30 Russian Women. 0 Bras.

Even from the beginning, this Malaysian experience has been less than satisfactory. To start off, I was planning on leaving from Thailand on Sunday night, and returning on Tuesday night. Right before we were about to cross the bridge off the island, I realized I left my keys, along with all my money, in the ignition of my motorbike way back in Choeng Thale. I told the driver and he stopped and asked me to phone a friend. I thought, this isn’t who wants to be a millionaire…and it’s 11 at night! Regardless, I phoned my friend Chelsea, who couldn’t get my keys and bring them to me. I didn’t expect her to be able to but it was worth a shot. So I had to take a taxi all the way back to Thalang and that cost another 500 baht. So with my money quickly dwindling, I headed back home.

I would have called my agency to tell them I would not need a sub for Monday since I was back, but it was too late to make the change. Another working day, lost. I spend that Monday worrying about money and about this visa. The company that handles the visas called me and said there was another van to Malaysia Monday night, but that it would cost me an extra 1500 baht for the trip. This brought the grand total of this visa run to an astonishing 7300 baht. That’s more than I make in a week. You’ll see why this bothered me when I talk about the hotel.

So Monday night I went back to the same temple to get picked up again. This time was a little different. Instead of a full van, there were only three of us. Which I was totally ok with because that means we would each get our own row. I chose the back because the windows are bigger and I like looking out the window. I got very comfortable…and then we started to drive. Bumpiest drive of my life. I felt like I was being thrown from my seat constantly. I also felt like it would be a major life accomplishment to fall asleep on this cheap roller coaster. The Japanese woman in front of me had no trouble accomplishing this and her being asleep combined with the bumpiness of the van had strewn her in every which way across the seats in front of me. Her contorted placements amused me. This woman also had her window open. Which, when I boarded this nightmare, I thought would be nice to have a little breeze while we drive. Instead it just sucked all the AC out of the van. I spend the first 45 minutes trying to send her Japanese brain messages to close the window. Then there was the smell. If a string of insults, riddled with cuss words and shameful accusations had a smell, this was that smell. It was, no doubt, the worst smell my nose has ever endured. This is what made her close the window.

After finding a comfortable position, I finally got some sleep. But it didn’t last. After what felt like eternity. We arrived at the border. It was night, but you could tell, even during the day, it was a dark place. One long line awaited the newcomers off the three vans in our caravan. We waited and waited and waited. Then another line opened up! People from the back of my line began to get into the new line. I always have bad experiences switching lines, so I stayed in mine. Some Russians in front of me decided it was in their cards to switch lines. (Let me just say about them, 30 Russian women, 0 bras.) But then someone said something in Thai that none of us understood. But the Russians thought it meant they couldn’t be in that line so they took their places back in front of me. I didn’t like this. In the United States, once you get out of line, you’re out of line. There’s no going back. Finally I got my three day tourist visa for Malaysia and the trip continued. For only 15 minutes.

Now we were forced out of our nice, comfortable vans and into much smaller, much less comfortable vans. My new seat was again in the back. However, it had NO legroom and the seat didn’t lean back. In fact, it leaned a little forward. I had no idea how long I’d be in this van, but I knew one thing. I HAD to find a comfortable position. It wasn’t easy, but I had plenty of time to try them all out. To my knowledge, I fell asleep for the majority of that ride. Mostly because of the severe lack of sleep. It was now 9 am, and we had arrived at the Banana Boutique Hotel.

There was a barge patio with coverings over the left and right sides, with the middle uncovered. People were everywhere. Yelling in languages I could not identify. I quickly made my way to someone I recognized, my bus driver. I held up my passport and shrugged. He understood and led me to a man at a table and asked for my passport and my visa application. I got them out and gave them to him and he wrote some stuff down and stamped some stuff and asked for the 1000 baht for the visa fee. I gave him the money and went to the tiny hotel lobby. There were people everywhere, everyone was tired, and everyone was hungry. There was a breakfast buffet set up with French toast, triangle (McDonalds style) hash browns, fried eggs, and watered down OJ. Starving, I made a sandwich out of all of those things and it tasted like heaven! After I had stuffed my face sufficiently with this stuff, I proceeded to find somewhere to sit and wait for my room to be ready. I scouted and waited, and finally got a coveted chair right near the reception desk, which was efficiently manned by two Muslim women.

