Christmas at Ground Zero...

Pigeon's Eye
Originally uploaded by Shaggy Z.

What an interesting week! On Monday we didn't have school because it was Constitution Day. The Life Group teachers were all invited to Kiki and Yoyo's house. Kiki is in grade 6 and Yoyo is in grade 8. Both are quite bright and respectful. They also invited the grade 6 students so there was about 10 teachers and a dozen or so students. They have a pool in their backyard so we had a lot of fun in that. Tuesday morning we had a rehearsal for the Christmas program. So I had to be the babysitter for grades 7-9 in a classroom. In the afternoon the junior high walked to Big C to buy things for a nearby orphanage. We used the money collected for speaking Thai in class. We got back and had the students make cards for the orphans. Some groups made nice cards and others didn't really care. After school the teachers had to decorate the outdoor stage. On Wednesday the routine was similar with a morning rehearsal. In the afternoon grades 6-9 watched Santa Claus 2 in the gym. But probably only 6 students actually watched the movie. Thursday was the Kindergarten program. I had to set up in the morning but the actual program didn't start till 4. There was a program in the church, and then dinner and a program on the outdoor stage. Basically a warm-up for yesterday's primary program. The program was supposed to start at 4 but didn't start till 4:30. Ajarn Surong, who had nothing to do with the planning decided to add things to the program minutes before it started. Near the beginning I had to sing in the parent's choir. We sang a mixture of Hark the Herald, Angels We Have Heard on High, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. At the end we had these mini firecracker things which we set off. All very lame but fun. After that I had to go back to the classroom to babysit junior high. For the program they made the grade 7 class be the angels. They had to wear white gowns, halos, and these silly looking angel wings. They looked pretty sad and pathetic in their outfits, but I thought it was pretty funny. It reminded me of the scene in "A Christmas Story" when Ralph's parents make him put on a bunny outfit. After the church program we moved outside for dinner and another program. In this program each class had to do a performance and it. It finished at about 10, so in total we had a 6 hour program. After that we had to clean up so quite a long day. Anyways, in a few hours I'm leaving for Chiang Mai with Craig and Michelle. Taking the night train.