The last month has been an incredible month- I've had 25 straight days of sunshine! I can't believe what I've been missing here. The sun feels so good on your face and it really does warm your heart. Not only does my skin look different, but I think my heart does as well. The last month has taken me to Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam. All beautiful and unique countries in their own way. I have to say that Cambodia was my favorite. We spent about 4 days in Siem Reap, touring all the temples and seeing the country up close and personal. I love the transportation there- tuk tuks- little carts on the back of a motorcycle that take you everywhere. The hour long rides to and from our adventures were beautiful and somewhat educational. I was able to ride through a lot of villages and see what these people's daily lives look like from the outside. The houses in Cambodia were really neat- they are all raised on stilts for when the monsoons come in the rainy season. There were naked babies running around everywhere, along with dogs that looked like dingos. There were also a lot of land mine victims everywhere- alot of people with lost limbs and eyes- a very disheartening reality. I feel like I had a world history lesson traveling through these countries. It was easy to see the scars on the land and on the people as a result of all that has happened in the last 30 years or so. We definitely felt this trying to cross the border to Vietnam where we were detained for almost four hours. It was a close call, but we ended up making it through and on to the last leg of our vacation. The beach we went to in Vietnam was incredibly peaceful and restful. There wasn't much to do there except soak in the sun and enjoy a fresh fruit smoothie (which I did every day). The sunsets in Vietnam were the most beautiful that I have ever seen. I hope I can keep those logged in my memory as the smog has already started to weigh on me again.

I'm back at home, back to the "daily grind" as they say. I'm in awe of how much I needed a break, and in awe of how rested and ready I feel now to start life again in full force.

I know how long it's been since I last blogged- my apologies. Honestly, it is a job to stay connected to everything and everyone back home and it sometimes takes away from my time here (which I don't want!). But I will try to keep it up -I promise!

My life has been anything but ordinary over the past month....celebrating Christmas and New Year's in a country that doesn't really celebrate them in a "normal" way is challenging and exciting! But we did have an incredible holiday season- Christmas Day was filled with presents from families and friends and more sweet foods than anyone should or could possibly eat. The six of us spent the day together, having Christmas brunch in the morning, opening presents from each other and family back home, laying around watching movies, working out at the gym together, cooking a Christmas dinner feast, and just enjoying the down time together. We all spent a significant amount of time on the computer/phone talking and video chatting with our families. I was placed in the same place on the couch to open presents with the family, and later video chatted with my extended family who placed me on a podium at the dinner table so I could look on and attend Christmas dinner. As sad as it was to miss Christmas with my family, I did enjoy breaking with tradition and doing whatever I wanted on Christmas eve and day. I loved the low key, no stress, stay in your sweatpants type of holiday! Why can't it be like this in America every year? The day after Christmas, a bunch of us went into the city to go ice skating at this tiny ice skating rink in a big mall. It sounds random I know. It was pretty fun- although I forgot how hard and painful ice skating was!

We spent New Year's Eve in the city where we stayed in this incredible hotel for the night. It is just a haven for us over here. You forget what it's like to travel and stay in a nice hotel instead of one infested with roaches or one where your shower and toilet are one in the same. We went to eat dinner together, made some holiday beverages (what's a new year's eve without some champagne?) and ventured out to the "times square" of the city and waited to ring in the new year. There was a huge crowd of people of course, and we were all being pushed back by this line of police, who we tried to push through and almost started a riot. The tradition here on the stroke of midnight on new year's eve is to release balloons into the air- not scream and sing and make crazy commotion. We did not join with the culture- we kept to our American tradition and caused a scene and a billion camera flashes to go off. After this, we went back to our hotel to crash a formal new year's eve affair in the hotel bar. We took over on the dance floor, made them play our ipods, and put on a show for all the people with our crazy dance moves. It was amazing.

Class has been out for the winter holiday since the first week of January. So we've been doing some traveling and activities outside our home. In a few days we'll be leaving to go to some meetings for a few weeks, followed by some vacation time in Cambodia and Vietnam. There are some incredible opportunities here to travel to countries that would normally be too hard to get to or too expensive to travel to. But being close makes for easy and cheap travel- and since we're a bunch of youngsters, we can stay in hostels and spend the night in airports and such. I will definitely have stores to tell when I return, so I'll be sure to fill you in! I'll be away from my computer for a month, so I will definitely not be able to post for a while! So happy February to all!

I have one funny story, and one sad story to share. Two interesting cultural incidences. Funny first...So last night, we were hanging out with some Asian friends, and asked them, "What do people put on their Christmas trees?" A lot of them were throwing out answers, but one of the guys leaned over to my friend Owens' and said, "There are four things that go on a Christmas tree: ornaments, presents, apples and cheese." I don't think I need to comment any more on this. I almost fell out of my chair when Owens told me what he had heard. Apples? Yes that's hilarious, but cheese? They don't even eat cheese here- how is it even on their mind?

The sad story was that I was going to get a milk tea this morning and as I'm buying one, this cop car pulls up on the street and out jumps a guy in handcuffs being escorted by the policemen. Just so you know- it is extremely rare to see cops here, and especially to see someone in handcuffs! So this was totally catching me off guard. Everyone on the street gathered around as the policemen made this man in handcuffs stand in front of an internet bar with his handcuffed hands pointing to the name of the place, while they photographed him. I asked the lady what he had done/what was going on, and she obviously replied in a language I still don't understand clearly but from what I gathered, he had stolen something from this place. Like he didn't pay for his internet hours or something. Anyways, it was intense- the criminal was being shamed in the middle of the street! That punishment is cruel- I'd rather go straight to jail than have to do that. I thought this was pretty interesting, so I wanted to share.

