Party Like it's 2010

The class that surprised me with a Happy New Year sign has done it again. In fact- this time they stepped up their game. My 3rd Matayum 3 class, which is the equivalent to 9th grade in America is quickly becoming my favorite class. It's strange though, because my worst student (the one who unsuccessfully tried to get me in trouble) is in that class. Oh well, you've got to have some rotten apples. Anyway, yesterday in class they surprised me yet again with a belated New Years party. All the students brought in lots of different Thai dishes and snacks to munch on and I just went to town. The students told me what each dish was called in Thai and then laughed at me when I totally butchered the word when I tried to say it. One student, goes by the name of Ice (Arrested Development reference for those who caught that) followed me around the whole party asking if I was OK, and trying to feed me more things and give me more drinks. He was asking me all sorts of funny questions and I'm pretty sure he thinks we are best friends. That's OK though, he's a good kid and a good student, and is actually one of my favorites. His name really is Ice too, or at least his nickname is. All the Thai kids have nicknames, some of them are quite hilarious. A few funny ones: Poo, Pee, PP, Looksmile, Jew, Martha. Martha is my favorite nickname. I mean, what kind of person picks Martha as their nickname??? Oh, Thailand.