I didn’t catch either of their names but they did amazing work. One lady, my favorite lady, held off angry customers and their heated questions about why they had to wait so long and why they couldn’t smoke on the patio. She told one man that it would cost 5 ringgit (Malaysian money) to smoke there. He told her that was too much and asked where the nearest place to smoke was. She told him a place that was kind of far away. I’m pretty sure she was making this up. The man proceeded to explain how that was far, and he didn’t want to take a taxi. She looked at him, smiled, and said, “Then walk.” I started laughing because I was so shocked at how forward she was with this customer. She looked at me and I was still laughing. She said, “You are laughing at me? Very bad!” She was smiling back so I know I wasn’t in trouble. She asked me my name and I told her. She looked at the list of names and I’m pretty sure she winked at me. People are always winking at me. She warded off many other angry customers after that and I continued to laugh and give her the ok sign.

Nearly an hour later, she finally called me up to get my key. I was elated. I braved the maze that was this hotel and found my room. It was a nice little room with a large bed on the floor, with a small desk and a fridge. First things first: put the complimentary water in the fridge. This is what you always do first at hotels in Southeast Asia. The next thing I did was take a shower and change. It felt so good! It was cold, but I wanted it cold. Then I facebooked my parents and took a much needed nap in a surprisingly comfortable bed.

I woke up around 5 and went to the patio for dinner. It didn’t look good so I headed to the nearest 7/11 to get some goods. I ate in my room and watched some Malaysian TV. I set my alarm for 10:30 and dozed off to sleep. The next morning around 8, I was awakened by the phone. Confused and sleepy, I answered. “Hello?” “Hello, good morning. Check out time is now, yeah?” “Ok” “Ok, thank you.” Check out time is now? I haven’t even been in this hotel for 24 hours and I paid 6000 baht for this hotel. That’s about $200. I was not about to get ripped off like that. So I went back to sleep. A few minutes later there was a knock on my door. “Yes?” “You check out now?” Ugh! “I’m getting ready!” So I got up and took a shower and packed everything up and went to the lobby and gave them my key.

I had a few more delicious breakfast sandwiches and did some more waiting for our passports that would arrive at who knows o’clock. They arrived with the Russian passports and they all boarded some vans. My 10:30 alarm went off for when I wanted to wake up. How silly of me to think that I could spend 24 hours at a hotel. Then came the rest of them. I look nothing like my passport picture so they were looking for someone who wasn’t me. For a while I thought they just didn’t bring mine back and there was some kind of problem with my visa. Of course, right? But I found a guy with my USA blue passport and told him that the 19 year old guy in the picture was me. I got on the van, squished, and began to contemplate how I would get comfortable again.

I fell asleep for most of the ride, which was nice. We arrived at the border again and went through immigration and customs and all that jazz. We searched for out comfortable vans, which we all expected would be there to pick us up, and they were. I got my comfortable, roomy, back seat back. And right now, here I sit, writing about my adventure in Malaysia. The Japanese girl next to me is having a worse time since our last van driver drove away with a 650 baht bottle of something she bought at customs duty-free. So now here we sit, waiting again. This trip is all about waiting. The Chinese teenagers on my van have hacked the van’s Bluetooth stereo and are playing Chinese pop.

I have never been more excited to go back to Thailand. I was talking to my friend on Facebook this morning after breakfast and I told her I couldn’t wait to go home. And I meant Thailand! That was the first time I called Thailand home. The immigration people spoke Thai to me and I understood and I was so happy to hear that language again! I miss my motorbike and I miss my street vendors and I miss knowing where everything is. And I miss my kids at school! The Chinese kids are playing that Fergie song “My Humps” right now. And giggling. The sad thing is I know all the words to that song.

Regardless of the fun this trip has given me, I can’t wait to be back in my Choeng Thale. Adios, Malaysia, see you again on Valentine’s Day!

Its December?

Hello, old friend! It's been a while since I've written anything, but not much has been going on. School is great, but there are a lot of holidays in December so I have to be super careful about money. The weather is the same. It rains almost every night. But I love falling asleep to the sound of rain hitting my window. I live in a condo now, and it's just awesome! They clean it every day, and by clean I mean make my bed and take out my trash. But that's really all the cleaning there is to do. My giant floor to ceiling window gives me a great view of the wall of the building next to me, and some of the sky, which is always beautiful and different. I got a different, cheaper, motorbike. It looks more like a scooter and less like a motorcycle, and the gas mileage is quite poor, but it was a ton cheaper than my last cool motorbike. It does its job though-get me to and from school every day and get me to Phuket town every Saturday.

