So...I am in Orgeon

Well, where do I start? I flew into Portland on Tuesday to hang out with my friend Krista. We met over four years ago when we were randomly selected to go to Thailand (instead of China) to teach English.



Oregon is very different than So. Cal., but I think I really like it! Some things that are different... 1. The leaves on the trees change colors

2. The leaves pile up on the ground and it is really fun to shuffle your feet in the leaves as you walk

3. There are a lot of hippies around here

4. There isn't a Starbucks on every corner (praise the Lord!!)

5. It's cold (like fall is suppossed to be)

6. There is no traffic on any roads or freeways at any time of day

7. You don't do laundry as often because you always wear a sweatshirt and no one knows what you are wearing underneath so you can wear it more than 1 day

8. Onramps to freeways are not very accessible...for example to go north on the 5 freeway today first we had to go south and then get off and get back on to go north (what are they thinking???)



Things I have done...

1. Gone to three different (and amazing) coffee shops

2. Gotten pumpkin gelato

3. Gotten 2 extremely huge chunks of quiche for FREE!!! from the gelato place (which was really an italian coffee house). The funny part is some poor guy had just bought a slice of quiche and then we walk up and the lady offers us free quiche cause they don't want to throw it away (so we hid it as we walked out because we bad)

4. Watched No Reservations

5. Sat in a VERY OVERSIZED armchair...I will post pictures don't worry!

6. Toured the University of Oregon (Go Ducks????)

7. Tried to get over my sickness by sleeping while my friend worked

8. Wandered downtown

9. Spent many hours painting pottery (not one of my gifts)

10. Ate the best nachos and guac ever (all made by me of course)

11. Drank a really gross beer (or only half of it because it was that gross)

12. Watched 10 Things I Hate About You

13. Spent hours at Denny's

14. Watched Survior (unfortunately)

15. Laughed ALOT!!!



So Oregon...I like it! I think I could live here actually...it's quaint and charming and not Southern California!

Thailand =(

So I have been writing a lot this week, but I am not going to apologize because you all are the ones who choose to read these things. Anyway, today one of my friends is flying to Thailand for 4 months and several more of my friends are leaving for Thailand next week for 3 weeks....and it is making me sad. I miss Thailand!!

I miss the people, I miss the huge bugs, I miss rain everyday! I miss tuk tuk rides, driving for hours on curvy mountain roads, and stopping to sleep at random peoples houses at all hours of the night. I miss mixing cement at 6 AM, trying to shovel just as much rock as the boys, and trying to lift 100 lb bags of cement. I miss smoky tasting water, pria bars, and I even miss rice!! I miss freezing cold showers, wearing big boots, and playing soccer in a muddy rice patty. I miss my muddy jungle roads, reconstructing bridges, and nearly slipping off dirt roads. I miss haggling with vendors, drinking the most amazing smoothies on a hot and muggy day and I miss sitting in Starbucks sipping a banna mocha frappacino while trying to not cry because I miss home. I miss my apartment on the 7th floor, Thai tea from the lady across the street, and trying to find a phone that will use the stupid phone card I bought. I miss Thai massages that cost $5, no personal space, and never having to be anywhere at a certain time. I miss falling asleep under a mosquito net on the floor of a hut to the sounds of children playing and animals making awful noises. I miss the children in the village surrounding me at all moments of the day, drinking gatorade, and even watching Brad kill a chicken with one of it's own feathers. I miss never having a plan, playing with kids in a rain storm, and having my heart break at not being able to help sick and hurting people. I miss waking up next to Shann every morning, I miss Brad teasing me about who I should and shouldn't date, and I even miss crazy Jeremiah! I miss me...I left a huge chunck of my heart there and I don't know if I can ever get it back! I miss church services translated into 3 different languages, I miss feeling uncomfortable and out of place, I miss Becky's homemade tacos and eclairs. I miss road trips to Burma, boat rides to Laos, and long layovers in the Singapore Airport. I miss long emails from home, the joy of talking to a best friend after weeks and weeks, and the closeness to my family when I slip up and call at 3 AM because I forgot how to figure out the time difference. I miss waking up each morning knowing that I am going to do something to further the kingdom. I miss newspapers plastered with pictures of crime scenes that would never make it into American papers, I miss wearing yellow on Mondays to honor the king, and I miss free samples of beer at the grocery store. I miss it, I miss it, I miss it!!

I ache to go home! Isn't it weird that it only feels like home now that I am here and now that everything in my life is leading me away from there. I am learning to let go and at the same time realize that my time and experiences in Thailand have shaped me and changed me into a person that is so different than who I used to be. I think she is pretty amazing! I just have to trust that by letting go, God will eventually lead me back if need be! I pray for that almost everyday!

These Sorts of Things Just Don't Happen to Me!

So this story sort of creeps me out but also makes me laugh because it is just so something that would happen to me!!

