70's Disco & Noche Buena

I'm going to be honest: It does not feel like Christmas.

I think it has a lot to do with the weather we're experiencing (with me linking weathers to seasons innately), or the fact that we're traveling and have this unsettled mind set. Needless to say, the holidays were in full effect here in Australia! As much as I'm missing out at home right now, tending to my bar (since I'm the designated bartender) at a local Fortes residence where we normally host our family Christmas parties, spending time with cousins home from college, reconnecting with loved ones, watching movies the day after Christmas, spending the gift exchange at William's house with all our friends and all the delicious food, I don't regret it too much because know there will be many to come. =)

We spent the holidays with my family and their community of friends, jumping from one party to another. The first was themed a 70's disco party and we sure kept the theme! It was comedic to see so many people dressed up. What a fun idea during the holidays to set a theme, instead of wearing red, green and white.

Our dresses we bought the day of from Vinnies, a local thrift shop.
Each of our dresses were 6 bucks.

Anton

My cousin, Anna and her husband, Christian

I'm always fascinated at how comfortable I feel at any Filipino party. Everyone is genuinely welcoming and always has those key characteristics you can easily assign to one of your own family members within an instant. It's actually been quite some time since we've heard the accent so it was definitely refreshing both in the cultural and comedic sense. Hehe.

Lara and I ate about 20 lbs of food and stared in awe at this colossal piece of meat on a stick (you'll see it in the pictures below). Apparently, in Australia this is the thing here during large parties like this and in the states we have lechon. Something new for us, I suppose.

Here are some pictures from the partaaay:

This guy was the life of the party! He's one of those people we question whether he has children or not since he was such a character at the 70's disco party (i.e. random bursts of body rolling, thunderous laughter and yelling out of jokes), answer: he does.

Adult musical chairs

The adults also had a gift exchange where some gifts were more suggestive than others.
This is my cousin's little gift and my cousin's husband got a pleather whip, no photo taken.

My family in Australia

Our next stop was at another friend's house, they call this the Noche Buena dinner since it is held annually at midnight. More food, more Filipinos and more drinking. Mmmmhmmm.

These crowns were from our holiday poppers

This is what I'm talking about... that meat on a stick.

Our meat on a stick cook, Brian

Although I didn't feel the holiday spirit this year, it was still an awesome experience to be abroad (and in the heat). Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!

My birthday overseas

On Monday, I celebrated my first birthday overseas that I could clearly remember (I spent my first two birthdays in the Philippines when I was just a baby—so that doesn’t really count). This birthday was a little different than those that I would normally spend at home. This birthday, I spent a great deal reflecting about the year before and constantly counting my blessings. Last year, I spent my birthday stressed over GREs and figuring out what to do with myself because I once believed that there was no outlet for me in my post-undergrad life. I was lost. I experienced a lot of emotions that caused me to do irrational things, forcing my heart to finally stand in the front line and eventually let go of what I believed could become suppressing to me. It was different then. But now that I think about where I am a year later, eyes a little more clear, I needed all of that to become what I am right now.

Birthday Celebration #1
I spent my birthday this year with people I eventually came to love and appreciate, people who substituted the family and friends that I had back home. Being that it was also my last weekend in Nong Khai, the Isara gang and I headed out to a local bar called Bar-Nana, where we enjoyed live music and each other's company. It was refreshing almost… I think the last time I was really out with people like that was when I last left the U.S. As we walked through the streets of Nong Khai, I kept thinking, “’I would probably be doing the exact thing in San Jose, spending a little bit more money on the booze that I’d be drinking at the moment, being a little more dressed up, and paying way too much for cover at a club”. It wasn’t that different from what I did that weekend in a sense that it was less expensive: drinking beer purchased from 7-11 while consuming on the way to the celebration venue, somewhat dressy (I even straightened my hair a bit and curled my eyelashes!) and spending absolutely nothing on cover.

