Rathanak
While I was in college, I became friends with a girl who lived in my dorm, Rathanak San. Her family was of Cambodian origin; her family fled to the United States to escape persecution in Cambodia. Rathanak was in one of Jose’s classes and she and I became close fast. Some of my best memories of living in the dorms are when Rathanak and I would just hang out my dorm room, eating popcorn and drinking soda. Jose and Rathanak were both very much into physical fitness, Jose because of his wrestling background and Rathanak because her major was Fitness and Sports Management. I even dated her roommate for a time, back when I was still confused with my sexuality.
It was coming up on the end of the fall semester which meant it was time for Christmas break. On that particular Christmas I had plans to go to Dad and Wanda’s for Christmas. I was living in Greentree Village at the time, because I remember Rathanak staying with me there so that she could study for finals in peace. Her family did not celebrate Christmas so I invited her to go with me to Georgia.
We decided to make an adventure out of it. We planned on going into Atlanta to hit the clubs and enjoy the Atlanta nightlife. What we did not plan on though was my total lack of direction and ended up driving around some very bad part of the Atlanta ghetto. It seemed as if every turn brought us further and further away from where we wanted to be, but somehow we ended up finding the Heretic. It was Christmas Eve eve and here we were going club hopping in a club we had heard of but never been to. At the Heretic there were 3 floors – Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Heaven was the top floor, of course, and it featured live bands. We knew that some pretty famous bands got their start there, such as the Dave Matthews Band. We were hoping to catch an up and coming band so that we can say “we were there when.” I guess the band that played that night must not have made it big because I sure can’t remember who it was.
Purgatory was a music free middle floor where there were several billiard tables and a bar was set up. We didn’t spend much time there simply because it seemed boring. Foretelling my future, we spent most of our time in Hell on the first level. Here it was more like a typical club scene – bass pumping, club hits playing loudly. This was exactly what we had come for! Our night was complete when out of the blue we feel this strange tickling on our skin, obvious because of its coolness against our sweat-covered body. Raining down on us and the crowd was a waterfall of bubbles, lots of bubbles, bubbles everywhere, thick foamy bubbles. It was such a crazy and awesome feeling to be covered in bubbles, the depth of them rose to well over our heads, yet we never did feel smothered or like we were drowning. We felt so free and full of life and fun.
We drove the hour or so home back to my dad’s house without incident, quickly falling asleep after a great night out.
My only other memory of that trip came later that night. It was Christmas Eve and it began snowing, so what did we decide to do? We decided to go sit in the Jacuzzi of course. Like a sensory replay of the night before, once again our bodies were hot (from the hot tub) and yet the snow tickled our head and shoulders just like the bubbles from the night before. I do not remember much else about the trip, and I certainly don’t remember my dad’s reaction to bringing a minority to his house for the holidays. My dad had always been racist but he must have been fine with me bringing her since he let her come. I imagine that he was just happy that I was bringing a girl home of any race.
In a strange twist of “it’s a small world after all”, I randomly became friends with Rathanak’s brother, after I had moved to Chattanooga. He worked for my partner (my partner at the time) and I remember telling him I was friends with another Cambodian with the same last name as he. Turns out, that was his little sister.
It was coming up on the end of the fall semester which meant it was time for Christmas break. On that particular Christmas I had plans to go to Dad and Wanda’s for Christmas. I was living in Greentree Village at the time, because I remember Rathanak staying with me there so that she could study for finals in peace. Her family did not celebrate Christmas so I invited her to go with me to Georgia.
We decided to make an adventure out of it. We planned on going into Atlanta to hit the clubs and enjoy the Atlanta nightlife. What we did not plan on though was my total lack of direction and ended up driving around some very bad part of the Atlanta ghetto. It seemed as if every turn brought us further and further away from where we wanted to be, but somehow we ended up finding the Heretic. It was Christmas Eve eve and here we were going club hopping in a club we had heard of but never been to. At the Heretic there were 3 floors – Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Heaven was the top floor, of course, and it featured live bands. We knew that some pretty famous bands got their start there, such as the Dave Matthews Band. We were hoping to catch an up and coming band so that we can say “we were there when.” I guess the band that played that night must not have made it big because I sure can’t remember who it was.
Purgatory was a music free middle floor where there were several billiard tables and a bar was set up. We didn’t spend much time there simply because it seemed boring. Foretelling my future, we spent most of our time in Hell on the first level. Here it was more like a typical club scene – bass pumping, club hits playing loudly. This was exactly what we had come for! Our night was complete when out of the blue we feel this strange tickling on our skin, obvious because of its coolness against our sweat-covered body. Raining down on us and the crowd was a waterfall of bubbles, lots of bubbles, bubbles everywhere, thick foamy bubbles. It was such a crazy and awesome feeling to be covered in bubbles, the depth of them rose to well over our heads, yet we never did feel smothered or like we were drowning. We felt so free and full of life and fun.
We drove the hour or so home back to my dad’s house without incident, quickly falling asleep after a great night out.
My only other memory of that trip came later that night. It was Christmas Eve and it began snowing, so what did we decide to do? We decided to go sit in the Jacuzzi of course. Like a sensory replay of the night before, once again our bodies were hot (from the hot tub) and yet the snow tickled our head and shoulders just like the bubbles from the night before. I do not remember much else about the trip, and I certainly don’t remember my dad’s reaction to bringing a minority to his house for the holidays. My dad had always been racist but he must have been fine with me bringing her since he let her come. I imagine that he was just happy that I was bringing a girl home of any race.
In a strange twist of “it’s a small world after all”, I randomly became friends with Rathanak’s brother, after I had moved to Chattanooga. He worked for my partner (my partner at the time) and I remember telling him I was friends with another Cambodian with the same last name as he. Turns out, that was his little sister.
Comments
Post a Comment