International Day at Topsy Turvy

Today was International Day at A & N’s school. It has around 250 children from about 20 countries so there were 20 stalls representing each nationality, all organized by the parents. For New Zealand you could find out about sheep shearing; Austria went gastronomic with apfelstruddel and katenshinken. At Australia’s stall, you had to separate the fluffy kangaroo, platypus, wombat and koala from the lion, elephant, tiger and bear. For UK we themed it around football and rain. Within the stall you could watch a DVD of England’s Greatest Goals, while outside you could try your luck and score a real goal past me. Or if you didn’t fancy that, you could stand under an umbrella while a mum showered you with ‘rain’ from a watering can.

The children dressed in ‘national’ costume, but what does that mean if you’re a Brit? Beefeater? Morris Dancer? In our case A dressed up as an English Rose Fairy and N went as Alice in Wonderland.

It will be strange moving on from the lovely and endearingly-named Topsy Turvy. It started off as a kindergarten and grew into a proper primary school; its official name is the British School in Bangkok, but they’ve never shaken off Topsy Turvy. The girls will have been there four years come the big move, and they’ve loved it. I actually had a lump in my throat thinking ahead to the day when they’ll have to say goodbye to their teachers and friends. Sad, but the next chapter beckons.