The week routine is a good, steady one. I usually wake up between 7 and 7:30 on my own, and then I wait for my alarm to go off at 7:45. I get up, get everything packed for the day because its awful to not have your materials for class, especially as the teacher. Pick out my shirt for the day, and take a shower. The water is free here so I can take a nice long shower, which my family can tell you I love. Ever since I shaved my head, drying takes significantly less time. It's hard getting used to only spending 10 seconds drying my hair, when it used to take minutes. Then I brush my teeth and go put on my clothes, and roll up my sleeves as I think about how nasty and sweaty this shirt will be at the end of the day. All of my classrooms have air conditioning, but only my fourth graders use theirs. And only during my class. That really helps my opinion of them, because they're a bunch of monkeys. During their test last week, I caught almost half of them cheating. One girl even had answers written on her hand! Amateur... I'm' pretty sure I know every single cheating trick in the book. Don't ask me how.
The weekend is much more relaxed. Sometimes I will go out with friends, or explore by myself, but usually I spend the weekends preparing for the next week, like making lesson plans and tests and worksheets. I get paid every Saturday after 3pm, so every Saturday after 3pm, I get on my not fuel efficient bike and ride 20 minutes down to the outskirts of Phuket town. The drive there is pretty smooth, until the end: the intersection of death. Two lanes every way, one direction goes at a time. Lights last for minutes. Traffic is backed up a whole kilometer. Luckily, on a motorbike you can just cruise around other cars and stuff until you make it to the front. This usually takes about ten minutes. It's annoying as heck. And usually when I do get to the front, its another red light and I have to wait another ten minutes. After I pass this intersection from hell, I go off another road where my agency is and get my money, count it, and sign that I received it. Then I get to go back to the intersection again! There is another option, but then I have to drive all the way around the west side of the island through Patong, and its much longer. So I do the same thing on this side! Slowly drive up to the front and wait for the green light again, but then I do a u turn and go to the giant mall right on the intersection for my weekly Starbucks visit. I usually just get a drink and listen to the pleasant American soft pop music. Then its back to the intersection! But I'm happier this time because I'm full of Starbucks. I really wish they would build one in my district, but I guess its good for my wallet that there's not one.

I keep saying this, but its weird how its almost Christmas in the States and there's not a speck of cold weather here any time of year. One morning I had to go somewhere at 7am and it was probably 75 degrees and I was freezing! Unless I'm at the mall and I see all the Christmas decorations, I forget that its December! I do kinda miss wearing a jacket and sitting by a fire to warm myself, and definitely cuddling up under the covers for a nice winter's nap. But I'm sure all of you are wishing you were at the beach with me right now where its warm and sunny all the time and we always drink cold drinks while we sift sand between our toes. I do love it here. It really is a completely different kind of culture all around. One thing that has started to bother me is all the tourists here. They're always complaining and arguing and not knowing how to drive motorbikes. Silly tourists...

Tuesdays

Today is Tuesday. Tuesday is always one of my favorite days. Either my alarm or the roosters will wake me up sometime soon after 7 and I'll lay in bed for a couple minutes before taking my daily shower and then simultaneously getting dressed, sweeping, combing my hair, and spraying air freshener. It was a beautiful day this morning so I had a great drive to school. I stopped for gas because my light was blinking and it only cost $4 to fill my tank. I love getting gas here because its so ridiculously cheap! I was dying of thirst this morning and I was out of water at home so I stopped by the 7/11 on the way to school and got two giant bottles of water. I didn't go to morning assembly like I usually do because I really wanted to start on that water! So I went to my first classroom, P2, and guzzled like never before. This brings me to one reason I love Tuesday: P2 is first.

They are my worst class. I can never control them, no matter how calm I try to stay. All the boys on the left are smart, but they don't pay attention, so it doesn't matter. The girls on the left are smart AND they pay attention so that's great. But the mix in the middle don't pay attention and they aren't that smart. So teaching to them is like teaching to a bunch of cats that are just sitting there licking themselves while you talk. That class is frustration city. But on Tuesdays, they get done first and I don't have to worry about them for the whole rest of the day!

After them I had my P1's, which I love to death. My favorite little girl Lana is in that class and she's brilliant and has excellent handwriting and she's adorable. She's the whole package to a teacher. I love having them before lunch because its always nice to go to lunch on a great note while you're in a good mood. It makes me think much more clearly than if I had P2 before lunch.

