A Turkeyless Thai Thanksgiving Day

I always tend to miss home a little more around the holidays.  But now that I've been gone for so long, I tend to lose track of the seasons and holidays.  It seems that I am reminded what time of year it is and what holiday is around the corner not from the music at the mall, new clothing fashion marking a new season, or changes in the weather but from the facebook status updates of my friends.  Thanksgiving day came and went just like any other warm Thai school day and didn't give me much time to dwell on the fact that I was missing another holiday the second time around.  While chowing down on my Thanksgiving day dinner of fro-yo with oreos and a cup of hot chocolate, I did reflect on what I am thankful for.  Family and friends, obviously.  I always have a home to go home to.  I'm very thankful that the heavy flooding in Central Thailand hasn't extremely affected me (other than the food trucks can't make it to Khon Kaen therefore leaving the grocery shelves very bare and my staple items of oatmeal, soy milk, bread, and cereal are extremely hard to find.. but it definitely could be worse!).  I'm safe and overall healthy.   But most of all, I'm so grateful that I'm still on this crazy thai-rrific journey of teaching and living in Thailand!
 

Onto my three good things/the highlights of my week

1. I have discovered yet another Thai dish that I'm obsessed with. I tend to get stuck on one dish, eat it so much that literally makes me sick, and not touch again for months. I'm going to make sure this doesn't happen with this tasty treat, its just too good to spoil and I'm only going to let myself have it once every two weeks or so.  Let me introduce you to Khao Niaow Sang Khaya.  Last Sunday, JJ's mom picked him up from special class at my apartment and handed me a little plastic bag with a folded up banana leaf inside.  "For teacher Chelsea. Bye Bye!"  I went up to my room, opened up the leaf, and my eyes were set on the most delicious Thai dessert I've ever had.  Inside the banana leaf was white sticky rice soaked in coconut milk/cream with an egg custard on top.  I devoured it in 5.7 seconds.  Later that week, I asked T. Nim what the dessert was called and the very next day, she brought one in for me.  I had wanted to have one for breakfast on Thanksgiving Day as my own mini Thanksgiving celebration and wondered the surrounding streets before school and was disappointed to have found just about every other rice dish/treat but this one.  I was able to have some khao niaow sang kaya for breakfast on Friday morning after I made a special request to another Thai teacher, one with white rice and one with black (or purple) rice!  The egg custard texture kind of weirds me out so I basically just love the rice, and eating out of a banana leaf is just so much fun.  New favorite thai dessert! Nummy num.

2. Being the American that I am, I couldn't let Thanksgiving come and go completely unmentioned to my wonderful students! In my Thursday special class, I had the kids color turkeys and tape them to straws as a craft.  On Friday in school, I showed the kids a power point I made in which I briefly explained the history behind Thanksgiving and what it means today.  I basically talked a minute about the Native Americans and Pilgrims becoming friends and sharing food (with the assistance of a picture of Disney's Pocahontas and John Smith), turkey and pumpkin pie (both don't exist in Thailand), and explained the concept of being thankful and grateful.  I went around the class and asked the students "What are you thankful for?". "Mommy and Daddy." "My doctor".  "My facebook".  Hmm, I dont know how I feel about the facebook answer but when my trouble-maker Batik raised his hand and proudly stated he was grateful for "My Teacher Chelsea", my heart melted.  The other children clearly saw my reaction and "my teacher Chelsea" became a common answer for the remaining kids.  Either they already know how to sweet talk a lady at age 5, or they really love me.  Either way, they sure made my day.

3. Last weekend, I popped my head into Starbucks hoping to find the American favorite Pumpkin Latte.  In my opinion, nothing says the holidays more than pumpkin and cinnamon!  Unfortunately I think Thailand doesn't feel as strongly about those flavors as I do.  But on my walk to school this morning, I saw this sign in front of Starbucks! I know I know, I'm pretty spoiled/lucky here.  I never would have guessed that while I was living in Thailand, I would walk by a Starbucks everyday.  I guess I can say that I've always lived within walking distance of the famous coffee chain!  The thing I love about Starbucks is they are all virtually the same.. same decor, same menu, same music playing.. it feels a little like home and a nice escape from Thailand reality when I need it. Now I don't go as often as you think (honestly I think I've been to Starbucks three times in Khon Kaen) but I know where I'll be spending my Saturday afternoon this weekend, its going to be tough deciding which holiday drink to treat myself with!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, AMERICA!!

