Traveling the World

Hey ya'all!! I'm traveling the world! That's right, I'll be traveling until June 7th when I head back to The States! Traveling is going to be a blast, but I can't wait to be home, I miss everyone! Anyways, just wanted to let you know my traveling schedule:

April 27th-May 2nd: Phuket, Thailand
May 3rd- May 5th: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
May 5th- May 8th: Singapore
May 8th- May 14th: Darwin, Australia
May 14th- May 19th: Sydney, Australia
May 19th- May 24th: Wellington, New Zealand
May 24th- May 27th: Greymouth, New Zealand- Hiking the Franz Josef Glacier :)
May 27th- May 29th: Christchurch, New Zealand
May 30th- June 2nd: Angkor Watt, Cambodia
June 2nd- June 7th: Bangkok, Thailand
June 7th: Flying back to good ol' America!
June 8th: Morning flight from Los Angeles to Phoenix!!

Anyways, I'm going to try and write blogs of my travels if I get time, so keep checking every once in a while if you get time :) Can't wait to see you all!!

No more English Camps

The week of April 21-26th marked my last week at Agape and my last English Camp. English Camp was really fun and a great way to finish my English teaching at Agape. It was funny too because we had a visitor to Agape. His name is Don and he is a supporter of Agape. He wanted to speak to the children, but he doesn't speak Thai and he heard that I can speak a little bit of Thai, so he had me translate for him. I think it was really neat for the kids, because they were able to hear my Thai. I actually did a really good job translating, so if anyone needs a translator I'm your girl :) It's hard to believe that I was already down to my last week. My Thailand journey began on July 24th. I arrived at Agape, and had no idea what the next year of my life was going to look like. I trusted God, but when I arrived at Agape at 5:30 in the morning and was asked to go up in front of the kids and introduce myself, I saw 130 faces staring at me, wondering the same thing as me "What is she going to do?" I told them my name was Andrea and that I was so incredibly happy to be able to be there with them and that I was going to teach them English. It was said like I knew what I was doing, but inside I wondered if I would really be able to teach them English and if I would be able to do a good job and if I would be able to reach them. From that day on, I fell in love with those children more and more every day. I trusted God and somehow I always had something to teach them. I had the opportunity to start my day every day with singing songs with my favorite kids and ended it by going into their rooms every night and telling them "Good night, I love you!" My every day started and ended with these children. As I tried to teach them English, they unknowingly taught me so much more. I learned so much about love, about God and about me. About the person God has created me to be. I learned what's important in life, and it wasn't what I was always putting such an importance on. They taught me true joy, true laughter, and true friendship. These children would come into my room every day just to sit and color and fill my room with their laughter and joy. In the beginning of my time at Agape, the sounds that filled my room would only be in the Thai and Karen languages, and as time went on it began to be filled with the English language. The children's English had improved so much and every time I heard them talk, it made my heart jump. I found lasting brothers and sisters and friends at Agape. The children will forever be a part of my heart. I will miss everything about them. I will miss not going into their rooms and telling them good night, not hearing them running around outside as I try and plan my lessons, their hugs, their kisses and most of all their love all the time.

My last night at Agape was filled with celebrations and tears. The children sang songs that theywrote for me, put on a little show, and gave me gifts that filled my arms tooverflowing. Each gift was a hand-made gift from their hearts that willtouch me forever. All three of us (me, my dad, and Cherise) were given a Karen shirt and skirt that were made by Pastor's wife and the children walked out to us and put them on us as they sang a beautiful song, where they stated they would miss us and would pray for us. As this all happened tears couldn't help but have escaped from my eyes and fall down to thebeautiful clothes that were so lovingly placed on me. I was also able to give the children the gifts that I had made for them (I made them picture frames, that I meticulously decorated with the help of Cherise. A penny was glued on each frame to give them a piece of my home. And I gave each of them some American candy bars because they love them so much) andI sang them the song that I wrote for them. I wrote the song and Teep translated it into Thai for me. I attempted to sing the song in Thai and the children all said they could understand everything I sang :) The children wrote me cards and they were written in English, thanking me for the knowledge that I had given them. It was one of the most rewarding things seeing how well they wrote and spoke in English. It was a night that encompassed a year of my life that I will never forget.

He shot me!

Chiang Mai was a blast! We landed and were greeted by Terra and Teep who picked us up at the airport. They laughed at us because we had our squirt guns strapped to our backpacks and were ready for Sonkran. Chiang Mai is the happening place for celebrating Sonkran. Sonkran is the Thai's celebration of their New Year. On Saturday we started our day with visiting the largest temple in Chiang Mai. We had our squirt guns in hand and we were ready to attack. We had a blast squrting people as they passed and bringing smiles to their faces. Sometimes we'd squirt people and they would have no idea where it came from and they would look up into the sky thinking a bird pooped on them. We'd always crack up. After our visit to the temple, Terra and teep picked us up and we all piled into the back of Teep's cousins truck with huge trash cans full of water, small buckets to toss the water, and our squirt guns. We drove along the canal, where there were so many trucks doing the same thing as us. The street was jam packed and we moved so slow. Some people put large ice cubes in their water and were throwing that at us. It was a blast! We squrited people as they drove by, got splashed with ice cold water, and refilled our water when we ran out from the canals. Sometimes Songtaews (the taxi trucks) would drive by and we would see people sitting in the back behind the protection trying not to get wet. So me and Cherise would jump out, run behind their truck and splash everyone who was sitting inside. It was insane! All around everyone was throwing water at each other, whether from a standing position in front of their shops, on the street, or from their slowly moving truck. I've never had so much fun with a squirt gun before. And every time I would get shot from a squirt gun, I would look up and see a very joyful face and then I would lift up my squirt gun and shoot right back at that joyful face :)