This isn't specific to Tuesday, but I bough Ego waffles and I Can't Believe Its Not Butter butter and Log Cabin syrup last night and I downed 6 of those bad boys for lunch today and it was AMAZING! Of course I have to be very careful with syrup because its like the opposite of ant repellant. I have to keep it in the fridge, which I hate.

I had something really exciting to say now, but it just randomly escaped my mind. Its starting to drive me crazy. I'll just tell you it when I think of it.

So in a few minutes I'll go back to school and teach P3 and P4. I like having those guys both in the afternoon because I can talk smart to them and they kind of understand it. Also, they know not to speak to me in Thai, which the other younger classes do not know. I brought candy for them today in hopes that something other than my voice could possibly keep them quiet while I try to teach. My favorite boy, Nut, is in my P3 class and he's like the boy version of Lana.

My Thai teacher, Bim, told me that school would be closed on Thursday and Friday this week. That's great for my brain, but bad for my wallet. I don't get paid if I don't teach so holidays have pros and cons. Luckily, I will get paid this weekend so that's a pro. This weekend I need to find a new place to live because my rent is up on the 24th. My landlord told me I could only stay to the beginning of December because other people made reservations on this specific bungalow. Which is weird because its not that great of a bungalow. But hopefully I can find something good in this area.

I remembered what I was going to say!! It's not that exciting though. I have begun the second stage of culture shock: homesickness. I've started to miss my family and things about my home country a lot. I'm starting to reject Thai food and buy more and more western food when I go out, which is almost never. I feel like all Thai stuff is stupid and I don't like it. And I've been dreaming about home a lot. But it's exciting because it's started two weeks into my placement! And I thought the first stage would last much longer. So I'm happy that I've started the second stage, but its not a fun stage to be in.

Don't worry, this is what's suppose to happen. It'll fade and I'll move on to the third stage which I can't remember what it is right now, but its better than this one. Prayers would be appreciated but worry is not necessary. It's all part of the shock.

Happy Harroween!!

That's how Thai kids say that. Its weird how if they're suppose to make the "l" sound, it always comes out as an "r" sound. And vise versa. So if I were to tell them to say whole, they would say whore. And if I tell them to say whore, they would say whole. Of course I would never tell them to say things like whore. Today was Halloween! I told all of my classes yesterday that if they paid attention and participated in the lesson, they could dress up for today! Not surprisingly, only my third graders made it and got to dress up. They were all zombies. Zombie football players. Zombie super heroes. Zombie students (for those who forgot to dress up). There was even a zombie baby. We had so much fun going to other classes and scaring them and throwing candy at them. The other teachers would smile at me but I knew they were cursing me in their heads. When we got back to the classroom we had a scary face drawing contest. You got 5 points for participating and some people got 0s. And this one girl who finished early helped my try to remember everyone's name. It was so sweet. Some of them have weird nicknames because they just pick words they see. So we have First, Cartoon, Nut, Ape, and Titty. That last one is lovely. I haven't mustered up the courage to call her that yet.

My last class today was fourth grade. We did pretty much the same thing but no dressing up. And one kid brought a football and after everyone turned in their pictures we went to the courtyard and played some football for the last half of the class. My team won of course, because do you know who my father is?? We won 3-2! The girls did girl stuff like jump road and something where they all sit in a circle on the ground and giggle every few minutes. We had a blast! And even though it rained harder today than I've ever seen in my whole life, it was super sunny and super hot while we were playing and I sweat all the way through all my clothes. Luckily, I have a pool at home and I took full advantage of it when I got back.

Tomorrow, I plan to explore Phuket town and spend most of the day at the beach! Hopefully while I'm there I can look for alternative housing and maybe a weekend job or something like that. But today is Friday and I am a teacher and I will eat ice cream and watch TV by myself and go to bed early! Such is the life of a 24 year old teacher in Thailand.

First Week of Teaching

Sewadee krap! That means hello in Thai. I'm sure you're very disappointed in me because I haven't really told you anything that's happened to me in a really long time! But fear not, I've gotten into a groove so I have more free time to write on this old blog thing.

So it's Thursday of my first week of real teaching. I teach P1-P4 which is like grades 1-4. Let's start with my 1st graders. They're awesome and energetic and I love them so much because they actually give me the energy I need to teach them! We've been learning about transportation this week so there's tons of running around the classroom acting like a car or a plane. They love it. There are roughly 35 of them in the class so that's not too bad. There are a couple trouble makers, but they sit at opposite ends of the room which makes things a lot easier. They love high fives with all their little hearts! I actually taught them how to say high five to make it even better. So in my first grade class, there's a small stage under the white board where I stand when I write. It makes me look silly. But this one boy always moves his desk right up to the edge of my stage during my class. Which, ironically doesn't help him pay attention any better. He's the one who always wants a high five.

