Exhausted but happy

I swear I am exhausted by noon these days but this time I have a different reason to be tired. Today is Teacher Appreciation day. The entire morning was spent in an assembly hall where students spent three hours bowing and giving the teachers flowers. I got many wrist malais (as predicted). It is the most awe inspiring situation. The level of respect given here is amazing. They also had a video about all the kindness teachers have and about how they go above and beyond their job. It nearly made me cry. So now I have a desk full of flowers, graded papers and books.

Today I also had lunch with my new English friend. He is from Cameroon (which makes me feel better because I was having trouble placing his accent). Turns out he has taught in Thailand for 5 years now, but he has only been in Uttaradit for 6 months. AND.....he says there are five more foreigners here. All are guys from different countries and we shall all meet soon lol. I always knew that making one friend means you make friends with their friends but I did not know they would be English speakers! Sadly, I will be going to Chiang Mai tomorrow and for the weekend but it is nice that soon I will have people to hang with. And he has an air conditioned car instead of a motorcycle, so yaaay lol.

My new friend and I talked about all sorts of things about Thailand. He says there is no way that the native Thai boys will ever play soccer with me and will apparently just laugh and walk away. That is why my teacher said I could only play with the boy students here before school. Grrrr. Even if I play with other farang men it would be very scandalous. Sigh. Also, he told me I am already being scandalous by having a meal with him because that means we are together. How in the world do people get to know each other here if you cannot hang out with the opposite sex? I am assuming it would be scandalous to hang out at either of our places and it is waaaaaay too hot outside, sooooo..... Oh, but here is a new fun fact. Women are apparently the ones that approach men to start things here. Thai culture sure is confusing. What was adorable was my companion sitting me down and telling me that I should be wary of new men because "I do not know his personality and I do not know what he wants to do with me because I am woman." They are so protective of me and they care so much! I have already resigned myself for my future lecture about spending too much time with boys. I can hear it now."Teacher Malai.....why you spend so much time with men?" Me: "They are my friends and they speak English." "I know you like to speak with them, but you should not spend so much time with them. It is not Thai culture." Me: *facepalm* I will do a lot of things out of respect for Thai culture but at this point, I am not going to not hang out with someone who speaks English just because of his sex. Let you know how this one goes. They all had sullen faces when I got back from lunch today sooo, yeah.

Good grief, I am so exhausted. I may end up just going to bed when I get home. But first, I have to teach these 7 year olds. Got to pull energy from somewhere because if you lose these kids' attention for a moment you just lost the class for the day.