What is up guys, it's once again your boy, Reese. This is the last time you'll hear from me. I hope that doesn't make you too happy. Alright, so today. We arrived at the school in the morning curious to see what lay ahead of us for this much-anticipated ribbon cutting ceremony. Or at least I was curious, I'm usually the one that's not paying attention when these things are talked about in team meetings. I did know that we planned to move the cook and her supplies into the new kitchen sometime before or after the ceremony but further than that, the itinerary was a mystery. The cook had already started prepping food for the festivities though so we just helped blow up balloons and decorate. We killed the time with arm wrestling versus the sixth graders until we were called to get seated. It was a wild ride from there.
Several of the school district's principals kicked things off with kind words, and then the little kids were brought in. They were dolled up with makeup, white dresses, and jester-like costumes. A few ran into the crowd crying for their parents only to be brought back to the stage. A few bobbed to the music. Most didn't move much at all. It was still super cute.
Then it was the big kids' turn. Five young women filed onto the stage in sparkly gold dresses and golden crowns. At first we all thought they invited professional dancers to perform because of how mature and distinguished they looked. It turned out that it was the makeup that fooled us; they were part of Margaret and Sara's "Girl Squad," sixth grade girls who I personally only saw during their occasional appearances on the soccer field. They were much better choreographed than the kindergarteners. I knew I wasn't the only one who thought so when Mary Lou leaned towards me to say, "This is beautiful!"
After the dancing, it was a flurry of gift giving and thank you's. The little dancers got a big box of Cheetos or something. The golden dancers got pencil bags. The principals gave us candy and scarves. We each put in a word of thanks to the crowd, and then we got to ribbon cutting. The team got a bunch of confetti cannons to shoot during the ritual. I was kind of salty because one of the principals told me I was holding it the wrong way so when it came time to shoot it, mine was the only one that didn't do anything. I flipped it around for my own private confetti shooting so I wasn't too mad.
We broke for lunch, and then moved the cook's supplies into the new kitchen. I wasn't there for this, but apparently the cook broke into tears when she beheld her new space. I'm thinking they were "I can't believe I can now cook in such an awesome kitchen" tears rather than "I'm so sad these kids spent so much time to make such an ugly kitchen" tears.
We spent our last few hours with the kids giving piggyback rides, throwing the frisbee, and playing soccer. I definitely used some dirty moves that the ref didn't catch, but to no avail: my team got smacked 7-4. When it was time for goodbyes, I put my sunglasses on so in case I cried, nobody could see. I held it together though.
We wrapped up the day with a short trip to Dam Koasiao. It was a beautiful place, made even more pleasant thanks to a bike rental offering decent bikes for 30 baht a piece ($1). Tomorrow, we are set to attend the other team's ceremony. We'll keep you posted.
