Amazing weekend continued-
Morning 2.
If yesterday wasn’t early enough, waking up at 5:30, I decided to torture myself a little more. Wake up call at…drum roll please, 4:30 am!! But this was all worth it so I didn’t really mind. It was the Marines birthday so all week the soldiers have been setting up for the celebration. When we got there at 5:10 am, there were hundreds of people stretching and warming up for the running they were about to do. 42k, 21k, and a 10k. Julia did the 10k and I walked a 3k. Personally I loved doing mine because I got to walk with all the people I teach with including the director so I was able to bond with them a little more. Plus our walk was through the restricted part of the base where all the officers live. It’s the most beautiful part so of course they would live there. The best beach, gorgeous trees and a private road that winds around the gulf. All very nice. Although I was a tad jealous of Julia’s skills. She came in 3rd in her age group. She got to go up on stage, take pictures and get a trophy. I love trophies. I suppose if I could actually run for that long though I would have too. Go Julia!
After this, we started walking home but it was so hot Julia and I decided to go for a little swim. Remember, this beach you must wear clothes and for once I was 100% ok with this! I ran out there so fast it was like a white flash of light. A little later we headed back to the flagpole where more celebration was about to happen. Now this next part was extremely scary! There were hundreds of soldiers all lined up.
Next to them were hundreds of students from my school and more from 2 other schools. It was about 11 am now, the peak of the heat. The teachers all stood in between the soldiers and the students. The ceremony start. There was singing and speeches. Out of nowhere a soldier whipped around, ran and leaped off the stage towards our students. Luckily she had seen a boy fall and hit the ground. Completely passed out. She picked the kid up and ran him under the bleachers to try and wake him up. I didn’t know what to think at this moment but this should have been a warning sign. In the next 15 minutes students were dropping like flies! All of us teachers spread out through the students to make sure they were keeping cool, drinking water. The ambulance came for the kids that weren’t waking up. There was a total of about 9 or 10 students that fainted. The minute the ceremony ended we rushed the kids over to some trees and shaded areas. Why they didn’t do this sooner I have no idea.
Later in the day we were taken to another part of the base to plant something. I couldn’t quite understand what they were saying but I said yes anyway. I didn’t want to miss out on a great time just because I couldn’t understand. When we got there I found out there was some ceremony/greeting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It was just the teachers from my school, about 40 students and the soldiers.
Some of the highest-ranking officers all came rolling in with their drivers and walked towards the stage. We had met a few of them before when we first arrived at school. They wanted to let us know we were very important to their school and the education of the students. There were people on the base who haven’t even met them personally yet and here we were in their office sipping water in our proper teaching outfits. Now at the ceremony, something happened. They stopped and looked at Julia and me. With out hesitation, they turned and started walking towards us. I felt so uncomfortable! The teachers had told me we were going to be planting things, not meeting these extremely important people! I was wearing fisherman’s pants and a big white shirt with flip-flops. Wow. That was embarrassing. In front of everyone, they approached us and starting having a conversation as if there weren’t hundreds of eyes watching. We shot out of our seats as fast as possible and wai’d. This went on for a while. They finally decided to go sit down. You could already tell people were looking at us with amazement. Awkwardly we sat back down and I slowly sank into my chair. Through out the whole ceremony they would look over at us.
After it was all over we then walked out towards the water trekking through nasty mud. We got to an area where the soldiers had dug some holes for us to plant. I got to put a few plants in. All the while, a newsman with his camera kept circling me while I did it. I can just see the headlines now. “Farang joins the Thai people to help the environment.” Oh boy. He said it would be airing for the news the next day. Then I turn around and there was a crowd of soldiers waiting for me to finish. When I stood up with my muddy hands they got in somewhat of a line and asked if they could take pictures with me. I laughed so hard! But said, “Sure why not!” Next second camera phones were flying out of their pockets! Who knows where those pictures will end up but the guys were definitely happy.
That all finished up and we went home to rest. The last part of the ceremony happened that night. It was a two-hour production that they had been practicing for a long time. There was a band and singers putting on a show. Soldiers from the Navy and the Marines marched through the road in front of the bleachers. They did a 10-minute story with the flagpole, raising and lowering different flags. I think this represented something in history. But of course everything was in Thai. Next there were planes buzzing through the air and little dots coming out of them. 50 soldiers had jumped out of the plane and parachuted down to the concrete road in front of us. It was very impressive.
They finished up with a video of the Marines that included the king in most of it. That night, I was invited to go to dinner with the director and a few administrators from other schools. With my, “say yes to everything” attitude, I jumped in the car and finished off the long day with an amazing meal and great company. I can’t stop thinking about how lucky I am to have been able to come here and experience everything I’ve been through so far. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Tip #1-Something I heard a lot growing up, you get out what you put in. Throw your self 110% into everything here. If you do step out of your comfort zone, you will have the best stories and memories of your life. Well, at least for now.
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