Reflecting on the Week

There are days in life when you know you made the wrong decision or maybe the right decision. How we as individuals deal with that though is what defines us. Some live in the past and reminisce about what they would do differently or what they messed up and would want to change. Some live only in the good part of the past and forget the bad, those who don't learn from their mistakes are bound to repeat their mistakes. Yet on the contrary those who live only in their regrets never move on and are stuck in an infinite loop of what ifs and what could have been. Neither of these options are a suitable life for a person. You must live in the present and future, make things happen for your self, if you mess up ok get back up dust off and move on, I'm not saying completely forget your mess up therefore you will have to repeat it, but do not wallow in the sorrow of messing up, take the lesson that you learned the hard way and RUN. Those who learn and grow through trial and error are bound for greatness in their own lives, maybe not the worlds definition of greatness, but their own definition of greatness and happiness. If you don't let regret and fear lead you, as Han once said "Life is simple, you make choices and don't look back." I know I'm not perfect, I'm no where near perfect but I try to live my life close to this saying I make a choice, I live with it, for better or for worse, I live with the decision I made. I realized today that I missed a pitch perfect opportunity, but I made a choice and I'm living with it and just have to hope that opportunity presents its self at a later time. "Life's simple make choices and don't look back".

Dance The Night Away

Ok so Wednesday night my school had what they call Imatrikulacion or what it should be called is first year students hazing and dance. Very strange, first hour was the seniors hazing the freshman, in front of teacher, ya not really gonna happen in America but ok different country different culture. Then the night turned to dancing, I hate these formal dances where you dress formally and dance like buffoons, I think its totally redundant to dress nice and then act like an idiot hopping all over. So I've never had fun at any school dance and this one was the same way for about the first hour. Didn't like dancing, neither did a class mate named Ana who moved here from Russia in February. I wen up to the balcony and just watched, until my classmates saw me and were waving me down to dance, I knew if I didn't go they would come up to get me, so I turned around and started to walk down, then I noticed Ana reading a book in the corner. Uuhh no if I'm going your coming with. She did and slowly as the night progressed we both started to dance more and more and act like fools and it was an overall good night, I actually had fun at a school dance for the first time ever. At the end of the night I told Ana thank you because I've never danced like that before or had fun at one of these things. The best part is she said. "No thank you because normally I sit in the corner at these things and just watch, I only dance like that in my room MAYBE." It was a very neat moment, two foreigners not knowing this place, and both slightly reserved, throwing caution to the wind and having a fun evening together due to a common interest of not liking to dance and ending up dancing, in the infamous words of David Lee Roth and Van Halen "Danced the night away." So thank you Ana for making a high school dance fun for once.

On a foot note, some of you may say he's not reserved, yes and no is my answer. I have no problem making fun of my self to break the ice in any situation, but I am reserved about the way I look at public functions, aka dancing, public speaking, playing my musical instrument, so on and so on. The end of this blog post was technically before this foot note, so you can just ignore it if you want. Oh wait you didn't know that until just now so HA.

Alright those of you who know me, know that I tend to give people multiple chances, just the way I am. Once you've ran out of chances though I could care less. Definitely two out of the nine foreign exchange students have reached that point and a third is desperately close to the edge of being there as well. I'm sorry but living in a foreign country you have to be aware of your surroundings at all times, your self, people, buildings, cars, just be aware. Because you are on your OWN, you don't have mommy or daddy to take care of you if you fuck up its on you and you alone. Now in America I feel like I was a little more independent than I am here just for the fact that I could drive, but I would buy my own clothes, just some simple stuff like that. I knew how to get places and not get lost 95% of the time. But here you have to be even more in control because you don't know this land as well as your home. Therefore you cant treat it like you are home and not pay attention. I you have to repeatedly ask what a word is when we are in Slovak class maybe you should get your head out of that damn smartphone and pay attention instead of asking what a kniha (Book) is every five minuets for three weeks worth of lessons! Or maybe if I tell you simple directions to get three blocks from where you are you could just simply remember it instead of wait I'm at the intersection which way do I turn again. "RIGHT". Oh ya I remember now, no you clearly don't if you have to continually ask it. Or if your going to an event and you get 3/4 of the way there and realize you forgot your tickets. How do you forget the ticket to the singular thing you are doing that NIGHT, HOW! I'm tired of taking care of and looking out for these individuals. So good luck, hope you become more independent and aware of your surroundings, like the way I was brought up.

Alright so I am going to unlock the depths of my mind here and allow the general public in for a secret and elusive viewing of what goes on in there. Today at my Rotary meeting something occurred to me. First off, Thanks Mom and Dad this ones about you. Rotary meetings here are absolutely boring, we don't understand anything and are almost never talked to, so we just sit there for two hours every Monday. Today as I sat there bored as hell I noticed something, One exchange student missing, and the other two buried in their phones. Now I may not know what's going on or what's being said, but I do understand one thing. Some one talks you pay attention even if you don't care what they are saying, if you disagree with what they are saying, or you don't even understand the language. You give them respect. It occurred to me that my parents raised me right and I am so thankful words cant even express. I pay attention, I open doors for people, I give them the front seat in a car even if I was already there, I get out and move to the back, it is respect, you respect your elders no matter what and you are polite, no questions asked. in a foreign country a few things will get you very far, being polite and showing some respect. What shocked me more was that even the Rotarians themselves were on their phones for most of the meeting, not paying attention to what was being said. I was one of four people in a room of over 15 that did not have their phone out, even the president checked his phone a few times! It was just the way I was brought up, just like how you stop for a funeral. Its respect, give respect and you will receive it as well. So Mom, Dad, Thank you, And I love ya'll. I'm not going to end there, I'm going to end on this quote.
“Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them.
They move on. They move away.
The moments that used to define them are covered by
moments of their own accomplishments.

It is not until much later, that
children understand;
their stories and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories
of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones,
beneath the water of their lives.”
― Paulo Coelho
LOVE  
Aaron
            

High Tetras

Ok so I know I haven't posted here in a long time. Sorry but host family was ill for a few weeks and we went no where. But this past Sunday we went to the high tetras. And it was amazing and fun and very beautiful. That day while there I get this from my dad. "As I am driving the Scout home from Brian's, I have the thought of the day "You only have one pass at life, use it wisely!"" I replied with this photo and saying "like this?" 

Yes this is a live fox. Yes I took this picture. No there is no zoom. And no there is not any filters on it. This is how close I was to the fox about 2-3 feet away, and it was a very neat experience. So my advice to you readers from my dad is this. "You only have one pass at life, use it wisely!"

Well that was mildly disappointing. While sitting in the hall because I don't have a class this period I notice sour skittles in the vending machine. I thought to myself hey I haven't had those in years. I think I'll get some and it'll be like to good days with the skittles coated In the sour goodness that could melt your face off. So I bought them and opened it and sadly they looked like normal skittles, not coated in anything and the sourness was now on the inside and no where near as potent as they used to be. Just a little disappointing.

So last Friday was a full month at school and they told us that now we needed to wear different shoes once in school to keep it cleaner. I couldn't help but laugh my ass of at this because where I come from it was normal to see mud, cow shit and even some dip on the floor at my school. So for them to tell us to wear different shoes to keep the school cleaner, which by the way doesn't have a spec of dirt or mud on the floor just seemed utterly hilarious to me.