After we spent part of the night at Bar-nana, we went to a bar called Warm-up, which is nothing like the Felang bars in Nong Khai (less grimy old men with tiny (sometimes very young) Thai women) because more locals actually find themselves here on weekends enjoying a game of pool and drinking a bottle of 100 Pipers Scotch. After Warm-Up we decided to hit the hay and called it a night.

Birthday Celebration #2
I was incredibly emotional on this day. It wasn’t the overwhelming feelings of sudden homesickness that drowns me during flows of reflections, but marking this the last whole day that I was able to spend with everyone at Isara. The day ran as usual. I did some last minute e-mail writing, made phone calls home and tried to finish up everything on my to-do list before leaving and being disconnected from everyone for awhile. Lara and I taught our last lesson together to our Beginners class. I couldn’t help but get lost in a trance of flashbacks while overseeing the students copy down the parts of the face onto their little notebooks. It was almost yesterday when we shadowed this class. I remember observing which ones I found closely resembling me when I was kid, or the cute ones who I wanted to learn their names. So much has happened since then.

Kirk interjected towards the end of our class and had the students write me birthday cards and sing happy birthday to me. I still have some of the cards with me right now while I’m traveling. The students were very sweet—some even gave me presents! I got a plush toy and a bag of chocolate covered wafers from Nut, a Hello Kitty key chain with my name on it from Pom Pam, and Oishi Tea drinks from Dream (Lara and I joked that she just went “shopping” at the 7-11 her parents own down the block for me). I had a great time teaching this class. It’s just so bittersweet to leave!

Later, we went to the buffet to celebrate my birthday. I think I almost inhaled some of my food. I’m usually really hungry on Mondays since Lara and I fruit fast on Sundays, so it was definitely satisfying my ravenous hunger. Once we finished dinner we headed over to the hotel next to Bar-Nana and sang good ol Thai karaoke. We were greeted by Kirk and Ming singing, surprised that we got to the venue so quickly after they’d left a bit early to make the karaoke reservation. We sang songs that made us laugh, scream (or at least made Bell & Sam!), snooze (I saw Nok dosing off!), and cheer from excitement. It’s always so much fun to resurface those songs that took you back to certain times in your life, or just the feelings tied to singing them. Sometimes, I remember songs based on which playlist they’re under when I hear them and I usually feel that exact mood.

To me, singing always is a symbol of togetherness. I couldn’t help but keep a permanent smile when I looked around the room seeing everyone have a great time, singing and laughing together—usually from trying to hit those unattainable pitches, or from shock that Bell and Sam are freakin undercover rockstars! Besides that, I also thought “this is almost the last of this experience with everyone” which made me feel a bit bittersweet about leaving Nong Khai.

At the end of the night when Kirk asked how my birthday went, I told him that it was one of those days where your face just has this sore feeling from being clenched so much from smiling.

I like those feelings.

Thank you, Isara for making this an extraordinary birthday that I will never forget.

Orange hats & sickle knives

Every year, the largest university in Nong Khai, Khon Kaen hosts a rice harvesting festival held at various rice fields in Nong Khai. We were invited by this university to take part in their harvesting ceremony to learn the history of the Northeastern area of Thailand's traditional methods of harvest. Pertinent to this area, large families annually harvest their rice together, but in effect of the downward spiraling economy, these families gradually made their way to larger cities in Thailand prospecting higher paying job opportunities, leaving their homes and land. Hiring outside help has superseded the traditional family harvesting experience and diluted the Northeastern traditions of rice harvesting, but as a response Khon Kaen has made it their goal to keep these traditions alive by exposing them to nearby countries and the community along with volunteering to harvest other fields during this season.

We began our day, gloomy and early at the tender hour of 7 am--it's been a little chilly here lately, which has been turning on my hibernation mode a few days already! A coach bus awaited us at the Naga fountain a few blocks away. We were greeted by a few members from the university staff along with students from Khon Kaen. I was still a little disoriented so I wasn't feeling too social when greeting other volunteers on the bus.

