Rainy Market

I was at the Sunday walking street tonight and it was more fun than usual. A few reasons why: I got there before 6pm and got to see everyone freeze in silence for the national anthem. Probably my favorite 30 seconds of the whole week. I could hear myself breathing. A moment after it ends a bomb of chaos goes off and everything is back to as it was. It's such a surreal moment no matter how many times I see it. Then I get a call from a friend and I happen to look east while talking to him and I can see him about 20 yards away so we say goodbye on the phone and then hello in person a few seconds later. After a meal with him, I kept on a-walkin the walking street. I stopped and chatted with a vendor and she told me my Thai was good! I have no idea why she said that because I only said a few things to her, but she made my night just by saying that. Her vendor friend even concurred. They were too nice. Here's where the fun comes in. As I'm walking along I feel a couple of rain drops on my face. Suddenly I notice a new kind of chaos. Immediately the vendors go into hyper speed and whip out these huge pieces of plastic out of nowhere and they cover their merchandise like they've done it a thousand times. It's a ripple effect and once one vendor sees their neighbor rainproofing their stand, then they take the hint and go into hyper speed too. It was a line of waterproof dominoes that collapsed at a faster pace than I could watch. Then the girls on the street do this odd thing where they start taking all of their personal belongings out of their purses and hold all their stuff in their hands. They take their now empty patent leather purses and put them on their heads like waterproof hats. I was laughing out loud as I walked behind this fashionable group of women with their big purse hats and makeup, keys, wallets in hand.

Off to Hong Kong in the morning!

Lucky Me

I am finished with semester one, and I have learned more about Thai culture in the last few days with regards to their grading system than I have since being here. I don't agree with the way they evaluate their students, and after biting knuckles and lips and gritting my teeth, I've come to understand that I can't change the system just because it doesn't align with my beliefs on how an education system should work. I come from a different culture. I am a guest here. I will follow by their rules. My impression is that the grading system is based on looking for flaws in student's work rather than finding accomplishments. They see it as being objective. If a student's written work doesn't match a particular formula, they are given a score based on what the single person who made the answer key thinks the correct response should be. My question is since when is there an answer key for an exam that asks students to write an essay? In any case, I got sliced at the knees for my approach in grading my students, so I held my tongue and did it their way. I only wish they would have more faith in their teachers to evaluate their students. It's the first major cultural difference I've been directly involved in. Even though I'm not happy with the final exam and grading process, it makes me that much more motivated to really give my students a great experience in the classroom next semester.

I am now officially on holiday from CMU. I still teach my SAT students which is a joy, and I don't even consider it 'work.' I am incredibly lucky because not only do I love what I do to pay the bills, I love having lots of time to do whatever suits my fancy. My life is a big vacation, and I even get a vacation in Hong Kong on top of it. I am so excited to get to Hong Kong tomorrow to see my family. When I initially arrived in Chiang Mai, every new day felt as if I was a 'traveler'. I've crossed that threshold and now that I truly feel like I live here, that this is my home for the time being, it's such a treat to become the 'traveler' again. I love airports and big backpacks.

Names

Thai nicknames are fun, but so are regular Thai names. During a coffee house grading party, we started to talk about our students, naturally. This led into talking about their names, and the prize for best named students goes to the teacher with a boy named Buchit (pronounced with an oo and sh) and a girl named Tittiporn. Nothing can top that.

Grading Exams Makes Me Laugh

You know the types of exam questions that pose a sentence with a blank, and you have to fill in the blank using one of the vocabulary words from a list? I'm faced with some tough choices because the answer key states the "correct" answer, but after grading countless exams, I've found that the students have come up with some creative possibilities on their own:

Pete: Can I do my online assignment at home?
Paul: Definitely, as long as you can abuse the internet.

Vegetarian food not only looks like regular food, but it's just as insufficient.

Athletes from all over the world dominated in this year's Olympic Games in Beijing. (I did give credit for this one, because I think it's more exciting to read than "competed").

People who live near the river bank are facing a nightmare because it's been raining poverty for almost a week! (Sad...)

What should we do to solve the drug insufficient problem in Thailand? (I'm sure some of my students feel that there are insufficient drugs in Thailand, but unless they tell me that with proper grammar, no credit.)

