Hello again! Well, not sure of anything especially noteworthy to tell you. Everyone's daily lives do have those shining, cute moments that if not recorded are soon forgotten, so I guess I can write some of those.
It is nearing Valentine's Day, which also happens to be Buddha day. Okay, so really it is a really long Thai name day, but if the calendar on my desk can call it Buddha Day, so can I. It is, simply put, a day to celebrate being a Buddhist. Or at least, that is all the knowledge of the day that has been passed on to me from my Thai teachers and friends. So a day to celebrate love and a day to celebrate Buddha. Temples, chocolates, flowers, exploding confetti balloons and no romantic couples getting mushy because PDA does not exist here.
Both last week and this week I have been teaching about Valentine's Day. I now know all the words to the Skidamarink song and the bingo-styled song H-E-A-R-T. Like I even find myself humming or singing it on the stairs or randomly walking back from buying water from 7-11. I have apparently lost all shame about singing in public since I keep catching myself doing in when my mind is wandering.
So anyways, this week my kids are making valentines and I told them to bring materials from home to decorate the cards with. What do my kids bring? Stickers, glue (like a tub of TOA, no like Elmer's or a simple glue stick), glitter, string, ribbon, pipe cleaners and fake flowers. Because why WOULDN'T you use all of those items to decorate half a sheet of paper with? And some of them really did use all of those materials on one card.
While my students are having fun thoroughly trashing the room with their 'decorating' I am walking around assisting with grammar, playing valentine songs, cutting this, opening that, cutting two desks apart that have been tied together, removing a small metallic possession from one of my students trying to light his friend's shirt on fire, mopping up giant puddles of glue from wooden desks, getting chased by students covered in glitter (and I do mean literally chased in multiple classes), all while being peppered with stickers. Tiny tots would come behind me or yell 'Teacher!' and when I would turn, would smack me on the head with a sticker. Seriously, it was like getting poked repeatedly. And of course, there were also the sneaky ones that would try to get away with putting them on my back or bum. Two kids tried to lift my shirt up and put one on my bellybutton. One succeeded. A girl today placed a lovely pink heart sticker strategically on one outstanding part of my chest, making it look like....well, I had to immediately remove said sticker. I am something to be decorated, apparently. Oh and have I mentioned that these stickers say the strangest things? Like one of them said 'I'm virgin.' Sometimes you really should understand things written in another language before using them to decorate a valentine card for your mother.
Tomorrow, I am doing a Valentine's surprise for my teachers since there is no school on V-day proper. Then this weekend, I am hanging with friends and watching a Marvel marathon. There is a right way to celebrate and I find this way appropriate. Last Valentine's Day, I spent time with friends and watched Beautiful Creatures. The one before that was spent sweating on a Biochem exam. I am not going back to a biochem exam and I have already re-watched Beautiful Creatures this week (which, side note, makes me realize how thoroughly I underappreciated southern accents), so Marvel marathon, French food and lots of things on sticks, sounds like a good V-day to me. (Things on sticks: well....anything comes on a stick here, but I am planning on pork, a big cheese dog, a veggie kabob and melon and pineapple). Fish on a stick is good too.
Besides V-day there is not much else. I play the game every morning of 'how few mosquitoes can you be trapped in the elevator with' and I routinely get molested by strangers. Today was an elderly lady who followed me part of the way home and caressed my calf. And if it is not being physically touched, it is having your picture taken while you are eating an ice cream cone or drinking out of a bottle (and not from a straw, which any female should be doing). Or getting my nose photographed because people want to have plastic surgery with my nose. And for the record, I do not respond to 'YOU!' I go by many things here but that shall never be one of them.
So yep. Crazy is the new normal, laughing is a blessing, children are all innocence and heart, and love is in the air, along with smells I have learned to identify and tolerate, spiders hanging off of trees, and having a whole bunch of strangers touch you every day. Add in a few surprises and BAM! there is life in Thailand. Happy V-day everyone! Hug someone and be glad hugging is allowed and be glad they speak your language so you can tell them anything and everything. Nite y'all.
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