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The open house ceremony

The open house was May 25, 2008.

This is the 'front'.

The windows are for the bedroom. It is the front only because it faces the street and is the entrance one would generally use. Under the stairs we are creating a storage area and a laundry room.

The white string was wrapped all around the house for the open house ceremony.

This is the 'back'.

The windows are for the living room area which extends the length of the house. There are 4 rooms. BR, LR, Bath, and Kitchen. The entire area undre the house is usable as well and includes the area under the 'balcony'. So while the enclosed space is limited the actual living space is quite large.

It is from these windows that we have a distant view of the hills and valley. The front view will be of the garden area once we get that done.

The tables are set up for the open house cooking area.

This is the LR corner.

The water tank is not yet installed so we are still dependent on town water which shuts off each night. We fill a large trash can with water during the day in case we need any at night.

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The Kitchen corner.

I did not extend the balcony all the way because I didn't want people to be able to walk up to our BR windows and there wasn't any need for it behind the Bathroom either. But I did extend the roof overhang so that it helps to extend the usable space underneath.

The Open House...

Nid's getting ready.

The women set up a cooking area. That's Nid's sister in the orange shirt. She has been a big help to us.

We had plenty to eat and drink.

We had bought 3 cases of beer and 3 bottles of whiskey. I expected to have to run out to the store at some point to replenish but I realized last night that I didn't and that we had some beer left over. On reflection I realized that almost no one was drinking the store bought stuff. They all drank the local home brew. Moonshine. And it is potent. I will sip it, but a drink is too much for me.

To make matters more perilous for me, they tend to bottle it in beer bottles. So I have to be careful which bottle I drink from.

Nid set a place for you.

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It started for me with a meeting with the town elders. Since I hadn't a clue what was being said I just tried to smile a lot. They drank a lot. That is the moonshine in the plastic covered beer bottle. That is Nid's father in the white shirt.

The monks were invited to give their blessing. This is the senior monk in the LR.

Altogether we had 5 monks.

This is Nid's mother.

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After a certain amount of blessing and stuff it was time to bring in the swag. The guests each grabbed hold of some kind of household stuff and carried it in for us. Had I known about this particular aspect of the ceremony I would have brought all the furniture down from Chiang Mai and let them carry that up the stairs.

Then came string tying time. Not sure what the string signifies but on every special occasion there is a string tying part. Everyone had a chance to tie a string on our wrist. By the time it was done, and even late arrivals had to tie a string on so it was an on-going process, my arms felt much heavier. And I was told I should leave them on for a couple of days.

And then it was time to party. It lasted 2 full days and most of the third and well into each night. Mostly eating and drinking but it wouldn't be a Thai celebration without Karoake singing. So we had that also. And no one sings worse than a Thai. Sort of like a drowning cat. Amplified.

This is Nid's teacher from when she went to school in the village. She has asked me, she speaks very good English, to come visit her classes once we get set up. There are many opportunities for English language instructors in Thailand. Do you have your TOEFL certificate?

The cat isn't sure what to make of all this but she's pretty sure there will be some left overs.

Nid and I.