Dinosaurs lay eggs out of their butts…What?

I was gracefully informed, by a 7 year old today, that dinosaurs lay eggs out of their butt. Along with this revelation, he stood up and pointed to his rear end to show me exactly where he thought they came from. He said this is almost a questioning fashion and I, frankly, had no response for him. I was trying not to laugh out loud at the amazingness of the question. First of all, we weren't even talking about reproduction of dinosaurs, we were talking about fossils. Somehow, in his tiny Cambodian brain, he leapt to the fact that dinosaurs lay eggs and apparently they come out of dinosaurs butts.

As a new teacher to this class, I strove to keep my calm and politely answer this child without getting into the mechanics where eggs actually come from. Not a conversation that is appropriate for a 2nd grade class, nor should they be learning the facts of life in their second (or in some cases 3rd) language. As I have been thinking about this for the past few hours, I have also decided that I am still way too immature to explain the birds and the bees to anyone, I giggle when someone says "duty" still. 

When answering his question, after a dead silent 30 seconds where everyone, including my 25 year old Khmer Teaching Assistant, was eagerly waiting for my reply, I vaguely nodded and said, "uh-huh." This is the first blatant lie I have told my students and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, I'm building up Christmas and the magic of Santa for all its worth (I have to reassure my students Santa is INDEED real and he can see every time they cheat off each other's papers) but I believe that is part of childhood that needs to be lived by all. How do you explain where dinosaur eggs come from? Seriously,…. How? Question for the ages… or in this case, for a seven year old, and a 27 year old teacher out of her depth with that particular question.

 

 

What is Love?

"Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me… no more"

Well I've fallen in love again, twice! There is something so special about Southeast Asia, I don't know how to describe it. I traveled around Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia for about 4 weeks and it was such an amazing and humbling experience. Each country has a unique feeling that I am excited to explore again and again as I have moved back here.

Cambodia holds a special place in my heart and is definitely my first love. It's so beautiful, dirty, loud, disorganized and amazing. The people are what really makes this my love though. They are some of the nicest people that I have ever met. They have such a compassionate and giving spirit, even though they have been through so much and have so little. I felt such a pull towards this place, from the moment I stepped on its soil back in June. I am so happy to be back and experiencing this place in a different way, as an Expat resident, as opposed to a 1 month visitor.

My 2nd love is definitely my kids at the school that I teach at now. I am a second grade teacher and get to teach all subjects, in English. These are the smartest children I have ever met, in addition to being the cutest things I have ever met. They spend 1/2 a day learning in English. 1/2 a day learning either Khmer or Chinese. Some speak all three languages!  They are all so inquisitive and have a MILLION questions. I spent 45 minutes on Friday (when we should have been playing games) answering questions about black holes and space. It was the best teaching experience of my life so far.

So my advice to everyone is to be open to new experience and don't be afraid to fall in love. You can love many things and many people. Each love is different and special. Treasure what you have!

Bucket List - Before 40

What is a bucket list? Many make bucket lists to do before they die. I decided to make a list for before I turn 40. I've got a plethora of time before the due date so my bucket list has been growing exponentially every time I look at it.

HOWEVER, things have been getting slowly crossed off. Yesterday was one of my most exciting bucket list cross offs so far. Riding a scooter is a fun experience no matter what, but riding a scooter through Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh no less, is supposed to be one of the more exhilarating places. My dear friend Cassandra has been letting me stay with her here in HCMC. We had a fun time, including riding through the busiest roundabout in the world, just seeing downtown Ho Chi Minh.

 

The things on my list range from visiting a certain place to a certain country to a certain experience to eating certain food or certain beverages in certain places. Jungles in Laos, Mongolia, Pho in Vietnam, Italian cooking class in Italy, wine in France. Some events get partially checked off, such as visiting all 7 continents. Some create permanent memories, a traditional tattoo in Thailand or China. Others will be over in only seconds, bungee jumping off a hot air balloon.  

Some are physical, dancing Argentine tango in Buenos Aires, some are mental, reading 52 books in one year, and some are emotional, visiting Auschwitz. Some require planning, getting my PhD. Some require me not to think, experiencing the real Oktoberfest.

All in all, it’s a goal to work towards. A never ending, always moving goal to make sure I am always challenging myself. The end goal, checking everything off, is not the most important thing. The important thing is to experience each thing to the fullest. Not rush to the next event but appreciate where I am and have something to always be looking forward to.

What Super Typhoons have taught me

How Do You Find a Super Typhoon?

I have found, in my limited experience, that Typhoons are not to be messed with and are kind of an inconvenience. They disrupt school, work, the government and most annoyingly, my travel plans.

So far in 2013, there have been exactly 2 super typhoons that have been in Asia (since I've arrived). Where have they hit? They have hit Hong Kong (in September) and they will hit Vietnam (tomorrow).

Where was I? I was in Hong Kong in September and I am currently in Vietnam. Each time, they have changed my plans in regards to what I want to do. Not that this is a bad thing, but it is kind of ridiculous. However, in staying in Hong Kong, I was able to really evaluate my feelings on Taiwan and that helped me decided to move away. Here in Vietnam, I've had to change and delay a few plans because of the impending storm.

