Went to a Thai wedding this morning. The older sister of Jeeda married a man she'd been seeing for 2 years. They met at the temple. It was a really small wedding just family and a few others, all in all about 20 people. It was held in the shop where Jeeda's family works- the front of the house where they live. Everything was pushed aside in the store. But there still wasn't a lot of room so the doors were left open and we all hung out on the sidewalk and ate our curry there.
It is tradition in Thailand for the groom to give the Bride's family gold and cash at the wedding. And the cash is left out on a beautiful platter for all the see at the wedding. It probably isn't the most kosher of things to ask how much money was exchanged, but I did. It was 100,000 baht, which is about $2,500. Everyone there seemed to know that this is not a practice in the states, that the man "just" give a ring to the woman. I explained that the woman's family usually pays for the wedding, and when I told them how much that can cost they were appropriately surprised.
This is a picture from the wedding. The bride and groom are there in the middle in traditional silk Thai outfits. Happens to be baby blue at this wedding. Everything in front is food as offerings. Can you see the fan in the center. That's the 1000 baht bills displayed.
After the wedding this morning I hung out at home all day. Cleaned up, read, emailed, wrote some letters, ate some yummy thai fried bananas and thai fruit. My friend came over this afternoon to chat briefly about the budget for our HIV prevention workshop. She brought her 4 year old son and we played w a cat a little. Basically I rested today because I have a big run tomorrow. 23 MILES!! OH MAN. I am a little intimidated!!! 10 weeks countdown till my marathon.
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