In High School, In A Different Place

[distantglovingalert]

This post was inspired by countrylatexglover's high school experience with gloves. I was thinking of posting this as a reply to that post, but then I decided to post this separately.

I was born and raised in Indonesia, a country where in most of its schools flag raising (on Mondays) and flag lowering (on Saturdays since we used to have a six-day school week) ceremonies happened every week, at least it was like that when I attended high school about 18-20 years ago. Nothing was special about these ceremonies, mostly just a group of students taking turns raising or lowering the flag and singing the national anthem for the most part.

However, on special occasions such as independence day, memorial/veteran's day, school or city anniversary, the flag raising team were not just some random students. We actually had some students well-trained in such ceremonies (They were also the ones training other students for the weekly ceremonies), who would don a special uniform for such special occasions. The uniform was all white: white shirt, white trousers for males and white shirt and white midi skirt for females. These are usually paired with black shoes (usually Mary-Jane-style shoes for the ladies). Accessories include a black side cap, a red or white scarf, and most importantly, a pair of white cotton/nylon service gloves, similar to those worn by chauffeurs and flight attendants back in the day.

In most cases, these uniforms were store-bought uniforms and the gloves usually didn't fit well. However, in my high school, the main flag raising team had won many awards (Yes, we did have flag ceremony competitions) and participated in provincial and national level events. As a result, they were privileged to have more budget compared to other student groups. They used part of the budget to order tailor-made uniforms and high quality accessories. When a member of this team graduated, their substitute would be ordered a new uniform and new accessories, in case the already available cap and gloves didn't fit. I remember our flag raising team as always being dressed cleanly and sharply. (I might share a picture of a flag raising team in uniform in the "Other Gloves" board, if I find a good one.)

Here goes the difficult part: when I was a freshman, I had a crush on a senior student in my high school. I didn't know she was part of the flag raising team until the extracurricular activity day some time in the middle of the semester. There she was, at the flag raising team recruitment table in all her uniformed glory, in gloves that fit her fingers very well and very cute knee high socks and Mary Janes. A few weeks before I had tried to start a conversation with her, but seeing her in that uniform and in gloves left me speechless. I didn't say anything beyond "you look great in your uniform". I had a chance to see her in action in a couple of several ceremonies, with me in attendance as ceremony audience, before she graduated. Her substitute was a then-new-senior student who was as beautiful but had a different physique; she was taller and a little slimmer, and with longer fingers too. I remember her wearing a uniform that was a tad too small for her in her first special ceremony. I guess it took a while for the tailor to get her sizes right; by the time of her second special ceremony, she was already wearing a tailor-made uniform with gloves that accommodated her longer fingers. Needless to say, I had a crush on her too, but this was after I saw her in her uniform. But being a shy boy that I was in high school, things never went anywhere. Plus, whenever I saw her in her uniform after a ceremony, I was almost always left speechless, perhaps completely in awe of her beauty and attire.

Ask any Indonesian my age what the most boring part of high school was, and they might answer the mandatory flag ceremonies. (Of course, this doesn't not apply to those who were part of flag raising teams, because they may have enjoyed it.) But for me, I have to say I always looked forward to these special ceremonies, most particularly the flag raising part. Imagine being a teenager with glove fetish, standing in attendance among the audience of a flag ceremony and seeing your high school crush sharply dressed and in gloves doing the thing she was passionate about.

Sorry for the long-ish and weird-ish experience. I hope you find it interesting to read. Thanks.

[countrylatexglover]

Glad I could inspire you to post what sounds like a great experience you had!!
Sounds like you loved to watch the flag ceremonies! I probably would have as well.

[distantglovingalert]

Thank you for the inspiration! My memory of those days was kind of fuzzy, but your experience reminded me of some finer details I used to forget. Flag ceremonies can be pretty boring (particularly the ones with long speeches), but the sharply dressed, gloved flag raising team often make up for it when they show up!

[countrylatexglover]

Thank you for the inspiration! My memory of those days was kind of fuzzy, but your experience reminded me of some finer details I used to forget. Flag ceremonies can be pretty boring (particularly the ones with long speeches), but the sharply dressed, gloved flag raising team often make up for it when they show up!

Your welcome, glad I could inspire someone to think about their positive or so experiences. For some they can be boring but if you know the background behind your flag or it has meaning it can be really emotional. If your doing it on a monthly bases it probably does get a little Mundane. I also agree clean dressed people with gloves Is nice to see, not so much a suit and tie but nice shirt and gloves are always nice to see.

[distantglovingalert]

Thank you for the inspiration! My memory of those days was kind of fuzzy, but your experience reminded me of some finer details I used to forget. Flag ceremonies can be pretty boring (particularly the ones with long speeches), but the sharply dressed, gloved flag raising team often make up for it when they show up!

Your welcome, glad I could inspire someone to think about their positive or so experiences. For some they can be boring but if you know the background behind your flag or it has meaning it can be really emotional. If your doing it on a monthly bases it probably does get a little Mundane. I also agree clean dressed people with gloves Is nice to see, not so much a suit and tie but nice shirt and gloves are always nice to see.

Thanks again! I truly agree. I do still stream the independence day and memorial day flag ceremonies every year, partly because of the flag raising team's uniform.

[countrylatexglover]

I do like those white gloves as well! Wish they fit better sometimes. Reason I love medical and surgical gloves fit the best to me lol.