MS b-ball

So Bonnie and I (with our fellow teacher Darrick Couts) are now helping to coach middle school basketball. It is actually pretty entertaining and enjoyable. I thought is was going to be absolutely mind numbing and grueling coaching 50 middle schoolers but so far it has been good. We have 8 of the HS boy's players helping us too which is great. We broke the kids up into 5 teams and each team has one or two HS boys with it. This is great because at our jamboree this past weekend that meant that Bonnie and I weren't tied to one team. We got to walk around and watch kids play and chat with our coaches.

The one down side is that for four weeks in a row we have jamborees on Saturdays. We have our second one coming tomorrow. One bright spot about this is that the third one is at Osan Air Base which means we get to eat some Taco Bell. Nice-uh. Some clips of our kid's skills:

My how the King has fallen

There is a reason that McDonald's is the power house fast food restaurant of the world. They do what they do well. This post is actually more a commentary on why Burger King is not as good as McDonald's.

When we were traveling to Nepal we had to get to the airport early on Saturday morning. As a result Bonnie and I decided to get breakfast at BK there in the airport. We order our breakfast sandwiches and the next person in line walks up to the register and orders a breakfast sandwich. The cashier tells them that they are now out of croissants so too bad so sad no more breakfast. My issue with this scenario is that IT WAS 8:30 IN THE MORNING! How do you run out of your primary breakfast item at 8:30 AM in Korea, a country that doesn't really even wake up until 10?

You may be thinking right now, "Tom, chill out. Restaurants make mistakes. Maybe they just ran out of bread." To that I would say, "Yeah, your right but..." The same stinking thing happened the very next morning when we were on our layover in Thailand. The BK in the Bangkok airport ran out of croissants at 9AM. I had to get the equivalent of a McD's "Big Breakfast" instead. Which the fact that I refer to BK's breakfast platter thing by the name of McD's breakfast platter thing is another sad statement about BK's stature among fast food joints.

BK does have two things going for it though 1) the round tater tots they serve with breakfast. 2) that creepy but intriguing "King" character in the commercials.

KBO

Last Saturday Bonnie left for Australia. That same day my buddy Isaac's fiance who had been visiting left to go back to Thailand. So we were both lacking our loved ones. To make up for that void in our lives we decided to go to a KBO game (Korean Baseball Organization) LG vs. Kia. Some pros and cons:

Pro: It was baseball

Pro: They had draft beer
Pro: It was cheap
Pro: Seats were great
Pro: It is very high energy (fan cheering-wise)

Con: Everything is in Korean

Con: This game took Forever

Con: The only roaming vendors sold beer

Con: No Frosty Malts like the K

Overall it was a lot of fun. We left a little early so we wouldn't get back from Seoul too late. Some pics:

Nepal part 3 of 3

So after the international soccer game we ate some dinner, went to bed, and got up early the next morning to head back to Kathmandu. This time the bus ride back was 8 hours long because we had trekked a bit further away in the previous days. When we got back to Kathmandu we checked into our hotel and then went walking through the more touristy area of the city. There were a bunch of shops selling souvenirs, Gurkha knives, tea, and other Nepali keepsakes.

We went to dinner at a steak restaurant which was awesome because we hadn't eaten any protein since we had arrived a week ago. The steaks were around $6 or 7 US and they were fantastic! Maybe it was just because we hadn't tasted meat in so long but they seemed to taste exceptionally good.

After dinner we did a bit of shopping. We purchased a small painting of Everest, some tea, a couple t-shirts, and a map of the region where we went hiking. We then headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

The next day we went back to the RANCH for Easter Saturday service because they celebrate the sabbath on Saturdays in Nepal. As a result of this fact Bonnie and I concluded that it would be appropriate to break our sweets fast (ice cream, chocolate, gummy bears, etc.) that we had been partaking in for Lent. We each celebrated with a Snickers.

