Songkran Celebration in Aly's School

Aly was chosen by her teachers to represent their class in the Songkran celebration last Friday.  I made sure that all my chores were finished in the morning so I can swing by the school after lunch to give my girl some moral support.

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Auditorium.

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Costume parade.

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Thai dance.

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Aly getting ready for her turn.

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With her classmate Lui.

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Both of them represented the Grade 2 class in the water pouring ceremony, where they poured water on their teachers' hands as a sign of respect.

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That's my girl!

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So proud of you, babe!

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Aly with her BFF's Manolia + Annie.

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After the water ceremony, the students lined up on stage to tie a piece of string on the teacher's wrist, which symbolizes giving good wishes to the recipient.

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Aly got one too!

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From the auditorium, the students changed into their colorful Songkran shirts and headed to the gym for the games.

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With her classmates.

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Smile for mommy!

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That was my cue to leave.  Aly didn't want me to stay so I hung out at Starbucks across the street until it was time to pick her up.

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Caramel frap with no whipped cream.  Bawal kasi sa diet, but what they hey.  Wala na lang whipped cream (my favorite part) so I won't feel too guilty.  Haha!

Songkran Party

Aly and I went to the Songkran party hosted by Chatrium last week.
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All geared up for Songkran fun!

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Photos are not crystal clear because my camera was locked inside a resealable bag to keep it dry.  Heehee!

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Dumami na sila.

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They had games for the kids.

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But my Aly opted to just swim in the pool.

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It was a great afternoon for both of us -- Aly playing and swimming with her friends; me mingling and chatting with the mommies.

Sunday is Family Day

I'm proud to say that we are adapting well to our new surroundings. My Tito Jun told me to give ourselves a few weeks and he's right! Everything is starting to feel normal. I still miss home though, but at least now I can come up with things to do to keep myself busy.

The Thais will be celebrating Songkran, Thai new year, so there will be a week-long holiday for Richard. Songkran starts on Sunday, 13 April, and it's only until the 15th but Toyota declared no work for the entire week. Yey!

We kicked off the holidays with a good old-fashioned family day. Our itinerary: hear mass in the morning and visit the Crocodile Farm in the afternoon.

We went to the hear mass at Holy Redeemer Church at Ploenchit Road, where the sermon was given by the bishop of Malolos Bulacan, Bishop Jose Oliveros.

I almost forgot to take a photo so I took this when we were inside the car already.

Here's another photo.

On way to Samutprakarn. This is also the same route that Richard takes going to his office.

This is how they celebrate Songkran -- there's a waterfight everywhere you go.

People ride at the back of pick-up trucks and go around the city to throw water on people.

People taking public transpo are not spared, but they all seem to have fun!

Here, you will see kids throwing water at our car.

There's dancing everywhere!

This is the entrance to the street leading to Crocodile Farm.

The Crocodile Farm claims that they have over 60,000 crocodiles in captivity.

Ang dami nga!

This is an albino croc.

What the...?!? This sign really got me curious.

Mas maitim lang, chocolate covered na.

Other attractions in Crocodile farm inlcude a lake where people can chill, which I think is impossible to do since it was hot as hell in there!

There's also an elephant show. Yan was so thrilled to see a live elephant.

Here they come!

The elephants were made to do different tricks like sitting on a chair...

... and throw a soccer ball.

Ang init! Tagaktak ang pawis namin!

At the end of the show, people lined up so they can pass under the elephant. For good luck I think.

Our little girl wanted to touch the elephant. Ang tapang ni Yan!

Of course, there was also a crocodile show, pero hindi ang crocodile ang gumagawa ng tricks!

These men did tricks like putting their head and hand inside the croc's mouth. The kid was part of the stunt too!

We had our picture taken with a baby tiger as a souvenir.

Crocodile Farm was ok. I didn't enjoy it much because it was hot and there were lots of people. Actually, crocodiles are boring to watch because they don't move much. If you want to see some action, you can feed them. There are people selling crocodile food for 20-50baht. So what if they have over 60,000 crocodiles? They all look the same anyway. Napagkamalan ko ngang crocodile yung isang statue. Haha! Hindi kasi sila gumagalaw.

Entrance is 300baht for adults and 200 baht for kids. Not bad considering the farm is a really big place and they have many attractions inside.