"Congratuate"

To the graduates from Thammasat University!

I saw some smiling people holding a sign that said, "Congratuate." I would guess it was a typo...make that a painto...but I kind of like the idea of combining "congratulations" and "graduate."

This is Lina. She has worked hard to graduate, and today was a very special day for her. Not only the act of graduating, but at this university the Prince of Thailand hands out the diplomas, so that makes it an extra special day.

For most university graduations in Thailand the ceremony is 4-5 hours long, but no one except the graduates and maybe the professors are invited to watch (which I was kind of grateful for.) Instead, we all show up before or after to take pictures, give flowers, and share words of "congraduation."

I almost forgot about the fruit from yesterday, I see...bananas, mangostene, pomelos, durian, pomegranates, two kinds of apples, longan, sugar apples, coconut, more logan and dragon fruit. And in the left bottom corner, we have some dark pineapples from another fruit stand. If I'm leaving any out, let me know!