The year is over and the numbers have been tallied; 325 days 15 countries 75 hours on planes 270 hours on buses 105 hours on trains 35 hours on taxis 40 times packing our backpacks 3 months living in a tent being on 3 continents in 3 days attempting to learn 7 different languages which resulted in awkward meals and embarrassing translations
We survived the food; beef, chicken, frog, duck, impala, snail, gazelle, warthog, spider, grasshopper, cow heart and intestine, goat, and other unidentified meats
The Adventures were indescribable; jumping off waterfalls (or falling), climbing volcanoes, surfing in Peru, climbing Machu Picchu, touring London for a day, going to a desert island in the Indian Ocean, African Safaris, para sailing over the gulf of Thailand, visiting ruins around the world including Angkor Wat, debrief on a beautiful island in Thailand, going to Disney Hong King, mopedding through the mountains in China, boat rides down the Chinese Li River, alpine slide down through Chinese mountains, visiting and climbing the Great Wall, plus way too many times to count of preaching, teaching, church services, testimony sharing, kid holding, game playing, and song singing and SO much more!
Sorry everyone, I am still alive and I am back in Hong Kong. Things have been busy with debriefing and so on but I will post and blog soon. See you all in 4 days!
Yesterday was supposed to be a productive day to finish up all this blog stuff that I am frantically trying to take care right now. I was supposed to go and stop in and say hi to the staff at NightLight (which I am now giong to rush to this morning as soon as I finsih this, before we leave) I was going to take it easy, sort through my stuff so I did't have to stay up late and pack (like I was doing until after 1:00 am). All of that went out the window when Jon and Eric found me at the internet and asked if I wanted to go to Ancient City with them. In all honesty it sounded like a lot more fun than all my productive plans and they told me we would be home by 3:00. So I decided to procrastinate on all that boring stuf and go. I talked Emilie into joining us and putting all her chores off as well and we went.
When we got there, our ticket price included Tandom bikes. We tried out a 3 person bike in the parking lot for pictures sake.
We rode our bikes around for 4 hours touring Thailand. The park was over 300 acres with replicas of all the Ancient temples, ruins and more. They were "miniature" models but they were actually really big and seemed life size. The detail was amazing and in many ways pointless. But it was cool to go and see all the things we didn't go see while we were here.
This is Jon and Eric riding the horses.
Emilie and I looking like snakes???? uhh I dont know?
A purple bridge. I like to state the obvious.
I think to this tourist we may have been more of an excitement to here than the entire park. A group of them came up to us and asked if they could take pictures with us. It was hillarious, allthouh it was not the first time this has happened.
Emilie, Jon, Me and Eric on the top of the mountain.
This afternoon we will be in China and there the begining of the end will start. Its our final month and final country. China will also add a whole new element to what we have seen and experienced this year. It is the first country that we will enter that is closed to Christianity and due to the upcoming Olympics, the government is really cracking down. We will have limited to no access to our blog site. I will try to send my mom updates that she can post to you as updated as possible. But I will still look forward to your comments and emails. I may not be able to check them frequently but they are always encouraging! Thank you so much for being with me through this journey. Your prayers and support have been crucial to this year. Please continue to pray as we finish out the last 39 days of this adventure!
Please Pray for: -Safe Travel -Ministry- not sure what it is yet, but please pray -Focus and endurance! - This is the end, home is near and tends to be a little distracting -My team! (oh yah check out Emilie's blog, she does such a good job of bragging on each of us!
Okay thats it for now! Love you All! See you next month!
On Monday night we arrived back in Bangkok. It was a great feeling. Kind of like coming back home after a rough mission trip. Except the mission trip isn't over. But none-the-less Bangkok gave me little bit of back home comfort. Things went right back to normal when we got here. (except this time there were 105 World Racers staying at th YWAM base.. A,B,C & D sqaud). But I went right back to my old room, with some of my old roommates. Woke up in the morning to the same wonderful routine; fruit, iced coffee and an hour of internet. We had two full days here to take care of some last minute errands and some fun (Emilie, Annie and I went back to the night market for some last minute shopping). I had the opportunity to debrief (more like friendly chat over coffee) a June racer; Courtney Pearsal and it was fun taking her into town and knowing my way to anywhere we wanted to go. I really love Bangkok and all its splendor. I am going to miss it once we depart. I really does feel like home.
Just about the time I learned how to spell Phnom Penh with out asking or looking it up, we are leaving. Tomorrow morning we are catching a bus to Siem Riep. The location of the famous Angkor Wat and other temples filmed in Tomb Raider.
So as a tribute to leaving Phnom Penh I thought I would share a few quirks and quotes from our month here.
Every one knows that Asians are little. They know it, you know it and we know it. But I'm not sure that they understand that we know we are bigger. So they kindly take the liberty of creatively reminding us that we are much larger than they are. Some of our favorite comments have been; "Your face is nice, but what is wrong with the rest of you?"
" It is a good thing you are American, because there are no Cambodian men big enough for you."
" It is nice to meet you, you are very Large." -See how little he is.
Many of the college students are learning English and love to practice speaking with us. So among many of our converstaions we have had some good laughs. Sometimes its a misunderstanding of their accent, other times we just get out of this world questions. Here are some of our favorites; "Please everyone, take a shit here." - supposed to be- Please everyone, take a sit ( or seat) here. Annie- "Yum, this fruit is good, what is it?" Them- "Oh yes, it's sewer." Us- (wide eyed, looking at eachother) "It's WHAT?!?" Them- "It's sewer, you know." Us- "Oh you mean SOUR. " (Sighs of relief)
Then there were the famous questions our first night at bible study. "Is lesbian and Tom boy the same?" " Do you know what gay is?" Some usual comments durring introductions are; Them-"how old are you?" Me-" I am 21 years old" Them-" You are very large for twenty first."
