Three Birthdays and a Funeral

“It’s your birthday so I know you want to riiiiiiiiide out.”- Jerimiah

“After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”
- Albus Dumbledore

Last week I turned 23 and entered the “Jordan” year of my life. In the true Thai way I didn’t celebrate it on just one day, it was spread over three.

The day of my birthday was pretty mellow, for reasons I’ll explain later. A few teachers sang “Happy Birthday” to me throughout the day. “Happy Birthday” is actually an incredibly popular song in Thailand. Any Thai person will know how to sing it. The only difference with the American version is that they don’t say “Happy Birthday, Dear ______,” they just say “Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday.” Total curveball the first time you hear it. The school also gave me a coconut cake, which was superb.

That night I went to my first (and hopefully last) Thai funeral. The mother of an English teacher at my school had passed away earlier that week. With almost every teacher at the school planning on going, it seemed like the thing to do.

The funeral was held in a large room at a nearby Wat (temple). Naturally, the school buses dropped us off two hours before the funeral began. During this time the family greeted everyone who arrived, as well as serving food and drinks. People also gave gifts to the family. The most common gifts were large wreaths. They were hung throughout the room with family name of the giver written on them. Apparently they cost a lot too- roughly $60-90.

The other main gifts were electric fans. While the wreath is a very nice gesture, they get thrown away after a week and don’t really have lasting value. The family can use the fans because everyone gets hot in Thailand. If they have extra, they typically donate them to the monks or the poor. I thought that was a pretty cool alternative.

The actual service began with a monk leading a very long prayer. He then gave a eulogy for about a half hour. And like the rest of the world, it’s still impossible for people to silence cell phones at important events. A Taylor Swift ringtone coming in halfway through the eulogy killed the mood a bit.

After that ended, more monks entered and began chanting for ten minutes. Upon finishing they were presented with gifts from the family. Since monks live very simple lives, the gifts were pretty simple. The most common ones were toothpaste and toilet paper.

And then it was done. Everyone left fairly quickly after the gifts were given. What was interesting is that I never saw anyone cry the entire time. Since Buddhists believe in reincarnation, I wonder if they don’t think death is so terrible. Or it could be a loss of face for Thais to cry in public. Either way, on the outside, it was the happiest funeral I’ve been to.

The next day, I was able to another birthday celebration. We went to this restaurant in Bangkok that has hands-down the best burgers I’ve ever had. I only had to fly to the opposite side of the world to get them. Some teachers from my school and friends from the Bangkok area came as well. Great night with friends and good food.

For the weekend, I was off to visit my friends Eli and Nicole in Phitsanulok. I went to the bus station after work and began the brief six hour ride up there. Crossing city limits, a sign said the Phitsanulok was “The City of Recycling.” I found that hilarious because I didn’t see any recycling bins there, let alone anywhere in Thailand. There was also a mile (kilometer?) marker that informed you that Kuala Lumpur was 1,840 Kilometers away. You know, just in case you were driving to Kuala Lumpur.

There’s technically a curfew from 12 AM-4 AM, with exceptions in the touristy areas and for travelers/emergencies/late-night jobs. I rolled in around 1 AM and saw a bus station filled with people and a few bored soldiers hanging around. We hit traffic on the way to their house. Guess the curfew isn’t too enforced.

I really dug Phitsanulok. It’s a nice sized town with a little bit of everything. We saw the “Most beautiful Buddha in Thailand,” got some fantastic food, and visited the sites of town. Eli and Nicole also use motorbikes to get around since the traffic isn’t too crazy. Since I don’t see much of Nakhon Pathom because I don’t have a cheap way to get around, it was fun to bum around a Thai town.

"The most beautiful Buddha in Thailand"

I also played my first game of knockout in 10 months with their Chinese and Filipino roommates. It was pathetic. We all suck at basketball. It was like the part in Space Jam before the Loony Tunes drink the Special Stuff.

We went out to dinner and they surprised me with a birthday cake. Thanks guys!

The next day I grabbed a minibus back to Bangkok. These are essentially large vans that cram a bunch of people in them and go really fast. About halfway through the trip this huge rattle shakes the left side of the van and we quickly pull over. We pile out of the car and see that the back left tire is flat.  Not just flat, this thing was completely shredded. 

The driver starts jacking it up as rain begins to pour. Another Thai guy and I start holding this tarp up over the driver as he frantically tries to get the wheel off. He gets it off but there’s still a lot of rubber wrapped around the wheel. After a few minutes of tugging, he goes to the trunk and pulls out a samurai sword. I start dying laughing as the driver slashes off the remains of the wheel. Even the other Thai guy though it was funny- he was smiling and muttering, “Ah, samurai, samurai.”

A few minutes later the spare tire was on and we entered the minibus full of people cheering. I was completely soaked for the last few hours of the ride but it was totally worth it.

All in all, a great birthday week. It can be tough being so far away at times but I’m really blessed to have good friends over here. This weekend- I hit the beach.

Mark

P.S. Davis has finally finished finals at King’s College! Sounds like the last month has been hell. I can quote him saying, “I’ve studied all day, every day, for the last five weeks.” I don’t think I’ve ever done that. I don’t think I ever want to do that.

He’s got the next two weeks to rage with the lavish parties the different departments throw. The Brits know how to ball out and it costs roughly 100 pounds to get in one of these all-night parties. I hear that he’ll be attending the Gryffindor one but is 50-50 on Ravenclaw.