What time is it again???

SHORT VERSION: I'm alive and well and enjoying Christmas in Tejas!

Detailed Version:

1. My flight over here went well.... really no issues to speak of.
2. I wanted to watch 19 of the 20 movies on the flight--- yeah 20. It's amazing what becomes interesting when you've missed out on a year and a half of movie watching. After getting half way through the 2nd one, I remembered why most movies aren't worth watching the first time.... so I slept for a long time.
3. On my same flight from Thailand to Taiwan was my good Thai friend, Maew. It was her first time to fly ever! We had so much fun! :) She was on her way to Taipei, Taiwan to visit her mom who now lives there..... so I ended up spending my 24-hour layover in Taiwan at her mom's house and driving around the city.
4. Taiwan has the best seafood EVER.
5. The morning I woke up in Taiwan.... Maew's momma ran upstairs to tell us to hurry and change clothes so we could go to the park. She made sure my suitcase was packed so we would have time to make it back to the airport for my flight in the afternoon. So, I'm thinking..... "a park. sounds good. perfect pre-10 hour plane ride activity." we drive up to the park and she hands the guard a wad of money. I'm thinking...... "hmmm.... expensive parks here in taiwan." then i see about 25 ginormous tour buses in an even more ginormous parking lot. I'm thinking..... "are ya kidding me?" There we were..... Taiwan's version of Six Flags. Upside-down rollercoasters, carousels, spinning "tea cups," cotton candy and fried chicken. Maew's mom and her mom's friend came along and made us do every ride possible in the 4 hours we had to spend there. So funny! An unforgettable layover for sure. (hence the pic above of the most interesting part of my journey to America)
6. In my 140 pounds of stuff I lugged home, I totally forgot to get the USB cord for my camera to upload pictures.... so I'll be finding one in the near future to help out the blog a little.
7. My first view of America? Snow capped mountains. I spent a couple of fun nights with my grampa and relatives near Seattle, Washington. It was COOOOOLD. Makes Texas feel perfectly enjoyable. I love visiting that beautiful state!
8. Now I'm in Texas and have spent my moments either eating, sleeping, trying to sleep, shopping, or hanging out with relatives and the fam.
9. My computer is still on Thailand time, my watch is on Seattle time, I think my cell phone is right.... and my body doesn't know what to think. The internal clock isn't quite set. Last night I was up til 3am.... wide awake. I think about calling people like YOU when it's about midnight.... like right now. In Thailand it's already 1pm on Christmas afternoon. Here in Texas we're only a few minutes into the big day! But whatever time it is for you.... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! Hope to see ya sometime soon!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THAILAND!!!!!

This is the coldest picture you'll get from the tropics. As I sit here wearing shorts with the windows open at 9:30 at night..... I can't imagine wanting to put on anything that even resembles wool. So for now we just gaze at our fun tree.... my Thai friends don't understand the point of a fake fir tree sitting in my house (I had to explain real trees that look like this do actually exist.)

Last night Kelly and I had some friends over. We played a few corny Christmas games, ate fudge, drank Christmas wassail..... fun times.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmaaaaas.....

From Texas to Thailand

My little brother is doing a project. Check it out at the link below.

House of Blessing: Tribal Children's Home

Aaahhh... the children

Everyone knows that I think every child who walks the face of this Earth is adorable. However, this little guy is one of the cutest of all. Last week my sweet little godson turned one year old! We had a baby dedication service and a birthday party all in one... complete with a buffet dinner, cake, and karaoke. It was so, so fun. Happy Birthday Jedi!!!

Here are some more kids pics I took last week visiting an orphanage. This home is about 45 minutes from my house... up a small mountain. Most of these 123 kids are from the hill tribes of Thailand. This past year over 20 kids were adopted from this home. They live in a wonderful place that teaches them about Jesus. They are a joy to be with and super cute too!!!

A weekend whirlwind

This past weekend was packed full of fun times with friends. It started off with the normal Friday afternoon track practice. Then got a little more exciting as I hung out with Kelly and a bunch of our high school girls. We played one round of Texas Hold 'Em... and then other things became more interesting.

Saturday morning came way too early as we had a ginormous yard sale at the school. As a class sponsor, I was in charge of overseeing the Senior's car wash. It was fun and a little stressful as I watched these kids put their hands all over thousands of dollars worth of cars. Because of limited space and crazy traffic, we had all of the owners put their cars in neutral so we could push them down the line. Then the drivers went yard sale shopping and came back for their squeaky clean car later. 17 year old kids pushing cars with one hand and squirting water at the girl they like with the other hand can be dangerous... I prayed a lot that day. All was well.

Saturday afternoon I took two friends to a nearby waterfall for a picnic. We ate a ton of food and enjoyed the amazingly cool weather we're having right now--- it was about 70 degrees.... yes, cool weather. Then I took them to visit the cute kids at the orphanage and even learned how to put Thai cloth diapers on those sweet kids. No pins, no snaps, no knotting..... just a nice little folding and stuffing technique. Unfortunely, these are no Pampers. Leak free? I don't think so.

