No School - It's a holiday

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I'm not sure exactly what holiday it is, but we didn't have school today.  This has actually given me a nice extended weekend, since we don't have English classes on Fridays.

The Queen's birthday was on Saturday, Aug 12.  The Thai people LOVE their monarchs, and mother's day is put on the queen's birthday, and father's day is the king's birthday.  It is tradition on Mother's Day/Queen's b-day to wear light blue shirts that say you love your mom.  On Friday morning, we were invited to the nursery school to watch an early mother's day ceremony.  Okay, the kids were all very cute - they were supposed to be performing a rehearsed mother's day song and dance.  Haha, so maybe half of them were doing this, the other half were wandering around, looking confused, and tearing apart the flowers they were supposed to present their moms!  It was quite funny.  In the afternoon, Lee and I went up to Nong Kai with the coordinator Jack.  Alex was meeting some others for a 12 hour bus ride up to Chiang Mai.  I decided to pass, since 24 hours of traveling for just 2 days of sight seeing didn't really seem worth it!

The bedroom I share with Lee. The net on the left is mine!
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Of course, the dorm we stayed at in Nong Kai was quite empty since most of the other volunteers had left for Chiang Mai.  Lee and I had some time to walk around the market, buy some running shoes, and drink some Thai iced tea - from the bag of course!  For all of you who are wondering, it is actually just called "ice tea" here - or should I say "Chi Yen" :)

On Saturday, Lee and I dawned our light blue mother's day shirts.  I thought it would be fitting to have chocolate for breakfast - in celebration of mom.  We went to a local vender and bought some crepes dribbled with chocolate.  Also fitting, I got chocolate all over the shirt - who knew it would drip!?  Okay, so after a quick wash, Lee and I joined the newest volunteer - Katrina from Germany, for a trip to the sculpture garden.  Wow, this place is amazing!  The included pic of the 7 headed snake was one of the sculptures.  Everything was huge!  We had so much fun walking around the paths, looking up at the gigantic sculptures surrounding us.

Me decked out in my mother's day shirt
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At 630p, Lee and I took the bus home.  It was dark and rainy as we reached Phon Phisai, but since we live on the bus route they dropped us off in front of our street (aka - soi).  I had fun in Nong Kai, but it was nice to get back to Phon Phisai and relax on Sunday.

Here are some things that have surprised me in Thailand:

*  The guy walking down the street, with a karoke machine strapped to him, singing sad songs and begging (Bangkok)

Hissssss!
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*  Lady Boys - men who wear makeup daily to look like women, so far I've seen 2 lady boys - both working at 7-11s

*  Open Air Houses - The style of building were the living room is open on 2 sides - open to the air, but alas to bugs. (I have sooo many bites!)

*   Buying milk shakes for 25 cents

*  Thai style showers - you use a bowl to scope water over your head.  Luckily, our house has a western style shower, however the dorm in Nong Kai has this type.

Some young monks
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*  Devotion to the monarchs - You can usually find a pic of the the King and Queen in EVERY room.

*  Use of glitter - In our house, there is a long row of pictures showing all the past kings - and all of them are decorated with glitter!  I've noticed other pictures, all dignified and solemn - highlighted with glitter.

*  There is much more - but I need some time to think :)