Freegans and Bee Sufferage

I'm still sick. It seemed to have gotten better yesterday, but I didn't really sleep again last night and I'm feeling pretty awful this evening. I'm hoping to survive Chinese class at 6, but I don't think my brain will be of much use at the moment.

I imagine I'll be able to sleep tonight? I hope so, Tuesday is a really long day for me. If I can't fall asleep, I'll never make it through the day tomorrow.

Heard of Freegans yet? I suspect you will soon enough.

Blah

My illness took a turn for the worse on Friday night, and it was painfully unpleasant. I got very little sleep and was in bed all day yesterday until Japanese class. Following that, I went shopping as I had not much in the way of food or drink at my place.

I went home and tried to sleep, but of course that didn't work, so I stayed up with my usual all night plan alternating cycle of reading/playing a game/studying. I got to sleep around 5:30 and woke up at 8:30 to go out and start on my homework. I'm supposed to translate some sentences into idiomatic equivlents in Japanese. Not so fun.

Study Abroad Application - Sick Again - Good Stuff

I'm sick again. Flu-like symptoms. It would be nice to stay in bed all day, but I have too much work to do! I spent the past couple hours writing the 3 essays for my application to study at Yonsei University in Seoul. I'm having trouble getting reference letters as my advisor is insane and every time I think I've figured out how to stay on her good side she goes wacko on me. My reference letters must be from my advisor as well as one other non-relative. The problem is that none of the teachers that I've had at my school are still here. Some went back to their respective countries, some just disappeared into hedonistic lifestlyes or other jobs and at least one was fired. This may prove to be a problem.

Me: I need you to write me a reference letter.
Her: ::satanic look:: For what?
Me: Study abroad.
Her: But you just got back! You want to go again?
Me: Of course. Don't worry, just write the letter.
Her: Argh, I don't have time now. Come talk to me next week.
Me: Bah.

In translation class yesterday, our teacher read a passage from the bible to us seven time! With different levels of translation from literal to idiomatic. Scary stuff. As much disdain as I have for religion in general, nothing stresses me out more than people who are abusing their position to push their religion upon you(read: me!). She gives homework everyday which is a good thing. It forces me to practice. But the theory seems kind of ridiculous. I imagine I could just take the final and skip the class. Its kind of funny that I could conceivably test out of nearly every class in my major. Of course they will eventually set a limit or something and attempt to make me pay for the full classes. It used to make us really angry how easy many of the classes were, but these days we just can't help but laugh.

There are 3 grad students in my Creative Writing class. I don't know if its common to give grad credit for undergrad classes, but its kind of odd.

What a ridiculous society we live in that requires a piece of paper to show a commitment of time so you can have a fair shot at doing productive things with your life. I've stopped fighting the system as that doesn't seem to accomplish much. Now I do things more subtely than before. Less stress, more fun, more knowledge, same crappy piece of paper.

Lia and Lana are leaving Melbourne on Monday. I'm not sure if they will stay in Malaysia for a few days or if they will come straight here, but I guess I will see her soon enough. Good stuff.

There are many new students this term and I have made a number of new friends.
Some bizzare explosion just happened outside. It sounded a bit like fireworks that were too close. Dunno.

Week 2 Lost in Translation

Today was my first day of Translation I. After one day, I am not impressed. Firstly, our textbook is twenty years old. And I'm a little worried about our teacher's missionary background. She said that we would be translating part of the bible to/from our languages, which ends up being Japanese and/or Thai for me. I suppose it will be good practice or something. I tend to have trouble in classes like these and I'm not exactly sure why. Perhaps, I'm not actually challenged enough. Another possibility is that I tend to run into problems with some teachers who aren't terribly fond of my clarifying and/or challenging any of their remarks that I strongly disagree with. I suppose in an ideal situation, this would be used to foster learning, but in Thailand such things aren't a reality.

I worry that this class will be a battle of wits with the teacher. Its fun for me until they get upset, then I have to shut up to maintain an A and it gets boring. Let's see how long she can hold out! I think my CW teacher will do well, but I don't think the Translation teacher has it in her to handle me. Then again Tues and Thurs are very full for me so maybe I will be too tired to cause much trouble.

In other news, among the new students at school there are a large group of Burmese and a handful of Chinese, so I managed to charm a few Burmese girls into getting me started on the basics of Burmese if I manage to find any free time. I don't expect anything to come of this, but its nice to be able to read at least for karaoke purposes! I'm still building up my confidence to talking in Chinese. Soon enough.

