Hha, this made me laugh:
Bangkok Street Dogs.
See! The Bangkok dogs are pretty. I love them all.
Yes, yes, I will post pictures eventually, as soon as I take them. Seriously, though, if you want to upload it takes about 10 years because of the silly slow internet, so when we figure out a faster way, I will post and post and post. There is one of me with a baby elephant, and there is pictures of many crocodiles, and I think everyone has crazy ones of me dancing in my Thai pants that may or may not be flattering (but, who cares, they are very comfortable.)  ¶ 1:48 PM |

  I need to post just to get that post off the front page! I am not sick anymore, amazing this wonder of medicine. Though I must say that medicine can be overprescribed, I am now realizing that my boycotting of medication might have been a product of my ungrateful attidute to the amazingness of modern medicine. I no longer feel like I might pass out from exhaustion and extreme pain any longer. Heh.

As for the rest of my life, there is a demand, it seems, to learn more about my schooling adventures. Yes, school seems to be quite a bit of my life, I just think I talk about it all the time to my friends here that I don't post about it enough. Yes, I am actually in classes. Heh. I go to school Mon to Wed, and am enrolled in 4 course. I love them all, especially Principles of International Business. I would say taht Business Finance is not my favorite (read: I dislike it) but that is to be expected given its combo of accounting meets liquity ratios weirdness. It's worth 4 credits back home, so I am dilligently working on it. My profs are amazing- and probably way more quailified than most of my SFU profs (never, ever tell my SFU profs that.) I have two Thai profs that have been all over the place, one French prof from the graduate school, and an American prof who helped set up the masters program here. They are all very well versed in everything business, and I am loving my courses. It is a bit different then home in that the tutorials and lectures are all in one, so you learn the practical as you learn the theory. In fact, the one prof is teaching the bare minimum of theory and instead focusing on us teaching eachotehr stuff, meaning we get to do weekly presentations. I love this, so much fun, seriously, as I love business and I love talking.... sooo... Heh. It is great being in such international classes as I am learning a lot about Europe as well as about Asia and Thailand. So much fun. Classes are 3 hours a shot, so it makes my Tuesday semi-taxing. Lots of quizzes (every week in two of my classes) and lots of assignments (every other week.) I am busier then I am at home, I think, which is great because I end up getting bored and unfocused at home (might have been my classes I was taking though...) I am so glad I am out of my lower divison stuff (aka all teh courses tehy force you to take) and onto my upper divison stuff (aka, I stuff I actually care about. Heheh.) I really wish I was taking one more class, but I am planning to take 5 next semester, so I am doing the max I can transfer back to SFU anyways. And it is nice to take off for the 4 days to explore Thailand. (Next semester, I will definitely not have this kind of amazing schedule!) Classes are all A/C'd (air conditioned), everyone comes in late (except the Internationals- we joke that we follow the uni rules better then the Thais!), you can wander out to talk on your cell phone (or, if you are a prof, you can answer you cell phone in class and talk to your stock broker about buying/selling stocks.) Very laidback, but I feel I am learning more then I was at home- because the profs seem to really, really care about their students, really love what they are doing, and the class format is way more condusive to asking questions (especially since the classes are so small.) All in all, I think that I am going to learn tonnes here- probably way more than I could have ever learned at SFU for this year. Especially given my degree concentration of INternational BUsiness!)

On another note, it was lightning like crazy here for about 4 hours. Barely any thunder and rain, just plenty of lightning... it was amazing. I didn't get struck by lightning, and our hotel didn't burn the ground, but it was exciting none the less.

Time for bed, lightning show is over!!  ¶ 11:26 PM |

  Topic SiCk: Bangkok Private Hospitals:
Sooo... (notice how I start every post with 'So...'?" Yes, tres creative.) Anyways, I am ill. Not stupid ill, but ill in a strange way. I slept most of yesterday, and was feeling 'off' all day. Complaining on and off of a sore stomach and throat. Anyways, I woke up around 10pm, feeling completely out of it.

And I kept hearing the Travel Nurse repeating over and over again in my head; "if you have flu like symptoms go right to the hospital." Anyways, so between Lesley, Michelle, and I we managed to establish that I, indeed, had flu-like symptoms, and most likely a fever. At midnight, I finally conceded that perhaps doctor-time was in order. (Though every few seconds I was heard saying, "Are you sure we should go...")

After a 87bht ($2.50) drive across town to one of the many "private, modern, English speaking hospitals" we were greeted by about 5 security/nurses/whatever guys who then wisked us directly into the check-up area. I was sat down on a stretcher, swarmed by about 3 different nurses, saw a doctor within about 3 minutes who did a checkup, confirmed some bacterial infection, and was told I needed "antiobiotics, some sort of weird electrolyte solution, and tylenol." I said, "no, no" to the tylenol and to electrolyte, because I have some at home, but due to language barriers, I somehow ended up paying for said tylenol and elctrolyte. Anyways, we were out in under 20 minutes, and my total bill came to 1596bht. About $45. The biggest expense was (of course) medicine, at 900+bht. The actual doctors visit (all I really cared about anyways- you all know how I feel about medicine, any medicine) was only 500bht (about $17.)

Still irritated that I got tylenol (with codine!) and was plotting to not take the antiobiotic, because I think it is better that I learn to fight the Thai bacteria sans antiobiotic. However I when I woke up this morning there was a note right beside my head saying "Call me if you need anything. Take your antibiotic!! (I mean this nicely.)- Michelle." And I also heard my own voice in my head saying, "don't be a hero, you idiot." Anyways, those factors, and that my stomach hurts so much, has prompted me to take the antiobiotic.

So, yes, the speed and whatnot of the hospital does lend itself to me wanting to subscribe to private hospitals, but raises some issues... such as whether my best interest was a heart or if they simply wanted to drive my bill up, through drugs, to cover their expenses (aka adding on misc drugs thereby contributing to the superbug.) Also, what about all the Thai's who are stuck using the 30bht/visit (about $1/visit) government subsidized program that has been accused of handing out expired drugs and forcing severely ill patients to wait for days, even weeks to even see a doctor (some Thai's would even say they are subpar doctors)? Yes, social issues are challenging indeed.

I am going to go back to sleep again, I think. That is horrible, because I slept until 11am this morning, for about 10 hours. I usually sleep a lot when I am sick, but this is a whole new level of sleeping. Okay, not entirely. I figure it is best to be stuck away in bed sleeping then out infecting the masses with whatever bacteria is lurking. I have fumigated the apartment today.

Topic SGUB: Bangkok Cockroaches and Lizards
Cockroaches: They are huge, come mostly out at night, and one likes to live on our balcony. Yes, disgusting little guys, who are very scared of us. We are very scared of them when they chase us around the sidewalks, probably hoping to seek safety in our pant legs. Shudder. Heh.

As for the lizards, they live on the walls, though not inside out hotel rooms. Just outside. They are quite cute and run around all cute like. I can't imagine anyone would not like them. They are quite intriguing. Jieppe warned that they can all of the sudden fall of the ceilings and walls and land on you with a "pop." Obviously, that makes them less fun, and more Fear Factor-esque.

---

I finally registered to Facebook. So far this system is a tad bit weird, but we'll see. I want to figure out how to load my pictures, but it seems that I have to load them one by one, and I am just not up for that. Ever. Heh.  ¶ 11:24 AM |

  Topic 11;1: Homesick for Coffee:
So, I got home sick today. Mostly because I woke up late and realized that all I wanted in the whole world was coffee. Coffee in Thailand is hard to come by. Granted I could have walked to Starbucks that is about 15 minutes away, but I wasn't in the mood for hardcore overpriced coffee (yes, yes, I love them but sometimes do not crave them...) I was in the mood for Tim Horton's or 7-11 coffee. I remembered when I used to walk to Kensington Starbucks at 4:30am to open, and would stop at 7-11 for coffee on the way. Hah, yes I missed those days. This was usually after walking Nick up as I mumbled about having to go to work, knowing that I would come back after my shift, like 4 hours later, and he would still be sleeping (granted, that would only be like 9am.) Hehe, anyways, coffee here is ridiculously bad. Okay, not bad, different. As in, instant Nescafe. I had coffee downstairs that was okay, but I really just wanted 7-11 or Tim Horton's. Alas, such is life. Always the simple, random things we miss, it is true! And then walking to drop of my laundry, I was getting harrassed by the tuk-tuk drivers and I just kept saying, "my pen rai, ka" over and over again, thinking about how I am rarely harrassed on the way to various places in Canada, unless it is young boys shouting "hey baby" to me. Heh, yes, my life is so awful. I am here in a beautiful country in an incredibly interesting city living in a gorgeous hotel with nice people and great food, and I am moaning about the overeager salespeople and the lack of 7-11 coffee. Woe is me.

Topic 13.444.44: More Bangkok Nightlife and Different Treatment of Situations:
*might make no sense, more for me to recollect last night.
Hehe. I am going to stay in this afternoon, though everyone is going out to the weekend market. I think I need some quiet time, hhe, because my tummy is upset (oh so cute) and I am a little exhausted. And I have schoolwork to study lots and lots. Wel,, enough. tis fun. Anyways, last night was bizzaro world, but oh so intriguing. We went to this bar with Anand and his friends, and one of his friends is obviously very important, because we got ushered into the bar and a table and chairs appeared for us, and then a portable bar was set up on the table and a guy stood there and dished out our drinks all night. It was incredibly intrigiung. Sometimes Bangkok just shocks me how we are treated like royalty. They had guys to open our car door in the parkade! It is all so intriguing. I want to volunteer here, becaue I think that it would be very easy to fall into the "I am Royalty" mindset. Along the same token, I have already seen the sense of entitlement that some display here, especially among recently arrived foreigners- tourists. I might be being ethnocentric when I say this (as I go about spouting off my diversity is equal Canadian mantra), but I don't think it should be like this. I mean, I understand money gets you a lot of places, I just don't think that is a license to be completely disrespectful and negative to those that are providing services and whatnot for you. This might be borne from my years in the service industry. I suppose I just have to accept differences in how everyone treats eachother, but it still frusterates me when I see people yelling at, say, cab drivers, when Thai's do not speak English. It is increidbly intriguing to me, as some native English speakers from the Western world say, for example, "I want water" and then, when not understood in this foreign country (where English is, obviously, not the native lanuage), insist on saying the phrase louder; "I WANT WATER." Yes, because increasing the volume will increase the level of understanding. I think I repeat phrases, but I ensure I do this while trying even harder ot act out what I want (hehe, sometime it gets very ridiculous and causes me and the Thai's to laugh as I am jumping around of whatever.) It is all good natured, and I usually try to smile and laugh, except when I am very cranky (then there is much less enthusiasim.) I sure hope I never yell or constantly raise my voices at the Thai! Oh so not cool.