Final Exams

It's finals week and you could smell the stress around the English Department buildings. The students were nervous, the course coordinators were running about getting organized. I don't really know what goes into planning a week of exams, but over 6,000 students had to take the Freshman English exam Monday morning at 8am. I don't know how or where they fit everyone on campus. I walked upstairs to proctor my students and all 50 of my freshman students were huddled outside the door of the classroom, chatting and studying their textbooks up until the last minute. The same thing happened that afternoon with my older students, only there were 100 of them. I had way too much fun walking around and wishing them luck. It made me really sad that I wouldn't be seeing them every other day. I was overwhelmed when I saw the sheer number of students I had all in one place. They were like my little families. My 8am Monday/Thursday family, my 1:00 Tuesday/Friday family, they were all there with big nervous smiles. All wanting my attention. I was the mother hen of all my chickadees. Too bad I had a dummy moment right before the afternoon exam. I had a lovely relaxing lunch, and wandered up to the exam to greet my students. I told all my afternoon students that their exam is in room 607. All 100 of them were in the hallway outside of 607. I moseyed around with my cup of coffee and stepped into the exam room to only find 30 chairs and exams for one section. Where were my other two sections supposed to go? The Thai Ajarn who was helping me proctor my exam didn't speak English, and he didn't have a clue what I was so worried about. I ran down 6 flights of stairs to find a coordinator in a panic. They told me that my students were in rooms 607/1 (what kind of room number is that, anyway?) and 608. I ran up 6 flights of stairs to quick tell my students where they should go so they didn't lose any time on their exam but by the time I made it to the top, no one was there. My 100 students disappeared and it was silent. I was sweaty and alone in the hallway. Turns out everyone knew exactly where they were supposed to be but me. Ironic. Story of my life.

This whole week I am locking myself in coffee shops in my neighborhood and getting 150 3 hour exams graded in the next 3 days. I will only take breaks for food, water, going to the gym, naps, massages, and maybe some ice cream. I'm not too worried about it.

Email:

Hello! teacher Mia ^^
I am Juthathip. Remember me?
O.K. ! O.K.!!
I know you remember me sure!!
I want to know your section teaching in term two.
Do you know?
Yes,you know.
Please tell me ....
Please....teacher T^T

I love you so much!

Please give me and my friends grade "A"
Please.....
Thank you very much .
I hope to learn with you in term two.
See you again next term.

Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho !!

Beep Beep Beep Beep

Jub Jub ^3^~

(There is nothing I can say about this, except that it made my night.)

Sunday Afternoon Lounging

I would normally spend a Sunday afternoon this time of year watching football and eating popcorn, but I could get used to spending further Sunday afternoons like this. We drove out of the city to the reservoir, spent the entire afternoon lounging around in a bamboo hut while ordering dishes of food and sticky rice. I got to try a couple of new dishes and the most delicious barbecued grilled chicken I've had in a long time. It smelled like a summer outing. This place is beautiful. I've been there before, but I forgot how cool it is to be near a lake and a mountain at the same time. They have cute little paddle boats, but I heard from a fellow teacher that they didn't let him take out the paddle boat because he was a farang (non-Thai) and was too big and would sink the boat. I didn't even ask to save myself some embarrassment. We ate for hours, sat for hours, swam for a little while and lounged for awhile longer. On the way back Brandon let me give his motorbike a spin. I've never driven a motorbike before and it was pretty fun. Except when it started to rain. Hard. So we lounged under a shelter for another hour until the rain let up a bit and then made our way home. That's what Sunday afternoons are all about. I think I'm on my way to becoming a professional lounger. If there's ever a perfect time and place to fulfill this dream, it's got to be Thailand on a Sunday afternoon.
A few other lounging pictures posted under the photo archive link "Huay Teun Tao Reservoir."

More Teacher Evaluations

"Plz give me in a god grade. I'm proud with you, thank you very much!" (I don't know what a god grade is but it sounds important.)
"Miss U and Love U" (They didn't learn to say U instead of you from this English teacher.)
"Good job for a first teach"
"Mia...I love you." (This one made me laugh the hardest)
"If possible please speak louder it will be very well" (Ah! Finally some criticism!)
"Thank you very much. Teach speak noisy" (Damn)
"Aj. Mia is a good teacher. I like Aj. Mia. I want to learn English with Aj. Mia in term II" (They love saying my name because to them, they are calling me wife.)
"I want grade B. code 5006102XX" (He actually crossed out the last two numbers when he realized that the English Dept would see this and could potentially track him down.)
"Ajarn Mai is the best teacher in my opinion." (I think there is an Ajarn Mai in the department, and she probably is the best teacher. I wasn't offended.)
"Thank you very much for this section Aj Mia, you are perfectly teacher. Thank you :) FIGHTING!!!" (Their word for fighting is like the equivalent of "you go girl!" It sounds so aggressive and threatening when translated.)

