Why Kru?

Today marked the annual Wai Kru ceremony here in Thailand, or at least for the students at KMUTT and the surrounding elementary schools. At the beginning of each new academic year, Thai students participate in a ceremony to honor their teachers, thank them for their hard work, and receive the teachers' advice for the upcoming school year. A noble ceremony no doubt and far removed from the Teachers' Appreciation Day back home that sadly passes with little notice.

Some other character out there on this new-fangled internet is blogging as well and does a much better job of describing the ceremony. Well, it at least gives a Thai student's version of the ceremony. Check out Gor's account here. No, I don't know him.

Now for the proceedings here at KMUTT. We arrived at 9:00 expecting it to begin soon after, but then wait a 45 minutes before everyone shows up. Earlier in the week we had been given a copy of the lyrics of a song (yes, in Thai) that we were to sing to the teachers. Since we barely new the tones and the melody of the song, to say that we were nervous when only two Thai students (compared to the nine of us) were present would be an understatement. Luckily a number of other Thai students arrived, but we didn't look any less ridiculous being the only ones with the song lyrics cheat-sheet in front of us as we mouthed the words.

That wasn't even the worst of it. When sitting in front of monks or participating in ceremonies here, you have to sit in such a way that your feet do not point towards higher-ranking individuals. No problem if you're Thai and/or extremely flexible. A slight problem if you don't fit either category like me.

I spent the majority of the program working on figuring out how much of a workout my core was and focusing on not letting my hamstrings cramp up. The latter didn't go to well. Not helping the situation was looking behind me halfway through the ceremony and seeing two other students sitting cross-legged. That didn't do much for my resolve.

After a speech we shuffled around on our knees to present teachers with arrangements of flowers and then to receive white string bracelets and words of encouragement from them. I'm not sure if my knees will forgive me anytime soon for that. The duration of the ceremony was maybe 30 minutes, once we started, which was more than enough for my legs.

One thing that surprised me was how much the Thai students and also the teachers talked during the ceremony. Here we are sitting in a position that associate more with being punished than paying respect and people are just chatting in a normal voice, so much so that you can barely hear the speaker. What's the point of such an elaborate ceremony if no one is going to pay attention and the speaker can't be heard? Why Kru?

*Note: Neither farang in the first picture is associated with our group, it was just another picture courtesy of this internet thing. We did look that ridiculous though, just minus the ties. No, that isn't a pun.