Hello, สวัสดี (Sa wa dii), Hola

So about two weeks ago I was informed by my Thai mom, Earm, that on the next two Tuesdays we would be going somewhere to watch the students run in races ... I mean this is what I gathered from our part Thai, part English conversation. okay. So on the first of the Tuesdays, I get picked up at 6:30, we go to school to meet everyone, the children pile into the back of the numerous teacher driven pick-up trucks and we head out. I know enough about the area now to know that we are going in the direction of Nakhon Phanom, near the Mekong River. About 30 minutes later, and a few windy back roads, we pull into the parking lot of a legit track. Fenced in, bathrooms, an administrative building of sorts, tents are set up, there is long jump, and after testing it out, I realize it indeed feels like a track. We are the first people there since my school is apparently in charge of hosting the event - my job according to Earm for the day was 'take care students' ... uh yea, the students that we brought were all 10-12 years old and Thai children have a hell of a lot more independence than American children do ... plus I only speak passa-angrit ... so I'm a lot of help. hahaha Anyway, the track meet goes as any normal American track meet would, so needless to say, track meets get long and boring no matter what side of the world you live on. The second Tuesday of this nonsense, I was given a ChoomChonNongHee track jacket to wear, that matched the other student teachers and 3 of us presented the awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for each race. Wow there were a lot of races which meant a lot of processing holding the special decorative platter things with the medals and certificates on them. And to add to the excitement of this post, here are a few pictures to help explain some of the quirks of track meets in Thailand.

Tuinui - student teacher - flag girl - dressed for an apocalypse (Thai people do everything in their power to avoid the sun)


Ying (in the pink) - P. 5 - getting ready to run the 50meter (I believe) - notice that all the runners are barefoot - yea who needs sneakers?


The impromptu weeding of the long jump pit - who needs groundskeepers when you have students?! - seriously though, this worked out just fine.


It always amuses me when the mode of transportation for school sponsored events is literally throwing all the students in the back of the pick-up trucks that everyone drives - but this one really got me going when i realized that this truck was also being used to transport huge stacks of plastic chairs as well - safety. And to think I'm not advised to leave my house after dark.


or the students could just sit on the furniture thats being transported.