And going...

Yesterday we had a Songkran celebration at our school. I work for a company called CEC. It is nationwide, but based here in Chiang Mai. They own the other school I work at called Little Stars. So it was a big party yesterday. People came in from all around the country.

But this isn't any normal holiday celebration like we had back at home. It was a very formal affair, with all the teachers and staff (that were thai) dressing in traditional lanna style clothes. Which is to be expected in a culture that is as old as thailand's. It was anything but traditional when the party was opened by a thai rock band performing american christian songs and the whole party singing along.

They proceeded to say their thanks to the principals and the founders of the school. Then the principals began to preach a sermon... for an hour and a half. They capped it all off with a prayer and then in honor of Songkran they sprinkled water on the officials, founders and elders hands.

I decided to go to the party because:
1.) I had nothing to do
2.) I thought it would be an interesting cultural experience
3.) Free food

Instead I was bored to death for 3 hours and afterwards I ate kanom jin (a chine dish of skinny noodles, chilli, lotus flower, sprouts and gelatin pigs blood) which i eat on a regular basis as it is. It was worth going to mingle with the teachers i've been avoiding like the plague. They're actually not that bad, and we had a nice conversation about the politics of thailand and southeast asia. And there was strawberry shortcake contributed by Teacher Wendy which was de-lic-i-ous!

Afterwards I walked to the mall, which is around the corner from my work. Now usually going to the mall is depressing for me because none of the clothes or shoes fit. But! Yesterday I found a few shirts that were really cute (and cheap!) in a store for gay men! So I bought them and found some pants that fit, but they were ugly so i didn't buy them! I am so ecstatic to find clothes that fit. Its been almost a year since i've bought something new!

But thats not important. At the mall I happened to hear a ruckus happening outside. So I went to investigate. They had set up a huge stage in front of the mall and there were performers on stage. But this wasn't a concert. This was an elaborate setup for 3 hours of live commercials advertising everything from 7/11 to Laundry soap. There was a person that would sing a lengthy jingle (in thai) and 3 or 4 backup dancers. The girls wore teeny tiny shorts and tops that sparkled and had logos for the product on it. And the men wore shaggy, fur vests and sparkly pants. It was really interesting and worthy of a picture. *hem hem*

So Songkran so far, has been disappointing but its sure to pick up this week. We'll see.