Parami- (Pali) the perfection of virtues

So the kids took me to temple on Saturday evening after dinner. I had just finished a day of cooking, which seriously consisted of waking up around 5:40 to the birds and the dogs, going to market at 7, shopping around and hunting for prices until 11:00am, making lunch foods until 3ish, then after doing my laundry, I made dinner until 5:30, 6ish… lunch was fried rice and Kung Pao chicken, whilst dinner was sour soup with catfish. I had never spent so long cooking before. I would blame it on the unfamiliar terrain, but Thin Thin Nyunt, Aye Chan Aung, and Kyaw Eh helped me navigate the marketplace (btw, just bc the kids are locals doesn’t mean they know the prices of things. better to go with adults first to see what fair prices look like).

I spent maybe 300 Baht on the food, which took all 3 of us to carry back. I think I may have paid more than I should have for the durian (40 per kilo, so 80 for the thing), and everything else seemed fair upon We also got some gorgeous orchids for temple later that night, which were only 10 Baht per 7 stems.

But the food turned out well (miraculously), and even though it took ages, I was pretty content with spending my Saturday in the kitchen. Luckily, Htwee Nge came back in time to help me kill the fish for dinner, which she accomplished by taking the stone pestle and whacking their heads with it as they were still in the bag of water we got them in after purchase. I hoped that being vegetarian during the academic year would garner enough good karma for me such that fate would not be too angry with me for causing the downfall of these three catfish, and all the other animals I have eaten this summer at home and abroad…

After dinner, I got changed (and hoped the smell of death was not following me) and went with the students to the temple down the road. I put on a purple ta-meh (Karen traditional sarong-wrap), but some of the kids were pretty much already dressed in their pajamas, while the rest of them were in shorts. They told me there was no dress code, but I insisted that they not bring their shower towels along...

At the temple, there were shrines for Hindu and Muslims gods, along with the expected Buddhist ones. The kids asked me what day I was born, and I told them January 22, but they wanted the day of the week, which I did not know. I then called home (it was 5 am in California, I am a terrible child) and of course my dad and mom had no idea either. I will do the math when I am not so lazy, but as it is the era of technology, and I am more than likely to mess up the leap-year math, I will Google it some other time.

Note to self, and to travelers: know the day of the week of your birth, it’s useful for Buddhist prayers.