Living in Thailand you soon discover that everything is told to you on a "need to know" basis only; a.k.a you are only told vague information about the specifics you ask about and the information changes constantly.
At the beginning of the month, my school hosted a New Year's party for the teachers. I was first told to wear normal teaching clothes.... later that I could wear anything I felt like.... then I heard rumors that the party was a 60's theme party. Okay, I thought, I can try and pull something sixty-ish out of my small clothing selection (long skirt, necklace, hippy headband thing).
When I showed up, everyone else was dressed like this:
Early that day I had also been talking with a fellow teacher about the cultural norms of alcohol. I was told that Thai women do not drink. So, of course I was expecting this nice teacher party full of sobriety.
Nope.
Upon arrival you could choose between alcoholic and non-alcoholic punch and you were also given your own personal bottle of Regency rum. There was also a keg of beer and the school's director was toting around his own personal box of red wine. Let's just say people got smashed.
No Thai party is complete without a strange beauty pageant....
and of course lots and lots of dancing and karaoke.
No matter what the occasion or event, Thais have this special ability to always have fun. Sometimes it makes me feel like such a serious person (and yes we are all serious sometimes), but I generally thought I was quite a carefree happy person. Let's just say my fun factor is shattered by any and every Thai women I've met here!
I can only hope I'll have an ounce of their energy when I'm their age.
