because I do not like being grouped with the likes of these much older or unkempt (dirty, out-of-shape) foreigners with young Thai women at their sides.  To make things worse, one song after another on my iPod played like a soundtrack for what I was watching on the streets of Pattaya (e.g., “tiny dancer” – Elton John, “it’s a sin” – Pet Shop Boys, “paradise” – Tesla, “part-time lover” – Stevie Wonder, etc.).  I almost couldn’t believe my ears when I then heard a song by Alabama (“take me down”) that also fit this genre of music.  Alabama of all groups!  What did these songs say about my taste of music?  I had never seen this connection before and perhaps I will need to think a little bit more the next playlist I put together for my iPod.  When Jet was finished shopping, we walked by a picture gallery that had some very nice paintings for sale for about $80 or so that we thought would look great in whatever our new home might be.  The store agreed to pack the paintings themselves so that they would be easy to bring back with us to the US, but Jet and I just could not pull the trigger on the deal.  We are still thinking about getting those paintings as we did get their phone number and they said they would also be willing to send them to Bangkok for us, but Jet and I would like a little more time to sit on the decision and the chance to see other paintings at other markets around Thailand.  This is a key reason that we went shopping at the “JJ” mall on Sunday.  After returning from shopping, we attended dinner, which as I mentioned in a previous post, was outstanding in quality and selection of food to eat.  This was also the time whenI was pressured to get on stage and sing “country roads”.  That was pretty much it for the weekend as the next morning (Sunday), Jet and I ate breakfast, checked-out of our room, ate lunch, and was on a bus back to Bangkok.  It was a good trip where I experienced several new things and got a chance to network with other faculty members at ABAC.  Jet really enjoyed meeting the other faculty members as they gave her several contacts, one a brand manager that agreed to be a guest presenter for one of her classes.

So looking ahead, we will be going to Phitsanulok tomorrow, and we have plans for going to Chiang Rai next weekend to visit Jet’s uncle.  Since we have our midterm exam next week Friday, which we have someone else proctor for us, we will leave for Phitsanulok after class on Wednesday, drive to Chiang Rai on Thursday, and spend Friday and Saturday relaxing and shopping – likely crossing the border over to Burma again for some good deals.  We’ll keep you updated on the latest.

Thai Funeral

I left right after my class ended on Wednesday (1:00pm) for the bus station in Bangkok (Mo Chit) to travel to Phitsanulok.  I arrived at 7:00pm and it was pouring outside.  Jet’s cousin (Toon) picked me up at the Phitsanulok bus station and we left in the rain to the south-eastern part of town where the temple that Jet’s Grandmother was.  There were a few family members and friends there, perhaps 100 in total, for the ceremony that began at 8:00pm.  I did not expect to arrive in time for the ceremony, so I had to rush and change into my only set of clothes (black pants, white polo shirt) that I had prepared for the funeral.  I had only anticipated attending the ceremony on Thursday, but I attended the ceremony on Wednesday night and on Friday as well, so the one set of clothes had to last for those three days.  Ben was happy to see me when I arrived at the temple and he just ran around the temple the whole evening.  The first thing I did was pay my respects to Jet’s Grandmother and then meet and greet the family members that were there.  The ceremony itself was very similar to every other Thai ceremony at a temple that I have attended before as there were chanting, gifts presented to the monks by dignitaries/honored guests, then eating lots of food – all lasting for about 1 hour.  I suppose this same ceremony took place every night since Jet’s Grandmother died on Sunday.  Jet’s Grandmother was placed in a very expensive and beautiful casket, but I was not able to see it because it was being stored in an equally beautiful refridgerator-casket.  There were lots of flower wreaths all around the building and Jet’s Grandmother’s casket which were all very beautiful.  There were also musicians playing Thai music all week long at the temple, which Jet told me was for her Grandmother so that she would not get bored.  Interesting.  We ended the night at around 10:00pm and Jet drove Ben and I back to her house for the night, leaving her Mom behind who wanted to sleep at the temple overnight with Grandma.  Here is a short video with some clips from that evening.

