Sports Day!

What a week! So after the spending New Years in the islands, was time to head back to the mountains. I only had to teach one day that week because we had three days of Sports Day(s)! So much fun. The entire school is split up into four teams: red, yellow, blue, and pink. Faculty included. We each have a booth to decorate and the kids participate in football (soccer), volleyball, running, handball, cheerleading (more of a dance team), and then the littles get to do a variation of boxing. They sit on a bamboo structure and "box" and the point is the knock the other kid into the kiddie pool underneath them. Another reason I love Thailand. So Tuesday started as preparation aka decorating the booths and making sure the kids had their uniforms and what not. Wednesday was the big day - opening ceremony and a big parade in town. Two of the students came running into the "arena" carrying a torch and then lit the big flame to signal that the games have begun complete with a fireworks show! Did I tell you how much I love this country? If something like this existed in the states I think children would love to come to school more often! So the day consisted of tournaments really and so I paraded around in a pink tutu and a pink little hat pinned in my hair and danced with the children. Had the girls do my makeup and had about 3 brushes on me at one point, hilarious. So much makeup. They had backpacks full of the stuff! Yes that is plural! So come around lunch time the food is delivered. Many reasons to love Thailand - this country won't let you starve. So we setup our booth and handout lunch to the kids (pad kaprow gai kai dao - aka basil chicken with rice and fried egg) one of my favorite meals and then the teachers got their own meals so we had som tam (papaya salad) and laad (I believe) and sticky rice galore. So yummy. After my feast - errr I mean my lunch, continued to cheer my team on (team Blue woot woot) and danced with the kids. Was exhausted by the end of the day and then realized I had two more days of this! The second day was still sports all day, but I left after lunch because I needed to go to Chiang Rai to apply for my visa extension. Fun times! Well I get there and turns out I forgot a piece of the paperwork - whoops! Mai pen rai...I was really annoyed, but calmed down and just sucked it up and let it go. My bike ride when I got back was just what I needed. I still managed to bike every day for at least an hour and then do my mini workout and still going strong on my coconut-a-day thing. So the next day was the last day of sports day and it was pouring rain! and freezing! so cold...But because it was the last day I wanted to see my kids I decided to go to CR first thing in the morning so I wouldn't miss the awards and competitions. So I head to CR and yay everything works out and when I come back to school food was ready so perfect timing haha. Watched the football and handball matches and then it was time for the awards. Our team dominated! I know I'm not supposed to be competitive, but hey, winning is fun haha. So proud of my kids - what an amazing experience. So here are all the photos and some videos. Oh and the one of me in the red jacket and I'm eating something...that something is a SNAKE! I ate my first snake and was documented. Actually didn't taste that bad, it was the spine aka bones that weirded me out because I had to spit them out haha. Okay enough on that...Enjoy the pics!

oh and each booth had a huge sound system so the dance team could practice all day...and how the dance competition works is that each team gets to choreograph their own dance to the same two songs...so guess what was playing over and over and over for three days straight...I now understand a little of what my parents went thru when I would put my music on repeat for days at a time...I think I still have the songs playing in my head...haha. Fun times though :)

and another thing - the pictures of the two thai teachers when the little kids are wrestling - well I think they're the two handsome thai teachers in my school haha. So got some creeper shots of them...sorry. I just highlighted almost 200 photos to upload and not going to sort through them all, plus I think it's funny to have the pics. They speak very little to zero amounts of English and that's about how much Thai I speak...so let's just hope they don't read/look at my blog! 

ahh and saw some pictures are on here of monks...so the beginning of the year the school brings gifts to give the monks and it's this big ceremony and you have to take your shoes off when you give them your gift. The monks then decide on where to donate the gifts (orphanages/charities/homeless). Was an amazing experience. Fun fact: later that day my friend and I went on a bike ride to the hot springs and got dinner (som tam - papaya salad) and sat next to one of the hot pools (there were benches) and some (as I call them) MIT (monks in training) came over to boil eggs and we just sat with some MIT's and ate dinner. Love Thailand!