school's Thai accessories, which deffinately helped make the whole getup work. After the whole madness of getting me all costumed up, we headed into the the auditorium type room where the contest was the take place. They kind of had two beauty contests going on at once, one for the students in Grades 7-9 and one for students in Grades 10-12. So while the first round of the younger students was going on, I just kind of sat around and waited with all the rest of the contestants from my group. When it was our turn to go for the first round, all that really happened was we got called up one by one, had to walk across the stage, stop and wai, then say hello and our name (in Thai of course), wai again, walk off stage, wai to the vice-principal, walk in front of the stage, then wai to the judges. It was pretty simple, I was just glad I didn't trip on my high heeled shoes, and that my Thai words actually came out correctly. I was actually pleasantly surprised when everyone in the auditorium cheered for me! I was expecting my friends to cheer, but not everyone else. But it was nice, and deffinately helped me smile a bit so my smile didn't look so fake and plastered on... We all then walked back up on stage together and when the time came, everyone in the audience came and gave us flowers (mostly roses).. I don't know how to explain it really... Many random people came and gave me flowers, but it was the ones which Soy and Cherry gave me that were really special to me. Soy came up and gave me a whole handful that represented ones from everyone of my classmates, and then Cherry came and gave me one just from her. It was really special. By the time the whole flower giving bit was over, I had so many I had to hold them all in just a giant bundle in my arms (kind of cradled like how one would hold a baby). Unfortunately, we had to hand in all of our flowers when we got off stage, and they were then counted up to see who had the most, and this person would end up winning the "most popular" award. It kind of sucked because I wanted to keep mine :( We then had to just sit around whilst the judges decided on the 10 girls who would make it into the next round (we started out with 25 in the first round) I thought the whole contest would end for me there (which is what I was kind of hoping for actually), but to my amazement I was one of the top 10! The second round consisted of us each answering one question while on stage. Since there was 
no way I could understand mine, P'Patch came up onto the stage to help me out. My question was something along the lines of, "do you think the Thai language is important? And is it important to learn another language?" Which I thought was actually quite a good question for me to answer. I kind of went on about how I come from a country where our Native language has been forgotten and replaced with English, and how I find that kind of sad, and I think it is important for a country to continue using their Native language and keep that part of their culture alive. The second part of the question I answered by saying that it is also important to learn other languages because it allows one to communicate with others throughout the world. P'Patch translated to the rest of the audience for me, and I have a feeling she may have added in a bit of her own opinion too ;) Then we did the whole flower giving thing again, and yet again I was given quite an armful. The judges then tallied up the score, and they announced who the winners were. At this point I was expecting to either get nothing, or to get the popular award based on how many flowers I was given. However, I ended up getting 4th place (and I know 4th place isn't that amazing, but considering that I was in a Thai beauty contest when I'm not even Thai....)!!!! Needless to say, I was super excited! I won a nice trophy and everything that I get to keep and take back to Canada with me! Overall, I'm glad I entered the beauty contest. It was quite fun, and it really helped show me just how kind my new classmates are...In the evening Patch and I met up with Cherry at Tops for Loy Krathong. We walked to Wat
Nongchok (Nongchok Temple) where we ate some dinner, and then bought our Krathongs (Patch didn't buy one though, because she is Muslim and therefore does not loy krathongs). Traditionally Krathongs are made out of the trunk of a banana tree, and then decorated with candles and flowers... but they can also be made out of bread or coconut shells. I wanted to buy a more traditional one though, and I chose carefully the one I thought was the most beautiful. We walked down to the canal to go loy our krathongs... had some trouble actually getting the candles to light, and then did the whole loy-ing ritual, which involved kind of holding the krathong and making a wish, then placing in into the water and kind of wafting it away from the shore... I was sad to see that as soon as I had loy-ed mine, the candle went out :( But it was quite an experience.. 
And seeing all of the beautifuly decorated, glowing krathongs floating down the canal (while the full moon was shining down on the water) was one of the most beautiful things... Before we set our krathongs afloat, we placed a bit of money on them, which apparently will bring in good fortune, or something along those lines... However, Patch told me that when she was little, she used to row her boat down the canal in front of her home, and take all of the money from the Krathongs, and sure enough, I actually saw some little kids doing that very thing... In addition to the floating Krathongs, there are also krathongs which one can set into the sky (kind of like a mini-hot air balloon).. and since I've only got one shot at this whole loy krathong thing, I decided I wanted to set free an airbourne one as well. So we went and bought one, and then headed to the park where we could find some nice open space to set our Krathong free. This whole process wasn't as interesting as the floating one, since we were the only ones really letting go a flying krathong. It looked beautiful nonetheless, and nearly as soon as we lit the candle on it, it kind of flew away and then was gone. We just hoped it didn't land on our school and set it afire.