At any rate, later we met up with some people from the exchange, namely Nicole, quite by accident, indeed. Nicole, Michelle and I had so much awesome fun, as we decided to have a 'rest' in the hotel elevator when we arrived home. This was all good and fine until the elevator got called and we were all still sitting there, when the elevator doors opened. It was so hilarious. Esepcailly since we were all eating ice cream and looking quite a home. And Michelle had stood up and was slamming the close door button as I was going "oh crap, oh crap" and then we managed to shut the door of the elevator and get back up to our rooms. I was almost dying it was so funny. It sounds rather bizzare, and it was, even more so that the people who called the elevator were the most serious drunks we have been around. We had just left the same people like 25 minutes before at this restaurant because they were being so serious. They were people from our exchange, who did not find Michelle, Nicole, and I as hilarious as we acutally are. So, we left them, and they hadn't even ordered yet at the restaurant and then we went to sit on the elevator for like 10 minutes and all of the sudden they were there (this is strange, as they said later they had eaten in the span of the time since we had left them- so either they were lying or we were in the elevator for a lot longer then we had realized. Probably the latter.) We call them the souless ones, actually, we call them the humorless ones. They have souls, very nice ones, just no humor last night. I mean, seriously, wearing aprons and motorcycle helmets while sitting at the table of Thai restaurant late at night is actually quite funny, especailly if you start impromteau (spelling!?) games of 'thumbs' just to confuse everyone. This is a convuluted and semi-sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek story, and I am sorry you are subjected to it. Thai whiskey does that to you. As does stomach ache and overload of intriguing (interesting) people. Hah, we like them, I like them all. Everyone is fun and intriguing in their own way, just not everyone gets our incredibly amazing sense of humor. Imported with a beautiful partnership between America (Nicole) and Canada (Michelle, me.)

Topic 13.444.44, Part 2: American Intrigue
Story 1:
Other person: "Nicole, I thought you were from Canada, I mean, you are so nice."
Nicole: "Hahah."
Story 2:
Nicole: "Hi, I am Nicole, nice to meet you."
Random American in Red Shirt: "Hey, I am American in Red Shirt, have you been in Asia long?"
Nicole: "No, just got here, for the first time!"
Random American: "First time?! How have you lived! I mean, SERIOUSLY, HOW HAVE YOU LIVED!" (in serious, mean tone ever)
...
Me (later): "So, Red Shirt, have you been to Antartica?
Red shirt: "Um, well, I plan to fly from New Zealand to there at some point.. just not yet...."
Stef: "Oh, I have been there, I mean, how have you lived!? It's Antartica! I love Antartica."
Red Shirt: "Hah. Who wants to see polar bears anyways?"
Me: "Polar bears!? No, no, there are no polar bears there. Polar bears are Canadian. And sometimes Russian....Wow, yes, I mean, I understand not getting to, say, Canada, but not going to Antartica ever!? Bizzare!!"
Red Shirt: "Um, I, um..."
Me: "Hah, it's okay, have you ever been to Russia?"
Red Shirt: "No... I mean, who goes to Russia?"
Nicole: "I LOVE Russia... I mean, how have you lived, not seeing Russia or Antartica?! It's so fun there!"
Red Shirt: "You guys are so well traveled..." (inching away.)
Red Shirt (to President of USA via Skype): "... Yes, that is what the Canadian said, I think they were mocking me, very nicely, mind you, I can't really tell if it was for real or not....."

As a result, America and Canada have now broken their long-standing peace (since we burnt down their White House in 1812), so sad. I am sorry we caused an international incident.

Topic 6.4: Living Situation:
Anyways, at least I love my roommates. They are all so fab. Julia, Lesley and Michelle. We have grand fun, and everyone seems to really get along, and not be overly passive-aggressive. Always a plus in shared living situations. Respect, yes. It's grand fun... Especially since there is a small pup that Michelle is irritated by right now. God knows why, he is darling and does not bark or bite or do anything but look cute. Especialyl since he was given 100% bill of clean health a few days ago. No rabies or anything from him (good thing, as I was too cheap to get the rabies shot back home.)Only slight irritants is high demand for internet connection (since we only have one), losing/mistaken stealing of hotel keys, and water-drinking mixups. Those things are easily rectified, as soon as we get a black marker and start labeling who's is what. As for internet, we make do! Always okay, everyone is so generous, letting me borrow their computers!

Topic 123a: Social Networking in The Apprentice and Missing My Family:
Realized that it is really easy to degrade into pettiness and out of control gossiping when it comes to a room full of 12+ girls. I especially enjoy when I get chronically looked up and down by some very scared girls. Actually, some encounters recently drills into me that The Apprentice, Thailand Version, has recruited some of the most secretly scared people I have thus far encountered in life. (Probably because it is such a contrast to the normal people I surround myself with.) Remember this vaguely from Union House and grade 12. Find hanging out with guys much more relaxed, though certain guys and certain girls in combo do make for interesting times, especially when love (lust) gets added to the equation. And, besides, I wouldn't trade my girlfriends for anything in the world. Except maybe Christina, I would trade her anyday. Heh. And Carling too, come to think of it. I heard "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy and Faith Hill last night at the bar (they love older music here) and thought of the summer houseboating with the family and we girls insisted on listening to that (and Heaven Is A Place on Earth over and over and over again.) Poor Un Padre, he was subejcted to the same tape over and over again. Good thing he is good-natured, though our tape did suspiciously go missing on the third morning. Hehe, just kidding. If only I knew Bruce Springsteen and such was so cool then, because then we would have had more music, as Dad definitely had his music kicking around, we always just insisted on the same songs over and over again. We had to impress the boys going by on their houseboats, after all. Notice how I am saying a lot without saying anything? Perhaps. Heh. My brain is fried, because I want coffee so much. It blurs all creativity and intelligence.

Topic a5f: Diving In Thailand
So, diving might be out, because did you realize that there is 70 FEET long 'Whale Sharks?' Yes, I know. As long as a building, and the longest sea creature in the world (of what we know thus far, the ocean is a big, big place) and he goes along with his mouth open and has gills that capture food. So not a Stefanie-eating shark, but it has potential to be the scariest moment of my life as I am swimming along and look down to see something the size of a very very tall office building going along beneath me. I actually get cold and shivery thinking about it, because, though I have learn to control anxiety very well, I doubt I would be able to contain my axiety at that point. I might, as MIchelle says, barf in my breathing mask, sending myself careening up to the surface, causing my ear drums to explode and result in me getting air bubbles in my bones and therefore totally kill my future career as an astronaut and/or circus performer. However, because I just said I was scared to the point of feeling completely ill right now at the thought of going diving, I must now ensure that I do get my 4-day diving certificate so that I can overcome said fear. I mean, I managed to get over other fears in the past. Though, it might be said that in the process of getting over some fears in the past, I have, incidently, developed new fears.

Topic 3r4t: Stefanie's Monologue:
(an aside)
(I think I am homesick and bordering semi-negative today. Homesick=missing people, not the place, per se, thought a tad of that too. All part of the experience, yes, that is what I will say. Part of the experience. Blogging is a good way to watch it unfold. Though, I am sorry for subjecting you all the negativity, as such, because I do love it here, just homesick and feel a little...mmmm... drained. Today is the day that I goal-set again, and get myself back of track- so easy to lose sight of the important things. Though, I must compliment myself (and, more so, Michelle) on our ability to keep laughing. Entering meditative state... ohhhmmmm... focus on the bigger picture. Yes.... If my cellphone worked I would call all you all, though it is currently almost midnight in Vancouver, and very late in Carling and Christina and Grandparents land. Positive, positive, refocus. No more bar-going for me, for quite a while, as I think it can have potential to derail me, even if I do study all day. Though, I LOVE dancing. Hehe, just have to find a place with a consistent dance-floor, as the Thai bars seem to move around tables, right onto the dance floors at a constant rate.)  ¶ 12:22 PM |

  (What do you eat after the bar in Thailand? Not street hot dogs, and certainly not McDonalds. You eat crab meat that you can eat like a cheesestring, that costs $20/stick. Mmm, mmm good. I am addicted. With some banana chips and some weird purple, with floaties, juice (so amazing tasting)... life is good. And tres healthy, mmm, especially the beer. The beer is very healthful, as the Germans would say. "Healthful." Yes. Indeed, beer is good for you. Crackers needs a walk. Heheh. Bye!)  ¶ 3:20 AM |

  Dance, dance dance.

Jin, from South Korea:
"Stefanie, your dancing is a... marvel."

Yes, that is why I feel in love with Jin from South Korea. Anyone who can keep up with my dancing is worthy of my direct love. Absoutely. Too bad he has girlfriend from South Korea. I say, goodbye girlfriend from South Korea. And he says:

"Stefanie, your dancing is a... marvel."

I love dancing, I mean, who doesn't. I dance with South Korea, with Belgiumx3, with Germany, with Netherlands, with America, and with Canada. We say, "I am from Cae-na-da." They love it here.

Presentations was tres good, only better were all other presenations that made me laugh like I have never laughed before, and then I laughed agian and then again. We had Germans in costumes, we had Sweds in weird frog-dancing-around-a-wooden-tree-with-flowers fiasco, we had South Korea (sigh) traditional dance, we had Thai traditional dances with costume, we had American square dancing, we had Netherlands quiz show, we had France can-can dancing, we had Austrialia weirdenss, we had it all. It was pricelss, such a fun night, sans alcohol. THen we had the alochol and we danced, danced, dance and I am a marvel. A MARVEL. I am like a superstar there, this is incredible.

And, this is another post from the future. I am a marvel, aren't I? Why, indeed I am. Remember when we dance and dance? Yes, I am becoming ESL here in Thailand, it is amazing, you can just drop letters, and sentences, and words, and everyone understands. This is my idea of brillance. Guess who got an A, in Ethics? What what! I think my International Business prof likes me. He goes to Pattaya with the western men who sleep with young Thai women. This is very heartwarming. I like when he looks at me creepy and goes, "mmm, mmm." Ick, serious. He is like, mmm, well, his kids are moved out of the house, but, no worries, I can "stay in their rooms" if I ever go to Seattle, his home town, and we can "go out for beers," with his "wife" who is "back home in Seattle" while he is in "Thailand" and "it'll be so much fun." Friendly, perhaps. Creepy, definitely. Without a doubt.