On Saturday morning I had gotten up at the crack of dawn to get ready to drive up to Temple City for Surf-n-Study. (And I am totally serious about how early it was, because I promise the sun was not even close to being out when my alarm went off at 4:50 in the AM...that is how much I love you FBTC kids!!!) So I get all ready for the day and walk out of my house around 6 AM in my pj pants and a sweatshirt...looking totally hot I am sure!! Not!! I head over to Starbucks, because at 6 in the AM everyone needs some coffee (trust me, I am not a morning person without my coffee). I park near Starbucks and then walk over to Vons to get a couple things for the beach and a car drives up. A man with a funny accent (I think he was from the East Coast) leans out the window and says something. I think he is maybe asking for directions or something, but I didn't understand a single word he said. So I said, "excuse me?" and he repeated the garbled mumbojumbo (is that a word??) and once again I said..."Excuse me?" At this point in time I start to realize that since it is 6 in the morning I am the only person in this parking lot and there is no way I am stepping anywhere near this car (talk about paranoid!!). So once again he repeats himself...and here is what he asked me..."Do you like to party?" My response..."no" His response "too bad." My response "for you!" and I walked away.

Now I am cracking up because the more I think about it the funnier it gets. I mean hello, how desperate does this guy have to be to pick up on a girl in her plaid pjs and a sweatshirt at 6 in the morning! Second, what kind of party is still going on at 6 in the morning...don't the cops shut down all the good parties at like 3 or so?? Third...what kind of girl would be stupid enough to get in a car with some random guy at 6 in the morning to go party?? It's the stuff that shows like Without a Trace and America's Most Wanted thrive off of!! And Lastly, I told my mom and she was like...ohhh I bet it was some code word for drugs or something...which makes me laugh, because it may well have been but I am just too stupid (or more likely oblivious) to know! All I know is that Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers always told me to stay away from strangers....and this was one stranger I want to stay very far away from!!!

So Today Was a Weird Day!

So this morning I woke up and moved my car (I get home last every night and park behind my mom, but she leaves first...ultra annoying when you just want to sleep...but I can live with it!!) and I set my alarm and went back to bed for an hour (that is not the weird part...I do this everyday!!). So a little while later my phone starts ringing (well not ringing it was on silent...but you know what I mean) so I pick it up, look at it and it says my friend Dan is calling but hello I am still half asleep so I don't want to answer it (come on you know how awkward it is when you answer the phone and you have your morning voice and then the person on the other end feels bad because they woke you up and they ask if they woke you up and you lie and say...no I was awake...ok maybe I only do that...but trust me if I was really asleep I wouldn't hear the phone ring and I wouldn't pick it up so I am not really lying when I say I wasn't asleep...anyway...that was a really long tangent!!) so I don't answer it and I close my phone. As I close my phone, my alarm goes off. As I reach for the snooze button (can you tell I am just a tad bit lazy lately?) I realize that my phone is not in my hand but sitting next to my alarm clock, where I leave it every night (thanks Wendy!!! Because of you I have to keep my phone on and by my bed every night..."because you just never know when someone is going to need you in the middle of the night!!")...so yeah it is sitting there and I think...hmm that's weird I just had it in my hand...hmmm. So then as I am hitting the snooze button my phone rings again and this time it is Laura (why the heck she was calling me at 9:00 in the AM is totally beyond me but that's beside the point!) so I clear my throat (to get rid of the morning voice as best as possible) and say "Hey!!! What's up!" (super energetic!!) and there is silence and then nothing. Hmmm...so I call her back and she doesn't answer. At this point I check my phone and it says that I have a missed call from Laura, but not from Dan...so I am starting to think that maybe the phone call from Dan never really happened! (Honestly I think I am going crazy!! A few weeks ago I read a text message in my sleep and didn't even know it!!). So yeah...I finally get a hold of Laura and we confirm that she called me that morning...but now my phone says that there was no call from Dan, no call from Laura and that I never made a call to Laura this morning!! Ahhhh!!!

So...I show up to work a little bewildered (you know how little things can just throw you off) and feeling nauseous (not from all of this...I have just felt sick all day) and when I get there there is a wonderfully huge pile of crap that has been delivered to our store (half of it showed up yesterday when I was working but we couldn't do anything with it) taking up a lot of room. I start working on putting all the coffee away when we get a call from mall management that we need to send someone down to our storage unit ASAP because a pipe has burst and there is a flood is our storage space. (I wouldn't have believed that it could just flood our space...but yep when I got down there...only our stuff was wet!!). So the owner (who had just happened to show up) and I spent 2 hours down in the dank, dark dungeoun of storage under the mall moving about 200 boxes of supplies from one storage space to another. Not my idea of fun!!

So yeah...all that to say that it was a random day! What will tomorrow hold?? Hmmm...life is always an adventure!

I HATE....

I decided today that I hate shopping carts!! I mean they are a wonderful invention because I know I usually buy more than I can carry when I go to the store...but seriously!! Today I was at Walmart (which may be a strong indicator in the crappiness of the cart!) and I had walked about 10 feet when the cart just stopped and I ran into it...HARD!! Let me just say that it hurt so bad I almost said some things that just never come out of my mouth! I tried to figure out what was wrong with the cart, but when I pushed it again (very carefully) it magically worked again. Hmmm...so I started walking again...and bam! Yep, I hit the same exact part of my shin that I had just hit...this time I almost cried. Out of nowhere I hear...maybe you should just get another cart! Great...someone saw me do this...that makes it 10x's worse! And on top of it, it was an employee. So yeah I got a new cart and pushed it very far in front of me during the rest of my shopping trip! Oh and if you are wondering about my shin...yep, I already have a bruise and there is definitely a bump...hmmm maybe I could sue??

So will I ever use a shopping cart again...probably just for the sheer fact that it is really hard to carry all that stuff around, but I don't know as of right now I really really hate them (almost as much as stupid strollers at Disneyland!!).