Welcome to the Jungle

We are literally living in the jungle here north of Chiang Rai, Thailand. It is lush with green tall trees everywhere. Simply beautiful.

With the jungle look comes the jungle feel. We are lucky enough to have beds off the ground (most of the volunteers don't) and we have something called "squatters" for toilets (Google it). I've seen bugs that I didn't know existed a. Look forward to those pictures. We eat rice each meal and I'm not really sure what accompanies it sometimes. Luky enough for me they have a little store that sales things like coke, pringles, and oreos. Perfect diet right?

So far my teaching experiences have been amazing. I've taught Monks that want us to sing Lady Gaga to them, children that are terminally ill, and a class of adorable Thai children.

The other volunteers are from all over the world (London, Ireland, Canada, China, Japan, Scotland, France, Italy, and Spain to name a few). I'm perfecting my British accent and hopefully before the trip is over I'll gget them to call the hogs. The next international trip I take may or may not be already in the works, but don't worry Mom this one involves Double Decker bus rides instead of elephants.

The internet is sparce here so my post will be few and far between but here is what I'm looking forward to in the coming days.
-Weekend trip to Chaing Mai
-Living in one of the Hilltribe villages
-Elephant riding
-Tours of temples
-Hilltribe dance
-Western food.

I love you all! I know that I have loads of people praying for me back home and I feel your prayers everyday!

PS- I tried crickets and larva. No, it does not taste like chicken.

We've Got This

"Today is better than tomorrow."
-As Read from a Temple in Chiang Rai

Perfect. We are having an AMAZING time here in Chiang Rai. We keep having the best little moments that are making this trip perfect.

I could bore y'all with all the little deatils of our day but instead here are the top five moments over the past few days.

-Disclaimer- My blog app won't allow me to put pictures where I want so just follow the pictures with the numbers. :)

5. Unexpected Treat:
It is hot and humid here so us spending our day walking gets tiring. So we finally found a major relic we've heard about. It's a massive golden clock tower in the center of the city (yes, it actually was hard to find). So there were some chairs outside a coffee house and we decided to sit down and cool off for a minute. Kris snapped a picture and the next thing we knew we had this little Thai girl serving us water. We felt obligated to buy something so Kris purchased some cookies (that didn't taste that great) because they were the cheapest thing on the menu. We finished our water and quickly left.




4. How did the American's cross the road?
The roads get pretty crazy here so crossing the road becomes pretty intense. There aren't cross walks so you just go for it when you can. This turns into Kristina doing this odd run/walk thing and leaving me behind. We were waiting on a road to cross and I was talking to her when the next thing I know she darts out into the road leaving me on the sidewalk. I started laughing so hard I had to crouch down because of her random jaunt and how "unique" she looks doing it.

3. Luggage Woes and No Clothes:
We've been waiting for luggage for days now. Our two sets of clothes have gotten old and pretty gross with all our adventures so when we got out of the showers neither of us wanted to put back on our nasty clothes. We were sitting in our room in our towels and made the comment about how funny it would be if our luggage came while weren't clothed. Be careful what you wish for right? The next thing we knew we heard a nock at the door. Goodness. Timing is everything. (Just had to add another cliche for good measure.) We are still grateful for the fact that our bags had a "rush" sticker on them. Thanks Richard Lynn for working magic.






2. "What would you like to drink?"
We've been eating at 7/11 way to often since we couldn't find anywhere with an English menu/don't know how to order food in Thai. We finally came across a Cafe that boasted how they had American food in English. Sign us up right? So we walked in, were greeted, and sat down. The menu was perfect. Cheap, tasty, and English. We were ordering but didn't think the girl knew the only language that we know so we were just pointing at the things we wanted on the menu. She then responded clearly with "and what would you like to drink?" We died. She seemed confused about why that was so funny but that had been the first good English we had heard since landing in Thailand. The Golden Triangle Cafe is our new favorite place to eat.
1. John Mayer in Thailand?
Our top experience isn't so much funny but just all around amazing. While out on our adventures today we ran across a sign that said "Live music " so we made plans to go back tonight to see it. After watching the light show at the clock tower, (much easier to find) we went to this cafe/restaurant where they had a recording of one of Clein Deon's concerts blaring. We thought that might have been the live music they were referring too so we sat and ate. After we asked just to make sure and were lead down the alley to this chic bar that was empty. It looked really clean and safe so we decided to stay. Inside were three guys playing and three more working at the bar. The music was AMAZING. They said "welcome" and that he would play some songs just for us (at least we think that is what he said). He continued to play covers of songs in english and he did it well. The band was so good!

How often do you listen to a practically personal acoustic show in a local bar n Thailand? Not often.

Kristina and I are living the quote we read in the temple grounds. Today is better than tomorrow. We are taking full advantage of the opportunities we are given and the little moments that ocur here in Thailand. We are grateful for all the prayers and support that are coming from home because believe us- we feel it.

