First Week of School: If I Haven't Choked a Kid Out Yet, We're Probably Going to be Just Fine...

Alright, so I believe the last time I left off I was apartment hunting? No....I was drowning...yeah that's right Jacqueline and I nearly drowned on our way to my new apartment. Thanks again to you Jacqueline for sticking it out with me. So it's official I'm living in Thailand! No more hostel stays for this guy! At least for now, anyway. By the way, I'm pumped about my choice of apartments! It doesn't have a pool but Chiang Mai University does. And while I'm not sure if I can even use it, I plan on doing it anyway. Yep. Also, this apartment has an awesome view, great cross breeze, and this amazing little restaurant quite literally built into the SIDE of the building. I went there twice now. Amazing food and kind faces. I went there for lunch today and studied Thai for a bit. When I was comfortable enough for introductory small-talk I introduced myself and said thank you for the food. The women were so excited that I was trying to speak Thai that they introduced me to essentially everyone that worked there. Then they attempted to teach me multiple different foods in Thai so I could order more than my usual fried noodles with veggies and meat. I plan on going back there every day for lunch. You can't beat food with people who have friendly smiles. Maybe they'll even help me work on my Thai. Anyway, back to the apartment. It's about 15 minutes to the building we teach in from my apartment. Any further and I don't know if I could do it. I'm already pretty sweaty by the time I get to my first class. By pretty sweaty, I mean my entire body is a gleaming surface of lubricant. Soap and water wouldn't even be necessary for a slip in slide. Oh man...I wonder if I can incorporate a slip and slide into one of my English lessons...meh.

Anywho, so the first few days of classes were interesting. We more or less just played cashier while students gave us piles of money for their textbook coupons. Yes, I said coupons. They purchase a coupon from us, then take it to a store or a distributor on campus who exchanges the coupon for a book. I feel like it's incredibly ineffective, why not just have the students purchase the book instead of exchange a coupon for it. They still have to go there and exchange a coupon for it, right? But, I suppose it really doesn't matter. Most teachers don't ACTUALLY teach on the first day of class so I guess it helps cut back on the lines in the book stores. It also helped me get the feel for talking to the students, learning what type of students they were, what I could get away with, whether or not I needed to be strict, or if I could be fun. Better to have learned all that during a coupon sale than during your first actual lesson. Turns out, my English 101 classes are all pretty awesome. My English 201 classes are going to be rough...very very rough. the English 101 students are pretty much all first-year students. They're so cute! They all wei at you every time you do ANYTHING. Seriously, fly out here, pretend to be a teacher, and sneeze in one of their faces; they'll probably smile and wei. ADORABLE! They're also a lot of fun. They enjoy participating, at least to some extent from what I've noticed. I even covered another PiA'ers classes while she was still in the states and her 101 kids were absolutely amazing. I'm planning on visiting them from time to time just to say hi. Another one of my 101 classes is great as well. They seemed a little stand-offish when I first came in. But during the first actual lesson they opened up quite a bit. I even walked out with one of my students who speaks English incredibly well. Turns out, he had been to the US for a few months on an exchange program. I found out when he asked me if I was in Washington at all...ever. I suppose he thought he saw me. Hilarious. Anyway, so turns out he's a law student. Is it acceptable to pick favorites and show a little nepotism? I'm going to go ahead and assume yes, because that's always ok. Free A's for my student, Sun!

 -First Day Excitement!-

Even my 101 night class kids are pretty awesome. Apparently, at CMU you have to take an entrance exam. If you fail it you may still attend the university if you pay double the tuition. At which point, you take night classes. So these kids, from what I've been told, are less intelligent, less motivated, and apparently well-off. But, that's all hearsay (I think). My class is entirely engineering students and males. I started off my first class with them trying to joke around and be light-hearted. However, it was a night class and no one really wanted to be there. So of course there began chatter in the back corner of a group of four boys. I had tried the "friendly, don't embarrass your students as discipline" approach in the last class and it blew up in my face when they stopped listening to me entirely. That was not about to happen again. So I made the instigator sit up with me, and the others sit on other corners of the room. They glared. Hard. It was unfortunate but it had to be done. I think I'm in a unique position because I look so young. I feel like I look like I'm about 15 or 16. It's hard to gain respect from people who are only a few years younger than you. However, playing the strict jerkoff teacher wasn't what my intentions were either. I interacted with those four students more than any of the others, got their names memorized immediately, and joked around with them. I told them to sit wherever they liked the following class but if they continued to disrupt the class they would sit in those seats for the remainder of the semester. After about 10 minutes into the class they, as well as everyone else, was joking around and laughing with me. I think they understood afterwards that it was nothing personal; or at least I hope that. Later in the class I noticed a bunch of loud noises coming from outside. After looking out the window you could see first-year students being lined up in a militant formation, then yelled at, and then forced to jog down the street. I assumed it was a club and kept teaching. A bit later a group of senior engineering students were hovering outside of the classroom door and staring into it. So, I did the logical thing and approached them:

