I attended my first Thai wake 2 days ago. P's cousin left on Saturday after a brain op and staying unconscious for a week in a local hospital. And for the next couple of days, we would have to make nightly trip to the temple for the wake.
P's not exceptionally close to his cousins, but coincidentally, I had met this particular cousin the most since arriving here. Wakes in Thailand bear close resemblance to those in Singapore, except that the ambiance is less sorrowful. I remember at my grandma's, we engaged these monks who chanted in a very teary tone and people were like so affected that there were weeps every night. For the Thais, monks chanted too. But Buddhist teachings on the life cycle were taught as well. Somehow, death seems more spiritual here. The ceremony would last for like 2 hours every night and there would be an in-between break whereby light snacks would be served to the guests. Not like the mini feast we have in Singapore, just some cakes and drinks.
I dont normally have to meet lotsa P's relatives cos thankfully they rarely have get-togethers with the extended family. Anywayz, I am kindda getting bored of meeting people and then repeating myself. And there would be repeated scenarios of kids' parents trying to get them to talk to you in English.
And you know how sometimes you are expected to help out on occasions like these but you feel helpless cos you totally have no clue what is to be done and what you can do. So on off, I will pretend that I dont understand people in order to get myself out of embarrassment. Told P about an incident yesterday that his aunt had asked why hadnt I helped out with the food distribution during the in-between breaks. The fact was I did, just that there were more helpers than food needed to be distributed so there was nothing left for me to distribute and so I had to make my way back to the hall. So there was this angry auntie and me, who bloody cant explain to her that I tried to help but there was nothing for me to do. P was like, forget about her, some people are just plain stupid. He always have that "most Thais are moron" attitude and ask me to totally ignore them. And so I pretended not to understand her. Somehow, old people here have the "you have to respect me" look all the time. It gets quite irritating.
Just this afternoon, sis told me that 姑丈 lost his fight with cancer and left us this morning. I am now of the age that the generation that preceded me are decaying. Sometimes I think, human are so strong emotionally. They can bear to see people leaving them and no matter how painful it was initially, they would survive that pain.
P's not exceptionally close to his cousins, but coincidentally, I had met this particular cousin the most since arriving here. Wakes in Thailand bear close resemblance to those in Singapore, except that the ambiance is less sorrowful. I remember at my grandma's, we engaged these monks who chanted in a very teary tone and people were like so affected that there were weeps every night. For the Thais, monks chanted too. But Buddhist teachings on the life cycle were taught as well. Somehow, death seems more spiritual here. The ceremony would last for like 2 hours every night and there would be an in-between break whereby light snacks would be served to the guests. Not like the mini feast we have in Singapore, just some cakes and drinks.
I dont normally have to meet lotsa P's relatives cos thankfully they rarely have get-togethers with the extended family. Anywayz, I am kindda getting bored of meeting people and then repeating myself. And there would be repeated scenarios of kids' parents trying to get them to talk to you in English.
And you know how sometimes you are expected to help out on occasions like these but you feel helpless cos you totally have no clue what is to be done and what you can do. So on off, I will pretend that I dont understand people in order to get myself out of embarrassment. Told P about an incident yesterday that his aunt had asked why hadnt I helped out with the food distribution during the in-between breaks. The fact was I did, just that there were more helpers than food needed to be distributed so there was nothing left for me to distribute and so I had to make my way back to the hall. So there was this angry auntie and me, who bloody cant explain to her that I tried to help but there was nothing for me to do. P was like, forget about her, some people are just plain stupid. He always have that "most Thais are moron" attitude and ask me to totally ignore them. And so I pretended not to understand her. Somehow, old people here have the "you have to respect me" look all the time. It gets quite irritating.
Just this afternoon, sis told me that 姑丈 lost his fight with cancer and left us this morning. I am now of the age that the generation that preceded me are decaying. Sometimes I think, human are so strong emotionally. They can bear to see people leaving them and no matter how painful it was initially, they would survive that pain.
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