Hello fellow followers. I hope you will take a virtual ride with me in Thailand, and for my friends from Thailand. Maybe you will find my story interesting.
I am from Potosi, Wisconsin, a town of about 1000 people. The University of Wisconsin – Platteville is near my home and I am currently pursuing my first bachelors degree in History. I originally aspired to be a public school history instructor, but the political games in the education system left me thinking I would never truly be happy there. When I am not studying history, I am involved very passionately with a Non-Profit organization that I am associated with. The Wisconsin Youth Leadership Forum, Inc., a camp designed to teach and develop leadership skills in high school students who have a diagnosed Disablity. – After reading that note you might be wondering, “Does this dude have a disability?” I respond with a simple “No”. I have never been formally diagnosed with a disablity. Even though I don’t identify with these students at the level of having a disability, I can understand them from a much different perspective. Many have told me that, “You seem to forget the downfalls of people, and you see people as people” I do. The best story I have to descibe these instances is when asked, “do you have anyone in your family disabled”. I for some reason forget that my Grandmother, Uncle, and most recently Brother-In-Law, are all legally recognized as disabled. I had the pleasure of introducing two of my friends. When Friend A and I arrived in the city A believed that I would go to Friend B’s house and pick them up. I told A I could not. Friend A gave me the funniest look, I realized then I never clarrified that Friend B was in fact a wheel chair user – requiring B to use para-transit.
So the real BURNING question, Why Thailand?
At the University of Wisconsin – Platteville I am a student worker with the Women’s Center/ and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Office. (once upon a time I was the treasurer of the organization which I loved, but later resigned to pursue other interests. Most notable YLF as mentioned above.) Down the hall from the Women’s Center/ LGBTQ office is the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs (Students Call it OMSA because they know the Director hates that. The student body can be so cruel sometimes.) In OMSA there is a faculty Advisor by the title Dr. Pusaporn Tabrizi. Originally from the Kingdom of Siam (AKA Thailand) she moved to the United States to pursue her Masters and later a Doctorate in Adult Education. I have known her for three years now and I cannot imagine working where I do without her. She loves her Cheesecake squares, as if they were the last on Earth. Spending days listening to her life stories of her days in Thailand, make me believe in a simpler time. Days without technology, when students studied because their lives depended on it, respect for elders and peers alike, and of course (how can you go wrong when you visit) a country called “the Land of Smiles.” So what made me decide Thailand? I always wanted to travel abroad, but Europe, China, or Japan seemed so mainstream. Seems like when people go abroad those are the places usually considered. I wanted something different. Off the beaten path. A place no one has been to before. Thailand seemed perfect. Although, Let me be ‘frank’ (my Thai friends will like that term) one thing that really jolted my interest was a low budget Thai film about love and music.
So here I am three days from take-off, not a bag packed, not a care in the world. Letting my friends catch up and see me before I leave. In my last three days in the States, I still have a few more friends and family to see. The ones that encourage me, the ones that believe in me, and the people who have calmed me down along the rocky road of an applied adventurer in Adventure Time: Thailand Edition.
