What did I learn today?

Well one thing I learned is that wearing a black skirt when you teach with chalk boards is bound to result in a disaster. But it is particularly apparent when teaching body parts and singing head, shoulders, knees, and toes. Let's just say the bottom of my knee-length black skirt is covered in chalk!

For some reason I always get chalk all over myself. A few times a student will let me know that I have chalk smeared across my check, but oftentimes it isn't until I get back from teaching that I realize the extent of my chalkiness.

Yesterday, the main day of the Loy Kratong festival, was very eventful! On Tuesday morning, I learned that I would not just be watching the students in the Loy Kratong parade, but in fact that I would be in the parade! I didn't really know what this entailed when I agreed to participate. I quickly realized, when they got me fitted for a formal Thai dress and picked out a crazy assortment of jewels and hair pieces, that this wasn't your everyday parade. Then they told me I needed to get to school at 6AM on Wednesday for hair and makeup and such. Oh goodness! What was I getting myself into? I arrived at 6AM on Wednesday to a room full of students who had been there since 3AM getting ready! I would say a total of 100 Sawan Anan students took part.

The Sukhothai Loy Kratong Parade is made up of the nine districts in the Sukhothai province. Often the schools in these districts will make up most of the parade participants. My job was to hold a sign that gave the name for the Sawankhalok (my district) folk song that the students behind me were singing and dancing. It was a very interesting experience. I had so many people tell me "suay maak" or "very beautiful!" But I couldn't help but feel nervous that I might be offending some Thai people by appearing in such an important event. I tried to explain this to teachers beforehand, but they said "no, no, Thai people will be very happy." Along the parade route, I got many confused and surprised faces - and so many pictures. Overall, I felt very fortunate for the generosity of so many people who helped me get ready and for the students who were very supportive and encouraging. It was an incredible thing to be a part of and I hope the feeling is mutual.

More to come...Love, Kate


P.S. Did I mention that all of the girls wear fake hair in the parade? They either wear long pony tails or buns. Well I guess they thought I should too...so I had a big fake bun of black hair on my head. Too bad my hair is brownish blonde...! I will try to post pics soon!