Monday, April 23, 2012

Then and Now 35 - After Leena

Then and Now 35 - After Leena
Time: Mid-2007, single and at the hostel.

This story starts where Then and Now 17 ended.

I hung up the phone, and felt lighter than ever. I was finally letting go of the attachment I had to Leena, because I knew that no matter how hard I tried, she was only ever going to see me as the little brother that she helped into manhood. Because I didn't have to think about her or her responses regarding a relationship between us, I was free to continue my explorations of this country without worry or doubt holding me back anymore. The conversation done and my path set, I left the balcony and went back into the dorm room.

There were assigned sleeping arrangements that occupants of the hostel had to follow, but there weren't more than two or three guys at any time staying in the men's room, where about a dozen bunk beds were available to use. I bed hopped a few times, but I preferred to sleep next to the lockers where I kept my passport and wallet safely locked up. I took out my camera, an old Pentax my mom gave to me before I came here, and hummed in disappointment when I remembered that I still had no way to get the pictures off of it. My mom had lost the USB cable, and without it, I couldn't upload a picture of myself to the internet for my profile for meeting friends.

I went to the front desk where the hostel boss was working and I asked her in the local language if there was a computer store nearby where I could find something to get my pictures out, and she told me of an entire street dedicated to the technological. She pointed it out on my city map and repeated the name several times so I wouldn't forget, then I thanked her and double checked my map. It wasn't too far away from the hostel, maybe a mile or two, so I was relishing the walk. I took a quick walk back to the dorm room, spiked my hair, then was on my way to the elevator.

I still remember a little picture advertisement posted just outside of the elevator from a local tour guide. He wrote the ad in English, and it had pictures of several people and himself climbing mountains, walking by the ocean, and traveling through a few outdoor markets. Everyone looked very happy in the pictures, as happy as my reflection in the metal of the elevator did. I soon got to the ground floor and circled around a little hallway and past a second elevator that led to some offices a few floors up, I was out on the street.

Studying my map, I picked a direct route to get to the tech street and kept my eyes peeled for anything interesting as I made my way there, and it wasn't long before I found something: most of the buildings that I was walking between towered high and were crammed really close together, being separated only by wide streets every city block. But across the street from where I was walking, I noticed that two of the buildings were standing about fifty feet apart from one another, and what was between them wasn't a road. I backtracked to the crosswalk and crossed the street to get a closer look. It was a wide alleyway, and it ended in a "T" ahead of me. But it wasn't an alley filled with dumpsters and trash cans; it had a little swingset and a small garden of grass and flowers to the right, and at the middle of the T ahead was an open door leading into the building before me. It might have been a bar or a movie theater, I'm not sure. It was very well-maintained, and quite beautiful.

I went back onto the street and kept walking until the buildings to my left suddenly stopped at a four way intersection, and a great field of grass in a giant park waited across the street. At that point, I was pretty sure I had gotten lost and had bypassed the tech street, probably because I crossed over to see the alley. So, I went over to the huge park, and caught up with a local walking alongside the grass. When I asked him where the tech street was, he told me that I hadn't gotten there yet; I still had a few blocks to go. I thanked him, and he asked me where I was from, what I was doing here, all that good stuff. I told him about growing up with the locals of this country in America, how a lot of my friends were from here, and how I was happy to be in such a beautiful place with such nice people. He beamed with pride, then offered me his business card in case I ever had any questions or troubles he could help with. I thanked him, gave him my phone number, then waved goodbye and headed back to the street.

I was at the tech street in no time, and it was a nerd's paradise. Store after store of motherboards, cameras, computer chips, soldering irons and other assorted doodads were lined up, one after the other, in a huge line along the street. The first store I went to was a tiny place. It had gadgets hanging from every wall, and in the glass counter that the boss was standing over were several cameras and accessories. I asked him in the local language if he had something "To take my pictures off my camera and put it on a computer by USB."

He knew immediately what I was talking about, and pulled an all-in-one card reader off of the wall. It read SD, mini-SD, PSP memory cards, you name it, it knew it. The price was only $3, too. I feel guilty mentioning this now, but I told him that I would look around to see if I could find any other brands. He turned away and told me that I wouldn't find any better before going back to work. And I don't really know what I was trying to do. Look for a better one for $2?

But I did just that. I went a few stores down until I found a set of stairs that led underground, where even more tech stores were selling their wares. Most of them were selling computer parts or video games, though, so I realized that I really should just have gotten the reader from the boss upstairs. I went back and sheepishly bought it, thanked the boss for his time, then moved on. By that point, the sun had been blasting down on me for the past several hours as I walked around outside and through the tech street, so I decided to head back to the hostel in that sweltering afternoon, and give the USB reader a whirl.

The computer in the computer room of the hostel was hilarious. It was a bit slow, but the funny thing was that you had to deposit money in a slot to make the internet work for a few minutes. I have no idea how they made it work like that. But before I dropped some coins in, I took the card out of my camera, put it in the reader, and attached it to the computer. The pictures came up immediately; I was ecstatic.

