One of the coolest things about my job is getting to experience Thai culture. Not only do I get to live in the dorm with 530 Thai students (and no other foreigners), but I get to go to interesting ceremonies and parties all the time.
In Thailand it is very important to go to funerals. It doesn't matter if I don't know the person who died. I probably don't even know the relative of the person who died. But the relative works in the nursing faculty, so I'd better clear my schedule for the funeral. I've been to several such funerals this year, but this week was my first Buddhist funeral.
Here's how the day went down -
3:00 AM - Wake up to feed winy puppies (I'm puppy-sitting 2 week olds)
6:00 - Wake up again to feed puppies
6:20 - Finish Chapel prep
7:00 - Pick up co-worker to lead Chapel
7:30 - A little singin', maybe some dancing, the morning has been chapeled!
8:00 - Aj. Rujira, the 60 + year old dorm supervisor and former Dean of Nursing is curious about the High 5ing I had the students doing in said Chapel, so I give her a crash course on the culture, significance, and proper technique of a High 5, including alternate versions and practical experience.
8:05 - My dorm staff clarifies that I'm going to change out of the bright teal shirt I'm wearing before the funeral. "You wear black?" We confirm our departure time.
10:00 - Meet with Aj. Rujira and other dorm peeps to drive to the village for the funeral.
When we arrived there were monks chanting. It was outside in the family's yard with folding chairs up under tarp tents (it was also, incidentally, raining). We politely sat as I enjoyed the stares and giggles from the Thais around. Monks chant. And continue to chant. Have you ever heard a monk chant for an hour? It all starts to sound the same after the first 5 minutes. A couple of times he had a nice, deep, drawn out syllable with a rich vibrato. I thought that it was stylized chanting until my co-workers started giggling and I realized that he was clearing his throat.
There were beautiful flowers from the community and the family played gracious hosts. I watched Aj. Rujira for cultural cues of when to wai and what to do. After the chanting a bunch of tables were brought out and we moved our chairs around them. A delicious meal was served of rice, meat, and water, and we enjoyed socializing and explaining to everyone around why a falang (foreigner) was at the funeral.
Before we left I was given a nice party favor of a notebook and pen with a picture of the dearly deceased on the cover. I'm open to suggestions of what I might use that for. I also discovered that this wasn't the funeral. Apparently this was some kind of pre-funeral chanting ceremony and they were all leaving for the real funeral, but we had to go home to finish our work day.
Stay tuned for next week's Thai Ceremony - Wai Crew, where the students crawl on their knees to give flowers to the Ajaans. It's like Teacher Appreciation Day mixed with a flower arranging competition and with more bowing.
In case all of that funeral talk made you sad, here's a picture of me with a puppy!