Sideways Rain and Cabbages

I was writing this really long post a few minutes ago about where I've been the past couple days and I suddenly realized that its horribly boring. So I just thought I summarize it real quick more for my own benefit then yours.

Skipped Japanese class Sat - Took bus to Payao (3 hours North of Chiang Mai - also my last girlfriend's hometown)
Met up with F, her boyfriend and Jen - Went to a lake, had dinner, went to the town's only disco - Fought off the usual army of masseuseses (which upon checking the dictionary to confirm my spelling, I discovered that this word means a female who gives massages. What do you call her male counterpart? I don't care enough to research this one myself.)

After disco tried to find karaoke - No luck - got a room - slept
Noon on Sunday we headed out to Jen's college in Chiang Rai (further North) - massive rainstorm sidetracked us into a restuarant by a pond where we ended up eating and drinking for a while until the rain let up - Went to the campus - It was nice - Went back to the city (CR) - sang karaoke - tried to get into a disco called Sperm Pub (scary eh?) - Jen didn't have idea and my usually effective method of smoothtalking the doorman didn't work out this time - Dropped off Jen - Got a room - Slept - Spent all of today driving back to Chiang Mai - Fun trip.

Still long and not very exciting, but I think its an improvement on the previous version. I'll spare you any further mundane activities for the day. Chinese class is at 6. Gotta figure out how the hell to say all that in Chinese now. Ugh.

Short Excursion to the North

F told me to come meet up with her in the North and said she would pay for everything for me. So I skipped Japanese class on Saturday and hopped on a bus to Payao, a city about 3 hours North of Chiang Mai. There I met up with F, her boyfriend and another girl Jen. We went to check out this big lake they have there and then we went to have dinner at a nice place by the water. After that went to the only disco in town which from the inside reminded me of the inside of an airport hangar. The music was pretty good and it wasn't overly loud. And because the ceiling was so high, the smoke didn't really bother me all that much. I suppose the only complaint I have applies to many places of this type in Thailand - inside the men's room there are guys with hot towels and such who attempt to massage you both during and after you use the bathroom. They of course expect a tip after so you gotta be a bit aggressive in getting them to back off. This place though had more than I had ever seen at one time. I went to wash my hands and was acosted by 5 at once. Of course, this is just because I'm white in a small city which doesn't have many foreigners, so they all just assume I can be duped into tipping them ridiculous amounts of money. I'm pretty sure the girls room doesn't have anything of the sort.

After the disco we tried to find a karaoke place, but didn't have any luck with that so we went and rented some rooms for the night. The next day we went to Chiang Rai and did something similar there. I was able to get my karaoke on for a bit as well. Fun stuff.

オリエンテーション

最初の週間終わったところだよ。
今日はオリエンテーションをしていろいろな国の人と友達になったと思っている
僕の予定表が素晴らしいね！　火曜日と木曜日だけ大学に行かないと。
クラスが三つがある：　創作的書く、翻訳の理論、　東南アジアの環境問題
そして、日本語と中国語語学を見つかった。　月、水、金曜日６－８まで中国語勉強して　火、木、土曜日６：３０-８：３０まで日本語勉強する。
両校には良いところと思う。　日本語クラスで、ニュースを聞いてエッセイを読んでいている。

So, today was the last day of the first week of classes.
We had orientation and I helped show around the new students (which didn't really amount to much).
My schedule changed again so I actually only need to be at school twice a week now, but those days will be pretty full from 9-4, aside from 1 hour for lunch.

Theres a bunch of new people this semester and I think I've made a few friends. It should be relatively fun. There are many Chinese people this semester and they all seem really nice. Hopefully, I can actually start using my Chinese.

First Week of Classes - Orientation and Stuff

The first week is of classes is at a close, and I think I've managed to pull off a decent productivity-nurturing schedule. Or as much as this is possible anyways in Thailand. I need to go to school early two or three times/week which leaves me some time to exercise and do homework and the like during the other days.

Orientation is tomorrow. I don't understand why Payap has orientation day the last day of the first week. It seems a bit out of sequence to me. Anyways, I "volunteered" to show around the new students in my major. I don't know how I got talked into it really. The school should know by now that I'll tell everyone the truth and how to get things done in this wacky Thai system. That won't help them much.

One of the girls in my Japanese class told me about a free Korean school which happens to be mighty close to my new apartment. I'm going to try and check it out next week. I find its not terribly efficient of my time to study languages if I can't practice them a couple times a week.

