This has been a weird week in a weird year. It’s only the end of February and it seems like we have had more disruptions to the school schedule than in most full years. On Tuesday, classes were cancelled due to Scouting “activities”. Tomorrow is a national holiday marking one of the holiest days in the Buddhist calendar, Makha Bucha Day. So, it gives a perfect excuse to semi-cancel most of this morning’s learning so that the students could hear monks chanting the Dharma for several hours while giving them baskets of munchies and cartons of chocolate milk.

Of course, the remaining Muslim students had to be monitored so this fell upon any non-Buddhist teachers who dared show themselves. As I spent my first 30 minutes at school on Gate Duty during which I had to greet and monitor temperature-taking for all those who entered the main gate, I ended up having to babysit two teenage boys in one of the classrooms for an hour.

I didn’t get to see much of the ceremony, but I was able to snap a few shots — including today’s featured photo — while ascending the stairs in the main building. Most of the students in the photo are my General English Program (GEP) Mathyom 3 kids (aged 13-15 years old) waiting the arrival of the monks. The building behind them is holds the GEP classrooms on floors 2, 3 and 4 with administration offices and the school shop on the ground level. A day teaching in there is a day climbing many a stair.

Look for more photos from today on my upcoming month-end wrap-up.