After lunch it was time to head off to the airport. This was an experience. You had to go through a security screening and a pat down just to get into the airport. Then you go to the ticket counter which is mostly NOT computerized. They gave us hand written luggage tags (but the luggage made it to Seoul no problem). Then we grabbed some snacks and went through customs and security where we had yet another pat down. They also pulled each person aside individually and made them completely empty the contents of their carry-on bag. The security folks would pick up every little thing and examine it, squeeze it, and ask you what it was. It was intense. After that we headed to the gate where we went through yet another pat down before we were allowed to walk out onto the tarmac and enter the plan. It was definitely the most intense security screening process that I have ever been through.

The flights to Bangkok and Seoul were uneventful and we made it back without any trouble. It was a fantastic experience that we hope we can do again some day.

Australia

I made it safely to Australia. It's beautiful here. The weather is great and I'm having fun just walking around and eating great western food. I bought some Tim Tam's so I can do a Tim Tam slam (see a previous post for what this is). The conference starts bright and early tomorrow, so for now I'm just enjoying the sights and the warm weather.

australia

I am on my way to Australia today to go to some training for school. In some ways I am excited...I mean, I've never been to Australia before, it's where Crocodile Dundee is from, and the school is completely providing for this trip. But I am a little sad because Tom does not get to come and I will miss almost a whole week of school. In some ways its fun to miss school, especially to go traveling, but it can also be challenging to be gone for so long. Additionally, I am still not 100% recovered from the stomach stuff I've been dealing with since Nepal. I would say I am mostly back to normal, but over the past 24 hours I've been more adventurous in my diet, and it's left my stomach a bit upset. I need to be patient and just give my body time to get back to normal. Unfortunately, patience does not run in the family.

Anyway, I'm at the airport and I'm going on my way! Here's to another new adventure and to Crocodile Dundee!

nepal, part 2

To pick up where Tom left off....
After we decided to forgo further hiking and stay an extra night in Thulo Shayphru we discovered that 2 out of the other 3 groups of GSIS people were going to arrive at the same village the next day! I'm not sure if Tom explained this or not, but our team of 21 people (15 kids, 6 sponsors) got broken down into 4 smaller teams for trekking. The reason being is that these village lodges are really small and cannot accommodate for large groups. Originally, we were going to go the whole week without seeing any of the groups, but after our group and another group (that was also struggling) changed their plans, three out of our four groups got to meet up and hang out together for a night.

This was a really special night because we got to stay at Gyalsang's house. Gyalsang is a Pastor in the small village of Thulo Shayphru. He is part of the .002% of Nepal that is Christian. His story is absolutely amazing. It's too long for me to share here, but check it out: http://globalrecordings.net/article/89
Long story short, he had visions of Buddha (because he use to be a Buddhist) telling him about a God that was the "name above all names" named Jesus. Gyalsang had never heard about Jesus before, but he started to worship this "Jesus God" anyway. It wasn't until after all these visions that missionaries came and Gyalsang realized that his visions matched up with what we know as Christianity. So he immediately became a Christian and now is trying to lead others to Christ in the Himalaya's. The story is actually much crazier than my brief synopsis and it was an amazing experience to hear this man share all of this in person, in a little lodge, by candlelight because there was no electricity.

That day we also got to share candy, bubbles, songs, and stories with the locals. It was a really fruitful and blessed time. The next day we had a beautiful hike, probably my favorite on the trip, down to another village where we'd be able to catch the bus. At this village we had a "international" vs. Nepal soccer game in the middle of the dirt road. It was awesome!!! My favorite part was when the game got stopped by a herd of about 100 goats. By this point the 4th team had met up with the rest of us and the big group was back together. Time to start heading home...(more to come later).

bus ride

These clips were taken by our fellow teacher Todd Martinez. They give you about 1 minute of the 6 to 8 hour bus ride (each way) that we took into the mountains. I hope this doesn't make anyone nauseous. And don't worry parents, Bonnie and I never road on the roof. Though this was a common scene on the mountain roads. I asked one of the bus workers how many people could fit on our bus when all of the seats were full, people were jammed in the aisles, and the roof was loaded down. He said about 70 to 80. Remarkable.

Nepal, part one.

