ESSEX Blog - April 4, 2017

 

 

THAI AND STOP ME: Flag ceremony

By Cassidy in Thailand

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Mae Sai, Chiang Rai! I have been to Chiang Rai once before. However, this time was a little bit different because I had a District Conference there!
 
For those who are not involved in Rotary and its Youth Exchange program, a District Conference is, in Thailand at least, where either all or as many as who can come from the district get together and discuss important business. For us, that important business was our upcoming Southern Trip, in another district in Thailand.
 
We kicked off this conference with a flag ceremony. I was actually pretty late (thanks, traffic!), but I also managed to get to the flag ceremony a few minutes before it officially began. In this ceremony, if you wanted to, you could come to the stage and hold your flag to represent your country. I represented America with my friend Ashley, who also lives in Phitsanulok.
 
We were also paired up with a Thai student who will be going to the U.S. next year. Her name was Lemon, and I found out that she is going to Eastern States Student Exchange, the group of districts, including District 7910, which I'm from. She doesn't yet have a district because Rotary is having trouble finding a host family for her. But, who knows ... she might end up in my district!
 
The flag ceremony ended with us going back to our seats, and then watching a dance! Some girls in Interact clubs performed an incredible Thai dance. Unfortunately for me, Thai dance wasn't something I had the opportunity to study in my school. However, I do know that Thai dance involves the hands a lot. It's difficult to describe, but Thai people make their hands very "sharp-looking," and bend them in swift motions. It was an incredible performance, and I can't imagine how it would feel to be that talented! 
 
I was so proud to represent my country today, and the flag ceremony was a huge success.
 

To this article is from the blog page of Cassidy in Thailand, a teenage girl from Massachusetts living in Phitsanulok, Thailand under the Eastern States Student Exchange program. To visit her page, click here.

She is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Milford. To visit their website, click here.

To learn more on ESSEX, click here.