“Good Morning!”
We were greeted in the lobby at 8:15 A.M. We boarded the bus bright and early to โรงเรียนวัดจักรสีห์ (the Wat Chak Si School) located in Sing Buri. Once we arrived at the school, we were given a warm welcome by all the students ranging from ages five through seventeen.
The WCS welcomed us with a ceremony, where their school principal gave us a speech, and in turn asked Ailsa Moriuchi and Erick Cotter to give a speech on Moorestown Friends’ behalf. Then, the WCS students performed a choreographed dance to help welcome us to their school. Additionally, MFS students were given Thai flower garlands which are traditionally referred to as “Phuang Malai.” Along with the Phuang Malai, there was a string tying ceremony, where each student receives strings tied to their wrists by teachers in the community.
Before we progressed into the activities, MFS students were taken to the temple that is local to the school and sat in Buddhist prayer for about ten minutes. Afterwards, in preparation for the next day, we were taught how to fold lotus flowers and made lotus flower bouquets which also included: bamboo leaf, incense, candles, and a fragment of gold leaf. While making the bouquets, the WCS students helped us out and made our bouquets beautiful!
After all of that work, we were all getting quite hungry, so WCS provided us with all the ingredients to make traditional Thai Spicy Fruit Salad. We were called up in groups to make different combinations of fruits and spice levels. Yum! We continued lunch and ate with the WCS students until it was time for recess. MFS students and WCS students played various games, such as volleyball, basketball, and a little game of catch.
Shortly after, all the students collaborated together and painted tote bags with different designs such as elephants, flowers, hearts, and names. “I really liked the painting because it gave me an opportunity to communicate with the kids, even though I couldn’t really understand the language. I would ask what colors they wanted to choose, and I was having them write their names and stuff,” said Bodhi.
We continued to paint, but on a much bigger scale: the WCS bathroom is getting a better and bolder look. As this was a two-day project, we only completed priming the outside of the building to be painted with color the next day. After finishing preparations for the building, we said our goodbyes for the day and headed to our next destination.
Thep, our excellent tour guide, took us to an extremely large supermarket. The supermarket had everything from groceries, to toys, clothes, makeup, and every snack you could imagine. There were so many different stores inside the market, it was almost more like a mall than market. Some students bought different snack varieties, others bought ramen noodles, and some even bought toys! After a good hour of shopping, we began our voyage back to the hotel for dinner.
We then ate dinner which the hotel kindly provided us, where students got an option between pizza or burgers (a taste of home). We capped off the end of our prepared activities with our W.A.R.M. – Wows, Adversities, Readiness, and Morning Query – discussion led by the trip advisors. Since working with the WCS students is a core part of our trip, the discussion was much more full.
After dinner and discussion was over, we all had an hour to spare before curfew, and indulged in several games, including cards, and brain games. We ended the night at 10:30 waiting for our next exciting day at WCS.