MONDAY! MONDAY! MONDAY!

This is it, kids. The home stretch. My Thailand puzzle was finally completed last Monday; my Thai single entry non-immigrant B visa is sitting on my desk waiting to be put to good use. Two days. Two days. TWO DAYS! And I'm on my way to Thailand. This time next week, I will be somewhere in THAILAND. IN FREAKING THAILAND! As in across the Pacific Ocean. About 30% of the Earth’s surface. That’s almost ONE THIRD of the world. Insane.

This trip is coming and it’s coming fast; I wouldn't have it any other way. LA was fun while it lasted, but nothing was able to compete with just the thought (JUST THE THOUGHT!) of the endless possibilities, personal growth, and experiences I will encounter abroad. Distractions got the best of me at certain points of my stay; I'm back in control now. Eyes on the prize. No distractions. Just ME and Thailand. Oh mannnnnn! One freaking third. Trips me out.

I’m nervous, excited, intimidated, happy, scared, anxious…you name it, I’m probably feeling it. I’ve never been out of the country before and to do it alone? Well, it’s definitely going to be an adventure. Ups and downs, highs and lows, homesick, not-so-homesick; I’m expecting to go through it all (especially because I’ll be there for all major U.S. holidays, including my birthday!). But! No matter how rough it may get out there, I won’t let it consume me. Keeping busy with lesson plans, traveling, cooking lessons, Muay Thai (going to matches, not actually partaking in the ass kicking), and becoming apart of the Thai culture, will help ease being away from home. I look forward to meeting new people and celebrating new holidays in a new environment. All this newness is awesome.

I really can’t wait until Monday. Crap! It’s almost Monday.

Word Problem:

My plane takes off on October 11, at 12:30pm. After about 12 hours and 20 minutes of flying west (NOT EAST), I arrive in Seoul, Korea on October 12, around 5:45pm. Seoul, Korea is 16 hours ahead of the United States. How many hours will I be transported into the future?

Let’s look at this again. I leave on 10/11/10 at 12:30 in the afternoon and arrive the next day, 10/12/10, at 5:45 in the evening. Sounds crazy, huh? That’s 29 hours and 15 minutes of flying? Not really. The flight only takes about 12½ hours. Answer: When you figure in the time zone difference, I’m traveling 12 hours and 20 minute to be 16 hours into the future. Duh.

But that’s not all, I still need to get to Bangkok, which is another 5½ hour flight and in yet another time zone. Thailand is 14 hours ahead of the US, which is 2 hours closer than Seoul. At 7:30pm, I leave for Bangkok and arrive at 11pm. So I’m traveling another 5½ to gain back 2 of the 16 hours I lost when flying to Korea. So I travel for about 17½ hours to hang with Marty McFly 14 hours into the future (all coming from the Los Angeles time zone point of view, of course). Interesting? Kinda. One thing’s for sure, my brain was hurting for a while. I thought I needed to do some crazy mathematical equation to figure out the time I would lose when flying westward, but no. It took me about 2 hours to figure that I didn’t need to spend 2 hours to find the answer. The answer is in the time zones. Doh!

It’s literally going to be a full day of travel. There is one thing I find it odd: my flight leaves at 12:30 in the afternoon. I always thought international flights left at night so passengers arrive at their destination during the day? I guess I was wrong. Whatever. Doesn’t matter now.

Besides banging my head against the wall over something not worth banging my head

over, I’ve been slowly cleaning out my room and packing. I went through all my clothes and donated an extra large garbage bag and box full of clothes plus another box of shoes and bags. I tried taking a box to the local thrift shop, but I only made $6.30 off a pair of jeans; it didn’t even cover the cost of a beer from last night’s outing. Money is money though.

Packing was somewhat easy and I think it’s because I’m so set on bringing as little as possible. So this, up here, is what I’ll be taking with me. Underpants, some tanks, work clothes, shoes, flip-flops, hydration pack, and a few other essentials.

I did a little test run to make sure everything fit and it did, with space to spare too! Once my teaching term is up, I plan to either ship back or donate (it will probably be the latter) all my work clothes, which will make even more space in my pack.

Packing is done.

Documents are in.

And I am ready to GO!