New Adventures...: It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting

And what an interesting life I have! I am living my dream...Each morning I wake up and pinch myself to see if I am still living in Thailand, that I am still somehow making it every day in this wild and crazy universe. Time goes by so fast here; partially due to me having no concept of time. I get ready for school and walk to my little office and get greeted by the students with hugs, high-fives, and "good morning Teacher Dao." With my head in the clouds, it's hard to keep grounded. With a broken iPhone screen (yup it happened), keeping track of time/dates just seems to be a struggle with me. I get so involved with my life here in Thailand I forget that life is going on in other parts of the world. When I saw my parents, it finally hit me how long I have been without seeing them. Although back in California I would see them a couple times a year, we were always connected via text messages, phone calls, and emails. Now that I live across the world the time zones have been a bit difficult to make times to talk. I was so excited to show them my school - to show them what inspires my passion for life.

My parents fell in love with my students and my students couldn't get enough of my parents. A million photos were taken (including selfies) and I am sure all of the Thai women wanted to marry my father. My mom found it rather amusing that when I would introduce them to the class one of the students would instantly point to her nose (Thai people have very small noses and like "big" noses). Some of my Mattyhom students sang songs for them and I had the entire class sing "Wai Kru" for them as well. My dad had tears in his eyes, even if he won't admit to it. We took trips to Mae Sai (border town), Doi Tung (Queen's Botanical Garden), the Tea Plantation, and they went into Myanmar for the morning just to get a stamp :) Our days have been quite busy and did our best to capture some of our moments on camera. They also met my teacher friends and my Filipino family :) Has been a perfect visit to Chiang Rai! We had our last breakfast together on Friday and they headed to Chiang Rai (the city- Chiang Rai is also a province - which is the province I live in) so they could do the white temple, black house, etc. I went back to teaching for the afternoon and then opted to stay another night before heading to Chiang Mai (where I would meet up with them for dinner). I got a couple massages with my friend and had a mellow evening of dinner and a full nights sleep. First I got in awhile, I have been going without my afternoon naps due to fieldtrips with my parents so lots of sleep was welcomed! Oh and my mom brought the bridesmaid dress out with her and we took it to the tailor together...only had one typical mother-daughter fight over lengths and whatnot...has been awhile since we had a bicker, it was overdue haha. So I headed to Chiang Mai in the morning (Saturday) and was poolside by noon. Enjoyed the sunrays with my friends and then met up with Bethel to go shopping and found a dress perfect for the rehearsal dinner! Then we relaxed a bit at the hostel before meeting my parents for one last dinner in Thailand with them. They went back to Chiang Mai because I wanted them to do the Elephant Nature Park, but it was fully booked the weekend before - I insisted it was worth the wait so they came down the next weekend to do it. So we met them at their villa then went to dinner on the river. Perfect evening. We took a red truck (son tao?) to the Night Bazaar and parted ways. I will see them in California next week! They flew to Krabi Monday morning and then took a ferry to Koh Lanta to spend the last week there before flying back to California. Has been a perfect visit. They are still sending me pictures of the islands so I will upload those on another blog...

However I probably won't be writing anything until I am in California! I fly out in three days! I have two dresses packed! And nothing else...haha. I got my visa sorted today (finally), still need to figure out a time to do laundry, maybe a dentist visit, maybe clean my room a little...somehow organize my desk so I don't come back to a complete mess...Lots of things to do, but mai bpen rai. Oh and book a hotel for Friday night...I'm flying to Bangkok on Friday and my flight is Saturday. Have a 4 hour layover in Manila so I am going to explore a little bit and get another stamp in my passport! :) My amazing friend will be picking me up in SF and then meeting up with so many of my friends! I have friends driving to the bay to see me, ah I can't wait! More importantly, I CANNOT WAIT TO HAVE A BURRITO! Seriously...I...just...can't...wait...I love Thai food and all, but I mean...Mexican food...is probably the love of my life. Okay I should get going on my night. Yoga, my journal, and my book are calling my name. So long for now! Next stop - CALIFORNIA!!!! <3

My dad in Mae Sai at dinner with my friends