I went to a Christmas party last night and learned that everyone isn't the same as me. Whaddaya know?
We played Christmas charades. I think I was the only Christian on Team Ebeneezer, because my teammates had a hard time acting out and guessing some of the more traditional songs. I couldn't believe it when one British guy didn't know "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing."
I had a great Christmas week. Kristy bought us each a stocking, which we hung by the bookshelf with care. We did Secret Santa and tried our best to be sneaky.
Sunday night was candlelight, carols, mulled wine, and mincemeat pies at church.
On Tuesday, classes were shortened to 15 minutes long because a group of traditional Chinese dancers came to perform at school.
Thursday we had three peformances of the Christmas show. A group of students from another school came and acted out a story of a lame lamb who gave his wool to baby Jesus. The farang teachers sang "Go Tell it on the Mountain," "Angels We Have Heard on High," and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" with a choir of our students.
We woke up early Friday morning and gathered in Kristy's room under her Christmas tree to drink hot chocolate and open presents. Later, we cooked makeshift Christmas lunch in the office microwave. Instant mashed potatoes and microwave stuffing are surprisingly tasty.
It didn't feel much like Christmas without cold weather, sweaters, and family, but it was still a festive week.
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
'tis better to give...
I had my first bite of a traditional English pudding at the work Christmas party. It wasn't awesome. It tasted like raisins. I'm not sure what all the hype is about.
We had tons of food, I discovered a new salad recipe, and, after the gift exchange, my coworker Amy learned that you probably shouldn't go around pretending your stuffed, blue gingham water buffalo is a dog and begging people to trade. You will eventually run into the person who brought said buffalo, and you will embarrass yourself.
This was supposed to be a nice gift exchange, as opposed to a White Elephant exchange. The spending limit was 400 baht (about $12). The gift had to be appropriate for either sex.
It's funny, sometimes, the things people bring. There was the infamous buffalo that belonged in a Thai baby's crib, a People magazine, and a bag of Swedish fish. There were also gift cards to Starbucks, boxes of chocolate, and a cute mug accompanied by a box of Twinings tea.
It's so hit or miss sometimes, and people who bring really nice gifts are inevitably disappointed when they receive something like a giant curve-handled old person umbrella (how the heck are we supposed to get that home in a suitcase?!).
What do you prefer: "real gift" exchanges or White Elephant ones? Do you spend up to the limit? How do you find a gift for both genders?
We had tons of food, I discovered a new salad recipe, and, after the gift exchange, my coworker Amy learned that you probably shouldn't go around pretending your stuffed, blue gingham water buffalo is a dog and begging people to trade. You will eventually run into the person who brought said buffalo, and you will embarrass yourself.
This was supposed to be a nice gift exchange, as opposed to a White Elephant exchange. The spending limit was 400 baht (about $12). The gift had to be appropriate for either sex.
It's funny, sometimes, the things people bring. There was the infamous buffalo that belonged in a Thai baby's crib, a People magazine, and a bag of Swedish fish. There were also gift cards to Starbucks, boxes of chocolate, and a cute mug accompanied by a box of Twinings tea.
It's so hit or miss sometimes, and people who bring really nice gifts are inevitably disappointed when they receive something like a giant curve-handled old person umbrella (how the heck are we supposed to get that home in a suitcase?!).
What do you prefer: "real gift" exchanges or White Elephant ones? Do you spend up to the limit? How do you find a gift for both genders?
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
deck the halls with cows and chickens
I never dreamed Christmas would be such a big deal here in Bangkok. There are decorations in every mall (and there's a mall on just about every block), so things are looking pretty festive. The grocery store in Siam Paragon is even playing Christmas music.
Our school Christmas program is on the 25th. In the past, the American teachers coordinated it. This year, for whatever reason, the parents volunteered to take over. We were totally cool with that.
They've invited a performing group to come in and act out a Christmas play for the students. In a department meeting, Sutima showed us some brown sack puppets featuring horses, cats, pigs, and other animals.
She said we would need to make one for each student to use during the show. There are 720 students in Prathom.
We looked at each other and looked back at her, confused about why the students needed barnyard puppets during the Christmas program.
The performing group would be leading the children in singing "Old MacDonald." Festive, right?
Fortunately, Nummon acted as our advocate and convinced the other teachers it would be too much work for the kids to use them in just one song. Reason triumphs, for once!
Our school Christmas program is on the 25th. In the past, the American teachers coordinated it. This year, for whatever reason, the parents volunteered to take over. We were totally cool with that.
