My mission is to make everything go to 11

Yesterday was my last Sunday with the church here. It was all very sweet, and after lunch there was a bit of a gathering at a beach.
I should share with you something I've learned from my time here, if you give a Thai person your camera you will get it back with 2x the number of photos you intended to have. And, if you give a Thai child you camera you will end up with more pictures than you know what to do with.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

While in Thailand I’ve been away from my clothes. All of my thrifted, colorful, and at times off the wall clothes are in the boxes I packed them in before I headed out on my adventure. As odd as it must sound, I miss my clothing. I miss looking each morning at my collection of pieces and deciding what I will wear to match my mood. I miss playing dress every morning. Now true, it does not make sense to have my clothing collection here in the ridiculous heat. Even if I did have all of my choice pieces at my disposal I would still probably chose what I am wearing now, a t-shirt and guy shorts. I’m not even wearing any jewelry outside my cartilage ring. It is just too hot. But I know my clothes are waiting for me back in the states.
I imagine them anticipating my arrival and getting excited for me to come home and unpack them. They are ready to be worn, if only to the library and Target. And I am excited to, I’m excited to match a floral summer dress with a pair of overly loud earrings. It’s who I am, or at least a part of who I am. It’s an expression of who I am. The clothes don’t make me, I make the clothes (sometimes literally). My sense of style does not shape who I am, or even influence who I am. Instead, who I am, what I feel, and what I believe shapes what I wear. And to be fully honest, what I wear is often times just for me. Sure other people will see what I wear and that’s a part of it sometimes, but I wear what I wear because I am expressing a part of who I am. I think self expression is more for the self than it is for anyone else. If I were to stop expressing myself altogether the world wouldn’t end, the only person it would really affect is me. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t say how I felt in one way or another. I. Me. My. That’s what I’ve learned in my simple clothing state, what I wear is for me.
Catch you on the flip side.

cuuuute

Prayer before the other days lunch.


Catch you on the flip side.

I am going to find whoever jacked my bread and shoot them in the face. Hell hath no furry like an American without their carbs.

I love peanut butter, especially Skippy. My first morning here in Thailand, Friend got me bread and peanut butter I was so excited to find they have REAL peanut butter here in Phuket. So now, whenever I am out buying my food I always get bread, peanut butter, and strawberry jam. I have now introduced Friend to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and I have informed her that she is one step closer to being an American by eating them. Because really, what is more American than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? I can’t really thing of anything. I have been a vegetarian for about 5 years, so hamburgers and hotdogs don’t really do it for me. But maybe rice krispy bars, those feel pretty American. They are at almost every bake sale, graduation open house, and Fourth of July party.
OK, so for me, peanut butter and rice krispy bars are tied for most American food. However I don’t have rice krispy bars right now, so peanut butter is my go to comfort food. It’s there for whenever I feel a little homesick, or when I’m just hungry.
Catch you on the flip side.

So you’re going to live forever? Like on fame?

I am only nineteen years old, but since my early teens I have been aware that life moves fast. So fast, that oftentimes the present is gone before I remember to enjoy it. I have great hopes and dreams for my future, things I want to do places I want to go, but all of those will mean so much less if I keep looking to the next thing.
I spent this morning looking at future classes, making my ‘to do’ list, and connecting with people from home. But here I am, in Thailand and down to my last month. It feels almost impossible that time has gone by so fast. It seems not that long ago that I was in the airport at 4 in the morning crying and hugging my parents goodbye. I wasn’t sure I could do five months in a foreign country on my own, without family or friends, or even any familiar faces. I continued to feel that way till I was sick in the hospital and talking to my mom for the first and only time on the phone. I realized then that I could get through anything. By the grace of God of course.
These past few months have been trying and amazing. They have left me feeling unstoppable and even more ambitious than I was before. It isn’t just the trip to Thailand; it’s the day to day accomplishments. It’s successfully ordering and paying for lunch in Thai by myself; it’s missing my family like crazy and still being able to enjoy what’s around me, and it’s really caring for someone who I understand only half the time. None of these things happened right way, but the difficulties I went through made each one of my little accomplishments so much bigger.
I can come up with a hundred ideas of what my future might look like, and lord knows I’ll put time and effort into preparing for it. But it would be foolish of me not take part in what is happening now. After all, the future will be the present soon enough.
Catch you on the flip side.

A day at the beach

Here are some pictures of my adventures at the beach.










Catch you on the flip side.

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.

Here is what I have been up to for the last week.








Churches in Phuket got together on Easter to march through the town and have communion together. Then the international small group went out for dinner, and the place we went not only had AMAZING food but old cars parked out back. The day after that I had a bit of a Buddhist tour to a monastery and the Big Buddha. As a Christian my response was “pretty colors” and “they spent how much on this?” I had a Thai cooking lesson after the tour. My food was more than just eatable, it tasted pretty good.
I don’t know what adventures lay in wait for me this week, but I am beginning to treasure all these things more than ever. Yesterday was May first, that means I am down to my last month in Thailand. Time to get “what I want to do in Thailand” list done.
Catch you on the flip side.