I should begin by explaining the phrase “Thai style,” as it is one of our favorites. Most important is the pronunciation, which is: “Thai styyyyy,” since Thai people almost never pronounce the final sound in English words. Anyways, it simply means something that acts, looks, or actually is Thai. Anything from architecture, to the way one dresses, to the adding of spicy powder to my dinner can be “Thai style.” At first we thought that Pan coined this phrase, but when we visited our friends in another province they were also saying it, after hearing their teachers use it. Most often we hear the phrase in regards to our clothing, and receiving a “Thai style” comment has become somewhat of a contest, as we try to see who can receive more or who can guess when one will be given out by Pan. Pan is very unpredictable though as there will be days when we’ll wear something that we bought in Thailand, obviously expecting a “Thai style," and we won’t get it. Then some days we’ll wear random clothes from America that don’t look in any way Thai to us and Pan will surprise us with an “Ohhhh, Thai styyyy”. When I’m desperate I’ll just flat out ask Pan if I look Thai style, that’s pathetic though and doesn’t count. Emily and I have inserted this phrase into our vocabulary and overuse it on many occasions. So anyways, Christmas this year was Thai styyy, because we were in Thailand, of course.
When Emily and I found out that the Teach in Thailand program was from October to March one of the first things we realized was that we would be gone for Christmas. We were expecting it to be a lonely holiday as most Thai people are Buddhist and because it would be the first time we would be celebrating without our families. It ended up being quite the opposite, helped by the fact that it is in the 80s here during the day and we did not hear any Christmas music or see any decorations unless we were in a big shopping mall, and therefore weren’t constantly reminded of the holiday season we were missing. We were also pleasantly surprised to learn that our school does celebrate Christmas, by canceling classes and filling the day with various fun events and performances.
Emily and I got to school bright and early on Christmas Day to talk with our families on Skype before the day’s festivities began. We had been put in charge of directing both the English Club in singing two songs and the 7th grade class in a performance of the nativity play. As for English Club, each semester the students pick one academic club to be a part of and on Tuesday afternoons they meet for two periods. Students pick English Club because they think it will be easy and require little effort on their part since the foreign teachers (Emily and I) just play games and sing songs with them. Therefore, picking English Club does not necessarily mean that a student loves learning English and it definitely doesn’t mean that they want to sing English songs in front of their whole school. This made practicing with them a bit difficult for us. The two songs to be performed were “Que sera, sera,” which all of Thailand has become obsessed with because it is played in a new television commercial, and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. We had been practicing “Que sera, sera” ever since the first club meeting, so the students easily had that memorized by the time Christmas came. “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” was introduced only a few weeks before Christmas though, and the students were expected to learn both the lyrics and hand motions (that Emily and I made up). The song was a bit tricky for them as some of the lines are a mouthful and the CD version we had was pretty fast. Their stage performance on Christmas Day was mediocre at best, since the 12th grade students (our best English speakers) did not show up and somehow English club sprouted several new members that we hadn’t seen since the first or second meeting. Emily even swears that one girl sang that wasn’t even in the club at all. We also didn’t have microphones and some even sung with their heads down (“OMG, singing with English Club is sooo embarrassing!”). During “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” somehow every student forgot the hand motions and had to look backstage at Emily and I to mimick our motions, meanwhile turning their backs to the audience. Good try English club!
As far as the nativity play, I would like to point out that there is no drama club at our school, full of students who enjoy acting. Therefore, we had to randomly pick a class to be our cast, forcing students, who never volunteered themselves as actors, onto a stage in front of their peers. We weren’t asking too much of the students though, as Emily narrated the entire play and the students just had to act out what she read, but it is very hard to get 7th grade boys who don’t like drama and don’t speak English to cooperate. They spent most of their time using their props to hurt each other, as I looked over at one point to see one of the shepherds using his staff to put the angel Gabriel in a headlock…very respectful. We also only had time for 2 or 3 short practices, and sometimes half the cast would be missing. Overall, we lacked the ingredients for a successful play, but we tried our best, and since the students are only in 7th grade anything they do is pretty cute. So even though the students turned their backs to the audience the entire play, the baby Jesus, which was actually a stuffed frog wrapped in a blanket, had to be handed on stage because Mary forgot it, and our music wouldn’t play, the audience still clapped at the end and everyone was smiling…and we were just happy that it was over! Here is a video link to some excerpts.
Throughout the rest of the day random events went on in celebration of Christmas and New Years, although with some events we couldn’t really see the connection. For example there was a Korean fashion show that concluded the day. Thai students are obsessed with anything Korean. They love their fashion and their singers and think that Koreans are very beautiful, supposedly because their skin is lighter and their noses are smaller? Anyways, a bunch of students dressed up like Koreans and showed off on stage while the rest of students voted for a winner. Emily and I also cracked up at a random poster we saw that said “Merry Christmas from Koreans” on it along with pictures of Koreans pasted on.