They've invited a performing group to come in and act out a Christmas play for the students. In a department meeting, Sutima showed us some brown sack puppets featuring horses, cats, pigs, and other animals.
She said we would need to make one for each student to use during the show. There are 720 students in Prathom.
We looked at each other and looked back at her, confused about why the students needed barnyard puppets during the Christmas program.
The performing group would be leading the children in singing "Old MacDonald." Festive, right?
Fortunately, Nummon acted as our advocate and convinced the other teachers it would be too much work for the kids to use them in just one song. Reason triumphs, for once!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
golden buddha: wat traimit
School was out on Wednesday for the Queen's birthday, so Mariela and I decided to make an excursion to the famed Golden Buddha. It's three meters tall and made from solid gold.
There weren't any convenient buses, so we took a taxi. The driver wanted to use the expressway because of a traffic jam. The toll for the expressway was 45B, and we still hit a little traffic there because people were trying to get to the Grand Palace. 110B later, we were there.
We walked up to a magnificent, but closed, gold and white temple. Adjacent to it was a somewhat less impressive temple with chipping, faded paint. We took off our shoes and went inside.
There was a large golden Buddha statue at the front of the room. It looked to be about three meters high. We sat down and looked around. The walls were unadorned, unlike other wats we'd visited. The red carpet covering the floor was worn and shabby. It seemed an unlikely home for one of the three most important Buddha statues in Bangkok.
Mariela asked me how many carats I thought the Buddha might be. Then we got into a conversation about the difference in carats. We watched a monk perform a ceremony with some worshipers. He tied a string around each person's wrist and flung holy water on them. Drops flicked on us, too.
We got up to leave, went outside, and started perusing our map to figure out where the nearest Metro stop was when a tuk-tuk driver sidled up to us. We started talking about the Golden Buddha and he pointed at the pretty, new, white and gold wat and said, "Oh, no, it's up there. But it's closed until next month."
So that answered Mariela's question: The statue we saw was made from 0 carat gold...
We were somewhat annoyed that we'd paid all that money for the taxi ride and hadn't even seen the Golden Buddha. The tuk-tuk driver offered to give us a ride for 20 baht to our next destination.
Then he told us we had to made a stop at his sponsor's store. This is a common tourist trap, but usually the tourists don't find out they're making a stop until they're already on the road. The driver stops off at a store and tries to get you to buy something, because he'll receive a commission from the store owner.
We started to tell him, "No, thanks," but he told us we could just go in the store for ten minutes, look around, and leave. We didn't have to buy anything. And he'd lower our fare to ten baht. We said OK. It was daytime, after all. What could happen?
He told us the store shirts. We expected a souvenir shop, but he pulled over in front of a tailor, got out, and gestured for us to go inside.
I had to wonder - does that technique really work? Do people just decide to go have some tailored clothes made on a whim? I tend to think not.
Anyway, we looked, left, and got to our destination with no problems.
I'm calling this one a 0% because we didn't see the Buddha we came for, and we paid a lot to get there. Maybe next month.
There weren't any convenient buses, so we took a taxi. The driver wanted to use the expressway because of a traffic jam. The toll for the expressway was 45B, and we still hit a little traffic there because people were trying to get to the Grand Palace. 110B later, we were there.
We walked up to a magnificent, but closed, gold and white temple. Adjacent to it was a somewhat less impressive temple with chipping, faded paint. We took off our shoes and went inside.
There was a large golden Buddha statue at the front of the room. It looked to be about three meters high. We sat down and looked around. The walls were unadorned, unlike other wats we'd visited. The red carpet covering the floor was worn and shabby. It seemed an unlikely home for one of the three most important Buddha statues in Bangkok.
Mariela asked me how many carats I thought the Buddha might be. Then we got into a conversation about the difference in carats. We watched a monk perform a ceremony with some worshipers. He tied a string around each person's wrist and flung holy water on them. Drops flicked on us, too.
We got up to leave, went outside, and started perusing our map to figure out where the nearest Metro stop was when a tuk-tuk driver sidled up to us. We started talking about the Golden Buddha and he pointed at the pretty, new, white and gold wat and said, "Oh, no, it's up there. But it's closed until next month."
So that answered Mariela's question: The statue we saw was made from 0 carat gold...
We were somewhat annoyed that we'd paid all that money for the taxi ride and hadn't even seen the Golden Buddha. The tuk-tuk driver offered to give us a ride for 20 baht to our next destination.
