Upturned Girl

The beautiful thing about being friends with teachers is that you have so many more great student stories to share. I can't take full pride or credit for this gem of a student, but Charles just told me about one of his more advanced students. She came to him after class asking, "What does the word upturned mean? Someone called me an 'upturned girl,' is that...something sexual?" Charles wrote the word on the board to confirm he was hearing the word correctly. The girl said, "What does upturned mean exactly?" He replies, "Well...sort of lifted up and flipped over...like this," and makes a flip of the hand and a bend at the wrist, realizing that this wasn't what she wanted to hear. I'm sure she was convinced that someone had utterly insulted her with some sort of clever sexual phrase, "upturned girl."

She walked out of the classroom and Charles' head was reeling with other possible phrases sounding like upturned girl in order for her to save face. "Wait! Uptown girl??" he says.

"Yes! Uptown girl! That's it! What does this mean?"

"Uh, that you like to party a lot?"

She says, "So...same meaning?"

My Apologies

It's been way too long. I've unfortunately let go of trying to pick up the pieces of the last few months and put them in some sort of order, so this is my way of saying sorry for being away from the blog for so long. A few things have happened since I wrote last, and one of the more noticeable things is that life here has become normal. No longer exotic, and therefore I feel like there is not as much motivation to tell the stories about the things that are to me mundane. Here are a few tidbits from the last months that are certainly not mundane.

Hong Kong. The trip that I couldn't finish all the lovely stories about, and for which I will be eternally grateful. One of the highlights of the last day of the trip that I still tell people about on a regular basis is.....pink dolphins. They exist and I saw them in the wild. It was awesome. They were as pink as cotton candy! I was tearing up that night at the airport saying goodbye to my aunt and uncle, and Doug met Mare and I at the airport and she says, "Tell Doug what we saw today..." As the subway whistle blew, I burst out in tears yelling, "We saw pink dolphins!" Then I cried all the way home. Such a lovely trip.

Kuala Lumpur. Took a solo trip to KL at the first weekend of May or so. It was a while since I've traveled completely on my own so it was a great experience. Photos are up. Not a whole lot to say about the trip except for great food, great public transportation, and men who aren't afraid to try and pick up an American gal. My favorite incident: a middle eastern man comes up to me while I'm walking through a food market and says, "Hello. Where are you from?" "America."
"Come with me," he says.
"Huh??"
"Come with me. "
"No thank you."
"Oh, I'm sorry for you," and walks away. Baffling.

Charles' arrival. My lovely friend Charles has decided to embark on a Thailand adventure. He arrived at the beginning of May and may make a future appearance or two on the blog. He is also working in Chiang Mai and his company has definitely been worth the wait.

So I've been keeping busy with 'normal' life, but hopefully won't get too caught up in the old 'mundane' and will continue to share good stories. Pictures are up on Picasa, so browse as you may.

Easter in Hong Kong

Easter Sunday was perfect. We got up for mass and the church was beautiful. The funniest thing about a Catholic mass in China was during the offering of bread and wine at the end of service, what I've seen in the past was an orderly procession of one row of pews at a time. All of a sudden, everyone in the church stood up and bottle-necked into the aisles. Mare whispered, "Here comes the Chinese fire-drill" and I almost cracked up. Afterwards it was fun to see some of the faces I recognized during my first trip.

After the service we went back for a lovely traditional Easter brunch. Mare did an excellent job with the meal and the setting; all the delicious foods that I had been missing since last Easter. Afterwards, I went on a search in the apartment for my Easter basket! Of course I looked everywhere and couldn't find it, so we had to resort to playing 'hot and cold.' It was in the dishwasher and I felt like a kid again. It was great.

That afternoon we went to the Space Museum (my request, of course) and even though the museum itself was a little outdated, it was still fun. I was surprised (but not really) that the majority of the first part of the museum was about rockets and the Chinese innovations with gun powder. I even got rigged up to a harness that was supposed to feel similar to what walking on the moon was like. The reality is they hook you up to this harness in a glass box and hold you just above the ground so your feet can't touch the ground. Not really what I imagine the moon to be, more just a sick joke in which the people running the harness get to hover helpless folks over the ground and laugh to themselves. Either way, we had a good time even though nothing in the museum had been updated for a decade or so.

