For Halloween I dressed up as a baseball player. Costume pickings being slim and the aching truth that Thai pants will not button on my body, I manufactured said baseball uniform with the items from my closet. However, I overlooked one small detail. Many Thai people do not know what baseball players dress like. My night mainly consisted of answering the simple question, "what are you?"
The morning after Halloween Chiang Mai woke up to 3 days of Loi Khratong. Loi Khratong is the Thai festival during which they apologize to the river for using her water and for polluting her water. For days Chiang Mai has been turned upside down in celebration. The main marks of the holiday are lighting floating candles and releasing them into the sky as well as making "khratong" which are little floating objects made of flowers, leaves, frawns and candles. They then float the khratong onto the river and the city's moat. Essentially the apologize for polluting the river by REALLY polluting the river. It is beautiful though.
Imagine just for a second the entire city out in the streets. The sky filled with lanterns and the water filled with candles.
Then add into the mix the fact that every man, woman and child is simultaneously lighting fireworks. The city has essentially been exploding for the last 3 days.
As I learn about Thai culture I am trying to teach my students a bit about American culture. This weeks topic in Conversation is "Iconic Western Figures." I wrote the names of 10 people on the board. People who I thought everyone should know. There were a few mistakes in the identification of these Western giants.
"Iconic Western Figures" as identified by Conversation 216.
Shakespeare: The author of "Romeo and Juliet", "Phantom of the Opera" and "Grease".
Marilyn Monroe: A woman with a black spot on her face.
Uncle Sam: A bad guy character from The Simpsons
Albert Einstein: The first man on the moon (with crazy hair)
I think we have all learned a few things this holiday season.
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