I wish I had more time to post tonight, but I am pretty tired. I wanted to share some good news, though: we got King shirts today! Here is what they look like.
Pretty nice, yes? Father Linnane is with Brother Bancha, who is president of Assumption University.
Yes, that is the king behind me, on a mural in the front of Assumption's Aquatic Center. They have a mammoth pool in there, part of which you can see behind Father Linnane and Brother Bancha. Thais have a great sense of humor, so placing the King in various pictures, paintings, or murals is not uncommon.
Now, just so you don't think that I am pulling a stunt here, I included Assumption's photographer, who followed us everywhere yesterday, taking hundreds of shots. He's Kinged, too!
This particular shirt is the commemoration shirt for the King's 80th birthday, which is this year. A lot of people wear the shirt from his 60th birthday year. That one is strikingly bright yellow. As I noted below, the shirts are yellow, as is much in Thailand now, because the King was born on Monday, and Thais have a color for each day of the week (e.g., Tuesday's is pink), and believe that the day on which one is born is important. Interestingly, somebody explained to me today that, because the Monday-born King's 80th birthday falls on a Tuesday this year, the new "King" logo on the shirt's pocket features a beautiful pink ring of thread. I was suddenly struck with an additional theory that intrigued our Assumption colleagues, though nobody could confirm it: the 80th-birthday shirt is a paler yellow than any other I have seen; perhaps it is slightly empinkened, in note of the Tuesday landing of the birthday.
Enjoy,
Tim
PS: I see that Father Linnane posted some pictures and included a great description of the Suvarnibhum campus. It is indeed beautiful, and it represents well the importance of learning---a true temple for knowledge that honors the learner.
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