That evening sums up exactly what I was hoping for in my trip to Hong Kong. We hung out in the living room eating cheese and fruit, drinking wine, and ended the night with a game of Scrabble. Couldn't ask for a better night, even though Mare beat us pretty bad a Scrabble because of the word 'ox.'

Jack & Rose

Before I continue the sequence of events in Hong Kong, I do have to tell a quick story from work today. I'm teaching 13 and 14 year-olds who are as rambunctious as they are adorable. For a game to end the lesson, I divided the class into two teams to play charades. I asked the first team what they want their 'team name' to be. "jsdfkhs" is what I heard, so often times when I can't understand them, I say, "Ok. Can you spell that for me please?" I hold the marker up to the board and wait. "J-a-c-k-a-double-s," one student says. When I look up at what I wrote, I start to laugh and realize that I should have let them spell it first rather than write as they spell a naughty word to me. I let it slide because I do know it's (unfortunately) the name of a popular singing group in Thailand. I ask the other team what their team name is. "Roses!" They say. Great!, I write it on the board. "No, no! R-o-s-e-a-double-s." The two teams were Jackass and Roseass. Super. I do have some control over my classroom, I swear. This is certainly funny at first glance, but I really lost control when I realized this was a play on the main characters of Titanic. I was nearly in tears and then these cute little kids start screaming, "I never let go, Jackass, I never let go!!"

Hong Kong Arrival and Lamma Island

I just happen to be the lucky girl who went to Hong Kong last week. I've been awful at keeping up with my life via the internet, so here is my big chance to catch up.

The flight to Hong Kong was pretty straightforward - I stepped on the plane with my hearing in tact, and stepped off the plane deaf. At immigration they check and stamp the ol' passport and since the identification photo gods were on my side one day, my passport picture is halfway attractive (ironically I was hungover the day it was taken, another story) but anyhow I was not looking so attractive when I stepped off the plane. So the immigration officer took a look at the photo and took a long hard look at me. 'I know I know, you think it's not the same person right?,' I thought. "What's your full name?," he says in an authoritative tone. "Huh?!!" (mind you I'm still deaf). He let me through. I couldn't even blame it on the jet lag.

Mare was on the other side of baggage claim to greet me smiling. We went back to the apartment, and since this was my second trip to the city, everything felt familiar. It was a good feeling. That first night I arrived pretty late and it was great to hang out with Mare and Doug, eat some of Mare's specialty soup and catch up a bit. I took a glorious bubble bath that I'd been dreaming about for days, maybe weeks, prior. Bathtubs are few and far between in Chiang Mai so before I left I told my friends that I was going to Hong Kong to spend Easter week with my aunt and uncle AND I was going to take bubble baths. "Wow! Lucky!," they'd say.

The next morning we took a ferry out to Lamma island, which is about a half hour away by boat. You better believe I slept the whole way. Before getting on the ferry Mare asked if I get seasick. Remembering my long ferry ride out to Koh Phi Phi island in Thailand last year, I said I don't get sick at all. As soon as we got on the upper deck of the ferry, we were nowhere near any windows, the boat was a rockin' and I started to feel queasy immediately. Boy did I feel dumb. I honestly thought for most of the initial ride that we were propelling backwards and going in circles like a car trying to parallel park. To cope, I pictured myself in a baby's crib rocking to sleep and all of a sudden I was out. I wasn't sick at all, just confused.

Lamma island was great! It feels like a small town with lots of Hong Kong tourists marching through. For some reason I thought it would be a quiet desolate island, but I should have known from the line that snaked around the block to get on the ferry that we wouldn't be the only ones there. It's a very cute place, with a scenic beach and an even more scenic factory beside the beach. One of my favorite moments was coming around a corner in a small residential part where there was a shack of a house with two huge speakers bigger than my TV that were blaring music. The irony of it killed me but Doug beat me to it: "Ya think those speakers are worth more than the house?" We hiked up and over the mountain to the other side where all the seafood restaurants are. We ate at a place called Rainbow Seafood and they have a Rainbow painted ferry that took us home after our meal. We were stuffed and out of commission for the rest of the night.

We watched The Dark Knight before bed and I just have to emphasize how cool it was to watch the scene when Batman jumps off the tall IFC tower and crashes into the small IFC tower. The real IFC towers were glowing through the living room window out of the corner of my eye, along with the rest of the skyline. Did I mention their view is amazing?

I will update with more from Easter weekend, the rest of the week, and more photos soon!

