A Brief Update and intro to Thailand

There is a 65% chance that I will be staying in China at United International College again next year helping the International Development Office or the Office of Whole Person Education (the on campus volunteer organization).

It is my hope that another year in China will allow me to increase my Chinese language proficiency as well as allow me to return to the US and land a job with an international company/travel abroad agency/study abroad agency (in reverse order).

I have become a Foreign Agent Specialist for an international modeling company in the Pearl River Delta. After working on for the Medical Device Sales Company I expressed my uneasiness to the manager and he suggested that I help him recruit western models to star in movies and various advertisements. I have since been in one movie as a wealthy westerner on a cruise ship, and a line of advertisements as a cook (with the white mushroom hat) recommending an expensive line of toaster ovens and steamer appliances. The pay isn't great, but it's fun to hang out on a movie set with a bunch of friends and watch a famous 12-year-old actor fake-play the piano while his mother (a famous Taiwanese superstar) watches sobbing.

Just today I flew out of Macau with Carl, Joel, and David (3 other T.A.s) to Thailand. We flew out in the afternoon and met a middle aged ex-pat who informed us of the seedy underbelly of Thailand -- unmentionables. He continued on to tell us that it was very common for middle aged men to visit Thailand on a business trip for a week or so, return home to their wives -- only to sell their assets and return to Thailand to start a new life. In fact, he admitted, he was one of these people, he even had a Thai wife. But, he justified the sudden switch to the fact that his wife was actually scheming to divorce him.

Anyways, the plane reinforced certain stereotypes we have already heard about from other travellers but only brought them down harder upon us. Even now sitting in the hostel I shudder thinking about the advice this man shared with us - he not only validated the darker reality but passed it off as casual advice from one traveller to another.

---Lost and Found---
Not letting it get to us, we evaded his company and claimed our bags and was falsely counciled by airport 'government staff' into taking a taxi for much more than the airport shuttle bus. The driver was a funny guy whole helped show us different temple guides and told us about upcoming Mui Thai boxing matches.
Due to our lack of cash we had to take a pit stop at an ATM to pull out more money - getting out of the car Joel unknowingly dropped his Ipod touch into the gutter. We climbed back into the taxi and found our hostel where Joel realized he had lost his iPod. Not letting it get to him, we went out and ate some pad Thai (amazing) and walked around the neighborhood. We actually found our way back to the bank where we pulled the money out of the ATM and Joel inspected the gutter to find his iPod face down in a puddle.
Excited at the find we went and ate some delicious homemade Coconut Ice cream at a nearby restaurant and shuffled home.