i woke up at 5:30 am (well, my alarm went off at 5:30--i finally, angrily, rolled my body into an upright position closer to 5:50 am) because we were supposed to be on a bus with some m6 kids (seniors) to bangkok at 6:45 am. my crappy mood, however, was almost completely erased when i looked up at my wall and remembered mom and dad had sent me a stocking, so in typical christmas fashion, i sleepily dug through the stocking and eventually found that traditionally arnold (chocolate) orange in the toes of the sock (thank you, parents!).
maddy and i walked down the street to our favorite suphan coffee house to visit panya for our morning fix. she made up our cups and insisted we take them for free--it was christmas, after all. at 6:45, we were on the bus, ready to go, then we waited for another 45 minutes because of bunch of kids were late.
thai time, eh?
a few weeks ago, when kanchana first told us we'd be going on this field trip, she asked us to prepare lessons for the bus ride. she was so insistent on these that she made tahsh, maddy, and i split up so there'd be at least one farang on each bus, and then she said we'd switch buses in the middle of the 2-hour drive down so all the kids could see each lesson.
then we got on the bus and the teachers put a comedy dvd of some kind on the tv and half the kids fell asleep. we asked kanchana if she wanted to pop in a christmas cd maddy'd brought, but she waved us off. so much for the lesson we didn't even plan anyway.
about an hour into the ride, kanchana stuck in a new dvd and some 90s-looking white boy band popped up on the screen.
"kanchana. what's this?"
"weslie."
"huh?"
"weslie."
"what?"
she handed us the dvd case and we figured out it was westlife on the screen, who i'd never seen before in my whole life. BUT this dvd wasn't only westlife--98 degrees and backstreet boys each had four songs featured on the dvd of music videos. so of COURSE maddy and i danced down the aisle of the bus to "larger than life," the performance culminating in a lot of finger pointing and emotional fist making at the end of the bus (aka the stage).
we got to safari (pronounced sufferi) world--not ancient city, as we were led to believe--around 930, i think, peed, and were shuffled off to a show. our whole day consisted of shows. it was bizarre. us arnolds will see maaaaybe one show if we go to the type of amusement park that has shows, and it's usually because we're tired and it happens to be convenient to see the show and rest. but the thai people--nay, everyone in the park, including 10 percent of the population of india--had a schedule, and they were all going to see every show offered. so our day went like this:
10 am: sea lion show
10:30 am: orangutan muay thai boxing show
11:30 am: elephant show
12:30: lunch is served to us in our seats at the elephant arena
1:00: eggs world (exactly as boring as it sounds)
1:30: dolphin/beluga whale show
2:30: spy wars show (terrible rip off of 007)
3:30: safari bus tour
no time for dilly dallying at this park. our school came with 100 people, which would have been enough of a large group to shuffle around anyway, but then it seemed like EVERYONE IN THE PARK was going to every show together. it was insane.
because we were late getting to the park, we should've cut something from our schedule to get back on time (5 pm). but nobody edited the schedule, so we left late and didn't get back until 7:30. i was super pissed on the bus cuz we had our big christmas dinner with everyone that started at 6 pm, and kanchana and the other teachers knew how important it was for us to be there, yet there we were, taking FOREVER to get home (three hours!), and stopping for gas for 20+ minutes so all the kids could go to the stupid gas station store.
oh, and then apparently the buses turn in to high school dances at night: the students turned all the lights off, flicked a fancy spinny colorful light on, bumped their (so super terrible) thai dance club music, and got down in the back of the bus. this happened for at least two hours. TWO HOURS. i would alternate between getting really frustrated and almost crying because this was completely the opposite of how i wanted to spend christmas, and just letting go of whatever stupid emotions i had because i knew crying and yelling wouldn't make the bus go any faster.
we pulled up to school at 7:30 pm, dashed off the bus, up to our rooms to grab our christmas wine, and headed downstairs to meet everyone at dinner. i think we had about 25 people at the table, and i have to say, in some ways it actually did feel like christmas. a bunch of other teachers came from outside suphan, so we got to catch up with them and nosh on delicious mashed potatoes (maybe carrots were in there) and meatballs together.
after dinner, i talked to family in magalia on their christmas morning and opened my presents (starbucks instant coffee and a jeopardy! page-a-day calendar--how well they know me), then everyone came upstairs to my room to do our gift exchange in white-elephant style. easily the highlight of the whole day for me. we ended up having 19 people play, so all sorts of stealing and freezing and shouting antics ensued. the gift exchange devolved into a dance session where tahsh taught us how to dance like black people (i'll never be able to pop, lock, or drop anything) and i led some dances inspired by tae bo workouts.
classic christmas, right?
i don't think i could've asked for anything better from suphan.
