End of the Year Events

I didn't get to post this right away.... but hey like they say "better late then never"....

Here are us girls in front of the school I work at. From left to right: Ange (our Oz friend who was only here for 5 weeks for student teaching) TeriAnn in the back, Kate, Me, and Brooke.


Kate and I at our daily "after lunch" spot.

Ever year the school puts on a banquet for all the staff: Staff Appreciation
The Singles Group







And yes after the banquet we all decided to go bowling. There is nothing like wearing overly used bowling use with no socks....gross! But I thought we looked pretty special in our dresses and bowling shoes.




One last time to the reservoir:

Lael, Kate, Me, Holly, Krista, Ange, TerriAnn, Matt, and Sam (Krista, Matt, and Sam not seen in this picture)

Graduation:

Some of the seniors that I will miss this coming year...

The Slackers

We were the responsible, mature adults that stayed behind for the dance after the graduation ceremony.

This is Scoty (aka Elaine my former roommate) and I
Kankote Dinner:
Ange and I eating very lady-like

Saying goodbye to Sam: Breakfast at The Hide-Away
The whole group



Saying goodbye to Holly and Krista:

Mel, Krista, Me, TeriAnn, and Holly

Soccer Camp: June 9th and 10th

These are some of the boys that I helped coach this year...

The Biggest Mango

The three of us, Brooke, Kelly, and myself, headed out on Wednesday to the market. We wanted so show Kelly around but ultimately we were in search for fruit. We were headed to a pot luck that night and wanted to have a fruit platter. We came across these mangos. I have never in my life seen magos this huge before!!!! They are the size of my head.....craziness!

"so called camping"

Headed north in the old faithful '89 car, we set off for a camping trip this past weekend. Sam, his wife Amy, and my two roomies, Kelly and Brooke, and myself headed out of ChiangMai. Little did we know it wasn't going to be a normal camping trip. A lady we know had drawn out a map for us .... a drawing it was. It reminded me of a drawing a child could have done. Three hours in the back of the car can be a real bonding time.





The roads were crazy steep and there were at least 12 switchback turns that we had do to. There were times when us girls thought we are not going to make it....that we were just going to slid back down the mountian. The air was at least 15 degrees cooler. For the first time since early January, we actually got to use our hoodies!

We were all a little tired from the ride. We finally arrived and scoped out our hobbit-like cabin. There were six beds all alinged along the wall. It was quite funny. Here is what our cabin looked like.

The inside of our cabin.





The place were we stayed was some sort of agricultural project. They had a bunch of different types of gardens there.





This is Brooke and I...upon arriving Kelly, Brooke, and I walked around in the rain to see the layout of the area surrounding us.

We stayed up that night playing card games and talking. In the morning, after breakfast Kelly and I went for a walk to check out some of their gardens. We found the bonsai garden. It was amazing. There were so many different rock stair cases and winding paths. The only bummer is that we were running out of time to explore since we had to get back on the road. Here are pictures from our exploration.





It would be nice to go back sometime and spend more time hiking around and looking in the bonsai garden, but it was a nice little get away weekend.


We took a different route home less steep and alittle more senic.The road was still very curvy and Kelly started to feel alittle ill. So we ended up pulling over for a 10 minute break.

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On the way home we were all in our own thoughts and cutting the silence Kelly very enthusiasticly said "OH, is that an elephant!!!???". Low and behold there in the meadow were several elephants. It was pretty cool.



Overall a good night trip though next time we are doing the real camping!!!

Mission Trip

From June 16th to June 25th, I had the opportunity of joining a mission team.



The team, all 15 of us and Dave our leader. We are standing up at Doi Suthep a temple overlooking the city of Chiang Mai. Seconds after this picture was taken we expericenced a earthquake that only lasted a couple of seconds.


"Pop in a Bag" anyone?
Left to Right: Torrie, Becky, Shayna, Me, Wendy, and Kristin


We got to go to an orphanage for about an hour one day. It was great fun. This is me reading to one of the little boys there.

We had a couple of days here in the city and then packed in tight into a van and truck, and headed up north to some missionary's house. The drive north was amazing though I became hooked on my dramamine!! We spent time getting to know the village there, learning about cultural study, language learning and life there. We headed off two days later on a curvy road heading further north, to our destination close to the city of Nan. The team spent the night in a village that was nestled high in the mountains. It was a great experience and I loved it. We spent time talking to the missionaries there and what they went through with culture and language study. Sunday was spent meeting with Christian villagers. It was amazing to hear God worshiped in another language!


This was our meal at in the village. It was actually really good. Cat fish, chicken, sticky rice, and veggies.



Here is a little Prai girl that I got to hold after church. She was so precious...just look at those cheeks!

The team had a day were we went to the elephant camp and then to a snake farm. It was interesting...

Here is Kristin and I on our elephant!


Me and a python...yicks

Overall, even though being sick for part of the time, I had a great time. God stretched me, challenged me, and I was encouraged by what the missionaries and our leaders had to share!

Saying Goodbye

Today a dear friend has left, Kate. Our smart friend is moving onto the next chapter of her life....med school. Alittle bit of history on our friendship:

* I scared her the first time meeting her cuz I gave her a huge hug...she takes a while to warm up to people!
* We enjoy the same type of music.
* Our taste in movies is very similar....EXCEPT for her liking musicals! I hate them....
* I have only know her for 5 months
* I love meat she is a vegatarian

But all in all.....I had a blast getting to know you. Thanks for the good talks, the laughs, the hours of Grey's and Heros! I will miss you but I wish you all the best with med school and all that it intails! I will miss you "Pretty Bird"!

Brookie and I will miss you tons! Keep in touch

Illegal

I am moving into another house. As I was packing, the thought crossed my mind to check my passport/visa. And low and behold I was suppose to have gone on May 30th to do a border run. Immediately I made some calls and ended up hiring a driver to take me up to the Northern most part of Thailand to cross over into Burma. I was really worried that I would lose my visa! But I prayed that God would allow me to not lose it. I knew I would have to pay a fine for the days I was overdue in Thailand. Anyways...I took advantage of the "day off" and went to a temple and got to feed some monkeys, peanuts of all things. That was the highlight of my day! They were so cute!