Greetings from Thailand! We are now back in Chiang Mai, after a fun two weeks with our home stay families. This past week we continued to practice our Thai language skills, rao puut passaa Thai dii maak. Which mean we speak Thai very well. Apart from our lessons, and spending more time with our families getting to know them better. Our teacher ajhan Petchara gave us a mini cooking class, teaching us how to make pat thai and panang curry. Hopefully we’ll remember how to make it long enough to cook for our families back home. After our other teacher ajhan Penom, gave us a brief rundown of the basics of Buddhism. A big theme of this trip centers around Buddhist teachings and culture. So that same night we went to the Wat where Penom had been a monk, and sat in on their night service. Where we experienced first hand the chanting, prayer, and meditation that Buddhist monks practice daily. It was an other worldly experience, that we wouldn’t have been able to experience were it not for Penom and Petchara. So a big thanks to the both of them, for inviting us to one of the most beautiful Wats in all of Thailand. Finally last night, our final night of the home stay, we had a party with all of our families. The evening began with our families talking about their experience with us. Which we in return did for them. Every family brought delicious food, so we enjoyed a potluck style dinner.  After our group sang four songs, two in Thai and two in english. During the Thai song called loi krathong, our families joined us in a traditional dance that accompanied the song. Once the songs were finished we got our loi krathong’s that we made earlier in the day. Lighting the candle and incenses on top of them, and setting them in the reservoir near by. Doing this symbolizes letting go of all of our anger and sins, while honoring the Buddha with the lit candle. To accompany this tradition, we also lit Khom loi a traditional Thai lantern. Which holds a similar meaning to the loi Krathong, embodying the idea that as it floats away so will your bad luck. And in which ever direction it flies good news or good luck will be waiting there for you. This ended our night, sending everyone home with a smile on their face. This morning we said our goodbyes, and made our way to Chiang Mai.
Rao saa baai dii( we are well)- sincerely Scott and the rest of the South East Asia group
