Merry Christmas

So, thanksgiving is over, and now it is time for Christmas. This is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, at least that is what a song says. I love the holidays, waking up at the crack of dawn with the family opening gifts, watching the lights on the tree blink (or chase or whatever your lights do). I am beginning to miss home, the family, the friends, the shopping, and most of all the food. But I will be going to Hong Kong for a few days to spent Christmas there then going to Bangkok on Dec 27th and will bring in 2009 in Thailand. I will be spending Christmas and New Years with some awesome people and I am really looking forward to it. I am getting messages from friends saying they wish I was home for the holidays and how they miss me and getting e-mails from Mom. But I am doing something with my life right now that I feel that I was supposed to do. I want to travel the world and this was a great starting point.

So during Thanksgiving lunch, they did a raffle for teachers to win a Christmas tree. I was one of the winners. So here is a picture by picture of my tree as it came together. Thanks to Ben and Christina for letting me borrow decorations and lights to put on my minature tree. As you can see, there are traditional American decorations but I decided that since my student gave me all the weird Chinese decorations, then why not put those on they tree. They way, when they visit again they will see that the decorations they gave to their foreign teacher(me) went to use. The students love the tree, I try to have it on before they come into my room, sometimes I forget so I turn it in when they come in. They like it alot, or so they say. I met with a student last week because I needed to get the right roster from him, but he told me the class had a vote to elect their favorite teacher. Well, I am very pleased to say that the class voted me as their favorite teacher. I asked him why, he said, "because when we come to class never know what to expect". He told me they love they I can make them laugh everytime. That is what I try to do cause in their other classes, the lessons are all teacher centered and that is extremely boring on a student. With two hour classes, students need to be provided with some sort of entertainment.

Cliques, or a social group, is something I really am not a fan of. I guess you can call me a floater cause I don't think I really am much of a one group kind of person. I mean, I do have a few people who are the guys/girls I love to hang out with but I love to hang out with different people from time to time. So I float from group to group, to try to take advantage of building relationships with those around me. But, here is my point. I have been told here that I fit it well and I provide so much to the group. Talking about the foreign faculty as a whole at Sias. Well, as of right now with the whole group, I feel like I provide nothing at all. I get the occasional text about volleyball and whatnot, but when it comes to exciting things, all I do is sit in my room or am with Andy and Lacy. Why would people tell me these things about being so great or whatever but they do not allow me to be much. Now I was invited by the different cliques here for their different trips over Thanksgiving and I was really excited to have been invited to those but I had to save money for Christmas and traveling so I did decline. But other things that happen, I feel like I invite myself. I have never really had to do that and it is kind of uncomfortable. One group here does a thing here once a week sometimes every other week and I usually get invited to that, but when I go to that the only thing they talk about are stories that took place last year. So I awkwardly sit there and listen to the stories that I have nothing to do with wishing I was able to provide some kind of input so I will give the occasional courtesy laugh. Sometimes the stories are really funny and I will laugh pretty hard about that. It just stinks that I was a late arrival to China cause trying to work yourself into a group that seems to already been sewn together is a very tough thing to do. I just want to provide something. Anyways...just something I have been dealing with for a few weeks now.

Hope you guys enjoyed this post...I know I am usually the happy person but sometimes a brothas gotta rant.

Holla