Don't Let the Jaws of Life Get You Down

Today I had lunch at a cafe that has an outdoor area that resembles a small jungle with wood lounge chairs and picnic tables. I was alone except for a stray kitten sitting in the chair next to me. Just as I was about to take the first bite of my lunch, another kitten trots past proudly. It had a limp pigeon hanging from it's mouth. The pigeon was bigger than the kitten. It was too disturbing to start my lunch, but intriguing enough not to look away. I guess I've never seen a kitten with quite the catch in real life. The sleeping kitten next to me jumped out of the chair and joined the other, both ready to tear the poor thing apart. I really wanted to not see this and eat my lunch, but it was like rubbernecking a car wreck. The kitten dropped the bird on the ground and started licking it's paws in preparation like a Tom and Jerry cartoon. It might as well twisted it's evil whisker mustache. Then the bird flew away. The biggest 'booya' I've ever seen in my life. I laughed alone at these two kittens who watched their lunch fly away, left with nothing but a few stray feathers floating around them like they just had a pillow fight.

The lesson: some may feel like they are clamped within the unforgiving jaws of life. Don't worry. Just when you think it can't get any worse, you'll be spit on the ground. That's your chance to turn the tables. Do it! Don't let the seemingly sweet kitty of life devour you like some sad diseased pigeon. Be the surprise! Some unsuspecting onlooker will really appreciate it and may even say, "What the...."

*There is no Thai translation for 'booya' - it's a universal language in itself.

Cheeky Kid

I have a student in my upper level class who is just too cool for school. He doesn't bring his text books, and he sits way too relaxed in the chair. He's a bit older and has the bad boy charm with the tats and the converse high tops and perfectly spiked hair (when he's not wearing his white ship captain's cap.. I kid you not on that one). The problem is, he's really sharp. Best vocabulary and fluency in the class. Not really a problem to have a bright student, only he uses his language skills in questionable ways. First of all, his confidence and charm causes all the girls to giggle like little school girls, which they are, I guess, but still. One gal who is normally quite good turns into mush if they have to practice speaking together, and he knows it. Her hand goes over her mouth and she can't get a word out over silent giggles. It looks like a disease...or choking. Speaking of these conversation exercises, he seems to turn any conversation topic (from travel to types of transportation to food preferences) into a way to practice pick up lines. No matter what, by the end of the conversation he is saying, "So you will come home with me tonight? We can get a room?" I think I might be the only other one who knows what he's saying. Today the students had to write a one page travel blog and post it on the wall for all to read. His was about spending time at the beach sharing coconut flavored drinks with a former political leader, picking up women, and contracting HIV by the end of the trip. Completely out of bounds. It upsets me more that his writing has near perfect grammar. I say 'near perfect' because during a group activity, he was sitting aside drawing a tattoo on his wrist in black ink with skulls and hearts with a banner: "Love Suck." I didn't have the heart to correct him.

Karaoke

Never gets old. There are a few karaoke places near my apartment, and we shopped around a bit for the one we like. The one we went to last time mysteriously went out of business, so it was just a big glass window with an empty space inside, with nothing left but a dusty table with a huge (gallon) empty bottle of Jack Daniels. It was a sad sight. So we went to the one next door and we were led to a small room with race car wallpaper and red couches. We thought we'd get our motorbike helmets to really get into character. Then the waiter said it was a two dish minimum. We came to sing! Not to eat! Who wants to do karaoke while eating anyway? We left. One last chance, and we found a good, but plain little place. They had decent (farang) music. We belted straight for two hours. My voice was shattered. We danced the whole time too, and our feet were sore. The servers kept walking by our little booth to peek in at what nonsense we were up to every few minutes. We'd wave through the little window and they'd duck away. Walking out, exhausted, we peeked in other rooms and everyone else was sitting looking half conscious, how boring. They were probably having a crappy time because they were stuck next to our obnoxious booth.

It's a Constant Game

I explained to someone today that teaching English is like a constant game called "Let's Understand Each Other!" The winner is the one who can use their words to best describe what they mean. Sounds simple, right? Extra points are for the person who can explain what they mean to say without using hand gestures. I lose at that part. I use my hands when I don't need to, waving them around as if that will make the student understand the meaning of the phrase "pretty much" (which, by the way, is more difficult to explain than you'd think).

