A New Volunteer At the National Museum !

   

  This week I went with some friends to a meeting at the beautiful Dusit Thani Hotel in Bangkok for the National Museum.  It was an informational meeting for people who were interested in being volunteers and for people who were interested in becoming new members.  Also a time for older members to catch up with others that they might not have seen in a while.

      I went because I love history and I had heard about all of the wonderful programs they had going on there, so I was definitely going to join.  When I told Steve that I was now a volunteer at the museum he asked, "How much is that going to cost?"  Well they do actually charge 1200 Baht to be a member but you get free admission and if you want to go to lectures it costs less than an outsider.  Also, what I am really excited about is that they have a 2 month class that is 2 days a week starting on January 29th which will train me to be a docent in the museum.  A docent is someone who will give a free tour to English speaking visitors.  There are also Japanese, German and French docents.  I will learn a lot about Thai history and culture, meet a lot of people, and at the end of the class, if I feel that being a docent is not for me, I don't have to commit.  I think it's pretty cool. 

     While I was at this open house, my friend Deb introduced me to a Budhist monk she knows.  He originally was American, grew up in Indiana, and by the age of 10 knew that he wanted to be a Budhist.  Kind of a tough thing to be in the middle of the cornfields of Indiana! 


     His original name is Karol, but most people called him Percy.  When he became a monk he took on the name Bhikkhu Kantasilo, but he asked us to call him Bante.  I think "Bhikkhu" is an honorific but I am not sure.  He has been a monk here in Thailand for 32 years and came here just after the Vietnam war ended, sometime around 1979.  He said that at that time white people were still pretty unusual to see and a lot of Thais would stop and stare and point at him.  I won't go into his whole story because he is quite a talker and very personable.  I hope one day to get to tour the Wat that he is at. 

     These children played traditional Thai music for us.  It's very hard for a Westerner to appreciate their music.  At first it sounded to me like my high school band as we were all warming up our instruments at the same time.  Then they played another song where one of the boys sang, and his voice was very sweet.  I suppose the music could grow on me if I heard it enough! 
                                    Linda