So today is the first day of "Buddhist Lent", which means a number of things, including:
1. No school on Tuesday and Wednesday, so Monday's class was quite the mess. All of the 8th graders decided not to bring their books to class, as they assumed there would be no classwork. There was a random visitor sleeping in my class and distracting the students, and no one was really paying attention. After my class, the kids watched two hours of Charlie Chaplain, then lunch, then campus cleanup and nearby-monastery cleanup.
Some lady at the monastery got to talking to the Thai teacher, and she asked if I could teach her kids English on the weekends for a month- not for salary, but a gift at the end. II think this is owing to the fact that I am a volunteer, but it was still awkward to hear) They went to Thai school, so would not be able to attend our regular English classes at Parami, and she did not make a reference to attending the teachers' classes Tuesday Thursday and Friday. Reluctant to give up my weekends with the kids, I refused...
Then we all headed back to campus and played two hours of football. I slipped in the mud in the first two minutes (mud is very difficult to run in) and spent the rest of the game trying harder not to fall rather than doing a decent job playing.
Pushed another truck out of the mud, showered, and spent three hours washing the mud (and a random strip of white gum) off my white shirt and black skirt.
2. Last night was the full moon, so I went to temple with the kids again. This time I purchased enough incense to go around, but forewent the orchid flowers. For some reason, the lady at the shop only took 3 Baht from me instead of 23 Baht for the packets of incense and candles, and insisted that I was "finished paying" as I tried to hand her the 20. It wasn't even a language barrier thing (Kyaw Eh, another teacher, and her husband were there too, explaining, and I think the lady just didn't want to take my money. Kyaw Eh had told her I was the English teacher a little earlier, I heard).
Anyway, there were 12 of us, and a lot more other people at the temple as well. I ran out of incense to distribute after the first little temple "deen" (or "dian4"- Chinese for the littler deity houses within the greater temple compound) and a monk comes up to me and starts talking... I ask a student to help interpret for me, and the monk figures out that I speak English, and he asks, "do you need more of this?" while pointing to a handful of packets of incense.
Actually, I did, and he gives me the incense, then comes back again with more than enough to distribute twice around to the children.
I also remembered to look up my day of birth- January 22, 1989 was a Sunday. Thank you, New York Times date citing methods! The Sunday Buddha gets his own special deen right next to the collective other-days-of-the-week Buddhas, and is standing surrounded by disciples. Good times.
I thanked Guan Yin, and on the way out, handed the rest of the incense left over. Theme of the evening: free incense for teachers! Thanks, karma!
3. Bamboo Shoot Gathering in the forest today! I was at first reluctant to go (Florence in forest = mosquitoes will feast! or so I thought), but upon hearing that everyone else would be there, I figured, well why the hell not? I would get bitten at school, in the house, on the road, etc. etc. anyway, so who cares if I collect a couple more in the forest? Shoot.
Luckily enough, the mosquitoes did NOT flock, thanks mostly to a fire built by the stream where we set up the bamboo stripping station. I tended to the fire at first because I had nothing to do (the guys with their boots and uncanny ability to walk in mud did the bamboo hunting, along with Ma Mon and Le Le Win), then after Htwee Nge explained that the smoke wards off the bugs, I fed the flames like my life depended on it. Of course, this leads to the fire burning out rather quickly. The teacher with the lighter was of course in the forest.
I hung out on a rock outcropping/mini waterfall/ledge in the stream thing with Htwee Nge and another female teacher from the high school, stripping bamboo shoots. The guys eventually came back full-force and helped us finish the mountains of shoots off, and then they went for a swim. Due to the phase of the moon, I did not partake in the swimming, which is a bummer. Oh well.
We hiked out back to the road to wait for the truck home, but Min Lwin and Kyaw Myint did not end up returning for us until an hour and a half later. In the meantime, I learned how to slingshot properly (almost), saw what a durian and beetlenut tree look like, found a Bodhi tree (yay Buddha!) and tried/failed to catch a couple of purplish gray butterflies.
We made a pitstop at the reservoir on the way back (was it for me to see? who knows), and then rolled on home. More laundry time.
4. Traditionally, this is the time when traveling monks are supposed to find some sort of sheltered place to stay for the next three months. As it is near the middle of the rainy season (in South and Southeast Asia), the monks stop traveling in order to avoid tramping on the farmers' budding crops, which they may be unable to see through the mud and rain.
Monks who already have a permanent-ish post are expected to continue to stay put and preach to lay followers. Lay followers are to practice the 8 Noble Truths, to refrain from excessive and inappropriate behaviors, and to meditate in temples.
So: Celebrate (in moderation)!
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