Wai Kru Day/Protestors

Sorry that there have been so many days between posts - Life has just gotten unimaginably busy. The acute feelings of lonliness have abated but every now and then I still get twinges and miss my friends, family, and the like. Nevertheless, what have I been up to for the past few days?? School, of course! We are in the middle of testing and if you thought that taking a test was hard, you should try making the test up yourself unaided as well as grading them! The unfortunate thing about teaching the older students is that we are responsible for creating quizzes, tests, and any activity or work sheets that we want them to do. It's nice because we don't have to adhere to a particular style of teaching but it's also unnerving when you are like me - completely clueless to the art of teaching. I didn't know who was more nervous when I administered my first test ever to my M3 students - me or the students; I didn't want the tests to be too hard but I didn't want them all getting 100s either because that just meant that they didn't actually learn anything. Tomorrow was supposed to be test day for my M2 students but I'll get to why that won't be the case in a little bit.

One of the things that I have grown to love most here in BKK in the enormous respect that the students have for their teachers. Students wai everytime they see a teacher (see an older post for the definition of wai) and really hold them in high regard. This is most evident in something they have at the palace school called "Wai Kru Day" which means Wai Teacher Day. There are two separate ceremonies, the first being for M1-3 and then for M4-6. All of the teachers who teach students in that particular grade sit up on the stage and all of the students from that grade sit in the audience. They then present flowers, one row of boys and girls at a time, and then wai the teachers after they lay down their flowers in front of us. After everyone has done so, a student comes up and speaks about how loved and important the teachers are to them (the entire ceremony is done in Thai mind you...translations are thanks a sweet teacher named Tip). After this, all of the students sing a song about teachers and respect for teachers and then they wai us again as we walk off the stage. I went to both ceremonies since I have students in M2, 3, and 5. I got goosebumps during the ceremonies because the sincerity of the students is so evident. The way America disregards its teachers has always been a saddening thought for me, but after seeing the way students have such honor for their teachers here, it truly magnified the terrible situation back home. Additionally, the crown prince's daughter, who graduated from the school last year, came back for the ceremony and we all got to meet her and speak with her - my first intimate taste of Thai royalty! :D The students have almost all of their classes cancelled for the whole day and they are free to give flowers to their favorite teachers throughout the course of the day. Even though I have only known these students for about 3 weeks, I was lucky enough to receive some purple/white orchids as well as some pink roses...

Then, the craziness hit. I was sitting in the English Dept. room preparing for my classes tomorrow when one of the secretaries came in to inform us that school would be closed and classes would be cancelled tomorrow due to the government protestors that have been slowly inching their way towards the palace. The People's Alliance for Democracy has been protesting in various places since I arrived in BKK but now they have brought their protest to the palace doors and the school wants to be cautious because many of the students here are from extremely important families in Thailand and it would be disastrous if something were to happen to them, additionally there are several members of the royal family in attendance here...

This means that my M2 kids are lucky because their test will be postponed till next week. The protestors themselves aren't dangerous so I'm not scared or anything - rather I am excited about having my first 3 day weekend...these things just don't happen in the States.

That's all for now and I'll be sure to update if I hear anything else regarding the situation.

All my love.