The beginning of Buddhist Lent and the rainy season is on Friday. Since that is an official holiday, as is Monday, we have a four-day weekend. Thursday at school there was a special ceremony with the monks for the occasion. So there were no classes for the first two hours.
One of the first things I noticed was that the cross on the altar had been replaced with a Buddha, which is, of course, what is typically on the altars. All of the 1000 students (Catholics may have stayed home, as there were a lot of absences in my class that day. Or they may have been students whose families left early for the long weekend.) gathered in the large meeting area, and then the nine monks arrived.
Each student had a bag with snacks to give to the monks, as giving food to the monks is what is done on these occasions. There was chanting/praying for a while, and then the head monk spoke to the students.
Then the head monk walked around and sprinkled water on everyone. It was fun to see the students’ faces light up in anticipation. After this, a woman gave envelopes with money to each monk and some teachers presented food to the monks. What I found interesting about this is that it was a woman, not a man, who gave the envelopes to the monks, putting them on the platform, and the female teachers who gave the food. Other ceremonies I’ve been at always had a man do these jobs.
Another interesting difference is that the girls sat at the front and the boys at the back. Other schools and the wats always have the boys and men at the front.
The students all got up by class and gave their food to the monks. This was very well coordinated. Students made a line parallel to the monks and then made a u-turn to give them the food and then returned to their places. When their bowls were full, the monks emptied them into tubs on the floor. When these were full, male teachers and men who came with monks took the tubs to the vehicles and emptied them. I figure that with 1000 students giving a food item to each of the nine monks, that was about 9000 items, which is a lot. I wondered what would be done with all of it, as it’s more than the monks can use.
When the monks left, the nuns came out. They had disappeared while the monks were there. Sister Viphaporn came out while students were giving food and spoke a bit.
Sister Viphaporn had told us to wear Thai clothes; so I wore one of my silk skirts. All the teachers were dressed up, which was fun.
There was only one class Thursday morning, and it was my free hour. And I have only one class in the afternoon on Thursday; so it was a light teaching day for me. The one class I had is the one 8th grade class that hardly ever listens. They listened very well that day. I gave them their exam results, and then wrote some questions and answers on the board for them to copy into their notebooks. I think some were surprised at their absent; I realized later that a third of the students were gone, which would also account for the good behavior of the group.
This class is after lunch, and the other special event of the day was happening in the meeting area, which is just below the classroom. The ice cream company had a special program for 4th-6th grade students. Of course, we could hear it all. I had told the three highest-scoring students that they didn’t have to take notes that day. After a few minutes, they asked if they could go downstairs, and I let them do that. They deserved the special treat. When they returned at the end of class, they had ice cream cones. So I headed down to get one, as I, too, deserved one. I got there just in time, and the ice cream was free, which was a nice treat.
Crisis of the week: On Monday after lunch, Lovely mentioned that Kate was in the library working on her midterm exams. When I asked about that, she said they were Tuesday and Wednesday and that they had been told last Wednesday. Tony and I had not heard anything about this. I knew they were coming up soon but thought it would be next week, since I hadn’t heard anything and the half-way point was this week. I was furious. This was the third or fourth time we had not been told something recently, and effect was accumulating. This was the most important of the lacks of communication. If Lovely hadn’t mentioned it, we would not have had exams prepared for Tuesday. I looked for Kru Toom, who is the department head and who had told Lovely and Kate, and couldn’t find her before or after my classes. Then I found Sister Viphaporn and told her how irritated I was. She passed me on to another nun, who was told to take care of me. Sister Toom gave me the schedule and told me what to do. After I left the office, I noticed that Kru Toom was returning; so I went back and told her how upset I was, partly because I’d been asking her for a term schedule for a month so I’d know things like when exams are.
Tuesday morning when I went to print the three exams I’d prepared, Kru Toom came in and we greeted pleasantly. When I chatted with her, I smiled and laughed about something. Sister Toom was using a computer and heard me and commented that I was happy again. It is good to have this noticed, as showing emotions, especially negative ones, is not a good Thai thing to do. Being—or appearing—happy is important. I know this, but I’d reached my limit and couldn’t help it on Monday. Kru Toom is working on translating the schedule and may make it a higher priority now. I told her we need only the first term now and that, if I have a schedule and know when things are happening, I can go to her with questions a few days in advance and remind her that I/we need the information, thus helping her do her job. I know she has way too many things to do and she has a daughter and husband to take care of and if often stressed; so I really don’t want to be an added burden. I just want to know what’s happening that affects me at the school. As an offshoot of the crisis, five people told me about the special ceremony on Thursday.
The rainy season has begun. It has rained every day this week, with a lot of hard rain on two days. I hope it stops or slows down for the Candle Festival, as that is an outdoor event. Maybe it won’t be so hot this year.
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