Fancy Night

This weekend was stupendous. It wasn't flawless, remotely perfect or that exciting, but now that I look back it has to be one of the best events so far. This weekend I went with Suzanne to Renu Nakhon to work at an English camp that their highschool was running. We slept in a hotel with barely anything to eat both nights, we had the same food every meal [it consisted of rice; a soup dish made of potatoes, pieces of meat and mint in tasteless water; and vegetables (I would like to personally thank the inventor of baby corn because they were the highlight for my stomach)], we had to run the same class 5 different times and the students' English was anything but wonderful. On Friday Suzanne and I were split up to teach the different classes. Since I am NO English teacher, I played games with them. English games. And if they spoke Thai I would punish them by forcing them to speak in front of the class in English. It was, to say the least, interesting. I told them a bit about myself and then I split them into teams and they had to write the answers to my questions on the board in a race. I felt like Bob Barker from The Price is Right, because when I asked them what city I live in they kept turning to their teammates who were shouting out letters. It took almost 5 minutes for one of them to write "BURLINGTON" correctly, but they put up a valient effort that I applauded them for. On Saturday Suzanne and I taught them about the different types of music and the music teacher would play examples for them. By the fifth class our explanations and examples too half the period and we sang karaoke for them for the rest of the study time. They requested songs like "My Heart Will Go On" [I snorted with laughter and they didn't understand why I was laughing, but to be honest, I didn't either], "Zombie" and "Take Me to Your Heart" which neither Suzanne or I have ever heard of but the Thai people LOVE. Every time I go somewhere where they have karaoke I hear that song being played at least once, and I don't even think it's popular in North America. Odd. Very Odd. We were told that on Saturday night they would have a fancy dance party. They told us to dress up nice and I asked them "Will the boys wear suits?" to form some idea of what type of "fancy" they meant. They told us that yes, the boys would be wearing suits. We were completely overdressed. FANCY = COSTUME PARTY in Thailand. There were people dressed like cowboys, vampires, girls in frocks, a girl dressed up as Beyonce and a boy dressed in traditional Thai clothing. My favourite costumes were the ladyboys who dressed up as girls. I even mistook a few of them for girls when we first arrived until they started talking and dancing and I knew those were the ladyboys who had earlier taught me the Thai version of "The Chicken Dance". The Chicken Dance Chicken is dead, Chicken is dead Is on the grill, Is on the grill Grill it on the left, Grill it on the right Very hot, very hot, very hot One boy had a cropped jacket made out of a rice bag, another boy had a dress completely made out of plastic and another boy had a bedsheet tied around him and a wig so elegant that it looked real. We had another string tying ceremony, but this time the whole camp gave us string, roses and eggs. They also took so many pictures of us that my face still hurts from smiling all weekend. I felt like a celebrity, more than I have since I have been here. They all asked for autographs, our emails, our phone numbers and for a billion photos with them and their friends. When I wasn't teaching I was getting my photo taken, and even when I was teaching there were people sneaking pictures like the paparazzi. Though we were extremely overdressed we still enjoyed the night. We sang and danced to camp songs and Thai rap. They also played "My Humps" about 10 times; I'm under the impression that this is the only American rap song they know the words to. After enough dancing to break your legs they passed around containers of baby powder and put it all over each other's faces. They had me walk around the circle and as I passed the students they would shake my hand with baby powder or reach up and pat baby powder all over my cheeks. Then they got water and threw it around while "My Humps" played for an eleventh time and I sang all the words, flawlessly. They really enjoyed the fact that I knew all the words; that's the price I have to pay for going on Band trips where the same CD plays on repeat with horribly catchy songs. We had a dance off and Suzanne and I won crowns and wands, afterwards we judged a costume contest. Today was the last day of the camp, and I almost cried. I had only known the kids for less than two days, but they were adorable. When the trainers stood at the front and all the students came through to shake hands, it slowly grew into a line of people hugging, kissing and taking pictures. I took so many pictures with people kissing my face, my lips or me kissing them in return. Every student [and teacher] wanted a picture with the Falangs, every teacher and student wanted to touch us, to hug us and to recieve our emails and phone numbers. We signed each other's camp shirts, took more pictures and then came home. English Camp September 12 - 14 2008, was the perfectly example of why I love Thailand so much. Everyone loves everyone. No one is afraid to show someone how much they care, and everyone has fun. Thai people are the friendliest people in the world. "I have sailed the world and seen it's wonders" - Sweeney Todd.