Why would they bring a knife to see the baby Jesus?

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Merry Christmas everyone! It is Christmas day here is Surat Thani, Thailand. In the morning you will wake to presents, cookie crumbs, the smell of pine needles, the sounds of ripping paper and those familiar songs you dust off once a year. I woke to drink a cup of coffee, clean the house, run errands, workout and write a blog. Such is life on the other side of the world. Christmas is known here but in the way Hanukah is known back home. People know it but they don’t understand it or have any real emotional connection to it. I take that back the kids get it. Presents, no class, sweet stuff, these are things deep-seeded into the language of the little ones.

There were no classes yesterday at Joy Bilingual School, just celebrations and gift giving. I got my very first teacher coffee mug. Weird. It also made me really happy. I don’t always love being a teacher. Sometimes it is frustrating. Other times it is brilliant. Yesterday was one of those days. I didn’t have to be strict I just got to slip into Uncle Mike mode and play around. I got to watch my students perform dance routines and sing songs and play games. As you can see from the pictures and videos they are some cute kids. Especially, when I don’t need to tell them to be quiet.

As part of the show the Farang teachers performed a short play about the Nativity scene. I played the role of the “Little Soldier” a Roman soldier who witnessed the whole star, three kings, Mary, Joseph, Jesus in the manger thing. I didn’t have a full costume, just a green and gold plastic sword slung through my belt. After the performance one of my students called me over and asked, “Teacher Michael, why would they bring a knife to see the baby Jesus?” I said, “You think a knife is bad, wait until you see what they have in store for Big J in his early thirties.” No I didn’t, I said “Knife? It’s a sword!” hoping deflection would save me.

We had mid-term testing this week as well. I never thought grading papers would be fun but I loved it. I teach Thai kids. Many of them understand English words but can’t yet think in English. Concept questions can be really daunting. So when they don’t know the answer they often just play Madlibs and throw in any old word, often to hilarious effect. On the science midterm they had a question about Magnets; “When two objects________ they ________ each other.” One little girl added the only two metal objects she could think of, scissor and fork, making the sentence, “When two objects scissor they fork each other.” I read it three times to make sure it said what I thought it said and then laughed for five minutes straight.

I am going to keep this one short, it is Christmas after all. I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Enjoy spending time with your family and friends, enjoy those new gifts, and know that even on the other side of the world there is at least one man bombing around on a scooter singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer at the top of his lungs.

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Photos

Team Michael Eat Mould. Nice.
We are learning about Fungi, so at least their insults are rooted in the lesson.

Pretty Beach Pictures Just Because
Hat Yuan beach on Ko Phagnan