I spent the next couple of minutes taking pictures of myself, and finally got a good one that looked pretty handsome. It wasn't as handsome as the one I took when I moved to my apartment, but since I made about a hundred friends from that profile while I was still at the hostel, I suppose the picture did its job. I put the picture on the desktop, resized it, dropped some money in the computer, went on the internet to set up my profile, and the very next day, had three or four girls emailing me to hang out with them. At that time, I couldn't have been happier.

As for today...

I woke up at 7:00.
I played video games.
My wife and son woke up, so I turned off the game.
I hung up wet laundry.
My wife, son and I went to two clinics and a hospital for three separate medical issues I have right now, then we went home.
I took my son to the arcade, then we went to the mall, then we went home.
I went to work.
I taught students.
I came home.
I watched internet movies with my son.
He fell asleep.
I surfed the net.
I cleaned up the floor and table.
I folded and put away dry clothes.
I slept.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Then and Now 34 - McDonald's Meet-up

Then and Now 34 - McDonald's Meet-up
Time: Mid-2007, at my bud's aunt's place.

For the first few months after I came to this country, I was sick almost every day. It was several things happening at once: I had to get used to the heat, the air, the rain... but more importantly, there were several strains of flu and cold viruses that I had never experienced back home. I must have gotten sick at least a dozen times in 2007, and probably half of those times were the first month and a half at my bud's aunt's place alone.

This day was no different. I woke up with a slight headache, a sore throat and a fever, and to make matters worse, I was covered in mosquito bites. I probably should have stayed home and taken a day off, but my bud and I both wanted to head out and look around, so we did just that. After we got dressed up and ready, we headed out of his aunt's furniture store and took a right towards the market, the one where I saw the fifth Harry Potter movie in Then and Now 24.

We browsed for a little bit, checking out the jackets, shirts and so on around the market area. It was mostly girl stuff, so we left pretty quickly. We then followed the market out until the road headed out into a busy street, which was low and wide between rows of buildings on either side, then we turned right and walked until we came to another market area. Since I wasn't feeling very well, my bud and I went to several stores that sold colored and patterned riding masks, so I wouldn't spread the flu to anyone else. It took a while, but I finally found one that was perfect for me: it was colored like the American flag and felt very comfortable, so I bought it and put it on. I thought it looked good, and I had been searching for a mask like it for a week or two, so I felt quite proud that I finally found one. My bud just acted cool and said, "Glad you like it."

We headed back to the place where the first market opened up onto the street between the buildings, and found a multi-storied McDonald's there. We were both hungry, so we headed in to get something to eat. I hadn't had a burger in a month or two, so I ordered a Big Mac meal along with my bud. We waited for a bit, and after the food came, we went upstairs to eat. I had to choose us a table a little away from the window, because all the window seats were taken. I still remember looking at the buildings outside, and seeing a huge billboard advertising some sneaker or another. Kobe Bryant's head was right next to the shoe, smiling a wide and happy smile.

My bud and I ate for a few minutes, until another foreigner walked in with a tray of food. Aside from the biker in Then and Now 10, this was the first foreigner I had ever seen here. He was in his late twenties or early thirties, taller, and was dressed casually for a nice day out. I asked my bud if we should invite him over to eat and say hello, but he just said, "If you want to." I smiled behind my mask and nodded ok. I looked over at the foreigner, and when he noticed me, I waved him over. He hesitated for a second, but then came over to say hello.

Lars was a nice guy. He came from a world away and hadn't been in the country for very long, and was interested in coming here because he had grown up around the locals back home, like I had. He seemed to be doing very well for himself: he had a job, a bike and a girlfriend. He didn't talk much about the first two, but he did relate an interesting story or two about his girl. Neither of them was very happy; both stories involved Lars and his girl riding around through town and being harrassed by the locals because of their relationship.

For the first story, he talked about a run-in with a taxi driver. He was kind of vague about the specifics, but it involved him and his girl on their bike, and the driver of the taxi, being in a near-miss accident. The taxi driver suddenly came out of the taxi, threatening Lars with a hammer, so he rode away as quickly as possible. The second was just a collection of experiences he had while riding around with his girl, getting catcalls and jeers from the locals for dating one of their own. For the record, I've never once had that problem since I've been here.

Other than this, Lars spoke mostly about traveling about the city we were in, a couple of places he had seen, and his plans of staying here for the forseeable future. I was glad he didn't allow a couple of bad eggs spoil his time here. My bud mostly listened as we talked, but he did chime in here and there to ask questions about the locals back in Lars' home country. It was quite special how mundane things were: immigrant locals in Lars' country went to work, went shopping, did everything everyone does in this world. I was even more convinced at that point of how similar we all are, no matter what country we come from.

After a while, Lars had to go, so my bud and I said goodbye. And soon after, when we had finished eating, we went out to take another walk around before heading home to relax.

As for today...

