Dangerous Santa

Hi all,

Last night Todd and I were walking past the Trader's Hotel on our way to get something to eat. Trader's is a nice hotel, with a lovely deli where we always buy our good bread. Even as in the U.S. where I'm sure the Christmas lights and decorations have all come out, Trader's also has them (last year they had real gingerbread houses). On the windows of their ground floor restaurant are various Christmas scenes, with all the snowy elves, santas and reindeer I'd expect. What I didn't expect was a Santa with a rifle, pointing it at a rabbit whose ears were straight up in alarm. Not sure what that image is supposed to mean, but considering the location (right next to where the protests took place) it seems like a rather political statement. Either that or Santas with guns have become the norm, hopefully one of you will let me know if that is the case. I have been out of the Christmas scene for some time after all.

We've been having auditions for Annie, and it's been pretty interesting to have the students stand up before us and sing and act. They put quite a bit of themselves on the line, and we see a lot about their different personalities in those few minutes. Most of them stand like a log and sing, but there was one girl who put on moves like Celine Dion, which was somewhat comical considering it was a 6th grader singing "Tomorrow." Another student showed up on the wrong day, completely unprepared, but wanted to do his audition early with an improvised monologue of a King deciding to execute a spy. Even with these strikes against him, we couldn't help but like him and consider him prime Daddy Warbucks material, but perhaps this is more due to the fact that he's one of only 3 boys auditioning rather than exceptional skill. Putting on this show should be quite an experience, I'll keep you posted.

I've been reading a book called "Finding George Orwell in Burma" by Emma Larkin. A pretty good read, and also quite a good depiction of what things are like here. I would recommend it for anyone curious about this country. It gives a good explanation for the fact in spite of the difficulties people here are often smiling and going forward with their lives as best they can.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. We've given our thanks for our many blessings and had our special meal, and it's always a time for remembering family and friends. We wish you all well.

love, Meghan