One bag of Mama instant noodles = one New Year's prayer

Nine monks visited this condo this morning for a New Year’s blessing ceremony. They turned up at 8am, and were gone in half an hour.

Condo staff prepared nine plastic chairs and a table.

Another half dozen chairs were laid out to one side for condo residents who wanted to take part.

Only 20 residents or so joined in, though many left dry-food donated goods in bags for the monks. They were arranged around the fountain in front of where the monks sat.

We are on the ninth floor. Neither Maiyuu nor I bothered going down. We watched from a window on our floor, overlooking the condo entrance where the ceremony was held.

As I write, the monks have given their blessings, taken their bags of donated goods, and left.

Kids are running around the place, and a few adults chatting. Someone has put on a Thai version of the Happy New Year song.

Staff pinned signs on condo noticeboards telling us that it was a dry-goods affair, meaning that if we wanted to donate to the monks, we should take dry food.

For Thais, Mama instant noodles are the convenience-food of choice. I wonder how many of those plastic supermarket bags sitting around the fountain contained Mama instant noodles?

The monks looked dowdy and dusty, like orange tumbleweeds bouncing through the desert. They laid their food bowls on the table. One spoke through a microphone.

A few eager types took the opportunity to ask for a personal blessing. I saw one man kneeling to one side of the monks. He had his hands clasped together in the prayer sign, pressed to his head.

Most people are content to watch, but there are always a few posers who want to take a blessing straight on the chin, so to speak. My, how devout.

I hope the monks made him give many bags of donated goods for the privilege.

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Boyfriend Maiyuu’s birthday falls on Tuesday. He has asked me for B1,000 to put towards the occasion. The money will also go towards groceries over the next few days.

I hope Maiyuu enjoys himself. He was invited to no Christmas gatherings this year, as he does not work.

This is the season to be merry. Gatherings of family and friends are part of what makes us happy, as is the act of giving and sharing.

Maiyuu has invited his friend Golf to celebrate his birthday at our place. Hopefully she will bring her sister and the family pet Chihuahua as well, so the gathering is lively and fun.

Maiyuu made a dish of curry duck for Golf's family yesterday.

Golf, who lives nearby, paid for the roast duck. Maiyuu ladled the curry into bags and delivered it on his bike.

We get to eat what’s left, which is only fair. A day later, the left-over curry is still going.