4th Grade

My second graders started out as a bunch of little sh*ts. But They are slowly getting better. Their homeroom teacher stays in the room when I'm there and my partner Thai teacher, Bim, always talks to her instead of helping me control the class. That's very annoying when 40 kids are yelling and screaming and fighting and making paper cell phones while you're trying to teach. I almost lost it today with this girl who just does whatever she wants, but she always makes sure I can see that she's not participating. And she does it with a smile, which makes me even more angry. So I put a chair in the very back of the classroom and made her sit there for the rest of the class. It worked! There's a boy who sits in the front who always looks at me and says NO when I tell the class to do something. He's a really smart boy, but he doesn't apply himself all the time. Do I sound like a teacher now? He has excellent English handwriting and always gets all the questions on the worksheets right. I just wish he had a longer attention span.

2nd Grade

My third graders are my stars. There are no bad kids and they all pay attention all the time and are so smart and intuitive and ask good questions pay attention and basically everything a teacher wants from a class. Of course there are those couple boys who are always whispering and giggling... like little girls. I took up their workbooks the other day to grade them and they all did so well! I was so proud of them, and myself!

Then there's the fourth graders. They're a little better than the first graders, but not as good as the third graders. They're good like the third graders, but not smart like them. We've been doing a lot of grammar lately because there's a lot of grammar randomly thrown in their books but doesn't explain it! And since I'm a grammar Nazi, I go over it in detail! And they're ok with it all! I really like those kids a lot.

2nd Grade

So my schedule is awesome. I don't have class in the morning until 8:30, but I like to get there early to watch assembly and see my students outside of the classroom. They're always smiling and waving and saying, "teacher Ben!!" It makes me morning to walk around the corner and hear my students yelling my name. I teach two classes in the morning and at 10:30 I go on my 2 hour lunch break! Sometimes I go home and eat a little something there and take a little rest. Or sometimes I find a nice street vendor for some Thai food! It doesn't usually take me 2 hours to eat lunch, so I go back to school and chill in my office. Yes, I have an office! I use it for my afternoon grading. At these Thai schools, they don't have 5 minute transition periods in between classes, which sucks for them, but also sucks for me because I have to carry all my stuff to every class! At the end of the day I go back to my office for about an hour and grade and work on lesson plans for a bit. Then I go home and relax and watch TV and check on my awesome Xplore Asia friends that I miss so much.

Ok I just wrote all that during lunch and now school is over and I'm back home where it is raining. If you've seen some of my Facebook statuses, you know that it rains a lot here during the rainy season. Go figure. But it could be bright and sunny with not a cloud in the sky over the school, and be pouring down buckets of rain over my house. And I don't like it. Today was the first day this week I didn't get completely soaked while driving to or from school. It started sprinkling a little when I was on my way back after lunch and I just kept praying "just hold on I'm almost to school!!" Thankfully I was spared this lovely day.

Fancy schmancy motorbike

I finally took the workbooks from my insane second graders. I haven't graded them yet but they're sitting on my bed right now glaring at me. I would have done them at school but I needed to go to Tesco and look for a plunger to fix my toilet that had been broken since the first day. If I have to go number 2, I just drive somewhere where they have a bathroom. It's really annoying, but it works. They didn't have a plunger! I don't know where else I might get one so if you know how to unclog a toilet without a plunger please let me know! It's very annoying not having a bathroom on site.

Ok so also during lunch, I filled up my motorbike with gas. FULL. How much did this cost? About $4. I drove away from the gas station in shock. But who cares! Its awesome! Well tomorrow's Friday and it couldn't have gotten here sooner. These days are moving faster than I am and its hard to catch up. Luckily today I had my 1st graders last and they spend the whole beginning of the class copying something from the class before, and my Thai teacher, Bim, told me to let them finish before I start. I thought, who cares as long as I still get my 350B for this hour, right? It was nice to get a little break.

