Thailand 3: Opening Ceremony Magic!

Read our first   blog from our Thailand 3   team! For the latest updates, be   sure to follow our  blog   and social media – Facebook   and   Instagram!

July 13, 2017

Hello World!!! After over 30 hours in a plane the Thailand #3 group has safely (and finally) arrived in Thailand! Today was our first official day and it was amazing! While we are here in Thailand we will be helping out at the local school. All ages attend from Kindergarten to around 8th/9th grade. We were taken to the school in a traditional Thai bus with one opening at the back and two sets of benches inside. When we arrived at the school the kids were everywhere! They were wearing their nicest uniforms and were excited to have us there.

We were directed into a large room where we would have opening ceremonies. The Thai girls were sitting on the right while the boys were sitting on the left, and we sat directly in between them. Jim, our in country coordinator, was the one to officiate. We were introduced to all the teachers and staff at the school. They each came up and told us their name and in Thai told us what they do at the school. A few of the older girls had prepared a traditional Thai dance for us and were dressed in the tradition costumes. These girls were fantastic! We could tell they were shy and a bit nervous, but they danced flawlessly and with smiles on their faces.

Other students prepared musical numbers for us. There were many who played the guitar and bass, while others played drums. Many sang with much enthusiasm. For one of the songs one student played a melodica, which is a little piano that had a tube attached to it that the musician blows through while they play the piano keys. It was awesome! After the students performed another man came up and played a traditional Thai instrument and sang in Kammuang which is another language used in Northern Thailand.

Next our Youthlinc group went up and performed the Star Spangled Banner. Everyone in the room stood up while we sang and it was so cute to watch the kids as we sang. When our song was done we each told them our names using the the Thai words “Chux khxng chan” for “my name”. The school had prepared a slide show for us to show us the school and the faculty. It was set to Thai music and the words were written in Thai. When the presentation was done a group of us performed a dance to the song “Sunshine in my pocket.” This group had just learned this dance the previous day at the airport during a lay over and they rocked it!

The whole Youthlinc team was then invited to come up and we performed the “Electric Slide” and continued to dance to various songs. We invited the kids to dance with us and most of them did, especially the younger ones. They laughed and twirled around. The older kids were a bit more hesitant, mostly the older girls. When we tired to get them to dance with us they just shyed away and hid behind their friends. The older boys did dance with us though and even started a dance battle with members of our team! Even though we can’t speak their language we feel connected to these kids already and can’t wait for the adventures that await us here in Thailand!