I've been doing research lately on PDAs and I'm beginning to wonder if one would simplify my life at all. It would be quite nice if I didn't always have to carry around my little notepads and pencils all the time so I can write down a jumble of notes every time hear a new word and then enter them into my multi-language vocabulary program later. I could see the benefits of being able to organize myself and also have access to dictionaries of various languages. I've also looked at smartphones, as I need a new phone, but I'm wondering if it wouldn't be cheaper to just buy a pda and another cheap phone. As convenient as it would be, I just can't decide if all-in-one is really necessary at this point for me. Then again, its also possible I'm just feeling gadget withdrawal due to my laptop and mobile's mutual decision to cease working properly without my consent.

Here is a couple pics from the flooding at F's house.

F and friends.

The Great Flood

I got a frantic phone call from Moon at 6:30 in the morning on Monday. It went something like this:

Moon: Hey! What happened in Chiang Mai!!?! My sister called me and told me there is water everywhere! Was there a tsunami?
Me: Moon, its 6:30 in the morning and there are no oceans anywhere near CM.
Moon: By my sister said there floods everywhere!
Me: Its fine here, I haven't heard anything. Let me sleep!

Anyways, upon being woken up an hour or so later by Rob to say that we might not be able to make it to school today because the roads are flooded. We attempted to go our usual route, which didn't work. The water was pretty deep most of the way, but we hit one area wher the water must have been nearly a meter high. The river is completly full and many areas were hit very bad. I'm not sure on the numbers, but a fair amount of people died. A number of my friend's houses had their first floor submerged and lots of furniture and the like ruined. I'm told the smell of the filthy water and the mud left behind as the water receeds is awful. The flood didn't come near me (center-city), but it made traffic just awful in the city.

Not so many people made it to the first day of the new semster. As such, a number of classes were cancelled for the week. I did sit in on Academic Writing, Creative Writing, Environmental Problems in SE Asia, Chinese III and Thai IV. Academic Writing seemed like a bit more than writing then I want to get into this term, so I picked up Creative. The other major changes, are that I dropped Chinese and Thai IV. After one class I knew that both classes would just be a waste of time and money as my level exceeds that of the other students considerably. So, I dropped 3 classes and added two more in total. I'll be studying Translation I, EP-in-SEA, and Creative Writing. The CW teacher is a published author and liberal feminist. Should be interesting. Its always a pleasant surprise when a qualified teacher pops in among the rather mundane lot of teachers I'm used to. As 3 classes isn't really enough credits for me this semster, I'm going to test out of 3 or 4 other classes later this term so I can catch up on some credits.

Tonight was my first Japanese class at the new night school. The stuff is pretty good for my level, but its kind of boring and I have my doubts about the efficiency of the teacher's methods. I did however learn a bunch of new words and the class is small (3 girls and me) so I will make the most of it and hope she improves.

More Odd Happenings

So, I decided against the whole bowling thing yesterday, perhaps because I don't terribly enjoy bowling to begin with. But I briefly met Jiu's students beforehand and one of them went to Petty(dd?) in Heightstown NJ, another to The Lawrenceville School, and one girl who I didn't find out until she was gone went to my high school and was a year below me (or maybe 2 years?). Strange eh? Mira something.

The conversation went something like this:
Me: Bowling sucks, I'm leaving.
Them: Well, it was nice to meet you, where are you from anyways?
Me: NJ.
Them: Where?
Me: Central.
One of Them asks another: Where is Lawrenceville or Princeton?
Me: Um, I'm from Lawrenceville.

I met this really interesting Japanese girl today. She writes for a free bi-weekly Japanese newspaper here and I think novels as well.

Old Friends - New Place - Queen's B-dayu (Thai Mother's Day)

I ran into an old friend today at Central (the shopping center I frequent). A Swedish guy named Karl, who was the only foreigner I really spent any time talking to during my first year in CM. We lived in the same building and exchanged some funny stories of the horrible building we lived in. From the crazy alcoholic dentist who owned the building and sexually harrassed his secretary to our 40-yr-old Burmese friend Sunny who had an interesting past as a soldier in the rebel army who told us some pretty harsh stories himself. I could go on about the time all the rooms on my floor were broken into by an Iranian guy and his Thai girlfriend and how they stole my CD player and I had to go to Thai court and "testify" to get it back after they caught him.

