Day 25/School/Buddha Day

This week I got a new roommate. Her name is Thea and she is from Vermont. She is only 16 years old! She also was placed at the same school I work at so we got to work together quite a bit.

So this week I taught on Tuesday and Wednesday. Just normal stuff; lots of games like Simon Says and Duck, Duck, Goose and Red light, Green light. We also taught some of the more advanced children about vowels and how to put sentences together and we taught them about writing letters. Check out my pictures! It was all a ton of fun and Thea was a huge help coming up with things to teach them. I also got to teach the older kids another dance…the Macarena! They loved it of course. We have kids named Boom, Jenny, Oat, Boat, Ya, Pa, Fa, Da, Few, Cake, Mickey, Natasha, Q , Fast, and other funny names I cant remember. I have so much fun trying figure out all their names.

The main focus of this post is to tell about the holiday that happened on Thursday. It was Buddha day. Apparently at this time of year the monks all retreat into the temples and do not come out for three months because it is the rainy season. This special day is for the children to bring the monks candles and food to last them through this long period of time. We were asked to participate in this and we of course said yes.

We had to arrive this morning at the school at 6:30 am to prepare. We got our makeup done and then got dressed up in traditional Thai outfits. At first they put me in this Sumo wrestler/diaper thing but then they found another skirt for me to wear (thank God!...or thank Buddha…) We got our hair done by the girls and then they covered our buns with flowers. There was a crazy lady helping us get dressed and every time I went to adjust something on my body she would slap my hand away and say “wait a minute!” When we were finally done we got our pictures taken and then we rushed outside to join the rest of the children and the parade. The young kids wore adorable little pants and tops and there were a bunch of little girls dressed similar to us. Apparently we were the Thai dancers! The other girls not dressed up carried food and candles for the monks and the boys all carried large drums or other instruments. One of the older girls was really dressed up and she walked in front carrying a sign. We set off on our way to the temple and we watched the other dancers in front of us to know the dance moves we were expected to do. The boys played the instruments and some of the teachers rode motorbikes to block traffic for our procession. We danced the entire way and by the time we got there…about a mile later…I was sweating to death in my outfit. Once we arrived we were given fans and water and we got a lot of picture taken. Next we went into the temple and kneeled in front of the monks while the children recited…prayers. Once that was over we basically just got into cars and went back to the school. The little girls helped us undress and undo our hair, I said my goodbyes to all the children and the teachers (SO SAD!) and walked home with Thea. We stopped on our way and got ginormous frappacinos for $1 and then went home to nap.

I don’t think I mentioned this yet…I am leaving the program a week early to travel because my mom and my cousin are coming and I want to spend time with them. Its sad and a little selfish but I think it will really be worth it for me. They arrive tomorrow night, we will spend Saturday in Bangkok and then we will be off the Chiang Mai in the north for a few days…more later (probably when I get home!)

BYE!