Where do I even begin. Nepal is definitely a 3rd world country. We flew into Kathmandu whose international airport is probably just a titch bigger that the KC downtown airport. We then went directly to the RANCH, Remote Areas of Nepal Children's Home, (about 15 minutes from the airport) to pack our backpacks for the trip. We then hopped on our bus and drove for 3 hours to a town called Trishuli. This was one heck of a ride. 3 hours of switch-backs and constant pot holes. Fortunately this portion of the road was paved. The vast majority of the streets are dirt/rock. Only some of the city streets and major roads were paved.

We stayed the night there in probably our crappiest accommodations of the trip. We then hopped back on the bus for another 3 hour ride to a town called Dhunche. This road was not paved. I wish I could describe these roads to you...some comparisons. The road to Hana on Maui...nothing. The road to Harmons, Jamacia...child's play. This was by far the most agonizing bus ride I have ever taken. We hopefully will post a video clip of the ride sometime soon.

Well, we arrive in Dhunche to find out that the Maoists (ruling political party) have declared a road strike for the day so our bus can't continue on to our final destination of Shyaphru Besi (2 hours further). This drastically changed our groups hiking plans. We were supposed to have a more "cultural" experience as opposed to a rigorous hiking experience. So our first day we covered over 4000 vertical feet to finish at an altitude of about 10500 feet. This was awesome and challenging for Bonnie and I but brutal for our kids, we're not sure if they enjoyed hiking that much. They pretty much crashed straight into bed probably suffering from varying forms of exhaustion/altitude sickness. They were troopers, though.

The accommodations this night were fine. The beds were kind of soft and they provided big warm blankets. There was no hot water so Bonnie and I opted to use our "body wipes" to cleanse ourselves from the day. Imagine a large wet wipe. That is a "body wipe." You literally just wipe all areas of your body with them. Anyway, TMI.

We awoke the next morning and had a nice breakfast of porridge and Tibetan bread with jam and honey (kind of like pita bread). We then had a really cool downhill hike through a sweet forest of really tall pines draped in moss which change into terraced hillsides. This took about 3 hours and though it was downhill it still took quite a toll on our kids. We rolled into a town called Thulo Shayphru around lunchtime and realized that we probably need to adjust our plans. If we continued to follow the route mapped out for us we would be hiking 6 to 7 hours a day and our kids (and maybe us too) couldn't handle that. So we prayed about it with our guides and another couple in our group Jonathan and Elizabeth (missionaries in country at the time) and decided that staying put would be the best. After a conversation with the trip leader (in another group) we decided to stay the next two nights in Thulo Shayphru (days 2 and 3 of hiking).

Random...There was crazy good cellphone service out there. I can't explain it. They only got like 4 to 8 hours of electricity a day but you could get Nepali cellphone coverage at 10,000 feet; hours from the nearest paved road. Yet, Sprint can't cover you on I-70 in western Kansas. Go figure...

Anyway, this turned out to be a great decision for our group. Our kids morale was instantly boosted and we had some great time that night and the next day getting to know our kids better and doing some ministry around the village. To be continued...

New slideshow

Just posted a slideshow of some of our Nepal photos. Double click to open larger so you can view captions. More to come.

Send up some prayers for Bonnie. She is dealing with some pretty rough post trip sickness and is home from school today because of it. Thanks.

we're back

We're back from Nepal! We had a great trip. We flew all the way through the night and just got back to our apartment around 9am Korea time. Now we're pretty much unpacked and we're starting to tackle a massive amount of laundry. Our time in Nepal was fantastic and we can't wait to share more about it. We're very tired from our travels, so for now we just wanted to say we made it home safely and we'll fill you in on our trip very soon.

Thanks for your prayers.

thailand

Yesterday we made it safely to Thailand. We got in around 3pm local time. The flight was great. The hotel is okay...it got the job done. We kicked it around bangkok for the night. We ate vendor food (love me some fresh watermelon) and then we went out to dinner--I actually got mexican food! yes! Around 9ish we came back to the hotel and got a good night's sleep.

It's about 7am here and we're getting ready to go to the airport to catch our flight to Nepal. So far we're all doing well and the kids are great.

Oh, well except for the girl that threw up in the car ride. But she's okay now.

love you all.

