September 30, 2006

chiangrai 2005 - 11 Mae Salong Xinghua School

[131205] along e way we heard e chatter & laughter of kids & headed towards e source - Xinghua School 兴华学校:

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photo by YK

e 2 Akha kids we met just beyond e arch at e school entrance:

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they were so excited & started piling up bricks, competing to see who could build e tallest stack:

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photos by YK

e slide in e school 'playground':

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school basketball court + carpark + 'canteen' - a long sheltered row of snack stalls:

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here we sat down for a while beside an old man selling some unidentifiable round green fruit in two baskets hanging from a pole, who has a wonderful voice & sang us songs =) e girl who reminded e cat of Pig-pig, & her mum who sells some sort of flaky crispy pancake dusted with sugar (below):

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photos by YK

e school, built & maintained with donations from Taiwan (e Kuomintang link):

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it was 4pm in e afternoon, an hour after official school hours end across Thailand, yet kids were streaming IN instead of out of e school....turns out that e kids here attend e national school (Thai curriculum) a short distance away from morning till 3pm, & then continue with e Chinese curriculum at this school from 4.30pm till 7pm (full day on Saturdays!), after which they trudge home (older, richer kids will ride their scooters) along dark unlit streets in e cold, reaching home close to 8pm! & we complain about long school hours in Singapore....=P

elementary & high school sections are housed in e same building. those who can make it to college & can find e funding will head to universities in Taiwan. every year someone from Taiwan will come over to review/update e curriculum. reading 范文 (model essays) on noticeboards along e corridor:

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one of e essays on 'My Ambition' read '我要做空姐....做空姐要看得顺眼' (i want to be an air stewardess....to be one you must look 'easy on e eye') *lol*

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origami paper cranes hanging from e ceiling - leftovers from Thaksin's 2004 gimmicky 'fold 60 million (one for each Thai) paper cranes to be airdropped over e Deep South' campaign as a useless peace gesture to e Southern militants:

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photos by YK

e classrooms with wire netting windows remind e cat of its sec 1 days in e Jalan Kuala campus =)

we were so freaked out by these words on a pillar in e classroom:

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photo by YK

明天还有新功课 lit. 'tomorrow still have new homework' - how very motivating....>_<

secondary 2 class timetable:

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click here for larger version

because they are Nationalist Kuomintang, everything is in 繁体字 (older complex writing script) like in Taiwan, Malaysia & Hong Kong, & Singapore during e cat's parents' generation. from e cat's generation onwards Singapore started using 简体字 (simpler modern characters) like Communist China.

suddenly a bell rang, & e noise in e schoolgrounds ceased & everyone vanished indoors by magic:

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e headmaster who has been walking around with his stick for caning students since e days when Mr Ho of Shin Sane Guest House (now middle-aged) was a student!

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wonder what percentage of Mae Salong residents have been disciplined by him =P

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