Scout Camp
On Thursday(Nov 6), I went to scout camp with my p3s. Earlier
in the week, my coordinator said I wouldn’t have to teach the p3s as they had
scout camp. The next day, she asked if I wanted to go and help out at the camp.
I replied, “Yes. Yes I do”. Thai schools all have scout programs – the students
will wear the scarves like the ones scouts and girl guides wear at home. They
learn drilling, outdoor activities, songs, and whatnot – rather like back home.
The younger kids will just have “scout days” but the older kids will go on 2-3
day long retreats.
My coordinator told me to meet the students at school at
7:45am and to wear my normal teacher clothes (skirt and blouse). So I arrived
in the morning, sat around, and then was told to go wait downstairs. After a
bit of waiting, my coordinator came to find me and said we would meet my p3
co-teacher, Phi May, somewhere else. We ran into Phi May pretty quickly, and
she said everyone was meeting at the park at 9am. My coordinator, Phi Tuk by
the way, gave me a blue polo shirt with the school crest on it, and said I
should go home and put it on, as well as trousers and a hat (it was now
8:20am). I ran to the market quickly and bought the first baseball cap I found –
lots of mining was involved.
I met the students in the park at 9am. All the p3s were
involved: 4 classes or about 130 students. First, the classes walked around the
park in their class groups. I basically hung around Phi May and went where she
went – most of the other teachers didn’t speak much English. Around the park,
there are various work-out apparatus, and the students attempted to use them.
There was a high bar, and the teachers and I tried to jump and grab it, but
alas, we were all too short. I smiled for a lot of pictures, and in general,
did not know what was going on. Also, all the other teachers were dressed
nicely in their scout outfits – similar to scout leaders back home but with a
bit more military flavour. They all looked very spiffy – I looked a bit like a
schlump in my hiking pants, baseball hat, running shoes, and too-big polo. Oh well!
Also, out of a weird coincidence, almost everything I had was blue: my shirt,
my hat, my bag, my watch strap and my camera. I kept thinking "It looks like I have a weird blue fetish...".
After the walk, the students were assembled by their class,
and in lines of boys and girls (from shortest to tallest). They did various drilling
activities, like standing at attention and at ease. After that, we sang songs.
The head scout leader man, Phi Nat, asked if I would “sing and dance with him”,
and I said, “Ooooookay...”. So we sang and danced a song in English about greetings.
I also danced with the students. Was good times.
Next came the snacks, and I was herded over to food area,
which consisted of some mats spread over the sidewalk pavement. I handed out
muffins to the kids while trying to sit awkwardly mermaid style. After snacks,
the students rotated through various activities, including throwing balls in
baskets, throwing balls to each other, playing with hula hoops and skipping. I
was stationed at the skipping area and attempted to teach the students how to
skip. Most of the girls knew how, most of the boys didn’t. But to their credit,
most of them tried really hard! It was quite amusing. It was also about 45
degrees with the humidity, so after a while, I was super hot. Most of the kids
would skip for a while, then sit down because it was too hot. But it was still
fun.
Lunch was served out of large pots brought from the school.
We had a chicken and broth dish, omelette and rice. The teachers also had a bag
of rambutans to share: I looove rambutans. After lunch, there was more
drilling. Then, the scout leader player “Gangnam Style” through his mega-phone.
For those of you who don’t know “Gangnam Style”, google it. Thai kids LOVE this
song and the dance that goes with it. They took a boy and girl volunteer from
each class, and they led the students in the dance. A couple of the boys (who I
know from my classes and are trouble makers but smart) knew the WHOLE dance. It
was hilarious. Then, they dragged me in front as well, and I attempted to do
the dance with the students. Hilarious and embarrassing.
After the dancing, the students made a house out of popsicle
sticks. I helped them as much as I could by demonstrating. The students also set
up an elaborate carpet of newspapers to sit on, and even took off their shoes.
Definitely different than at home! I also had a nice chat with the Thai teacher
of one of my classes – I didn’t think she spoke any English, but she actually
speaks pretty well! We talked about travelling and teaching mostly. Around 3, I
went home, as I was exhausted. Long but fun day!
P.S. Runner-ups for this post's title were:
How was jerk practice, boy? Did they teach you how to sing to trees? And build crappy
furniture out of useless wooden logs? Huh?
Oh, we're done for, we're done for, we're done diddely done for, we're done diddely
doodily, done diddely doodily, donediddely doodily, done diddely doodily...
PPS As of today, I've been in thailand for one month. Crazy.
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