Merry Christmas!

Saturday, 25 December 2004

I woke up to the sound of Christmas music playing. Daniel, a friend of Linda's who lives and teaches at a university in Hat Yai in southern Thailand, came up to spend the night as well. This is his fourth year sleeping over Christmas eve. I think he misses his family in Minneapolis at Christmas time. We met each other (since I came in during the wee hours of morning when Daniel and Linda's daughter Tina were fast asleep) and talked about teaching in Thailand. He's doing a workshop on how to lead an English camp at the TESL conference in Bangkok held in mid-January. He gave me tips on traveling to the beaches in Krabi province. We sat around the tree, me, Daniel, Tina, Linda, and her husband Somkiet. We passed out the stockings and opened the gifts from Santa first. Then we passed out the gifts (I brought a huge bag of mine from my friends to her house so I could open them there.) and watched Tina open hers first. Then we all opened ours. I got an assortment of traditional Thai gifts from my friends and families of my students. Tik gave me a traditional thai pillow, which I absolutely love, and Pop's family gave me a traditional Thai wrap around skirt. P'Pau gave me this beautiful turquoise material with Thai pictures on it - a beautiful mural I've now laid on my floor in my room, a wooden box from Mint's family, and a lovely black scarf/shawl, which I wore for Christmas dinner, from Aw.

But, the most thoughtful and surprising gift was from Christy. She gave me a Thai-English Bible. I had seen one at the Chinese church nearby and had thought one day before I leave Thailand, I should get one. Anyone that knows me knows I never grew up going to church and have never been a particularly religious person, but I do believe in God, and ever since being here, I have gone to church and devotions every week (even though they are all in Thai, and I don't understand most of it). At first, I started going for the networking (although some of my friends may say it's the free lunch) and because the school is strong in its faith as a member of the Church of Christ in Thailand. Over the past couple of months, because of my father's serious health issues, I am leaning towards God more than ever before in my life. It was a very thoughtful gift, and it brought tears to my eyes as I reflected on her caring and generosity.

Some of you know, but for those who don't, I am planning on moving to Hawai'i in the spring. My initial plans to teach here in Thailand for at least a year have changed, and I have already informed my principal that I will be leaving here after finishing the term at the end of March. I want to go home to spend quality time with my dad and help him and my family out. It has been difficult being so far away, especially during the holidays. I called my dad today and could hear the Hawaiian music playing in the background at their annual Christmas eve party. The phone reception was bad, but at least I could send my love and say "Merry Christmas" to my father and my stepmom. My dad knows this time is difficult for me, but reassured me that he is doing fine.

Tonight, we had Bamrung Wittaya Church's Christmas dinner. It was nice to see all of the teachers there, even if many of them are Buddhist and not of Christian faith. We ate dinner, chatted, and then headed inside for the four hour long service. Thai people definitely do NOT know how to make it short and sweet. Tik was falling asleep, Aw was writing text messages on her phone, and I was not understanding one word. There was, of course, many dances and skits performed by children - one of the acts had the most atrocious looking outfits and hair I have seen thus far. It was hilarious! During another act, a toddler got up and started dancing along with the teenagers, mimicking their moves. The audience gave him a round of applause for the impromptu act, and one woman came up and gave him a 100 baht bill for his charm. The lucky number gifts were the most exciting, and woke everyone up in the pews. I ended up getting four prizes and gave two to Aw and Tik, as everyone was giving me a hard time for winning so many times. I kept the two Bird glasses (Bird is a popular pop singer here) and an organizer tray with drawers. We finally left at sii thum (10 pm!) totally exhausted! After all, I found out from Tik and Aw that they didn't get back from Christmas caroling until 5 am this morning! (They had driven to Paint's house in a different province an hour away, after dropping me off at Linda's to continue their Christmas caroling!)