Sai seemed to be fitting into their routine very well. She ate breakfast and got ready for school with the other kids without a hitch. We followed the Kupsky's van to school and took some pictures and video of Sai in the classroom with her friends. They seemed a little excited to have someone taking pictures in their room, so I explained to them that in Thailand, Sai is a big movie star and we were there to take pictures for her fanclub. Sai did not dispute me! Hahah!
Sai seemed to be getting along great with her friends at school. She fit right in like she'd been a member of their gang for years. The girls chatted merrily until class started, and then I noticed that Sai did a very good job of listening to her teacher. She was so attentive and studious. So I'm not sure if we brought the right Sai to America. I didn't recognize her! Hahah!
We also took video of June and Gam in their classes too. We didn't get a chance to talk to them very much because we didn't want to disturb their class, but they seemed very happy too.
June seemed a little shocked to see us in the classroom, but again I noticed that she seemed to be fitting in well with her classmates. From what I've seen of June so far on this trip, she is really enjoying herself!
It took forever for me to get a picture of Gam smiling. I told her I wasn't going to leave until I got a good picture of her, but she just rolled her eyes at me. Hahah. Eventually, I managed to get a good picture of her, because she was busy talking with one of her classmates and forgot I was there, so she actually laughed a bit. Ah-Ha! I knew Gam couldn't hide that smile forever, haha!
Next we drove over to First German Lutheran School to check on Didi. She was in class when we arrived, so we took a few photos and waited to talk to her as she went to lunch. She seemed a little withdrawn and I noticed that she didn't talk with her "buddy" very much. This happens sometimes. I told her to keep trying to make friends at school and to keep giving her buddy a chance. Maybe she is shy too.
Personality differences and boredom are two of the challenges that students must overcome on these trips. Thai kids are used to a lot more structure and scheduling of their "free time", and so sometimes they don't know what to do with themselves when given actual freedom. I counseled Didi to remain productive and find ways to occupy herself in class if she didn't understand the material. It may also be possible that she and her buddy don't get along very well. That's OK too. I told her that she has to follow her buddy's class schedule, but if it turns out they are not a good match, she doesn't have to stay with her buddy at all times. She should try to make other friends at school too, so she can find someone with similar interests.
I also talked to Mr. Leckwee about Didi. He's her principal and her teacher. I found out that he didn't know Didi had prepared an "ice-breaker". She had done such a good job on her presentation at Divine Savior school during orientation week, that I thought presenting her ice-breaker at First German might help her to start talking with her classmates and perhaps make some new friends.
The good thing is that Didi has a great host family, so they will provide her with the support and advice she needs to adjust to a new school. We'll come back in a few weeks and see how she's doing!
After that, we drove down to Howard's Grove to visit Bangpan at St. Paul's Lutheran School. Bangpan was at lunch when we arrived and since it was a rainy day, the kids had to play in the gym after lunch. Bangpan told me she didn't like basketball, so she sat on the bleachers by herself with her phone. But then Hannah and her friends came over and invited Bangpan to play badminton with them. Pretty soon she was up playing and laughing with them. It was great to see that.
After that we drove over to my parents' house to take a nap before heading to Chilton for May and Jinny's birthday party.
We ate at Pennelopy's Pizza in Chilton. For some reason I was trying to pronounce it in a "Greek" way, so I was saying, "Pen-nay-LOW-pis" instead of "Pen-NEL-low-peas." I think I've been in Thailand too long! I'm forgetting how to pronounce American names :-P.
May and Jinny seemed really happy to have a nice birthday party. Their host families really put a lot of effort into making their birthdays special. Even their cookie-cake had Thai lettering on it! It was really nice to see May and Jinny joking around with their host families in a very natural way. The Konen family also showed up to say "hi" to May, so she had two host families at her birthday party. How sweet!
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