Who knows what is next? Elephants? Ostriches? Zip lines? Bring on 7 more weeks of todays.

Where is Chaing Rai?

"What can I say, I'm a Thai pleaser." -Kristina Roberts

Sa wad dee ka!

We made it to Thailand. After over 48 hours of traveling we are in a our cute little hostile/hotel in Chaing Rai.

The trip started off great however when we landed in LAX things went down hill. We found a flight for Bangkok which wasn't ours only to find out that we had to completely exit the airport to go to the international terminal (but like I said that flight was going to Bangkok?) All of our flights were delayed which meant we got qaulity time in airports across the globe.

On our 12 hour flight we sat next to a girl named Tan. She was studying in Boston but going back home to Bangkok. She helped us pick our meals on the plane which were actually amazing. Way to go Thai airways.'

We had a pit stop in South Korea which was fun. There we ran into a couple of LDS guys. He said he knew we were Mormon when crazy said "dang it." That flight was only 6 hours but by the time we got to Bangkok we were completely messed up time ways. There is a 12/13 time difference so we lost a some sunlight flying.

When arriving in a different country you have to go through customs. So we did. Kris even managed to make the stone cold guard guy smile. (Hence the quote.) So we did then found the baggage claim. As we were standing there I made the comment to Kris that there was no point because our bags weren't there, trying to be sarcastic. Well they weren't. We watched hundreds of people come and go, but no bags for us. Luckily one of the baggage guys spoke English and we are expecting (fingers crossed) to receive our bags by the 14th.

By the time all this happened it was around 2am so we tried to go check back into the airport to hang out in the comfy lounges, but it was closed so we couldn't. So we walked around, read signs, danced with vagabonds, and ate our snacks until we could get in.

Getting to Chaing Rai was the smoothest part of our travels. Our taxi driver knew exactly where to take us despite Kris's square address print off. We settle in to our hostile, slept, then went off to check things out around us. We have a Mcdonalds just around the corner and lots of little markets. We even found 7/11 with slurpees! We bought some baby shampoo so we could somewhat shower and skirts so we can change our clothes.

So Thailand ready or not here we come :)

Thai Fact #1: They don't use toilet paper. So our room has a "bum hose." Neither of us have been brave enough to try. We will blog about that later.

Kap Kun Ka! (Goodbye)

What Up Asians?

"A life without adventure is likely to be unsatisfactory, but a life in which adventure is allowed to take whatever form it will is sure to be short."

-Bertrand Russell

I'm about to embark on a remarkable adventure and this blog will be how many of you keep up with me for the next little bit. I'll also be able to receive emails and of course there is always the FB option. If you are a cool "iphone" kid, I'll be able to receive imessages at my email address so don't be a stranger. 

I'm excited and blessed to have the chance to take such a fun trip! Watch out Thailand, here I come!

Where: Chaing Rai, Thailand

Who: Me, Alex (Roommate), Kristina (Cousin), & Alex's BFF from St. George (Name unknown)

Why: To volunteer with the Mirror Art Foundation in serving the people of Northern Thailand

When: June - Aug

Sweet Summertime

"And so with sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow fast movies, I had the familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer."

-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

This summer is bringing me new life. I've already had some great summer adventures all culminating to my trip to Thailand. I've been to the Hogle Zoo, Sandy Aquairum, cabin sleepovers in Midway, and of course my quick trip home for Mother's day. I'm a pretty lucky girl to have so many fun things all happening at once. This summer is exactly what I needed to have just enough motivation to finish up my last semester of my undergraduate degree. Watch out world. Here I come.

Surprise!

"Surprise is the greatest gift life can grant us."

-Boris Pasternak

So a few months ago I was sitting at work thinking about summer and realized summer is when we celebrate day for parents (Mother's and Father's day). Then I thought what on earth could I get my amazing mother that would be good enough to show her just HOW much I love her. What else but a surprise trip home?

Luckily my big brother is amazing and helped chip in on a plane ticket so the plans were in action to get me home for a brief little vacation to surprise my parents.

 I texted my mother when I landed in Dallas for my plane change to brag about how she would be getting her present early this year. Her response scared me because I thought she knew.

I didn't blow my cover regardless.

Miranda picked me up and we laid low until Richard-Ross got into town. Then the fun began. :)

The following two videos are my parents reactions. Priceless.



I'm so glad I got to come home to visit. It will be the last time I'm home until December. Ah. But here is to a seven day trip home! :)

Define It

Expendable

• not worth preserving
• dispensable: not worth preserving or saving for reuse
• expendable item: an expendable person or thing

Synonyms- dispensable, disposable, superfluous, unessential, nonessential.

Paper plates are expendable, q-tips are expendable, but people are not.