After church on Sunday I went with another group of friends back to the same waterfall for a picnic lunch. We had a grand ol' time. Here are some pics of them at the bottom of the waterfall. They were having fun until the girls who decided to water slide were attacked by leeches. Poor things.

Tonight I was hangin out with Kelly and the girls she's staying with while their parents are out of town. Kelly was being her cool self playing the guitar. When she went to do something else, I had a weak moment and picked it up and tried to play something. Just FYI, I can't play... I learned three chords a few years ago and that's it.... I'm pathetic. And because I'm such a wimp my fingers felt like they were about to fall off. As a result, this video below was made. It's ok to laugh. It's almost embarrassing. But, I decided to put in on for the blogging world to see my guitar debut--- the first ever song I've written on this glorious musical instrument.

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Greener Grass?

I live in a beautiful city. Too many days I get caught up in the stuff that goes on between my cement-walled classroom and forget to look out the window. I forget about the mountains, the green grass, the "exotic" flowers,

tangent---- a couple weeks ago i looked up flower delivery prices in the states... i already knew they were expensive. but, the funny part to me was that the most expensive flowers were ones that grow in my very own thai front yard. i bought them for 20 baht (less than $1) at the little plant shop down the road. you ship a $1 orchid to america and they suck $85 out of you. no lie. absurd. i'm still in shock. just look under "exotic flowers" the next time you go to one of those delivery places and you'll be looking at a sampling of my flower garden.---- end of tangent

the blue sky, the breath-taking waterfalls.

After thinking about how I'll be in TEXAS in 6 weeks.... I realized how amazing the place I live now is. Of course, I'm incredibly excited to go back the States for a couple weeks..... but I don't want to find myself in another year and a half heading back to Texas at the end of my term and just beginning to recognize the beauty here. I want to be here... in each moment. I want to genuinely appreciate what God has placed and created around me.

I started thinking about how the "grass is always greener on the other side." Then it hit me.... the "greener" things I see over here.... on my side of the fence (or ocean).

Last weekend I had a retreat with my company's team. It was a wonderful time to relax and refocus. The picture above is the resort we stayed at for a couple nights. This was my cute little bungalow:

The creek view from the cute little porch:

I returned home to this beautiful blossoming tree in front on our house. I bought this last year when it was a wee little plant. Now it's a tree outgrowing its pot. I think it needs a transplant. These pics are for my old roomie, Katie. Our garden misses you! And so do I!

Mommy Broogie

Last week I had the privilege of gaining more insight into the life of a single, working mother. I got to spend 5 wonderful days with these two cute kids. Something funny happened at least every hour. At least most moms have 9 months to get used to the idea of watching kids every second of the day. Now I understand why most moms drop their kids off at school while still wearing a bathrobe, coffee in one hand, and wet hair on top.

The first car ride we went on was to the pharmacy. Due to the random traffic laws of our city, I had to park a block away from the store. I told the kids.... ok guys we're gonna have to walk just a little bit to get to the store. P looks at me and says... but Aunt Brooke.... I didn't put on any shoes... you didn't tell me I needed shoes. (have you ever seen a sidewalk in Asia????)

Lesson #1 make sure your kids are properly clothed before going out in public. Since we people in Thailand leave our shoes on racks by the front door.... they're the very last thing you have to remember before leaving home.

Two days later I was getting ready for school. H had to go to preschool--- so I was running around trying to stuff corn down my throat (yes.... an ear of corn for breakfast... I'm turning more Asian everyday---- so far my skin has been faithful to its white-ness) and trying to get clothes on a preschooler who would prefer to be half naked. I barely got myself ready for work, let alone the two kids ready for their day. I waddled into work with a million bags, breakfast in one hand and a jacket I grabbed in the other.

Lesson #2 look at yourself in the mirror before leaving the safety of your own home.

My outfit for the day consisted of black dress pants, brown flipflops, and a brown sweatshirt jacket in case i got cold. Brown and black should never be together. I wasn't even in the same genre of clothing either--- dressy and casual. Lovely.

Lesson #3 don't offer to babysit on Halloween.

This has to be children's largest sugar consumption day of the year. Sugar= hyper. Hyper= craziness. Craziness= lots and lots of noise and a headache to go on top. Ok... so it wasn't that bad. We actually had a really fun time. Here are some pics of the sweet munchkins.

Meet Super Santa and Richard Simmons' Assistant.

Here H gives out candy to our first guest.... my roommate Staci! :)

H usually calls me Aunt Broogie. This week she kept calling me mommy... I told her no.... I'm not your mommy, but mommy will be home in a few days. So then she changed my name to Mommy Broogie. The day her mom got home, H looked at me and said.... You're not my mommy anymore... my mommy came back. Mommy Broogie was a fine title for 5 days--- but for now I'm loving just being an Aunt.

Working 8 hours a day and being a mom is tough! AND I even had a househelper to help me! All you moms out there deserve a big hug. You're pretty great.

Outta the city...

