In typical Thai national education fashion, the end of the school year is filled with dramatic schedule changes. My last day at my Monday-Thursday school was supposed to be tomorrow, but my co-teacher, Warangkana, was suddenly summoned (along with many other teachers) to a 12-day workshop in Chiang Mai. So my last day at that school was, actually, last week. So much for saying goodbye! Warangkana will be back just in time to help drive us to the airport on the day we leave town.
The unexpected departure of nearly 30% of the teachers at our schools means that going-away parties that were originally planned for next week have instead already happened. Last night was the first, and tonight another. Both were dramatic stories in and of themselves that I don’t have the energy to tell, but I did want to highlight some beautiful gifts we were given.
If you look closely at the flowers in these bouquets – Robert is being given one by our landlord, his principal, in the first photo, and I’m getting one from Warangkana in the second – you’ll notice that they are made of... money. Thai baht bills in different denominations. Teachers at each school folded them into lovely flowers of different varieties. We’ll be leaving Thailand with a bit more cash than we expected! They are so pretty that I’ll hate to unfold them when the time comes, but we were repeatedly reminded to "spend the money" and not let it get mistakenly thrown away!
The unexpected departure of nearly 30% of the teachers at our schools means that going-away parties that were originally planned for next week have instead already happened. Last night was the first, and tonight another. Both were dramatic stories in and of themselves that I don’t have the energy to tell, but I did want to highlight some beautiful gifts we were given.
If you look closely at the flowers in these bouquets – Robert is being given one by our landlord, his principal, in the first photo, and I’m getting one from Warangkana in the second – you’ll notice that they are made of... money. Thai baht bills in different denominations. Teachers at each school folded them into lovely flowers of different varieties. We’ll be leaving Thailand with a bit more cash than we expected! They are so pretty that I’ll hate to unfold them when the time comes, but we were repeatedly reminded to "spend the money" and not let it get mistakenly thrown away!
2 comments:
Wow, that's cool! I wish at my upcoming 'graduation' (at which I will not actually be graduating but instead pretending to), my adviser would give me flowers made of money. "Hey Spice, you've lived on a low income [by U.S. standards] for six years so you can become massively overeducated. Now, as a reward, have some money!" Or maybe that could be my welcome to my new job in the fall - "Here's your first real paycheck...in flowers!"
Sounds like we've been doing the same thing for a couple of days. Makes this whole "leaving thing" even more real, huh? For me, I only wish they'd showed this friendship (the parts that are real) the whole time. Would have made for a better experience. Oh well. Yippee for money flowers.
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