unemployment=freedom (at 22)

Yesterday was my last official day at ACE! although there will be a good-bye lunch proceeding after my return from Vietnam. I am finally free to travel and roam, exactly what I can here for, or at least one of the main highlights. A few weeks ago Christina and I were talking about how our expectations for this year are completely different from what we have actually gained. It seems as though I came to Bangkok with blue expectations and my conclusions are circles. If there is anything I have learned in this “land of the smiles” experience is that life is unpredictable, and it is only on that unpredictability that we find some stability or at least something to rely upon. This year has brought great highs, like the opportunity to travel to Vietnam for ten days (leaving in a few hours), but it has surely had its lows. Yet it is the low points have made it all worthwhile, the bad has made the good that much more sweeter. The circles make way more sense than the blue over could.

The other night I was out with some friends and met a young Irish guy who asked Sophie and I why we were here. He hesitated and tried to word the obvious; why are two young, western women choosing to live in Bangkok? We smiled and I responded that I ask myself that all the time. There are factors to why I am here and not anywhere else, I like to think that my being- here or anywhere is more by faith and not reason. If I took reason into account surely my being here would not make sense, but by faith it surely does.

On a completely different note, I may be moving to Bolivia this summer or fall- more on that later. For now I am off to Vietnam.

Peace.

erin and bobby

Erin, a friend of mine from Baylor, came to visit for a week in February. She is currently teaching in France and figured it would make sense to use her spring break to come to BKK. Christina, Erin and I were actually housemates for a semester when we all got back from studying abroad. I guess the instant connection of international travel has stayed with us. The highlight of the trip was acting as if it were our 10-year reunion while we had drinks and dessert at a rooftop restaurant. Only Erin got married, I became published and Christina had a hot Indian husband. Time shall only tell.

We met an interesting man on the beach while she was here. Bobby, 60-something, American who approached Chris and I on the beach. Conversation as follows:
Christina- look at that man with the hat, he just looks ridiculous
Me- yea, pretty cliché and it doesn’t even fit.
[yes, we do watch and criticize stranger, mainly tourists and his hat looked like one a toddler would ware on the beach in size and shape]
Bobby spots us and approaches – Do you speak English? Where are you from?
Me- Yes, the U.S.
Bobby (speaking in an American/Canadian accent)- Oh, I have never heard of that one. Oh wait, Regan, ah yes. What a good man.

He then proceeds to plop down beside us and lists off his 13 titles, which he has conveniently listed out on a old tattered piece of paper stored in his fanny pack. He is an artist, a writer, a realtor, a dreamer, a father of 3, an ex-husband, a grandfather of 9, a multi-millionaire, a matchmaker, etc, etc. He poses between the titles to give more information. “I have three masters, went to 5 universities and I can predict natural disasters.” He then describes that the one thing most people do not note when trying to predict earthquakes, etc, are the lost and found cats. According to him cats have a lot to say, when they go missing- watch out.

Bobby then got more personal. Stating that he knew 80% about us before he even spoke with us and the other 10% he could gather from a 5-minute conversation. I tried to make him prove it, but failed. He owns property in Mexico and Thailand, which allows him to travel and sit on the beach all day. He also mentioned his matchmaking skills between Asian women and American men in CA, that was when I said “oh like a pimp”. He gave us both more advice then we needed, including how to set the table properly. Suddenly he had to leave to catch the last ferry, he has only come back to find his old beat up Birkenstock which he has left on the beach. “They cost $200 and it cost me $9 to come back.”

Erin come back mid-way through this interaction and is quite confused. Bobby tells her she is different than us, more serious and less trusting (probably a good thing). He gave us laminated business cards with nothing more than a Thai phone number and the name, simply Bobby.