New Years Hooblah [Wan Bii Mai]

I have yet to upload part 2 of my pictures from the trip, so I have yet to write about part 2 of my trip. It will come soon, I promise.

In the meantime, we celebrated New Years Eve and New Years Day in the traditional western way. New Years Eve Tony picked up Suzanne and I from shopping for a gift exchange and took us to his and Kaew's house. We sat around, had some tea, talked for a bit, used the computer and then came down for a traditional Christmas dinner with all the fixins'. Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce ... the works. There was even garlic bread, spaghetti, ribs and potato salad. It was delicious!! When more people arrived we did the gift exchange. My hammock got picked by a younger couple who were VERY excited to hang it outside of their shop. I recieved a little ceramic lamp - it's very cute, but another thing for me to bring back in my already overflowing suitcase. Ah well, I guess mom and the sisters are coming to visit at a good time - they can take all my crap back with them :)

After the gift exchange we all sat around outside chatting. Half of the people there were gay boys, and we were even graced with the prescence of a certain "Kateui" who has been a woman for 20 years now [though she insists she has been a woman since birth]. They all left early to go to Banana, the Nakhon Phanom discotech [I didn't even know we HAD a discotech until they mentioned it... apparently we have two] and so the last two hours we spent socializing over wine and candy before the big "NEW YEARS EVE HOOBLAH". Not anything big and exciting - no kissing at midnight, no pots and pans [which has been my tradition as long as I can remember], but there were hugs, and phone calls to my exchange student friends.

New Years Day, Suzanne and I woke up at Tony's house to a phone call from Peter - it was 2 pm, we had slept through the whole morning. We made turkey sandwiches with gravy soaked bread [yummmmm] and then we were dropped off at home. I came home to an empty house [my host parents were in a village visiting my host grandparents] and it stayed that way all night. I took a break from Sex and the City to go and buy yogurt for dinner from 7 Eleven and then nestled myself back into the couch with tea and tissues for my cold [THANKS A LOT MASON!] and the remote. It was a relaxing, but sickly New Years Day.

"I'll find you in the morning sun, and when the night is new, I'll be looking at the moon but I'll be seeing you"
-Billie Holiday