PS. Don't worry, I'll be having a turkeyful Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday, post to come! :)

Interpretation of my hair with heat and humidity

Must be what my hair looks like after not cutting it for 13 months

11/11/11: Floating Krathongs and Sky Lanterns!

Another week has flown by!  This one went especially fast because there was a lot going on.. and many good things!

BEST care package EVER: Back in August, I went on an online shopping spree and purchased new shorts, beach dresses, and a bikini or two for my mom to send me in my next package.. it may seem silly but wearing the same gross clothes for the past 12 months really got to me one day and I needed a little retail therapy.  I don't mind wearing my teaching clothes in Khon Kaen but I like to look a little more put together while traveling.  After my Malaysia travels, my mom had gathered enough supplies to fill up a large box and ship it as an early Christmas package. Also, I recently had mentioned to one of my best friends, Lauren Jesperson, during a skype chat that I wish I had an iPod touch to travel with, having a small toy that could connect to wireless internet would be really convenient to have, especially when it comes to using skype and searching for info while on the go.  It just so happened that Lauren and her amazing family had an extra one that they were thinking of selling, but they graciously gave it to me instead! I am SO appreciative and can't thank them enough (I owe the Jesperson's a HUGE batch of chocolate chip cookies when I come home)!  Traveling will be super easy and now I know I'll be able to give my family a call on Christmas no matter where I am (wireless is practically everywhere I've been!)  No more paying outrageous internet per minute prices on islands!  I'll still try to limit my internet use while I'm traveling but its so nice to know I have it to use whenever I need it!  After checking the package tracking site multiple times last week, it arrived on Sunday and I arrived to school on Monday to my beautiful package waiting for me in the office.  I couldn't contain myself and opened it while my kids had milk break, sealed it back up, then opened it a second time later in the day to get a better look at my goodies!  All my clothes I ordered, butternut squash soup, tortilla soup, candy corn, peanut butter m&ms, mac and cheese, a few magazines (including Kim Kardashian's wedding edition in People Magazine.. it couldn't even get here before she announced her divorce), NyQuil, dramamine, Dove raspberry chocolate, and my new iPod touch toy!  Thank you Mama and the Jespersons!!

 Loi Krathong: Loi Krathong is a festival celebrated across Thailand on the evening of the full moon of the 12^th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, which is usually in November.  Loi means “to float” and krathong refers to the lotus-shaped receptacle made from banana leaves and flowers with candles and incense that can float on water.  The act of floating away the krathong is symbolic go of all one’s grudges, anger and defilements so one can start life afresh on a better foot.  Some people  even cut their fingernails and hair and add them to their krathong as a symbol of letting go of the bad parts of one self.. I didn’t do that one.  Many Thai people believe that floating a raft will bring good luck, the festival does have history and meaning behind it but now-a-days it’s more of a fun tradition.

 Last year, Jess and I went to Khon Kaen University for a huge carnival to celebrate Loi Krathong.  We had to push through crowds and stand in long lines to do anything and the enormous amount of people had extremely overwhelmed me so I decided that this year I wanted to do something a little more low-key.  Emily and Sam (both new teachers in KK, Emily teaches at my school and Sam is at Anuban Khon Kaen) joined me to check out the scene at the local lake.  I had bought a few rice paper lanterns from T. Nim to light and send high into the sky so the girls and I made our way to the lake by following the trail of lit lanterns floating in the full-moon sky.  We found a good spot amongst the small groups of Thai families to light our lanterns , take some pictures, and throw them into the air and hope they float away.   Our last lantern lingered a bit and began smoking heavily but it floated out of our eyesight.  A lantern from a near-by group got caught in a tree and no one seemed to be concerned except for us, guess it happens alot.  We made a spectacle of ourselves and was being paparazzi-ed like crazy, silly farangs not knowing how lanterns work.  We walked around the lake and had dinner at the night market on the way home (best pad thai EVER).. an AMAZING Loi Krathong.

