Christmas Supplies

My goal for this afternoon was to get things to decorate my house for Christmas. I wasn’t sure what would be available in my little town, so I want to start early. Plus, we kicked off Sweet December yesterday and many people have already decorated their houses, so I’m behind L

As I was getting ready to go seven girls showed up at my house. I told them I was planning on going to buy things to decorate my house, and they invited themselves along. It turned out to be good, because I wasn’t sure exactly where I was going, and they knew just the shops to go to. The first shop we went to was the one that had brought decorations to church last night to sell, so I felt good shopping there and supporting someone from the church. I walked through the aisles and had seven girls showing me things they thought I needed for my house. Many of the things I really did need, so I choose which one I wanted and the girl held it for me or took it to the check out. Several things I already had, and had to say that I didn’t need it, however, I did get many useful things, like a peeler, a plastic cutting board(as the wooden one they got me has mold on it), two towels for the kitchen and bathroom, an extra flashlight, a big bowl with a lid, a flyswatter, glue, tape, and they convinced me to get two bottles of nail polish as well. The guy at the counter was a little confused by the flurry of one foreigner and seven little girls shopping and all putting things on the counter, but I think he got it all figured out. We then went to the shop next door and I hit the jackpot. I found pieces of colored paper poster board size that were 8 baht each (about a quarter). I got six that were green and then other colors to make decorations with. Last year I made a tree out of handprints at my school, but we never did anything with it, so this year I’m hoping to make a tree with the handprints of my students, teachers and friends to hang in my house. The shop we were at had lots of snacks, so I told each of the girls they could choose something that was 5 baht (about 15 cents). As we walked back to my house, we talked and joked while eating our snacks.

When we got home I got right to work and traced each of their hands onto my green paper and cut them out. I then went to the school where they were practicing sports and got as many handprints as I could from students and a few teachers who were there. Some of them were hesitant at first, but students here are taught to do what teachers ask them to do, so it didn’t take much convincing for them to let me use their hand for a few seconds. The girls would see someone who I hadn’t gotten a handprint from yet and would call out to that person that I called them over when really I hadn’t. The addition of saying a teacher called them over, especially the new foreign teacher was much more likely to get them to come over than if the person thought the students were calling them. It is always interesting to me how much respect teachers have here. I try not to use that to my advantage too often, but sometimes it’s necessary, or I accidentally use that power when I don’t mean to.



wearing my new headband and some
tinsel as a scarf to get in the Christmas spirit

I took a piece of light green paper with me to the foreigner bible study and got their handprints to use as accents on my tree. They weren’t all so sure of my project, but gave in and let me use their hands.  By the end of the day I have quite a collection of handprints of people in my Huay Malai family, and I still have 3 and a half sheets of paper to collect more handprints before making my tree.  This year my tree will be filled with the hands of people I’m getting to know and love. I think that really is what Christmas is all about, spending time with people you love.