I'm going to miss all these boogers!

End of the Semester

It was a strange feeling in class today knowing that I had to tie up all loose ends, that I wouldn't be able to say "next time." I had to get everything done today in their last class, including prepare them for the final exam. I was a little sad letting them all go at the end of the hour. I had several students stick around just to say thank you. Other students asked for my phone number, which I didn't give out. I've heard of other teachers giving out their number to students, only to get strange calls at odd hours. No thanks. Email is better for that kind of thing. I did appreciate all the thanks and goodbyes and I'll miss you's. Some of them wanted to know what classes I'll be teaching next semester, and when I said I probably won't have my schedule for another two weeks, they looked utterly disappointed. I'm going to go ahead and assume it's because they want to enroll in my class, not avoid it.

Teacher evaluations. When I taught a course in undergrad, I took all of the comments and criticisms to heart. My students here didn't really give me anything to work with. Half of them rated me highest on every single item on the survey. Some of the comments include the following:
"LOVE LOVE LOVE teacher"
"I love you teacher"
"Teacher I love you a lot"
"Very very very good teacher"
and the somewhat creepy, "We'll never learn alone."

So to summarize my performance review: I'm awesome and adored and we'll never learn alone. I can live with that. I can't wait to see what my other classes will come up with tomorrow.

Mai Pen Rai

The all important "mai pen rai" attitude means that you don't worry about things that don't matter. Some people take it to the extreme and pull a mai pen rai after they get in a motorbike accident that was someone else's fault and drive away without yelling at the person or even getting their information. Mai pen rai. You hear it all the time and it really makes the world a better place. It's also a way to say you're welcome, no problem, don't worry, my pleasure, etc. Pretty handy.

My mai pen rai moment of today:
I got a massage this morning at Wat Suan Dok, which is the best temple for a few reasons, three of which include Pun Pun restaurant, the best view of Doi Suthep, and the greatest (and most inexpensive) massage place in Chiang Mai. 100 Baht per hour is about $3. Go ahead, hate me for a few minutes, then say mai pen rai. You'll feel better. Anyway, I've been to the place quite a few times and I'm lucky enough to have the same masseuse. I think we made a connection on my first visit because ever since then it's like I walk in and there's an unspoken agreement that she's my gal. Our relationship is blossoming to the point where we don't need to talk during it, I like her style, she knows my needs, she doesn't have to tell me when to flip over, she doesn't kick me out right after and she gives me a cup of tea before hitting the road. Best relationship I've ever had.

I digress. Most Thai massages start at the feet, then move to the legs and arms, then back and neck and head. Some fancy places wash your feet before the massage; this and most other places in the price range do not. I'd been walking around in sandals so I don't know what condition my feet were in.

She massages my dirty feet with her hands. She says mai pen rai.

She massages my dirty feet with her hands and 45 minutes later massages my face with those same hands. I say mai pen rai.

It works out in the end.

Spirit Houses

For just about every building, there is a mini building. These are spirit houses, and their purpose is to keep away bad spirits from the buildings. This one in front of my apartment keeps me safe while I sleep. My landlady makes an offering to the spirit house each morning. So when I step outside to go to work, I see a new array of gifts for the spirit gods. Candles, incense, fruit, pre-packaged baked goods from 7-11, even drinks. The nicest part is that she opens the bottle of orange soda or whatever and puts a straw in it. The spirit gods must appreciate convenience. They might be thirsty after warding off some evil and need a drink stat! I walked by a new restaurant that opened recently near my apartment, and they had a monk come out and bless the place and shoo any evil spirits. Spirits are a big deal, and asking a Thai person if they believe in spirits or not may confuse them because it's not a question at all. Of course they do. Land for sale or apartments for rent will go untouched if there are bad spirits, and the Thai people have a special way of asking to be sure. I don't know all the secrets about it, but my biggest question is where do all the fruit and offerings and orange soda go at the end of the day?? Does someone take it? Do the animals get to it? I've asked around and haven't found an answer. Until someone tells me, I'm going to assume that's where my security guard gets his caffeine kick to stay up all night. Although, I haven't had any bad spirits come my way...

