Monday, April 23, 2012

Building a Buddha (4-22)


Last week was our vacation week from school. It went quickly, as usual. I managed to get some sorting and packing done and bought a new smart phone. Tuesday my neighbors took me to mail books to another former volunteer. We stopped at a clothing shop and ate lunch. Sister Angie invited us to lunch at her home on Wednesday. Thursday Khun Samaporn and her husband came to drive me to the village. This was a way for us to get together before I leave. Since I had access to a car, I gave her some things and took some things for Charlie, the new PCV in the village. As always, it was good to see her and her family.

This was my last visit to the village before leaving—more closure. Friday I hung out in the village while Khun Toy went to do some business. When I arrived at Khun Kasemsri’s house, Khun Kumton’s grandson called to me, ran over, and hugged me. He’s six years old now and can answer the question “How are you?” This is noteworthy because I’ve had 7th and 8th grade students who can’t do that. When I went to give something (the bedspread she had told me is beautiful) to Khun Ying and to visit another teacher, he walked with me, holding my hand. It surprises me that he still thinks of me as a good friend, since we hardly saw each other while I lived there and I’ve seen him only twice since I moved, but it’s nice. I got to chat with Aemmy for a while, which was good. Then Khun Teamjan took me to meet with Charlie. We had a good chat, too. It was a good day of hanging out with friends.

The event of the weekend and reason I went to the village was Khun Kasemsri’s tamboon to build a Buddha in one day. About 300 people attended the event. Khun Toy, Khun Teamjan, and I went to the Lue Amnat wat at 7:00 P.M. While people were arriving and waiting for the event to begin, there were a number of items being sold. Some of these were foil pieces on which you could write your name or someone’s name. Others were clay pieces on which people rubbed a small piece of gold foil. Both of these items would be put into the Buddha for good luck.

The event started at 8:00 with chanting/praying. Then a monk talked for about an hour. This was followed by more chanting/praying. At about 11:45, this stopped and people went to help start the building of the Buddha.













There was a pile of bricks on one side of the structure, and people carried them to the other side, where they would be put in buckets and conveyed to the platform where the building took place. Some people sifted sand to remove small stones.








Others mixed the cement. After the bricks were moved, most people sat down again and some went home.















The chanting/praying continued throughout the night. Mostly it was the monks and a group of women in the front. Unlike at previous events I’ve attended, everyone was not given a prayer book. Every fifteen minutes a gong was rung.








Five men on the platform did the building of the Buddha. At 3:00 A.M. we could see the bottom part—the folded legs—of the Buddha. At 4:00 the body core was formed. At 5:30 the form, except the head, was finished and they started covering it with cement. The people went home then. I slept really well for three hours.






This wasn’t a retreat like the other times I’ve stayed awake at a wat all night. The atmosphere was different. The chanting/praying was more like background for the work being done, not the main event as in a retreat. Many people lay down to sleep. I did that for a while, too. I also slept in a chair for a bit.

It had been decided that Khun Toy and I would rest on Saturday and not return to the event. I didn’t really want to sit there all day, but I was curious to know and see how the Buddha would be finished. We stopped by at 4:00 in the afternoon so I could see it. It looked like about 300 people there again. The Buddha was finished, complete with head. I would have liked to see how the head was done. I’m not sure what else needed to be done. I’ll have to go to see it in September when I’m back. Khun Yindee had told me that, at these build a Buddha in a day events, the work starts at 12:00 A.M and must be finished by 6:00 P.M.
























Saturday morning Khun Toy and I went to visit a few people. I don’t know who the people were, but there was a wedding that she could not attend. A number of women were preparing food. Several dishes were put in front of me; so I ate. A 77-year-old man I didn’t know was very excited to chat with me—mostly in Thai with a few words of English. He really wanted to have a photo with me and held up his phone to ask someone to take a photo. When no one responded, I gave my camera to Khun Toy to take a photo and said I’ll give him a copy. He was quite pleased. Then another man came and used the man’s phone to take a photo of him and one of me. I’ll still have a print made of the one of us together.

We also stopped to see Baibua, which Khun Toy does twice a day. Baibua is enthralled with me. She can hardly stop looking at me. I guess I look different enough that it keeps her attention. I can’t help wondering what goes through her mind as she stares at me.

The other event of the weekend was a wedding dinner in Yassothon, about an hour from the village. The bride was the daughter of one of Khun Dakom’s friends. The groom’s mother thanked me—in English—for coming twice. I always find it interesting when people specially thank me for being there when I don’t even know them. This was my last big event dinner. We had our picture taken with the bride and groom. The dinner was eight courses: chips, appetizers, chicken, spicy fish, fish with spicy sauce, pork soup, noodles with mushrooms (instead of rice), and fruit. This was my last such dinner; so it seemed like a fitting event for my last week.

Sunday we made our last—for me—trip to the hospital to get our meds. We arrived at 7:45 and left at 12:30. Surprisingly, we saw our original doctor.

On the way to the hospital, I provided a bit of excitement. I had gone to the ATM to get cash and was slow to retrieve my card; so the machine took it back. (It was early morning after being sleep deprived Friday night.) Khun Teamjan called the emergency number for me. There was a computerized recording in English, but I couldn’t understand what it was saying and didn’t know which number I needed to push to address my problem. So, after the hospital, we stopped at the mall where the bank has a branch that’s open every day. The woman said it would take about 15 days to get my card to me. They could sell me a Visa card (450 bahts—about $13) but couldn’t give/sell me a new ATM card. Since I’m leaving at the end of the week, I can’t wait for 15 days and I don’t want a Thai credit card. So I decided to close the account. For that, they needed my passport, and the copy I had with me wasn’t good enough; it had to be the original, which I don’t carry with me. She said we could go to another branch, but it was time for lunch; so I said I could wait till Monday, since this was not an emergency; I knew where the card was. So we ate lunch and did a little shopping. To conclude this episode, I went to the bank Monday morning. A young man who speaks English took me down, opened the machine, and gave me my card, all in ten minutes.

Then we went to Khun Somlan’s house for the rest of the afternoon and dinner. Khun Dakom told me that they will have a party for me there Friday night. I wasn’t totally surprised, as I’d thought they would probably come for dinner that night or Saturday before I leave.

I told my neighbors that I am leaving. They said I can stay with them when I come back. That was sweet of them.

Khun Aporn told me that the tamboon the school had last week raised 1,500,000 bahts (about $50,000).

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