Me-"What's up guys, did you want to join my class? We have extra seats."
Student- "Oh no, sorry teacher, we're waiting for someone."
Me- "Who?"
Student- "All of them..."
Me- "I'm sorry...why?"
Student- "We have an activity for them."
Me- "Ok, well this class ends in thirty minutes. Come back when it's done, please. Don't sit outside of the classroom either, it's distracting for my students."

Weird interaction right? I finished up our talk and decided to let them out 15 minutes early. They refused. So I asked them why and they said they didn't want to do the activities. Laughing, I said why it can't be that bad what is it? They explained to me the activities. They're gathered by the older engineering students, lined up, forced to chant, then they run. They run for at least two hours around the engineering department while they sing songs from that department and then run up the mountain behind the school. First year students get hazed and apparently it happens in many of the departments. It's also incredibly dangerous, apparently. I imagine so considering they're running up a mountain in the dark for hours on end. When I learned about this I told them they didn't HAVE to do it. I don't see any reason why one person should put another through suffering to make them part of their group. But, that's my opinion on rights of entrance and ceremonies of brotherhood. I voiced it, but had no intention of pushing what I believe in on anyone else. That's there decision to make.And sociologically I get those rituals, they hold a place in history. To disregard them is to excommunicate and alienate yourself from the rest of the group. So yes, they had to do it. At the very least I wanted to make sure they would be ok. I walked them out, from a distance of course. I'm sure if the older students saw them being babysat it would have been worse. Of course, being the rainy season, it started to pour. They were forced to run anyway. As I walked away from the group I ran into one of the shepherding seniors who had sat outside of my classroom. I asked him if the students were ever hurt. He laughed and said no no it's fun! I told him if they came into my class on Monday with bruises, there would be serious issues. Would there actually be issues? No. Would he be able to kick the crap out of me? Hell yes. Regardless, they're good kids and I felt the need to at least stand up for them when the rest of their friends are as helpless as they are. I took solace in their safety a minute later when I asked another group of senior engineers how to get back to the humanities building. They laughed and said I was far away and offered to drive me because it was raining so hard. They assured me on the drive that students do get hurt during the run sometimes but they're not hit by the seniors. Let's hope that's true. So I thanked them for their generosity and kindness and left the school for the night. It was still pouring by the time I arrived at my apartment 30 minutes later. (I stopped for barbeque chicken and sticky rice!)

 -My Class During Hazing-

My 201 kids, though...oh man they're going to be rough. I can tell they're good kids, at least some of them are anyway. But they're sophomores and apparently in the course of one year you just simply stop giving a crap about school or respect. The comparison is hilarious. 101 students- Full uniform, tucked in shirt, straight ties, dress shoes, smiles, polite in class. 201 students- talkative, miscellaneous clothing (if they're in uniform it's tragically torn asunder/unkempt). It's a good thing I've got a savior complex. I will reach these kids! Or at least I'll try really hard until they make me cry in class. That's inevitable, too.

It's going to be a crazy semester but I've got some great kids and some kids that I can't wait to help bring out of their shells. I'm going to learn a lot more from them and they don't even know it. More fun stories later!

Week 1- Moving to a New Place. Then Nearly Drowning?

Well, I've officially been in Chiang Mai for 3 days now. I'm not all that excited actually, it's weird. I was ecstatic when Princeton in Asia offered me the position. After that, people repeatedly asked me if I was excited or 'freaking out'. I always said no. I never really got to that point. Maybe it's because it never felt like something strange? I don't feel like I'm in a foreign country. I feel like I'm home. Lame? Yes. But I don't give a crap. I'm comfortable here and I can't wait until the upcoming year here pushes me to feel otherwise and challenges me to new extremes. I feel like if I was able to get through this last year of school I can get through anything. So bring it on PiA.

