Sanook mai?

I spent the past week celebrating Songkran - Thai New Year in my village. It was so much fun at the same time, I learned a lot just by waking up at 6 am, being present, and just smiling. First of all, the holiday usually starts with visiting the nearest Temple and paying respect to the Monks by bringing food, getting blessings from the Monk and praying together. I appreciate the fact that my host Mom woke me up and wanted me to go together even though she knows that I am not of the Buddhist 'religion'. And even for myself, never in my life did I think I would be so immersed in a religious culture that is different than mine. I can sincerely say that every moment I am touched by how much Buddhism effect the way people act and carry themselves every day.

I think, in so many ways people have become so disconnected with the pure and genuine nature of a religion whether it is Islam, Christianity, Judaism that so many aspects of it have become so hypocritical. But here, there is no definition, what is good and bad is not defined in terms of the Religion... its just PART OF THEIR LIFE. There is no " a good Buddhist" that goes to the Wat and pray everyday or a " bad buddhist" who does not feel like waking up at 6am. People just live their life to the fullest extent that aligns with the fundamentals of Buddhism...there is just no questioning, judging or defining which I have come to respect highly.

Moving on, after making sure I caught up on some sleep, I got taken to Wats (temples) one after another, not to pay respect or anything but to have huge dance parties. This is when I would get drenched in water, because another huge part of Sonkran is pouring water and powder all over people. And at these huge Wat parties, they used fire-truck hoses to splash water on everyone; therefore in matters of 5 minutes after my arrival, I would be SOAKED. Well with the weather being like 110F you just LOVE it!

There were also days where tons of people came to my house to pay respect to my host Mom and Dad who are in their late 60s/70s. As everyone take their chances to pay respect, pour water on their hands and bow to the elderly, the elderly in exchange tie a 'luck string' around the wrist of everyone as they say prayers to shun away evil spirits. For me, I enjoyed every aspect of it but it also made me miss holidays at Home with grandparents, cousins, brothers and sisters. I cannot tell you the last time I had an actual Eid with all of my family members...I miss them very much!

Regardless of all the fun, I did have some down moments. Sometimes, you just don't want to go, sometimes you just want to have a moment to your self, think, read, watch tv and not be with 100 people that ask you " Sanook Mai? Is it fun?" every 5 minutes ; Then, no matter how sweaty, uncomfortable, tired, brain fried you are from trying to understand/speak Thai, you put on a smile and say " Sanook Mak (soo much fun)".
I cannot tell you how many times I had to turn my "smile" face on and remind myself, ITS ALL PART OF THE EXPERIENCE

Are You Happy?

My second day at site started with attending an Elderly group meeting in the morning which was primarily set up to give them their monthly stipend. There were some activities and games planned but nothing substantial in terms of skills or lifestyle improvement. Honestly I cannot even remember how three hours went by; although I did have to introduce myself, dance with the elderly and help out with serving lunch. After all that was done, I got taken to the Nayoke's house to set-up for the party that was being thrown for me and my Rong Nayoke (it was her Birthday). First of all, I don't think I can ever miss the Nayoke's house because it is the ONLY house that I've seen in Thailand with a sign in English that says “Hut of the Rising Sun (peace symbol)”. It is pretty cute :)

Anyhow, back to my point, as we pull in I see this huge poster with my picture on it with the Nayoke's and the words “ Welcome Miss Zailina Borhan from the U.S Peace Corps...” Never in my life have I ever had a poster with my face on it and I was trying to express my “ surprise” but I don't even think I know the word for 'surprise' so the only word that came out of my mouth was “ dichan...” (I...) At the end, I sort of just laughed and told them it was 'cute'. We were at his house for 4 hours during the most hottest times of the day and I was seriously helping out; setting up the table, helping with decorations...etc. After being able to go home around 5 to shower, we came back to the actual party.

The party itself was pretty fun and I was already told in the morning that I was not allowed to be 'tired'. So the whole time I'm there controlling my yawns and making sure I was smiling every moment; which worked until it was 10:30pm. While we were sitting around, my Balat asked me “ are you happy?”. I do not know what was going through his head or whether he saw through my “forced smiles” but of course I said “yes I am, I am very happy to be here”. Honestly, I was not “greng jay-ing” anybody here, I am really appreciative and really privileged to be here with everybody. And not for a second I want them to feel like I am taking their hospitality for granted; at the same time, as a human being it's hard to control certain emotions. Every day is better, although it has only been three days and I still do miss my friends and my family in Chainat. Anyways, after my self-introduction speech, watching the performances by the cute girls, mingling with everybody and singing Hotel California I was seriously drained. Finally at 11pm, I said “can I please sleep in the car? Throughout the entire night, everyone kept saying “You are not leaving till 2am” Well I thought they were kidding; but then at 11 when the last 10 people did not seem like were leaving anytime soon, I was mentally exhausted, and could no longer concentrate enough to listen to Thai/understand Thai/speak Thai, I asked for the key and slept in the front seat till I think around 1 am.

A smile can take you a long way
- Z