Remember when this place is so fun?! Yes, but life is generally fun. Fun fun haha! Yes. Buckets of, how do you say, booze(?), yes tres fun.

So, Cracker Banana Pants is whimpering, he was basking on the balcony while his madre went out cab riding and club dancing. He wants to go and roll around in the pooled water in Bangkok, which means I will have to give him a shower later (no bath here.) High maintenance little pup. Indeed.

Did you know tha tI was saving up ALL this stories to tell you all, but then I forgot them? There is so many intriguing little facts about Thailand, like, for instances, they do not use knives. Nope, they use spoon in right hand, and fork in left. And you eat with spoon, and cut with fork. Intriging. And they love jellied anything. I had a hamburger bun, and it had green jelly stuff in it. I was brave, and it was good, but... and then Nicole had a hot dog bun with cookies n' creme flavoured filling. Yes, it it intriguing here. And, beer is cheap. Tres cheap. You drink Sighn if you are cool, but Chang if you are poor. Sihgn=Tiger in Thai, Chang=Elephant in Thai. And Tiger beer=Tiger in Thai. Bet you didn't see that coming. Boy, o boy, they love their animals. So much that sometimes they put them in Animal Abuse Centres. That is my favorite. Chain 'em up, cage 'em up, and then poke 'em. Especially when tourists are around, because we cheer and say, "YES! You conquered the animal world! You conquered nature! We are the best!" This is especially fun.

So, on antoher note, there is this phrase, "Love you long time" Yes, so incredibly funny, because it is from a song, and makes us laugh. SO we say, "We love you long time" and giggle. And then we learn how to say it in Thai, "Racoon nun nun." And then we say this all the live long day. And then we giggle. And then we giggle and tell Nathan, Michelles boyfriend via phone. Nathan says, "Holy crap, you are going to get beaten up!" And we say, "Why? So funny! Pout lin! Pout lin! Funny joke!" And then he says, "Omigod, you idiots, it is what the prostitutes said to the Americans during the Vietnam War." So, we were silent for about 1095 days, give or take a few days, and then we were shamed. No only did we offend, we learned to offend in TWO languages. Internationally. No more racooon nun nun for anyone. Horrible, horrible, mai dee, mai dee, bad, bad. Love you long time? No. Never.

So, Cracker Banana Pants is really cranky, we must shower sometime, I suppose. Awesome. Another Canadian word. So, I brought a Canadian flag up to Thaialnd, because that is what we Canadians do, and we brought it on the stage tonight, and an America exclaimed, "Haha, omigod, they brought a flag to Thailand, how over the top are they about their country!?" And I giggled, because if there is one thing I love, I love the Canada. I mean, how can you not? It is middle of the road, diversity is our friend, prepare us for the world at large, embrace the culture of all kind of place! That is what I said. I loves it. As we all do. Regardless of renegade Prime Minister who just really wants to sit cozy-cozy lovely-love with AmeriBrit. Who can blame him, really, I mean, Blair is a looker, and Bush says 'Yo dude.' Exactly. Oh wow, did I really get into politics there? Wow. This is not a political site. We leave those that can do more than just mock and lend their sarcasim to the masses.

At any rate, apparently drinking Signh (I have no idea how to spell it- we pronouce it 'sing beer') makes me incredibly brilliant in my witty comments. Good thing I am a marvel, or you might get irritated about now. Did you know you can rent shoes from the bar if you accidently wore flip flops to la bar? It is true. That or you can bribe the bouncers. Either or. It is all increidbly good natured anyways, and all of us got in, even the 18 year old, I think. We all have fun. Good thing I am pretters (aka a female), otherwise I would have had to bribe/rent shoes, because I love my flip flops. Make me laugh, long time.

Hhehe, time for la bed. Must study some more tomorrow. Strange thing is, I actually like studying here. I think, ick, I might actually be INTERESTED in my classes. What is this? Oh geez, what has the world come to! Seriously. I love being young and being crazylike. Life is too short to worry, indeed. Must go put my flower lei in water, we got them from the party tonight- the welcome party! Such good food in this country, and such nice people, and such good parties, and I danced all night with the eager gentlemen (as a joke!!!) and my new Thai friends. I love my Thai friends, there are so much fun. We dance and dance. Ohlala. Goodnight! Time for bed- 3am now, in the future. Yes, prophet Stefanie says goodnight.  ¶ 2:16 AM |

  K; SO I AM BACK on the german computer, and it is confusing me, zet again. we went out tonight, with anand and his friend to this random bar that was a vw bug (rhian will love this) that was turned into a cocktail bar and parked on the side of the street, with weird ikea like stools and tables plunked down beside it. 200bht (a la $7) for bucket of alcohol. this was the beginning and end of the bar. sao intriguing, so fun. we drank buckets of martinis and then michelle and i bartered with tuk tuk to go home, onlz 100bht, though thez were quoting 400bht. god, we are good. anand's friends are hilarious, and i was up to mz usual antics. so fun. slightlz intoyicated. that is fun. tuk tuks are alwazs fun, high risk behavior, indeed. zes, it is true. but for 1 forth the price. aw, german computers, so complicated. anzwazs, off i go to sleep, after a shower, i look, how do zou saz, ickz. hehe. kissies and hugs.  ¶ 12:03 AM |

  (Finally changed my blogger settings to Bangkok time, now it will appear for all my Canadian readers that I am writing from the future. I will appear wise and become like a prophet. Perfect. Heh.)  ¶ 10:16 AM |

  So, yep, another day in Bangkok. I got such yummer grocheries yesterday, aka chocolate soy milk and banana chips. Banana chips are the best invention yet. They are dried banana slices, so they look like chips, but with almost no sugar. Ohlala, so exciting. Very tres yummers. That's all.

Oh yes, and I had a quiz yesterday, but the professor, for the second time in a row, failed to bring the right amount of quizzes, so we did not have to write it. Brilliance. He is chronic with the unpreparedness. He told us, no matter what, we have to be on time for class and then he pranched in 15 minutes late. I love hypocrites!

Yesterday was intriguing because it was full of drama, drama is all intriging. One such drama was as follows....

Drama 1: Thailand Group Presenation:
So, the Canadians have to present a 5 minute presentation on our country tomorrow night, to all our professors, our Thai buddies, and the other international students. I have a Canada flag, and suggested we sing O'Canada, and since all these kids are under 20 they, of course, do not want to sing out national anthem, because tehy think it would be "lame." I called them on it, saying that they were just embarrassed to sing in front of people, and they denied it. It made me so frusterated that 10 Canadians are refusing to sing our national anthem. One even said, "that is not Canadian" and I almost barfed. Yes, the anthem, how unpatrotic of me to suggest it. Anyways, someone thought of the idea of saying the "I am Canadian" rant that was on the Molson Canadian commerical years ago. This is intriguing, but, as I pointed out, it was marketed to only Canadians, so almost no one will get what the heck it means, except maybe the Americans. Further, it defnies Canadians as being "not American" and doesn't talk about us being CANADIAN. ANyways, as Ambassadors for our country overseas, these kids pushed for it, and some people agreed we should change some parts. So, anyways, this is what we finally have:

1. Hey, I'm not a lumberjack, or a fur trader.... (Tim#1)
2. I don't live in an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dogsled.... (Tim#2)
3. and I don't know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada,
although I'm certain they're really, really nice. (Amy)
4. I have a Prime Minister, and a Queen. (Anna)
5. I speak English and French, and over 96 other languages. (Stef)
6. I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack. (Michelle)
7. I believe in peace keeping, not policing, (Lesley)
8. …diversity, not assimilation, (Rob)
9. …and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal. (Andrea)
10. Canada is the second largest landmass! (Faye)
11. The first nation of hockey! (Jenny)
12. …and are diverse from Coast to Coast. (Justin)
13. My name is…. (Rob)
then we all say our names down the line.
14. And we are Canadian! (all of us.)

These are my complaints to the 12 year olds about it:
#1 Why are we, once again, isolating ourselves from the native culture? There are still Canadians who live in igloos, eat blubber, and own a dogsled. Yes, I understand that Canada has systematically oppressed these groups, and it is a horrible, disgusting part of our past as Canadians. It makes sense that we would want to air this oppression on an international scale. I loved it when one of the kids said, "but only like a few 1000 people actually live like that now." Great, that is perfect logic. We should also say, "we don't eat beanfried tofu, don't go to temple, and burn crosses" because that is also an accurate represenation of what it means to be Canadian, going with the logic presented. And then we later say how we love diversity and hate assimilation. A little bit of contradiction never hurt anyone, especially when it is aimed at the natives. The is especially intriguing, as all the 12 Canadians on exchange are of Western European descent. We hardly represent the diversity we are going on and on about. Granted we do have one Asian immigrant on our roster, but 1/12 being non-white is hardly going to be compelling evidence for people who have never been to Canada. I am off on a rant...

#2 Some of us our lumberjacks, some of us do hunt for food, and some of us do wear animal furs. Look, for example, at the great majority of people hacking down trees all over BC. Granted they don't stand there with axes, they prefer to sit in their machines and hack them down, but they may or may not wear red plaid button ups. I have no idea, I just know that we maybe shouldn't pretend that we don't flatten forests and kill small furry woodland creatures. Yes, ideally, we would not sell hunting licsences to Americans, but the truth is, we do.

#3 The Thai's will NOT know what the heck a lumberjack, blubber, dogsled are anyways, as most of them grew up in Thailand and spead English learned in school- I highly doubt they are well versed on words unique to Canada. So, really, none of this matters anyways, as it will not be understood very well by the people who comprise our target audience.

#4 The above takes under 2 minutes to present, slightly shy of the demanded 5 minutes. So not only will we look like racists that make no sense, we will also look like we are underprepared and slackers. Brilliant.

Sure glad we are representing Canada to the fullest out here in Thailand, especially since we are all too embarrassed to sing our own anthem. The Germans are putting on a full on German dance with costumes, for god sakes! And the Sweds are doing some random dance with music. And then the Canadians get up, mumble some randomness about not being lumberjacks and loving diversity, when the only reason we have been in international news lately is regarding the softwood lumber crisis and Harper's support of the invasion of Lebanon. Yes, we love our trees and we sure do love diversity.

Okay, enough of that right now. I have given up the fight, bceause some battles are not worth fighting, such as convincing image-concerned 12 year olds to sing our national anthem. If anything, this experience has lead me to become even more proud of Canada, even if we do lots of dodgy things.