 

"I'm T. Chelsea and I'll be your MC for the evening!":Friday night was the big anticipated festival of the semester, Loi Krathong!  The school magically transforms into a carnival with game booths, prizes, food, dunk tank, astrojump.. everything a Thai carnival needs!  Including a stage and show.. and a farang MC on the microphone all night.. ME!  Yes thats right, I NEVER thought I would get up in front of a huge crowd on a microphone and help host such a large event, maybe it helped that its very possible not many people in the audience could understand my native language of English.  Or maybe I'm finally over my extreme fear of public speaking and stage-fright.  Maybe its a little of both.
  
My afternoon started with school ending early for the event and me going off to my hair appointment and costume fitting.  After seeing seven different students in and out of the shop, the man fussed, teased, and sprayed my hair for about twenty minutes then twisted and pinned my now acquired lion mane into a Thai beauty style.  My hair has never been so big and I wasn't sure if it was really supposed to look that way, but once I was pinned into my costume everyone in the shop said I was "Soi Mak".  One of my student's moms said that even though my makeup wasn't on yet, I was so beautiful and looked like an angel.  Yep, guess he got the hair right.

I arrived at school, finished getting ready, and snapped some pics before it was time to get on stage.  T. Run teaches at the Thai school and was my co-MC, he's often MC for various school events because he's great on the microphone (good at filling up empty air and can think of things to talk about on the spot while making the show fun and entertaining) and a really fun and friendly guy.  We had just enough time to go over our script one final time and work out some kinks and it was our time to hit the stage and welcome the audience! I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I'd be and I actually had a blast on the microphone!  I did need to practice pronouncing some Thai names I would be announcing and I was a little concerned about butchering them, but overall I think I did okay!

Hearts because they love T Chelsea

Whats a carnival without some sort of contest?  The big event of a Loi Krathong festival is a "Noppamas Beauty Contest".  According to legend, Nang Noppamas was a consort of the Sukothai King 700 years ago and had been the first to float a krathong.  The beauty contest is tradition and the festival isn't complete without it, it reminds me of a little Miss America contest minus the talent and bikini portions.  Two students from each class in Kindergarten and one student from each grade in elementary is chosen to compete in the contest, which T. Run and I MCed for.  The students introduce themselves on stage and do a beautiful walk and wai in their amazing Thai costumes and only four winners are crowned by the judges.  One of the four winners is awarded "Most Popular" and wins that title by collecting the most balloons.. before the winners are announced, the audience has an opportunity to purchase balloons from a nearby booth and give them to the contestant they think should win, whoever has the most balloons in ten minutes is awarded "Most Popular".  My two absolute favorite students, Mon and Aiko, competed in the Noppamas Beauty Contest (two of twenty contestants) and Aiko won for the Kindergarten girls! I was overjoyed when we announced her name and I'm SO proud of her! Her mom is so nice and was already telling me how much they'll miss me after I leave in March, I took some family pictures with Aiko's family as well.  Along with the beauty contest, we had a home-made krathong contest and three dance performances, one of which my girls danced to a Thai song called "Sapalot" (translation: pineapple).

Blending right in

At one point during the show, T. Run and T. Tu handled the contest and I was able to scope out the booths and games as well as get in a few pictures with students and other teachers.  Every Thai teacher, parent, and multiple students I came across announced in awe "T. Chelsea, SO beautiful!"  Parent's of students that weren't even mine wanted me in a photo with their child or entire family.  I was paparazzi-ed like crazy and was being complemented every minute.  While on stage, I heard my student Jack Jack scream "T. Chelsea, HI!! T. Chelsea BEEAUTIFUL!"  Thai teachers pulling me to take a picture while saying "Teacher, soi mak" was a regular occurrence for the evening and I didn't mind it. It was fun being such a hot-shot celebrity with a microphone for the evening.

Being MC with T. Run was a blast and this year's Loi Krathong was SO much fun! I'm so honored that my school asked me to be the MC and be the face for this fun celebration this year. YAY Loi Krathong!!

Cutie patootie baby AJ

Thai looking farang teachers

 Me and my Thai Teacher!

Farangs X 7 and Halloween!

