The Tea Garden (200th Post)

Eight sweltering farangs sheltered in the shade of a large canvas umbrella, feeble protection against the bright tropical sun. To the side of the garden, six tea girls stood nervously by, awaiting orders. Our department head, inspected the garden one last time, then took her spot with the other Thai teachers. Blue, yellow, and purple ribbons fluttered softly in the light breeze.



the ajarn farang

 It was the academic fair, an event we were hosting to celebrate our school's birthday. Many other schools from around the city were invited.

tea girls and busboys

We had been preparing for the school's sixtieth anniversary academic fair for quite some time. The English Department, due to the fact that our previous department head is now director of academic affairs, was granted the largest area of all the clubs or departments. This privilege came with a price- lots of hard work and late nights, but also with incredible prestige and reward. Our theme was "English Tea Garden", and we had worked for hours after school for days setting up our little garden. Suzie made scones and lemonade, and we ordered various other khnom (snacks) from a local bakery. Of course, we had many types of tea, and we sold everything for B20.

English Department on the special day

We spent all day on Monday and Tuesday setting up the garden. We really transformed our area, and it looked quite nice! The tea girls were a group of M2 students who I think of as the "English Girls" because they all either attended International School, lived in the US, or (as in the case of one girl) is actually a US citizen, and they all even speak in English to each other. They were really happy to help our department. We Americans were put in charge of the students working the tea garden, which was easy because these girls respect, or at least like us the most of all the students because we can speak to them in their native language.

the assembly hall dressed up for a royal occasion

The eight farangs I mentioned earlier were the focal piece of our tea garden presentation, because we "look English", according to one of the teachers. We were very strategically placed in order to be very visible to lend "authenticity" to our presentation. The group consisted of the regulars: me, Kate, Ryan, James, Suzie, and Geoffrey. Also in attendance were Mr. Mulliner and Mr. Owen, two of our original British ajarn farang who had been invited back to the school for this special occasion. In fact, they had been the young foreign teachers like me once upon a time. The two men were very interesting to talk to, and they had so many stories about teaching in the 1960's and 70's. Some things are very different now, but some things never change.

Mr. Mulliner, a clergyman in the Church of England, now serves as the Reverend Canon of Hampton Court Palace, something I only found out much later. He was a very humble, friendly, and personable guy. The older teachers kept joking with him about some story involving a snake. I think I would really like to hear that one!

Mr. Owen had a little car that he drove back in the '60's. In fact, he loved that car so much that he decided to drive all the way back to England after he left Thailand. Of course in those days it was safe to travel through Iran and Turkey.

"We old guard will stand here to support the current teachers and preventing them from running", joked Mr. Mulliner, as the two old men took their places behind us for a group photo.

HRH the Princess

After our long photo session (it wouldn't be Thailand without a long photo session), we could relax and enjoy some tea and scones in the comfortable rattan chairs. 

While the VIP's ate, we sat on folding chairs in the lawn, exchanging school gossip with Suzie, who is fun to talk to because she is always in the know about goings-on around school. There was a group of visiting students from China who performed a kung-fu routine as dinner entertainment, followed by a short khon performance. Another act followed- a traditional Thai dance performed by our M.5 students. 

That night, Suzie gave Kate, Ryan, and I rode a bus to the BTS Skytrain station. We got home well after 10:00pm feeling exhausted; working all day in the hot sun wearing a dark suit, added with the extra stress of managing a tea garden... not to mention that the new black shoes which I purchased for 400 baht are terrible and hurt my feet. I fell asleep almost immediately. There ended the first day of the Academic Fair- the longest, hardest week of work so far, but possibly the most fun. Definitely the most memorable.