Today my class went on a fieldtrip to the International Airport, where we were first given a tour, and then set free to interview foreigners (in English) about their visit to Thailand. It was kind of fun, but I wasn't really too impressed to see that Patch did all of the interviews for everyone.. Because I think the whole point of the thing was for the students to practice their English with foreigners, and with Patch doing all of the work none of them practiced at all. It wasn't her fault of anything, and I know she really enjoyed doing the interviews (we met alot of really nice people, but I found it kind of funny that ALL of them were European, and that English wasn't actually their first language... we met people from Norway, Holland, France, Switzerland, Germany...) To be honest it was kind of weird for me being at that Airport. I was thinking about how I felt the last time I was there ("what the hell did I get myself into? I want to go home.... etc"), and about how I will probably feel the next time I'm there (leaving to go back to Canada...) And of course, I was super happy when there was actually toilet paper in the public bathrooms there! Seeing all of the foreigners though kind of made me feel homesick (although none of them were actually Canadian), and made me just want to be with more foreigners (my Thai friends are nice and all, but they kind of start to drive me crazy after a little while... it really is exhausting communicating with them all day with the whole language barrier, and sometimes I just need a break from it all...). So I phoned up Elisabeth and on Saturday her and I will be going to the mall! And if everything works out I will go to see Rachel on either Sunday or Monday (the original plan was for me to leave Friday, but since my Coordinator is silly and didn't get the documents done in time... I have to wait a couple extra days)...
Nongchok (Nongchok Temple) where we ate some dinner, and then bought our Krathongs (Patch didn't buy one though, because she is Muslim and therefore does not loy krathongs). Traditionally Krathongs are made out of the trunk of a banana tree, and then decorated with candles and flowers... but they can also be made out of bread or coconut shells. I wanted to buy a more traditional one though, and I chose carefully the one I thought was the most beautiful. We walked down to the canal to go loy our krathongs... had some trouble actually getting the candles to light, and then did the whole loy-ing ritual, which involved kind of holding the krathong and making a wish, then placing in into the water and kind of wafting it away from the shore... I was sad to see that as soon as I had loy-ed mine, the candle went out :( But it was quite an experience.. 
And seeing all of the beautifuly decorated, glowing krathongs floating down the canal (while the full moon was shining down on the water) was one of the most beautiful things... Before we set our krathongs afloat, we placed a bit of money on them, which apparently will bring in good fortune, or something along those lines... However, Patch told me that when she was little, she used to row her boat down the canal in front of her home, and take all of the money from the Krathongs, and sure enough, I actually saw some little kids doing that very thing... In addition to the floating Krathongs, there are also krathongs which one can set into the sky (kind of like a mini-hot air balloon).. and since I've only got one shot at this whole loy krathong thing, I decided I wanted to set free an airbourne one as well. So we went and bought one, and then headed to the park where we could find some nice open space to set our Krathong free. This whole process wasn't as interesting as the floating one, since we were the only ones really letting go a flying krathong. It looked beautiful nonetheless, and nearly as soon as we lit the candle on it, it kind of flew away and then was gone. We just hoped it didn't land on our school and set it afire.Today my class went on a fieldtrip to the International Airport, where we were first given a tour, and then set free to interview foreigners (in English) about their visit to Thailand. It was kind of fun, but I wasn't really too impressed to see that Patch did all of the interviews for everyone.. Because I think the whole point of the thing was for the students to practice their English with foreigners, and with Patch doing all of the work none of them practiced at all. It wasn't her fault of anything, and I know she really enjoyed doing the interviews (we met alot of really nice people, but I found it kind of funny that ALL of them were European, and that English wasn't actually their first language... we met people from Norway, Holland, France, Switzerland, Germany...) To be honest it was kind of weird for me being at that Airport. I was thinking about how I felt the last time I was there ("what the hell did I get myself into? I want to go home.... etc"), and about how I will probably feel the next time I'm there (leaving to go back to Canada...) And of course, I was super happy when there was actually toilet paper in the public bathrooms there! Seeing all of the foreigners though kind of made me feel homesick (although none of them were actually Canadian), and made me just want to be with more foreigners (my Thai friends are nice and all, but they kind of start to drive me crazy after a little while... it really is exhausting communicating with them all day with the whole language barrier, and sometimes I just need a break from it all...). So I phoned up Elisabeth and on Saturday her and I will be going to the mall! And if everything works out I will go to see Rachel on either Sunday or Monday (the original plan was for me to leave Friday, but since my Coordinator is silly and didn't get the documents done in time... I have to wait a couple extra days)...
To see the full set of photos from Loy Krathong:
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