'Twas the 12th Full Mooon the 2nd of November...

...Lanterns ablaze I will always remem... Ugh, awful. That's the cheesiest crap I've ever put out. I hereby promise no more poetry. Before I get too far into the Loi Krathong festival, a few updates:

1. I am having a blast; this place is full of amusement and the students are ridiculous. Mostly giggles and screams when I walk by. And "Hello Teach-ER!"
2. My Motorbike -- I still have not gotten one, but I am closer. I am applying for an international driver's license and I should be able to get a bike when the license arrives. Two weeks. I am hopeful.
3. This weekend is my first 3-day weekend (every three weeks I get one), and my plan is to head to Chiang Mai and live it up in a university town. Should be fun.
4. For my mom, I wear pink on Tuesdays. Today I am wearing red (Wednesdays).
5. Another American showed up; she is my neighbor. I hear her sing Christian music at night. She is very sweet.

So, Loi Krathong. As I mentioned, this festival is held on the 12th full moon of the lunar calender, which meant November 2nd this year. The Thais do not seem to care too much about the exact date, though; here in Phayao the celebration lasted from 30th of October to the 3rd of November. The Krathong, a flower shaped raft about the size of a disc golf disc, is decorated with flowers, incense, and candles and is released into the water to symbolize letting go of problems and grudges. Apparently, you can make wishes on them, too, as I did with a group of giggly female students. I cannot tell you what I wished for... against the rules.

Two parts of Loi Krathong I found most interesting: The beauty contests and the lanterns. The lanterns are pretty. That's about it there. It's a spectacular sight to see 3,000 lanterns fly into nighttime sky. We should definitely bring this to America. On second thought, there are reports of fires--houses, trees, fields. And really, I wonder where they all land, because eventually they come down; they are just far away by then. There are probably 30,000 lanterns in the giant trash heap in the Pacific.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

Check it out. We should go count, but oh well. The beauty contests here are a bit different than ones in America. It feels like you're at a karaoke bar for pretty, sometimes tone deaf girls. And then other people sing as well, because we need to be entertained when the contestants are not singing. The really strange bit was the amount of stuff each contestant received from the crowd, mostly in the form of money and plastic, colored chains. All strange to me.

Pictures of the beauty contest to come next time. Sorry for the long post. Much love.