Celebrating Santa and Sports

I can honestly say I never thought I would be celebrating Christmas in a Buddhist country. It was confusing yet enticing. The malls were decorated, kids were excited, and performances were done. Our school did a very good job of welcoming Christmas into the curriculum and decorating the campus. We put up two Christmas trees and made two large snowmen to decorate the stage. Here is a little run down on how I celebrated Christmas in Thailand.

Wednesday, Dec. 23- Pizza Party at Dr. A's house

My director, Dr. Absorn, had the English teachers to her house for a mini Christmas party. We were all pretty excited because she was ordering dinner from The Pizza Company (pizza is a big treat here). The party was supposed to start at 6 and knowing everyone would be late we left Soi 18 around then and began our walk to Soi 35. When we arrived to Dr. A's house it was obvious she wasn't home. Luckily, two teachers live next door so we hung out there. Pretty soon it was 7 and she still wasn't there. Finally we get a phone call saying she is on her way with a few other teachers, but they were going to pick-up a coupon and then go get the pizzas. Okay, this is where

Thai people need to learn logic. Wouldn't you call ahead your order and have it delivered? Oh no, instead she just showed up two hours late to her own party. Once she finally arrived (around 8) we ate pizza, chatted, ate more pizza, ate some desserts, and chatted a little more.

Thursday, Dec. 24 - School Performances and Staff Party

Alright, this was the big day for Christmas celebrations at school and I'm pretty sure they think the 24th is actual Christmas day. It was strange not being home for the holidays and I

almost started crying at school when one of my 7th grade boys found me in the morning to say Merry Christmas and gave me a hug! It was so

nice!

The day started with the English teachers singing Christmas carols in front of the whole school at assembly. We did our best, although none of us have the best singing voices. One of the teachers, Ryan, dressed up as Santa and became the highlight of the show! He began to throw out candy to the kids and chaos broke out. The kids were beyond excited. I think getting candy from Santa was the highlight of their year!

The pratom (elementary) students were preparing carols and dances all week to be

performed for the school and let's just saw we were pretty entertained with some of the interpretations of Christmas songs. The kids have a lot of trouble with certain pronunciations so

Jingle Bells became Jingre Berrs, etc.

The matiom (middle school and high school) students then did a show stopping dance that all the little kids went crazy for! And of course, it included a male student with heels (the fourth student from the front with the shorts). The show wouldn't be complete without a lady boy.

That evening we had a teacher Christmas party complete with gifts and a 10-course traditional Chinese meal. Each teacher had to bring a gift costing no less than 200 baht, at home we have gift maximums but for some reason they have minimums. Our directors made a huge deal about what we bought for our gifts and took us shopping to make sure we spent at least 200 baht and to approve our presents. Two of the male teachers were the MC's and although the dialog was in Thai it was still pretty funny because they were so animated and wore crazy costumes. The

party consisted of giving gifts, karaoke (so Asian), dances (yes, we had to do a dance), and food.

It was a lot of fun! So everyone gets a present, but I guess it is polite to open them at home so after the party I sat on our foyer with the American teachers and opened presents. Everyone was getting pretty good stuff and then I opened mine. Thai people love Buddha and the king so it was inevitable that one of us got a gift incorporating one of these things. I got a shrine to the king for my present. It is so gaudy and tacky! I couldn't stop laughing when I opened it. I'm thinking it will make a good white elephant gift at home : )

Friday, Dec. 25- Sports Day

Sports day has nothing to do with Christmas, but every school in Thailand has it and it is a BIG deal. The last two periods of every Friday have been spent 'preparing' for sports day. Basically this has meant kids running around like crazy, but we were actually surprised that some

students put

lot of time into getting ready for the day. The students were split up into three teams: pink, orange, and blue. They paraded around the field, had an Olympic torch, had

several competitions, and the day ended with dances from each team.

The competitions were running, aerobic dance, a five man race on a stick, running with a ball between two people, three-way tug of war, tire racing, etc. The highlight of the day was the three dances by the matiom students. We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw the way the girls were dressed and the dances they did! Definitely not school appropriate, but no one would ever say anything so they get away with it. Check out the orange teams outfits.

And more Sports Day pics: