Sevenwinds has moved

2006-12-20T18:02:00.000-08:00

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Sevenwinds

Wat Mongkolratanaram

2006-12-20T18:01:00.001-08:00

This popular Wat is so famous that it is listed in Wikipedia, and Answers.com. Do a search on the Internet and you will find more photos of it than Thai temples ten times its size. A google search will yield 574 references. It has been the site of weddings, Thai Festivals, and is a center of a large Thai Community. You can even find information about this Wat in some of the Restaurant review sites on the net, but you will not find this Wat in any guide book for Thailand. Why?...Because its located in Berkeley, California, USA.

When new Thai immigrants come to the US, one of the things they will find is significant differences in language and culture. This is to be expected since, after all, they are immigrants. But the degree of difference will surprise many Thais who are use to being the majority in what is a fairly homogeneous country. Surrounded by a culture of Thai history, language, food, and government nationalism all their lives, many Thais have a very difficult time adapting to their new environment here. They will find very few Thai speakers, very few people who know anything about Thai history (some may not even know WHERE Thailand is located!), and very few other Thais nearby (except maybe in Los Angeles). The food will be strange, the climate colder, and unless something bad happens, there will be very little news or interest about Thailand on TV, the radio, or newspapers. But what can they do? They have chosen to come here and must somehow adapt or go back.

How many immigrants have eased this feeling of being homesick, and made adaptation easier is by establishing ethnic neighborhoods in their new country. In this neighborhood enclave of similar people, as much as possible of the 'home' country is imported and preserved via local cultural activities, newspapers, stores, restaurants, and especially places of worship. For the Thai community in the East Bay of San Francisco, Wat Mongkolratanaram is the centerpiece of their local cultural and religious activities.

Unlike Los Angeles, there is no 'Thai Town' here in the Bay Area because the local population is more spread out and sparse. However, the Wat has an adjoining cultural center, and a special activity which puts it on the map of places to go on Sundays in the Berkeley area. On Sundays, starting about 9AM until about 2PM, they offer a 'brunch' of authentic Thai food. This brunch is so popular that there are often no seats left on the tables in the courtyard of the temple. Staffed by volunteers and owners of many local Thai restaurants, the proceeds from the food sales go to funding the Wat, the cultural center, and the school.

Some of the dishes here are not typically found in local Thai restaurants. For example, you can get everything from Vegetarian dishes, to Issan style fried chicken, Som Tom, sticky rice, curry dishes, noodles, etc., to Kanom Krog. On cold days, a bowl of spicy guoy dieow can put that fire back into your belly. Its like a grouping of street stalls like you would find in Bangkok, only cooler.

The prices are reasonable, but not cheap and you 'buy' your food with tokens purchased (via donations) from the Wat. One dollar will get you one token, so the prices on the board are in US dollars.

I discovered this Wat while looking for Thai language schools a few years back, and it was just 15 minutes from my home. This Wat is where I got my first introduction and instruction in Thai and Thai culture. Often I am asked in Thailand where I learned to speak Thai, even though I didn't live in Thailand all the time and never went to a language school there. When I tell them I attended classes at a Thai temple in California, their ears would instantly perk up and I would get a ton of questions about life here. At one point there were five monks in residence at the Wat, but I am not sure how many live there today.

I visited the Wat yesterday because it was Christmas time and I had a couple of the "Long Live the King" wristbands to give as presents to a few people there. I could not find many of my old friends, but the Wat was just the same. The exotic blend of "Berkeley type" people were there having a great Sunday morning feast.

I did find my old Thai teacher, Ajarn S., and took a few pictures of her and her staff along with pictures of the classroom for kids. She was now in charge of all the Children's classes, after spending a number of years teaching adults. I assume it was a promotion of sorts as kids are much more fun to teach that us slow learning adult types. It was amazing how the school has developed.

When I took classes there, the Wat occupied only one building and we only had one corner of a room for our classes (adults and kids would share desks and teacher time). Now there are six classrooms, all fully equipped. The Sunday school caters to a lot of kids that are Thai or Luk Kreung (half Thai), who were born in the US and cannot speak Thai. To many Thais in Thailand, a 100% Thai person not speaking any Thai is unheard of. How could they NOT want to learn Thai?...This is very similar to how my mother thought when we were kids, and thus she forced us to go to "Chinese School" every day.

I always needle myself about my small vocabulary of Thai words and jokingly attribute it to being taught at a language school for kids. However, I did attend the "adult class" so its totally my fault for not picking up more on my own.

After a little chat with my old teacher about scheduling (she is going to be in BKK in July), and giving her one of the wristbands , I went outside for some food to bring home. It was in the low 50s today and the place was still packed with diners. A few smiles flowed from familiar faces as I got my food and went back to my condo for a warmer place to eat. I definitely need to visit more often.

To find Wat Mongkolratanaram, take the Ashby Exit off Hwy 80 and go towards the University of California. Make a left turn on the little street opposite the Ashby BART station, just before you reach the intersection of Martin Luther King Street and Ashby. Go straight one block and you will run into Russell Street and the Wat. Aahan aroy mak!

On Internet Privacy and blogging

2006-12-12T21:17:00.000-08:00

The Internet, and especially blogging is a wonderful thing. It allows one to freely express one's viewpoint and share information without providing your personal information and all the problems that may come along with your identity. Taken responsibly, the blog writer can use the medium to bare his/her own soul to others similarly minded in one large virtual world. Political viewpoints, social issues, and even personal pet peeves can be typed out with the abandon of Mozart on a piano keyboard. You meet new friends and share information with those you want to know thousands of miles away.

But what happens if your identity is exposed to those whose true motivations are unknown or perhaps those that do not have your best interest in mind? With your identity exposed, your soul and information is bare and open for some to interpret or use in whatever way they want to, now or in the future. With your identity exposed, your privacy is gone as is your freedom to write what may offend those that know the identity behind the words.

I have shared my personal identity with a very few select friends and bloggers. They have been very positive and supportive about this endeavor and are not the problem. However, due to personal incidents recently, I may soon have to either shut down this blog or move it to a semi-private mode (subscription only). This blog started out as a personal blog and I took some risk making it more public, hoping that being anonymous would still give me some privacy. Unfortunately I was wrong. So to those regular readers that still want access to this blog, please PM me so I can add you. I never was, and will never be interested in the commercial potential of this site so the number of hits, etc is not important.

My apologies for the inconvenience. Also a big 'thank you' for those that may want to remain anonymous and not subscribe, for listening to me the last few months.

Peace and love always. Sincerely,
Sevenwinds

Bookends of the World

Sevenwinds has moved

Wat Mongkolratanaram

On Internet Privacy and blogging