(wow, good job finishing a novel, dedicated reader.)
26.12.09
24.12.09
christmas eve 2009 (what turned out to be a family affair)
honestly, i've been fretting about christmas for quite a while. i've been missing home, and i've been worried about what christmas would be like. i knew it was stupid to do that, because whatever would happen would happen, whether i worried incessantly or not. but there i was anyway, at random times of the day, semi-freaking out about what christmas would be like.
for a really long time, family and i have gone to san francisco every christmas eve (except when we're in san clemente, of course...long drive). we go shopping, we eat food, we ride the cable cars, we walk pier 39 and ghirardelli square, we check out the tree at union square, and we eat at bubba gumps. same day, almost every year. and i love it. sometimes christmas eve is even better than christmas day.
but when i woke up today, it felt so like a regular day--get up, go to school, listen to the terrible thai music in the morning, prepare for classes--that i wasn't that ruined by not being home. our so incredibly nontraditional christmas eve became a hilarious joke throughout the day. merry christmas eve, now i'm gonna go give a quiz and teach some people. because it's a work day. 555.
i should say, though, that we've been playing so much christmas music that i found myself kind of tired of it today. when i went to play my music in the shower, i almost picked something non-christmasy, just cuz i think i've listened to all 400+ songs of mine already. and i've been turning on the christmas lights every day for at least three weeks now, and i've been wrapping presents like mad. and there are a fair amount of christmas decorations around town and in the stores.
oh, and my students have been doing christmas-related lessons since nov. 30. so i haven't exactly been missing the season.
but anyway, scuse the rambling. on to what happened today. maddy, tahsh, and i made little christmas bags for our teachers and some of the local people in town (laundry people, people who serve us food, that guy who makes thousands of copies for us, the woman who makes us our delicious coffee) and doled them out this morning to many thank yous.
around the middle of the day, the thai teachers in our office did that thing where they linger near our desks like they all have something to give us. after almost everyone gathered, kanchana presented us each with a gift. we opened it up and found the most perfect christmas gift a thai person could ever give us--a bright pink thai costume.
just about every thai person in the office has a shirt like this. just about every thai person in general has a shirt like this. the shirts come in every color, with all sorts of patterns at the bottom. and they're all equally hideous. about a month ago, the thai teachers told us that on tuesdays, we should wear our pink thai costume (that's what this is--not a shirt, a costume). like we have them lying around, and like we spent money on that when we came in the country.
but look--our having one of these thai costumes was so important that they bought us one of our own. this might be my new fave shirt.
anyway, after the gift giving, the day pretty much went on like any other school day. we peaced out around 2, gave out gifts to other people (which prompted many "merry kiiis-ma!" from the thai people), and came home. i graded some papers and went on a bike ride (p.s. remind me to show you my bike later). i got back around 6:30, and got a text from maddy that said something along the lines of "ogie just invited me to a christmas party with his family. 555." a second later, she called me to ask me if tahsh and i wanted to go, too.
well, we had all planned to go to korean bbq, but a thai christmas party with ogie's family sounded WAY more exciting, so we changed in record time, met ogie in a van downstairs, and headed off. some more people got in the car (included a student from my naughtiest class who i'd forced to sing in front of class earlier that day...lol), and we drove about 10 minutes away, to someone's sweet house just beyond tesco.
imagine our surprise when we actually KNEW people there. we'd assumed it'd be ogie's family, we wouldn't know anyone, whatever. but we saw some familiar faces from school (and realized just how connected everyone is to sa-nguan ying), and a bunch of people there recognized--and were excited to see--us.
it's like we actually live here or something.
when we first walked in, lots of people wanted to meet us. sounds cocky, but i really can't emphasize how much we stick out here and how damn fascinating we are to thai people just cuz we're not thai. but this one kid we met...man. first words out of his mouth were "i dunno why i have an american accent." in perfect english. i mean, some of my friends back home don't speak that well. this 10-year-old kid clearly didn't wanna talk to us but had the best english, so he was forced to welcome us to the dinner and show us the food table. then he peaced and started playing with balloons.
our christmas eve feast--pizza, fried rice, noodles, spicy beef salad, etc.--was followed by a "would you like some wine?" and that, a quick, "yes, red please." FREE WINE? EFF YEAH.
we played games with the kids (pwnd'em, btw), did some traditional thai dancing, sang "like a prayer" and "jingle bell rock," and generally laughed at everything our lives were right there at that fancy house in suphan on christmas eve. as the night was winding down, ogie's dad (who had been drinking heavily and whose english had, as a result, vastly improved) beckoned us to introduce ourselves, which we gladly did. after we did our speaking, ogie's brother, aunt, other aunt?, ogie himself, and maybe someone else thanked us immensely for coming. we hardly even talked to the thai people, aside from the few we already knew. they were just thrilled to have some americans around. trophy wives, the lot of us.