Week 1ish

Wow, it’s been a really long time since I’ve posted anything, but the days are so packed that I literally don’t have any time at all between homework and classes and excursions trying to find something cheap to eat for dinner. So on Monday, all 150 of us got up and were loaded onto a luxurious version of a minivan and taken to our training town of Hua Hin. Now the thing about these vans is that the windows don’t go very high, so we’re all straining our necks trying to look at the ginormous billboards and attractions on our way there. My van was van 10, which was the last van, so there were only four of us riding which made it all the more luxurious. Sitting next to me was a girl named Katherine, who I just found out is friends with a girl in my grade who went to Hutchison. Her airline had lost her luggage so she was a little worried about that, but eventually she got it later that day. Behind me was a South African guy named Jaco. He didn’t talk at all, even when I tried to have a conversation with him. He slept most of the time though. There was also a girl named Jordan. She slept most of the time too. Actually I think we all fell asleep at some point during that two hour trip. And when we weren’t sleeping, we were trying to look out the window.

When we arrived at our residence, we unloaded our vans and then immediately left and went to the mall. It’s about the size of a regular American mall, but here that’s considered small. Connected to it were some little restaurants, including KFC, which delivers. Our leaders took us to the bank and the main grocery store and gave us much too wordy talks about each; I thought they should have been a little more self-explanatory. I exchanged all my money at the bank I would soon have an account. Then I went to this place called Tesco, which is just the Thailand version of Wal-Mart. I got a fan and some snack food and drinks for my room. I couldn’t stop complaining about the fact that we hadn’t even seen where we’d be living for the next month so we really had no idea what we needed to buy or what we would already have. I didn’t get a phone the first day because we were so rushed and I didn’t want to just get the first crappy phone I saw, so I thought I’d wait and get it another day.

We finally went to our residence, which is called Suchaya House. It’s like a dorm-style residence. It’s basically just a room with an en suite bathroom and a small balcony. There’s also a TV that I got excited about until I realized it probably only plays Thai TV shows and stuff, which it does. But I did connect it to my laptop via HDMI cord and just play DVDs through that.

The next morning I woke up around 5, wide awake. That sucked because we weren’t leaving Suchaya house until 8:45. So I watched some episodes of Friends and ate the Thai version of coco crispies I bought at Tesco the day before. So straight from there, we went to the school where we’d do our training. It is actually a very big government Thai school. We were in an air conditioned room, so that was nice. Our first class was basic orientation and an overview of what we’d be doing. After three hours of that, we had our lunch break. Some people and I found this great little Thai restaurant near the school. It was a little pricey in local terms, but it was delicious! After we got back from lunch, our songthaou, which is a long truck with seats lining the back, to a Buddhist temple. We learned all about the religion and practices and how most everyone is Thailand is Buddhist. We learned the rituals and were even blessed by a monk who gave us all bracelets that would protect us from evil. I really wanted to say, “Thanks, but I have Jesus.” But I didn’t because that would have been very disrespectful and rude. Next, we went to a street dog rescue place that’s connected with Xplore Asia. It was awesome because now if I want a dog with all the stuff it needs, I could get one for free!

 

I don't remember what day it was but it looked like the sky was about to collapse on us. Regardless, we loaded up the songtow and drove pretty far out to a pineapple farm. We took a bunch of pictures like this one. We could all feel the looming clouds above us ready to rain down the apocalypse. So we all took one last group picture and drove to an elephant sanctuary. That was really fun because we got to feel the elephants the pineapples we had just gotten! They loved them!



I meant to post this weeks ago but lack of interned prevented it. Sorry and keep reading!

14 Hours of Bliss

I’m writing this from my plane, an Airbus 380-800, the largest plane in the world. It’s a double decker all the way down. It’s pretty cool because we down on the lower level have no idea there is an upper level filled with luxuriously wealthy individuals and bored old couples who are apparently choosing to splurge in South Korea. I’ve already watched a couple movies and taken a nice long nap. According to my little TV, we have 8 hours and 15 minutes until we arrive in Seoul. So far, it’s been a very pleasant flight! To start, I got a window seat, which is my favorite because I love looking out the window. Second, there is no one sitting next to me! I mean there’s a Korean guy in the aisle seat on my row, but there’s no one in between us, which I’m sure they don’t get up on the second floor. Third, the guy sitting in the seat in front of me has no idea how to recline his seat back and so I’ve had TONS of room with that including the empty space next to me.