When we arrived, we saw hundreds of people in bright orange hats peeking through the rice stalks and dispersed throughout the fields. As we got closer, the university students organized themselves into a gauntlet, greeting us with the Wai. I really like the way they greet people here, it just gives off this genuine respect for one another.


The university did a great job in bringing to life the tradition and creating an active space for volunteers to participate by hosting relay races, instrument (from the rice stalks sturdier bottom piece) competitions and rice whipping to disconnect the grains from the stalks. Alongside the events, the coordinators also invited us to actually harvest rice. We used sickle knives and made sure our hats were on correctly to protect us from the sun. We harvested for about 10 minutes, piling up stalks of rice on the side and learning the appropriate technique of harvesting. It wasn't an extremely arduous process, considering we experienced the last phase of growing rice (harvesting). However, I did learn to appreciate the technique and skill farmers have when tending their crops and the patience they have to grow fields and fields of rice.

Me & "Yuri"... possibly from Korea or Japan. Lol.

As noon approached, we finished up the activities and asked to participate in a small interview session with the coordinators that would be aired nationally and locally (hey, Mom... I'm famous here! Just kidding. Kirk said that they might just edit us out and only air the white people speaking). Melanie and I were joking about how they probably are confused as to why these two Asian girls were in the interview at all since majority of the volunteers that were asked to participate were Thai's understanding of "Foreigner" a.k.a. White people. I've often found myself having to clarify my background since my skin tone and facial features are similar to Thai's and sometimes feel ashamed that I don't have the correct words to express myself. Maybe it's because I've felt their exasperation through their confused looks and frustrated head shakes, but in hindsight, this is part of the traveling experience, the lost in translation paradox.

Making sure we plugged Isara in during our interviews! Take that, T-2-T!

After the festival, we joined the university students at their university and had lunch. We were also given a tour of their newly built aquarium.

It was a great day spent with a few of us from Isara and a fantastic experience. I was expecting to be working really hard out there, sweating like crazy and having no fun at all, but it was quite the opposite! I really appreciate the university's effort to preserve these traditions while creating an educational experience for foreigners. So, I could finally say that I've harvested rice before... awesome!


P.S. more pictures & a video will be posted later!

Isara day trip

I'm getting lazy to write so I'll bullet point a few highlights from yesterday's day trip!

• 6 am departure
  
• DEFINITELY unstylish attire to the temple
• First time wearing socks since the U.S.
• Rented a sweet van with various features: kareoke, reclining seats, and A/C
• Watching Madonna live in London on the way to our destination. She does a lot of thrusting during her shows! Haha.
  
• Visited Wat Pho Tok-- A wat (temple) built into the mountain. Climbed hellllllllllaaaaa stairs! Walked past several bat droppings. Walked on surprisingly sturdy planks. Breath-taking view from the top of the mountain.
  
• And another newly built Wat... I didn't catch the name: Shook the cup with numbered sticks to tell my fortune and apparently I need a widow in my life. Dead butterflies on the floor =(. We got there at 8 am. -____-
• Visited another Wat dedicated to a deceased monk-- A beautiful wat with modern architecture. Followed by a wet dog.
  
• Waterfalls-- Watching tourists slip and slide on the rocks. Slipping on several rocks. Getting bruised on my bottom =(. Taking a relaxing nap then realizing the tourists ALL left and the waterfall was ours to expore. Playing in the water. Slipping in little holes in the ground. Watching Ming have fun sliding over and over again. Watching Lara get a wedgie from sliding. Almost witnessing Monks commit suicide from the top of the waterfall...jk, they were playing around!
  
• Wearing a towel back home because I forgot to bring extra bottoms. -____-
  
• Listening to Ming sing Thai kareoke songs

Pictures are on my Flickr!

Happy Loy Krathong!

Every year, the Thai festival Loy Krathong, is celebrated on the full moon of November. This festival is celebrated to honor the Buddha and his many blessings given to us. Traditionally, small banana boats/rafts are made with beautiful flowers, banana leaves, candles and incense and set afloat along the river. Money, hair and fingernail pieces are also placed on these boats. The intentions for these detachments (letting go of the boat, hair and fingernail pieces) is to symbolize the negative parts of oneself like hate and anger. Also, this holiday pays respect to the river for its nourishment and service to us.

