Today when we arrived at school it was to find decorations and numerous tents set up around the wat area--the school is in full festival mode. I'm never really sure why these festivals are happening (we've already been to a couple at wats--temples--in Chiang Mai), but when they have them, it's colorful, loud, and fun.
The teachers came to find us just before we were heading off to our first class to tell us we would be attending the prayer service in the wat this morning. I was pretty excited, because we've never been able to get into the wat here yet. The doors have been locked every time we've tried. We followed all the kids over to the wat on the grounds. They all had flowers wrapped up in banana leaves, which I suppose is their offering to Buddha. They were so cute! It reminded me of our First Communion or May Day (I think?) processions where we carried flowers. Our intention as we walked behind the kids was to sit in the back and watch quietly from there, but that was not to be. The other teachers grabbed us and ushered us to the front of the temple, where we sat on the floor facing the kids. The other teachers sat beside us, so that we were all in a line in front. The 3rd grade teacher seemed to be running things, and he made a long speech that we, of course, couldn't understand, then the kids came up to us about a dozen at a time to give us their flower and incense offerings and we then put them into collection trays behind us.
That part was the coolest. Enough kids came up at once that there was one kid per teacher, then they would kneel in front of us, bow low so that their heads touched the floor, and then hand us their flowers. There is so much more respect for teachers here than at home. It's really quite gratifying and humbling at the same time. Everyone is so good to us here. Anyway, after we put the flowers in the collection tray behind us, another set of kids would come up.
It was set up so that the girls were on the left when facing Buddha and the boys on the right. The monk sat front and center with the principal on his left. We worried at first that this girl/boy separation rule might apply to us, too, but teachers were free to sit wherever we pleased. The service lasted about 1 1/2 hours, and let me tell you, that is a long time to be kneeling, even with your legs slightly to one side as ours were. From what we could gather, one part of the service was prayers that were sung (really cool), and one part honored the oldest students who were scouts. The scouts were all in their uniforms today.
After the service, the kids got to go play, so we hung out with them and played a game that is a mix between volleyball and soccer. You play on a court with a volleyball-type net (slightly smaller), but you can only hit the ball with your feet, knees, or head. It's 3-on-3 and it's really fun. I only got to play for a minute or two today (I'm wearing a skirt and it seems to be mostly a boys' sport), but tomorrow I'm wearing pants and I can't wait to play again. The principal and the 3rd grade teacher even stopped to play with the kids and Robbie.
We ate lunch early today (at 11:20) because the monk from the temple ate with us today, and the monks can only eat one meal per day and it has to be before noon. He also had to sit at a separate table from everyone, and we weren't sure whether it was because we weren't monks, or because there were women at the table. We do know that he can't take anything from a woman because the teachers preparing the food had to hand it to the male teacher so he could put it on the monk's table. Haha, and I just looked over, and the monk is sitting four seats down from me right now, on the computer. (I'm on one of the school computers--slow as molasses, but free).
I think tomorrow must be the big fun and games day, because the tents aren't full yet and they're setting up a ferris wheel right now. They're also playing some cool music over a set of loudspeakers. They say we're going to have lessons tomorrow, but I really don't see how if this music is still playing. We have the 6th grade for 2 hours, so maybe we'll teach for an hour then come out and play.
I'll post pics as soon as possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment