though the school i work at is considered to be a "catholic school," we were not off on december 24. we showed up decked in red and white and wearing our santa hats to great the students at the gate like most days. however, we didnt have classes this day. instead, the morning was a combination of a variety show and carnival, with some of the best dancers from the weekend performing for the school, games set up around the courtyard, and a duet of one christmas carol and random english and thai songs by steinar and bing, one of the younger thai teachers who teaches art.
aside from having steinar and i read a piece about the history of christmas to all of the kids in english (which was pretty much pointless as well), there really was no reason for us to be at school that day. the other teachers dont let us help with much and they had control of all of the booths, so a majority of the day we spent up in the foreign teachers room anyway.
i thought that because of the holiday, we wouldnt have after school teaching/tutoring, but of course we did. however, the two groups were combined so that we could just sing christmas carols the whole time. bing said he had to leave early to get ready to go to assumption, which is the gigantic school right next door to ours, and told us to meet him there at 6. ok, guess my night is booked.
it turned out that their school has a carnival-esque type of event on christmas eve every year and the teachers from our school run the very popular raffle attractions. of course, they enjoy showing off their white-skinned farang teachers, so having us there was a bonus. the night was spent unfolding paper, passing out prizes, and having people giving us strange looks (for something new) and wondering why we were there with all of these other teachers.
but it was also spent learning and practicing how to say all of my numbers in thai, and building relationships with the teachers at our school and the parents from the neighborhood, and of course, it was spent with food, as mrs. kasintorn herself made sure that none of us went hungry or thirsty for even a moment. surprisingly, it was also spent choosing the numbers for many people, because they thought that i would be "lucky" for them. imagine that!
it was at some point in this night that i looked around and decided that my debate between staying in thailand or going to china or south korea for the second part of my year was a non-issue, because i wanted to remain not only in thailand, but at the same school. i got very lucky with my placement and though i could be making more money in one of the other two countries, i am happy here. and i set off to spend a year in thailand, so i may as well follow through with that.
to finish off the night, steinar and i stopped in at 7/11 (where else) and each bought a few drinks. there was nothing christmasy, so i had to settle on some red wine coolers. we brought those home and watched love actually, perhaps the best christmas movie ever, and then i went to bed. it didnt feel like christmas eve, but it had still been a good day.
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