A major banana boat construction session was held today in substitution for our regular class schedule. We had higher attendance on this day since the schools opened this week and many of our students returned. I was really eager to make these boats when I heard Ming introduce this festival to us because if you know me, I'm big on crafts, sewing, recycling things to make other pieces of art and using my imagination and creativity to find beauty and function in unused objects.

Yok, looking over my shoulder as I make my krathong

Krathong workshop!

We began making these boats with simple and all natural materials like banana tree stock, banana leaves, tooth picks and vibrant flowers. I was amazed to see how creative all the students got with the limited materials they had. It was fascinating to watch the students gradually create their resplendent pieces of art. The intricacies in folding the banana leaves, positioning and usage of flowers to accent and mounting of several banana stock to create layers are all various techniques the students used to make their boats. They definitely mastered this art and had a fun time making them.

My creation!

A closer view

After spending a few hours creating these traditional floating devices, we headed out to a nearby temple that was just right off the riverfront. Only a few of the kids joined us, since usually this is a family spent festival. We were all so excited to share these moments together, I could just tell that the process of making these boats brought them happiness and being able to set them afloat was but another instant moment of joy. As we approached the temple, krathong vendors were posted in front and crowds and crowds of people made their way through the entrance. A beauty pageant was also in running during this event.

On the way to the temple

Beauty pageant

There was such a great turn-out at this event! So much that the line went past several vendors and we patiently had to wait until we were able to make our way down to the riverfront. Once we got there, we were allowed to say a small prayer before letting our boats go. Watching the negativity in our lives float away and renewing ourselves with hope that we can live our lives free from such debilitating and self-imposed states were simple reminders for change. This was a really positive festival to celebrate for me. The process and symbolism of everything refreshed me of these things I should consciously apply to my daily routine and life. We should always take the time to be mindful of ourselves and the opportunity to continue to become better people.

In line to set our krathongs afloat

Thank you, Thailand for exposing me to experiences like these.
Namaste.

Pictures from Loy Krathong

Isara Halloween Party

Happy Halloween, everyone!

(I have this thing for jumping pictures and p.s. I'm a pirate)

Yesterday, we had a spectacular turn-out with our Halloween party here at Isara! I'm sure if I were home right now, I'd be in a weird costume that I'd probably paid too much for, dreading for my liver's life and spending it with friends in some unknown party or club event in the company of washed-out costumes (with the exception of some creative ones!) composed of naughty ____s (take your pic: nurse, school girl, Disney princesses, etc). This year's is different.

Earlier in the week we came together to begin our party planning with our committee: Lara, Ming, Bell, Party, Kirk and I. We discussed decoration ideas, food and drink selections, prize giveaways, room organization and several activities that the kids would enjoy participating in. I'm always enthusiastic about planning events that bring people together to have a good time. Witnessing people have a great time will never tire me... especially when it's kids. The planning involved takes me back to high school days in leadership. This was completely different from the leadership events that required cumbersome work and stress, but witnessing the planning unravel into a memorable event that could be reflected upon years later always was something well worth the effort.

Party cutting out ghosts with a friend patiently waiting behind her... muahaha.

We began making decorations a day ahead by making any possible Halloween-like image come to life via construction paper, fishing line, plastic bags, markers and crayons, tape and our remarkable creativity (... more so Bell's!). Bell is a fantastic artist, lemme tell you. Majority of the decorations were under his supervision and vision. As the hours progressed, so did the stacks of decorations. Cut-out bats and pumpkins, Halloween signs and popular Halloween figures like Frankenstein, the Grim Reaper and Dracula covered our walls with their ghoulish spirit.