For example, did you know we have tonnes of natural resources, the most lakes of any country, 32 distinct ethnic groups that have over 10000 members, we have 32 million people and growing due to widescale immigration practices, we demand that everyone learn English before become Canadians, we don't even demand that all Canadians learn French even though it is our national language, we will host the U-20 World Cup next year, and the Olympics in 2010, we have the largest unprotected boarder in teh world with the USA, and we have an outpost closest to the North Pole, and we invented to word touqe, invented baseball, and a bunch of other stuff, including having a 99% literacy rate.

Yes, tres exciting. Okay, I am done that rant. No more drama, no drama, no no drama. Heh. Bye.  ¶ 9:19 AM |

  So my stomach is upset. I'm sick, my tummy hurts. Not very upset, but forced me to take some dreaded pills because it is making me ill, my stomach that is. That is okay, as it is getting me used to the food and whatnot. I am sure. Postive, positive. I do not do well when I am sick. I am trying to do well. I tell my friends here that I am just informing them of my current state of being, I am not whining. This is a clear distinction. Whining is negative, informing them of my current state of being is postive, and condusive to friendship building and sharing. I mean, I am just telling them, I am not carrying on in a high pitched, drawn out manner. Yes, exactly. My tummy hurts.

Topic 15315.5: Thai Movies:
Okay, so we went to the IMAX to see Superman. I have already seen it, so the only reason I saw it was because it is in 3D. We get in the nice theatre, and have to stand when the video of the King is played. They love their King here, like crazy. I love him too. And then it plays a nice song, we bow and then watch the movie, with out 3D glasses on. About two seconds into it I realize that it is not 3D at all, and just large on the big IMAX screen. Nicole and I giggle uncontrollably, forcing Rob to give us a dirty look. Heh. Then at some point, the screen flashes the image of green glasses on the bottom of the screen and then we all giggle and put on our glasses. One minute of hazy 3D follows. Then flashing red glasses come on the bottom. This happens twice more, for a total of 3 minutes of actual 3D at the Superman 3D movie. Tis very intriguing. Yesterday night, I asked Anand about it. APparently it said, in Thai, on the ticket: "Only 3 minutes of actual 3D." This is incredibly funny to me. You really need to have an amazing sense of humor here, otherwise you would be extremely frusterated and border on full out anger. Goodbye ethnocentrism, hello patient!! At least you can buy beer at the movie theatre. Heh. Allllo Chang. Changover, as Andrew likes to call it. Chang beer is yummy, as is Sighn beer. I wrote that wrong, for sure.

Topic 045913.564.4: The Apprentice, Thailand version:
At SFU, because of the high number of ESL students, I usually am the writer, talker, and el presidente of the business groups we get thrown into for class. This is okay because it gives me supreme ruler of the universe power, but it is also negative, because then you miss out on other opinions and whatnot. (Even though I try to pry ideas out of the other students, even if they are crap. Hah, Just kidding.) Anyways, being in groups with other North American students, a la the kids from UVIC and OttawaU has proven itself interesting. We all seem to have something to prove, and topics are hotly debated, rather than just passively agreed to. This lent itself to an interesting breakfast this morning, as we all debated the topics of our next-weeks presentation. It was hilarious, because I was way more passive then I am at home. I mean, I put in my two-cents, but I am totally content to let the other girls take the lead. I kind of realize that conceeding is totally fine, and it is not attached to my self-concept at all. I mean, other topics are plently interesting. YOu can easily identify the people who feel as if their topics are tied directly to their feelings of self-worth. THis is a long drawn out way of saying, I am too old for this crap. Just kidding, it is so interesting. All jokes are funny because they have a hint of truth in them. Heh. Anyways, tha twas interesting, especially since the APprecentice candidates all showed up sans shcool notebook. That was interesting, and resulted in all of them being encouraged to go back upstairs to get their stuff. ANd only 4/6 people actually showed up for the meeting. 2 of them late. I was the only one going to be there, but then I woke my roommate up, and we woke the other two up. THe other one just didn't show and one called to say that she wanted to change the time to 4pm. Tis interesting. Culture shock on all levels, including from the other Canadians.

Topic a35fj,36:99: My Future
I have recently and passionatly decided I want to become a business professor*. Yes, this is the latest and greatest plan, and still fits in with me forcing myself to finish my undergraduate degree and then go onto my MBA. Heh. Throw in some more work experience,a nd then I will work and write and teach classes. This is brilliant to me, as many universities hire part-time profs. Seeing as I love teaching, and constantly think of ways that the prof could teach us the concept better, I think this is great. Hhe. Perfect. *subject to change significantly in future.

Topic 1: Top Secret (Code word: Cracker Banana Pants):
The little guy is doing quite well, and comes to class with me sometimes. He is very tiny, some sort of mutt. He cuddles in my bed and has not been found by the maids yet. Or, if he has, I am not in trouble yet. He is my best friend, I think and replaced Fred the Plant (updates on him, Nicci and Dad!) for now, though no one will truly replace him.

Topic 135135h: Tattoo:
So, you are not suppose to get tattoos very wet in first 2 weeks. I forgot it had only been a week when I went swimming in teh ocean on Sunday, and forgot again when I went swimming in the pool in the monsoon. Now it is itchy, and I pray that does not get infected. It healed pretty well, up until my madi (thai word for bad.) It still looks okay, as I think it has been soaked since I got here- it is truly hot. Even beats the Ontario summers by far. The Ontario kids here (from Ottawa) are struggling as much as the rest of us. Still happy I got a tattoo, though have had more than a few freakouts, thinking this is on my body forever and ever. Realizing how many people have them, and glad I got it on my very lower back so you will only see it if I want you to see it! Score, doublescore. It'll all be fine. Just a change. Very humbling, as it makes you realize that this is just a body and nothing totally insane or something to be feared. Life is exciting.

Topic 2: Medical in Thailand:
Apparently, I meant to email my grandma about this, you can get knee replacement surgeries for 10,000bht, which is under $500. And they treat you like royalty, and almost all the doctors are Western doctors. I know for a fact, actually, that this is how expensive it is: 10,000 bht (just havne't bothered to do the currency conversion yet, you can do it through google.) It is ridiculously cheap; I am doing a project on the medical system in Thailand, well, a specific company here. It is so interesting, if you go to their website, I will post the link later. You can get plastic surgery for next to nothing. And the sex-change busines here is the most technologically advanced in the world. So, if you are coming to Thailand... there you go! Hahah, anywasy, all very intersting. If you go to the doctor here, you just say, "I am going to the hospital." It is very weird. Haven't had to yet, and I won;t have to for sure. Positive thinking.



I have to go to school now, and put on my wrinkled uniform. Also have to say allo to teh lizard that live on our walls downstairs in our hotel. Also have to find some of this green tea drink that is 20bht, which is like 68cents or something, that I am addicted too. Sure beats the $4.78 latte a la starbucks. Stil haven't ebeen to a Starbucks here, even though it seems that the Thai's LOVE to talk about it, especially in classes. I still get defensive, I am so fiercly loyal to that company, i hate when it is misquoted or misrepresentative. Yes, i am being open to new ideas and perceptions, but don't attack my favorite company!!!

Okay, hehhehe, I seriously have a new theory about Canadians feeling like they always have something to prove, especially ebcause we define ourselves as NOT being Americans and NOT British and NOT European. I think, I have observed, we all complexes. Generalization and a projection here, perhaps, but an interesting theory that I will develop in coming days. It seems Americans KNOW they are amazing, and like to tell us about it. Canadians are more defensive. I think probably ebcause we hear about how we are just like Americans, and get to live with gross misreprentations of our country. Aka, it is horribly cold there, even though it is comparable, for the 80% of the population who live along the American/Canada boarder, to European and most of American temperatures. Heh. Anyways, I am educating the masses about Canada. Indeed. Fiercly proud, even thoughI think I am going to settle down in Thailand now. Heh.

On that note... Heheh. Bye!  ¶ 11:44 AM |

  I am back from the beach side town, back to my four star hotel. Holy crap, it is rainy like crazy right now. It all of the sudden just started, it's awesome. So cool. Like monsoon weather. THis is insane, just rolled in so quickly and is pouring. It was blue skies maybe 10 minutes agl, not cgrey and POURING. I can not even describe the rain righ tnow. It's beautiful. Foggy too.

The foreigners are making so much fun of me because I saw "awesome." Haha, all the time.

The beach was okay, Pattaya is a creepy little town. Very focused on the sex tourism. Tonnes of old white men with young Thai women. It was actually completely disgusting to see. Lots of people offering sex shows too. Yes, of course I want to pick one off your list and wander down a dark alleyway to see it. Apaprently the Canadian government is cracking down on this stuff- trying ot make it illegal for Candians to come have realtions with underage Thai girls, because righ tnow it is not illegal. Very disgusting.

Went to animal abuse centre, I mean crocodile theme park and animal zoo. I love chained up elephants and giant tigers craemmed 2 to a cage. Always makes me happy. And furry bears that should never been in this weather in tiny cages sans water. That is great too. I pet a cow, hehe. He lived iwth the horses. I loved him. Hhe. Hopefully I do not get sick. I pet behind his ears. He was so tiny and wee. And adorable. "Yes, nurse, I will not touch the livestock." The crocodiles were pretty cool. THe bus ride to and from was ubber nice, for sure.

I did not realize that the other international stduents might not speak English well. Most of the Europeans take their schooling in their native language, and take English on the side. So they are here taking, for smoe of them, their first clases in 100% English. Most learned in high school. So, I keep thinking of the 2 words of French I picked up in high school- hardly enought to last at a University level course, unlike these kids. Very impressive. Hha. I like to teach them new Canadian slang words. Like awesome. Heh.

Must go swimming in monsoon soon., So cool.

I have much more to say, abuot 3D videos in Thailand, and my new favorite class, and my friends. Heh. Bye bye until later. I just post for Brent. Hhe.  ¶ 2:32 PM |

  HIii! I was not going to go the island that everyone is going to tonight because I was feeling a bit off and didn't want to spend 2 hours on a bus at 5pm tonight. But, because almost all the exchange students are going, I think I should go. Yes, "I should go to the tropical island that costs $6 to get there and back and drink cheap booze and lounge on the beach all the day." God, the obligations of this country are so oppressive. Heh. Anyways, I realized I have no pants to really wear here, which is so much fun... hehe. Whatever. At least I have my little white shorts. Those are always good times.

