Funeral Crashing

After training on Thursday, my host sister told me we were going somewhere (my limited vocabulary did not include where exactly where we were going). She lent me of her black skirst that she usually wears as part of her school uniform (she's a teacher) and had me put on a white shirt. Then 7 of us squeezed into my host family's truck which is "supposed" to seat 5, but it's Thailand; we probably could have fit more if we wanted. I had no idea where we were going during the ride but just smiled and went along with it. (I'm getting used to doing that. :))

We arrived at a temple, and my host sister explained to me that this was a funeral! There were a bunch of lawn chairs lined up in rows outside what would be our equivalent of a big funeral parlor. There was a photo of the deceased lady (that I couldn't see from where we were sitting), some monks chanting, and huge wreaths of flowers. We wai-ed a lot (put our hands together at chest level in a prayer-like manner) while a monk chanted into a microphone. Otherwise, it felt like we were crashing a party. They gave us food too. It was like having a second dinner complete with dessert although it's probably not considered dinner in Thailand because it wasn't served with rice. After about an hour, it was over, and we got up and left without socializing with any of the other guests. We wai-ed someone I think might have been closely related to the deceased person as we left. Maybe. And we took an extra slice of cake they provided home with us too. Breakfast tomorrow!