We built up the anticipation for our party since it was supposed to start at 4 pm by closing all doors of our multi-purpose room. They sensed the Halloween spirit as they watched us set up outside while they peeked through the windows, giggling in excitement. I just remember that feeling as a kid, feeling so ecstatic for a class party no matter how small or big the occasion or holiday was.

As the doors opened, the kids started populating the empty room, appropriately filled with food, drinks, candy [I don't know what this holiday would mean without it!], and awesome decoration. I could tell they were somewhat confused as to what exactly Halloween was even though we created a lesson earlier in the week describing the history and tradition of this spooky, Western holiday. We introduced key words that describe the holiday like "candy", "jack'o lantern', "costumes" and such. We even made sure they knew how to say "trick or treat" by having them say it with enthusiasm during class and even before they left.

The party animals!

More kiddies

Yok, the Naruto puppy girl.

We had so much lined up for these children to experience! Lara and I had a Face Painting booth set up where we let our artistic side shine through recreations of cats, dogs, zombies, jack 'o lanterns on smooth faces as our canvases. It was so much fun. We often found these moments hilarious because we felt like some of the kids absolutely hated the paintings on their faces or laughed about how we didn't even know how to paint a dog, or a cat on them as requested. It was definitely plausible and in the end, the kids seemed to get a kick out of their cool painted mask.

See what I mean! I'm sure Earth really loves it.
Kirk says Thai kids aren't supposed to smile in photos... or is this just honest expression?

Jame wanted to be a koala, but due to his profuse sweating,
it was barely visible by the end of the night.

Alright, who remembers Jonathan the Zombie?
Poom (with the cape) reminds me of him

Hours later, we were still painting long lines of children's faces. It was tiring, but I really enjoyed it. One by one, our party started to exude even more Halloween spirit. It was great. While Lara and I painted faces, the rest of our planning committee entertained the kids with Monsters Inc. playing on the projector and after, began a friendly contest of pumpkin carving. Oops, I meant squash carving (yeah, see... they don't grow them here). The carving was a success. I was thoroughly impressed with their effort! I didn't even think it was possible to make a squash into a jack 'o lantern, really. The kids were awarded with a certificate, button, and candy. Kids seem to enjoy receiving certificates, gives them something to be proud of no matter how small the achievement is. We should always take time to celebrate these small victories.

Squash o' Lanterns?

Musical chairs was also on the list of activities to play. I found myself participating as well... and I won! Wahoooooooo. I feel like Kirk rigged it though, when he fittingly stopped the song "I got a feeling" at the exact moment I approached the chair. I won some sort of rice crispy treat thing. Thanks, Kirk. Lol.

Watch Boom do something funny

After musical chairs, the sun already set and it became dark. The little cats, dogs, zombies, pumpkins and misc. costumes circled up together to hear scary stories. Lara and I didn't understand any of what Bell or Ming was saying since all the stories were in Thai, but by the look of the kids' faces, they were in utter terror. Some of them gasped loudly, while others closed up their ears by pressing their palms firmly against them and asked if 'is this a true story?'. The reactions to the climax of their stories made me laugh because I could just see myself in these children... even now, being scared of ghost stories and finding ways to dodge scary moments, but secretly wanting to know what happens next.


To lighten up the evening, we played some music for the kids and had ourselves a little dance party! During those 2 hours of dancing, I felt so youthful. It reminded me of dancing at weddings with my little cousins in a circle and watching someone do impressive moves in the middle and laughing or cheering them on.

I was surprised to see this little one perform some interpretive moves.
The music is definitely in his heart. Can't stop, won't stop.

We waited till all the kids got picked up by their parents and entertained them with more dancing, candy distribution and various youtube videos. The parents could see that it was a special night for them because they offered to wait for them once they were ready to leave. That was a sure sign that the night was a success! The preparation for this party was no sweat at all and it was shown through our teamwork and in result the smiles on the children's faces. After spending such an awesome Halloween, I'm sure the next few years will be a challenge to compete with this one.

...again, Happy Halloween, everyone! Hope you've enjoyed yourselves as much as we did!

Photos from the party