The day I wore huge pants.

Well things just keep happening. Seriously a day does not go by in this country that is jam packed. I feel like I've already been here a month, but I've only been here 3 days. WHAT?! That is unreal.

Today I got to sleep in until 8 (YAY!) and then I went to Church. Thailand is 89% Buddhist, 85% Muslim, and barely 1% Christian.  There are Buddhist monks literally on every corner, decked out in their bright orange robes and bald heads. They live in huge Wats (Buddhist temples) and have very high status- even the King has to pay respect to them. Anyways, I went to my first Catholic mass! It was a gorgeous church- one of three in Chiang Mai- with water falls and stained glass. The Buddhist monks actually built the church for the Catholics in the community because they wanted them to have a place of worship. Religious inclusion is a big thing here, which is why we were still allowed to take Communion, even though we are not Catholic.

Then began our day of shopping. First we went to the worlds largest gem and jewlrey store. Fine gems are native to Thailand, and it is very easy to find sapphire jewlrey for around $30. I was a little stressed there- they had an apprasier who would follow me everywhere and would push things at me. Oh well, you live and you learn.

Next, we went to an umbrella making store. They made the paper, crafted the bamboo, and painted designs on the site. You could get anything you wanted painted- so I got orchids painted on my TOMS! They look awesome, and I want to wear them all the time. The lady was very friendly and gave me a discount, and even wrote Chiang Mai 2011 on one shoe and the Thai lettering of Chiang Mai 2554 (the Buddhist year) on the other shoe. I'll have to put up pictures. They rock. I also bought a painting of elephants there for my painting collection I have, and a pair of elephant pants! Seriously, everyone in the world should own a pair of these pants. They are made of lightweight cotton and are GINORMOUS. You have to fold it in a special way, and then tie and fold some more, and BEHOLD. The most comfortable pants known to mankind. I tried to find a picture on google to show what they looked like, but all that came up was elephant boxers. SO you'll just have to wait til I put up my LOVELY picture of me in my pants online. (P.S. Friends...If I cannot find a better souvenir for all of you, you might be receiving some of these pants..haha)

We then continued on to a Silk making factory..where they boiled silk worm caccoons right in front of us! Apparently if the silk worms reach maturity and leave their caccoons, they ruin the silk thread, so they have to boil the caccoons with the poor worms inside. That was weird. They also showed us how silk is made..and WHOA were those things expensive.. even in American dollars. The nice thing about Thailand is that the exchange rate is freakin awesome and I can usually buy whatever I want, but wow was that silk out of my price range.

We finally concluded our trip with  a lacquer store. This is where they make sculptures and jewley boxes and stuff with that black shiny stuff with gold leaf on it.

The process on to make these boxes is ridiculous! They have to apply the black lacquer 7 times, each time letting it dry. They then have to apply different glue and have to hand apply the gold leaf, then wash it in this special thing to make it shiny. I wish I could remember the whole process, because it really helped me appreicate what they do so much more. Ajarn Mike (ajarn means professor in Thai..we always have to refer to him at that as a label of respect) said that we are going to making these in our art class this semester. We'll see how that goes.. GPA dropper right there.

NEEDLESS to say, I learned that Chiang Mai is a city that specializes in the fine arts. Who knew so many talented, artistic people could live in one city!

Miss you all! I start my intensive Thai classes tomorrow at the university, and I have to get a traditional Thai outfit! Wish me luck!

<3 Kitty