Rub Nong (รับน้อง) means accepting the youth. Saturday night O and Gaeb came to my place and slept over. Sunday morning we went to the university, loaded three tour busses with first year incoming freshman, and headed for Hua Hin.

In Hua Hin we went striaght into the good stuff. I had group number 3.

We blindfolded the freshman and had them grab on to eachother in a single file line. After leading them down the beach and through the water, we lead them up to a garbage bag tunnel. This tunnel had several possible routes, but all directions had portholes built-in, with upperclass (my upperclassmen) standing above or to the side. The freshman were unblindfolded one by one and sent into the tunnel. After all had gone, I had to go too! The trick was to crawl through the sand slowly, then quickly past the 3rd and 4th years. Upperclassmen were armed with a paste made of brightly colored dye, flour, and starch. After the paste is smeared on your face and hair it dries very quickly, leaving a plaster-covered face and stiff hair.

The next few stations included water gun battles, to knock Mickey Mouse ears off of the other team's head, eating competitions, clothes changing races, and obstacle courses. Around 4pm we checked into rooms, took showers and went to dinner. After dinner was over, we all gathered in the conference hall and played more games, skits preformed by 2nd years, and more games. The next part was a bit of supprise.

The lights were turned off, and the 3rd/4th year students gave a slideshow and a speech/song on how important it was to enjoy ourselves and have a good time as a student. We never did turn the lights on again. We lead our groups ourside again, once again in single file lines, and down the path to the beach. The path to the beach was lined with upperclassmen, still singing. The beach was lined with good size holes, about 40 of them, each with a candle at the bottom. 40 was the number of staff members on the trip, and was just enough for each of us to have our own hole and candle. Freshman were allowed to roam the beach, visiting all the candles. When a student would sit down infront of us, we would tie a string onto their wrist and give them a blessing and advise for the upcoming year. All of this was done at a near whisper. The beach was pitch black accept for our candles and the lights of all the fishing boats moered offshore. Once all hundred freshman had gone back to there rooms, staff members visited their upperclassmen for the same thing. I recieved some of the best advice I've ever had that night.

The next day was breakfast, pack, and leave for Bangkok. At some point we drew siblings พี่รหัส. This meant I have 5 freshman that I must treat like my siblings for the next few years. Help them when I can, take them out every so often. Likewise, they help out their older brother. I got some pretty cool siblings. I'll be passing out old textbooks next week, when school starts again, as presents.

After getting back to the university a group of friends and I headed for the Eastern Bus Terminal, bought tickets, and headed down the other coast, to another beach. This was a great trip. We got to Bang Saen around sunset and rented an empty house. We spent the night eating food, drinking (sorry mom), playing cards (more scandelous than drinking here), singing songs, and just having fun. Tuesday morning we walked over to the beach and had breakfast on the beach, then headed back to Bangkok.

Wednesday was the longest football/soccer practice i've ever done.

Thursday was freshman oreintation for the the foreign students. We went to the Buffalo Center in Supanburi. This was a fun trip, but very tiring and not quiet as personal as Rub Nong in Hua Hin.

Yesterday was more practice for freshman rallies and soccer.

Today I have to go somewhere for HM the Queen's birthday. Not sure where, but I hear it involves a lot of walking in the mid-day sun.

Tomorrow is my first free day in weeks! What will I do!? Buy school clothes and sleep are my guess. Monday is the first day of the first term in 2006. Fundamental Mathmatics and Presentation Techniques. 11.20-16.30, 7 hours.