3 continents later

Hi guys! Have you missed me? Of course you have! So my journey home was actually pretty good. 15 hour train ride went really fast thanks to surprisingly reliable cell coverage in the middle of the Thai jungle. I got to hang out with my friend Carrie in Bangkok which was awesome. I did some last minute souvenir shopping and got a henna dragon because I’m hardcore. Then it was off to Korea. I made friends with a Thai guy named Popcorn on the plane. I was helping him with his English. He wanted to make sure he was saying “shredded pork” right and wondered what the green stuff at chipotle was called (lettuce). Definitely some crucial vocab words right there. Thanks to free tours buses from the airport, I actually got to go explore Seoul a little bit. I didn't have time to see much but I was able to get 2 donuts, a red bean slushy, and a Captain America sweatshirt which is both awesome and ironic because I bought it in Korea!

Then I finally made it back to the US, kicked it there just long enough to throw down some café rio and cake and then left the country again. Now here I am in London. That’s 3 different continents in a week. Not too shabby. J Don’t worry, I will definitely be filling you in on my Euro adventures, just not now. I know the suspense is killing you. Hang in there. For this one wanted to sort of tie up my Thailand adventure for y'all.

So my last day in Thailand was pretty surreal. The fact that it was ending was hard to believe. I dropped of my bike and said goodbye to the group. I knew I was going to see everybody back in but it was weird to thing our adventure together was over. I did some last minute errands in the city, drank one more milo, had one last delicious bag of pineapple, and stocked up on a ridiculous amount of Thai snacks. I sat by the river and looked back on the last 3 months. I’m so pensive. Anyways, there were definitely some hard moments with miscommunications, a bit of homesickness, and some culture shock. But overall it was an incredible experience with great new friends, awesome adventures, and delicious food. I’m not going to say that I’m a brand new person or that going to Thailand changed the course of my life, but it did teach me a lot about kindness, respect, and gratitude. I interacted with so many wonderful people and witness so many little acts of kindness. While teaching, I fell in love with my students and realized just how important education is. Being in Thailand really helped me appreciate all the incredible opportunities I’ve been given and everyone and everything in my life. Although I was sad to leave Thailand, I knew it was time to move on and prepare for the next great experience. I don't know what the future has for me but I know I'm excited. I am reminded of the words of Michael Douglas (also known as Tum Tum the three ninja) “I hope there’s more food on our next adventure.”

Peace!

Packing!

Eating a donut in korea with. Please excuse the very bad travel hair

Seoul! If you look really close you can see my Captain America Sweatshirt :)

Carrie getting her hair braided in Bangkok

They came to see me off!

I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello

It seems like just yesterday I was standing in front of a class on my first day of English teaching absolutely terrifying, playing this very song trying desperately to teach a class of thirty-eight 7^thgraders the exciting subject of English greetings. It didn’t end well. Haha Now, 3 months later, I’ve almost gotten the hang of it, which generally means it’s time to move on. Funny how that works. Thursday was my last day of school which also meant saying goodbye to my kids. So I’ve moved a lot and have always been a little bit of a robot when it comes to goodbyes. They’ve always been pretty chill for me, but it was sad saying goodbye to my students. I’ve really come to love them, even the 7^th graders. J They’re such a good bunch of kids. I got completely showered with handmade cards that are all pretty much the cutest things ever. I had a few students give me flowers, a couple kids give me stuffed animals, and about fifty 13 year olds profess their love for me. Haha So great. Now I feel like I really understand a lot more about what it means to be a teacher now. It’s crazy how attached you become. I just want so much for all of these kids. I’m going to miss them.

After school we had my school’s signature goodbye party, karaoke!!! Awesome. Since this was my party, they tried to sing mostly English songs. This also meant they expected me to sing to every song because of course I knew all of them. False. They were absolutely shocked when they found out I’d never heard hits like “Shalalala” and “Love me, love my dog.” I guess I’ve just been living under a rock, a rock called 21^st century America. I mean don’t get me wrong, I actually know and love a lot of oldies but these songs were crazy obscure. They did play a few I knew that were very much appreciated. I’ve never been so excited to hear Perry Como and Barbara Streisand in my life. As much as I loved singing “Your Cheatin’ Heart” in front of a room full of Thai teachers, I feel like as far as karaoke goes those 3 hours were enough to last me a lifetime.

