I woke up this morning bright and early to go to school (that is deffinately a new first for me... going 
to school on Christmas day). During our morning assembly we were informed that one of the teachers from our school has passed away last night from some form of cancer. Apparently she had been diagnosed about 2 years ago, but was determined to keep teaching at school as long as she could.. and she did, up until a few weeks ago. There would be a funeral held after school at the temple across the street from our school, and all students and teachers were invited to attend.... (another first for me.. going to a funeral on Christmas day). On the brighter side, I was able to talk to my family from Canada a bit after the whole assembly thing :) I think I will phone them again tomorrow so I can explain to them what all of their Christmas gifts from me are... The rest of the morning was spent just bumming around the whole Christmas activities thing they had set up at the 
front of the school. They had some entertain.. some people did some dance routines, sang Jingle Bells in Chinese, etc. However, that band didn't play at all during the day. I'm not really sure why... but overall the day was still alright. I got to hang out with one of my crazy Ladyboy friends (he befriended me during my first week of school here... and now he always stops by and talks to me at lunch time) named Im. He/she, Patch, and I played a game where you pay 10 baht and then choose a random star that is hanging from a tree... based on the number that it on the back of the star you choose, you get certain prizes. I ended up winning a pen and then 2 ice creams for myself. Im won a keychain, which he gave me to. Patch won a clock. It was good fun, but by the end I really didn't want to eat anymore ice cream. Ajarn Wilaiwan (my AFS coordinator) gave me a Christmas present that was all wrapped up nicely in a box. But, in Thai culture, it is rude to open a gift in front of the person who gives it to you. People generally wait until they are all alone at home to open presents... so I waited until I got home to open mine. I'm not really sure how Thai people would handle the whole opening all the gifts under the tree thing at Christmas...
to school on Christmas day). During our morning assembly we were informed that one of the teachers from our school has passed away last night from some form of cancer. Apparently she had been diagnosed about 2 years ago, but was determined to keep teaching at school as long as she could.. and she did, up until a few weeks ago. There would be a funeral held after school at the temple across the street from our school, and all students and teachers were invited to attend.... (another first for me.. going to a funeral on Christmas day). On the brighter side, I was able to talk to my family from Canada a bit after the whole assembly thing :) I think I will phone them again tomorrow so I can explain to them what all of their Christmas gifts from me are... The rest of the morning was spent just bumming around the whole Christmas activities thing they had set up at the 
front of the school. They had some entertain.. some people did some dance routines, sang Jingle Bells in Chinese, etc. However, that band didn't play at all during the day. I'm not really sure why... but overall the day was still alright. I got to hang out with one of my crazy Ladyboy friends (he befriended me during my first week of school here... and now he always stops by and talks to me at lunch time) named Im. He/she, Patch, and I played a game where you pay 10 baht and then choose a random star that is hanging from a tree... based on the number that it on the back of the star you choose, you get certain prizes. I ended up winning a pen and then 2 ice creams for myself. Im won a keychain, which he gave me to. Patch won a clock. It was good fun, but by the end I really didn't want to eat anymore ice cream. Ajarn Wilaiwan (my AFS coordinator) gave me a Christmas present that was all wrapped up nicely in a box. But, in Thai culture, it is rude to open a gift in front of the person who gives it to you. People generally wait until they are all alone at home to open presents... so I waited until I got home to open mine. I'm not really sure how Thai people would handle the whole opening all the gifts under the tree thing at Christmas...In the afternoon my classmates had a math test, so I just bummed around whilst they did that. Last class was English (during which they had a quiz which was done in groups of 6.. I helped out my friends group and they got 43/45!! (I didn't check EVERY question for them.. and pretty much all the ones I checked they already had correct)), and I got a phone call from Bessy :)
After English, we headed over to the temple for the funeral. Inside the temple, they had the body all layed out, but covered mostly in cloth, so that all that was visible was her face and her hand, which was hanging over the side of the table, above a water basin type thing, and had a bracelet made of jasmine wrapped around it. By her feet, there was a little alter set up where people would light a stick of incense, hold it in their hands in a prayer like fashion, and then place the stick into a pot full of sand. Patch went into the temple with me (holding my hand, because I wasn't really sooooo keen on seeing the body), but since she is Muslim, she couldn't actually do the whole incense lighting ceremony, so instead, my friend Win (drummer from that band at my school) showed me how. We sat around the temple for a bit longer, and then I went with Cherry to do another ritual type thing that involves pouring a little thing of water filled with flower petals over the teacher's hand (so that the water falls into the water basin thing), and then doing the whole insence lighting thing over again. I'm not really sure what the significance of the whole ceremony is. Nobody really explain it to me, and I also didn't ask.... However, before I even got to do the whole water thing, one teacher was all confused because she thought I was Christian and she said I shouldn't be doing it.. Cherry explained to her that I mai me religion. (have no religion).
When I got home I opened my gift from Ajarn Wilaiwan, which was a cute stuffed bear. I also opened the rest of my gifts from Bessy, which were all super nice :) Thank You Bessy! (when I started to unwrap the soap, I thought to myself "something smells like Nelson..." haha) I'm not sure what I'll be doing for the rest of the evening, besides eating a bit of cake which I bought myself at Tops today as a little Christmas gift for myself...
Merry Christmas Everyone!
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