Graduation Update

So much has happened since I last wrote: I spent three months in Thailand. I student taught sixty-six crazy and beloved teenagers. I went through entry and culture shock and re-entry and reverse shock. I completed my undergraduate career. I will be graduating from college in two days with a B.S. in Secondary English Education, an endorsement in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and an Evangelical Training Association Diploma. I will graduating Magna Cum Laude and Dean's List. I will be moving in with my dad and stepmom (with two good friends) over the summer and searching for jobs in the area where my friends want to attend graduate school.

I am blessed beyond measure and overwhelmed to be at this point in my life. God is so good.

I am excited to continue posting about my 30Before30 project. Only eight years and twenty-one (and some parts) goals left!

Big Sights

Yesterday, my grandma and I began the day in Lancaster, PA on a Amish buggy ride, then we enjoyed Hershey Chocolate World with my friend Tori, then we drove through north/central PA and Western NY before settling just outside of Rochester, NY for the night.

And let me tell you - even though that was a long drive, longer than we anticipated, the mountains of Pennsylvania and New York were breathtaking last night in the sunset and dusk. I believe it was the Alleghenies we were driving through, and I was in awe. Huge peaks rose on the either side of us and the road curved in a large, wide arc to go around giant formations. I felt small, and that felt good. It's okay to not be the center of the universe. It's okay (and good) to contemplate the hands that formed those mountains out of nothing. Wow. 

Summer 2013: Camp and Road Trips

I arrived home from summer camp on Friday evening, after spending ten weeks in beautiful Northeast Alabama, where I loved on precious young ladies between the ages of six and sixteen. Here are some pictures from the summer, below. (Some photos courtesy of camp, some mine.)

In other news, I'm crossing off a number of goals this summer! I have visited a new state: Alabama, and I will visit more next week on my upcoming road trip with my grandma. (More posts about that to come!) I can also cross off number 20, since I joined the American Camp Association right before I went to camp.

Read more about my summer at camp here.

I won the Golden Crusader Award!

Sundays at Camp!

ACA Membership! 

This summer marked my first time....

• Being an actual camp counselor
• Driving more than five hours by myself
• Working on a ropes course / learning how to belay
• Eating Oreo Yum Yum! 
• Putting thirteen year old girls to bed (& then singing loudly to wake them up in the morning!)
• And much more! 

Looking forward to finishing this summer strong with a road trip with my grandma. More posts to come.

Summer and Number 7

Good News! Today, I received the contract for my summer job. I will be a camp counselor at a Christian girls' camp in Alabama for nine weeks this summer. I have praying for this for so long that I am just bursting with excitement about this opportunity!

Not only will my summer job provide me with a time to be with preteen girls, invest in their lives, develop life skills, and grow closer to other counselors, all within a Christian environment - but it will also 1) Provide much needed funds to be able to go to Thailand in 8 months! and 2) This goal will complete another state for number 7, as I've never been to Alabama before, as far as I can remember. I can't wait.

In addition, my grandmother and I have nailed down dates for our summer road trip to Canada. For my birthday, she gave me a road trip, and we have decided to go on our trip in August so I can work the full summer at camp. We will have seven days to drive up through states I've not yet visited, like Pennsylvania and West Virginia, to Canada, where neither of us have not yet visited, back down through Ohio and Michigan. We really want to see Niagara Falls, the Liberty Bell, and more of the East coast. And that will cross off number 18!

I hope this summer is as full of adventure as I'm planning. Stay tuned for more updates!

Journals from Around the World

One of the traditions that I started when I went to Asia last summer was to collect journals from each country I visit. As of today, I only have three journals, but my collection is growing. Here are the three I have so far...

Purchased: PageOne Bookstore, Hong Kong
Cost: $16 HKD (appox $2 USD)
"Meng Xiang" (dream)
"Somene wanted to be a teacher when he was little."

Purchased: Phimphone Market, Vientiane, Laos

Cost: 19000 Kip, approx $2.39 USD 

"Stop Global Warming"

"make quality make design style BSP"

Purchased: Cozumel, Mexico

Cost: $6 USD

"Cozumel, Mex."

It's made from "huun" (maya word that means handmade paper)

I hope to keep adding to my collection from every country I visit in the future!

Back from Asia!

The ladies of my team with our Lao friends.

I'm back, safe and sound, from an amazing trip to Asia. I stepped outside of my comfort zone and did the thing I thought I could not do. Believe me when I say that our God is a God of impossible things. I learned how to love on twenty Asian teenagers, plan and prepare three weeks of English camp, pray for the impossible, and trust God with each moment.


I was able to knock two countries off of goal number 6 and challenge myself beyond what I thought I was capable of. I rode the Hong Kong public transit system (MTR, minibuses, and double-decker buses) for the first time. I ate duck larp, fermented fish, tamarind, dragon fruit, longan, pomegrante, and duck for the first time. And I discovered how much I really love teaching!

My class!

My team at the beach on Lantau.

If you'd like to read more, click here to go to my LosingMyself blog.

How to Pack for Five Weeks in Asia

In case you haven't heard, I'm going to Asia for five weeks! I board my first plane in t minus 76 hours. Oh yes. Here are some random tips for packing for a five week trip!

You can find these tiny green towels at REI.com

1. Buy a towel that is literally shorter than your eight-year-old cousin and several inches too small to wrap all the way around you. But it absorbs eight times its weight!

2. Don't pack your iPod cord or phone charger 4 days early thinking that you're "ahead of the game." You will need them before you leave.

