Longtail Boat Races

I just got back from the Bangplama Longtail Boat races with Toon, Gawan (Toon’s 8 year old daughter), Katie, and Gan, the Chinese teacher at our school. Along with the races, there was a market and fair rides. Longtail boat races are similar to rowing in the U.S. The announcer sounded like an auctioneer, speaking extremely fast.

Some of the students from the school have been practicing all week for their cheer performance at the races. I’ve been hearing them practice and finally got to see them perform the real thing. Each student wore one white glove while they sang and did hand gestures, very much like Michael Jackson.  The whole event was fun to watch! We walked around the market and tasted a variety of delicious Thai snacks. I had one of my Matiem 2 students find me. He tagged along by our side for a while. Even though he is probably only thirteen years old I can already tell he is a “lady boy”. I had a feeling when I saw him in class that he might be, but seeing him outside of class with eyeliner, lipgloss, and dressed in pink I didn’t have any more doubts. When I said, “He is a student in my class”, Toon quickly corrected me to say, “She”.

Back to the beginning of the week…… My first “real” week of teaching went well. There were a few times when my co-teacher was not in the room with me. Those students were so naughty compared to those who had the co-teacher in the room with me.  I don’t know what to do…how to control them. One student wrote something small on the board in Thai….if only I knew what it had said. Another student body slammed a classmate in the front of the room, literally body slammed him. They have so much energy! The only time I could keep them under control was when it was time to play a game…instead of using up their energy on one another, they used it towards screaming and running around the room during the game   A few of my classes were cancelled due to practicing for the races and the Suphanburi Games which begin November 9^th. Little did Katie and I knew the Games would be such a big deal, not only for the school but for her and I as well. Thursday after lunch Toon came up to us and said “Let’s go…We are going to get you a costume. You will participate in the Opening Ceremony for the Suphanburi Games by representing our school”. We hopped in her mini green car with another teacher and drove to a beauty shop nearby in Bangplama. We walked in and immediately had the attention of three “lady boys”. They handed me a long purple skirt with very beautifully detailed gems on it and told me to put it on. After I was fitted completed, I had the look of a princess with a Traditional Thai costume, crown, jewelry, and even a fake hair piece bun. Toon told me this type of costume is usually only worn by Royalty. I am so excited for Tuesday to come. We will go back to the salon to have hair and make up done for us on Tuesday before the Ceremony.

Wednesday we decided to make a trip into Suphanburi for dinner and a Tesco run. We took the bus in to town, and began walking….before words could come out of my mouth to stop Katie, we hear some Thai workers scream no – no – no….Katie just stepped in wet cement!! The workers were laughing with us….thank goodness it wasn’t too bad; her footprints may be there forever but that’s ok. We ate dinner with some of the other teachers. I had a delicious Pad Seu; similar to Pad Thai but with a different type of noodle and more fresh vegetables. I think it was the same night that Katie nearly got attacked by the stray dogs that live on campus. She was outside using the internet while I was in the apartment. All of a sudden, I hear the dogs bark viciously. Immediately thinking about her outside, I get a phone call from Katie. She’s standing on the table because the dogs all of a sudden ran up to her and began to bark. She was able to get away fine….we think something may have startled the dogs and they were protecting their puppies which were hidden close by where she was sitting. A little scary though….