Love My Gym

There are lots of reasons why I love my gym. First of all, they don't open until 10am, like most places in Chiang Mai. The mentality around here is, "If it's before 10, what the heck are you doing out of bed already?" When I became a member a few months ago, they had me sign the paperwork and once I was all set, I went to work out. When I was leaving that same day, they said they needed to take my picture for my ID card. Super. They couldn't do that before I got all sweaty and red in the face? My ID photo is really attractive by the way.

Look closely at this photo (click to enlarge). Please notice the "Determination" poster. There are dozens of these around the gym. This particular one is of three women circa 1982 in spandex and strategically ripped terrycloth outfits. One of the ladies' shirts says WEAT - I'm assuming it's supposed to say SWEAT, you just can't see the S behind her chest. If you look in the background, you can see another poster of a giant white man body builder. I'm sorry, but don't you think it's a little condescending to put a giant muscle man poster in a room full of little Thai people who usually spend their workout time playing ping pong? (See also the ping pong table in the mirror.) It's like a slap in the face saying, "You will never look like this guy."

Here is a better example of these posters. The caption is "Body Heat." This is what hangs two feet in front of your face while you're on the treadmill. Is this supposed to be like the hang the carrot on a string in front of the donkey trick? I so wanted to take a picture of every single poster so you could laugh with me but I needed to be inconspicuous in taking these photos. No one wants to look like the farang pervert who's obsessed with motivational/erotic posters. Ironically, this gym is not the House of Male (see previous post), although I'm sure they have similar decor. My favorite poster this week is one that was in a crowded spot so I didn't get a photo, but it's of a ripped muscle dude wearing nothing but a pair of jeans, which are sliding half way down his buns as to suggest he's about to get naked with a caption that says "Built in the USA." Please take my word for it.

And of course, the tribute to the King on your way out, complete with what seems to be a frame of foil yogurt lids. Nothing makes me want to pump some iron like some greased-up people from the 80's and the King of this great country.

Gender Segregation

I wonder if women can join this gym? I also wonder if the translation they were going for was something more macho like Man's House.

My Breakfast Lady and Rapping Students

The two things that made my day:
1. My breakfast lady. She sells pork skewers and sticky rice on the street across from my apartment, and I usually stop over and buy some from her before going to work. She is out there cooking as early as 7am. Don't knock pork and rice for breakfast until you try it. Anyway, I stopped by and our encounters are usually awkward because she asks me questions in Thai and it takes me forever to answer. We try to small talk and I use some English words that she doesn't understand, so there's a lot of hand gesturing and laughing and smiling going on between us. Today she was out of sticky rice. I said that's ok and I ordered some pork from her. Then she said she was going to get some more and it would take 5 minutes. I figured since she was going to get a new batch, I'd wait around. I said ok. (All of this is in Thai, and was a much longer conversation than needed due to my inadequate Thai skills.) So she hops on her motorbike and rides down the street wearing her hat and apron. I stand and wait, wondering where she goes to buy sticky rice at 7:30 in the morning. She comes back seemingly empty handed. I was a little disappointed but she hopped off the bike and hands me one serving of sticky rice in a bag. She went all out of her way just so I could have sticky rice! I thought she was stocking up, but she made a special trip just for me; I couldn't believe it. There was another Thai woman standing right there and my breakfast lady said under her breath to the woman, "pen ajaan...maw chaw." ("She's a professor at CMU.") Talk about special treatment! Tomorrow I'm bringing her chocolate for her nice gesture.

2. Two of my young female students did a presentation on "How to become a rapper." It was so funny watching these two tiny, perky young ladies give advice to the class on how to throw down mad hip hop rhymes. I loved it. At the end of the presentation, they wanted to give a rapping demonstration, so they turned their backs to the audience, put on obnoxious diamond bling necklaces, and turned around and started shouting "yo yo yo! man! yeah! check! check it!" Then they rapped something like "gimme gimme....teacher....gimme gimme...A! A!" I did give them an A. It was spectacular.

Tigers

On our day off from teaching, we went to Mae Rim, a town outside of Chiang Mai to play with tigers. This is a touristy place where you get to eat at a nice little restaurant overlooking a park full of tigers of all sizes. Then we got to get into the cages and play along with them. It only cost me 300 baht and two fingers. Just kidding. The four tigers we played with were about 5 months old and were pretty massive for infant kitties. Their eyes were haunting and their fur was rough and their paws were squishy but strong. That's what I remember for the most part. It was a pretty short play date, but I bonded with one of the tigers. Not something I normally do on a first date, but I whispered nice things into his ear:
See pictures on the link under photo archive and video uploading soon.

