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...