Adventures in Thailand

Happy Holidays from Bangkok! I thought this was the perfect time for an update. The holidays are upon us and it has me feeling all the feelings this season.  To be honest, I really thought I would skip over the holidays this year, try and pretend they weren’t happening. It can be hard to be so far from family and friends, and truly get into the holiday spirit. But in the end, it just isn’t in me to pretend the holidays aren’t here.  This has always been my favorite time of year. I love the traditions, the decorations, and all the happy memories I associate with the holidays.  This season will be quite a bit different than what I am used to, but I am trying my best to embrace the holiday spirit, even if it looks and feels different this year. First though, a quick recap of the past couple months! We had about three weeks off from school in October and I took advantage of the opportunity to head to San Diego for my brothers wedding.  It was wonderful to be home.  Catching up wit

Time seems to be moving so much more quickly these days. I feel like I blinked and the semester is over. These last two months have been amazingly wonderful and also filled with many challenges. I'm not quite sure where to start. To be honest, this whole blogging thing feels a bit overwhelming. Like somehow I should be providing some entertainment in these words I write. It kinda takes the fun out of it when I place those expectations on myself. So, I'll heed my Mom's advice (because really, are our Mom's every wrong?) and just write from my heart. These last few weeks have flown by. There have been lots of laughs and in keepin' it real, lots of tears. Teaching has been quite the experience. While I am bummed it is the end of the semester and I still could not tell you 99% of my students names, I can say that I know most of their sweet (if not mischievous) little faces. Naturally, I came here with the somewhat misguided belief that by the end of week one I w

I landed in Bangkok two months ago today. It is hard to believe that I have been living here for two months. The time has flown by.   I have met some of the most amazing people, resulting in some incredible friendships that, without this trip, I likely never would have formed.   I have done some travelling, which was also on my list of things to do while living here. And most importantly, I started teaching. When I said “goodbye” to family and friends at home, there were tears because I knew I was leaving behind everything I knew, those I love the most, and a life that I knew would be changed by the upcoming experiences. I have always struggled with change but somehow it felt the only way for me to really move forward, was to change everything; at least for a period of time. The tears were coming from what felt like a place of loss and grieving… from a young age I thought my life would look a certain way; that I would reach milestones at my designated timeframes. I met some, a

I don't know quite where to begin with this! How does one begin a blog? When I decided to uproot my life and move to Thailand, people asked if I would start a blog. I have always enjoyed writing but writing a blog, to be honest, felt daunting and frankly, a bit too vulnerable. Family and those closest to me have typically been on the receiving end of my notes. In coming to Thailand though, I promised myself this would be a year of putting myself out there, doing what terrified me, and lets be honest, praying/trusting I would bounce back...trusting I would actually get a teaching gig out here, that I would meet friends (no one wants to travel the world completely alone!), and that one day when I do return home, that I will find work again. So, here I am in a little coffee shop, half way around the world from all that was familiar to me, beginning a blog. I should mention that this adventure in Thailand was not pre planned. If you know me at all, you know I plan everything, almost