Merry Christmas to me!

So if anyone out there got into teaching for the presents at Christmas time...Thailand is the place for you! I came home today with a huge shopping bag filled to the brim with presents...it also helps that I have fifty students, but mostly it was that they had just given me really big gifts...and they were all really nice gifts too! I got a huge woven bag, towels, candy, a really nice pen, cookies, bags, scarves, a clock, jewellry, a really nice belt from one of my Thai teachers, and a lot more. My favourite gift, though, came as a joint present from the three Thai teachers in one of my classes. They gave me really nice material to make myself a Thai outfit. Every Tuesday at our school is Thai dress day. All of the Thai teachers come dressed in these beautiful outfits made of Thai material. A few of the foreign teachers have Thai outfits that they wear, but most of us just wear our uniforms. Every Tuesday I tell my Thai teachers how beautiful their outfits are, so now they got me material to make my own! I am really excited, but I have no idea what I should make with the material. I think that I'm going to bring them some pictures, and then have them help me pick out what style I should get made. The people here are so nice, I just can't get over it!

The funniest part is that apparently it is New Years when we get most of the gifts, and Christmas is just a warm-up! If this is the warm-up I can't even imagine what New Years is going to bring! These kids better start giving me edible/perishable gifts, or I'm going to run out of room...my apartment is not that big!

On a completely different note, my parents arrive in Thailand in 3 hours and it doesn't even feel real. I didn't even really feel excited today, not because I don't want to see them, but because I have been so busy with Christmas, exams, report cards and tons of other stuff that I haven't even had time to think about the fact that they are coming, and now they are going to be here tonight! As I was cleaning my room and getting everything ready, though, it started to sink in and I started to get really excited! I will be really busy for the next 2-3 weeks, so I may not email/blog, so I hope that everyone has a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!