As my wonderful friends have pointed out, they seem to follow me around when I am traveling.

So I've come to the conclusion that I need to stop worrying and planning and just go with the flow. I have always had a tendency to worry and fret. I've been making a conscious effort to stop worrying as much and these typhoons have given me the chance to practice.

I can't control the weather, I can't control anything else (for the most part) and trying to makes me feel unaccomplished. So instead of trying to control other things, I focus on controlling myself, my worry, and it has made all the world. Life is a lot more relaxing when you stop worrying. This doesn't mean that I don’t worry about anything, but I've stopped worrying about the things that are truly out of my control. I do what I can to make myself ready for whatever comes but worrying about 'what if' isn't a healthy place to be.

Now, this has been quite frustrating for some friends and family because I always say 'No worries.' It's not that I don't care about impending storms that might be deadly, or whether or not I get my deposit back from a landlord, or if I safely make it through a night of drinking in a new city. It's that I set myself up, as much as I can, for success and realize that is all I can do about it. I can't live my life in fear of what might happen and not do things because what might happen. I don't put myself in stupid situations (i.e. traveling to Central Vietnam where the Super Typhoon is about to hit) but I also don't sit inside of a padded room. 

Live life, love life and have fun!

How I became a Millionaire… Overnight! 3 easy steps

 

Step One

Move to Asia

 

Step Two

Have $100 USD

 

Step 3

Exchange it to Vietnam Dong

 

PRESTO - $2,000,000 (VD)

As I exchanged my money and received over 12 million Dong, I was a bit flabbergasted at what to do with it all. My first instinct was to change it all into the smallest bills possible and then roll around in it all. Granted, that is very materialistic but how many people can say they've rolled around in millions of dollars. Most are worried about not losing their money so it's all safely locked up in a vault somewhere.

My trip was an amazing experience, from Taiwan to the Philippines to Vietnam. As someone mentioned, "crows fly in a straight line…… Adrian… Not so much" *cough Robb cough.* I do have a tendency to take the long way around, but it always leads to great experiences. This time, I sleeping in an airport lounge that I was physically escorted to and physically stopped from leaving until it was 'time.'

 

 

Again, a story for another time.

This post is about money, and how numbers are really meaningless. So far, I've been in places that 1USD is equal to 8 Hong Kong Dollars, 29 New Taiwanese Dollars, 4000 Cambodian Riel and 20,000 Vietnamese Dong. I can't wait to find out what it's like in Laos, Thailand and other Asian nations. Growing up, I always thought being a millionaire is the ultimate goal in life. Money, while not all important certainly makes life easier. And the magic number to me was always $1,000,000.

Now, as an adult, 1 million doesn't seem as much anymore. Even USD. Granted, I have nowhere near that much money. Actually I'm closer to a million dollars in debt than I am in savings (thank you school loans). That being said, money doesn't mean as much as it did when I was a kid. Maybe it's because I'm on my own, not depending on my wonderful parents for everything I need in the world. Maybe it's because I've see how I can live on very little, compared to what I did in the US, and I'm just as happy if not happier. Maybe it's because I have seen people in SE Asia (Cambodia for starters) that live on less in 2 years than then amount of money I spent in one weekend in New Orleans for a bachelor/bachelorette party last year.

It's not about the money anymore. It’s about the people, it's about the experiences I have, it’s about making each day count to the fullest. Today I am a millionaire. Tomorrow, who knows? The only thing I'm sure of is, today I'm happy. I'm happy because of where I am, what I am doing, who I have supporting me (emotionally) and the hope I have for what tomorrow will bring.  

Next step in the Epic Journey of Life

My first blog, where to even start?

I have decided I should blog for a multitude of reasons. The person that told me I need to start blogging (and I actually listened to her) is someone that I haven't known for long but I really admire. She had the strength to move abroad to China when she was 27 years old (like me) and has made an amazing life out of traveling, loving and experiencing the world. She has lived through the experiences that I worry about the most, from losing a loved one back home, to meeting her soul mate, to finding a path in life that allows her to follow her passions. I have thought, many times, "WOW" I want to do that. And she kicked me in the pants, as we were having dinner on my last Wednesday night in Taipei. "Why not?" She asked.

"Why not?"

It's funny because that's the answer I give to so many people, all the time, when they ask why live abroad, why live in Asia, why leave a life that you loved with friends and family that are amazing.... Why not?! Well, she threw the same question back at me and after mulling it over for a week, I decided... well... ok. Nothing to stop me, no reason to start but no reason not to start.

So here it is, my personal blog about living in the world, experiencing each moment and reminding myself that I love my life. I loved it in Seattle, WA, I loved it in Cambodia, I love it now here in Taiwan (even though it got off to a rocky start here on this island paradise). I have exactly 24 hours left in Taiwan before I leave for the next step in my adventure.

My next post will be about my experience here.... but that's to be saved for another day (or time when I'm sitting at the airport with nothing but homework to do.. Because we all know that creating a blog is much more important than homework for my masters degree!)