the Kings birthday

I went to school with Mr John this morning as there was to be a ceremony for the Kings birthday celebrations.  The actual day is tomorrow and it is a national holiday.  Interestingly, bars will be closed as it's not considered appropriate to drink on this day. 

Last term all the foreign teachers were measured up and you can see the outcome.  Fortunately, it's quite cool today as the shirts are made from very thick material.  It also features the flags of the 10 ASEAN countries. 

For those that don't know, ASEAN is an economic community, much like the European Union (EU) and consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.  See if you can name the flags on Mr John's shirt!!  What a lovely detail to a fabulous garment.  Anyway, back to this morning.

There was the usual raising of the Thai flag - which happens everyday at 8am and it's taken down everyday at 6pm - during which time the national anthem is played.  I think I also heard the school song but, as everything is in Thai , it's hard to know!  I did hear the school name several times hence the educated guess.

The birthday was marked by the Director making an offering and a speech.  Everyone was well behaved and paid suitable attention - including the teachers.  Speaking of which, because they are civil servants, Thai teachers have a military type uniform with very senior staff wearing white. They also have medals but unfortunately we don't know how you get them.  Is it for filing under duress? Who knows!

I must say it was a different way of spending the morning though I'm not in a rush to do it again - it was so early and with the wind, dare I say, cold.  Which reminds me, the last few days we've not even had the fan on as the breeze can be quite chilly. 

Yep, definitely winter at only 20 degrees of an evening!!