So many uniforms

So this week has been an adventure in figuring out the way things work.  Part of that has been the uniforms.  My first day at school I thought I pretty much had it down.  The girls wear mid calf length navy skirts with belts, and a very pale blue/white shirt with Thai writing on it (probably the name).  The shirts are slightly different style based on their age--younger girls have almost a sailor-style shirt with a bow, the older ones have a simpler collar. If their hair is long enough, it has to be tied back with a white ribbon.  As for shoes, they are all the same black shoes--the only difference is they all have different color/style buckles.  This is pretty important, since they all have to leave their shoes outside the classrooms...how else would they recognize their shoes???  As for the boys, They wear knee length navy shorts and a collared shirt with embroidery, much like the girls.  There really isn't the same variation in the boys uniform like there is with the girls.  Below is a picture of the typical Thai uniform--ours is the same except the writing on the shirts is green, since the school colors are green and white.

Ok, so seems, pretty straightforward, right?  Wrong.  In addition to these uniforms, I also started seeings some green pants and shirts running around school.  Ok...so what is that?  Turns out those are the P.E. uniforms.  I don't know exactly how that is set up since maybe only a few people in each class will be wearing the P.E. uniforms, but each day there are people in them (except I didn't see any on Friday).  So they have it worked out somehow.

Next!  So I come into school on Wednesday to see a whole new set of uniforms!  In addition to the basic uniforms and the P.E. uniforms, I now see some boys wearing a khaki uniform with yellow scarves and magenta caps.  Also, some of  them are carrying giant forked red sticks...weird.  Despite the odd description, it was pretty clear to me that these were boy scouts.  I didn't realize how closely scouting was associated with school, but hey, whatever.  You can see one boy carrying his cap, but no good example of the stick sadly.

As for the girls, they were wearing a blue pseudo-sailor uniform with a red cross on the back.  Yep, they are part of the Thai Red Cross.  It is basically the girls equivalent of scouting--no Girl Scouts per se.  Can't seem to find any good pics, so I will just take some around school this week and upload them later.

Thursday was relatively normal--just the basic uniform and P.E.  Friday I was in for a surprise though.  All of the girls came to school in green wrap skirts (patung) and traditional white blouses.  The boys had sort of green capris and traditional white tops as well.  It turns out that on Fridays throughout Nan, all students must wear traditional Thai dress to school.  It was pretty amazing.  Teachers are also encouraged to do this, and some do.  Others aren't so enthusiastic because the long wrap skirt can get quite warm--the boy's uniform is definitely more heat friendly!  Anyway, below is sort of a rough approximation of the uniform.  The blouse is made of cotton, but it would have longer sleeves (3/4 length).  The buttons are more traditional (the Asian knot/loop type) and they are off center, so one side of the blouse folds well over the other.  It does have the square collar.  The teachers often have quite elaborate lacy tops--quite beautiful to look at!  As for the skirt, it is made of a heavy cotton and wraps tightly around you, tying in the back/side.  The free edge should sit on the front left, as shown in the picture here.

So, on Friday I talked a bit with my bio coworker who speaks the most English, pee Prauw (yeah, spelling these names is rough--I actually have no clue how to write her name).  When I say she speaks the most English, this means she kind of speaks it, but she speaks WAY more than anyone else, and WAY WAY WAY more than I speak Thai.  So yeah.  Anyway, I asked her whether it would be weird for me, a Westerner, to wear the Thai clothing on Fridays.  She didn't understand that, so we went to the thumbs up/down on me wearing it on Friday.  She gave it a thumbs up.  So today I went in search of the appropriate clothing.  Now, I knew I had seen the skirts around--they just look like folded bits of fabric.  But I also needed the blouse and a friendly person to help me out by showing me how to wear it all.  So I went wandering this afternoon.  I actually ended up stopping in a shop to buy some colorful and loose blouses (I need certain colors for different days of the week).  The shopkeeper there was particularly nice, so I attempted my miming/dictionary routine with her.  I managed to convey that I was a teacher in town and I needed the skirt for Fridays.  She got quite excited and showed me a stack.  We picked out a couple, and she showed me how to tie them on--way simpler than some of the online instructions made it seem!  She also realized I needed the top so took me over and picked one out.  I tried it on and thought it fit, but she wasn't happy so went to the back to get an XL.  Welcome to Asia, fatty teacher Allison!  Ahh well.  The XL fit fine, and so I had put together my first truly Thai outfit!  I even managed to get a skirt in sort of a pale yellow/green since our school color is green.  It was a good day.

I will say I am a tad nervous to wear it.  It looks lovely, but when other Thai teachers mentioned how hot the outfit is, they weren't lying.  The cotton is quite heavy, and can make you sweat a good bit.  When I am in my office or a classroom, this shouldn't be too much of a problem, but outside is going to be an issue.  Plus Friday is my day for gate duty--I have to be there from 7-8 a.m. and greet the students arriving.  It is also to say hello to the parents as they drop their kids off.  Bottom line: teacher Allison is going to be a sweaty hog by the end of gate duty.  Definitely a good idea to keep a small cosmetics kit at school like the other teachers do.

In other news, it has been thundering for about an hour now.  The sky has looked menacing and the wind has been blowing.  Even a few hours ago when I was at the market many of the vendors were packing up early.  It seems everyone thinks it might rain.  Have my prayers been answered?  Or will it be another disappointment?  Tune in next time to find out!