Is it really Christmas?

You know that feeling around Christmas time when you reach your limit and you think to yourself: if I have to spend any more time in the Body Shop or Bed bath and Beyond to select a 'token' smelly gift I will die? If I hear Jingle Bells one more time I'll shove them where the sun don't shine? (I bet most of you ar there already right?)

and then... you spend a Christmas away from home in a country that doesn't even know what Christmas is and you realise that you miss the incessant Carols and the annoying Jemimas.

now mix the two sensations together and ...voila! Christmas in Thailand.

It doesn't feel like xmas, it doesn't look like xmas but one of my K2 will be maimed tomorrow if they continue to spontaneously burst into Jingle Bells or rather:

Jingooo bear, Jingoo bear, Jingoo aww away,
oh what fur i' i' oo oo on a w or o'e lay OH!

and to top it all off, there is a big hoo ha at the mo because they have some special do ON Xmas day and so they are practicing their plays and their dances for it. I feel like I am teaching at a performing arts school. The kids do nothing all day but dance and then half of them come to our classes and it is all a bit pointless. And the music, yes of course, the music is incessant. And maybe, just maybe someone should tell them that it really isn't a good idea to have 30 6-year-olds dancing to Gwen Stefani holler back girl remix which includes a long spell of "I'm the shit, you ain't no shit". They are also wondering why we wouldn't want to go to the big do on xmas day - I shall be eating, drinking and getting very Merry.

so far this week we have made Snowflakes, Christmas cards, we've written letters to Santa, we've also drawn what we want Santa to bring, we've coloured in pictures of Santa and frankly I'm all out of ideas and I still have to teach them for two more days! I think on Friday we'll play pin the tail on the reindeer...

Top requests from kids for xmas:

Barbie
Robot
Gameboy
Game play (no idea what that is!)
Gloria Dress (pass!)
Bike
Pencil
Pencil Case
Rubber
Ruler
House (a real one apparently and surprisingly a common addition to the wish list!)

Bah humbug!