I played an extreme game of that today with a student. She is the ultimate sweetheart. I asked her to express her opinion on motorbikes in Chiang Mai. I asked her to talk about the advantages and disadvantages. After talking about the advantages she said, "They will be to steal you." I said, "Do you mean they could steal the bike? They could steal your bag out of the basket?" She said, "They will be to steal you." I explained that if the object is 'you,' it means that the person is stolen, not the object. With the shake of her head... let the games begin. Through a series of short phrases, and gestures and sound effects, she won the game. Her intended meaning was starting to surface from the depths of my deductive sentences. "So you mean a man is driving a motorbike with a woman on the back.. then a bad guy comes up behind them and hits the man and then grabs the woman off the back of the bike and kidnaps her?!" She nods with glee and says "Kidnap! Kidnap her!" She writes 'kidnap' in her vocabulary book. Then she says, "What is the word for the bad man does some bad things with the woman?" I hesitate to say it.."Rape?" She nods and writes it down. I said, "Does that really happen?!" But I think what I really meant was 'did this whole conversation just happen?'

I played the same game with another student last week but he definitely lost because when he couldn't think of a proper word to use he would randomly throw in the word 'dominated.' As in 'My friend was so confused and... dominated.' This just made me laugh to myself and let him carry on. So I guess I lost that one too.

Sightseeing, by Lapcharoensap

This young Thai-American author gets it right, and I think it's noteworthy enough to recommend to anyone who is interested in short stories about Thailand life. The short stories cover topics like military drafting, gambling, farang-Thai relationships, work, family and globalization. I very much enjoyed it and even though I haven't had first hand accounts of what these characters experience throughout the five plots, I can still see the details that the author points out that I do experience everyday. Language barriers. Old men carrying their chickens like beloved souls. Thais' distaste for McDonald's hamburgers. The rifts between westerners and Thais. This book keeps a delicate balance between an English-reading audience and Thai 'inside jokes.' It's simple, funny, thought provoking and eye-opening. Very much like an American girl's perspective on life in Thailand. I dig it.

Exam Exaltation

Lost in the land of grading exams. After a week, I've finally found my way out. It's a lonely world in the land of poorly constructed sentences, verb conjugations and plagiarism. I started to fear that my own English skills were being degraded with each exam I corrected. Never mind the paper cuts and adding skills I've accumulated over the last week. (I'm a human calculator slash Edward Band-Aid Hands.) I had to document my efforts; notice the pens to show the scale. I am starting the 'Mia Raises Funds for CMU to Purchase a Freaking Scantron Machine Foundation.' I've started it using my own salary. For those who don't know Scantron, it's a beautiful machine in which you feed bubbled-in answer sheets into it and it will count the correct answers in less than a second. I will even provide all the #2 pencils the school would need for the next 10 years. And sharpen them.

Not to mention that the teachers are provided with sets of blank printed Excel grids that we must record our students' grades by hand. Then we submit these grade sheets to a person who will enter them (by typing every last number and decimal point) into an Excel file. I had actually made a suggestion to the department on how to make this process more efficient, but the department said that chiseling the grades onto a slab of stone would be too expensive. Oh and don't let me forget, when I submitted my grade sheet, I explained that I switched two of the columns by accident, but made a note on the paper. I was handed a bottle of white-out and told that it would 'confuse the typist' if I didn't fix it. Holy archaic system, sometimes I wonder if this is a sick joke.

Taxes

Yes, I did my taxes like a good girl. It was actually an enjoyable experience. A couple of other ajarns and myself went over to city hall with our paperwork (which consisted of a piece of paper from the university, our passports and our work permits.) We showed up at city hall, where there are several buildings and everything is in Thai. We just happened to walk into the right building and directly to the right office. I don't know how it happened but we stood outside the office door when all of a sudden a parade of pink came out with gifts and food and smiling office workers. No, the parade was not for us, but we worried that because the party was leaving the office, that no one would be there to help us. A few people stayed behind and explained that the party was for their boss who was being promoted, yet they helped us anyway. They took care of us and sent us on our way. Now that we had our official documents and tax card, we had one of two options to actually pay our taxes. We could go into the city to another office where we could wait in a short line and pay cash (which is what we ultimately ended up doing), or the more hilarious option: filing our taxes online, waiting 5 days, and then bringing our papers into....you'll never guess....7-11. In Thailand you can pay your taxes at 7-11! I love it. I can get some hot dogs, big gulps, and pay my taxes all in 5 minutes. How much were taxes you ask? Under $15 for the year; they would have been less if I went to 7-11 and used all of my 7-11 sticker coupons. Ha.

