School Sports Week

My community recently hosted their annual sports competitions for students in the 7 schools in my district.  I’ve seen teachers prepping and kids practicing for these events ever since the start of the current term in November.  This seems to be one of the highlights of the school year and the big event of the second school term.  The week kicked off with a parade featuring each school with a banner, the participating athletes, and kids of various ages dressed up in costumes and a whole lot of make-up.  After spending a few hours on parading and presentation and one last parade around the soccer field for a final judging, it was time for food and a rest before the competitions really started.  First up: a football (soccer) game between the area male teachers and the male SAO staff.  Why?  Because I’ve stopped asking questions and just take things as they come now, that’s why. 

Pre-parade prep

Each school also had their own 'band': pictured here

Kicking off the sports competitions

The next several days included many, many competitions between students in the main sports categories: football (soccer), volleyball, dtagraw (like volleyball with a shorter net, smaller ball and played with your feet/head), petanque (like bocce ball), and running events.  I spent the week supporting the kids, chatting with teachers and people I knew from around the community and eating – always eating. 

Dtagraw

Relay races

Volleyball

Spectators

Football (soccer)

Petanque 

Measuring to find the closest ball

Thai people aren’t what I would consider competitive by nature, so I was surprised at just how much everyone got to be so invested in the outcomes of various matches and competitions.  Each school is associated with a different village in the community, so various community leaders and parents came out throughout the week to support the kids and playfully chastise their rivals. In true Thai fashion, loudspeakers were set up around the hosting school grounds for use by the ‘MC’ of the week.  Not a minute was silent as he enthusiastically played music during breaks, commented on the weather, discussed what was for lunch with guest commentators, and described/discussed the appearances and body shapes of various athletes as they competed.

On the second to last night of the competitions it was time for ‘Sports Night’, an event for all the teachers and principals that included dinner, drinks and of course, karaoke and dancing.  It was great to be able to support the kids throughout the week.  It was nice to see a lot of the people I know in the community throughout the week and see all the schools come together for an event like this.   

The main MC of Sports Week

Dancing and karaoke

New kids: PST revisited

I'm halfway done with my Peace Corps service.  The group ahead of me is getting ready to finish, travel the world a little bit and return back to America.  The group behind me is well into their pre-service training, on their way to becoming volunteers in a few weeks.  I'm somewhere in the middle and struggling with what I hope is the end of what Peace Corps refers to as a 'midservice crisis': the time when you reevaluate, come to terms with what you've done so far (or more likely haven't done) and the fact that you've got another year of service ahead.  During our two day staging event in America before leaving for Thailand, someone offered a bit of advice to the tune of, 'when you're up, blog about it; when you're down, journal about it.'  My journal has seen a lot of love in the last month (thanks to my brother for giving me such an awesome one), but to be honest, Peace Corps is hard and everybody has their fair share of bad days.  It's an experience full of ups and downs, a constant roller coaster that has an as-yet-to-be-determined course and destination.

A couple weeks ago I got to travel back to the place it all began in central Thailand to help the new group of volunteers with their training for a week.  A year later I’ve got perspective, experience and more than enough stories to share as I quickly realized I’ve become part of the group of ‘older kids’, the seasoned veterans of Peace Corps Thailand that the new group has already started to look to for advice, support, and answers for all the weird questions that are unique to the life of a PCV.  Spending a week with the new group of volunteers gave me a lot of perspective and a good opportunity to see how far I’ve really come since I was sitting in their shoes at this time last year.  It also gave me a bit of renewed inspiration as I was able to see their excitement, curiosity and anticipation of everything to come in their experiences. I remember what it was like to be where they are and I appreciate my current perspective based on all of my experiences.

Flashbacks from my own PST last year - nice to be on the other side of things!

Observing Life Skills activities facilitated by the trainees 

I couldn't help but reflect back on my own arrival in Thailand just over a year ago as I began this crazy journey.  I remember the exhaustion from well over a full day spent in airports and airplanes and the few hours of sleep we were afforded before jumping right in to training.  When I started PST, 27 months seemed like a daunting commitment - even the 10 weeks of training seemed overwhelming (and subsequently proved to be) and I looked at the training schedule thinking that the end of it seemed so far away.  I remember all of the new things and 'firsts' and sometimes feeling like my head was going to explode for so many reasons and doing this all with a group of 50 strangers that were supposed to be my new friends.  Now I'm halfway through my 27 months and have formed friendships with people that will last beyond our time together in Thailand.  There's a new group of people sitting where I was a year ago and it makes me appreciate everything I've experienced in the last year (and realize that I wouldn't trade places with them for anything).

Prior to the week with the new volunteers, I stopped to visit my Thai host family from PST last year.  I got to spend some time with the people who hosted me for my first few months in Thailand and taught me a lot about culture and family life.  My host mom made my favorite Thai dishes and I enjoyed much richer conversations with my increased language skills. It was great to go back.

My original Thai host mom and sister