Sabaydii everyone!
Greetings from Bangkok. My apology for not writing earlier. It was so wonderful meeting all of you again last week. On Sunday I attended a family’s merit making ceremony for my Lao sister-like friend who passed away since last year (as I probably had told you earlier; really sorry to keep mumbling about this). It was my first time to witness the Buddhist ceremony for our loved ones. The ceremony is merely slightly different from what we usually do in Thailand. Here people put a tray with two candles in front of each person during the sermon; no such thing in BKK (at least not in my family tradition). And when the monks said out loud my friend’s name I tried very hard to fight back my tears; still couldn’t believe that she’s actually gone forever. As a Buddhist I have well absorbed the concepts of birth, aging, illness, and death. Yet it’s still hard to accept these facts of life.
The following Monday had turned into quite a different day, however. I was happy to see that you SAILers really have blended in with the students and the locals. This time, please believe me, you don’t look like Americans at all!!! I regretted that I talked to Nong Yaengsaeng in English, as your first sentences in Lao sounded so very Lao to me!!!, much better than my Lao speaking skill. But I was too worried about the interview with you, that I forgot about the fact that we can actually communicate in Lao. It’s too bad that I didn’t get a chance to talk to everybody. I hope we could spend some more time getting to know each other more; perhaps if you decide to visit us (me, Vinya’s mom, Aj Rattana, my Lao-class students, etc) in Thailand, on your way back home.
Talking to Aj. Ginny was really a privilege to me. I think you are such a special person. I hope that you would have a chance to visit Bangkok and meet me and my whole family some day. I will definitely consult with my faculty members at Thammasat and discuss how we and LAC can coorperate.
Have a wonderful stay in Vientiane everyone. Please keep in touch.
Varisa*
* Dr. Varisa Kamalanavin is a current Center for Lao Studies’ advisory board member. She is an Associate Professor and teaches Lao at Thammasat University, Thailand.