Anyway, I suppose I should start from the beginning. I left Rena (painfully depressing) in Singapore and flew to Bangkok. I met these two amazing people on the plane ride there named Cass and Sue. We spoke for a little while until I passed out in my own drool. The next thing I knew Cass was waking me up in Bangkok. They told me if I had any chance of making my flight to Chiang Mai (I was dumb enough to book a DIFFERENT flight one hour after I landed) I would have to run as fast as I could to immigration, plow through, hope my baggage came quickly, then run through security and dive onto my flight. Once we got off the plane, they ran with me. By far the nicest people I've met in quite some time. I can't wait to see them again the next time I'm in Singapore.

Adrenaline kicked in and I flew like speed racer without the engine and gasoline. I ran so hard my pants nearly fell down and the zipper on my laptop bag ripped off. Yes, that's right. It ripped off. And I didn't stop! I ran full speed, sweating and panting and slide across security and up to the gate! "HAHA I MADE IT!!!" I thought to myself, only to find out that the plane was 30 minutes late. Funny how things work. Now I need a new laptop bag. I arrived in Chiang Mai and made it safely to my hostel where I proceeded to pass out immediately.

The next day was spent apartment hunting. Nothing exciting really happened that day so I won't bore you with the details. Unless you want to hear about my difficult decision between choosing the apartment with the view of the mountain or a pool. If so, let me know. I'll fill you in. It could take hours just so you know. (Don't actually ask me, I'll ignore you.) Well, actually....we did walk around Chiang Mai for hours on end in the blistering heat. Then we trekked up the super highway to one of the apartments only to find out it was horrible, overpriced, and terrible. Not to mention it was completely isolated. But other than that, not too much.

Day two was much more fun. Not only did I buy my first apartment EVER but! Jacqueline and I almost drowned so that was cool. Let me explain. I finally chose my apartment. It's right across the street from Chiang Mai University, great view of the mountains, decent sized clean room, and affordable. Jacqueline in her infinite kindness offered to help me move my crap from her place, where I had dropped my stuff off after leaving the hostel, to my new apartment. When we got to her room the rain came down at full force. It looked like a sheet of fog had swept in, but much wetter. Back home a very heavy rain lasts for 10 minutes then dies out. Not in Thailand, apparently. Eventually it slowed down to a drizzle so we figured it would be the end of it and we could make it safely to my apartment with all my baggage. We got about 100 meters away from her building before the pain came down. It must have been because I was snickering at Jacqueline in her raincoat. She said she was hot and I was thinking to myself, "HA I'm nice and cool in my t-shirt and shorts with this light rain!!!" Karma's a funny thing. I don't think she was very hot after the came down in buckets. I was soaked in seconds along with all my belongings. We trekked up to the main road. Everything always seems to look different at night. Everything seems to look like something straight out of an acid trip when it's pouring rain and unfamiliar. We continued walking. Eventually it got so bad that when we had to walk off the sidewalk and into the street I had to carry my rolling bag because the water was higher then my ankles and rising. After a while we weren't even sure we knew where we were anymore. So I started waving down tuktuks and saeng taews (pick up truck style taxis that carry you in the bed of their truck) who were raising their prices based on the water. Jerks. I stoof calf deep in what seemed to be water and sewage compound waving down drivers for about 10 minutes. Eventually we got in a tuktuk for a reasonable price and headed off. He said he knew exactly where my place was. He didn't. In fact, he had know idea how to read a map of his own city! The driver drove us for about thirty minutes until he eventually dumped us off on the side of the road. Jokes on him though, he dropped us off right next to my place. HA! So we headed in and dropped all my stuff. Soaking wet and covered in what I'm sure was human feces, I couldn't help but feel excited about the upcoming year. I mean after all, who couldn't be excited about nearly being swept away by the currents of a rainstorm on their second day?!

- The picture above is a person on a motorbike flying through a recently-formed lake. What's safety mean?

