Ray left offshore on Tuesday afternoon, but this week has been jam packed for me anyway. I spent all day Tuesday shopping in the big city of Hat Yai with my friend Claire in an attempt to find groceries to make Indian food. We found most stuff but in the end had to raid some spice jars at another friend's house! hahah.
Wednesday all the ladies got together for a potluck Indian lunch. SO much food and SO much fun. These women are just incredible. Such a vast array of stories, and wisdom, and cultures. It is so much fun to spend an afternoon with them. I think we are mostly all christian, but from US, Canada, Scotland, UK, Holland, Russia and Indonesia and Venezuela. I am the newest one to international Schlumberger travels, so they have all lived in at least one other country, some 4 or 5, and have lots of cool adventures to share. It's a lovely way to spend the day.
Today I had my first taste of Buddhism at the temple. A family member of two of the company employees passed away, so "the wives" went to the pay their respects. The ritual here is that the body lies in a side building at the temple for a week - while people come to say prayers and see the family. You take off your shoes, go in and kneel on a carpet in front of the casket, light some incense and pray that they will be taken on to a better place. Then the family feeds you! Very different from Canada where everyone brings US food to comfort the family. Here the family spends the week cooking and looking after the community, as a way to keep busy, and to give thanks to the community for the prayers, and when you come to the temple you bring them money to help pay for the food and the cost of the funeral. So we had some very tasty fresh made Thai food and a nice chat with his daughter about different cultures and burial rituals around the world. Tomorrow night will be another part to the funeral where the monks come and chant, and then on Saturday they burn the body. From there the ashes are kept (I think..) in sort of a monument in the temple that the family pays for, where all the rest of their family members are.
That was a lot to learn in one morning...so then it was off to a beachside restaurant for lunch :) It felt like we were on a tropical vacation! Monkeys were jumping on the roof and being shooed away by the staff, while we enjoyed some lemonade and seafood. Then of course we had to go for iced coffees since the really good coffee shop is just across the street.
And after such a long day....we went for foot massages. HAHAHA. An hour long massage of your feet, and legs, and a shoulder massage, and acupressure, all for the low low price of $5. Life here is certainly different from at home! That being said....I miss my work a lot, and I will be happy to be back in clinic next month. But it is so beautiful here, and the people are so welcoming, that I'm sure I will be torn between the two places all year.
Lots of love
Pamela
p.s. Tomorrow is Market day! My favourite day of the week!!! And this week I won't be hung over, so it will be a lot more fun :) Next weekend I am going up to Bangkok to check out the markets there...get your christmas requests in early!
p.p.s. In our travels today we did locate where the gym is so that we can start working off all our ladies lunches!
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