We went to the tourist street tonight. Finally tonnes of clothes are look like they are for the average north american. Even if the teeny tiny north americans struggle here, because we are all taller with different builds. On this street, though, they had lots of options for us. I got a pink skirt for $6, but I should have bought pants. I can get my hair braided there, for nice and cheap and takes about 10 seconds. Heh, okay, not 10 seconds, but you know. Everyone seems to speak English there, for all the foreigners. Anand and I and Michelle took a tuk tuk and it was so fun listening to him speak Thai, and fun watching Michelle barter. Heh. I was exhausted and am fighting a cold, so I was irritable and a litle bit cranky last night. I had to explain the word cranky the other day to Julia, who is German, and she was laughing because I was making rawring sounds and doing clawing gestures. Heh. She just googled it. My acting is not good enough, I guess the closest they have in German is "moody." And the Thai's, Anand says, just don't have a comparable word. Cranky Canadians. Heh. Life was a little challenging yesterday, and I wanted to not talk to anyone and punch a punching bag, but my recent 10 hours of sleep last night helped quite a bit. There is no punching bags here, just focus pads, so I need someone to hold them for me. Rob boxes, so we trained together once, which was fun. Hopefully we will again.

Got hopelessly lost yesterday, very easy to get turned around in this town of 10 million, thankful that a lot of people speak English, or can understand are bad Thai. We found it, and took the 12bht bus ride home, which is like, mmm, $0.44 or something CDN. Got all of my adminstration things done for school, procrastinator I am.

I did yoga again today, out by the pool. It is super hot yoga, as it is super hot. Heh. Humid, more like it. I am always really soaked after it, so fun. The only place to really do it is out by the pool, because the activity room is closed a lot. And my balcony is too wee, and my apartment has total of 4 pretty girls running around. So, I know that I get watched sometimes when I go it, but I try to ignore it, as I listen to my ipod. Yoga is for myself and no one else anyways. I am sure people just look because it is something different. Learning to block them out, even when the exchange students lurk on their balcony. I maybe will teach a community class here. That would be fun, to teach everyone sometimes. I like teaching. This sounds like a grade 3 travel journal. "Today we saw dogs. I like dogs. I ate ice cream. Then we went to the hotel. My sister is mean." That sort of thing. Heh.

Another topic: Learning Thai)
There is no plural and singular. Everything is just singular, but it could mean plural. It is really intriguing. Aka, you can say, "I go with friends" is the same as "I go with my friend." It makes life more exciting. There are different tones to say things in, and if you say it off, it can mean different things. Aka "Khow" means rice or white or stench of dead fish, depending on how you say it. I find this all very interesting. And have eaten a lot of dead fish. Hhe. As a joke. I like bartering, and I am sure I will be a wiz at it in the future. It is nice ot have the option to go and pay way more in America (none bartering stores.) I feel like I am speaking as though English is my second language, as I am using smaller words and talking slower. Hehe. Good times all around. Michelle and I have been laughing that as we gain Thai we lose ENglish. Heh. And I am talking more with my hands, the Thai's do that quite a bit. I have a lot more respect for all the ESL kids at SFU, life can be challenging sometimes. And it is all really nice to have people who are friendly. The Thais at school sometimes interview us for their English class or wahtever, and I got to answer one about my favorite food. And Michelle answered one about her favorite movie. And then we got to practice our Thai on them. So fun. If you say "raccoon nun nun" that means "love you long time." Heh. There is some Thai fotr you, written so that you can understand and say it in Canadian-speak. Other favorite saying is "my pen rye" Which should be hte saying of the nation- means "life is okay, nevermind, all is okay." Hhe. Eveyrone here is so laidback. And the locals love it when we say it. You throw a "ka" on the end if you are a girl and want to be polite. It is "karp" if you are a boy. I learned how to do the proper wei, (Pronouced "why") which is a low bow that you do for anyone senior to you. Anand has been very important in teaching me all about Thai, so grateful for him. He is oging to take me to the country club, which is across the street from our univeristy and is very very very tres posh. And they have horses! We can watch horse racing, and I can bet under his name. Perfect. Heh. SO fun! I also asked if he could take me to the less posh area, aka the slums, so that I can see it as well. I think it is best to see not only the plastic fantastic Bangkok, but also the real life Bangkok. It is a nice place. I also learned all about the King, and the royal family. They are very big time here, and you will be instantly arrested if you say anything poor about them. THe King seems like the best person ever, he has been on the throne 60 years and Anand says ALL of the Thais would give their life for him, because he is so wonderful.

I feel like I have been typing all this stuff before, oh well, I will appreciate it in the future as I reread my first impressions of Bangkok.  ¶ 1:22 PM |

  Soooo I got a little drunk last night. Heh. Not toooo drunk, just 5 beer drunk. Which cost about $1.25 a beet (which is bad typing for beer) CDN from 7-11. Yes, tres cheap. Had all the internationals over for some fun, and finally met everyone. Realized my roommates like to drink as well. And guess who showed up? Anad!!! I know, only the coolest guy in the whole planet. It was SO fun seeing him. He goes back to Canada in Dec, so I still have lots of Anad time here! Heh. We played Kings, and more than a few people got embarrassed (what if someone thinks they are not cool?!) when Michelle and I, as part of the game, got wholeheartidly into one of the rules, which is talking British accents. Anways, we partyed it up, and then we got booted to some random club by the kid who was turning 21, he is from the states, but will tell you all about his allegience to Canada if asked. Actually, he tells you even if he is not asked. He was originally from Richmond, BC, and will recount, in great detail, his few years there. Including listing off surrounding cities, like Surrey and Vancouver. I like when people tell me about my home.

It's fun. Anyways, so we all went out the bar, which was exciting. And way too many of us piled in a cab, sure glad we always put safety first. And sure glad that we got to our destination minus any muggings. Anways, at club: you need your passport to get in, there is no cover charge, the club was full of Thai's who did not dance, they were playing all American music with one Nelly Furtado song (Americans claimed it because she sings with whats-his-name Justin Timberlake.) I was fairly buzzed, so it was intruging, and we starting dancing like mad. I was asked to take my shirt off by a trashed Canadian girl who was in our group, and after considering this at great length, decided that was not the best course of action to take in this foreign land, or any land, or ever in public. That took a while to decide, hardest decision of my life: take off my shirt or not? Right. At any rate, Michelle and I told everyone we were going to la washroom when we were really planning to leave, except telling the semi sober girl our true destination, because these kids getting panicked when anyone leaves the crew (a la stefanie at age 19) to do anything on their own, and then jumped in a tuk tuk after fierce negotiations with the tuk tuk drivers, somehow ending up with the birthday boy-American-meets-Canadian in tow. In our drunken state, we thought it was preferrable to drive fast, and the Thai laughed and laughed. Anyways, we realized we might be going the wrong way, which of course we were not nor could we know anyways, because we do not know Bangkok at all. Michelle's infamous quote of the night is "let the muggings begin." Of course we did not get mugged, and life was fine, as the bar staff made sure that all was, after our fierce negotiations and inquisition of our tuk tuk driver. Anyways, we ended up back at our hotel, after a exciting stop into 7-11, buying about 1050193509 baht worth of healthy and nutrious snacks, we managed to run into birthday boy again, and somehow thought it was tres amusing to tell fabulous lies about our sexual past to him, which including telling him that I had never even kissed at boy, and Michelle had lived with the same boy for years and years and they do not really touch, ever, at all, except for one time. We told him that Michelle's one time of sin resulting in me making endless judgements about, aka calling her less favorable canadian names. For whatever reason, the kid believes this. Apparently Canadians who have moved to the States are incredibly gullible, especially when they are "housed" (aka "drunk" in American speak) and he believed every word. I was called a "contained prude" and we were both assured we were not sluts, we did not even understand the word of it. He was agast at our lack of experience in the real world, saying I would quote "be eaten alive out there" and we quote "need to really pursue some experiences." I have no idea how we held it together, because we were shit laughing so hard, it was not even funny. It was my greatest acting role, acting quiet and demure. And respectable. And shocked at his tales of sexual exploit. Anyays, I think he had the best 20th birthday a kid could have.

It was out of control how funny that was.

Somehow we thought it was a tres good idea to email our friends this complicated, confusing drunken email. But, we did not do that. We went to bed, but I was just informed that someone, I think small dwarves, snuck in (they were following us all evening) and wrote a email that made no sense, signing our names to it. Crackers Banana Pants, my new small Thai dog who lives with me in my hotel (I found him off the street) ate one of them, but it was not good enough. Those sneaks stil managed to email everyone, and it was tres embarrassing. Such a bad idea for them, as they chose to email some people that probably were not appropriate given the sate of the world right now. At any rate, I have disposed of said dwarves, who were louging on our couches this morning. Tranquile Bangkok life is restored here in town. All is well. I am a touch hung over, and realizing that it is way more intruging for me to pursing learning Thai and hanging out with Thai's and doing their thing then getting "housed" and running amuck in Americanized bars. Anyways, that is a learning, and I will rope the drinking back in considerably. NOt for any reason other then I have had that experience in the past, I am grateful for it, but it is not really something I want to pursue right now. It is good I have the option, because that is always a good thing, and these kids are very much in that state of their life (generalization). Sooooo, that was fun, hilarious, but I am so much more excited about learning more and more Thai. I am up to about 10 words!  ¶ 7:10 AM |

  That will be so funny. I think because it is his birthday, that if he came home, it woul dbe werid. No credibility. Off to bed. My head hurts like hell. I have hiccups. Uh oh. I just gave them to me. I mean to her. Hha. What do we do now? FOr what? For hiccups? What does we do now? For what/ We scare eachother! What!? We will die. Oh gawd.
I AM LEARNING THAI. poor anad. no more drinking, do not drink to calm sandes. Or sandy pants. Or sanylapants. If you were recipietns of email, this mean person broke into my email. he lives in fountain. he lvoes me long time. as a joke. run, he is comnig here. eeieiek. holy it is cold in here. eekkk. hiccups. uh oh.  ¶ 1:23 AM |

  Sooo hellllo. Heh. My tattoo is looking so fun, except it has not been dry for more than ten minutes since i have been here. Opps. Cant have it all. Back on the german computer, bear (bare?) with me here. chop chop. went exploring today. finallz learning some thai, and when we went to the market todaz, we were able to barter. it was amazing. we got such cheap prices, it was amazing. i got an ipod armband (pink) for 250bht, but the orignial price was 400bht, then 380 bht. mazbe about $7 cdn for mz armband. Julia got such a cheap computer thing for the german computer. it was awesome. seriouslz awesome. congrats to michelle and her thai booklet, and to our little green cue cards that have the translations for us. it was so amazing. and then i went out with my new friend rob today, and i was able to translate asking how much it would cost for his pants. and i had forgotten my green cue card with the tranlastion! thats how awesome i was. it was amayzing. we went to more tourist (but still verz traditional thai) mall and bartereed. then rob and i went to market in outback of bangkok, which was so fun. i get stared at a lot here. tis weird. very weird. found some new apartments for rob, as i wandered around. anywazs, so happy, verz nice. no school todaz. orientation tomorrow. we girls are throwing big partz tonight, zou can come if zou want. hehe. so fun. all the international students are coming along. woohooo. i need a shower, i got mz laundrz done todaz. it was 125bht for all mz laundrz. which was about 4$CDN, could have been delivered to mz aparmtnet for onlz an extra 50 centsCDN. time to go.  ¶ 6:27 PM |

  So here I am in Bangkok. Bangkok is an urban sprawl like none seen in Canada. We think we have urban sprawl in Calgary, just come here. Similar to Calgary is that it is extremely flat. Similar to Vancouver is that, when flying over, it seemed to have lots of green space and happy times. Indeed.