Busy tonight?

This was my highlight of the day: I was treating myself to an early dinner at a nice Italian restaurant after I finished class. I say 'nice' because they actually had heavy silverware and cloth napkins. I come in the restaurant and smile and nod when the young animated host says, "Just one?" He gave a quick pity frown, then put a big smile back on. He was overly helpful and friendly, perhaps because I was the only one in the restaurant at 4:30. He kept coming back to check on me, gave me a free dessert, and brought me the check. Then he says to me, "Happy Valentine's Day." I said, "Thank you. You too. Will you be busy tonight?" He replies, "Oh... you are very beautiful but I must work tonight." I almost said, "No, no, I meant will the restaurant be busy tonight?" but I didn't want the sweet kid to be embarrassed for turning down a (seemingly desperate) American girl when he's clearly not into women so I simply handed him the bill and said, "Ok. The meal was delicious, thank you."

One Academic Year Down

Today was the last day of class for my second semester at Chiang Mai University. I can't believe I have a whole academic year under my belt already. I thought I just got here. A day like today makes me think about my first day teaching here. What is different now? It doesn't seem like a lot until I think about the fact that I didn't know what the hell I was doing when I got here. Now I still don't know what I'm doing, but at least I'm used to it. I didn't like spicy food, now I have it for breakfast. I couldn't speak Thai when I got here, now I still can't speak Thai, but I certainly know how to repeat phrases I hear just to get a laugh. Upon arrival I was simply a part-time lecturer at the university, now I have a bunch of fun jobs. I teach at an American University Language Center. I teach one-on-one private students, preparing three different Thais for their post-grad English studies in Australia, UK, and Bangkok. I write travel articles. I do consulting for a woman writing and preparing to defend her post-doctorate dissertation about a care program for premature infants. And that's just what I am up to this week. I am taking education to nerdy heights. I never knew I had it in me.

What makes the teaching gig worth every grammar correction, every explanatory charade, every chalk dust sneeze? I would say the class evaluation that says, "You calm. I love you, my teacher, Mia. See you next term."

For those who don't know, I am on board for another year in Chiang Mai. That's the plan for now. By the way, the weekend forecast looks pretty solid:
Can you blame me for sticking around?

Chiang Mai Flower Festival

We felt pretty dumb when we showed up a day late to the festival, but it actually worked out better that we went the day after it was over for two reasons: no crowds and flower giveaways. So maybe we were actually the smart ones. Granted, it was heartbreaking to see these beautiful displays being torn down and taken apart like a bitter early morning cleanup after a party. Except they weren't chucking empty beer bottles into bags on the back of a truck, but orchids! and roses! At least we could appreciate them before they were tossed away. Some of the good ones were salvaged, including our small purchases. I got two orchid plants for about $3. I explained to my Thai friend how expensive orchid plants can be in the states and her jaw hit the floor when I said 2500 baht (or around $75). A nice man clipped a couple of giant roses for us. Turns out those roses were the biggest darn things I've ever seen in my life. It was a lovely morning and we drove out of Chiang Mai to a wood carving village and a ceramics village and she showed me where she gets her favorite wonton soup. She actually drives a half hour out of the city for this soup. It was so good I had two bowls. I am very pleased with how my pictures turned out. You can see more in the link on the left.

Eating:1, Work:0

Hands down best way to spend a Friday night is getting a phone call while getting changed to go to the gym and dropping the workout for a foot massage and all-you-can-eat sushi. I came home and realized that I ate all three meals today (plus coffee) with the same person. We have similar tastes in activities (like eating and getting our feet rubbed). Now that I think about it, we spent more time enjoying food than we spent at work. Not bad. I've also reaffirmed my love for ahi tuna. Any day you reaffirm a love is a productive day if you ask me.

My Dic

I was having coffee with my good Thai friend before our 1pm class today. Actually we were having coffee and sharing a Belgian waffle, because we felt like some sugar for lunch. We also had spicy noodle soup together for breakfast. (There is no such thing as 'breakfast food' and 'lunch food' here.) That is neither here nor there. Now, she teaches me something new everyday and today's lesson I found pretty unbelievable.