After school Pan picked us up to begin phase 2 of the Christmas Day celebrations which included going out for dinner and then going to the club “Highlight." Yes, Pan is 51 years old and she has been talking about going to this club with us on Christmas Day ever since October when she bought the bottle of whiskey for the event. She brought us into town and dropped us at a guesthouse, “The Mansion,” where we would stay the night after going out, since no one would want to drive us all the way back to the Jungle House. Pan then went home to get her daughter, Poon (side note: I love Poon), before scooping us back up to bring us to dinner where we met Sutham and Janwit, a member of the school board (he was also the leader of our Thanksgiving field trip). We went to a place called “Log Home,” which looks just like its name and is a nice restaurant with an expansive menu of both Thai and American fare. Poor Poon had to endure the obnoxiously American dishes we ordered to share, like French fries, fried chicken, and spaghetti. She ate everything without complaining but then had to order a Thai dish after we were done so she could actually eat something that she liked. This was the second time we had been to Log Home with Pan, and the last time we were the only ones there so we had sung karaoke. Pan decided that we must sing again, but this time we were not alone, and were instead seated next to a party of about 10 people, that included a few Thai VIPs, like a well-known doctor, aka too important to be annoyed with our bad American karaoke singing. Pan was therefore turned down by the waiter when she asked if we could sing, as his boss apparently didn’t want to lose the VIPs’ weekly business forever. But once the doctor heard we wanted to do karaoke he waved his magic wand and we were able to. Our song requests went ignored and instead they played Christmas song after Christmas song for me and Emily to entertain them with. The doctor even sang a Thai karaoke song in between…because everyone in Thailand loves some good karaoke no matter how important they may be. Our singing certainly didn’t bother him and his friends too much though because when we were leaving they told us we were invited to join with them at Log Home every Friday...score!
After dinner it was time to drop Poon back off at Pan’s house, because although she is old enough to go out she had absolutely no interest in doing so. I guess she didn’t feel up for watching her Mom dance to Thai pop music in crowds of people 30 years younger than her...understandable. Sutham also took a pass on the invite to Highlight, so that left Pan, Janwit, Emily, and myself. Pan made poor Janwit be the designated driver, saying that it was his duty as a member of the school board. We told her that we had a hard time believing that part of his job description said “Designated driver for Farang and Pan whenever they may need one,” but we were thankful nonetheless. To describe Highlight, it has both an outdoor and an indoor section. The outdoor section is more of a restaurant and has a live band until about 10pm, which plays nice slow Thai songs and caters to older Thai people. The inside is basically a club, with high tables and no chairs and live bands starting around 10:30pm that play fast Thai pop hits from the radio. It is hard to find anyone over the age of 30 inside, as it is a place where Thai young adults go to dance, drink, and hang out with friends, so we were surprised that Pan had agreed to come with us. She had said that she had been once before though, so we assumed she understood what she was volunteering for. Once she asked if there were chairs inside to sit down we realized that she must have only been to the outside section. The inside was going to be a little too loud and overwhelming for her and Janwit, although she did come in a few times to do some hilarious dance moves with us that included lots of “spirit finger”-like hand motions. The rest of the time her and Janwit acted as our babysitters as they sat outside while we were inside enjoying the band. It ended up that the only free table was right by the windows, directly across from where they were sitting, so they were able to see our every move, ready to pounce if any funny business went down. Pan had also invited the secretary from the front office of our school, Camp, after we mentioned that last time we had gone to Highlight we had run into him. We had previously thought he was a student teacher just helping in the office, maybe 20 years old or so, but it turns out that he is actually 27. I still have trouble believing this, but this may be due to the fact that he has braces. Anyways, Pan got to send him into the club with us, so she didn’t have to endure it but she knew we weren’t alone in there. He ended up being a hoot. He looooved to dance and was teaching us the moves that go along with the popular songs. He also taught us that the first verse to the Thai version of “Jingle Bells” is translated as “Jingle bells, jingle bells, cats eat fish.” I guess the Thai weren’t too impressed with the real words and made up their own instead. It should also be pointed out that Camp could have won an award for best smiler, as he smiled the entire time we were at the club…a very precious boy indeed, our new Thai BFF.
All in all, our Christmas Day in Thailand was more jam-packed than we could have ever imagined, and we certainly weren’t lonely. We did miss the traditions we are used to, but just this one time we felt ok being away from home, as it gave us the chance to celebrate the holidays in a totally different and fun way.
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