Continued from below....

Topic Five: Thai massages

So we went into the massage place that my friends had gone ealier, and they paid 200bht for a one hour massage. That translates into about $8. Heh. SO we went in and told them what we wanted to pay, and they are like "no, no 300 bht" and passed us a pricing sheet, which, sure enough, said 300 bht. So, we said, "no, no" and got up to leave, and then a new pricing sheet came out with 250bht on it. And we said fine. THen three Thai's appeared from the back room with buckets of water, and lined up in front of Michelle, Lesley and I to give us foot baths. Okay, this was all very interesting, and we kept saying we wanted massage, not foot massage, and everyone just grinned. Thais grin a lot. No matter what happens, it seems, they grin. This is incredibly nice of them, but a little unnerving. It seems like one could rob you at gunpoint with a smile. Weeee. Heh. Just kidding, I love it, country of smiles. Very endearing. THen we were made to put on little flip flops, and paraded up this dodgy back staircase (of course, Michelle did not touch the railing. Heh.) And then we were put in a back room with three matresses on the floor and told to put on the pajamas they left us. Heh. This was very all intriguing, as I love yellow pajamas, I mean, who doesn't. Then we sat like morons on the mattresses, because we did not know what else to do. The Thai's laughed at us. Then they came in and a small Thai girl massage the hell out of me (Michelle had it worse- and is actually bruised, because of the Thai guy that was rubbing her down, if you know what I mean) and then the Thai girl did some cool chiropractor stuff that our Canadian people study for 4 years to do. Aka, my fitness/yoga/etc self was screaming about safety, secretly, in my head. And then she walked on me. Yep, that was quite intriguing. I fear for Lesley safety, as she is a tiny little thing, but she survived the walking as well. They made jokes about us a lot, in Thai, and pointed to us, including telling us we were beautiful and pointing to our noses. We are not sure what was baeutiful, our noses or us. Heh. We were then hit on the shoulder and told something in Thai and they all disappeared. We got our clothes on, I checked for a camera taking pictures of our nunga nungas, and tehn we wandered downstairs where Michelle was going to pay for me and her, because I have not adjusted to this whole "carrying money" new age thing. Michelle goes "for 2" and the lady said, yes, yes and just charged us 200hbht. However that worked out was fabulous, because we saved about 1.25CDN. Heh. What a deal, it is the principle of the thing, I swear. I think I am going to be a good little barterer, one day.

Hha, just saw this American Jacob coming back from a two hour massage, he looks tres relaxed and his voice is a lot more quiet. Maybe that is how they get the Americans to mellow out- Thai massages... Heh. I think it'll be great.

As for the working out this morning, I lasted 17 minutes hardcore on la elliptical trainer, I secretly love working out in the stupid heat. And then yoga on the balcony was amazing, though it is not sunny here at all. And has been cloudy since I got here. Amazing was yesterday it was really humid and hot, and then the rains and wind started for a little bit, and it was the most refreshing thing in the plant. I am in love with this city. Heh. Even though during Finance, when they made us play a game to simulate the stock market and falsey defined insider trading, I was thinking I was going to be driven nuts by having to do 2 semesters of schooling here, but I think it'll be great. We are using the same textbook as back home, so I will just memorize that. It is just a different approach to the same thing. Yep.

Topic Six: My fellow exchange students:
As for the other exchange students... I feel really old. Or something. Or like I am on a bad episode of the Apprecentice. They seem quite young, and very concerned about their image and how they are perceieved. THis is partially attributed to age, and to the program. Business students notoriously take themselves too seriously, and are very concerned about what everyone thinks of them. Since I have spent the last few years striving to not care what people think about me, this is a good reminder how high strung and negative I could be if I continue to care at all about how people view me, myself, and I. Heh. That was werid. The keyboard kept typing, adding on me, myself, and I. Heh. Weird. Narcassism? Yes.

Topic seven: My dog
Brent and I just spent a lot of hours discussing what to name my new dog, who is under the bed right now. I hope housekeeping doesn't find him. We will name him Crackers Banana Pants Puppers Doodle Pants Beninger-Vatne. So, that is settled. I will post pictures of him later. He is so nice. I got him a Canada bandana to wear around his neck. So everyone knows he is mine.

Topic eight: Canada flags:
As a joke, I slept with my Canada flag, a giant one, over my bed, as an extra blanket ebcause I always get cold in the A/C. Hhe. The housekeeping, when I got home, had folded it and put Petry on top of it. Hhe. I slept with it last night too. Weird? Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. Hhe.  ¶ 8:38 AM |

  So, first day of school. I know! I had the prettiest uniform ever, it is so great. Seriously. It is a black pencial skirt, with a white blouse, and silver buttons and a brown belt with a silver chula belt buckle and black shoes. I found out we can personalize our uniforms if we put these little pins on our top button, so I got a pink chula (chula=chulalongkorn university) button and a pink chula belt loop. hehe. i love it. seriouslz. there are puppies everywhere here, seriously, i loves the puppies. dogs everywhere. my thai friends laugh at my fascination with the most laidback dogs laying on the ground. they all look similar, but they are different colors. they are so cute. seriouslz. heeh. they are my best friends. i wish i could touch them, but alas, i do not have my rabies shots. sadness. not having internet nor a laptop is the most annoying experience of my life, i decided. michelle has a laptop, so she is keeping a journal, which is good. no internet yet, i am just making a real effort to type with the opposite y and z's todaz. hehe. i type way faster than i could ever write, so i prefer to type, obviously. i think this is the greatest loss, i decided. i write almost everynight, so having my computer awol is extremely challenging for me. the novel will not continue as of yet. turns out my sister did indeed pack my camera... and packed her camera too. i know. still need to figure out how to send that home to canada with no incident. heh.

anyways, thailand. this place is so out of control. hehe i love it. so differnet then back home, yet so similar. thais are the most laid back individuals in the entire planet, including their dogs, as mentioned above. i wish i had the capital letters on keyboard figured out. i think it is rude to type all in lower case capitals. hehe. i mean lower case letters.

Topic 1) Thailand schooling. First class was marketing, started about 20 minutes late, as to be expected. the prof taught in america, so he has a sweet northwestern accent, though originally from thailand. he is so funny. the thais certainly do like to have fun, they laugh at us constantly. hehe. we are great source of amusement for the thai population, as i think i have done so many things wrong lately. the class has about 40 people, 6 of which are canadian, 2 americans, 2 hot swedish girls. hehe. it was very laid back, no midterms, no finals. only weekly presentations, and midterm presentations. i made the mistake of going to la washroom, so i am in the gorup with the 5 other canadians. go figure. they got to pick the groups. shrug, whatever, it will be fine to build up my canadian connections, mostly UVIC and Ottawa students. Business finance was out of control, kids just talk in class and get up to answer cell phones. the prof occasionally freaked and told some late comer to tuck in his uniform shirt, but otherwise it was so laidback. the class is earning me 4 credits back home, but today we covered 'what is a market' and other such things. i realiyed that some of it is going to be challenging to apply back home, as some things in finance are solely thai, but meh. all in the experience. had alot of fun passing notes to michelle and jin. heeh.

Topic 2) Thai food:
annnyways, my buddies took me out for lunch, where everyone is on lunch at same time. hehe. it was a madhouse. i stood out like crayz, and everyone looked at me. i couldnät figure out why people would mutter canada, until i realiyed that i had a canada flag attached to my backpack, a la christina. heh. i got some random food and ate my first meat product since saturday evening. i was brave. i am already sick of rice. after missing breakfast and a wee bowl of chicken and rice, i decided to go to a more american resuatrant, aka our hotel coffee shop and spend 10$ (a fortune in thailand) buying eggs and bread. mmm. my favorite. whatever, what is that? bird flu? hah, whatever.) i have to get this food situaiton figured out, but good.

Topic 3) Americans:
They are driving me bonkers here, i have no idea why. Okaz, I do know why, but seriouslz, this is unfortunate (the german is back.) thez are verz loud and consitentlz verz ethnocentric. i already had to tell some guy i didnät think it was cool that he was bragging about skipping out on buying the unirform, i found that so weird. he just did some halfway outfit, which i find disrepsctful, as we are hear in their country, at their university which has uniforms that they take great pride in and get excited about. ....and then the other american insisted he did not have an accent because (quote) 'the people in hollywood talk like me, so that means I do not have an accent. i am the only english speaker here without an accent.' I was like, ARE ZOU KIDDING? he was from detroit. word up rockstar, you are lacking. hehe. then the next one told me, and the korean kid i was with that since he was tall everyone should let him on the basketball team here, insisting he should not have to try out because he was so tall compared to all the other 'short asians' and went on to tlel all of us how the asians are so short and are not known for their basketball, obviously, and he would be on the team as the star. and if they made him try out, he was going to demand that he be allowed to decide after he tryouts whether or no he will play on the team. this is obviously common sense, but leave it up to the americans (i am judgemental) to insist on their ethnocentric views. no offense. i am out of control, only cultural issues i am having is with the americans running around being arrogant. am i any better than them, as i think that they should practice more respect and openness around new cultures? (huge generalization here) perhaps. i apologize to everyone, i just need to limit my exposure to them, or increase my exporsure and show them how we can be more accepting and respectful to foreign cultures that they have moved to 'for the parties.'

Hha, off i go bye hehe, just kidding, need a better ending then negativity. can zou tell i am extremely exhausted? i got up at 6 and did gym and yoga, it was grand fun. i loved it. it was bloody hot, certainly hotter than any hot yoga i have done back home. anyways, makes for a long day.