And I didn’t know planes did this now, but they have cameras on the outside of the plane that we have access to in our seats! There’s one at the very front of the plane so we essentially see what the pilots see, which is pretty much just clouds—like we’re flying right through clouds and all you see is white. There’s another camera on the tail that faces the direction we’re flying in, so you see the whole plane and whatever is in front of it…clouds. And then there’s one under the plane that shows what we’re flying over. That’s my favorite, but only when there are no clouds and you can actually see the ground. It is very cool.

Korean Air is telling the truth when they say in their commercials, “Excellence in flight.” The little cabin section I’m in has about 15 rows with 10 seats in each row. And there are four of those sections on the lower level. We have 5 flight attendants for our cabin alone. There are four regularly dressed girls, and then one who looks like their leader. About 4 hours in, they served us dinner. I got the chicken with rice which is pretty good for airplane food. I’ve also had about four or five cans of coke because on these international flights, when you ask for a drink, they don’t just bring you a cup, they bring you a cup and give you the entire giant airplane coke can, which looks like someone just melded two coke cans on top of one another. It’s awesome! The only downside of this flight is I have to wake up the guy next to me every time I have to go to the bathroom. And I always feel bad, but it’s his fault for picking an aisle seat! You want the extra leg room, you gotta put up with moving for the people next to you. He always makes this disappointed and annoyed look on his face when me moves, and he definitely moves at a pace where I know he doesn’t like doing this for me. Oh well, only 8 more hours of that!

I had such a great time in Chattanooga with my family. When we got there, I wanted to see Pop and Nana’s new house so Dad and I went there and we got the grand tour. Then I went to Grandma and Grandpa’s to see if they needed any help for the party. Grandma wouldn’t let me help because she said I couldn’t help get ready for my own party. So I just sat there drinking margaritas with them which was really fun! The party was great, it was so easy to just be around family and see them all one more time before I left. It was a really fantastic night and I’m so thankful for every single one of them. This morning, Dad and I said goodbye to the Ericksons 2 and left for Atlanta. We had a great talk about tons of stuff. I love when we get to talk like that. He’s such an encouraging guy and always has wise and interesting things to say and talk about. I really enjoyed it.

So we got to the airport and after a quick bathroom stop we checked my bag and it was 90 lbs! The guy told us we needed to split it into two bags. I was prepared and had packed an extra bag in my big bag. We put all the dense stuff in the smaller bag—as much as we could. It was still more than 50 lbs, but the guy said the weight looked perfect and winked at me, because it obviously was not perfect. But we were glad because now I didn’t have to pay the $100 fee for having an overweight bag. It was a perfect start to the airport experience! I said goodbyes to my amazing, supportive father and went through the short security line. When I got to the other side I was lost. My gate was E3 and I was in F, so I thought E comes before F in the alphabet and the alphabet goes left to right so I should go left in order to get to E, right? Wrong! After walking to the very beginning of F and finding out the thing before F1 was a wall, I knew I had made a mistake. I always hate looking lost in an airport, so I looked around in a store over at the beginning of F for a while and then made it look like I was just over there to look around at that specific store! Brilliant, I know, since everyone would have seen me turn around and been like, “hey look! That guy’s probably lost, let’s make fun of him!” I’m just getting all my insecurities out now before I get to Thailand.

To spare you the suspense, I made it to E3 with plenty of time to spare, which is more than I can say for most of the people on that flight. I would say that probably 1/3 of the passengers arrived at the gate within 15 minutes of boarding. I was a little shocked, but if this airline would wait for 6 crazy Americans before takeoff in Houston, they would wait for some confused Koreans and older travelers.

I wish I could sleep right now, but I’m just not in the mood. I’m avoiding waking up the guy next to me, but it’s so dark in here I can’t even tell if he’s awake. Whatever. I’m going for it.

BELIEVE MEMPHIS!!

Today is my last day in Memphis for at least a very long time. I had already packed so I got to spend the majority of the day reminiscing on this great city. I remember when we lived in Greenville, and dad told us we were moving to Memphis, Tennessee, my first response was, "isn't that a major port along the Mississippi River?!" I had just learned about the Mississippi in social studies recently and that was the first time I had ever heard of this Memphis place. I remember when we visited and stayed at the Embassy Suites on Shady Grove back when it was all undeveloped. I remember visiting PDS and being fascinated by the idea of an all boys school. I remember watching gym class and thinking it looked like they were doing some kind of military training. But my biggest memory of that visit was learning about Second's plans to renovate the sanctuary and have balconies... wait for it...ON THE SIDES! Obviously another foreign idea to me. I couldn't wait to explain that concept to everyone in my Sunday School class at MRPC when we got back. It was a very fun and exciting visit to our new city.