I woke up at 8:00.
I played video games.
My son woke up, so I turned off the computer.
I played cars with him.
I took him to the arcade, then we went shopping, then we went home.
I went out with my wife and son to eat lunch, then we visited a temple, then we went home.
I watched TV.
I surfed the net.
I went to work.
I taught students.
I came home.
I watched internet movies with my son.
I started a load of laundry.
I cleaned up the floor and table.
I hung up wet laundry.
I slept.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Then and Now 33 - Tim and Jessie

Then and Now 33 - Tim and Jessie
Time: Mid-2007, single and at the hostel.

Tim and Jessie were a married couple that I met online for tutoring, and were the first people that wanted to learn English from me while paying me for my time. I was a bit nervous going to talk with them at first, because while I had tutored before, this time, I needed the money to feed myself. I was planning all kinds of topics to bring up and some grammar points, but I wasn't sure if they would be satisifed with my lesson.

We met at a train station a mile or two east of the hostel. It was a big hub of activity for me while I lived at the hostel, where I met at least a dozen friends and tutor students before we found a place to adventure or talk. Beneath the skywalk of the train station, I met the two. Tim was a man in his thirties with glasses and a wide smile, and had a direct, but friendly, character. Jessie was his wife, also in her thirties, and was quieter, but very friendly and attentive. We walked back towards the hostel until we came to a coffee shop to have our class.

The front of the coffee shop had a couple of tables and the register where an employee was working, but behind a glass and wooden partisan was the back of the store, where we decided to talk. It was a great little place. There were couches to lie out on (instead of tables and chairs), and there was quite a bit of local art hanging on the walls: several figure pieces of local people, a still life of some fruit and a landscape piece. I don't remember anything that we talked about, except sharing some of my experiences abroad, but it was a fun class. I had some nice coffee, and I got paid, too.

We met up again a few days later, when Tim and Jessie picked me up in their car. This time, though, they brought their daughter with them. She was the cutest pudgy baby I had ever seen. I spent a long time making faces and lightly poking her in the back of the car. When we got to our destination, a small ice cream restaurant, they let me hold her as we walked in. She was very easygoing about it, and when we got inside, I passed her back to her parents.

The restaurant was pretty small, and we got a table on the right hand side, Tim and me on one side, and Jessie and the baby on the other. There was a little freezer with a sliding, horizontal window on the way in, and it held the ingredients for the ice cream that you could make yourself. I chose mostly fruity stuff, and when the server brought it and I took my first bite, I was in heaven. Again, I don't remember anything of what we talked about, so I'll just skip ahead to one more recollection I have of Tim and Jessie.

In an email conversation, I told Tim that I needed to buy an electric razor. So, he, Jessie and I all went to the center of the main city, parked in a pay parking lot and headed out to go to an electronics fair. But first, we headed to a large park to walk around a bit and talk. It was beautiful there: there was a huge fountain in the middle, and there were stone paths leading in several directions out from it. Each path went to a different area: one went to a miniature forest, another went up a little hill to the south, and yet another passed by a tiny lake on its way back to the main road where cars were whizzing by. I steered us to the lake, talking with Tim and Jessie as I looked at the fish in the waters.

That was one of many moments where a flash of euphoria hit me. Everything became clear at once: I was a great man, abroad, and seeing something that almost no other man from America had ever seen. And even better, there was more to come. As an unmarried man, there was always more to come.

Tim, Jessie and I walked the rest of the way to the electronics fair, which was being held in a massive tent in the middle of another park. Inside, there were stalls set up as far as the eye could see. There was an appliance shop, a music store, a computer parts store, every kind of shop you could imagine for the technologically deprived. We couldn't find my razor, but I went to browse around a computer game store for a little while, seeing if there were any new games released while I was abroad. I saw one that looked interesting: Lord of the Rings - Tactics for the PSP. At that moment, I didn't have enough money to get it, but I felt another rush of euphoria as I held the game in my hands.

In a month, I can buy this, I thought to myself, and nobody can stop me.

In truth, it wasn't the game I was interested in so much as it was the freedom of purchasing it. I had spent so much of my life being chained down by college debts, sky high rent and food bills, or being denied by the people who controlled the money (my parents, my landlord...). But this was one of the first moments that I realized that I was going to be the one to control my finances, because I was the one who would be making the cash. I would provide for myself, and entertain myself, with my own strength. And if I ever ran short of money, or wanted to buy something out of my price range, then I would just work harder.

As for Tim and Jessie, I met them several more times in the coming months. I admit that our earlier experiences are very fuzzy to me now (most likely because they were classes), but I just wanted to introduce them in this Then and Now. In any case, I'm still thankful to them for providing me that experience inside and outside the electronics tent, where I caught short glimpses of my true strength of the man I was.

As for today...

I woke up at 8:30.
I played video games.
My wife and son woke up, so I turned off the computer.
I watched TV.
I ate lunch.
My wife and son went out with his grandma.
I played video games.
My wife and son came home, so I turned off the computer.
I took my son to the arcade, then we ate at McDonald's, then we went home.
I watched TV.
My wife went out with her mom.
I played cars with my son.
I roughhoused with him.
My wife came home.
I ate dinner.
I watched TV.
I played video games.
I watched internet movies with my son.
I cleaned up the floor and table.
I played video games.
I slept.