Last weeks of school

I was really just hoping for
a yes or no answer.. 

The normal structure of Thai culture often prevents me from really knowing what's going on, and as a result I've been pretty lost and confused at school these last few weeks. I was aware that there would be a lot of testing the second week of March, and beyond that I wasn't so sure if I would continue teaching each day. There would be days I would show up to school and ask a teacher if I would be teaching only to be given some vague answer such as "oh maybe, I don't know. Perhaps the teacher told students not to come today." What!? So I spent each day showing up to my assigned classroom, usually just to play games with the handful of students that showed up to school. It seems that the last day for students was up to the teacher, so there was no official last day for any of my kids. Meanwhile, the ones who have working parents are still showing up to school, even though lessons have been finished for days. This has kind of been a bummer because I never really got to say goodbye to my students, because I was never aware when the last day was.

some of the kindergarteners on graduation day (with faces full of makeup) 

However, last week we got one last hoopla with all of the teachers and a handful of students. Our school put on a graduation ceremony for the oldest students who are done with school (Emiliya's students), and for the kindergarteners who are moving up to the first grade. It was an adorable day of the little ones performing Thai dance and showing off a lot of Thai tradition. It's common practice for the teachers to tie white bracelets onto the wrists of the graduating students, wishing them good luck in their future. So after each kid walked across the stage and received their diploma they then lined up around the teachers to receive a wrist full of bracelets. It was a really fun tradition, and one of the Thai teachers taught us a few Thai phrases to bestow upon the students, like how to wish them happiness and adventure. So although I didn't formally say goodbye to my older students, I still got a last day and a lot of photos with my kindergarteners.

Giving bracelets to each of the graduating kids 

Tiny Thai dancers! 

Although the students are gone the teachers are working through the end of March, so Emiliya and I are expected to be working as well, even though we have no papers to grade or students to teach. As a result we're spending the last two weeks of the month sitting in the teacher's lounge for seven hours each day. It's definitely easy money, and is giving us ample time to plan all of our travel adventures that we're starting at the end of the month, but I would much rather be off doing something exciting as opposed to sitting at my desk each day. 

Some of my travel plans for the next two months

It's crazy how quickly these five months have flown by and it's so nice to see how far I've come since my first day at school. It took a while but I finally gained control over my classrooms and formed friendships with a lot of my students. For quite a while I was toying with staying for another term, but currently going home outweighs the pros of staying in Thailand. I'm falling harder for this country more and more each passing week, but I'm just not in love with the lifestyle I have here. In my small town I eat from the same market each day and am finding it increasingly difficult to have some variety in my food but still stay a vegetarian. On top of that, last week our fruit lady stopped showing up to the market so now we have no easy access to any fresh fruit, which was one of our daily staples. I'm eager to get out of this hot and humid climate and I look forward to spending a day outside instead of always running for the AC or waiting for the sun to go down. I've grown to love teaching a lot more than I was expecting to and am definitely not ruling it out as a future option.
Next week my dad, step mom and step brother are coming to Thailand and they're helping me kick off six weeks of travel. I'll be showing them around Bangkok and Chiang Mai and the adventures will continue from there. I'm also excited for the arrival of my sister who's bringing along her friend and boyfriend, and together we'll be exploring some of the islands in the south of Thailand. From there I'll be traveling south through Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. I don't have the time or money to accomplish everything on my bucket list, but I'm definitely excited to get started on some Southeast Asia adventures!