Anyways, we had lunch, watched Thom Yam Gung which stars this crazy martial arts master from Thailand (he was also in Ong Bak). I think his name is Tony Jaa? The story was a bit ludicrous at times, but the action was intense as always.

I reserved a room in the new apartment building near my gym. I got a corner room on the top floor. It has a pretty nice view of the city. It will be so nice to have internet in my room again. I'll start moving in there towards the end of the month, but I imagine it will be a gradual process. I may let Lia and her sister live there while they are in Chiang Mai and I will stay in my current room in the meantime.

I think I'm getting dragged into bowling with Jiu and a couple of his CMU exchange students tonight. Its raining pretty hard and last time I went home in the rain, I was sick for a week so I think I will go to bowling rather than face the weather.

School Starts Monday

Payap classes start on Monday and my first Japanese class is on Tuesday night.

I took the Thai placement test today and it was pretty easy. It consisted of matching words with pictures then sentences, then read a few passages of consecutively more difficult level before writing a short essay about a picture of a family. I said the father cheats on his wife all the time, the mother is a stripper and the 3 year old daughter is a heavy smoker and a thief.

Anyways, because the test was so easy, I don't want to study in Thai 4. I feel it would be too far below my level to be beneficial. I'm hoping they will make an intensive course for me. We shall see.

After the test, I went to a funeral for a friend's father from school. He died of cancer very recently.

In the evening, I had dinner with Pop and Jiu and I'm supposed to meet up with F later. Tomorrow is Mother's Day in Thailand as it is the Queen's birthday so my Chinese school is closed.

Update

I decided at least for the time being, I will stay as an English major and take 2 classes for that major and Chinese 3 this term. Then on top of that, I will take an intensive Thai course during the day. I'm going to take a test on Thursday to determine what level. On top of that, I'm going to try and set something up with the Japanese department so I can either sit in with a Thai class, or do some sort of independent study which I could then transfer as Japanese 5. The Thai won't get me credits, but it appeases my need to study. The Japanese would move me a step closer to filling that requirement for the English degree. As I have no clue what country I will end up in, a degree in Japanese may or may not be useful for me. But I suppose if I have an English degree, and I can speak a few Asian languages, I shouldn't have any problem finding something lucrative in the future in various countries.

Anxiety Acting Up

I went out with Jiu last night. We went to GawTawMaw (little place which is named after the abbrevated name for Bangkok). Following this we went to check out Monkey Club 2, a slightly higher class, middle-aged atmosphere version of Monkey Club. It was actually pretty nice.

I've decided that I will not change to the Japanese major. Not now anyways. I will drop the math class and the environmental problems class and switch it for a couple English major classes that interest me. Possibly translation and sociolinguistics. Then I will start the application process for Korea. I don't know how easy this will be or how much of a fight my advisor will put up, but she is just an advisor after all?

I am having some pretty bad anxiety lately. I need to buy some shoes and clothes. I need to get some more zoloft (I just took my last pill) and I also need to go check out this new building to see if I want to move there. The problem is I just walk by and don't shop. Sometimes I don't have any problem doing things like this, but sometimes I can't move in to initiate the contact. Its extremely frustrating.

Bah

Today has been rather boring. And I have a massive headache for some reason. I woke up around 10 and went and had lunch, studied a bit and then went to the gym. I had a really nice workout today. I actually felt like I had some energy. I did 30 minutes on a bike (I almost never use s.bikes) and studied while I did that.

I tried to go check out an apartment I heard about, but there was nobody there. Supposedly the room has TV, internet, fridge and ac for 3,500฿/month. As long as the room isn't horrible, I'm already sold. Its in a great location for me. 3 minute walk from my gym and usual internet shops (not that I'll need them, heh) and much closer to my night schools than I currently am.

I think I need to go back to school and drop the 2 classes I don't want. I will also tell my advisor that I will not switch to the Thai program in Oct. I will apply to go study in Korea in January and I intend to study the English major as if this never happened. I never should have let her bully me into making a life-altering spur-of-the-moment decision when I hadn't slept for 3 days. I've already talked to the international coordinator and he said I had a fair chance of going to Korea, but students who haven't gone anywhere would get priority.

Retoxification Day 1

Myself and Lia at a place in Chinatown in Melbourne I went to often.
As I didn't actually drink until after midnight last night, we can say that today is my first day back on the magic juice.