So today I awoke for the first time in my own apartment. It was much less exciting than I thought. Turns out, it's just like waking up alone anywhere else. I missed Rena a lot and I missed my friends and family. I only wake up next to Rena but I at least knew I could see my friends and family later in the day when I woke up back home. At the very least I got to hang out with Jacqueline who has been a great friend so far. We spent the day exploring the Chiang Mai University campus where I'll be teaching and then we went grocery shopping. We parted ways and I walked home. On the way back I found a shop that makes custom shirts and suits for very cheap. How thrilled I was! I only have one pair of suit pants so I definitely need some for work. Hmmmm shall I purchase some now or wait until my first paycheck?! Decisions decisions....either way I came home and began to catch up on this type of work.

That's it so far. Tomorrow is my first day of work. I'll post on that tomorrow I suppose and say how that's going!

For now, I'm out! And by out I mean I'm going to sleep...

A New Chapter Begins~

I feel like I should change the title of this blog, that is, unless traveling to Southeast Asia for the third time in a year is average (not to sound absolutely, horribly pretentious). I started this thing for the soul purpose of giving me something to do and to keep my mind busy. I felt that doing something 'productive' would keep me studying when I needed to and help me to stray from my long-lasting infatuation with video games (damn you Nintendo). When it was recommended that I write a blog I could think of nothing better than to write on how I find (should I say found?) myself as nothing more than average. I had gone through my entire collegiate and academic career telling myself I was nothing more than just that. I even went as far as studying courses toward a career that I saw as average, simply because I didn't think I had the potential to do something bigger. A the risk of sounding conceited- holy shit, it feels so good to be wrong.

Acts of kindness come few and far between these days. I was lucky, I suppose. One person saw something in me and pushed me harder than I've ever been pushed before. In the course of one year at school I managed to pull my GPA up to something respectable, take on a second minor, start a new student group (which kicks ASS mind you, GO EDIBL), work two internships, and continue my volunteer work with CASA. That last year of school consisted of many sleepless nights, many cravings for nicotine, struggling to stay awake during classes, and a seemingly unending streak of heartburn. It was the best year of my life. It doesn't sound like it would have been a very good year, but trust me, I couldn't have asked for more. I met so many people that I will never forget, learned so many lessons, and grew so much (hopefully). It was as if I slammed an entire 4 years of college into one. So let's hope it pays off for the better.

-Picture of my stepfather, Alicia, and I at graduation. That man is by far the most influential person in my life. A lot of who I am and who I will be is undoubtedly due to the things he taught me.-

So without further ado (is that actually how you spell that?) let's begin this blog!

The Longest Semester Ever

Yeah, I'm making a post. Is it because I feel bad because my readers haven't been able to hear my life-changing thoughts and perspectives? No. I'm using it as a warm-up exercise for another blog post I have to make (yeah that's right I'm cheating on my blog with another blog. It's for an assignment, deal with it.)

It's been an incredible semester so far- and only 3 days until it concludes! After my excursions in Thailand I kicked the door of Stockton in and punched my environmental science courses in the jaw with intensive studying and the most extreme passion imaginable. (How do you measure passion you ask? Try spending 40+ hours studying ant taxonomy for a 1 credit lab assignment.) The semester was an uphill battle of logging internship hours, volunteer work, 4 classes + labs, a thesis, acting as President for my student club, AND maintaining a social life. I'm in the last stretch of a sleep-deprived semester and I'm counting down the minutes. I don't think I could have gotten through it without Rena, Diane, Jessica, April, and some other random people that I'm too tired to list at the moment.

Well, it's all paid off! When I first began this blog I named it "The Paragon of Average" because even though I had the support of an amazing person who was constantly telling me how much value I had, I simply didn't believe it. Between friends, work loads, and other responsibilities I no longer feel like the average guy I was just a few short months ago. I feel pretty damn good about myself. Why you ask?! I'm graduating with a degree in criminal justice and a double minor in sociology and environmental science, I've been hired to teach in Thailand through the Princeton in Asia program, and I've made more close friends in the past year then I have in my life. I've worked my ass off and it's finally made me realize that even the most average people have the potential to be successful, sometimes they just need to reach for it. Or, in my case, have someone else thoroughly plant their foot deep inside my rectum. (It worked.)

Future blog posts will come, and they won't be so...rambley. In fact, they'll actually have some interesting stories being that the rest of my life starts in the next few weeks....