Kim and Jeremy in Thailand

Was this on your driving test? The other day, when driving to school, I (Jeremy) encountered a herd of water buffalos crossing the road. Not knowing what to do, I politely stopped and put my hazard lights on so people wouldn't run into me, and since the buffalo were not wearing the proper reflectors for slow traffic. The truck behind me knew the proper protocol, though -- he pulled around me, started honking loudly, and gunned it. Believe it or not, the buffalo got out of the way in a hurry -- apparently they don't challenge mac trucks who want to come through. I noticed that none of the motorcyclists tried the same trick, though...

Today was the U-13 soccer tournament. Our girls played hard all day. Going into the finals, they had three wins and a tie, which put them in 2nd place because they had scored fewer goals. The top two teams then played off for the title. They actually played CDSC, a team from a German school in town that has intimidated our girls all season. The German girls are a lot taller than the other girls, and they play rougher. We tied them earlier in the tournament. Our girls were very nervous (and tired!) by the time it came to the playoff, which was the fifth game today.

They didn't score at all the first half, but the second half, with five minutes left, they got a goal in!! No more points were scored, so they won 1-0. The girls were so excited!!! They got a certificate and a plaque to display at school. I'll have pictures up soon. It was a very exciting, albeit tiring day!

This has been a crazy last few days! I'm sure you all are experiencing the same thing, but it seems like December is just bound to be a full month as we all try to squeeze things in before Christmas. Thailand has been no exception! Last Thursday after soccer practice I helped a group of people decorate the school for Christmas. We put up a big tree in the lobby, and decorated the banisters and the elementary school office. The PTA group donated poinsettias (which we've heard last until about July around here!) for the stairwell. We had Christmas music playing and it was really a fun afternoon. Of course, you can find pictures in the gallery.

On Friday we went downtown to La Gondola, a really nice Italian restaurant, to celebrate Krista's birthday. A family around here owns a bright pink VW bug, which Krista adores, so as a suprise Holly borrowed the car and Krista got to drive downtown in it! She was so thrilled! We had a great dinner-about ten of us girls were there. Afterwards we went back to Krista & Holly's and watched Center Stage-it was a great birthday party. You'll definitely want to see those pictures!

Saturday was spent catching up on a few errands, and scrapbooking since my mom's package with summer pictures had arrived this week! A few of us went down to the night bazaar for some last minute shopping, and enjoyed dinner at McDonald's-quite a treat around here! And when I got home, my parents called me for the first time since I've been here-it was great to talk to them from my house!

Then on Sunday we threw a party for our girls' soccer team. We had pizza, watched Sleepover, decorated Christmas cookies, and played games. It was a wild & crazy, but very fun evening with the girls. I have a few pictures, but the most entertaining ones are when the girls got together, led by Krista, to do the dance from Napoleon Dynamite. It was hilarious!

Now it's Monday. Today is the King's Birthday, so it's a national holiday and there is no school. It's also Father's Day in Thailand, so happy father's day to all you dads out there! There's a 3 on 3 basketball tournament all day here today, so there are plenty of people running around. We're catching up on some things and getting ready for the last week of classes. It will probably be another crazy week!

December already!! Today we got together in the staff lounge before school and played Christmas music-it was a lot of fun. After school we'll be decorating the main lobby of the school for Christmas-apparently there's a giant tree to put up! And the school nurse gave us their old tree to use this year, so we have a six foot tall tree in our living room now. It's really starting to feel festive around here! Of course, it's still in the 80s, and we're running around in sandals and t-shirts. We were singing "Let It Snow" and "White Christmas" this morning, which felt a little funny to be singing in Thailand. But it's December nonetheless. And we're having a good time!

Today is officially the last Monday of the fall semester at Grace!! Next Monday is the King's birthday, which is Father's Day in Thailand and a huge celebration. The following Monday is Constitution Day. I'm not exactly sure what that's celebrating, but we get the day off, so I'm not complaining. So we're down to this week and next week of regular classes, then a week of final exams, which I don't have to give! We're beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, which is both good (we're gonna make it!) and bad (we'll never finish!) at the same time.

On the bright side, if you look hard, you can find hints of Christmas around here. Being a very predominantly Buddhist country, Thais don't celebrate Christmas themselves. But they have a large farang population in Chiang Mai, and have figured out that the farangs will buy Christmas decorations and come shop. We almost get the sense that they want to put on Christmas for us while we are here. So there are a few places with a string of garland, and some sickly looking fake trees for sale at the store. We've been playing Christmas music in the car. But it's still almost 90 degrees out, people are walking around in shorts, and there are palm trees and tropical fruits everywhere. So I kind of feel like it's July, and we're all sort of playing like it's Christmas time. It's odd. But after a few weeks of this, I think I might start to believe it's really Christmas!