really, though, it ended up being a really heartwarming evening. this post is about a mile long, and i still haven't explained everything. there's no way i could. everyone at the party was so open and so excited to be able to share christmas eve with us. it was no bubba gumps with the fam, but how could i not have had a fulfilling night?
for a really long time, family and i have gone to san francisco every christmas eve (except when we're in san clemente, of course...long drive). we go shopping, we eat food, we ride the cable cars, we walk pier 39 and ghirardelli square, we check out the tree at union square, and we eat at bubba gumps. same day, almost every year. and i love it. sometimes christmas eve is even better than christmas day.
but when i woke up today, it felt so like a regular day--get up, go to school, listen to the terrible thai music in the morning, prepare for classes--that i wasn't that ruined by not being home. our so incredibly nontraditional christmas eve became a hilarious joke throughout the day. merry christmas eve, now i'm gonna go give a quiz and teach some people. because it's a work day. 555.
i should say, though, that we've been playing so much christmas music that i found myself kind of tired of it today. when i went to play my music in the shower, i almost picked something non-christmasy, just cuz i think i've listened to all 400+ songs of mine already. and i've been turning on the christmas lights every day for at least three weeks now, and i've been wrapping presents like mad. and there are a fair amount of christmas decorations around town and in the stores.
oh, and my students have been doing christmas-related lessons since nov. 30. so i haven't exactly been missing the season.
but anyway, scuse the rambling. on to what happened today. maddy, tahsh, and i made little christmas bags for our teachers and some of the local people in town (laundry people, people who serve us food, that guy who makes thousands of copies for us, the woman who makes us our delicious coffee) and doled them out this morning to many thank yous.
around the middle of the day, the thai teachers in our office did that thing where they linger near our desks like they all have something to give us. after almost everyone gathered, kanchana presented us each with a gift. we opened it up and found the most perfect christmas gift a thai person could ever give us--a bright pink thai costume. just about every thai person in the office has a shirt like this. just about every thai person in general has a shirt like this. the shirts come in every color, with all sorts of patterns at the bottom. and they're all equally hideous. about a month ago, the thai teachers told us that on tuesdays, we should wear our pink thai costume (that's what this is--not a shirt, a costume). like we have them lying around, and like we spent money on that when we came in the country.
but look--our having one of these thai costumes was so important that they bought us one of our own. this might be my new fave shirt.
anyway, after the gift giving, the day pretty much went on like any other school day. we peaced out around 2, gave out gifts to other people (which prompted many "merry kiiis-ma!" from the thai people), and came home. i graded some papers and went on a bike ride (p.s. remind me to show you my bike later). i got back around 6:30, and got a text from maddy that said something along the lines of "ogie just invited me to a christmas party with his family. 555." a second later, she called me to ask me if tahsh and i wanted to go, too.
well, we had all planned to go to korean bbq, but a thai christmas party with ogie's family sounded WAY more exciting, so we changed in record time, met ogie in a van downstairs, and headed off. some more people got in the car (included a student from my naughtiest class who i'd forced to sing in front of class earlier that day...lol), and we drove about 10 minutes away, to someone's sweet house just beyond tesco.
imagine our surprise when we actually KNEW people there. we'd assumed it'd be ogie's family, we wouldn't know anyone, whatever. but we saw some familiar faces from school (and realized just how connected everyone is to sa-nguan ying), and a bunch of people there recognized--and were excited to see--us.
it's like we actually live here or something.
when we first walked in, lots of people wanted to meet us. sounds cocky, but i really can't emphasize how much we stick out here and how damn fascinating we are to thai people just cuz we're not thai. but this one kid we met...man. first words out of his mouth were "i dunno why i have an american accent." in perfect english. i mean, some of my friends back home don't speak that well. this 10-year-old kid clearly didn't wanna talk to us but had the best english, so he was forced to welcome us to the dinner and show us the food table. then he peaced and started playing with balloons.
our christmas eve feast--pizza, fried rice, noodles, spicy beef salad, etc.--was followed by a "would you like some wine?" and that, a quick, "yes, red please." FREE WINE? EFF YEAH.
