So I'm going to be a monk...

I've been drawn to Buddhism for sometime now. I've read a few books specifically on Buddhism and many philosophy books that have many of the same values and views as Buddhism. The more time I spend here in the Thailand the more I want to learn and discover. I have a truly once in a lifetime opportunity to become a monk at a temple here in Tak where the head monk speaks English. I after my teaching contract is up at the end of February I will spend the month of March living at the temple. I found some information on the internet that gives a brief explanation of what it means to become a monk in Thailand.

http://www.sukhi.com/the%20monk.htm

The short-term monk

Since a Buddhist monk is not required to make a lifetime commitment, there are those who wear the robes for only a brief period of time - a few weeks, a few months, even a few days - as well as those who remain in the monkhood for many years or a lifetime.

In Theravadin Buddhist countries (such as Thailand), a man is regarded as 'unfinished' if he has not served, for however briefly, as a monk. Therefore, most young men will be ordained, usually before marriage, for a period of three months, during the rainy season lasting from mid July to mid October.

One of the motives for a short term ordination is to 'earn merit' for one's parents. Another is to prepare oneself for life as a layman, householder, and family head.

While in robes, the short-term monk lives under the same conditions and with the same discipline as the long-term monk. Each morning he leaves the temple grounds to make his neighbourhood rounds carrying his alms bowl, in which local residents place food for his sustenance. He eats only two meals a day (some eat only one meal), and after noon no food, except liquids, is eaten. He meditates, he chants, he studies the Dhamma, he obeys all the monastic precepts. Yet he is best perceived as a layman wearing the robes temporarily, rather than as a monk who has renounced the layman life. (A monk may disrobe whenever he wishes, with the permission of his abbot, permission is never denied and easily granted.)

Lan Sung National Park

So my friend Juan, he is from Columbia and he teaches English at a local college, decided to ride our bikes to Lan Sung National Park. The park is about 20 km from Tak. It was a good way to spend a Sunday in Tak. I was disappointed with the park. I thought the waterfalls would be bigger, but it was beautiful. The adventrue getting there was really the highlight.

Christmas in Thailand

P. Nid and I decorated a little Christmas tree the other day and we took some pictures. This is where we have tea after dinner.

Pictures from the King's Birthday

Here is a picture of the three people who have really taken me in and welcomed me in Tak. Starting from the left they are Pi Noon, Pi Nid and Pi Daeng. They are sisters who are also teachers at my school. My favorite nights in Tak are when I go over to their house and eat dinner with their family.

This is a picture from the King's Birthday. On national holidays it is common for monks to come to schools for offering. It is really something to see all of these kids lineup and give to the monks. People believe by giving food to a mond one will gain merit and improve their karma and ulitmately improve their current life and their next life. After the offering I was lucky enough to be invited to a lunch with the monks and some of the other staff. The bottom picture is before the lunch and the monks are chanting.

English Competition in Lampang

There was an English competition at a school in Lampang and me, Pi Nid and a bunch of students went. The competition had all types of categories like impromptu speech, spelling contest, scrabble contest, story telling and a bunch of other stuff that I had no clue about. I was really excited to go, but when I got there I was a bit disappointed. The teachers weren't allowed in the classrooms that the students were performing in. So the students performed infront of three judges and that was it. My day was spent sitting outside of a classroom watching my student talk through a window. After that, Pi Nid and I walked around a market. That is what the pictures are of. The market was in a dusty field. Safe to say it was pretty dirty. On the way back Pi Nid and I rode in back of open bus for three hours. It was the longest three hour ride of my life. All in all I left my apartment at 5am and got back at 6:30pm. Long Tuesday, but on the bright side I got Wednesday off because it was a national holiday.

Wat Pratart Apanagluang: Temple in Lampang

This last weekend I went to Lampang. On Saturday I went to a national park and on Sunday I went to a really interesting temple in Lampang. The pictures I posted are reflections of the first picture. I went into a completely dark room and the temple was reflected on a piece of cotton. Really strange. I have never seen anything quite like it. It was like the early development of the camera. I photoshopped the photos to make them brighter. There were two different reflections, the second to last photo was for men only (I'm not sure why). This reflection was pretty amazing. I could see the people walking at the base of the temple. The best way I can describe the reflections were that they were almost like holograms instead of reflections.

Happy Birthday Gung Gung!

