It has been almost a month since my last post, I have traveled to many different places, not to mention the fact that I am in a different country now and yet I sit here wondering what to write about. I guess that I am just not in the mood to blog but I owe a couple of you an update so I will type away about my life right now until I have a sufficient enough entry... :)

I think that I will talk about my travels. Back in November (before I left Thailand), Rachel and I decided to take a little vacation together. We flew south to Phuket and then took a two hour boat ride to the island of Phi Phi in Thailand. Apparently this island is an extremely popular tourist attraction due to the fact that the movie "The Beach" was filmed there and every single hotel room on the island was full. People were actually having to get back on the boat and leave right after they got there. Good thing we made a reservation. The island was beautiful and we had fun but I would prefer something a little less crowded.

While there, Rachel and I decided that we would try scuba diving because it was cheap and adventurous. Let me mention first that my biggest fear is drowning. I used to get sick in cars that went over bridges because I had a fear of plummeting into the water and not being able to get out of the car and therefore drowning. Ridiculous I know. I think that this fear stems from the fact that I had asthma really bad when I was younger and I remember what it feels to not be able to draw a breath. But I decided to put on a brave face and try scuba diving anyway. The night before we dived, we had to attend this training session that consisted of sitting at a table and listening to a guy talk. There was no water involved yet but I found myself hyperventilating just at the thought of being so far under the water. That should have been a big enough sign and had I listened to the voices screaming inside my head, I would have canceled the dive right then. But I wanted to be brave. Anyway, I won't go into any more details and bore you, but the story ends with me losing consciousness under the water having to be brought back up to the boat by the guide. I have never been so scared in my life as I was when I regained consciousness and was still under the water with the world spinning around me. I will never go scuba diving again. Okay, I might try it again years down the road when I have forgotten the terror I felt that day. They make it look so easy in the movies...

My next trip was to the states. I flew from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, Bangkok to Taipei and then Taipei to San Francisco. The flights were completely uneventful except for some turbulence on the last flight and I was so happy to be back in the U.S. I keep thinking that someday I will get used to flying because I seem to do so much of it, but I hate it every single time.

I have been here for almost a month now and it is good to see my friends and family here. I spent some time in San Jose and then a couple days in San Diego and now I am in Missouri. When I got here there was snow on the ground and I thought that I was going to freeze to death. My body has definitely acclimated to the Thailand heat and humidity! It is supposed to snow again on Christmas which will be my very first white christmas that I can remember.

I miss Thailand. I miss my friends and my dog and The Centre and the culture, I miss everything. The longer that I am here in the states though, the more I know that I will be homesick for the U.S. when I get back to Thailand. My brain gets all jumbled and confused when I think about it because there doesn't seem to be a place where I am not homesick. I don't know if that makes sense, but it is what I feel.

After Christmas I am going back to San Diego with Tamara. I am so excited to spend time with her in the evenings after she gets off work. I know that spending all that time with her is going to make it harder to leave her when I go back to Thailand though. I am excited to spend time with my dogs, Suki and Sammy. I am excited to see all my friends from Amor and church and I am excited just to be back in San Diego. I really love it there and if I had to name a home city in the U.S. (simply for the sake of the city and not the people), it would definitely be San Diego.

I don't know what else to write.

I found a box full of my mom's old costumes today and dressed up as a racoon, including the tail, ears, whiskers, etc. My family thinks I am weird but I think that I make life more interesting for those around me. Who wouldn't want to see I 5 foot racoon walk into the room? I'll post a picture soon because I course I had mom take one. :)

I also just want to mention that I am reading the book "Eragon" by Christopher Paolini and it is fantastic. If you are at all a fan of science fiction and fantasy books like I am, you should read it. I thinks it ranks up there with the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter books and for those of you who don't know, I am a pretty die hard fan of those books! The movie Eragon comes out tomorrow and as soon as I finish the book, I will go see it.

Apparently I had more to say than I thought. I will try to write more often.