Whenever I think about our first year in Memphis, it always makes me think about how much its changed for the better and how different thing are now. What used to be a bunch of abandoned apartment buildings surrounded by a forest of dead trees became the hottest new shopping center in East Memphis. It's been amazing watching the transformation of this city as the years went by. Remember when there was no Carriage Crossing? Remember when the only thing on Winchester past 385 was Olive Garden? Remember when we went to Grizzlies games in the Pyramid? It seems like forever ago, but these huge changes have all happened in just a few short years. I can't even imagine how different it will be in two or three more years.

I have been so blessed these 13 years with amazing friends, formidable enemies, prestigious schools, intelligent teachers, fantastic food, inspirational architecture, and so much more. Memphis will be very missed. It'll be weird talking about it, but not coming back soon after. God has blessed this city a ton since I've gotten here, and I know he has big plans for this place in the future. BELIEVE MEMPHIS!!

A Whole New Kind of Adventure

Hello, avid reader! In just a few short days, we will embark on a whole new kind of adventure. Not an adventure like accidentally driving in a sketchy part of town and not an adventure like having a conversation with a homeless person who asks too many questions. This adventure begins with...a yard sale.

I know what you're thinking, "I thought he was moving to Taiwan or Singapore?" And you're right, I am moving to Thailand next Friday, but the great new adventure, I think, should start with ridding myself of the old. I'm writing this right in the midst of my yard sale because its very boring sitting here in my garage looking at most of my belongings with price tags on them. Years of memories fill these clothes and books and window unit air conditioner. Man, if these items could talk, right? I went on countless dates in these clothes and ran some 5Ks in these clothes and even spilled some spaghetti sauce on these clothes. Obviously it's not about the clothes, its about what the clothes represent: my past. People are always telling you to leave the past in the past, but is it really that simple? No! Everyone has a crap ton of junk that has sentimental value! Do you know how many tears have been shed over movies watched on that TV? Or how many tears have been shed on these blankets? Or how many tears have been shed on these shirts? Yes, I clearly cry a lot. I remember that episode of Grey's Anatomy where the shooter comes in the hospital and kills a bunch of people (spoiler alert, no one you like dies). And I remember the exact shirt I sweat through as I eagerly waited for hopefully no one I liked to die!

Anyways, the point is, it's hard to get rid of stuff that provided you with so many memories. But it's also important to know when to let those memories go and move on to the next thing. I think its therapeutic for me to get rid of all this junk, because when I start to miss home, there won't be any material things to miss or wish I were back home with. I'm taking everything I NEED, and I guess I'm selling everything I have that I want. It's rough, but it's good.

People keep asking me if I'll get homesick. So I give a witty little answer. But truthfully, DUH! I get homesick when I'm at work! Homesickness is just a phase of culture shock and I'll have to go through it just like the rest of those folks embarking on this journey with me. I think the first month will be great. I'll be in a nice little beach town learning how to teach English to Thais and hanging out with what I hope will be really awesome people on the beach at night drinking the local beer. That part will be easy! But then when I get my placement after a month and have to somewhat uproot again, leaving all the new friends I've made and re-starting over somewhere completely new, THAT will be difficult. I mean, yeah, I'll go through the honeymoon phase again, but I think after another month, it will hit me that I'm there for a year. All the way to my birthday in 2015 when I turn 25. That'll be weird. I wonder if I'll stay in the same city or town I had been that whole year or move somewhere else in Thailand, or even move to a completely new country! I hear South Korea's pretty fun. Same thing with Indonesia and Myanmar. But who knows?

I'm not quite sure I'm ready to eat a while new kind of food. The food in Cambodia didn't phase me one bit, so I think it's safe to say Thai food won't be any worse. I think the restaurant I'll miss the most is Chickfila. The service makes me feel like a king and the food makes me feel like a dog who was just served food from the human table! I was about to describe the food, but I don't want to die of lack of a chicken sandwich when I come back and read this in a few months. Maybe I should just say their food is crap! Aww who am I kidding, they have the best fast food ever!

So far in this memory sale (that's what I'm calling it now), I've made $115. And only one of those dollars was for a shirt. So now I have 999 shirts and other clothes that need a home and will probably end up going to the Salvation Army, which is fine. I like those pacifist soldiers. I also like the thought of someone else making more memories in these clothes, and then one day having a yard sale and reflecting on their past, while also looking future square in the face. Whelp, here we go!