Happy Holidays from this side of the world!

Hello Hello Hello!!

I am going to jump right in to this post because I have a lot of holiday fun to share with you all. Before I start I want to say that I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and a very happy New Year. My holiday season was amazing even though I am a billion miles away. Although I missed seeing my family and friends, I am so glad that I spent my holidays in Thailand this year. Ready set go!!

Insta-Thanks 2013

         In an attempt to introduce our American Thanksgiving tradition to our Thai co-workers in the Foreign Language Department, Jill and I tied on our aprons and decided to cook Thanksgiving dinner. Of course we were excited to have our new friends taste American cooking, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that we were also craving a meal that tasted like home. =) 

         I have never been under the impression that making a Thanksgiving meal was a piece of cake, but little did I know just how difficult bringing this tradition to Thailand would be. Jill and I spent weeks and took many trips to various stores to gather all the ingredients and supplies we needed. We had decided on a two pies: Banana cream pie and pumpkin pie. We were extremely excited when we found all the ingredients needed to make the two pies, but what we had yet to discover was that Thailand doesn't have OVENS. Oh yes, you read that right, no one in Thailand has an oven. You tell me how you make a pie without an oven. Or better yet, how do you make a turkey? When purchasing the ingredients we were under the impression that we would use the oven at the teacher's home who offered up her kitchen for us to cook in. Maybe it was because we don't have a kitchen at all in our house here, or maybe it was because we are American, but we didn't even think to ask about an oven. 

            After much confusion and quite a bit of laughter, one of the other Thai teachers offered to bring us a small oven that she had.  The following day the oven arrived and it was none other than a miniature toaster oven. Although this was a good try, the toaster oven was far to small to even cook a pie in. Not to worry though, yet ANOTHER teacher, P' Dit, told us she had a bigger oven that would fit a pie and she would bring it on Thanksgiving day for us to use. As for the lost cause of the Turkey, we decided to pick our battles and just serve pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, but back to the oven. On Thanksgiving day P' Dit showed up to school and asked us to come to her car to help unload the oven. Jill and I bounced up to the trunk all eager, only to find that P' Dit had brought us a MICROWAVE...oven... HA HA HA

        Luckily Jill and I were still able to use the mini toaster and microwave to concoct instant mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, instant stuffing, rolls, no bake banana cream pie (way to go mom with the no bake pie recipe), and a very sad looking, but yummy tasting pumpkin pastry thing. It may not have been the best Thanksgiving meal and yes, it was all instant, but it still tasted like home and everyone loved it.  Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving in Thailand, or Insta-Thanks as I like to call it.  =)

Cooking in the kitchen with P' Jenny's husband P' Chart helping out.

Excited to announce we have dessert!

Everyone dishing out their dinner

Our dinner table and our Foreign language department friends!

Clearly they all loved Thanksgiving dinner....or at least dessert!

They even asked me to teach them how to make Banana Cream pie after Thanksgiving. Mom's pie is famous in Thailand.

         In Thailand Thanksgiving is not a holiday, obviously, so I had to teach on Thanksgiving Day. I decided to have my students write down what they were thankful for. Many students said family or friends, some said music or books, but these two were my favorite answers of all. =)

Hey, at least he is Thankful! HA HA

Come on, how could this one not make me smile? A+ for this teacher's pet!

         On the day after Thanksgiving I received the best package from the best sister ever. Sister sent me this amazing advent calendar to help me get in the Christmas spirit. Opening these little gifts each day sure made me happy! =)

Christmas

        My Christmas in Thailand was amazing. I am not sure my smile left my face at all that day. I spent the morning skyping with the family and getting to see everyone opening their presents back home before heading to work early to give all of my new Thai friends their Christmas stockings. I, being a little overly ambitious, decided about one week before Christmas that I would make Christmas stockings for the Thai friends/Co-workers that we hang out with and eat with every night. 

