The graduation

Sarah and I were invited to go to Bangkok to see the monk's graduation ceremony. We were told we could go on Wednesday and we left on Thursday night at 5 pm. We stayed in Bangkok from Thursday until Monday when we arrived back in Chiang Mai at 6 am. We took a bus that was full of monks and a few relatives who weren't monks and then two white girls...me and Sarah. Its an all night ride so you leave around 5 or 6 pm and arrive aroun 5 or 6am. We got to the university in bangkok around 4 am and were went to the room labeled for women. Sarah and I walked up a dark stairway into a very large dark room which actually wasn't filled with women but instead filled with sleeping monks....mai dii (vey bad).

So we had to wait until 6 am to find a taxi to get to a guesthouse nearby. Whyile we waited we took the liberty of showering in a mixed bathroom that was only being used by monks at that time...lots of stares.

Then, we found a nice little guest house for $10/night with a fridge and cabel tv. We spent the next day walking around at the university with out monk friends and the friends who were once monks but were now normal people ( meaning they are no longer monks not like monks aren't normal people too...)

We were told that we had to wear white outfits for the ceremony, that it was very proper, and that anything esle would be inappropriate. We didn't know this before so we didn't have any white outfits. Luckily Sarah and I were able to pull something together, however, at the ceremony we were the only ones wearing white outfits. This is very much Thai culture for things like this to happen. Not only were we the only ones in white outfits, but we were the only two white girls out of throusands of monks and Thai people. I kid you not we were the only ones which means that we got our pictures taken ALOT.

The ceremony was like any other except a famous monk came to speak and many of the monks fell asleep. We took a ton of pictures, found another shower, and left around 6pm and arrived in Chiang Mai the next morning. That day I ahd to teach but it wasn't so bad.

So that's my story for the week. Any questions? Comments?

Amy