Bridge on the River Kwai

Girls dancing on tables, followed by a bunch of boys dancing on another table, followed by a third table with teachers competing for the limelight. Where else but a high school field trip could you get this kind of energy? It was like a scene from “Grease” We had just finished eating supper and someone turned on the music and away we went!

Now I remember why I came to Thailand in the first place. I got my chance to return to interacting with kids. Working in university was great, but there is nothing like kids to keep you young and energized. I love going into a primary classroom and working with the kids or alternately playing with the high school kids on this field trip in Konachuburi (Bridge on the River Kwai fame). We are staying at the Pungwaan resort which has all sorts of things set up for kids to do like obstacle courses, bike riding, and a great pool and so on.

I remember last year when I was teaching a Queen’s on-line course and one guy taking the course seemed to be literally working in a different time zone. When I finally asked him why he needed an extension on an essay he told me he was taking his students on a trip Singapore for the week-end from his school in Bangkok. I remember thinking how great that must be and now that person is me! I am living the dream.

With one vital difference. Instead of being a teacher I am the principal, so when the kids are crossing the river on a metal guy wire hanging on to the side ropes for dear life and everyone is laughing and applauding and having fun, I am praying no-one gets hurt. When everyone today is looking forward to the elephant ride and kayaking down the River Kwai, I am thinking not about how much fun this is going to be, but how much trouble can kids get in to.

A day later, and everyone did get wet, that’s for sure. I still remember Bill Armstrong, a former principal of mine; saying a friend of his fell into the river Kwai and had to have major stomach surgery so I used discretion and used the long tailed boat that followed the kayaks down the river. It certainly looked like the kids were having fun.

I also went on the elephant ride which was a bit different than my former ride in two ways. The baby elephant was roped in with the mother, probably so the baby could learn the trail and secondly, the elephant walked right in to the water which was a little intimidating for me since the water practically was touching my feet and elephants are tall animals!

We also got to the Hellfire Pass museum and saw the images of emaciated soldiers working on the railroad to Burma. We then walked down into Hellfire pass itself and, for those of you who know my sense of direction, almost ended up in Burma. When the trucks that were waiting for us called and asked where we were, I asked them to honk and keep honking so I could follow the sound to them. It worked! Off to take a shower and enjoy another dinner.

I’m now in the van on the way back to school on a Friday afternoon. We got to Bangkok in about two hours but looking at this traffic I assume it will be about another two hours before we are back at school. Traffic is unbelievably heavy on Friday afternoon so I suspect we could be here in this traffic jam for a while.

Tomorrow night I am invited to a staff party where I have to dress up as a movie character. Any ideas for me?