Wanted to say Happy Birthday to my Gung Gung in LA. I wish I could be there to celebrate with everyone else in LA. Love you Gung Gung.
Brian

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am jealous of everyone eating turkey and mash potatoes today with family. Hope everyone has a great day.

Cooking Class

I take cooking class once a week at school. So far I've had two classes. There are three of us in the class. There is me, an exchange student from Germany named Swea, and a Chinese teacher from China named Nan.

Each week we switch off from Thai dessert to main dish. These are pictures from my first class. The dish is called bualoyoloi. The first step was making the dough. We used flour made out of sticky rice. All we added to the flour to make the dough was water and dye. Me Swea and Nan each made a different type of dye. Swea had the blue flower, Nan had the red flower and I was in charge of a grass type plant to make green. We used a stone mortar and pistol to pound the ingredients until they were ready to make dye. We made each little ball then boiled the balls in water until they began to float. Once they started floating they were almost done.

We made a couple sweet sauces to go on top of the balls of dough. We took some coconut milk and boiled it down. Had to be careful not to burn it. Then we made a ginger sauce made of ginger and sugar. The last step was to parboil an egg in the ginger sauce. To put the dish all together you put an egg in a rice boil, take a spoonful of each of the different colored balls, poor a little coconut milk on top and sprinkle a little sesame seed on top. I really like ginger so I put a little extra ginger sauce in mine. It is really interesting to take cooking class and only be able to understand a few words. All I do is try to copy my teacher the best I can.

Pictures from the Loi Krathong Festival

My Apartment in Tak

Here is my apartment in Tak!

Pictures of Tak and Around My Apartment

Here is one of the many roosters that wake me up every morning. Here is my apartment complex. This is the Suspension Bridge that is covered with lights during the Loi Krathong Festival.

A Quick Word on Teaching

Teaching is going pretty well. I have my good days and my bad days. I'm usually good for one bad day a week. I have to really grind through that day, but most days I have fun. Hopefully the kids have fun too. It's tough because I have 22 classes a week (5 on the first four days a week and 2 on Friday). I only meet with each class once a week for 50 minutes, but it is more like 35 minutes because there are no passing periods. So students are always at least 10 minutes late. Sometimes more like 20. It's all right through because all of the teachers say it is normal. My lessons are getting shorter and shorter.

The last class of the day is always the hardest, but when that class goes well I go home happy. Today I tried a new game in my last class of the day and it completely bombed. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

The Loi Krathong Festival

During the last four or five days have been the biggest festival of the year in Tak. It is called the Loi Krathong Festival. It is like the mid-state fair Thai style. All kinds of amazing food with Thai dancing and other events. There festival is all about thanking, praising and asking for forgiveness from the river for any harm that may have been done to it during the past year. Twelve local communities compete (not sure how they decide which ones get to compete) for a prize of 1.5 million baht for the best show. Three communities release a thousand candles made out of coconut shells into the river with music and dancing. This is all happening on this giant floating stage in the river. Really beautiful. Also, individuals buy these candles, which are called Loi Krathong or maybe just Krathongs and release them into the water. This is a way for individuals to thank the river as well as letting go of a past sin or something that have been bothering them. So the river is filled with these candles and the sky has hundreds of paper lanterns. You can buy these white paper lanterns that will float like a hot air balloon. I love the lanterns. The lanterns symbolize the same thing as the candles. Internet is not very reliable so I will put pictures up when I can.

Laos Visa Run

I went to Vientiane, Laos for a work Visa run with a bunch of people I went through TESOL training with. I would love to go back to Laos, but not to Vientiane. Here are some pictures.

Laos is a really interesting place because it has been influenced by its colonial days under French rule. I had some of the best pizza I've ever had anywhere. Real cheese in Southeast Asia. I was so happy. I did have to pay 48,000 kip for it, but it was worth it.

The sunset was taken on a boat that was turned into a restaurant on the Mekong River. The sunsets here are amazing. I think it is because I am so close to the equator.

Rock Climbing!

Rock climbing has definitely been one of the highlights for me. This is the first time I have ever roped up except for one time in 6th grade at Sly Park on an indoor wall. I was a bit scared, but I ended up doing really well. We climbed up three different ropes and I made it up all of them without falling. I pretty proud of myself. This was a blast and I can't wait to try rock climbing again.

Krabi and Railay Trip

I went to Krabi and Railay before I went to Tak. These pictures are of on the way to Railay from Krabi and of the place I stayed at at Railay.

Pictures from Bangkok

These are some pictures that a fellow teacher Patrick to took in Bangkok.