Me- "Do you have any other questions about me, my life or testimony?" Them- "yes, are you single? Do you have a sweetheart?
Durring lunch on our last province visit we were informed that it is actually rude to talk durring meals. OOPS! Thats one of those things you wish you knew durring your first meal, not your last. Some of them also really love to learn idoms. One of the students who we call Lucky, recently learned the phrase "Check it out now." You might be suprised how many times that phrase can be used in one day. -One of the dishes is actually FROG. That is just a little glimps of life in Cambodia. It keeps conversation interesting and gives us a reason to smile and laugh when other things are just a little hard.
Last week we had to go to Vietnam to renew our Cambodia visas. So we decided to make a little vacation out of it and tour through a major part of our history. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!
Welcome to Ho Chi Min City, known as the Paris of South East Asia
Black Cat; One of the Top 10 must visit resturaunts in the WORLD. Famous for the Cheesy Cat!
500 grams of beef, 1 head of lettus, 4 tomatos, 1 pickle, 4 slices of cheese and 4 slices of bacon!
Night Life in the City
You haven't been to Vietnam if you haven't seen the Water Puppet Show
War Remnants Museum
Mekong River Tour
The local Floating market. You know what they are selling by the item hanging from the long bamboo shoot.
First stop, Coconut Candy. Our guide was so excited about he mentioned it at least 5 times before we got there. It was good though, and "good for you", it has no sugar.
Next Stop, Lunch! This was a rare elephant ear fish that you can only find in the Mekong River. (I didnt actually eat it, YUCK!)
How about a bike ride around the island to work off some of that lunch!
followed by a nice relaxing ride through the canal with complimentary sun hats.
Cool off with some Coconut juice on the way back to the bus
bonding at the rest stop
These are the Rice Paddies, 5 minute picture stop
The Cu Chi Tunnels
The Cu Chi Tunnels were used by the Communist Viet Cong (the side America was fighting against). The particular tunnels we visited are over 125 miles long and include multiple floors and levels. The Viet Cong hid in the tunnels, but could maintain weapon and uniform making as well as daily life. They even slept and cooked with fire in the intricate tunnels. Many meetings occurred below ground to plan and strategize against the enemy. Cu Chi is said to be one of the most bombed areas of war. Americans dropped napalm and bombs hoping to break up the network of underground tunnels. (info by Annie Bower)
120 meters of tunel! We made it but barely.
trap set by the Viet Cong
Our tour guide was a little less than thrilled about his job, resulting in board and annoyed tourists.
Last day in Vietnam
We had a couple extra dollars to spend and a little extra time to kill, so we took a traditional bike ride through the city. It was quite scray at times going head on into traffic, but these guys know how to do it!
I am thankful that I got the opportunity to experience Vietnam as it is a huge part of our American History. Thank you to all who have been supporting me this year!
Drinking Iced Coffee has become one of the favorite past times in our group. It's only natural when the price ranges from .25 cents to a $1.00 per drink, it's sweet, it's cold and we all LOVE COFFEE. We have had a lot of fun exploring different cafes, coffee shops and street vendors to find the best iced coffee. So here is the break down of what this coffee phnomenom is all about:
Step 1: Lots and lots of sweetened condensed milk
Step 2: Add some coffee
Step 3: Shake it up!
Step 4 & 5: Add ice, more coffee, insert straw and tie up the bag
A year ago, last September in Gainsville, GA, I must of heard the phrase "Leave your expectations BEHIND!" a million times. But What does that mean? What about personal expectatoins? What about ideas or presuppasistions?
So what did I expect? Did I expect to become a super spiritual Christian? Did I think I was going to save the world miracle after miracle? Maybe I imagined that the whole surrender thing was going to magically make me have a perfect attitude in any and every living condition. Perhaps I was expecting that I would learn to live without EVERYTHING I was "leaving behind". But lets be realistic here! Its not that I left everything behind. Its more like I took a little bit of everything and just came with less. And what I didnt bring, I most likely found a way to get, when I wanted it. Maybe I was expecting that God would call me to a third world country. I was ready for it too, and I really liked my life at home, but I came with a willing heart.
But.. I am certainly not a super spiritual Christian. Sometimes I can hardly read my Bible every day. There is no doubt that God has used me this year, but there were occasions where I didn't know it until the time was long passed. I never laid my hands on a sick person and saw them healed on the spot. (but I think God is okay with that) I have had entirely less than a satisfactory attitdude about many things, including living conditions. I learned one thing is for certain, I don't like to be hot! I guess I have learned to live without a few things and I certainly know how to live on less, but it seems like I have had so much, it's hard to tell. And, I dont exactly feel like God has called me to a third world country.
Soo.. What did I get from this year? I came looking for THE answer to my life calling. (thats such a Christianeese things) I'm a planner. I like to know things in advance. I like to figure out how its going to work. And I like watching the vision unfold as it works out just like I imagined. But who am I kidding? Life never works out that way for real! Not when God comes in and messes things up.
Well.. All I know at this point is God sent me on this trip as Candice; a silly little goof ball who likes to pretend that life is perfect, no matter what the circumstances are. Anyone who really knows me can aggree to that. And it seems to me like God decided that He kind of liked Candice that way. Sure He made some adjustments, Big ones and small ones. I guess I probably look a lot older too, sleepless nights and 9 months of intense sun will to that to you. But so far, life is still an endless game of 'What Comes Next?'
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