At 8:30am Thursday morning we dropped Ben off at the daycare/pre-school and then headed out to the temple for the final day of the funeral.  Lots of food was waiting for us and all of the other guests for breakfast when we arrived, so that is the first thing we did.  While eating, I was asked if I wanted to become a monk for the day as this is something that is customary in Thailand when family members die.  The process would have involved me shaving my head and eyebrows, dressing in a robe as a Thai monk, and then taking part in a separate ceremony before the funeral.  I was interested as this would give honor to both Jet’s Grandmother and her family, but I was not allowed to participate in the end as I needed to repeat the chanting that takes place during the ceremony and no monk there wanted to take the responsibility of helping me along.  From what I was told, the chanting was about the five rules that all Buddhists must follow (no killing animals, no cheating, etc.)  The chanting itself is not in Thai, which is what I had always thought, but in what Jet described as a Hindu or Indian language.  All Thai’s seem to know these chanting very well and Jet practiced one line with me that I just could not repeat for the life of me.  After the monk initiation ceremony took place (I believe there were 7 or 8 that participated), there was a regular Thai ceremony that took place before lunch followed by a lively exchange between three monks that sat apart from each other on very high chairs.  The first part of the exchange I suspect was routine chanting from one monk to the next, but the second part involved questions asked by one monk to the next talking about things like what it means to be a mother, a good person, etc. that might be similar to a homily in a Catholic mass.  Jet told me that this exchange was terrific as it was both funny and entertaining and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  After this ceremony, we ate some more (with all of the coconut ice-cream that you could eat) and meeting and greeting more family members and honored guests until the final ceremony at 4:00pm.  For this ceremony, all of the monks that were currently living at the temple arrived in single file to participate.  Since there were 80 monks there (in addition to the 7 or 8 newly made monks), this was very impressive.  Almost as impressive was that there were over 1,000 people that attended the final ceremony.  The ceremony lasted for about a half hour and seemed very similar to every other Thai ceremony I attended (chanting, gift giving by dignitaries/honored guests).  Here is a short video with some clips from the things that happened up to this point during the day.  The procession of Jet’s Grandmother from the refrigerator-like casket to the oven then began, leaving the temple and having some of the family and guests walking around the building housing the oven three times before placing her casket in-front of the oven.  At this point, there were traditional Thai dancers that performed for Jet’s Grandmother, which Jet told me that both her Grandmother and her Mother really liked.  Here is a video with some clips of the funeral procession.  Then Jet’s Mother began giving the Eulogy, talking about everything Jet’s Grandmother had done in her life.  What I didn’t know was that the entire land where the temple was built and all of the monks were housed was donated by Jet’s Grandmother several years ago.  One of Jet’s Aunts also spoke, and from what I gathered, she read a poem for Grandma that must have been quite emotional.  Here is a video of what she said.  At this point in the funeral, all of the dignitaries that attended (politicians and other important guests) walked up to Jet’s Grandmother’s coffin and placed a small wreath of paper flowers in her open casket (paper to help things burn well), followed by all other guests placing a single paper flower into the open casket.  While this was going on, another one of Jet’s Aunts (Jet’s Grandmother had 10 children, 8 girls and 2 boys … 7 girls and 1 boy are still living) was tossing around handfuls of coins for good luck, which all of the children ran after and collected.  After everyone paid their final respects, the final part of the ceremony took place, placing the coffin inside the oven for cremation.  Here is a  short video of this part of the ceremony.  After the coffin was placed inside the oven, everyone began to leave.  By the time we left (probably around 5:30pm or so), there were only a handful of people still there.  Jet’s Mother asked me to grab one of the bottles of water as we were driving out of the temple, which I had thought would be for drinking.  Jet’s Mother stopped the car in front of the oven, got out of the car with Jet and I and we walked up to the oven, one of the doors was opened, and we all splashed some of the water inside.  Jet told me that this was so her Grandmother would not be too thirsty in the oven.  Interesting.

