Mother’s Day

Today we had the day of school to hold a ceremony to celebrate mother’s day. If you’re confused about why mothers’ day is in August, it is because in Thailand mothers’ day is on the same day as the queen’s birthday. This is because the Thai people see the queen as the mother of their country and use the day to show their loyalty to the queen and their own mother. So the ETAs and I were invited to watch the students perform songs, dances and short plays to their mothers. We were told that we had to wear blue or white as blue is the queen’s colour and white symbolizes purity. We were looking forward to the ceremony the night before, but as usual there was always a small hiccup along the way.

We decided to wake up at our normal time and get ready for breakfast at 7.30am. We had forgotten to ask what time the ceremony started but Hannah had seen an invitation on Facebook that said the ceremony started at 8am; so we went by that. But when we arrived at breakfast the housekeeper and the principle seemed surprised that we were there. After we had lots of toast we went and asked the director what time the ceremony was starting. He said it was starting at 9am. An entire hour we could have spent in bed! So we went back to our rooms and did exactly that.

At 9am we went over to auditorium and were met with a sea of blue shirts. The auditorium was filled with mothers and their children. I was thankful that I had decided to pack my blue shirt.

We were shown to the front of the hall and sat to the side of the stage. It was a really sweet ceremony, each of the grades, including the kindergarten, performed in the ceremony. The kindergarten students were adorable. They were all dressed up and sang a song with actions for their mums, who all rushed forward to take photos of their children.

Eilidh’s students were just as sweet; they sang a song that Jimmy, the music teacher, had taught them.

My students did a mixture of Thai dancing, singing and acting.

One of my G.11 students sang; we had heard him sing before on Facebook videos but it was even better hearing him in person. They also did a play, as much as we had no idea what they were saying, we could guess the plot. I will summarise for you though. There was a boy who had a wonderful singing voice, he was scouted by some talent agents and performed on stage. But he still came home to his mother and was kind to her and loved her. I think that’s what my students were trying to say anyway!

All the students seem to get really emotional too. It even set us off. One moment that was particularly touching was when the director was handing out certificates to mothers and children. The mothers then sat on chairs and their children sat on the floor in front of them. Practically everyone onstage was crying and I had a hard time trying not to sob as well.

After that the ceremony finished and we went and had lunch at the director’s house and chilled for the rest of the afternoon. We ended up doing cardio club this evening. As much as exercise is meant to be good, I swear doing it at this heat is going to kill me.

I got to see the dogs Charlie, Milo and Sarah before dinner. It feels like I haven’t seen them in ages! Maprang was also there and we told her about our plans for the weekend. We told her we should be back by 9pm on the Sunday. She also said that we might get banoffee pie when we’re back! I think that will get me through the 10 hour bus journey if nothing else will.