Topic 4) The Thai's and the university life:
the thais are the most friendly people i have ever experienced. they do smile quite a bit, and it is quite clean asides from the air pollution, which is barely noticable because it is so hot. that said, i have not ventured that far outside my little area, just up and down the main street here to and from school. not back for teh first 36 hours in bangkok. did get to the mall (this is insanely full of tonnes of shops and people EVERYWHERE.) so many people, feels like the few minutes after a hockey game or something, all the time. hehe. the campus is gorgeous, and i found out that it is a thai univeristy, aka they speak and teach in thai, except fro teh 400 kids (50+ who are exchange sutdents) who are accepted into the english BBA program, which is very prestigous here in thailand. haha i found this out as i got lost on campus and had to ask for directions. all very friendly, just some major communication breakdowns. i want to learn thai beyond my hello and thank you limitations right now. hehe. i will learn 'chicken with rice' tomorrow and also will learn 'sorry' and 'how much' right away. priorities. heeh. also, for those kids in economics, all the bartering is an excellent example of first degree price discrimination (yes, my degree does come in handy, evidently!) as they are trying to take all my consumer surplus. damn them, got to my bartering skills up there. hehe. and my thai skills.

anyways, friendly thais, interesting location and food, and life is great. time for bed. haha. 9pm. okay, off to cuddle the stray dog i brought home. he is nice, i am naming him Crackers Banana Pants. for kicks and giggles. hehe. there is the perky stef, hiding under the beer-exhaustion-sneezing-whining about americans-love with dogs self.
hehe.  ¶ 8:24 PM |

  Okay, so this is going to be short because i am typing on my new roommates german computer, which means that the keys are all different. aka the y is where the z would be back home. oh the excitement. so i left vancouver late, after a relaxed day of disorganization ('maybe i should get some thai monez? haha, zes') (all the z will be y now, okaz, and sometimes zou will see ä ö some strange thing. got it?)) okaz, now that it is all clear for everzone. i left vancouver late, and it was greater. i took a benadrzl, and was passed out in the waiting area before our plane landed. luckilz therer was a lot of screaming babies, so i was awoken before our plane left. hehe. we were further delazed because screaming babies like to scream to their parents about demanding different seats in the airplane. haha tres funnz (i am so international, tres.) at anz rate, the airplane was HUGE and gorgeous, so i had a nice window seat, got to hold a random babz because the mom was irriated and wanted to disappear for a while, reallz fun especaillz because babz landed on mz lap and she wandered off, not speaking the language, i had no idea for how long or whz i was holding small child. heh.

slept 10 hours on the flight to hong kong, fairlz uneventful, except for wee babz. got fed so much zummz foodß it was unbelievable. great airline, cathay pacific. it was amaying. landed in hong kong, got off plane, walked around the turnstile through securitz back onto same plane en route to bangkok. just had a little wait. hong kong was amaying, the flight in was gorgeous. just like vancouver, it is, but has manz more big tankers in the ocean right beside the airport. so prettz. and a random statue on one of the far hills, it was so neat. i took a picture, doesnät do it justice, as it was morning and the sun was just coming ujp, so it looked fabbitz fab. this y and z thing is cracking me up. hehe.

so on to bangkok, slept another hour (bringing me up to 12 hours in the long journez west) and then woke up to watch some random sports show, as i couldnät be bothered to change the channel and read mz book (god, travel accounts are so boring... seriouslz.) haha, still not concerned about the fact that i am relocating to a foreign countrz. countrz. cracks me up. hehe. i was sitting next to these two dudes that were from hong kong (i looked at their passportsß we spent an hour grining at easchother, since we didnät know eachothers lanuages.) thez were in matching beige jeanlike material suits, and i think thez were actuallz part of a mafia, because one had a taped wrist and hte other one had bandages on his knuckles. i offered themn gum, thez passed me mz tea. we bonded. is the y and z bothering zou zet? it cracks me up so bad, i love the germans, so random. hehe.

soooo out of bangkok international, this place was flatter and more sprawling then calgarz ever could hope to be (in the next 10 zears, that is) seriouslz, bangkok was so flat as we flew in. onlz reaction to mz extreme decision to move to the land around the earht was, 'oh, so this is home for the next 9 months.' haha, zes, quite melodramatic, er, not dramatic. zes. so, i get off, meet some attractive american men who told me all about mz countrz 'it is cold there. there are not manz people there.' zes, all about sharing the stories of our countries, especiallz when the americans tell me about mz land. hehe. the one from florida told me all about wakeboarding, instisitng that i did not know what wakeboarding was. zes, i know. because it is too cold here. right. speechless. hehe. absolutelz speechless, hah thez were funnz, and not on mz program, so i will never see them again, lest fate intervene and i am to marrz a 33 zear old from florida in mz near future who makes wakeboards and has no interest in seeing the desolate north.

i got wisked through immigration so quick, it was grand fun. there is a scrolling message board telling me how much everzone loves the king, and i get to see his face everzwhere. it was a holidaz for the kingäs mother todaz, so the entire citz was in zellow (thez wear zellow everz mondaz, zes, to celebrate the king.) i wandered out, got mz baggage right awaz (airport thailand is efficient!) and then wandered to meet mz buddies and michelle, got lost, then wandered back the other waz, and then it was great becuase michelle wasw holding a 'stefanie' sign. i love signs, did zou all know that? then we got lost going to the hotel, going to the wrong evergreen hotel, and then finallz got here. thai people are so polite and friendlz. had a shower, ooooed and awwwed about our SWIMMING POOL and the fact we are on the gorgoues gorg 15 floor and i can see everzthing, and i love it. it is beautiful, seriosulz, i am in love. we wandered out with buddies to get me mz thai uniform and somehow i have gone up about 412452 siyes in thailand and one woman said 'oooh' when the buddies told them i needed a skirt. i got a cell phone, the number will appear. saw the extended verison of thai bartering. it was great. hehe i got the largest size of skirt at thailand. all of us girls here are sazing the same thing about the siying, we are all laughing about it. the thaiäs laugh hzstericallz, because it is so awkward. the two skirts and two shirts for 1200baht, so like 24$ haha. I love it.

cell phone was 1200baht, so it was $24 haha. woohoo. then got some strange food that i will talk about later.

and then the famous thai massage.... haha, so funnz. it was biyyare, abosolutlez biyyare. i feel so international, so tres different because of mz fun spelling. hehe. i will post about this later, time to make some more friends. hehe. i love traveling, i think i love bangkok, and everzone is so fun and so happz. hehe. great. bze.  ¶ 7:41 PM |

  Plane delayed 1 hour leaving Vancouver... already missed my connection to Bangkok from Hong Kong, it looks like! Heheh, Life is exciting. I am sure it'll be fine. Heh. All packed, thanks to help of the family, very appreciated. Got to hang out/talk with many that I love, and had fabulous day saying buh-bye to the family. Especially helpful is Dad and Christina and there packing excitement. Christina has a system and managed to cram all my clothes and 10 years worth of shampoo/conditioner/bodywash into 1 backpack and 1 suitcase. God knows how. It was magic. Dwarves helped, I am sure. And dancing unicorns. And kittens. And Christina's amazing traveling experience. Hehe! So excited for Thailand, I can't even wait! And... I got a tattoo! Haha! Yes, on my lower back. A maori symbol. The sisters got it as well. It was a sister bounding thing, as the symbol means the circle of life, growth, changing and family. It is so cool, it is not even funny. I will post pictures later.  ¶ 1:57 PM |

  I am off! My place is still a disaster, as per a Stefanie move. I have clothes drying everywhere, and my bulletion board was converted into a lingere drying rack. It's beautiful. Takes my breath away. I have no idea what I am getting myself into, perhaps reading something, anything about Thailand would have been a good idea. Meh, life is more exciting when you do not know what the heck to expect. I am like Robinson Crusoe. Yes, exactly like that as I take my fancy-pants airplane to my fnacy-pants hotel in my fancy-pants university. Heh, time to pack. Carling says there better be an improvement in the state of my room before she returns. I am scared.

Wait, I will write about something of consequence... tomorrow. Wait til you see what I did! Heh. The pictures'll be great. It is so fun. Heh. Now for that pesky 12 hour plane ride to Hong Kong and on to Thailand. Tres exciting, I must say so. Heh. I think I just flashed this guy walking by. Sweet. Long story. Hhe. What to bring to Thailand? Pants? Kittens? Underwear? My plant? Let's never talk about my plant, he gets upset. I will miss him so much. I am still not sure what to do about his future home. He might go with Chrisitna, or stay here with someone in residence. I just worry about his future, it is causing me a lot of anxiety. Welll, not a lot. But, seriously, he has been on the journeys with me for a long time, and now I have to live him behind. Perhaps I will try to sneak him to Thailand. No, that will not work. I was just kidding. I just got scared, what if I get detained for sneaking plants since I posted that on my blog. No, it'll be fine!

Heh. Have a good day, my life is so exciting. My horoscope set Aug 10 to Aug 18 is the most exciting time, and will involve travels, good family time,and important time with friends. Woohoo. Yes,not general at all and totally true.

Heh.  ¶ 11:35 PM |

  In exactly 48 hours and 5 minutes, I will be aboard a plane taking of from YVR heading to Hong Kong via Bangkok. I am very calm about this. If you saw the state of my room at this moment, you would not be very calm about this. It is a disaster. My dishes/clothes/bags are everywhere. This is the normal state of my room. That means I have not started even thinking about cleaning or doing laundry or anything. I have no idea what clothes I should bring, nor do I care that my sutdnet loan is not processed, nor will it be processed for a while. Life is exciting. We went to Mountain Shadow tonight, and the highlight of my evening was partying with Erik. I must say, it was grand to see him tonight. Very fun. Heh. And Rhian, she is always so pretty. And Andrew, he always has a pretty girlfriend. And everyone else, of course. I got to hug Nathan times 3 times. I think he loved it.

Anyways, t-minus 48 hours and 2 minutes. Wow, life is intense. I think tomorrow will be spent packing and giggling, for sure. Heh. And getting a tattoo. More on that later. Weeeee... heh.

No more school! For 4 whole days! I lose a bunch of time in the travels, so it might actually be 3 more days! Hehe.

Weee....  ¶ 4:31 PM |

  Okay, so I almost cried today for the first time about leaving. I leave in 72 hours, and just had the funnest evening. I went out to dinner with Jon, talked to Mike on the phone, hit up some Taboo and then went to Tim Horton's with Ken, Tim and Brent to study. I have met the most amazing people this summer- they are all so interesting, diverse, intelligent... and the most important: they make me laugh. Seriously, Brent especially makes me die of laughter. Especially when him and Ahmed get going. It's priceless. Moe? Ham? Ahmed? Heh. Laughter is important. My life would never be anything but fabulous, if I could laugh for everyday for the rest of my life. that is why I like Michelle, because I can laugh at her. It's brilliant. I need to work on my spelling.

