After many days of preparation, Bandon Sriserm rang out the old year with a back-to-back Sports Day and teachers' holiday party on the 30th. For New Year's weekend, the ajaans and I went to Chiang Mai for a trip that involved clubbing with Thais named RockStar, cheese fixes and visiting tigers - both Princetonian and literal. Let me break it down for you.
B.S. Sports Day: not your average track n' field
Sports Day at Bandon Sriserm is a bit like the good ol' American school tradition of Field Day, but not. The whole school - including Thai teachers and the four of us - was divided into four color teams: red, blue, purple and green. We were told there would be competitions for ping-pong, aerobics, volleyball (Asian stereotypes: check), soccer and running. We were told there would be an equal amount of trophies for "spirit" and cheer. 6th graders had been writing in their journals last week about how they were either cheerleaders, runners, or relay racers for Sports Days past; so, I expected to find the students dressed into these categories. But there was so, so much more to it.
Presumably for my athletic prowess, I was put with the bros and beauty queens of Team Blue. (Team see fa!). On Thursday morning, I threw on my finest shade of blue and my running shoes and arrived at school to find Sports Day opening ceremonies already in full swing. Balloon-clad bleachers lined the field, and the stage was decorated with a huge orange and white banner. The band was in full orange marching costume, with color guard girls wearing orange tutus and feather hats. The rest of the students were all carrying signs that read "Happy New Year" (and some Thai gibberish), and were lined up according to team color.
Sunshine on a cloudy day
Team color... plus some. Groups of girls on each team were decked out in enormous platform boots, elaborate stage dresses, glittery headgear, and so much makeup and hair gel that I didn't recognize most of them at first. These would be the "cheerleaders." Another sprinkling of kids on each team were in a different kind of costume. Team Red had 5th grade boys dressed as bunny rabbits in multi-colored onesies. Team Blue inexplicably had Santa and Mrs. Claus leading their section. Older girls on every team were dressed in traditional Thai dresses. Team Green took an environmental spin on the parade, so kids danced around in giant sunflower costumes, polar bear costumes (save them!), and trash bag dresses with chip and candy wrappers glued on. The rest of the team members were wearing team color t-shirts (of varying kinds), and some sort of team hat. Team Blue rocked blue milk carton top hats - hand made by the 4th grade class.
Here's Toto to model it for you... (AWWWWW).
After everyone was assembled, the whole school formed a parade line and marched through the streets of town. People gathered on the sidelines to take pictures of their kids. We marched past the market, the bakery, the post office, the high school... and right back onto Bandon Sriserm's field. Director Sukda gave some opening remarks (which, no matter how much Thai I slowly pick up, will always sound like Charlie Brown's teacher talking, but ten times lengthier), and then a large torch was lit. Let the games begin!
First graders started with a dance and hula hoop competition (hula hoop, I believe, is a mandatory life skill in Thailand). Later there was a series of track and relay races. Kids ran barefoot, most wearing boxer shorts and silk team-colored pinneys. After months of daily practices with the gym coach, the Kindergartners were even able to run their own relay race - passing the baton and all. Girls who doubled as a team cheerleader and runner changed into gym clothes in between races, but would usually leave their elaborate glittery headpiece in place. Girls (and some select boys) who opted to be full time cheerleaders just did this:
At the end of the afternoon, the kids rested and watched the teachers play their own series of field events: spin around blindfolded and hit the empty paint can with a stick.... pop the balloon tied on someone's ankle... relay race with water balloons.... and a good old fashioned foot race. Yours truly was a three-time Sports Day medalist. I'd be lying if I said looking cool in front of my students wasn't a huge motivation.
Reppin' Team see fa
Following the Sports Day awards ceremony - during which Team Blue swept the competition in trophies - the teachers headed straight to the New Years' Party being held in the school's meeting room. While eating dinner, my Kindergarten co-teacher ("Lips" Warunee) was on Leo duty: she never let the beer or ice in my glass drop to a certain level, and even kept a few secret bottles hidden under the tablecloth. After dinner, we did a blind gift exchange: bath towels and bedspreads were big this year, but I was bestowed with four Costco-sized boxes of "custard filled sponge cake." After dinner and gifts were over, most teachers left, but Emily and I accepted an invitation to stick around with the Director, his wife, the Assistant Director, the ex-Assistant Director, a janitor, the music teacher we nicknamed "Lion Man" (he resembles one), a 6th grade teacher we nicknamed "Thumb" (his head shape resembles one), and my old co-teacher who has plans for me to become her daughter-in-law. We had drinks and partook in some karaoke. Just your average Company Christmas Party here in Nan.
Proof of T-Dubbs in T-Land
New Year's Eve, we left by bus to Chiang Mai. Friends from afar, Tracy and Zach, were also in CM, so we all met up at the Old City festival to have dinner, drinks and countdown to the New Year. Being Thailand, no one seemed to know exactly when it struck midnight and everyone was on a slightly different count... but eventually "sawadee bee mai!"s were shouted, and fireworks and a host of lanterns went off into the sky. And just like that, 2011 arrived.
Post-midnight, the farang crowd headed to a bar, where we met the usual array of bizarre characters, both Thai and non-Thai. There was a strange Ethiopian guy who appeared to be alone and so stuck with us; the Thai waitress/bar tender who befriended me on the dance floor and appeared not be doing her job at all the whole evening; the European in a mesh muscle tank who creeped near us the whole night; and a Thai guy named RockStar, who perhaps unsurprisingly, works at a rock climbing wall.
Crouching Tiger
The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with Tracy and Zach, enjoying the city conveniences of Chiang Mai, and eating anywhere and everywhere that listed "cheese" and "avocado" as ingredients on their menu. (One jumbo-sized quesadilla and two avocado sandwiches later, I'd had my fix, and could stand to face the next 3 months of deprivation). Our last morning in CM, Nicole and I decided to be spontaneous and "do tigers," or go to Chiang Mai's Tiger Kingdom to see and pet live tigers in their sanctuary. Since we had to choose and pay according to the size of the tiger we wanted to see, Neens and I thought we'd go big and visit the "Large" and "Smallest" tigers. The big tigers were enormous and pretty terrifying up close, but they were sweet and some even rolled over for a belly rub. The smallest tigers were, in a word, adorable. One even purred (a very, very loud purr) while he lay in my lap.
I can say without reservation that 2010 was one for the books. Senior spring at Princeton, seven months (and counting) in Thailand, a job that sincerely makes me happy, traveling new places... I'm not sure it gets much better than that. But here's to trying in 2011.
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