Last day as PCVs
Imagine us walking around busy Bangkok and riding the sky train here and there. That's what we're doing. Today, this day, Thursday, May 11, 2006, is our last day as PCVs. When the clock strikes midnight, our coaches will turn to pumpkins and we will turn back into normalish people. Except, we will officially be RPCVs.
We are trying to work on closure, on emotions. Yesterday an RPCV from PC Thailand led us through a ceremony that helped in that department. When the Thai people go through something traumatic, they believe their soul and heart leaves their body, leaving them troubled. This ceremony is to call the soul and heart back. They said there's usually more to it, but with such short notice we did it like this: We sat shoeless in a circle and one by one wrapped a white string - blessed by a Buddhist monk, no less - around each others' wrists and said what we felt like saying about our experience. In the end we were all united in calling our hearts and souls back and felt a lot better about it. Then we cut ourselves loose and tied the white strings like a bracelet on our wrists where it should stay at least 3 days for the magic to work. But Bek and I, and others, have no intention of taking it off at all, at any time, anytime soon.
We had a farewell party last night at a pub. I had put together a slide show with everyone's pictures, collected over the last few days, for a collection of over 500 pics. We watched it after we all arrived and it was, thankfully, a hit. I had thrown it all together and was late to the pub because I was still working on it in the hotel. Today, our friend passed out black LIVE STRONG bracelets to all of us. They have a double meaning because, as I've mentioned before, the Timorese wear black when they are in mourning, and they wear it for an entire year. We plan to do that, too. In a year we'll all get together and have our own kore metan (take off the black).
posted by Travis Leger at 06:45
2 Comments:
Oh. I feel so sad for you! That's really hard, for it to end so abruptly.
You continue to be in my thoughts.
I have been following the news in east Timor very closely and am so sorry to know you have all had to leave. We have also cancelled our trip. I had thought that even though you weren't working on a project we could help with, perhaps we would come to visit and see what your site was like. I wish we could have done that!
I think I mentioned that I was PCV Thailand and so the ceremony you described is very meaningful to me. As I left my site, the school where I worked and the villagers from nearby came to tie those strings, called Poo Kan, on me to wish me well and send me off with good thoughts and hope. I had my strings on for a couple of years (not all of them but 2-3). When my husband and I went back after our wedding, we were given the strings again and I wore three strings for three years. It is a wonderful reminder of the good wishes from friends.
Take care, enjoy Thailand if you are planning on staying a while, it's a great country, especially if you get out of Bangkok. I have some friends here, two couples, who were similarly evacuated from Albania by Peace Corps. If you want to talk, toss out ideas our just vent, they are great people and would surely love to help.
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