Haley's host family's company was having a work party that began at 10:00 AM. From what we understood, it was a belated New Year's party for workers in the company and was being held somewhere here in the city. We thought it was some sort of sit down lunch or maybe just a lunch outside and we couldn't have been more wrong! Haley, Matt, and I show up at this part with Tew (one of the women that Haley lives with and a teacher at Annubahn) at about 10:15 and we're told that there are going to be 100 people. Workers and their families came up from Bangkok and in from the villages for this party. There was even a live band with singers and backup dancers who came in from another town for this party.
Lunch was served around noon, but everyone had been drinking since at least 11:00. There was a beer stand set up and of course, the requisite bottles of whiskey. I held off until I had something to eat and then accepted a few classes of free beer. The food was good, though very fishy. Most of the big meals here are fish as we're right on the Mekong and I still don't like it so much...they did have chicken nuggets though, which was amazing and very good. Right after lunch was finished, karaoke was set up and being the only 'farangs' at the party, we were 'invited' to sing. Which really means we didn't have a choice. So Haley, Matt and I gamely get up on stage and request Zombie, as everyone in Thailand knows it and it's fairly easy to sing. By far the best part of my day was when an 80 year old woman with no teeth got up and started rocking out to our song. She loooved it and it make getting up on stage (which I'm slowly getting used to and don't particularly like) completely worth it. There was also a dance party that took place until guests started leaving at 4:00. Already, the party was hours longer than I thought it was going to be.
We were about to take our leave and say bye to Haley's family (P'yot and P'yut) at 5:00 or so but we were informed the party was far from over. The caterers/ workers pushed four round tables together and we just kept on singing and dancing! And drinking of course. At this point there were about 20-25 people left - all family and relatives so it was great to be included. They always tell me to come over so that I am not 'lonely' since I don't live with a family. The father (P'yut) and mother (P'yot) who are Haley's host parents and who own the company are so sweet and a lot of fun to hang out with. Anyways, we stayed for a while longer, singing and dancing up a storm and ended around 7 or 8. This is the point where we expected to head home, but Nicky (Haley's host sister who is 25) ended up taking us to sing karaoke at a hotel along the river! Some of the other volunteers met us there and we had our own little fan club of several Thai families who were there for a birthday party. To be fair, we were their fan club when they went up to sing. Again, more drinking ensued. I'm proud to say i didn't drink too much of this free alcohol over the course of the day and feel fine today :).
When we got tired of the Karaoke (in which a very good piano player sang and played along with us) we decided to go to the Duck Pub, which is Nakhon Phanom's version of a dance club. I was exhausted but Nicky was still going strong and she had arrived in Nakhon Phanom earlier that morning, on the bus from bangkok so we figured we could keep up. Throughout all this, P'yut has been with us! I was amazed that he kept up and he must have been soo tired but he was a great sport. singing, dancing, and drinking along with us. We spent a few hours at the duck pub and finally decided it was time to call it a night at about 1 am. Certainly the longest party I've ever been to!
Soo some of the pictures won't load, but here are a few.
The band at the party
Dancing with the old Thai ladies!! Haley is dancing with Kun Yaa - her host grandmother...she's absolutely adorable and just jabbers at us in Thai all the time. And gives us the best hugs.
After singing Karaoke and in the middle of our 'interview'
Being silly at the karaoke bar
World Teach. Enough said.
Having some fun at the Duck Pub...tried to find as many fellow plaid shirt wearing people as possible...always a good time.
Some thoughts:
--Fruit here is incredibly cheap and soooo delicious. It's something like 50 cents to a dollar for the best pineapple I've ever had. I've been getting used to how the fruits come in and out of season as well, depending on their price. Just recently ripe mango came into season and it's woooonderful. Mango and sticky rice may be my new favorite food.
--I no longer have any qualms about singing or dancing in public...on a stage...sober! For some this may come as a huge surprise as it's nothing I would have done in the past. But hours and hours of karaoke with Thai people will do that to you. They love to sing and having a good or bad voice is a non-issue....everyone sings.
--Some good song:
Lucky - Britney Spears
Zombie - the cranberries (they looove this song)
I beleive I can fly - R Kelly (also love this song!)
Imagine - John Lennon (a bunch of Thai people at the karaoke bar came up and started singing with us!)
Torn - Natalie Imbruglia
there are certainly more but i can' think of them at the moment.
Off to Bangkok/ Chonburi with 130 of my students! wish me luck.... should be interesting for sure.
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