Hellooooo, Kevin!
It’s Ryna with many many hobbies and it’ll be Songkran tomorrow!
I think you may know that Songkran is the Thai New Year. It’s a 3-day celebration, but I get 6 days off work this year. You may also know that the tradition is that people would go outside and splash water at each other, most of the time with water guns. This is because it’s already summer for us. It’s like the hottest time of the year here which is really saying something because it’s hot all the time. We have 3 seasons and it goes SUMMER, wet summer, and slightly-less-sweaty-summer.
Anyway, to me, the water fight is only fun when it’s a small group of friends/family playing together. When I was little, my parents would make plans with their friends whose children were also my friends to go and play in these water fights. Usually, if you had a pickup truck, anyone who wanted to play would be in the cargo bed(?) with water tanks/containers, then you’d drive around town. Other people would have like a water tank setup in front of their houses, and they’d splash you as you drive past. That’s how they play in the suburbs. In the city, especially Bangkok, there are areas designated for water fights, the road would be blocked, so the people can walk and play. The one with pickup trucks is so not safe, and the walking one is only fun when the area is not too crowded.
The most fun water fight I had was when I was like 12 or 13 y/o. It was during summer school. Summer school in Thailand is very common and it’s not for kids who are failing or anything like that. Most of the time it’s for kids whose parents are too busy to take care of them during summer. Is that sad? I don’t know. I don’t think it’s that sad for the kids since they don’t have to wear school uniforms and the lessons are more relaxed. Anyway, that year it was required that everyone in my year attend because it’s before 1st year of middle school. It was 1 day before the actual Songkran that the school prepared water and… what do you call those bowls/cups for water that are in every Southeast Asian household? We call them ขัน(khan). I don’t remember if the school gave us water guns or not. If they did, it must have been the small ones, but I really don’t remember. Yeah, that was the most fun because it was just us kids and some teachers letting loose and playing together in a safe environment. 15 minutes in and we all became these soaking wet little puppies.
Other than the water fight, the tradition is that you put this white clay/wet powder on other people’s cheeks. The white clay thing can protect your skin from the sun and it smells really nice. It’s actually cute and fun if you do this with friends and family. When strangers try to touch your cheeks with that clay, it’s a little… icky. I don’t like that. Most places ban the white clay thing now because, well, some men made it weird.
You’re also supposed to spend time with your extended family during Songkran. There’s this thing where you pour water (usually scented, with flower petals put in) on the hands of older people in your family. This is for good luck. I think this is what I’m doing this year since I’m going to my grandma’s in a few days.
Oh, I was thinking about how people are dressed during Songkran and it reminds me. I helped Joy with her latest video call fansign script, and there’s a chunk she didn’t get to say. It’s about one of the birthday presents she gave you, the elephant pants. Those are everywhere lately! Usually, they are popular among tourists coming to Thailand, but in recent years, a lot of Thai people also wear them all the time.
Joy’s script goes, “Korean people call them 냉장고 바지(?). It's comfy to wear to bed, but don't wear them to practice!”
Anyway, I just recalled that because I think I’ll see these elephants a lot during Songkran.
Talking about presents, I also put this postcard in the box.
This is from one of the Thai artists I really like. She has a little shop online selling her artworks, and I got that postcard from her shop. I didn’t post a picture of that postcard online, but I posted a picture of the bag of stickers I sent you. I used the washi tape she sold to seal the bag. She must have seen that because she rt-ed that tweet. So, I told her about the postcard and how the postcard just SCREAMS Kevin Moon, which is amazing since the artist didn’t even know you. She does now, though. She said she’s happy that I liked her artwork and happy that her drawing gets to be “a tiny part of a medium to express good thoughts and love from fans to artists.” She also thanked me for telling her about it because it made her heart full, and that made me feel nice.
Let’s do that again next year! I’ll buy lots of artworks from local artists, send a few of them to you, and then I hoard the rest like a dragon. Also, let’s buy more from small businesses and say fu to capitalism!
I know I’ve been writing a lot. I don’t know why either. I hope you don’t get bored reading it. Though, you can, you know, get bored and skip it. There won’t be a quiz, I promise. Well… a quiz would be fun, isn’t it? Which Hogwarts house is Ryna’s cat, Needy, in? (10 points. Bonus 15 points if you could describe Ryna’s view on JKR’s transphobic behaviors.)
If the roles were reversed, I think a lot of dubbies would remember which Hogwarts house Morty’s in, though.
OK. I’m going now. Happy Songkran! Splash your members with water for me. If they get annoyed, tell them it’s a tradition!
Love you (strictly platonically),
Ryna x