       Finding the stockings was difficult and stuffing them took a little bit of time, but I was so excited to give them to my friends that I barely slept Christmas Eve night. The stockings were filled with Christmas hats, candy canes, funny things that remind me of each of them, American snacks like gold fish and gummy worms, and an ornament. This was the first time any of them had received Christmas gifts and this was probably the first year I experienced first-hand what Christmas should be about. The excitement of bringing Christmas to people who mean a lot to me and who have never experienced it was phenomenal. Call me corny, but seeing the smiles on their faces and their excitement when I walked in with a bag of stockings was the cooler than any christmas gift I have ever received. My Christmas was perfect and I am so glad I spent it here in Thailand. Here are some pictures from Christmas morning. I also gave each teacher a hug and as you can see, that may have been more exciting and hilarious to them than the stockings. 

Jill and I with Yaya and her stocking!

One of the stockings that I made! =)

P'Lee very excited looking through her stocking!

P' Aof super excited that he can go fishing with me now (We have been asking him for weeks to take us when he goes fishing, but we can't all fit on his motorbike)

P' O, Yaya, and I!

P' Ploy and her stocking!

P' Ann, the happiest Thai friend I have, very excited to try her American cookie!

Let the hugs begin.... Kyle

 P' Ploy

P'Ann

P' Lee

P' Aof (When I started giving hugs P'Aof jumped up and opened his arms) Haha

These people made my Christmas day amazing and I have them to thank for why I am so happy here! Merry Christmas from my Thai family to my American family!=)

      Our Thai friends also really wanted us to be happy on Christmas so they surprised us with a very cute Santa Clause cake on Christmas Eve. 

P' Lee and P' Bird giving us the cake they all had made for us. Jill and I were bubbling with gratitude and happiness. 

Our cake! They are the cutest!

        If you think that was cute, which it sure was, then just wait for this. Preparing the stockings took some time and there were many nights that I couldn't go play cards or watch movies with everyone (we do this nearly every night now at P'Lee and P'Bird's house). Every time I couldn't come over I would tell them it was because Santa Clause was coming to Thailand. They finally understood why I said this when I gave them their stockings. Then one of the teachers, P'Aof, whose effort is amazing, but English isn't the best, used the same Santa line on me. 

     Around 1 in the morning Christmas night, after a long exciting Christmas day, I received a message from P'Aof that said, "Amanda Santa Clause came to Thailand". I naturally assumed he was referring to my being Santa that morning and said, "Yes, I was Santa Clause". He followed this with a response that said, "P'Aof Santa Clause Thailand" and then "Amanda go outside". Being as though it was 1:00AM, I was standing outside alone in my pajamas and completely confused, I gave up waiting after a few minutes and turned to go inside only to find two cute little gifts hanging from our front door. When I looked back around P'Aof was staring out his window smiling at me (P' Aof is our neighbor). He gave us little candies and gum and these really awesome hand made cards (pretty sure the card was the reason Santa Clause came at 1:00 AM). Here is a picture of the card he made me. Just know that p"aof's English isn't great, but he tries very hard so that he can talk to us. I know the amount of English on this card wasn't easy to write for him, but it really was so sweet.  

   

Needless to say, we love P'Aof. 

       

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

         For New Year's Eve Jill and I decided to celebrate in Bangkok at Central World. Central World is one of the busiest places in Thailand to be for New Year's Eve. Although it was shoulder to shoulder with people, we had a blast celebrating the New Year. We spent the evening at the Central World beer gardens and were able to meet up with a Thai friend who taught us at orientation the first week. We also found some hilarious British men to ring in the New Year with.  Here are some pictures from our New Year's fun in Bangkok. 

Central World Thailand

Fiat!! We loved Fiat at orientation and it was so fun to see him again.

 

Everyone at Central World was wearing these light up head bands on New Year's Eve and the British guys decided Jill and I needed some. 

Our British friends

The fireworks!

These Chang beers were our New Year's Kisses!

That's All Folks....at least for now! =)

My holidays were amazing here in Thailand and I sure hope you all had an equally amazing  Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Miss all of your bright and shining faces and love you all!

Sending BIG hugs!

Law Kon (Bye Bye)