Thai School Update

One thing I love about Thailand is that students here are very open and in touch with their sexually at a very young age. The students here are able to be who they really are without the fear of acceptance from other classmates or society. I've watched 11th grade boys dressed in girl school uniforms teach the girls Thai cheerleading combinations, and it is completely normal for a group of straight Thai boys to lounge all over each other or even sit on each others laps. There have been several times when I have walked into the classroom and had to tell boys to sit in their own desk because they were sitting on another boy's lap. In America if you were to look around a school ground you would see the boys and girls very integrated with each other. In fact, you would probably see boys and girls hanging all over each other, but here I would veture to say it's more common to see boys or girls hanging on their own sex then to see them hanging on the opposite sex. I think this is because the students here are kept separated. For example, during the morning assemblies the girls are in one line and the boys are in another, or at any school meeting the boys sit on one side of the room while the girls sit on the other. Additionally, Thai's seem to be very modest about relationships and are very concerned with saving face. It would be considered inappropriate for them to hang all over someone of the opposite sex.

Today most of my students were absent so I gave them free time which led to some enlightening discussions with my 9/3 class. With valentines just around the corner I found out which boys and girls have boyfriends or girlfriends, who has crushes, and any big plans they might have for the holiday. Surprisingly they celebrate it more than I thought here. One of my girls was practicing a song to sing to another girl (in the Thai program so not one of my students), one of my 9th grade boys is dating one of my 7th grade students, they told me about other "couples" in the class, and the term gek (which basically is the term for a person on the side).

Overall, things are good at Thai Christian school. Below are a couple of pictures from academic day. We have about a month left of actually classes, summer camp for a month, and then my contract is over at end of March. Its crazy how fast time flies. Today is Jenn and I's 5 month anniversary in Thailand!

xoxo,

Nichole