Mother's Day Joy

 Last week, seemed quite eventful at Joy.  Besides classroom activity, Thai teacher's were gradually preparing for Mother's Day, also known to Thai's as the Queen's Birthday.  We were told a week prior that Friday, August 9th would be a special ceremony for Mother's Day.  Mother's Day is actually Monday, August 12th, the Queen's birthday. This date is an important and a nationally-observed holiday, as the queen is considered to be the Mother of all Thai people.

Early Tuesday morning during the flag ceremony, my afternoon Thai teacher came up to me and said, "My mother, she come today."  I thought, oh cool, might be fun to meet her. She said, "My mother come 2:30 o'clock." I really wasn't sure how that was going to effect me, so I just went with it.  I feel that often enough, it's not always worth the clarification, no need for questions.  Most of the time I don't know what's going on outside of my classroom, it keeps the surprises coming on a regular basis.

The afternoon rolled around, and I went to class as usual. Oddly enough, as we were starting  some songs and dancing, I noticed a few mothers outside the window watching the kids. Now, it's not altogether odd to have mothers/parents/grandparents peering in the windows (or taking pictures). However, these mothers were nicely dressed and not my usual peepers. All of the sudden my teacher looked up at me and said, "uh, teacher," and peered at her watch. I had no idea what she wanted. Then I realized that she must have meant that the students' parents were coming. And that's what the deal was. So, no class. I had the kids line up; girls in one line (shortest to tallest), and boys in the other (shortest to tallest) - appropriate Thai classroom structuring. 

We headed for the front court.  I soon noticed some sofas strategically placed before decorated boards with draped fabric.  This was the "Mother's Days celebration for the K1" students.  Therefore, both my morning and the afternoon classes were present.  My morning class (above photo) had white flowers with gold ribbons for their mothers. Theses flowers were to symbolize the jasmine flower, a sign of love and purity.  And my afternoon class had handmade jasmine flower (made out of tissue) bouquets with little heart cards (English and Thai notes) for their mothers.  My afternoon teachers handmade all of them, 4 flowers on each of the 31 bouquets.

The ceremony was nice, music included. Mother's lined the chairs and their son/daughter would kneel at their mother's feet and then present her with a flower bouquet and some a card as well.  It was very cute, the perfect photo-op.  And, as always, I was asked to be in several of the photos of mothers with their children. I had about thirty minutes of teaching time left by the time the ceremony concluded. So, I went back to class. Many of my students were missing. I decided it was fun day. I let the few students I had in the room play. I just kind of hung out with them and gave them some one-on-one Holly time. In my mind it was the perfect excuse to play with some cute kids.

Early in the week I was told by several of my Thai teachers that I need to wear a green shirt on Friday. Friday was working up to be an interesting day at Joy.  I was practicing throughout the week after lunch for 'chairball.'  The morning was to include a Mother's Day ceremony and that in the afternoon, "Sports Day." I have to just say, it all sounded pretty cool, but that meant that I was not going to be able to leave at noon, like more usual Fridays.  I really just wanted to start my 3 days weekend (potentially 3.5 day weekend) as I had plans circulating.

So Friday started as usual, on the tennis court grounds.  This time however, the direction of the students was towards a portrait of the queen.  Parents were hanging around the perimeter of the court area.  Chairs were set up in orderly fashion throughout. Yes, the final pre-ceremony Mother's Day Ceremony before the weekend.  There was music, instruments, some dancing, and blessings for the mothers.

Clips

Pre-ceremony song to the Queen of Thailand - Students sing and honor the Queen.  My younger kids, sitting near me don't know the words, but they are cute. I enjoyed it.
We Could of had it All (Adele) - performed by the Thai music teacher and James (one of the Joy English teachers).  This Thai teacher is so sweet. I met her running on Koh Lamphu a few months ago, not knowing she worked at Joy School. Since that day, I am regularly greeted with a smile and greeting each and every time I see her. She is so sweet!
Boy Band Pre-Mother's Day Clip - These are some some of the boys that I have actually taught, as a sub, math. I think they did pretty good. It makes the experience that much more fun when you know the artists.
A Clip my Mom will Like - Happy Mother's Day from Thailand. Wish I could have got more of the song. I had no idea this song was going to be sung by small Thai children.

At the end of the ceremony, I took the students to the toilet. They followed that up with some milk.  Afterwords the students got to play games outside. The parents stayed, as many of them were to be active participants in Sports Day. Yeah, Sports Days is for parents and teachers, not kids.

Around 11am, food started to arrive. I was in my office sending Nick a few messages, taking advantage of my free time. It was then that I decided it was 'Take Nick to work Day." We had some in and out with our connection, but I think he was able to get a better visual on Thai culture.  You'll have to ask him to be sure.  I started with the food line, as each parent I walked past wanted to fill my plate with noodles and/or rice.  So we started with food.

 

A variety of catered in Thai food. There was so much food, I was unable to try it all. One of my favorite dishes was the Green Curry with Thai noodles.  The fresh herbs, I do love.  Not pictured is the chaotic, yet friendly movement all around me.  I was holding Nick in one hand (ear phones in) and my plate in the other. Being the foodie geek I am, I had to put Nick on hold so I could take pictures for my blog friends..you! I have my priorities.

Here is more of the dessert end of the food tables. 

(Starting at the top, going down L to R)

1. Thai dessert drink. The green gels are placed in a sweetened coconut milk, with ice. Interesting by not bad.

2. Fried fish chips (similar to pork rinds)

3. Longsans, fruit (in season)

4. Banana cakes/muffins - common Thai dessert/snack

5. Rambutan, fruit (in season)

6. Pandan flavored, steamed cake - the coloring is from the pandan leaf - commonly seen in bakeries

And then the deep fried Thai donuts, commonly sold street-side. I am told that many Thais love to enjoy them over a morning cup of coffee.

Made before your eyes. Typically served with pandan custard/pudding sauce.  I hadn't tried the dessert til that day. Honestly, not my favorite. However, kids love them.

So there you are. I have brought you to where Mother's Day fun and food segue into.. Sports Day. I don't know how to prepare all of the character in my upcoming blog post. Take your imagination and run, just r