Back to School, or Institutions and People

Today was the first day of the 2010-2011 academic year at Triam Udom Suksa. Turns out that all the way across the globe, first days of school happen just the same: the same fast chatter, quick enough to retell whole summers in three minutes flat; the same obsession over pens at the neighborhood school supply store (hesitation...and, if you just pick the right one...oh! the possibilities); the same hot, buzzing parking lot after school, familiar yells and analytical sideways glances.

The most unavoidable difference between this day and my own first days of school at LBJ Liberal Arts and Science Academy: people were never being shot in the streets some 300 kilometers south of me. I never boarded the school bus while the international media murmured about the possibility of civil war. I guess there are a few differences, to wit, the legitimacy of the current government is in jeopardy, the economy is paralyzed, and fears are increasing that violence will spread outside of Bangkok. Basic order is uncertain.

At the same time, life goes on. I work at a public school, a state-run institution if there ever was one. Today, even as one arm of the state haltingly engaged in a street battle with citizens, another arm of the the state's lumbering frame opened doors to schools across the country. The teachers came and the students came, and school was school. I assigned homework and my kids took notes in their little pink books. Some students said they were scared or sad, most made jokes ("...no, you can't choose the deposed Prime Minister as your group's mascot"). My coworkers are worried, especially those with friends or family in Bangkok, but they're also lesson planning. A lot of people just don't want to talk about it.

I'm watching live feed from central Bangkok right now and the explosion noises are fairly constant (which is of course all I can gather from the news since I still can't speak Thai...boy, I really have an incentive to learn now). Still, at the moment, the violence is contained to a very small part of the country. Most people want this to be over soon. Let's hope it is. Almost regardless, I'll be at school tomorrow.

Hoping,
Rebecca