Songkran

Yesterday was the last feasible day for me to send in my rent receipt to Peace Corps headquarters before the Songkran holiday - or so I thought. As I stood outside staring stupidly at the door attempting to decipher the hours of operation, two men came up to me and told me that the post office was closed today because of Songkran. No way I said, Songkran doesn't start until tomorrow. Yes, they said but today we don't work either. So it seems as if it wasn't entirely necessary for the Royal Thai Government to extend the holiday by 2 days....the people do it anyway! :) It was bound to be a good day. As it turns out it really was. Probably one of the best thus far at site. I met a farang from Ireland and I exhuberantly took the opportunity to talk to him -in English- for an hour or so. The rest of the day it rained so needless to say, I loved it. Today was the true first day of Songkran and I can sincerely say that is one of the most amazing celebrations I have seen and still have yet to understand what the hell is going on. They tell me that they are celebrating the new year but the year is not actually going to change (which by the way it is actually 2550 here in Thailand - they count the years based off of the birth of buddha). So, I need to keep asking around....there was some talk about a 12 year rotation similar to the Chinese years but I'm still confused. Basically, today, I sang about 15 kareoke songs, danced to about twice as many as that, ate about 5 pounds more than THAT, all while being drenched in water. I first went to the house of my principal's sister where a ceremony took place (which is only natural - beginning ceremonies are ubiquitious at any Thai event) that truly made me realize the difference between our cultures in regards to revering our elders. About 10 or so elders sat in the chairs reserved for them lining the perimeter of the room. Each and every single other person in the room was to take a cup of water filled with marigolds and go aroud to the elderly and pour some into their hands. You sit down on your knees and wai the first person in the row. As a side note, the practice of the wai towards the elderly is absolutely amazing. It is almost filled with more reverence than the wai for monks. Typically, we wai others with a slight bow, with our hands near our chins but when we wai the elders we basically bend our backs as if going into a toe stretch. I will take a picture of it soon...it is beautiful. Anyway, we wai , they wai back, and then dump water on their hands and then wai again and move down the line so that every person is "blessed" 20-30 times. After that we ate, sang, and danced....a lot. We then proceeded to my principals house where we stood outside the gate on the street to squirt everypassing person with water....but here's what gets me: some people stop to get wet but before we would dump water on them, they waied us, giving thanks for the water! One elderly couple that rode past in a motorcycle and carriage (with a style similar to the one in Garden State but so rusty it could have been the one used in Motorcycle Diaries) stopped with the biggest smiles on their faces, waied for water, and then thanked us before going on their merry way. We then went over to the house of my prinicpals friend where we again ate, drank, and sang - again. They were dumping ice cold water on our backs which sounds nice and all but was absolutely freezing as there was no sun out. But heres what I love about it - oh the irony of it all- I am to watch and follow the Thai custom and as they waied before being splashed, as should I wai before being splashed....how do you thank someone for water when you sincerely don't want it - you just do and you just simply love it. Tomorrow my co-teacher is picking me up....I have no idea what we are doing but I'm sure it is going to be wet. Ummm...yah, I suppose that is all for now. I'm sure I'll have more for you tomorrow :)