I'm about to leave for my train to Bagkok. Really mixed feelings. I'm going to write a little bit of a reflection post while I'm traveling. Man am I going to have time for reflecting. With the train ride and layovers it's going to take me over 50 hours to get home. Dang. Wish me luck guys! I'll post again when I return to the wonderful world of wifi.

Peace!

A few of the students hanging out with me on my last day.

Turbo decided he was coming with me to America and jumped up already to go.

Me and all the teachers at my going away party. I'm kind of hard to spot in this picture but just look really hard.

KARAOKE!!!!

My bed covered in the cards and presents students and teachers gave me. They're such wonderful people. I'm going to miss them.

29 things

I’ve officially got one week left in Thailand. Dang that was fast. That means we’re getting down to my last couple posts. I feel like a travel blog wouldn’t be complete without a list of things I’ve missed and things I’m going to miss. So here you go!

Things I’ve missed.

-Pandora

-being a vegetarian

-blending in

-not being so sweaty

-big drinks and free refills

-a relatively bug free existence

-people saying “bless you” after you sneeze

-baked things

-air conditioning

-socks

-English speakers

-not being constantly reminded of my whiteness

-good internet

-Family and friends (you people)

Things I’m going to miss about Thailand.

-the food! So amazing and oh so cheep

-Thai covers of American songs from the Carpenters to Flo Rida

-the rain

-my sweet bike

-my group (the other BYU interns

-the scenery, especially the mountains. I know this sounds weird considering I’m going back to Utah but there’s just something about Thailand mountains.

-Milo and Ovaltine shakes

-monks

-the smells (the good ones like incense and flowers, sewer smells and meat markets not so much)

-people saying “you beautiful” even when my hair makes me look like a 90s drummer and I’m as sweaty as the Rock in fast and the furious 5

-all the great markets

-elephants

-my host family

-7/11’s on every corner

-the kids I teach, seriously some of the coolest kids ever

Riding doubles!!! I finally got a picture :)

This was taken from a Doi Suthep (a famous wat on top of a mountain)

monks!

baby elephant :)

Such good kids

A picture's worth a thousand words

I have been told, and I quote “your blog has sooo many words!” So for this post I decided to give you guys a break and let the pictures do (most of) the talking. Living in Asia you see some pretty hilarious things. These are just a few of my favorites. Rae, this one goes out to you! J

I know I'm tall by Thailand's standards but this seemed a little excessive.

that's a giant handicapped sign. yeah i've got no idea. ha

BEST SHIRT EVER!!!!

Your mom's useless.

Who knew a smoothie shop in Thailand has had the cure this whole time!

Plurals are hard.

Thailand is very serious about Christmas in July, and May, and June, and August. :)

Food glorious food

Oh food, my favorite thing :) Like I’ve said before, most people here don’t speak English and since they can’t talk to me, they just give me massive amounts of food instead. It’s awesome! Thai food is basically the bomb. Mango sticky rice has got to be my favorite but I love the curry, the soups, the pad Thai, just about everything.

Ok actually I lied. Mango sticky rice is my second favorite. Roti is my first favorite. Holy crap this stuff is amazing! You can find roti stands on pretty much every corner near my house and the vendors are always Muslim. Basically it’s fried dough with butter, sugar, and sweetened condensed milk. Pretty much a rolled up heart attack. I am so in love with this.

The fruit here is absolutely amazing! Mangos, bananas, pineapples, coconuts, all so freaking good! Not sure how I’m going to go back to crappy imported fruit. Dang I don’t even want to think about that. Haha Some of my favorite fruits are ones you can’t even get in the states! Mangosteen, rambutan, tamarind. Mmmmm….so good.

So in Thailand there is seriously a 7/11 every block and I am basically addicted to their snacks. I generally stop at the one by my house about 5 times a week to keep my stash nice and stocked. I see one of the workers there a ton so we’re pretty much buddies. Once when I bought a particularly large amount of cookies she says “that’s going to make you fat.” I think the fact that we’re already to that level in our friendship shows just how much time I spend at sev. ha

On that note, this one day a teacher at my school looks at me and goes “You’re bigger than you were when you first got here. You eat too much.” Not going to lie, I kind of miss how in the states people just think you’re fat instead of actually saying it. haha

Mangosteen! Definitely my favorite fruit!