More Goofballs

Some of my students think they are pretty funny. Today they had to give presentations on a topic related to health, and one group of guys did an informational presentation on prostate cancer. One of the requirements for the presentation was a visual aid. (You can see where this is going). They had printed out a few handouts for the class to pass around which included anatomy of the male genitalia as they talked about the risks and prevention strategies of prostate cancer in men. It didn't really phase the class at all, no one was being immature and giggling, which was actually pretty surprising. Here is the best part: they gave me my own handout for the presentation and after they finished, they went back to their seats. As they passed me, I returned the handout back to them and they all had big smiles on their faces and said, "You can keep it, teacher." I said with an eyebrow raised, "No thanks. I don't really think I need to keep it." That's when the class busted out laughing. I laugh about it now too. I am really going to miss those goofballs when the semester is over.

Don't Judge Me On My Ads

Perhaps you noticed I have ads on my blog now. I hope they're not too annoying, but I just noticed a big ad at the bottom for the Scientology Channel....? I do not choose the ads. They are random. I swear. Don't judge.

SAT's

I'm spending three days a week tutoring two or three high school girls on taking the SAT's so they can go to college in America or Europe. It's a nice change to teach something that actually stimulates my brain a little bit. It was kind of crazy how I got the job. A Thai woman who works in the English Department with me (though I hadn't met her yet at that point) called my cell phone and just started talking away and I said "yes" like I knew what she was saying, but she was really asking me if I can commit to this job. (I would have said yes anyway, she didn't con me into anything). So on my first day I show up to the international tutoring school right after teaching a full day at the university. I spent the day speaking slow and charading everything out to help the beginner English students understand what the hell is going on in class. I had to yank myself out of that mode with these students. I walk in the little classroom and they are sitting there waiting for me to start. I have no idea what their skill level is, so I talk slowly and clearly and ask them to tell me about themselves. They started talking and they are nearly fluent! I was so happy! Like a breath of fresh air. I felt like they were my instant friends. It's really funny how a language barrier can put such a distance between people.

I started the class, but here's the catch. I took the SAT's about 8 years ago. The test is different now. They've added extra sections and the scoring system is different. When the coordinator woman called me she said that one of the students got a 1500 the last time she took the test and wanted a better score. I about pissed myself until I realized that the test is out of 2400 now, not 1600. Am I qualified to be teaching them this? Not sure, but I do enjoy putting the extra time in to learn the teaching material and doing the endless practice questions on my own. My Thai nickname should be Nerd.

After the two hour class, the coordinator woman who called me and gave me the job was there in the office and she asked me how things went, paid me, and had me work on some paperwork. As I was leaving, this coordinator woman was talking with one of my students and her mom. I politely interrupted and asked if there was anything else she needed. She said, "No, I'm just going to ask this student here what she thought of you and your teaching and then I will call you and let you know." Yep. I looked back at her and then at the student and her mom and smiled and said, "Ok, then. Have a nice night!"

Very blunt = Very Thai = Very awkward for me

HK or Bust

P&P travel is really the best travel agency in Chiang Mai. I found out about it through word of mouth; others have nice things to say and I wholeheartedly concur. They were friendly and patient with my endless phone calls checking flights and seats and dates, and when I stopped in today they had my whole itinerary ready for me and left me saying, "That's it? That was way too easy...easy as pie...mmm pie." I went across the street for coffee and apple pie. If you seek a travel agency while in Chiang Mai, use P&P. And go to JJ's Cafe for pie. Yum.

Point being, I am so excited to be all set to go to Hong Kong to visit Doug and Mare in a few weeks. Can't wait!

On Grades

It's grade season for Thai students and I try to think of appropriate ways to let students know what their progress is as the semester comes to an end. The first time I handed back an assignment I put their scores and comments on individual slips of paper and handed them back to the students. Doing this was a total waste of time. Here I thought I was doing them a favor by keeping their scores private. Privacy is nothing here. They spent more time exchanging slips of paper with their grades than they did contemplating their own score. It was like we were all eating together at a Chinese restaurant and we were all looking at each other's fortune cookies. Oohh! What does yours say?? I don't understand it. My teachers and professors came up with ways to keep my grades completely discreet using ID number codes, cover sheets, online passwords. Today I had the spreadsheet with grades for the students for them to see at the end of class. They truly don't care that their name and grades are in plain sight for everyone. It was on a single piece of paper and by the end of class I had 35 kids crowded around me trying to see the page, each copying down their own scores and then the scores of all their friends. One of the students said, "Maybe you can put this on the overhead?" My goodness I would be mortified to have my grades posted on an overhead projector.

