Today was the first day back to class after our impromptu holiday. As expected, I had a couple of no-shows and a couple of underprepared lessons. Slightly less expected was the cancellation of my rehearsal. I'm getting a little concerned about that--we've got our first performance in only a few weeks, and everyone just keeps getting busier and leaving less time open for rehearsals. Oh well, mai bpen rai, right? It will be as good as we can make it.
My students gave me lots of presents today. The New Year is a big gift-giving time in Thailand, which is good since they celebrate it three times a year. There's the Western New Year on January 1, the Chinese Lunar New Year, and the Thai New Year in April. The Thai calendar has rolled over, I think, to 2549. I'm not at all sure if I was supposed to get presents for my students, for the office staff, for my boss, or for anyone. I suppose this is one of those times when I can hide behind the stupid foreigner stereotype.
One of the nasty nicknames Thais have for foreigners translates to "bird-shit foreigner," so whenever I fear that I've screwed up somehow I try to console myself with the notion that I haven't actually disappointed anyone; I've merely lived down to their expectations. Actually I think that's probably worse in the grand scheme of things.
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