I got to hang out with most of the guys I went out with last weekend, and I'm grateful to have a fun group of locals who will let a farang girl join them for long nights of dancing and practicing Thai. Someone said, "Hey Mia, I think you're the only farang in this room." He was right. The photo is kind of like where's Waldo, but instead of Waldo, it's where's the white girl? This is a pretty popular place to be on a Friday night, and I don't doubt that some of the people there may be my students. I'll find out on Monday. If any one of my students mentions that they saw me at the bar, I'll say I have a twin sister and her name is Mia too. (If the Fat twins can pull it off, why can't I?)
The best thing about this particular place is the music. Peppered in with the Thai hip hop songs and Thai boy band love song remixes are some old classics that the crowd goes crazy over. Aqua, Barbie Girl. I admit I had fun dancing to this one, because I didn't have to worry about being too cool to enjoy it. Yep, it's socially acceptable to get excited when an Aqua track comes on. Another one: Pretty Fly for a White Guy, by a band I don't remember the name of. Even the boys love singing "give it to me baby uh huh uh huh." And they love love love reggatone. (Adam...)I love talking to these guys; they crack me up. One of them said I look like Sandra Bullock so they would yell Sandla! Sandla! instead of my name for the rest of the night. They are lots of fun, but it's tough to keep up with them. I thought I liked to stay out late...they put me to shame.
Saturday night I went to a party at a fellow Ajaan's home. Her home is beautiful and has more space than she knows what to do with. Aj. Wongpet picked me up early and I made garlic bread and helped prepare some other snacks. She had so. much. food. Then when the others showed up, everyone brought a dish to share. The table was about 20 feet long and silly me, thinking that we would sit at this table to eat dinner. No. There was not enough room to eat because it was completely covered with Thai dishes and salads and (a bucket of KFC?). We sat on bamboo mats on the floor, only to get up for more food. There were even a group of women sitting in a corner with mortars and pestals grinding up veggies and peanuts to make fresh som tom. There were baskets of exotic fruits, and I now have two new favorites that I will be picking up on my next market trip.I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the head honcho dean at CMU is a St. Olaf alum. He is a Thai native, and was telling me things about Northfield that even I didn't know. (You can see the bullet hole on the side of the Northfield Bank where the Jesse James Gang was caught.) It was like a little taste of home all the way on the other side of the world. He is a great person to know around campus, and I will be a part of the ceremony this fall to celebrate a 40 year partnership between CMU and St. Olaf. I am very excited.
The food was delicious, and the company was fantastic. There was even a new teacher who showed up tonight who just arrived from New York. As in he graduated college two days ago, caught a flight and was picked up from the Chiang Mai airport and brought straight to this party where the poor guy was given too much food and countless new faces to learn when all he wanted was a shower and a bed. He starts on Monday.The last neat thing of the night was on the drive home I saw these bright lights that seemed to trail up to the sky. I thought they may have been lights on the mountain, but once I realized they were nowhere near the mountain, I asked my friend and she explained that they are floating lanterns. They were bright gold and almost looked like an eerie constellation. To get an idea of what these are, check out these photos: http://www.chiangmainews.com
I only saw a few dozen of these, but it was so exciting that I can't wait for the festival when there are thousands. They just let these lanterns float into the sky any time they have something to celebrate. I'm living in a beautiful place.
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