People sometimes ask us what it is like for our kids to go to school here in Thailand. We are fortunate to be in Chiang Mai where our three children attend the Chiang Mai International School. For the most part it is like going to school in the US. The classes are taught in English, the school year begins and ends at about the same time it would in the US, and the curriculum is based on the US system.
On the other hand, there are some things that are different. Classes are smaller, only 15 -20 students per class. There are no school busses, the kids join some others and ride to school in the back of a pick-up truck. Finally, among the 400 attending the school are students from some 30 countries around the world. Lots languages and cultures are experienced every day.
Recently, our fourth grade daughter, Erin, went on a field trip that wouldn't be typical in America either. She went to a water buffalo farm! In addition to learning about water buffalo, the class looked at the whole process involved in the planting, harvesting and processing of rice. Even as Thailand is urbanizing to a degree and changing rapidly, planting rice is still the main occupation of much of the population and it plays an important part in the language and culture of the Thai people.
Erin and her classmates learned about the water buffalo, which has long served as the main source of power for plowing the rice fields. The raising of water buffalo and the increase that comes from the production of offspring has also served a similar purpose to banking and receiving interest in areas where people raised the food they ate and did not have or need much cash. Over the years, petroleum powered machines have started to take over the work of the water buffalo to the point that some in Thailand are concerned how the numbers of the animals have declined as well as a way of life is disappearing.
Erin got to ride a buffalo, wade through the knee deep mud of the rice field plowing with the buffalo, plant the young rice seedlings, thresh harvested rice by beating a bundle of cut stalks on the side of a huge basket, separate the husks from the rice by using a wooden rice pounder and then see the rice winnowed in a thin, flat basket. To finish it off, rice was available for lunch (though I think Erin actually had brought a sandwich to eat)!
Erin is an animal lover and enjoyed getting close to the water buffalo. She is also a typical student that enjoyed the field trip as a break from the regular school routine!