Makha Bucha

Vivian has a lot of days off of school.  There are standard school holidays like teacher work days and seasonal breaks, but she also gets lots of Thai holidays I've never heard of before, case in point, Makha Bucha day this past Wednesday.  It's a Buddhist holiday celebrated during a full moon.  The observant Buddhist goes to temple at night and there is a ceremony with candles.  It's also a day when you're supposed to try to be sin free, so maybe that's why there's no work or school.

It's kind of weird to have no school on a Wednesday, so I wasn't quite sure what to do with the day.  I didn't feel like going downtown, so I thought it would be worth a shot to see if Vivian wanted a pampering day.  I told her she could have a massage, get a hair cut, and we could go out to lunch.  She thought that sounded great.

I booked us for the shortest massage I could find, and one that was only head, neck, and shoulders.  Vivian is very ticklish, so I knew she didn't want anyone going near her feet.  She was excited in the beginning, but she wanted the lady to do it very gently.  The lady giving her the massage didn't speak any English, and, even though it would seem to be common sense to take it easy on a kid, didn't seem to understand what we were asking for.  Vivian said she didn't like it when the lady pushed on her back, but it was okay when she rubbed her head.  Verdict: she doesn't want another massage.  Oh well.

After that, we went to get her hair cut which she was really excited about.  She has wanted it shorter for ages.  I told her it had to be at least long enough for a ponytail.  We compromised on shoulder length, and we're both happy with the result.  The original plan was for her to get the little braids in the front as well, but by the time we got to that point, she just couldn't sit still any longer, and said she didn't want braids after all.  It's too bad, because they look really cute and cost almost nothing, but I could tell she just needed to move.

She ran the whole way to the club for lunch and then proceeded to run around outside and feed the fish while we waited for our friends to join us.  Luckily, we were the only people there, so the kids ran around and played with just a brief break for food and drink.

The next day was a free dress day at school, but Vivian's favorite part was her hair, which she got lots of compliments on.  I almost forgot that she had a play in Thai class which parents were invited to come watch.  One of my friends sent me a reminder text, and I raced to school at the last minute.  I'm not sure if our golf cart is going to last for three years, given the speed bump abuse it's subjected to, but I made it just as Vivian was about to start.  It turns out she was the main character, an elephant.  She did a great job and here's the grin to prove it.