They just think about grades differently. They are all in each other's business and they think of it more like winning lottery numbers than anything that's actually correlated with their skill or work put in. I had two students ask me after class, "So you give me?" "Give you what?," I asked. "Grade A for semester?" "If you do well on your presentation and your final, your score might be high enough for an A..." "Give me A!" "If you practice your presentation this weekend and then study hard for the final exam and you should be fine." "You will be really nice to give me A, maybe a little bit nice and you give me B. Anything C or better is good for me." Yes, because it all depends on how nice I am. I sometimes forget these are college students. If I went to a professor and asked them to be nice and give me an A... it's just too absurd to even think of what would happen. I shooed these two students out of the classroom as they shuffled backward into the hallway smiling and saying, "A! A! Ok? Ok? A for me!"

Never a dull moment.

Child Performers

There are a couple of kids who perform at the markets and a part of me admires their talent, and another part of me gets angry at their parents standing by watching their kid make an extra buck or two for them. Motives aside, they are fun to watch. My favorite is this boy who plays a large canvas covered drum in an ensemble of other percussionists and by the initial look of it, it really seems like he does not want to be there. He looks bored and irritated like he's saying in his mind, "but daaaaad, I want to go home and watch pokemon!" The bizarre thing is, he looks so nonchalant about what he's doing, but he's got an amazing talent with the drums. He swings around these drumsticks with his gangly limbs without a care in the world, like he could accidentally lose his grip and send one flying into the crowd, but he never ever loses his rhythm. Some parts he looks like he could have fallen over tripping on his own feet, but he didn't miss a beat. They were complicated rhythms too! It was a sight to see. It made me giggle uncontrollably.

The other girl is gorgeous and she does traditional dance. She is surrounded by flower petals on the ground as people pass by. Her makeup and hair is done like a little pageant girl, and her mom has got her finger on the CD player behind her. She's really talented and holds a smile and dances with the maturity of a person five times her age. I did see a little diva in her when I walked by and she shot her mom a piercing look and said something in Thai and her mom quickly obeyed and turned the music up. She turned back to the crowd with a lovely smile. Cute as a button, demanding as a child star.

Mini Pork Balls

...or in other words, the most bizarre moment of my weekend. After a night out, there are vehicles pulled over on the side of the road that are waiting to feed the bar goers after close. They have all those post beer snacks you crave like dried squid, noodles and sauce, or black bean filled pastries. Not the typical food I go after at the end of the night, but since there were no burritos or greasy hash browns and pancakes in sight, I went for the black bean pastries. As we're ordering our food from this man in the back of his pick up truck, a van pulls up right next to me standing there and I can feel the heat of the engine on my back. At the same moment, I'm bombarded by the blasting pop sensation Madonna, singing "Like a Virgin" over the van's top notch stereo system. I turn around and my eyes were assaulted by this bubble of pink:
I wish you could see the driver. You can hardly see the side of her face in the photo. She was in a hot pink wig, in a hot pink dress, and a big rosy smile and glitter everywhere. She was singing along with Madonna and she stopped to order some black bean pastries as well. I wish I could see my own face doing a double-triple take, trying to follow the conversation between the guy in the back of the truck and her bubbly self. This didn't really phase me so much until I got home and looked at my pictures. I now just noticed the "mini pork balls" on the van. This honestly didn't seem so weird at the time, but the more I think about it, the stranger the whole situation was. That's what seems to happen here, when you take these goofy moments and put them into context with what you're used to, it gets really bizarre really quick. I like it.

Oh and remember that thing that happens here when you want something, ask a silent wish to yourself, and your wish is instantly granted? I was walking home after the mini pork balls van incident thinking to myself how it's kind of a bummer to walk a mile home at the end of the night and (like magic) a friend appears on his motorbike and gives me a lift home. Same thing happened again yesterday while walking home with a carton of melting ice cream and I think to myself, wow if I don't get home soon this is going to be a mess! I hear a "hey!" that more resembles a bark and it's another friend pulled over ready to give me a ride home. I run into someone I know every time I go out in public; it's getting to be ridiculous, especially with over 175,000 people living in this city. I don't understand it, but I enjoy it.