Random thoughts for random people: 01/16/2005

Hope everyone is having a good day! :)

Impermanency

I didn't even know this was a real word until I attended my Multi-Rural class last friday, and even after learning of the concept of Impermanency, I couldn't even quite grasp it...well that was until yesterday when I received a strange email from a good friend at home. One of our childhood friends had gotten into a very serious car accident, and was in critical conditions. She asked me if I believed in miracles... and if I believed that he would survive... to which I responded quite confidently yes... yes, miracles do happen, and good guys like Tony don't just die... they just get injured...

But I was wrong...

Impermanency is the belief that nothing in life is permanent... everything must die... and the only thing permanent is death... I understood the first part, and now more clearly, understand the second part. This applies not only to living creatures, but to relationships, furniture, buildings, pens, pencils, erasers... everything.

In Thailand you will find that a lot of the buildings are run down, and they are not upkept. The only things that are upkept are shrines... and that is due to this belief.

Although I didn't grow close to Tony like the other girls did... I still cannot believe he is gone...I read the 2nd email from Trinh multiple times... with each time, I prayed for the message to change to something positive... but it didn't.

Tony's passing seems so surreal to me, is life really that fragile? It will be strange to not see Tony at the temple with his family, and to not see his goofy grins, or hear his funny remarks on any subject possible. RIP Tony Tran.

hanging out with the locals.... the pictures below are from ryan's camera :)

ryan and sung motorbiking... vroom vroom..

hahaha..everyone was so tired, that they fell asleep on the top of the deck

Look at those flames!! they were BIG.. with a capital B

The fireshow... oohh soo purdy..

at night the geckos come out... i personally do not like lizards...

Look at those waves... it doesn't look so nice in this picture because the weather was kind of gray.

Ewww... look he has a praying mantis on his ear!

Doing Laundry

I normally take my laundry to a friendly guy, who lives in a run down shack, located in an alley near by. He charges 5 baht (15 cents) per item, underwear and socks are free. This includes, washing, drying folding, and, ironing. Service usually takes 1 - 2 days, and despite the fact that I could barely find his place last time, I've been pretty content with my laundry so far.

Today, however, since I had more spare time and wanted to get some readings done for class tomorrow, I decided to do my own laundry. Down the same run down alley is a small laundromat with three Fuzzy Novo branded washing machines. I traded in my bills for some change... and proceeded to the washing machines. I couldn't read the instructions.. but this is laundry how difficult could it get? The next thing I know, the guy next to me starts pointing at my machine... and begins to speak thai to me. I just smiled and nodded, and hoped that whatever I was agreeing to was right. How wrong I was... he continued to speak Thai to me, his voice got louder, and more frantic... which made me worried... the old lady who had gave me change earlier ran to my machine... took a glance at it, and than at me... she had a confused look on her face, similar to the look that my BUS 442 professor had after a student asked her a question. Now I was really worried... but thankfully, it was nothing more than the fact that I had put the detergent in the barrel instead of the designated slot , and that I was leaving my machine running without any clothes in it. So the old lady, who was perhaps half my size helped me to quickly throw my clothes in the machine.

All the commotion had attracted the old lady's middle age daughter... who thankfully knew a handful of english. I really liked her, because she reminded me of my mom...she was really sweet, and we had a nice conversation. She introduced me to her 9 year old son, who looked no older than a five year old, as he was so skinny, and small that if he were to turn sideways, he would have disappeared. He wore a baggy glue shirt, and oversized pants, that I'm guessing are hand me downs from his 13 year old brother. His mother wanted me to teach him english for one month, and was even willing to pay me. Given their apparent modest income, I couldn't bare to take any money from her, so I offered to teach the son English for free.

I met a few other interesting characters at the laundry mat, the lady knew each of them, and introduced me to them. It was strange listening to her talk about me in Thai... I could only pick out a few words... like Canada, Chula (my school here), and ma dai thai (she speaks no thai). Most people who have met me so far (locals, and thais) are surprised to find out that I'm from Canada, and to find out that I don't know Thai at all. They always say "same same" to me, and point to themselves, indicating that I look like them... to which I just giggle, and nod.

Getting Away...

It was nice to get away from Bangkok's smog, and crowded streets this past weekend. Most of the exchange students, myself included, ventured out to Koh Samed Island (steph, you would have loved it!). It was like a mini paradise with white sand, and clear blue water... add good company, and well I had a really awesome weekend. I even managed to sneak in some reading while sitting on the beach...

I was so excited to be at a beach, that i readily jumped into the water with my clothes on.. :) hehe it was well worth it because the water was really nice. I ended my first night at Koh Samed to some dancing at the outdoor club that was located right on the beach... Someone should seriously consider opening a club on the beach in Vancouver.. that would be tres wicked! The 2nd day was more adventurous as we headed out on a day long boat tour of the island where we got to do some fishing, eat the fish that we caught (I didn't catch any... I guess they don't like me.. but Brian thinks it was because I was too loud), go snorkeling, and visit a shark farm.

This trip really brought the exchange group together.. even though I was only there for one day, I felt like I got to know them a lot better.. and maybe some too well :) I could have done without some of the information that i learned :) hehehe...

I posted pics below.. enjoy!

Nhung

i taught one of the other students how to play big 2!!!! now that's cross cultural learning :) haha

this is the plank that i had to walk across to get to the boat.. the plank was not even attached to anything, and it looked like it was going to crack everytime i took a step.. sheesh

A much needed FRESH coconut drink after snorkeling..

Some of the local children playing on the beach.. they're so cute!!

I tried snorkeling.. it was great, i saw fishies, and urchins of all sorts of colours and sizes. i wish i had an underwater camera so i could show you all what i saw. but the equipment we were using was harsh ghetto!

Some of the othere exchange students.. we're standing on top of our tour boat. It was kinda rocky.. ryan, and florian (2nd from the left) got sea sick.. and PUKED.. eck!

Mel and I.. mel is from Holland.. she speaks english with this really cool accent!! :) she's one of my favourites so far.

The wave is coming... :( this wave was surprisingly large enough to move me a few inches..

Me sitting on the white sand at Koh Samed beach.. :)

Random thoughts for random people

Friday, January 21, 2005

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Impermanency

Monday, January 17, 2005

Doing Laundry

Sunday, January 16, 2005

Getting Away...

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