Then he told us we had to made a stop at his sponsor's store. This is a common tourist trap, but usually the tourists don't find out they're making a stop until they're already on the road. The driver stops off at a store and tries to get you to buy something, because he'll receive a commission from the store owner.
We started to tell him, "No, thanks," but he told us we could just go in the store for ten minutes, look around, and leave. We didn't have to buy anything. And he'd lower our fare to ten baht. We said OK. It was daytime, after all. What could happen?
He told us the store shirts. We expected a souvenir shop, but he pulled over in front of a tailor, got out, and gestured for us to go inside.
I had to wonder - does that technique really work? Do people just decide to go have some tailored clothes made on a whim? I tend to think not.
Anyway, we looked, left, and got to our destination with no problems.
I'm calling this one a 0% because we didn't see the Buddha we came for, and we paid a lot to get there. Maybe next month.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
feliz cumpleaños
We've started using Spanish in the office to speak about things we find unpleasant. Maybe it's rude, but they're talking about us constantly in Thai. It's only fair that we have a secret language.
It sparked a lot of questions from the Thai teachers about how we know Spanish, and while waiting out in the sun at the palace today, Alyssa taught Nummon some Spanish phrases.
We glimpsed the Queen as she drove up to the building where she'd give her speech. She was in a car with tinted windows, so we didn't have a great view. Nevertheless, I was about seven yards away from her.
We got to school around 1:00 and went to the palace at 2:30. We sat on tarps outside, chatted with the Thai teachers, fanned ourselves, and ate donuts when boys came by carrying trays full of them.
We waited around in the sun, in navy skirts, long sleeved shirts, and thick, navy suit jackets until 5:00, when she arrived. Very rude of her, really, to keep her guests waiting like that.
She and a whole slew of royalty drove up in a small parade of cream-colored cars. As the first car passed, we all had to bend forward very low and wai. Then, we could look up to sneak a peek.
They went inside and we stood up and faced the building for the national anthem. At the end, the men bowed and the women curtsyed. We sat back down and she delivered her speech. It was streamed to TVs outside, and there were speakers around so everyone could hear.
The funny thing is, almost all the Thais sat around talking to each other and paying no attention to the speech for the next hour. I was glad it turned out to be casual. It was nice to be able to mill around, hunt for donuts, get some cold water, and sit in a chair under the tented area.
When her speech was winding down, everyone returned to the tarps and tucked their feet behind them, awaiting her exit. The royal family loaded into some golf carts, drove around to wave to people, and then took their cars back to the palace villa.
It was mostly an uneventful day, although it was kind of funny to see the Thai teachers in Prathom freaking out in the morning about clothes. Sukjai scrambled around looking for spare navy suit jackets and Sutima made us go the the school convenience store to buy pantyhose. As it turned out, most of the other school teachers didn't wear pantyhose at all.
It sparked a lot of questions from the Thai teachers about how we know Spanish, and while waiting out in the sun at the palace today, Alyssa taught Nummon some Spanish phrases.
We glimpsed the Queen as she drove up to the building where she'd give her speech. She was in a car with tinted windows, so we didn't have a great view. Nevertheless, I was about seven yards away from her.
We got to school around 1:00 and went to the palace at 2:30. We sat on tarps outside, chatted with the Thai teachers, fanned ourselves, and ate donuts when boys came by carrying trays full of them.
We waited around in the sun, in navy skirts, long sleeved shirts, and thick, navy suit jackets until 5:00, when she arrived. Very rude of her, really, to keep her guests waiting like that.
She and a whole slew of royalty drove up in a small parade of cream-colored cars. As the first car passed, we all had to bend forward very low and wai. Then, we could look up to sneak a peek.
They went inside and we stood up and faced the building for the national anthem. At the end, the men bowed and the women curtsyed. We sat back down and she delivered her speech. It was streamed to TVs outside, and there were speakers around so everyone could hear.
The funny thing is, almost all the Thais sat around talking to each other and paying no attention to the speech for the next hour. I was glad it turned out to be casual. It was nice to be able to mill around, hunt for donuts, get some cold water, and sit in a chair under the tented area.
When her speech was winding down, everyone returned to the tarps and tucked their feet behind them, awaiting her exit. The royal family loaded into some golf carts, drove around to wave to people, and then took their cars back to the palace villa.
It was mostly an uneventful day, although it was kind of funny to see the Thai teachers in Prathom freaking out in the morning about clothes. Sukjai scrambled around looking for spare navy suit jackets and Sutima made us go the the school convenience store to buy pantyhose. As it turned out, most of the other school teachers didn't wear pantyhose at all.
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