A Room with a View

Coming down from the high of having my brother in Bangkok for 5 days. I wish his visit had been...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 06:35:55 -0400

Coming down from the high of having my brother in Bangkok for 5 days. I wish his visit had been longer, but I feel blessed that he was able to come for even a few days. We’re one lucky family…

Chillin’ with my brother and our friend, Tom, in Bangkok. There goes the neighborhood.

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 06:51:19 -0400

Chillin’ with my brother and our friend, Tom, in Bangkok. There goes the neighborhood.

tomvshk: Day 55: Bangkok, Thailand with Hank and...

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 06:47:46 -0400

tomvshk:

Day 55: Bangkok, Thailand with Hank and Rachel

I’m into this.

Why Life Is Good Even When It Sucks

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 23:16:57 -0500

I fit my last month in Thailand into a nice, neat, little box. I like nice and neat. It works for me. There are no surprises, I’m organized, and I feel safe. I would have one week with Natalie, one week with my brother and Tom, and two weeks in India doing service before going home April 4th.

I am only one week into my last month, and whaddya know, nothing is going as I planned! Nice and neat? Forget about it.

It all began when I dragged Natalie to the Indian embassy with me to buy my entrance visa. At some point during the two-hour ordeal, it dawned on me that my travel companion, Mary, was not going to be able to obtain her visa on time. It would be impossible for her to get into India without both of us shelling out hundreds of dollars to change our flights.

What to do? Should I go by myself to Calcutta for two weeks? Risk my safety and my sanity because I’m hardheaded and don’t want to not go? I was torn! “This sucks,” was my eloquent personal mantra for about two days straight.

Clarity came, however, in the form of Mary’s return from Bali, and lots and lots of prayer. I spent about 30 seconds with Mary before I realized I didn’t want to go it alone. An important part of the time I was to spend in India was time I wanted to spend reflecting with Mary. Companionship is something I refuse to abandon for two weeks just because I’m stubborn. Also, I’m a huge believer in the fact that things happen for a reason. If it didn’t work out this time around, there is obviously a reason why. God has a plan. I have to have the humility to accept that it is not taking me to India on March 18th.

Rather, I now have the exciting opportunity to plan something new. Something spontaneous. Something that is unexpectedly and beautifully in the plan for me and Mary. Life is good, my friends. Very, very good.

Only 40 days left in Asia. I’m ready to make the most of them.

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 02:49:08 -0500

Only 40 days left in Asia. I’m ready to make the most of them.

"Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the..."

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 08:00:33 -0500

““Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.””

- ― Shel Silverstein (via justbesplendid)

Photo

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:05:05 -0500

I love it when my students reply to my e-mails by just saying, “thank you love you :))”....

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 03:15:00 -0500

I love it when my students reply to my e-mails by just saying, “thank you love you :))”. Gets me every time.

Proctoring exams. Woof.

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 23:30:40 -0500

Proctoring exams. Woof.

What a crew!

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 22:57:51 -0500

What a crew!

I’m sitting outside and listening to tree frogs croak. In February. I really will miss this...

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:41:05 -0500

I’m sitting outside and listening to tree frogs croak. In February. I really will miss this place.

It’s my last week of classes in Asia, and I am met by mixed feelings. At the end of some...

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:40:17 -0500

It’s my last week of classes in Asia, and I am met by mixed feelings. At the end of some classes I give a heartfelt speech to my students about what a pleasure it was to teach them, and I nearly cry from having to leave them. However, at the end of some of my classes I want to throw my hands up Nixon-style and scream “PEACE, BITCHES” as I walk out the door and never look back. :)

Only in Asia...

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 07:55:19 -0500

…would I get a serious adrenaline rush from killing bugs in my room all night. I am The Exterminator. Gotta say, though, I really wish I didn’t have to be…

Sometimes I get sad when I’m not home and fun things are...

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 05:00:06 -0500

Sometimes I get sad when I’m not home and fun things are going on. For example, the Ravens make it to the SuperBowl, and I am not at home to participate in the riots in the streets of Fed Hill. My English II Conversation class on Fridays, however, is awesome. Therefore, I decided to take a chunk out of class time to explain American football, the Ravens, and the SuperBowl. They subsequently decided that they are into Purple Friday, and helped me take some cool pics. Go Ravens!

