Wow. It’s crazy to think the school year is already over. It feels like it just started not too long ago. Now summer is officially here, and I am going to travel a little bit again, this time to Thailand and Cambodia. I’m leaving tomorrow! :)
Our school has a program called Juniors Abroad, where juniors can travel in May. I’m going with a group of 25 students, including my girlfriend, Lauren. There are a bunch of trips offered, but this one sounded perfect for me because (a) I want to go back to Asia, (b) I want to see more third-world countries, and (c) I want to go somewhere warm. Check out this week’s forecast in Bangkok: all the highs are in the 90s and all the lows are in the 80s, with thunderstorms. This part of Southeast Asia is between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator.
I really enjoyed blogging last fall and now I kind of miss it. I realized that I don’t need to be abroad to have fun and awkward experiences. For example, on my third day back at school this semester my backpack snagged the fire alarm in the cafeteria. A couple hundred people had to evacuate outside in the pouring rain until the fire department got there. Awkward experiences tend to find me wherever I am. I was able to do some fun stuff too. This semester I went on a few hiking trips, a beach trip, spent a weekend in Seattle with Lauren, and went home for spring break. On the less fun side of things I ended up with both Salmonella and Giardia, complements of Ecuador. These brought some unfortunate complications with the health department before I could start working in an elementary school classroom.
Speaking of bad things that happened in Ecuador, I will not be bringing my computer on this trip. I don’t want to have to learn that lesson again. I might not be able to blog while I’m down there, but I will try and reflect on some experiences whenever I can. I’ll have a notepad with me so I will keep track of thoughts, awkward experiences, and the crazy culture. The first two weeks are going to be in Thailand and the last week will be in Cambodia.
แล้วพบกันใหม่ (Laaeo phohp gan mai)
Until we meet again!
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Getting Ready for Ecuador
I’m going to Ecuador in three days! :) This fall I’m studying abroad there for fifteen weeks and I figured it was about time to start a blog to inform my family and friends about what's going on.
Here’s a little background info on the trip: as part of my Spanish minor at George Fox University I chose to study with NILI (Nazarene International Language Institute), a new program that GFU is supporting. The program is at a South American seminary and focuses on the Spanish language and Missionary work. There is also a travel practicum, which includes trips into the Amazon and Galapagos, and I admit, this is what first attracted me to the program.
My summer has been great. I’ve worked a lot at a bike/kayak rental shop and got to rent/repair bikes, have fun, and meet a lot of cool people. Tourists come from all over the US to visit and this summer I’ve even met people visiting from England, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and ironically, Ecuador. I also worked at the school as a summer teaching assistant. We had a three-week reading program for elementary schoolers and that was a lot of fun as well.
I was also able to hang out with my girlfriend Lauren, who lives in Portland. I stayed down there for a week in May and we did cool stuff around Portland, the coast, the gorge, and her family’s cabin in central Oregon where we fished and snowmobiled up to Crater Lake. She came up here for the first week in August and we did lots of island stuff like hiking, biking, kayaking, crabbing, and snorkeling. Overall it’s been a great summer and I’m almost ready to leave.
I leave the island on Wednesday night and fly all day Thursday, from Seattle to Houston to Quito. I’m hoping that this experience will improve my cultural understanding and give me a taste of what missionary work is like. But most importantly I want to become a lot better at Spanish so I can become less of a gringo. Anyway, I’ll try to post whenever fun, interesting, and awkward experiences come about. Hasta Luego.
Here’s a little background info on the trip: as part of my Spanish minor at George Fox University I chose to study with NILI (Nazarene International Language Institute), a new program that GFU is supporting. The program is at a South American seminary and focuses on the Spanish language and Missionary work. There is also a travel practicum, which includes trips into the Amazon and Galapagos, and I admit, this is what first attracted me to the program.
My summer has been great. I’ve worked a lot at a bike/kayak rental shop and got to rent/repair bikes, have fun, and meet a lot of cool people. Tourists come from all over the US to visit and this summer I’ve even met people visiting from England, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and ironically, Ecuador. I also worked at the school as a summer teaching assistant. We had a three-week reading program for elementary schoolers and that was a lot of fun as well.
I was also able to hang out with my girlfriend Lauren, who lives in Portland. I stayed down there for a week in May and we did cool stuff around Portland, the coast, the gorge, and her family’s cabin in central Oregon where we fished and snowmobiled up to Crater Lake. She came up here for the first week in August and we did lots of island stuff like hiking, biking, kayaking, crabbing, and snorkeling. Overall it’s been a great summer and I’m almost ready to leave.
I leave the island on Wednesday night and fly all day Thursday, from Seattle to Houston to Quito. I’m hoping that this experience will improve my cultural understanding and give me a taste of what missionary work is like. But most importantly I want to become a lot better at Spanish so I can become less of a gringo. Anyway, I’ll try to post whenever fun, interesting, and awkward experiences come about. Hasta Luego.
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