My stash of sev snacks. So beautiful. Chokis, Dewberries, fun-o’s, sugus, and more. Essentially happiness in wrappers.

MANGO STICKY RICE!!! That’s how much my host mom usually gives me. It’s definitely the same size as the one she makes for her whole family. Haha

Miracle roti man! This guy appeared out of nowhere in the pouring rain the second Jessica said “Man I really want some roti.” Like magic!

ROTI!!! If I could marry a food substance it would be this.

Get your head in the game!

Ok, so my whole life I don’t think I’ve had more than an ounce of school spirit. No matter what school I happened to be going to at the time, I had the exact same attitude: meh. However, this past Friday I found out that when it comes to Wattadeua Community School I actually have spirit. Weird right? My older kids had this big sports competition at one of the other schools and I got to go watch. The school we were playing against was super intimidating, looking like Chiang Mai’s version of East High in their red and white custom jerseys. My kids were definitely the underdogs, wearing their PE uniforms and I think feeling a little like District 5 versus the hawks. (Mighty Ducks reference what what!) The thing was my school totally dominated! Take that Thai Troy Bolton. haha They did awesome! I felt a little like a proud parent which was kind of weird. It's crazy how attached I've gotten in just a few months. It was so fun to see them play. They worked really hard and it payed off. My kids are the best. GO WATTADEUA!!! J

Takraw! Coolest sport ever! Basically soccer meets volleyball meets ninja awesomeness. Awwyeah!

I love these kids. I’m going to miss them.

Suwid! He did so good! This little boy has a pretty hard time with English so seeing him work hard and succeed was seriously awesome.

The kids were so proud to be a part of their school, and I was too. :)

(Mis)Communication

As many of you know, I am a big fan of talking. I like the sound of my own voice and I’m not afraid to admit it. However, being in Thailand, talking has become pretty dang hard. No one understands me and I don’t mean in a melodramatic Simple Plan kind of way, I mean literally no one understands what I’m saying. Haha Yeah at my school very few people speak any English. I pretty much never know what’s going on but I’ve decided that’s overrated. I’m so good at smiling and nodding now. J

My host family doesn’t speak much English either. Pretty much every sentence I say in English causes a 5 minute team discussion in Thai trying to figure what the heck I just said. I get a kick out of it. I’m also getting pro at charades. J I’ve learned the bare necessities of Thai (I’m full, excuse me, I don’t understand, which way, etc) and the incredibly useful random vocab words I learn from teaching (geography, engineer, stagecoach) but I wish I knew a lot more. I’ll keep studying but I’m beginning to realize just how short 3 months is to try and work on a language.

Something that does amaze me is just how patient everyone is. I know that talking to me takes a lot of effort, but people are still so nice and always willing to try. It’s especially hard for them because I talk crazy fast. If you know anyone in my family you understand where I get it. Being here, I’ve learned to slow down quite a bit but when I get with English speakers, I go straight back to my auctioneer speed. I do miss having normal conversations. I also miss being funny as dumb as that sounds. I still think I’m hilarious but apparently I’m much less hilarious if you don’t speak English. I wish I had a laugh track to help people know when I say something funny. I’ll check ebay.

It’s a little hard sometimes too because I meet and work with so many amazing people but I don’t know very much about them because of the communication barrier. I wish I knew their stories but it is pretty cool seeing the way people get around that though. My strategy is mostly just smiling and that’s how a lot of the other student teachers do it to. I feel like on some level we’re still friends, even if we never talk. Kind of a silent friendship. It’s a new thing for me but it’s actually pretty cool. Kids are amazing at this! That’s one of the reasons I love them so much. To them it doesn’t matter if I speak Thai. They just want to play and a smile is more than a strong enough foundation for a solid friendship. It’s pretty much the greatest thing ever!

These pictures are loosely related. I mostly just liked them :)

Jaja and Piay! My little host sister is pretty much pro at the silent communication business

Bia! He's one of the other student teachers. We always smile at each other so I've decided that means we're friends despite our conversations never progressing past "Hello!"

Some of my new friends. :) We were walking around the community reminding people to vote, apparently. Those two little girls held my hands the entire time. The little girl on my right was having the hardest time holding the poster and my hand but she refused to let go of either one. haha So cute

Some more of my new friends. Like I said, speaking is completely unnecessary in their book. Love these kids :)