Saturday was another busy day this week. It began at 6:00 AM when the family (minus Khun Kwan, who had to go to a seminar for work) picked me up to go to Wat Hua Don for Khun Dakom’s nephew’s becoming a monk ceremony. He was one of four young men beginning their service as a monk at the wat. He will stay there for the three months of the rainy season. I don’t know how long the others will stay. Families of all four monks-to-be were at the wat, which was a lot more people than are usually there. They all brought a lot of food; so there was also more food than usual—and a better selection. Khun Dakom’s sister gave everyone in her family group a fabric bag from her shop with a pen holder, book of sayings by a famous monk, and a couple amulets.
After breakfast, there was a short ceremony to begin the ordination process. Each mother gave her son a bamboo leaf arrangement.
Then three monks began the process of cutting their hair. After the monks each clipped a small amount, members of the family cut a small amount. The mothers of each of the young men cut hair from all of them. Then the young men went with the monks to have their heads and eyebrows shaved.
While that was happening, we headed into Ubon to Wat Satun for the ordination. Khun Dakom explained that Phra Tong could not do it, as only monks who have been monks for about twenty years can conduct an ordination. While we waited for everyone to arrive, we went down to the Mun River and fed the fish. I found myself really enjoying it because there were three kinds of fish, and it was fun to watch the different kinds of fish respond to the arrival of the food. Usually when I’ve done this, there has been only the one kind of fish. It is fun to watch them greedily go after the food.
Then we went into the wat where the young man was sitting and took family photos before the other families arrived. When everyone was gathered, the families presented the arrangements and robes and bowls to the young men.
Then they carried the arrangements and other people carried their robes and bowls and we walked around the wat. I was surprised that we went around only one time, as we usually walk around a wat three times. Back in the wat, they prepared for the ordination.
We left at noon to go to the hospital for the other exciting event of the day—the birth of Adin’s daughter, the second granddaughter for Khun Toy and Khun Dakom. She was born at about 4:00 AM. The maternity room has twenty beds with about two feet between them. There are rotating fans at the end of every other bed. All of the beds were filled, most with new mothers and babies. A few of the women looked like they were waiting for their babies. Other than Khun Adin, there were six other men who came and went. Many of the women had other women sitting or standing with them. Companions were often fanning the women and babies, as it was hot and there were fans at the ends of every other bed. Most of the babies were lying on the bed with their mother. A few had a bassinette at the end of the bed.
I was getting ready to ask about taking a photo, since recording family events is what I do, when Khun Toy told me to take one. Khun Toy had brought a new flannel top and a piece to wrap around the baby’s bottom. She also presented the granddaughter with her first gold necklace and then gave it to Khun Adin to keep for her.
After we left the hospital, we ate lunch at the duck noodle soup place we all like. Then we changed cars at the hotel where Khun Kwan’s seminar was, and Khun Oy took me home. Khun Toy and Khun Dakom went back to the wat to return to wat Hua Don with the newly ordained monks and the family. Since it was 2:00, I guess it was a long ceremony, and I wasn’t disappointed to not have been there for two hours. And I was ready to be home.
The big project at school was completing the grade/attendance record books. I have ten of these, one for each class. I learned that the 7th grade class is really two classes combined; so I have to have two books for that class. I had kept grades for worksheets and tests, but I had kept them the American way: recording the scores with the idea of adding them and getting a percent of the total for the grade. However, that is not the way it is done here. Each unit is assigned a number of points, with a total of 70 for the semester. Then there are 10 points for the midterm exam and 20 for the final exam. So all the scores have to be converted to an appropriate number so they add up to 30 for the first unit. (For example, a 55 point exam becomes 10 points). And the worksheets have to correlate with the objectives. And then we have to record how many hours were spent on each objective. These are not actual hours, as I was told that the 40 hours of class will be recorded as 60 hours. Because I had started recording grades in my books but had not done it the right way, I had to redo several books. I spent about twenty hours on this project and am glad it is finished. Now I can get back to my real work planning lessons, which I enjoy doing.
When doing the attendance line, which includes the days when the class meets and gives a number to each class, I realized that midterms are probably coming up soon, as we have had 20 of the 40 classes for the semester. But we haven’t been told about that. Communication trickles down to us foreign teachers slowly, often at the last minute. We each have someone who is supposed to be our partner teacher, but they think we know what they know and just don’t think to tell us.
Monday the students went to the speech competition. At the morning assembly, they had to give their speech to the whole school. Then Sister Viphaporn took them to the statue of Mary and prayed and they each rubbed the foot of baby Jesus. Kate’s 6th grade girl won her level and will go to the next level of the competition. My boy took third place, which was good, since we only practiced one day and a little on Monday morning because he was gone for the weekend, and he was not really prepared.
Friday during the last hour the school had sports activities. This consisted of two teams of 9th grade students playing volleyball and football against two teams of teachers. The rest of us watched from a shaded area. Tony was recruited to play football, and Lovely played volleyball. I was happy to watch from the shade in the building.
Weather was extremely hot this week. It was sweating weather every day. Fans were on constantly—day and night. Finally, on Saturday, it rained and things cooled down.
I’m enjoying my new water pressure. It took only one and a half minutes, instead of fifteen minutes, to fill each laundry tub. This cut down on laundry time considerably. Also, with the new flow, I can usually use the hose in the bathroom to hose my body like a shower. It’s refreshing. I think the hose is actually a shower hose without a shower head. I gave some thought to getting a new shower now that water actually flows well, but this is more convenient for washing dishes, washing hands, and filling a cup or bowl. It’s more like a faucet.
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