FIFA from Afar

With the start of the World Cup we've gained a new opportunity for entertainment. We've attempted to find a variety of the games on our television, but anytime one's on you can absolutely guarantee that our news and sports stations will be playing golf, badminton, or rugby. But that's not the only setback to our enjoyment; as you've probably realized, Asia is in a slightly different time zone than Brazil. So the World Cup games play at 11PM, 2AM, and 5AM. But that hardly stops us.

So far we've only made the effort to watch the Netherlands and the United States play. Thankfully the Netherlands games have been at 11PM. So, after work, dinner, and a bit of a nap, we reconvene to catch the game. The Netherlands games are particularly fun not only because our friend Leo is such a huge fan, but also because Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony. So there is still a bunch of Dutch influence in the region, including a lot of Dutch themselves!

Leo and his friend took Sarah and I to see the Netherlands-Australia game.

Hanging out with some Dutch friends at the internet cafe where we were all watching the game.

This morning we made it to our first United States game! Sarah and I woke up at 4:15AM to get dressed in our red, white, and blue and caught a taxi to our closest 24 hour McDonald's. It was empty when we arrived and through outlandish gestures and pointing they discovered we wanted them to turn on the sound on the television. I'm sure they regretted it when moments later Sarah and I had our hands over our hearts and were belting the national anthem right there in the lobby. And the trend continued, for every point the US made we would proceed to belt our American-themed song of choice. The first goal was Proud to Be an American and the second followed with Party in the USA.

Early morning soccer and coffee at McDonald's.

Leo seemed to enjoy our patriotism and the staff of McDonald's was certainly entertained. And once normal morning hours arrived a more steady crowd of people hung around in the lobby. Unfortunately most of them were Portugal fans. But we out-cheered them, so it was okay.

The three of us hanging out in the lobby. Clearly you can see the die-hard Portugal fans behind us.

At the end of the game we went back home to catch a quick nap before work. After all, we have to be at least a little rested. Netherlands plays at 11PM again tonight!

No I Do Not Speak Thai, But I Speak English Pretty Well!

Hey! I know I'm technically back, but I figured there's still some "housekeeping" to address. My life might not be all adventures, but I still have plenty of stories, photos, and experiences from Thailand that I figured I might pass along. Granted, at a slightly more relaxed posting rate.

Still, if you're ever bored, you might think to come back and check this Blog. Besides, once I adventure other places I'll certain add them as well!

Anyways, one of the most common questions I was asked was about how I communicated with people in Thailand. It's really not that hard. Seriously. It takes patience and practice. But I finally found something that describes the situation perfectly. This WikiHow article is actually really effective at describing what I went through. If you actually follow these steps, and learn to do so efficiently, you can communicate with people who have very low English skills. It's pretty impressive really.

Anywho, that's it for now. Just thought I'd pass that little gem along. Who knows, you might find it useful one day!

Good ol' U S of A

I’m cheating a bit on this post as I wanted to write about getting ready to leave, except I’ve already been traveling for almost a full day. I am currently in transit toward Bangkok, and am feeling the lack of sleep really building up. But I must backtrack…

Clearly, packing is something that should be left to the last minute. And in this regard, I am a professional. And last minute packing only leads to minor issues: like forgetting all your rain gear despite spending a month in Thailand during the rainy season. No big deal.

As far as travel, my first flight was delayed, but I still made it to my connection at JFK airport with plenty of time. I could have gotten food… but I was in the international wing of terminals. Why waste such great opportunities? I hunted down the gates that were headed to Germany and parked a seat. Figured I might as well get some German practice in. I was actually surprised at how many Germans there didn’t speak English, but was more thrown off by a group of Austrians I tried to interact with.

I had been sitting there for probably half an hour when I mustered up the courage to ask a woman where she was from. I was having a hard time understanding her and her friends because of their accent and dialect. Well, she was put off, but I learned she was from Austria. (This is all taking place auf Deutsch by the way.) Except, when we were done talking she started ranting to her friends. I told her it was hard for me to understand her, not that I couldn’t. Well she apparently didn’t grasp this because I heard her as she spoke about me to her friends. I mean… I was kind of being a little creepy since I was listening to them, but that doesn’t mean she had to be a jerk in how she talked about me.

Thankfully a cute German exchange student (he was the German TA for Oberlin College this year) found humor in the situation and we sat and talked until his flight left.  

Before long, I had boarded and was on course for a 14 hour flight to Tokyo.