A fairly new friend of mine named David (Born in HK, but grew up in Australia), invited me out today to talk to a Japanese friend to him. He has been thinking about studying Japanese and I guess he wanted to be around it. The girl's name is Mao and she seemed really nice. We hung out for a while and then I read this pamphlet to her and she told me the handful of words I didn't know. Here they are:

世論 - (se ron) public opinion
児童 - (ji dou) young children, infants, pupils
治療 - (chi ryou) care, treatment
自由 - (ji yuu) freedom
活動 - (katsu dou) activity
批准 - (hi jyun) ratify
認める - (mito meru) admit, accept
定義 - (tei gi) definfinition
差別 - (sa betsu) discrimination
平等 - (byoudou) equality
障害 - (shou gai) disorder, handicap
出きる鍵の事する (de kiru-kagi no koto suru) - to do everything possible
扱う - (atsuka u) to deal with (something {transitive})

I'm sure that was some exciting vocab for ya. I might get dragged into bowling tonight. Or at least going to sit and drink while other people bowl. I just never can't get into stuff like that. I'm sure it will be equally exciting.

Day 6 - Stumble and Fall

Well, its about 2am on day 6. I've had two large heinekens and they were quite nice. I'm writing this from the bar. I tried to stay in my room, but it was too hot and I was so bored. Having had two beers I'm confident I can sleep, I didn't get trashed and I'm not a raging alcoholic. Not yet anyways.

Ah well. It was a long enough detox I think. I'll do it again soon if I end up drinking heavily.

Day 5 - Not Drinking is Boring

Well, I'm still surviving, even though I found myself craving a bit last night. I fell asleep too early last night and woke up at 1:30am and couldn't get to sleep again until around 6am. I then woke up again at 10 and went out to discuss some language exchange with a friend of mine.

I felt very weak and fatigued again at the gym. I went swimming and ate one meal, and I guess I feel ok at the moment. A little lethargic. I'm starting to wonder if 5 days isn't long enough? Hehe. I'm so bored. I better ask my girlfriend as I promised her I wouldn't drink for a while.

Day 4 - And There Was Sleep

Yes it is true. I finally passed out. I'm not sure what time it was, but I'm fairly certain it was around 10pm. I woke up at 6:30 feeling completely exhausted. I slept a bit more and then got up at 9am and ran out the door to go to school with Moon. After that I went to immigration and took care of my visa.

I'm still exhausted and feel very weak today, but still no drinking. I suppose the problem will be me managing to stay awake until the night. I'm pretty sure I could go home and pass out for 6 hours or so right now. Ugh.

Detox Day 3

So I'm still off the booze. I haven't even remotely craved it which is kind of nice. Of course, I didn't sleep at all the first night, and while I fell asleep for about 2 hours last night, I woke up at 1:30 in the morning and couldn't fall back asleep. Its 5:30pm now and I had a long rough day. I tried to offer a better solution to me switching majors as a number of things came to my mind. I shouldn't make decisions when I haven't slept, but I had not time. I need to go to school again tomorrow to pick up my papers. Today I paid and picked my 4 classes, Chinese III, Thai IV, Enviornmental Problems (in SE Asia?) and some strange required math class. I'm going to be extremely busy. And after mid-terms, if I do make the switch, its gonna be really rough as I will essentially be studying at two universities along with 12 hours/week at private schools.

I suppose my main worry, is that Lia is going to come here for a month. I'm going to have to find some free time to spend with her. I also need to figure out how/if/when I can go to Korea. I'll figure something out soon hopefully. Or perhaps I'll just die from language-overload?

Wasting Away - Detox Day 1

My drinking has gotten a bit out of hand so I've decided to take a break for a while. 10 days of detoxification. Not sure if I can pull it off, but I'll give it my best shot.

I went to school today to talk about registration and my visa. There is no Japanese this term so I flipped out and said that this was unacceptable. I explained that its completely ridiculous that they offer a course and then pull it before I can fill my graduation req's. My advisor suggested I transfer into the Thai program and major in Japanese. I said ok! But as the Thai program is on a different schedule, I'd need to wait until October to register. This won't do well for my visa. So, I said I'd take 2 or 3 classes (Chinese, Thai and something) in the meantime and transfer over when the next Thai semester starts. I'm not sure how/if this will work out, but I'll manage something.

The downside to me switching my major didn't occur to me until I left school. Thats what I get for making decisions when I wake up and I'm still drunk. If I start studying in November, my plans to go to Korea will obviously be affected. I'm not sure when the semester ends. Hopefully, I can work something out with Lia. Nothings final yet anyways.