It's always good to take a day to get away from the city life. This was my 4th time to go on this day trip about an hour outside of town. I love taking people out to see these sweet kids, ride huge monsters of animals, relax by a waterfall, and float down the peaceful river on a bamboo raft.

This time I helped our guide with my rafting skills. I stood up almost the whole way... it feels like surfing.... not that I have ever surfed... but it seems close. With a long bamboo pole we forged the river... I chickened out on a few of the "rapids" and sat down. Overall.... it was such a fun day. My elephant was super tempermental--- he's 40 years old. I think he's sick of having white people ride on his neck. Every other minute his trunk would come back to my face looking for food. Since I didn't have any bananas, sugar cane, or limes on me... elephant snot would blow all over the front of my body. It was pretty disgusting.

Take a look at the fun pics from the weekend. The kids are from the Karen State of Burma. So, they don't speak much Thai--- but are as cute as a button.

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The hills are alive....

with the sound of muuuuuusic.

Today was so so so fun. Lots of fun people, lots of music, lots of craziness.

This morning I went to church with some friends at an orphanage on a mountain about a 30-minute drive outside of town. This Christian orphanage is for hill-tribe kids who are absolutely adorable. Right now they have 123 kids living there ranging from 7 months old to college students.

The guests alway sit in the front---- even though the poor little kids are 10 times shorter than us. We were right by the huge speakers and the music was incredibly loud. They were all having lots of fun during the 3 hour service. My right ear will never hear the same. Ouch.

Now for some pictures of my precious little friends:

This last picture is my friend, Chi, that I hadn't seen in 4 months! She is an intern at the orphanage... working as one of the moms there for the next year.

The music continued as my roommates and I went to the Sunday Walking Street Market. It was extremely crowded--- we could hardly breathe. It was the kind of crowded where everyone does the "waddle" because they're walking so slow. We felt like herded cattle most of the time. But, as always... we had fun. I even started my Christmas shopping... woohoo!

Along the street are various musical artists. Tonight these were our favorite guys. They even played a song for us... the Americans. We caused an even larger traffic jam.

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The guitar dude had an intense Asian mullet.

This next fun video is our very own tour guide. Always entertaining.

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Doctors and Donuts

PART ONE: DOCTORS

Many of you know about my roommate's hospital visit. Here's a few pics of a real, live ER in Asia---- not too shabby. The "white girl" was rushed in and had a swarm of doctors and nurses surrounding her within minutes. After a couple days of not feeling too good, a high fever, and a foot infection, she was admitted to the hospital for three days. The verdict---- staph infection. May dii leey (not good.... at all). They stuck a huge curved needle into her foot right before they sliced it open to drain the yucky stuff out. It was pretty swollen. You can see the white bandage on the back of her heel. All of this came from her tennis shoes rubbing her heel wrong. Craziness. Life in Thailand--- always an adventure.

I decided to take a peek at the damage. Sick.

She was one tough girl.... three days of needles, IVs, and a very queezy stomach.

But, she did have a decent view of the city. Here were are on the lovely balcony.

Staci and I got to stay with her for free! The two of us squished on a couch smaller than a single bed---- loads of fun.

So precious. This is a rare moment--- usually these girls are crazy loud.

PART TWO: DONUTS

This exciting event occured a few weeks ago--- a glorious Day of Donut Discovery.

A few friends and I sat around the lunch table discussing doughnuts.

Here in Chiang Mai, we have a small handful of American restaurant chains---- the handful includes: Starbucks, McDonalds, KFC, Burger King, Dunkin' Donuts, and Subway. We are blessed... yes.

However, I still miss Chipotle, Jason's Deli, Chick-fil-A, etc. You get the idea.

Anyway, my roommates both claimed that they didn't like donuts. The rest of us began discussing how donut holes are really so much better than the regular donuts. (This led me into the musical rendition of "Life without Jesus is like a donut" by The Donut Man--- thanks to a younger sibling being born in the early 90's.)

We had many wonderful, convincing points about the beauty of dunut holes:

They're less messy... don't get smeared on your face like taking a hunk out of a big one.

You can eat a ton of them because it's like finger food--- you feel like you're at a tea party. Crumpets and finger sandwiches never make it to the hips.... that's a known tea party fact. You can eat however many you want.

AND... you can get a variety of many scrumptious flavors. Big donuts get boring after 3 bites.

Soooo Kelly had to try for herself---- thus the Day of Donut (hole) Discovery.

First came sniffing (which she always does to everything she eats--- even though my mother taught me this was rude--- apparently, her mom doesn't think so or forgot to tell her about this for the past 2o something years--- any thoughts on this???)

Next, the first bite... the moment of truth.

She's sold. Thumbs up for Dunkin' Donuts... hopefully she'll have the same feeling on the other side of the Pacific when there are even more wonderful varieties at her fingertips.

Now she loves them.

Them being donut holes. Somebody say yuuuuummy.

p.s. the last time i had dunkin' donuts i think i was 4 years old.... when you move across the pacific, you take what you can get. thank you mr. dunkin' donut for bringing your doughy-ness all the way to thailand--- i'm so grateful. :)