Sports Day

Every school is Thailand participates in what is called Sports Day. The school is divided into different teams that compete against each other in different sport activities. Saint Francis has a Thai side and an English program side. We teach in the English program side (it basically means that all the classes are taught in English, except the obvious subjects like Thai language and social studies). Anyways, our side is small enough that we were one team: team orange.

There was a typo on the T-Shirts that said Sport Days, instead of Sports Day, but that is actually a much more accurate description. Thai schools love school activities because they love to have fun, if only it could be said that they loved learning as much as the activities! So to get ready for Sport’s Day, our classes were cut down to 40 minutes for 2 days so that the kids could practice in the afternoon. The last week, most of the classes were completely cancelled (officially or unofficially).

Friday was the actual celebration. The day started out with an extravagant parade. Since Dana’s 11^th graders were in charge of organizing the parade, we were asked to bring up the end of the whole thing carrying a heart. I guess we were the love couple or something… Thais love corny, cutesy things!! Aren’t we adorable?

Everyone was dressed up in awesome costumes, ranging from extravagant Victorian costumes,

to kids with Doraemon (a very popular cartoon) heads holding signs saying “No smoking,” “No alcohol,” “No sex before you’re 18,” that sort of thing. I don’t know how they decided on 18, but whatever. Here are some of my 11^th grade boys. They are dressed up as a security guard, a construction worker, and an old man? Ok. There was even a guy dressed up in traditional Thai garments who was carried in on a litter. I think I’ll make my kids carry me around the school on that litter on Monday.

After that, the races began. Unlike the US, were sport teams train before competitions, it seems like the actual sports were the least important thing of the day. No one had practiced before hand, and no one had ever been taught to run. John decided on the spot that he would like to start a running club for those interested, since some of the kids have natural talent but no training. Basically, when as whistle blew, the four contestants would charge off as fast as they could, run out of energy after a trip around the track, and then walk for a while.

But the best part was the cheerleading. Cheering is really huge in Thailand, starting with the really tiny 2^nd and 3^rd graders all the way up to high school. The little girls were so cute!! There was a whole section of "sitting cheerers" on one side of the field whose sole purpose was to yell cheers and clap all day.

It was a lot of fun, but we're glad to get back to regular classes tomorrow. We only have 3 weeks left until midterm exams. Yikes!