"Oh! My dic!" she says.
"Your what?"
"I forgot my dic back in the office, but, it's ok. I don't need it today."
"What are you talking about?"
"My talking dic."

At this point I am laughing because I think I know what she's talking about, but I seriously can't believe it yet. But it is true. Thai people abbreviate the word dictionary. So Thai teachers will ask their students, "Do you have a dic? Uh oh. You forgot your dic? You left your dic at home? No one has a dic today? That's too bad."

Unreal.

Hmm, what do I miss?

Feeling under the weather this last weekend, and I've been fortunate to not have been sick hardly at all while in Asia. A solid immune system is something to be proud of. Anyway, being sick makes me miss certain comforts from home and the fact that I can't curl up with the dog on the couch with a good movie and a box of wheat thins gets me a little down. The best solution I could come up with yesterday was making a little trip to the farang grocery store and picking up a few items that I didn't realize I missed so much. I filled my basket with the following: a little bottle of olive oil, pepper, a few ounces of powdery Parmesan cheese, a small loaf of ciabatta, and a bag of sour gummy candy. Granted this cost a fortune for Thai standards, but oh let me tell you it was worth it. The only downside to it was that I realized when I got home that the fresh pepper I bought did not come with a grinder in the cap. I looked a little closer at the label and there was a picture of a mortar and pestle. I didn't anticipate having to grind my own spices by hand, but I can live without a few modern conveniences I suppose.

Back home on an under-the-weather-day like this, I would make it an M.I.A. day (not a self-centered ego day, not the hip hop band, and not like I would go missing-in-action or anything)... I mean the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Unfortunately there is not a lot of art to see in Chiang Mai unless you are in the market for a painting with either an elephant or a Buddha image. I really miss having that quiet open space to wander around in, and I especially miss the paintings. So as a lame attempt, I browsed internet collections of paintings and it nowhere near does any justice, but it kept me satisfied for now. Don't you love when you find a painting that makes you sit back and say, "Yes. That is exactly it." And you feel like it was painted only for you in that exact moment, and you'd probably feel differently on any other day. Here's mine.

Quirks I'm almost used to by now

1. A roll of toilet paper on each table to use as napkins
2. Stray dogs wearing t-shirts
3. Men shamelessly checking their flawless hairstyles in the mirrors on their motorbikes
4. Is that the ice cream truck I hear? No, it's the ice cream man ringing a silver bell pushing a vat of ice cream on wheels down the side of the road.
5. Whitening deodorant. Yes, it will make your armpit skin white as snow.
6. Cell phone dangle jewelry that is actually bigger than the cell phone
7. Don't bother picking up your heels when you walk (my least favorite sound)
8. Taking that drink to go? I hope you like your ice tea poured in a plastic bag with handles and a straw. You'll have to drink it before you put it down though.
9. No one escapes from Hello Kitty
10. The waiter will stand right next to you and stare with pencil in hand until you take a full 4 minutes to browse the 20 page menu and order something.
Honorable mention: Toast, Jew, and Big Bang (names of my students)

My perception of normalcy is now warped, but I don't mind.

Year of the Ox

This is my big year according to the Chinese. I'm an ox and this is the year of the ox in the Chinese New Year. (Thai people don't really celebrate the Chinese New Year because they have their own new year to celebrate in early April: the much-anticipated Songkran Festival.) Sources say the upcoming year doesn't look extremely favorable for the almighty oxes, but I think I'll have to be an exception to that rule.

They also say about oxes:
People born in the Year of the Ox are patient, speak little and inspire confidence in others. They tend, however, to be eccentric, and bigoted and they anger easily. They have fierce tempers and although they speak little, when they do they are quite eloquent. Ox people are physically and mentally alert. Generally easy going, they can be remarkably stubborn, and they hate to fail or be opposed. They are most compatible with Snake, Rooster and Rat people.

I would say that there are only a few parts to that description that my personality matches up with. For example, I lost my temper last week because someone told me I was a bigot because I said to them, " I have never been wrong in my entire life." I wouldn't budge. I guess you could say I was remarkably stubborn. Just the fact that they argued with me pissed me off so I beat them up with my bare hands. I absolutely hate to be opposed because clearly, I am always right. Then I got angry with myself because I failed to be physically and mentally alert enough to give them a roundhouse kick to the face when I had the chance.