A Bangkok Christmas

Like Thanksgiving, this was my first Christmas away from home and my family. Once again it definitely did not feel like Christmas here in Thailand. I worked on Christmas which was a first for me, I didn’t mind it though because as I said it really just didn’t feel like the holidays so it wasn’t like we were missing out on anything here (until I watched all my Snapchat stories the next morning which was when the FOMO hit yet again). The other American teachers here at my school and I set up a Secret Santa gift exchange to get in the spirit of Christmas. On the Thursday before Christmas, we all got together, ate some popcorn, played some Christmas music, drank some Chang’s, and swapped gifts. That was a lot of fun and definitely made the holiday feel a bit merrier. Christmas was on a Sunday this year and we had work that Monday so that meant our celebrations had to be on Christmas Eve, or that Saturday. Our friends here found a Christmas rooftop pool party at a hotel in Bangkok that was going on all day and night on Christmas Eve so we decided to go to that. A pool party on Christmas Eve was the complete opposite of how I typically spend my Christmas Eve. Usually, the family and I go down to my cousin’s house in MA to see all of our extended family on my Dad’s side. It’s typically freezing cold at home with a foot of snow and I’m nowhere psychologically or physically ready to put a bathing suit on, but when in Bangkok! Anyways, the party was great; we arrived around 3pm; we drank (heavily), danced, and swam until we all were in desperate need of some food around midnight. I was severely hungover on Christmas day and the only major thing I had planned was Facetiming my family later that night which was about the only thing I could physically handle due to my hangover. It was definitely tough missing out on Christmas at home, but Christmas in Bangkok will be a hard one to top.