I can hardly believe that its already the month of NOVEMBER!  It snuck up on me this year, Halloween popped up out of no where and then I blinked and it was November. I get all turned around with the months here, for my entire life November is the beginning of the holiday season and even though we don't get too many leaves changing color in Southern California to mark the start of fall, I always feel its presence when mom puts up the Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations up around the house, holiday tunes start being played on the radio and in the shopping malls, and I start to need to bundle up by wearing my only few pairs of jeans/pants and jackets.  In Thailand, November feels exactly the same as it has the past 9 months minus a little dryer now that monsoon season has come to an end.  It cools down a bit in December hitting maybe low – mid 60s/70s in the morning and the children show up to school wearing a beanie, scarf, and winter coat and even though I too get a little chilly, it still doesn’t feel like winter and it feels like the holidays are still months away. I guess that’s Thailand “Cold Season” for you!

I’ve gotten all resettled into my Khon Kaen routine, school, gym, tutoring after school and on the weekends.  Christmas is right around the corner which means my three weeks vacation is coming up quick! I’m saving/making as much money as possible so I can blow it all away during that travel time. But there have been some exciting things going on this week! Which brings me to my… Three Good Things of the Week!

1. News Flash: Khon Kaens population of farang girls has just TRIPLED! A huge group of girls have just arrived to the KK after being placed here by CIEE, the same program I came though.  4 are at another school in Khon Kaen and 1 is taking Jess' class at my school!  We all live in the same apartment building, four of us on the same floor. Its SO strange to have so many other western girls in my age range here, I've gotten very used to having my school/tutoring life as my Khon Kaen life and my traveling time as my fun life, and now I feel like my Khon Kaen life can be a fun life too!  Our group is rather large and us seven girls ventured to the night market last weekend.  I'm sure we get starred at more than ever before, but I feel like I personally am being less watched when I'm in the middle of a large group and its a good feeling.  I'm still the only blonde though!  Its really fun to have new girls to hangout with and I'm excited to see what adventures we have in store!

2. Monday was Halloween and KGE (Kindergarten English, my department) has a party with games, prizes, and a costume contest every year.  Last year, Halloween was one of my first days in Khon Kaen so I didn’t dress up as I had no idea what to wear and didn’t want the other teachers to get a strange impression of me if I showed up in the wrong type of costume.  This year, I did a little planning and took a hard look in my closet, I didn’t want to spend any money but wanted to participate in the festivities.  Luckily I had ordered a yellow dress to wear out on the town when I’m traveling and my mom had stuck in the last care package. I paired it with black leggings and a black sweater and BAM, I’m a bumble bee!  I found some black tape at the supply store next to 7/11 and made antennas out of a straw and black paper making my costume extremely easy to put together and virtually free!  The kids LOVED that Teacher Chelsea was Teacher Bee the day and the games like trick or treating, zombie tag, pin the face on the witch, and bobbing for apples was a success.  A little different than our traditional Halloween celebrations in the States and VERY different than the infamous UCSB Halloween, but it was still a great time.  Most popular costume this year: batman and dead people!

Loi Krathong 2010

3. On Wednesday, Teacher Nim took the new teacher Emily and I to "Rose Wedding" to shop for Thai costumes to wear for Loi Krathong.  For those who have been loyal readers to my blog for twelve months now, you'll remember how last year I wore a pink traditional Thai costume and looked more like a blonde barbie trying hard to be Thai.  Well, I must have left quite the impression because this year I was asked to be the MC for the event this year!  In the past, I was that girl in class that would rather write a 20 page essay than get in front of the class to give a presentation, I've actually been in situations where I have fainted in front of an audience.  In college, I was so nervous to meet potential roommates for the following school year that I fainted leaving them questioning if I was an addict of some sort.  Fortunately for me, the fainting episode was my only downfall and they liked the rest of my interview (and their other options were SO bad), that they still picked me and some of those girls are my best friends now!  I've overcome this extreme fear of public speaking and I'm not the slightest bit nervous.  I'm really looking forward to Loi Krathong (I guess it helps that many people in the audience may not understand what the heck I'm saying!), its going to be a fun evening with carnival games, dance performances, and a Thai beauty contest to award who will be little Mr. and Mrs. Loi Krathong for 2011.  I will be in my rented Thai costume with my hair professionally done, on stage, and probably have thousands of photos taken of me, celebrity for a day!  Finding a costume was a lot easier than other Thai costume searches I had in the past and I'm happy with what we found.  Pictures and details on the event will be posted next week! :)

How many batmans can you fit in one picture?

KG 3B!