Big C, Community Candy, and Richard

Saturday Morning
We went to the Big C to do some larger shopping. We need many things. We took the bus in to Phra Pradaeng with Nuke, it took two transfers. The bus was non-air conditioned and the windows were open so the photography was great. I got some excellent pictures, I think, of the Mega-Bridge and also of general street life. We did two shopping carts worth of shopping and the cost was only $125, which included meat, CDR's and a bunch of household stuff. Juke and his family came to pick us up at Big C.

Coming back from Big C we stopped by a shop so Jit could print some NANA forms. The shop was small air-conditioned and was very interesting. One of the workers was making a DVD from some video, there was reference to digital photography, and a wide variety of printers. I asked, through Jit, if we could come back and talk. The computer operator said sure, but that it would be better on weekends. It looks like people use the shop for everything from Xerox copies to design and document creation. We will be back.

Saturday Afternoon
I got some more experience with the community yesterday. The people were finishing making the candy, it looks sort of like Cracker Jacks, but with more nuts. The most important part of the candy making was the community feeling. Everybody was gathered and seemed to have fun.

The kids came back from school yesterday, I did not know they were gone. School is out for a month and the high school kids returned, it sure brought back memories of Shaktoolik when the kids left for school. So there are many new faces around the community.

I also got to see the dedication of a new house. The first two posts for the house structure were decorated with garlands and sashes. People gathered and placed the posts into the hole, there was some kind of call, then a gold leaf ceremony, tying the posts together with a white string, and then a long string of fire-crackers were exploded. The ceremony is a wish for a good prosperous home with good feelings. I was glad to see the ceremony. Many of the actions were similar to visiting a temple.

Friday night the air-conditioner made some very alarming noises. We turned it off and I realized how dependent I am on air-conditioning to sleep. People came, some of Jit's relatives, and fixed it Saturday.

Sunday Morning
I went for a walk in the park when I woke up Sunday morning. There were small fish swimming and leaving wakes in the morning, I love the morning, cool, and the light is beautiful. Last night the light was also nice and there was a very interesting cloud that grew and then blew away. This morning I found a place in the shade and just watched the life, birds, fish, insects, people.

Si, the person who does a lot of the work building the house, has been bugging me to take his picture because he looks like a movie star! So I have been taking more pictures of him. Still have not found a place to get pictures developed. I need a place that I can return to, and that is fairly convenient. The best place to look would be at the MBK center downtown.

Before Richard came we spent time with the community candy making. It was wonderful to see the people working together. The candy was distributed to the community this evening. We gave some to Richard and some more to Jit's brothers family.

Richard is coming to visit today. Jit is getting ready. When Richard arrived we walked around the community and then went to the small boat dock. We tool a long boat trip down the river along the peninsula. Later Richard, Jit and I had a thoughtful conversation, very interesting. Among many other things we talked about the advantages and disadvantages of RSS feeds. I learned a lot. There was a large afternoon Storm as we finished walking in the park. Just the right timing. Went to the Sunday market and then Git and his family came to visit. Also Richard brought some Thai language learning materials. It was a VERY busy day. Tomorrow off to STOU to learn new things. I have many new pictures to sort through and to prepare for posting.


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