First, lets back up to the a few days prior to Valentine's Day. Beth was asked by two of the Thai teachers, more like told, that the two of us will be doing a presentation about Valentine's Day at morning assembly - in front of 3700+ students and staff. We were to give a presentation about the history of Valentine's Day, how to celebrate it and explain different symbols of the day, then end it with a kiss!?! The next day it turned into us two and a student translating and interviewing us about the holiday and no kiss. Later that day it turned into just Beth and the student, same interview. Beth had some minor research to do on the history of Valentine's Day, then she and the student wrote a little mock script comprising of 4 questions and answers. Beth was also instructed to wear pink on Valentine's Day.
On Valentine's Day - the sidewalks were filled with flower, candy, and sticker vendors with students gathering around purchasing all their Valentine's Day goodies. We got to school and made our way down to the quad for morning assembly. First up on the program was a dance, performed by four ladyboys. This dance was one of the most provocative dirty dances we have seen in Thailand, and it was in school.
Following this interesting and provocative dance (a hard act to follow), was Beth's interview. The student would ask the question in Thai then in English, Beth would then respond in English and the student would translate to Thai for the students. It went pretty well.
Us with the the two boy students traveling abroad to study soon, the girl student in the middle is who interviewed Beth. We both have these students in class.
Whew - got through morning assembly, now onto classes. Students were giving flowers, stuffed animals, and candy to everyone - friends, girlfriends, boyfriends. It seemed like everyone had a few roses from a special someone! Then the stickers - wow the stickers! Student would cover their uniform in Valentine's themed stickers, some forming words and others just placed haphazardly all over their shirt. Josh was given many stickers by his M2 students, Beth was proposed to by an M1 student. We both received a one flower from different students.
Other News:
An interesting thing the M2 students do every Thursday - clean the fish tanks. There are 4 or 5 huge fish tanks behind our building. We're told that students raise them and sell them once fully grown. It's so funny to watch them cleaning! Students in the tanks attempting to gather all the fish to one side as they scrub the walls on the other side. The fish all wiggle attempting to find freedom. It's quite the sight!
There is a carnival in our neighborhood for the next couple days. We are told it is in celebration of the upcoming Buddhist holiday on the 25th. Many carnival games are set up, a Ferris Wheel, a few bouncy houses, trampolines, and even little trains for children. There are also a few street vendors selling different items and numerous food stalls. Our sidewalk is flooded with several different stalls. We ventured down to on Friday night, looking for supper, we found a great savory rotti with chicken and onions. We were slowly making our way through the carnival back to our apartment when Beth stopped dead in her tracks - She saw an NDSU t-shirt hanging on the fence behind a street vendor selling American t-shirts from who knows where. WHAT?!? We had to buy it - only 59 baht or $2 USD! Our first NDSU shirt and we bought it in Thailand!
School News:
Today marks the last week of actual teaching for us! We will teach this week and next week is finals week. Finals week means students are taking final tests and the foreign teachers sit in the office all week and "grade." Wow - this time has gone by so fast - can't believe it! More reflection later next week when we have all day to compose a reflections blog.
Oh and Josh has no classes today - his M2 get a day off to rest.
So many celebrations in Thailand. Remember when/what they are so we can celebrate them when you return!
ReplyDelete