On Friday morning, Jet left with her Mother at 6:00am for the temple for the next part of the funeral process – taking the remains of her Grandmother out of the oven.  Part of the ashes were put inside a monument that lined the front walls of the temple grounds, which is also where part of the ashes of Jet’s Grandfather were placed when he died some 15-20 years ago.  I arrived at the temple at around 9:00am after Jet’s Father took me to drop off Ben at the daycare/pre-school and I arrived at the point where the family were discussing how to split up Grandmother’s remaining assets, namely a large plot of land nearby the temple grounds.  After this, we all headed over to the Nan river (a very large river that runs through Phitsanulok) with the rest of Grandmother’s ashes wrapped in a large white bed-sheet.  Although they were only ashes, they were quite heavy (perhaps 70-80 pounds) and smelled a little like a pot-roast.  We ate lunch next to the famous temple (“Wat Yai“) next to the Nan river where the “most beautiful” Buddha statue (as considered by most Thai’s) is located.  We had arranged a large boat to take us out on the river at 3:30pm, so we spent the time waiting, talking, and walking around the Thai temple.  We each also bought several lottery tickets in case Jet’s Grandmother would give us good luck.  After I had walked around the temple with Jet, one of Jet’s Aunt’s (the one that spoke the poem I recorded from the ceremony on Thursday) took me back to the temple to teach me how to properly bow in the temple.  I was glad that she took the time to show me this as I don’t recall that anyone ever showed this to me before.  Bowing before the Buddha statue, while on your knees, consisted of five distinct motions, from the wai you make with your hands to your forehead, to the lowering of the hands to the ground in front of you, to the bowing of your head, and then raising back up.  A little after 3:30pm our boat arrived to take the family out on the river.  We did not go far out (maybe 5-10 minutes) before the last part of the funeral took place.  Everyone had taken their shoes off once they got on the boat and sat patiently while the boat went out on the river.  Once we got to a good spot, everyone lit some incense (or “punks” as I always knew them as) and placed them inside the opening of the bed-sheet.  Some final words, chants were spoken by Jet’s Mother while everyone was touching at least one other person.  After this, the bed-sheet was opened a little further and the ashes were spilled out into the river.  Once all of the ashes were gone, a woman that sold fish, eels, mussels, etc. that came aboard with us gave us those items to release into the water for good luck.  After this was finished, the boat turned around and returned to the point where we were picked up at.  The very end of this process, once the boat had secured itself next to the shore for us to get off, was that we threw coins into the river as we walked off, which I was also told was for good luck.  While we were getting off of the boat, we noticed that Jet’s Grandmother’s ashes were just passing us by on the river.  Here is a brief video of some of the things that happened on the river.  We all then said goodbye, and that was the end of my experience watching and participating in a Thai funeral.  I will add pictures of this amazing experience in the next day or so.

Back From Pattaya

(This original post was deleted for some reason, sorry!)  We traveled from Phitsanulok to Bangkok on Friday night after Jet’s Grandmother’s funeral had completed.  We got back late at 11:00pm and had to leave early the next morning (6:00am) for the ABAC Hua Mak campus so that we could catch the bus bound for Pattaya for the MBA freshman orientation.  I will talk about this trip more in the next day or so and share some pictures (and video) of what went on, but it was a very busy, but enjoyable time for Jet and me.  We both met several other faculty members, I got to participate in my first “Bai See” ceremony (a traditional Thai ceremony where students ask faculty for their blessings – faculty give good wishes to students), and had plenty of amazing food to eat.  This was a five star hotel right on the beach (10,000 baht or $300/night), but Jet and I did not pack any swimsuits or leisure clothes, so we were a bit unprepared to have a “good time”.  During a break in the afternoon on Saturday, Jet and I walked around some of the shopping malls to do some shopping before it was time for dinner.  The food for dinner was simply amazing (as it was for every other meal) as there were several Thai and Japanese appetizers, followed by all of the steak, lobster, fish, lamb, pork, sausage, chicken, and dessert that you could eat.  There was karaoke in front of all of the students and faculty that remained (many had left to go out partying on the town), which I was lured into singing some JD (John Denver) “Country Roads”. 

After breakfast followed not long after by lunch, our bus headed back to the ABAC Hua Mak campus at 1:00pm.  When we arrived, Jet and I quickly checked e-mail before we planned to head back to our condo.  While on the bus ride back to the Hua Mak campus, Jet talked about going shopping in the afternoon/evening at the “JJ” shopping mall, to which I agreed.  As we were waiting for a taxi, Father Joesph, a priest from Vietnam that I became good friends with last year spotted me and came over to talk.  Moments earlier, I had just talked about him with Jet as we passed a restaurant that Father Joseph and I frequented several times last year.  As it turned out, Father Joesph had graduated with his psychology degree from ABAC a few months ago and had just returned to Bangkok for a couple weeks for a vacation.  As we were still waiting for a taxi, Father Joseph mentioned that he was planning on taking a taxi to go shopping at the “JJ” shopping mall as well.  Amazing.  Jet and I just happened to be at the street corner when he was passing by.  I had no idea that he was back in Bangkok.  And of all of the shopping malls in Bangkok, he planned to go to the very mall that Jet had wanted to go to.  This had to be more than a coincidence.  We had a good time shopping and talking (Jet doing most of the shopping while Father Joesph and I did the talking) and had dinner together nearby our condo before saying goodbye.

Ben has been good these few days since both Jet and I have been without him.  Jet’s Mother had said that she has not had to use the portable DVD player to capture his attention as she has had lots of time to play with him and take him around town.  Every day that Ben goes to daycare/pre-school, his instructors comment about his day in a notebook that we pack in his school bag.  Jet told me that on Friday, the instructor had written that Ben ate a lot of food for lunch, that he joined several class members in dancing, and that the class had learned how to say and use the word “Sorry” in Thai (“Khor Thot”).  In the instructors notes, it stated that Ben would only say, “No, sorry”, I guess either to correct the instructor or flatly insist in only saying “Sorry” in English.  I guess that stubbornness comes from me.