Christmas Spectacular!

The week leading up to Christmas was truly spectacular! My students impressed me with some very creative Christmas cards for the Christmas Card Contest. Their Christmas messages were adorable….my favorite being: “My Christmas wish is for teacher to be happy and to receive present from Uncle Santa Cross”.  Throughout the whole week, the Foreign Language Department teachers were working like Santa’s elves preparing for the Christmas program on Christmas Eve. It was a pretty relaxed week teaching wise. I reviewed with my students for the mid-term I’ll be giving them and gave them a Christmas word search, which surprisingly quieted majority of classes down. All classes except M5-6……It was a good thing I had to let them leave early. Katie and I were invited to a “Thank You Luncheon” in Bangplama for those people who participated in the Suphanburi Games. The class was completely uncontrollable. All the boys in the class started to sing Jingle Bells. This then turned in to them singing, dancing, and banging sticks on their desks to a song that sounded like Akon’s, “I Wanna Make Love” but with different lyrics. I couldn’t help but start to laugh….it was very entertaining! I was trying to tell them they were able to leave early but they just kept singing and dancing. Katie ended up walking by and seeing the wild classroom. That was my queue to just exit the room….

After school on Monday and Tuesday, Katie and I tutored Ji. Ji is our friend from the Bangplama market. She and her sisters work at the coffee and tea stand where we make regular visits if we go to the market. Ji is always the one who is keen on practicing her English with us. We finally were able to set up some times for her to learn and practice more English. She is so sweet; she came over to our apartment carrying two Thai teas for us one day and warm soy milk the next day. It is refreshing teaching someone who really appreciates myself as a teacher and enjoys learning English.

Katie and I tried everything we could to make this week seem more like Christmas…. We watched Christmas movies, Elf and The Holiday, ate candy canes, drank hot chocolate, and I even tried singing Christmas carols. Even with all our Christmas spirit and the Christmas spirit going on at school, it didn’t seem like Christmas to me. I kept thinking how weird it was going to be not getting all dressed up for Christmas Eve mass at the Cathedral and packing the Garot family in one pew; not playing monster in the basement at Grandma’s house with all the cousins; not helping pass out presents in Grandma’s living room; not sitting around her kitchen table and chowing down on all the delicious sweet treats, appetizers, and liver pate we always eat on Christmas Eve night; not whispering to my dad whose “white elephant” gift to steal. But change is good and I know I will always have those fond memories of Christmas Eve at Grandma’s house for the rest of my life. This year will mark the start to forming new memories at Christmas.

Christmas Eve at school was a day of fun, games, and Christmas Cheer. I didn’t have to teach all day. There was a lot of setting up and putting final touches on decorating the auditorium for the afternoon Christmas program. There was also a BINGO stand where Aon, one of the teachers in the Foreign Language Department was able to display his true abilities for being a MC. I’ve never seen this side of him before; he’s usually so quiet in the department. The program began at 1 pm and lasted all throughout the afternoon. We listened to a group of M6’s sing Christmas carols; we watched the M4’s, who I helped teach the Cha-Cha Slide to, perform their dance; I judged the Santa and Santalina contest, where a girl and a boy dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus in recycled material. The costumes were rather impressive. Katie asked the students a few Christmas questions and those students who answered correctly won a prize from “Santa”. The Christmas card contest winners also received a prize from Santa. There were other dance and singing performances, one of which was performed by the “lady boys” in the school.

There were about a half dozen of them dressed in mini dresses, long wigs, and make up. It blew my mind that this was allowed….but I have to remember that kind of behavior is prevalent and accepted here in Thailand. The whole program was great!! I definitely don’t remember ever doing anything of the sort when I was in school. After school, Katie and I packed our bags and caught a van for Bangkok. 

Katie came with me to check in to the Indra Regent Hotel, where my family and I would be staying over Christmas. It was perfect timing as we walked thru the doors….there was a beautiful, tall, lite-up Christmas tree in the lobby and “We Wish you a Merry Christmas” was being played or so we thought….until we saw behind the tree on the top of the stairs there was a group of carolers actually singing, “We Wish you a Merry Christmas”. After they sang, Santa Claus gave Katie and I Christmas cookies from his sack. It was so unreal; everything seemed to perfect! I grabbed dinner with Katie and met Olivia, Chelsea, Allie, and Jenna for a Christmas margarita before going to the airport and greeting Beau and mom. I didn’t have to wait at the airport long, before I saw my mom confused and looking for me in the large crowd of other people waiting for passengers as well. It was great to see them! We hoped in a taxi and headed for the hotel. The past week I didn’t believe they were actually coming to Thailand; it finally hit me when they arrived and I saw them in person. It was almost like opening Christmas presents when I opened the suitcase of things my mom had brought for me; most things being requested items; but a few surprises were found, one being peanut butter balls!! Christmas morning we took a tuk-tuk to a Catholic Church in the area called Holy Redeemer. Beau and mom loved the tuk-tuk ride. Mom’s first impression was, “Well, this is dangerous…..but fun. I love the open air. You really feel like you are on the street.” The church was cute. The mass was packed surprisingly; a lot of Thai people. More than I expected. But the majority of people were white. The mass was nice; however, Silent Night just wasn’t the same as it always is at the Cathedral. It felt good to go to mass….this has been the first time since I’ve been in Thailand. It’s good to know I do have the option of going to mass if I am in Bangkok for the weekend. After church, we ate lunch at The Greyhound Café in the Emporium shopping center near the Sukhumvit area. I got pad Thai gai, pad Thai with chicken. Mom and Beau ordered a “Thai” breakfast that came with rice and a few different sides such as spicy peanuts, vegetables, and some other things. They weren’t too fond of the dish; I thought it was a little strange and not true Thai food. After lunch, mom and Beau were pretty tired so we opted for a lazy route of sightseeing…..a river boat tour on the Chao Praya River in Bangkok. It was great! We got to see a lot of the famous sights of Bangkok from the river and had an entertaining tour guide as well. After the river boat tour, we took naps and headed for the walking Christmas lights tour near Siam Center and Central World. The streets were packed…I’ve never seen so many people in one area before. It was very frustrating trying to walk thru all the crowds and rather hard to actually enjoy all the beautiful lights. We made it to the Four Seasons and had a very nice Christmas dinner. It was excellent food with a beautiful atmosphere. It truly was a great Christmas in Bangkok! I was so happy to have Beau and my mom here in Thailand with me!