As such, the Friday beforehand, my school had a huge ceremony to celebrate Mother's Day. How this involved me was that my host sister and I would get to present our mom a flower arrangement in front of the whole school. Basically, each class was to choose one student's mom to represent the whole class and have that student give their mom the gift on Friday at the ceremony. Even though usually only one student is to present with their mom, this time the school made an exception so the host sisters of Jill and I could also be included.
One Thursday we practiced the steps to time the gift-giving with music played in the background. This would have been a tad more enjoyable if the lady in charge of setting us up had an idea of what she wanted us to do in the first place. But thankfully my host sister kept the boring routine funny by pointing out random things and making jokes, haha! I seriously was concerned I would mess up on Friday if she made me laugh like that, heh.
The day after we practiced a bit more and then went back stage to wait our turn to come out. We were all nervous, yet I think the biggest concern on me and Jill's minds were that we didn't want to cry. Okay, for those who are not exchange students, you really wouldn't understand this feeling. But I'll try my best to explain. See, when your an exchange student, you have to try all your might to hold in every little feeling even though you want to explode. Hence, Jill and I were well adapted to hiding our tears. And also, crying in public is ultra embarrassing, hah.
When it was time to go though, we all stepped out with our flower arrangements towards our moms. I knew there was instantly going to be a problem when I saw tears in my host mom's eyes and then I looked back to see Jill's host mom crying fully. I kept my cool though, properly bowing and my mom placed her hand on my head to show appreciation. I then gave my mom the flower along with my host sister. And then we all hugged our moms. It was then, I heard my mom sniffle and then began to cry myself. Although when I turned around to face the audience, I was a bit less embarrassed when I saw half of them were crying. So I guess it was rather appropriate for this time!
So many emotions were felt on this day. But I think the main one was how much I love my host mom even though I had only known her for a month. To me, my host mom is absolutely beautiful on the outside and inside. She smiles at me all the time and always makes sure I'm happy as well as healthy. If she sees I'm not looking myself she'll ask if I'm okay and then will try to fix it even if it's just a small problem. My host mom also let's me be a person. She understands I'm an exchange student and so tries to make my life as easy as possible. I love her so much for that. Thank you so much mom for being my host mom in Thailand!
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Oh, and I took pictures! Hah! Or well...someone else did. I have pictures is what I meant to say! These first ones are of Jill and I hugging our moms with our sisters, Just and Belle.
From left to right, then bottom: My coordinator, my host mom, me, Jill, Jill's host mom, my advisor, my host sister, and Jill's host sister
This is all of us taking a picture next to the director of the school!
This was really beautiful. I saw the pictures on Facebook, before but now that I've read your explanation of everything, it is much more meaningful. I am soo happy that your Thai mom is so good to you. Thank her every day for me, your American Mama.
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