3. Bring interchangable clothes, especially bottoms. For the three weeks of English teaching I'll be doing, I have khaki capris, khaki shorts, black pants, and a black skirt. And a dress just for fun (not pictured).

4. Pack all that random stuff you brought too much of in plastic Zip-Loc or Hefty bags. For example, place small items in snack-size bags, then put a few of those into a quart bag, and a few of those into a gallon bag. Pack multiple items into a two gallon bag. Yes, they sell those in the store. I'm still wondering why we have those at my house.

Don't forget the stickers for your students!
Can you tell I'm bringing stuff for teaching about Valentine's Day?

5. Below Left. Roll your clothes. It's easy, keeps most of the wrinkles out, and you can see everything at one time. Try not to wad your clothes, because they will definitely end up that way after two or more flights.

6. Above Right. Limit the amount of shoes you bring. You'll need something to wear to teach in and something to play in. Yes, four shoes is "limiting it" for me. I can't believe I have so many shoes!

7. Knit your own travel accessories! The passport holder in shown in blue/brown and the pattern can be found here. The navy money wallet is my own "homemade" pattern. See it here.











8. Travel Sizes. Of Everything. "There are stores in Asia!"

9. Bring notes and momentos from friends who love you and are praying for you! Below.

10. Make sure you have something to do on the 15 hour airplane ride!

I MADE THIS FOR YOU!

...Okay, maybe not. I made it for me. But I made it! I wrote up my own pattern, which I submitted to a knit pattern database called Ravelry, and I even sewed on a zipper by myself. It's a mini clutch wallet, perfect for holding my foreign currency when I go to Asia this summer!

By the way, I can't believe I'm going to Asia in literally a week and a day. What?!? It is unbelievable, and it fulfills most of goal number 6. More information to come!

*The title is a reference to JulianSmith.tv, which I enjoy but cannot endorse on this blog. 
*The link above is to my newest blog, dedicated to creativity and crafts, called One Creative Outlet, scheduled to go live in August.

Summer in Pictures, Part One

These are pictures from the first portion of my Summer 2012 from May 12th - 29th. 

Remember that plant I was trying to grow last semester? My mom and I have successfully brought it back to life twice. I guess I need a bigger pot for it now.

This looks like an average morning for me about four days a week. This was Week One, Day Four of my Couch to 5k running plan.

Got a new ring that I bought on Etsy.com. God has used the butterfly to symbolize that he's got everything and that it's going to be okay for me.

Knitted a scarf for the Special Olympics! I just finished it and I started a Passport Holder.

Week Two, Day Two, I headed to the cemetery where I walked last summer to enjoy more beautiful scenery than the treadmills and sweaty old ladies the Y offers.

AND I WALKED A SUCCESSFUL 5K! 3.1 miles. Oh yes. 

Pedometer: $4.98

Walking outside under the sunshine: Priceless

I also headed to the Recreational Equipment Inc. in a nearby city to buy some things for my upcoming trip to Asia. That place was awesome. My guy friends were right!

Week three, Day One was yesterday. I completed it almost successfully. I slacked off a smidge on the last 10 minutes, because my legs and stomach were cramping. I did manage a nice 61 minutes, though, even if most of it was walking.

That little clump of fuzzy is a bird's nest with several babies in it! They're chilling out in my mom's ferns.

 

Lovely graduations of some dear friends.

Not pictured: the deer I saw in my backyard the second day of summer and the many exciting Skype adventures I've had with my best friends. Join me later in the summer for "Summer in Pictures" again.

Six Weeks!

Six Weeks! That's how long I have at home until I leave for China, and I am definitely going to make the most of those six weeks. Mom and my brother are still in school for the next two of those weeks, so I've been home alone, running errands, reading, knitting, and working out.

Speaking of which, I have good news and bad news. Bad news first: I went to give blood on April 26th, but something didn't quite work right. I ended up not be able to give an entire pint. Either my vein rolled or I was not hydrated enough. It was pretty disappointing, but I still got a T-shirt and some crackers. Hopefully I'll be able to try again, although it will have to be a while after China.

In good news, I completed another one of the goals on my semester list! Or rather, another goal was completed outside of my control. See, the last goal on my list was: "Witness and play a part in something huge that can only be attributed to God." The story behind it is phenomenal...
During the semester, my roommate's car broke down. When my roommate (affectionately nicknamed "L") and her parents realized she needed it fixed so she could come home for the semester, she called a mechanic shop. It was a Saturday and the shop was closed.
The next day (Sunday), L's mom had mentioned to people at her church about L's car and asked for prayer that her car would be fixed in time to go home and that she would have the finances to take care of it. One person she talked to has a nephew who is a mechanic in the town where L and I go to college. He called his nephew and let him know about L's situation. This is amazing because L's family lives in Ohio and we go to college in a tiny little town in Georgia!
L called the mechanic on Monday and he fixed her car by Friday, just in time for her to leave on Saturday after our friends' graduation. This fulfills my last goal because L doesn't have a working phone - she was using mine and I even talked with the mechanic. I got to see and be used in this miracle.

Finally, more good news is that I found a Couch to 5k program here that can be completed in six weeks. If I can follow this program before I leave for China, I will have walked and ran a 5k, and then I can enter an official 5k once I'm back from China or during the Fall semester, and that will have completed goal number 3! I accomplished day one today - it was harder than it looked and it took me an hour to do it all, but at least the YMCA in my hometown is remodeled and easy to use. I can do this!

Stay tuned for pictures and comments from the rest of this summer!