Kid President is an Inspiration

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 23:03:00 -0500

If you haven’t seen the viral Youtube video sensation that is Kid President’s pep talk, please direct your attention to the link below. The kid is a boss. I hope my future children are like him. And that’s just it: hope. It’s often hard to be hopeful in the world in which we live. There are school shootings and gang rapes and wars plastered across our television screens and dominating the headlines. Politics divide nations, and for every three steps forward there always seems to be at least one step back. I find that I can’t look at CNN.com for too long without something enraging me or making me want to cry.

But then this little boy comes along. He gives me and the rest of the world a pep talk. And I am hopeful once again.

I am hopeful that more than half of my students will pass English I. I am hopeful that I will be able to pay for my Master’s Degree in social work without having a nervous breakdown. I am hopeful that I will be able to move out of my parents’ home, and make living paycheck to paycheck a youthful adventure. I am hopeful that I can be hopeful in India. I am hopeful that my brother, who has chosen a career in the Marines, will stay safe over the next ten years. I am hopeful that our wars will end. I am hopeful that I will meet a good man, and we will have good children, who will grow up to be good and hopeful people. I am hopeful that one day we will all be equals. I am hopeful that my friends and my family will lead happy lives. I am hopeful that the people I do not like so much will lead happy lives, too. I am hopeful that there is more love in the world than hate. I am hopeful that things will get better. I am hopeful that I can do something, anything, to make things better. Just a little bit better. Or a lot better. It can’t hurt to hope for a lot.

Kid President, in his infinite 8 year-old wisdom, tells us, “We can make everyday awesome for each other… You were made to be awesome.” Well, ladies and gentlemen, you heard him. We were made to be awesome, and in our awesomeness we will make the world an awesome place. I hope that you choose to be awesome today and everyday. What do you hope for?

Sending you love and hope, wherever you are. -Rachel

A Pep Talk from Kid President

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:36:33 -0500

A Pep Talk from Kid President

Chillin’ in China.

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 04:46:23 -0500

Chillin’ in China.

Hong Kong!

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 23:09:45 -0500

Hong Kong!

"I know you are tired but come, this is the way."

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:41:08 -0500

“I know you are tired but come, this is the way.”

- Rumi

There is a first time for everything, and I will mark this week’s trip to Hong Kong as the first...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 05:24:23 -0500

There is a first time for everything, and I will mark this week’s trip to Hong Kong as the first time I have ever been sad to return to Bangkok. Not just sad to leave Hong Kong, but actually sad to be heading back to Thailand. Why is that? I don’t know.

Perhaps it was the fact that Hong Kong was easy. I forget how difficult Bangkok is sometimes. There is constant traffic, getting anywhere in a timely manner is impossible, few people speak English well, everything is dirty, and I am so often met with the phrase mai dai (“cannot”). In Hong Kong they can! Traffic: there is none! Public transportation: it goes everywhere… on time! English speakers: so many! Cleanliness: there were no cockroaches or ants or geckoes in my room! It was so nice for things to be easy for four days. But then again, sometimes easy is overrated.

However, not only was Hong Kong easy, it was also interesting. It was new and exciting, which was another reason I was reluctant to leave. The part of town we were staying in was entirely Chinese, so we were having a completely different cultural experience than what I experience in Southeast Asia on a daily basis. I can’t speak a word of Cantonese, have no idea what’s in the dimsum, and was most definitely the only curly-haired, blue-eyed chick on the block. Plus I ate chicken feet for breakfast while being laughed at by a Chinese woman older than my grandma. I think I’m missing adventure in my Bangkok life, and need to make an effort to seek out what I haven’t seen and done before.

And finally, I was sad to leave because Hong Kong was a little taste of America with some Asian flavor. Outside of our little Chinese neighborhood, Emalee, Erika, and I were meeting so many people, many of whom were American. How nice to have a handshake! How nice to have a conversation not in broken English! How nice to not be awkward! (Well, it was at least nice to be awkward in my own language…) And the icing on the cake? The weather. The 50-degree winter weather. I was cold! For the first time in eight months I was cold! I hate the winter, so the fact that I was so happy to be in winter weather is saying something.

And what is it saying? Maybe it’s saying that it’s about that time. About that time to wrap things up. About that time to say my goodbyes to Asia and head home to get ready for the next adventure. However, before anyone reading this (read: Mom) gets too excited and thinks I’m headed home on the next flight, I’ve gotta say I have a few things to do here first. There are a little fewer than three months before April 4th, and I will be happily spending that time in Thailand. In fact, I will be cherishing that time in Thailand. I’ll be soaking up the dirty and the difficult and the new and the exciting, and I know I will miss it more than I will be able to say when I do get home. But maybe, just maybe, it’s about that time.