Is that a bird? A plane? No, it's SUPERMONK!

"Could you imagine a monk on a motorcycle? Our robes would be flying in the wind like Superman...Supermonk."

Selfie in front of Wat Chedi Luang

This week was a pretty good one for me! We started off the week with a break from teaching on Monday, because Billy decided to teach for us since we had just returned from our weekend trip to the PhiPhi Islands. Tuesday, Annika and I led a game of HeadBands for the students to practice their vocabulary skills! We had everyone write down 3 different words: one easy, one medium, and one hard word, each on a different slip of paper. Then, we split the class into two teams and had them each go individually and try and guess the word that they were given based off of their teammates' descriptions. At first, Annika and I made the game a bit too hard by only allowing yes/no questions, so we then had to change our game plan to using descriptions. But other than that, it worked out well! Wednesday and Thursday we introduced grammar into the English classes, which was requested by the students because they will eventually need to write a research proposal in English at the end of July. Their grammar is good, but English is just so hard that there's always things to work on. Trying to teach grammar is really showing me that I have actually no clue why we write the way that we do, it's just because it sounds right. Try explaining that you pick certain words just because "it sounds right"! It's hard, and I'm hoping that I'm actually teaching the students things.

Sokhoun presenting

Friday, Sokhoun and Shar gave a presentation on LGBT+ in the workplace. Most of the students knew all of the definitions of different terminology, which makes sense because they are all human rights activists, but I was still really happy to know that these definitions are known on the other side of the world. We read a sad article about a man who took his life due to harassment from his coworkers, and my heart broke for him. It was a reminder that all across the globe, people are still fighting for the basic right to love whoever they want to.

Entry to the food section of the Night Bazaar

On a lighter note, I had a really great weekend! Friday night, Annika and I went to the Night Bazaar market (we invited the students, but none of them came with us, boo). Our first stop was for some food, and we scooped up some gyoza. After that, one burrito and chocolate peanut butter banana milkshake later, we went on our journey through the huge market. The market took place on the sidewalks of a busy street, with vendors crammed side to side, enticing you with their colorful objects and low prices. We weaved through the crowd, scanning through the products to look for anything that caught our eyes. Of course, much of it did, as I am easily distracted when shopping, I'll own up to it.

Dumplings!

Night Bazaar

At one point, we found a little alleyway that led down to a basement of a building, so we decided to check it out. Turns out, it is a bus terminal that was transformed into an art gallery when the market is open. Oil paintings and canvas drawings were everywhere, and artists could be found hard at work, painting right there on the spot. I wasn't planning on buying any art, until I saw a man who was working on the most beautiful elephant piece. I couldn't believe my eyes that it was done by hand and not a print of a photo. I immediately walked to him and watched him work. We chatted for a bit, and he started telling me about his technique of using charcoal and a Chinese brush, as well as the different elephants that he's painting. At this point there was no way that I was walking away without a piece of his work, so I ended up buying a small canvas with a baby elephant on it, which ended up being my favorite purchase of the night (which is saying a lot, because I bought quite a bit of things).

With the artist, Eddie, and his work

On Saturday, I slept in during the morning and went to a local resort's pool in the afternoon with some of the students. Essentially, that trip consisted of Shar and I swimming, the rest of the students floating and splashing around because they don't know how to swim, getting ice cream, and teaching the students how to do a underwater handstand. It was a great time! The pool was huge, so I was able to swim back and forth as much as I wanted.

Pool at the Imperial Resort

Saturday night was spent with our coworkers Hoan, Franny, Tubtim, and Hom, among some other people as well! We had a game night, where all of us (aside from Franny, because she was the teacher) learned how to play Settlers of Catan. I've heard a lot about this game, and it ended up being really fun! We had to team up, and Hom and I ended up doing pretty well until our "longest road of the game" card was taken from us. I had a good time!
Sunday was also day full of activities. Annika and I slept in late again, and then couldn't figure out what to do in the afternoon. I have a really detailed map that's got a lot of different highlights of Chiang Mai on it, so we spent some time looking at that to determine what to do. We landed on going to visit Wat Chedi Luang, so we put on our wat-appropriate clothing (long skirt and shoulders covered) and took a Grab there. The wat was bustling, full of tourists and locals alike. The temples we saw were so ornate with their gold detailing and colored glass decorations, and lots of Buddas were involved.

Trying to plan using the map

Outside Wat Ho Tham

Inside Wat Ho Tham

However, my favorite part of visiting the wats in Old Town was talking to the monks at the Monk Chat area. We were hesitant at first to just go up and talk to these monks, because we thought the monks would be serious and stern. However, after just minutes of chatting with the monks, I discovered that it wasn't the case at all! The monks were about our age, 23, and some of the chillest people I've met so far. Their names were Claim, Victor, Jumbo, and Jack. We started out our conversation about monk stuff: what their daily life looks like, what they do in their free time, why did they decide to be a monk. I learned a lot! I didn't know that there were different types of monks, but our new friends were a mix of forest monks and city monks. The forest monks are a bit more strict, meditating a few hours a day; while the city monks only meditate once a day. They begin by waking up early at 4:30-5, and then walk around the town, chanting and accepting donations. They then have breakfast and go to school, then return home and meditate. They are allowed to study English education, politics, Chinese and philosophy. Our new friends told us that they decided to become monks because their family encouraged them to, as it would help practice their Buddhism. When you become a monk, you only have to do it for 3 months, but many stay longer. Claim and Victor were both monks for 10+ years!

With our next friends
L to R: Annika, Me, Victor, Jumbo, and Claim

We talked about some deep things, too. Claim was telling us about how it can be hard to be a monk sometimes, because there are certain rules that must be followed. The example he gave was about the idea of love causing suffering, therefore you should distance yourself from love. It was hard to wrap my head around, but then he went on to talk about how people you love will eventually pass away and move on, therefore causing suffering. He talked about his parents, and how it is really hard for him to try and distance himself from them to protect himself from future suffering. He also talked about how the Buddhist philosophy teaches them the idea of controlling your own destiny, and that you must be the one who decides what happens in your life. They talked about how many people misunderstand monks and believe them to be always serious and unapproachable, but in reality they are just like everyone else, except they live by a different lifestyle.

Wat Chedi Luang

While we talked about some deep things, the vibe of our conversation was really relaxed. Annika and I were able to ask questions without worrying about offending them. Turns out, Claim practices magic in his free time, so he showed us some of his card tricks. I was impressed, but also convinced that he had to cheat somehow to figure it out. We talked about movies and our favorite scenes from Avengers: Endgame, as well as ancient Thai secrets of how to get lottery ticket numbers. I asked them if monks could ride a motorcycle, which resulted in a roar of laughter. We then all envisioned a monk on a bike, with their robes flying in the wind -- hence, Supermonk. I really had a great time with them, and it truly changed my perspective of what a monk is.

Later that night, we met up with Franny, Hoan, and our Dutch friend Tessa to watch the women's world cup at a sports bar. We hung out and trashed talked each other a bit, but eventually the USA women's team won. We celebrated (well, not Tessa), and then Annika and I got back to the Mitharsuu Center around 1am. I journaled a bit and then crashed after having a busy week.