we played games with the kids (pwnd'em, btw), did some traditional thai dancing, sang "like a prayer" and "jingle bell rock," and generally laughed at everything our lives were right there at that fancy house in suphan on christmas eve. as the night was winding down, ogie's dad (who had been drinking heavily and whose english had, as a result, vastly improved) beckoned us to introduce ourselves, which we gladly did. after we did our speaking, ogie's brother, aunt, other aunt?, ogie himself, and maybe someone else thanked us immensely for coming. we hardly even talked to the thai people, aside from the few we already knew. they were just thrilled to have some americans around. trophy wives, the lot of us.
really, though, it ended up being a really heartwarming evening. this post is about a mile long, and i still haven't explained everything. there's no way i could. everyone at the party was so open and so excited to be able to share christmas eve with us. it was no bubba gumps with the fam, but how could i not have had a fulfilling night?
merry christmas eve
i'm at work today. i even gave my kids a quiz today. meanest teacher ever, right? but i'm wearing a santa hat, so it's all good. all the teachers in the office were laughing at me. "beautiful!" they said. (tahsh just ripped my santa hat off, btw. she is a bitch.) they didn't mean it, though, because they were in hysterics as they said it. LIARS.
tahsh, maddy, and i put together bags of christmas treats for all of them today, complete with handmade christmas cards. maddy and i are sporting some christmas gear, and there's even a christmas tree set up in the hallway to celebrate the holiday. this school WILL be christmasy, whether it likes it or not. i'll have to show you pictures later, when i'm on my home computer. internet's been acting up lately, so i make no promises.
tahsh, maddy, and i put together bags of christmas treats for all of them today, complete with handmade christmas cards. maddy and i are sporting some christmas gear, and there's even a christmas tree set up in the hallway to celebrate the holiday. this school WILL be christmasy, whether it likes it or not. i'll have to show you pictures later, when i'm on my home computer. internet's been acting up lately, so i make no promises.
21.12.09
"cold"
"goood moooooooooorning, teeeeeecha."
"good morning, class. how are you?"
"i'm fiiiiiiiiiiine teacher. aaaaand youuu?"
"i'm good, thank you. you can sit down."
"thaaaaaaank you, teeeeeachaaaaa."
(i make a shivering gesture) "are you guys cold today?"
(they answer me in unison, which is usually something they NEVER do) "YES!"
the internet tells me it's 28 degrees celsius in suphan today. that's 82 degrees fahrenheit. with the wind, i'd call it 77 degrees fahrenheit out there today.
"good morning, class. how are you?"
"i'm fiiiiiiiiiiine teacher. aaaaand youuu?"
"i'm good, thank you. you can sit down."
"thaaaaaaank you, teeeeeachaaaaa."
(i make a shivering gesture) "are you guys cold today?"
(they answer me in unison, which is usually something they NEVER do) "YES!"
the internet tells me it's 28 degrees celsius in suphan today. that's 82 degrees fahrenheit. with the wind, i'd call it 77 degrees fahrenheit out there today.
tiger milk
sam, ally, maddy, alex (new australian), anna (new australian's girlfriend, here for just a few weeks), tessa, and i had no plans for yesterday, so anna and alex organized a van trip out to a zoo/aquarium about 50 minutes away. we left at 8 am, despite the fact that the zoo--our main reason for going--didn't open until 10 am (bret, the guy who helps us get the van, likes to organize these trips so we leave REAL early in the morning so we can get to our destination, sit around, and wait).
no matter. we grabbed some caffeine and popped into an aquarium. actually, there were two aquariums: one cheap one for 30 baht, and one expensive one for 150 baht. maddy and i weren't feeling the expensive one, mostly because we knew it'd pale in comparison to monterey bay and didn't want to be disappointed. so we played speed and yahtzee on this lake in the park.
some time between 10 and 11, we hopped back in the van, and the driver took us back to the zoo. we paid maybe a dollar to get in, then for less than a dollar, we went into a cage with about 10 baby lions tigers (i'm pretty sure some of those were lions, anyway). it was just the seven of us and two handlers, kickin it in the cage with the big cat babies. the handlers shoved the cats into our hands, gave us bottles, and forced us to take adorable pictures holding the furry babies.
oh fineeeeee. i guess i needed a new post-christmas prof pic, anyway.
the cats romped around and we remarked at how much they were like...well, cats. they played with each other just like a litter of house kittens. they did have teeth (which weren't actually that sharp), and they did bite us a little, but it was a playful, light bite. they could've bitten our hands off in an instant, but we were friends, so they spared us.
after 15-20 minutes of tiger joy, the handlers told us our time was up. we wept, then went on to the rest of the zoo. after much animal sighting (i'm not gonna tell you about all of it here, mostly because pictures are better and i have to go to school pretty soon), we went to the huge sam chuk market, and came home.
not bad for a $20 day.
p.s. FOUR DAYS TO CHRISTMAS!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)