I get scared of ghosts. Seriosuly, it's a fear that I have overcome, then faltered, then overcome (it's continual.) I try to imagine a bear protecting me from the ghosties and such, but sometimes it sneaks in and then my hair tingles, I get all scared.

Full moon tonight, that is why things are alllll crazylike. They do feel crazy, just a little more intense and weird. Life things colliding, dreams with today. Very strange. Perception? Perhaps. Whatever makes your life easier, without conflicting with the rights of other people. Yes.

Saying goodbye is so tricky. I don't mind goodbyes, generally. I just miss the potential that not saying goodbye could have. I mean, moving from place to place is full of potential, you can connect with new people, new ideas, new excitments. Staying, though, has so much potential, as you can deepen friendships, learn more about your buried fears, and challenge the everlasting desire to flee situations. Fight or flight. I am pretty balanced, most of the time I stay and fight, but the most of the other times I flee. It seems pretty balanced in the grand scheme of my life- just the last year or so has seen a lot of changes. As soon as I get this wonderlust out of my system, I will settle down. Wonderlust, as quoted by Tim.

Hah, no regrets. You only regret the things you do not do, not the things you do. In general. I think this holds true for my life, but not really. The things I choose to not do in the recent past have been okay, at least I don't regret them now. I think for big things, we will not regret the choices we make. It's those choices at the margin (yes, economics, it is relevant, if I am using this correctly, which I am not) that make the difference. I mean, getting a tattoo with your sisters? Priceless. Going bungee jumping, even more priceless. Hehehe, see, the little decisions. The big decisions, like not being a manager at Starbucks, I don't regret. School gave me many more experiences, I think...

And it all comes out in the wash. Full moon ponderings by yours truly.

T-minust 72 hours. Only 1 exam left- ethics. I am having trouble focusing, but that is okay. Lots of changes in the past and in the future. Only constant is change.

Again, I am on a philosophical streak right now.

Music makes me happy. So happy, DJ McMaster Brent was 4-star at playing the tunes. He should be a wedding DJ. That would be wicked sweet. I could be the bar girl. Hhe. Free booze anyone? Oh yah, I am not drinking until Christmas, right. Hah, lies. All good in moderation. Of course.

I like raccoons. And chipmunks. Jon and I saw a little chipmunk today, so fun. Chopmunk. I am considering becoming a vegetarian again. I decided cows are cute, as are horses.

People who are inconistent are sketchy. Tell is like it is. Stop denying reality. Yes, brilliant lesson for me. I like to try to make things the way I want it to be, putting on those fun glasses the shade of rose and giggling to myself as I go to my happy place where everything is just the way I want it to be. This serves a purpose, ebcause I manifest the happiness, but still does not address the fact that some things are not the way I think they should be, but rather are the way they are. The way they are is way better for me in the longrun, I have so helped to discover.

Like sands through an hour glass, these are the days of our lives.

I was googling something today and google gave me the link to my own blog. Thatis some weird circular logic or divine intervention or something. Telling me to listen to myself, hehe. That or I am interested in the same random stuff I write about. Touche salesmen.

And on that note, we love the quiet times. Humping hummers and all that jazz. Um. Hhe. Inside joke with the 2 people that are reading this. Which is probably about 2/9 of my entire audience. That is okay, it is quality, not quantity. And I don't want some random guy from Chicago reading anyways. And if you are reading this, you are important in my life, and that makes your quality. Oh baby yah. Yep.

Hehe. Kittens. Bye.  ¶ 3:47 PM |

  They tell us in business that it is not how well your business generally does, it is how well your business recovers from failure that makes a successful organization. That said, (this is a rant), it would follow that perhaps it is not how amazing your friendship is, but how well you recover when you royaly screw up. Screw ups can define a relationship, both past, present, and future, if they are not dealt with in a timely and constructive matter. Wish this was not happening, but, alas, it is.

T-minus 4 sleeps to Thailand. Nine hours until accounting exam. 22 hours until economics exam.  ¶ 12:07 AM |

 
Thanks Ken for the artistic addition. Go Supertroppers.  ¶ 2:36 PM |

  Hah, so I am in the exciting hours counting down to the start of my exams. T-minus 21 hours. I am so excited for these exams. Especially Managerial Economics. Hhe. Though, I do love reading alllll about efficiency variances and other sort of useful things in my Managerial Accounting course. It's breathtaking, this knowledge. It certainly has helped me get a nice tan. As a joke. Just writing to say allo, as I have gotten more than a few phone calls from a concerned Canadian Embassy about my missing blog posts this past weekend. I was out in Tofino with my family, spending long days watching them surf as I was chained to my accounting textbook, and long nights huddled around a fire in the -10 degree weather, followed by even longer nights cuddled against Carling, scared to cuddle with Christina for fear of yelling. I had such a blast, even though I was a lamest of the lame with my studying conviction (prompting more than a few stefanie style freak outs 'why did I come? why am I here, why am I in school?, why did I move back from Calgary?' you know, the usual.) I did go for a swim in the ocean, sans wet suit, yesterday. Yes, I am brave. Braving the west coast sub-zero temperatures. Got a ride back into (waking up at 6:30am, ick) Nanaimo, and then onto the ferry, back to SFU, so I could spend the day locked in the libray, until they kicked me out and forced me to go to the WMX, until I was kicked out of there because they had to "clean," now I am being distracted as I learn Chapter 11 while laying on my bed. Never a good idea, to study on the bed. Slightly burnt/tanned/tired/excited, as it is FIVE MORE SLEEPS UNTIL I LEAVE FOR BANGKOK. Yes, that desired capitals. I can't believe it. Good thing I have my student loan and such. Pardon me while I laugh and laugh, as SFU screwed up, and I do not yet have my student loan, and if it were not for a generous father I might be starving in the coming weeks in Thailand. Plently of stories to share, will share later, but for now a brief summary will have to do.

Highlight of today: not getting killed as Dan drove way to fast back from Tofino (regreted that decision, regardless of how much library time it gave me) and talking to Lauren via MSN!
Highlight of yesterday: swimming in the ocean,teaching Carling/Christina yoga on the beach, eating marshmallows.
Hightlight of day before yesterday: drinking a beer to help my studying, watching everyone surf, mastering Sales Budgets. And maximizing profit calculations.
Highlight of the day before the day before yesterday: Driving into Tofino, crammed between the sisters as I wrote Ethics cue cards.
Highlight of the day before the day before the day before yesterday: Taking 10 transit excitements to get to Victoria; the 145 down the mountain, to the skytrain, to the B-line up broadway, followed up the 9, transfer to the 608 to Lander exhcange, followed by the bus to the ferry terminal from Ladner exchange, followed by the ferry, followed by the bus from Victoria ferry terminal to downtown Victoria (which broke down, causing us to wait 1 hour until we got a replacement),followed by the 4 to UVIC, followed by car ride to Steph's house, followed by homemade chicken, asparagus and mushroom soup. I love friends.

5 more sleeps.... Or 5days x 24hours +4 hours until I get on a plane, destination Bangkok via Hong Kong. 124 more hours in Canada. Wow. I like being a nomad.  ¶ 12:27 PM |

  It is so funny how the past can be so many different things. You can take one situation, and based on your mood,make it either happier, or sadder, or nothing. I went to my old apartment buildings, because my new friend Mike lives there. Yes, the ones behind 7-11, and I was hit by such a feeling of loss. I mean, it was time to leave there when I did because I had to move on and such, but I have so many amazing memories from there. I have been going through quite an interesting few days, as I pull memories out of the last 7 years in Vancouver and rethink relationships and situations. (Yes, plently of studying is getting done.) And I think that life can be exactly what you make of it, because you can 'rethink' your memories to align with your current state in life. Yes, 10 sleep before I am homesick for a home that does not exist, a home that has not existed for years, and a reality that is not realistic. Brilliant. I know this is all part of the journey, as I get ready to move to random foreign country for a year, but I wish this part of the journey was a little less painful. I knew seeing everyone together, one last time, at the wedding last weekend was going to be emotional and tough, but I had no idea it would hit me quite this hard. Oh, the weight of the last 7 years weighing down. How is that for dramatic? Hehe. And laugh at myself, yes. Friends are brilliant, but I suppose you need to led some relationships melt away to allow room for new friends that challenge and inspire. That is life, what keeps it interesting. I just am really feeling my lack of roots. I have no 'home' to go home to. Home does not exist, as I am here by myself.  ¶ 1:23 PM |

  Sometimes I wonder what people think when they walk by my computer when I am in the school computer lab and I am reading Superficial or Postsecret. They obviously think I am ridiciously intelligent and decicated to my studies, I would imagine. Especially if The Superficial is showcasing something about someone running around with a bra or Postsecrets is showing pictures of naked people in their secrets. Hehe. Yes, SFU Business has lots of studious individuals, I am sad to say I am currently not one. Hah, just kidding, I study 24/7 and cry when they kick me out of the library. We will never know... Back to class. Break is over.  ¶ 3:36 AM |

  On a completely unrelated note, I think zinc oxide cream is the best invention in the world. I have tried to buy stock in the world of zinc, but so far I cannot find the company that controls the zinc of the world. Zinc, for all of you that do not know, can be found solely in diaper rash cream, and fixes all problems with your body. It cures sunburns, it acts as a mild sunscreen, it soothes bug bites, acts as a bug repellant (those suckers hate this stuff), it can clear up any skin issue, as it is a mild antispectic. Seriously. Andy is the sole reason that I found this miracle cream! Yep, diaper rash cream. I never clicked until this evening that we used to put it on our horses when they got cuts. We used to put this gross white paste crap that came in a bucket on their cuts and scrapes, so that they would not scar, and it I did not realize until now that it was zinc! I remember when Captain (yes, my horse when I was younger was named Captain) fell after a jump, and scraped his knees up, I put the cream on him. (Creme? Cream?) And he looked so silly with his little white knees. Then, as I wandered to the bathroom just now, I looked down at my white knees, which I scraped when the carpet attacked me when I was not drunk on Saturday night and have since put zinc on them, I thought of Captain. What is good for a furry horse is good for you and me. That is all. Go and by zinc. Chop chop. Zincofax is the fancy-pants stuff, for the rich people of this world. Otherwise, Safeway diaper rash cream will have to do, which it will, because it is the stuff that miracles is made of.  ¶ 1:25 PM |