"I decided that adventure was the best way to learn."

This morning I returned home from ten days down south in Isaan with Aon and Ya. It was a trip full of adventures and eye opening experiences from which I learned a lot (did you know that chickens sleep in the tops of trees?). The girls both grew up in small villages where life is absolutely and completely different from the life I knew growing up. Living in Thailand for the past four years has taught me that my personal world is minuscule compared to the actual world that I live in. But this trip taught me that I still have no clue how the world works!

As I write this I have been awake for about 35 hours and I honestly don't know how my brain is functioning so instead of going into details, I figured I'd share the high and low points of the trip as well as a couple photos.

High Point: I had the chance to visit the school where Aon attended when she was young. The day before we bought new shoes and were going to drop them off for all the students. At the last minute, Aon informed me that the teachers wanted me to present the shoes in front of the students. For those of you that know me, you know that this is not my thing. My comfort zone lies somewhere between hiding behind my camera and organizing paperwork, I am an introvert and love being behind the scenes. So the idea of standing on stage and presenting shoes did not bring a smile to my face. But I went anyway (praying for God to calm my nerves) and upon arriving realized that this event was much bigger than I thought. Word had gotten out that a farang (foreigner) was going to be at the school and pretty much the whole village showed up. Apparently they had never had a farang visit before so I was quite the headlining news. As soon as I arrived, people lined up to take photos with me. The students put on a show where each class got up on stage and danced. I presented the shoes and the teachers had me present each student with a medal around their neck. There were games and a big meal was cooked, it was a big party. By the end of the day, my face hurt from smiling so much in photos and I was exhausted. But I had an amazing time! It was such a cool experience that I will never forget and I feel so lucky to have been there. How many people have experience something like that? :)

This is me with some of the staff at the school.

This is me presenting the medals after the presentation.

This is me with a portion of the students and staff.

I had to stick this one in here because this girl was just so happy and adorable while she was dancing!

Low Point: Later that night I started to feel nauseous and around 9pm I got really sick. I'm talking projectile vomiting all over the outhouse at the farm, I've never been sick like that in my life. About ten hours later I was lying on the ground, in the mud, in the outhouse, next to the squatty potty, covered in vomit and I couldn't even get up because my body was so weak. Aon and Ya had to basically carry me out of the outhouse and help me clean up. That was definitely the low point of the trip and possible the past year of my life. :(

Be happy that I don't have any photos to share of that experience...

Dog or Person?

Below is a video of Max, whom I really think is not fully dog. The video is almost 2 minutes long and gets a little slow in the middle but keep watching. Around 1:11 he starts snoring and it is hilarious! Of course, it's not so hilarious when he snores so loud that we can't sleep or watch a movie or have a conversation at normal audio levels. But we love him anyway!

Good Friends

As some of you know, I am participating in a project that has me taking one photo every day for a year. The project is aptly named 365Project and I am 152 days in. I am totally enjoying it because it stretches my creativity (something that I was born sorely lacking in) and I'm hoping it is making me a better photographer. The project had a contest last week where people entered photos that had a "Thankful" theme and then voted on the best. Guess what? I won! My photo titled "Thankful for Good Friends" won and even though I already showed it to you in my last post, here it is again.

I am so thankful for my camera and this outlet that God has given me. I love photography!

Opposites Attract

The past several years I have participated in NaBloPoMo, which for those not in on the lingo stands for: National Blog Posting Month. Basically bloggers all over the world commit to blogging every day for the month of November. I've really enjoyed it in the past. This year I did the complete opposite and didn't blog a single time during November. It wasn't on purpose, in fact, it didn't even occur to me that I missed it until today. Now that I have thought about it, I kinda miss it.

The reason for not blogging is simply that I have been crazy busy. I've been at a new job, moved to a new home, had a yard sale, had several dental surgeries, been caring for 4 dogs, wrenched my back, etc. But I've missed the world of blogging and I'm determined to come back!

Here are a few recent photos of my life:

Volunteerism

Tears

I believe my tears are like little pieces of my sorrow, of my pain that spill out of my body at times when my heart can't hold them any longer. At times they bring relief as the sorrow is released. At times they make the sorrow so much more acute because while some is released, older hidden pain is brought to the surface. In both circumstances I believe the tears are a gift from God and although I don't enjoy them, I am thankful for them.

83/365, Sugar

I took this shot while drinking coffee with friends one day. I love the brown coffee sugar that coffee shops provide here. And I love coffee even more!