Nepal

Tom and I are finishing up our last bit of packing for our trip to Nepal. We meet up at school at 5:50am tomorrow (Saturday) to start our journey. We'll fly into Thailand tomorrow and spend the day in Thailand. Sunday morning we'll get up and fly to Nepal. We will spend some time getting acclimated to Nepal and then Monday morning we'll take a bus into the Himalayas and get dropped off at a trail with our Sherpas (guides). Our guides will take us through various villages in the "foothills" of the Himalayas for four days. On Friday we'll conclude our trekking and start our journey home on Saturday.

It's going to be an adventure! We're so excited. We've been doing a lot to prepare for this trip. If you get a chance please pray for safe travels, fun, endurance, patience, and a lot of love.

We'll probably be MIA from our blog for the week (we're leaving our laptops behind, plus these little villages in the mountains don't always have electricity, let alone Internet). We'll make sure to update you when we get back.

much love! see you in a week!

embracing mac

I've been a hardcore PC girl for a long time. I've grown up on Dell's and now HP computers, and I'll be honest, I've been a mac hater for a long time.

In my last post I talked about how many of the world's problems can be traced back to ignorance, and now I have to say that I think my Mac issues are also due to my ignorance of the apple world.

The past two days I've gone to Mac training sessions at school because our entire school is switching to Apple in the fall. Tom and I will each be given MacBooks by our school (we'll have to return them whenever we decide to leave GSIS). We'll still accommodate for PC's at the school, but we're making the transition into the mac world.

At first when I heard about the transition I wasn't very excited for two reasons. 1. Tom and I just bought new HP laptops at the beginning of the school year so I feel like it was a waste of money (that's not entirely true b\c these laptops have served us well this year). 2. I've also had a negative perspective on "mac people." Throughout college I had a stereotype in my head that only the "hipster" people had mac's and that you only got a mac so you could look cool. I know, harsh stereotype right?

Basically, it comes down to the fact that I am a passionate and loyal person. When everyone was hyping up mac's and ditching their PC's I wanted to be faithful to the PC world! I didn't want to be a sell out. I wanted to stick up for my trusty and reliable product and not just jump on the mac bandwagon. Part of my mac issues also come down to pride. Macs are trendy and expensive and I've never wanted to pay that kind of money for a laptop. So instead of acknowledging that their cool, I've tried to prove how great my PC's have been. In summary, I've been a mac hater. Right or wrong, I'm just confessing that this is how I have felt.

Over the past two days I've had a "come to Jesus" moment in the computer realm, and I've come to fully embrace the fact that mac's are freaking awesome. They're prettier, easier to use, and more intuitive than any of the PC's I've used. The programs on the mac I've been training on are incredible. Things like iMovie, iWorks, iPhoto just blow all of Microsoft's products out of the water.

So this is my official apology to the mac world. I was wrong. I was prideful and ignorant and am in need of forgiveness. I'm ready to leave behind my broken PC world and I am ready to embrace all that macs have to offer. Once I get my macbook everything will change, and I can't wait.

some things never cease to amaze me

Last night Bonnie and I went out to eat with our teacher friend Joe. Our plan was to go get something to eat (Joe has a car which is awesome) and then go back to our place and watch the final episode of our Korean drama Kot-Boda-Nam-Ja (Boys Before Flowers). We decide to go to this Vietnamese place not to far from our school. It was fantastic! Some absolutely delicious food, ma-she-sa-yo (delicious)! Anyway, that's not the point here... When we walk in Joe notices that there is a family in the restaurant that has a student that attends our school. Neither Bonnie or I knew the kid because he was an 8th grader but Joe did. We all said hello and then we went to our table.

We are eating our meal and about halfway through the family gets up, pays their bill, and leaves without really saying bye or anything. They just took off. We thought that was a little peculiar but shook it off and kept eating. Well, about 10 minutes later just as we are putting the finishing touches of a feast of cashew chicken, pho nam (rice noodle soup), spring rolls, and shredded chicken and pork with rice the manager comes up to our table.

He says, "Do you remember that family that was setting over there? They have paid for your full bill." We all just sat there stunned for a moment not really sure what to make of it. They had picked up our tab. It was probably $40 worth of food. That just blows me away. So nice. Some things never cease to amaze me.

The finale of the show was great. Now we'll have to find another one. We're off to Nepal on Saturday. More on that later...