The commercialism of Christmas has reached the far east, so no worries, there are lights up in random places here and many fake Christmas trees all around. Things have been a little difficult over the past few weeks, trying to persevere through the winter and the holidays. I'm going gift shopping for my friends tomorrow, to buy stocking stuffers and some Secret Santa gifts- so not every tradition is lost when you live out of the country! I'm hoping that will cheer me up, and also spending some time listening and reflecting on the songs we listen to for Christmas every year- my favorite being O Holy Night. I hope everyone at home is resting and reflecting on our incredible holiday we are celebrating right now!

This afternoon, one of our friends from India invited us to come cook with him in his dormitory, along with a lot of other people from other countries . We told him we'd come, bringing American food to cook with them, but ended up bringing a plate full of sweets from a Christmas party we had the night before...I guess a plate full of really sweet food is probably as American as it gets. So we got there and this sweet man handed us a bag, a grocery sack full of mutton and some carrots, and a bag full of unmarked spices and told us to make something American of it. So Lynds, Erin and I traveled up a few floors to the weirdest kitchen ever and scrounged around for some kind of remotely clean pan to cook with. We cut some vegetables on the counter with some knife we found in someone's room, and just started throwing stuff in this skillet. The situation was just so unclean and random, yet hilarious. I was gagging from the smell of mutton rising in the smoke off the skillet. We used a large butcher knife to saute the foods, because no spoon was around. We washed the pan out with laundry detergent before we cooked with it. It was just one of those situations where you step back and just laugh at how you found yourself doing what you're doing at that moment. I loved it.

We got back today from a weekend of hanging out with friends for Christmas time. Our Christmas party last night was incredible- the food was better than Thanksgiving- we had Rotel cheese dip, soups, homemade beer bread with homemade honey butter, eggnog from scratch, and 12 different homemade desserts. We got to sing Christmas carols together and just enjoy the night with games and taking a million pictures by the Christmas tree. This weekend was so encouraging to have family around me, celebrating and anticipating the greatest holiday we celebrate!

There are three firsts for me that occurred this Thanksgiving: it was my first Thanksgiving to be away from my family, my first Thanksgiving to be out of the country, and my first Thanksgiving to plan and cook all the food for the Thanksgiving feast! Our Thanksgiving here was different, but good. Our house was filled with fall-scented candles burning and our table was decorated perfectly for the holiday. We cooked all the same dishes for Thanksgiving- green bean casserole, dressing, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, etc. The biggest difference was the turkey- or the absence of the turkey. We had the opportunity to cook one ourselves but we only have one oven with ten other dishes to cook and a kitchen the size of a small bathroom. So we opted for chicken breasts which were great. Thanksgiving day we relaxed all morning and cooked and enjoyed the day. After eating, we all rolled over to the den and watched movies for the rest of the night. It was a great holiday. I do miss spending Thanksgiving with my real family, but spending it with my family here was the perfect alternative. It's hard to be thankful for what you have right before your eyes, so I'm thankful this year for not having what I've always had- comforts, family, traditions. I can now be truly thankful for those things.

We all know that as soon as Thanksgiving ends, the Christmas season begins. This means decorating our home, having parties, and baking Christmas goodies! I'm looking forward to this month! I'm a little sad sometimes to be away from the American celebration of Christmas, but incredibly thankful to finally step back from culture and celebrate why we started celebrating this holiday in the first place.

Things constantly break here- specifically, our dryer. It lives on our back porch, right outside my bedroom window, and has dried its last shirt this week. But we have another "broken" dryer that has been sitting on our porch for years I think. So now this broken dryer sits on top of the old one and every time we put clothes in it, we have to take about 3-4 strips of this heavy duty foam tape and tape it shut. It works so I'm not complaining- it's just funny. I feel like this is something freshman college guys would do.

In a room that I was in today for a few hours, out of nowhere, sparks started flying and booming sounds started resonating from the wall behind me. Just your usual electrical short on a rainy day. It continued for over an hour. Every red spark and boom forced me out of my seat and into my friend's lap. The Americans were the only ones moved by this extremely dangerous electrical hazard. Just more evidence of this country's low priority for safety.

Oh and as I type this, my glasses are taped together with white tape above the nose. They just snapped on me tonight. I'm so thankful that this country loves glasses and they are readily available in our city! Looks like I'm going spectacle shopping tomorrow.

It was ridiculously cold today. What makes this weather so unbearable is the moisture in the air. It's like every piece of clothing you put on and take off is wet, and cold, so pretty much it feels like you're wearing an ice pack most of the time. And there is no central heating in this country- only heating/cooling machines in some rooms of a house, depending on what you can afford. So we have heaters in our bedrooms and den, but they are turned off when we leave the room/house. Oh and our walls, ceiling and floors are made of cement and tile. So it just traps the cold. Ugh! I'm beginning to rethink my desire to live in a cold city in America one day. This year here will either break me or make me ready for it. We'll see.

Another thing about the culture- people just head for the hills when it gets the slightest bit cold or the slightest bit hot. More so in the cold than the hot. I went walking to the store today around 3 pm- there was not a soul on the street. Our normally bustling street was empty. Life shuts down here in the winter, and apparently it only gets worse. And it's the same for my roommates and I- instead of going to the gym today, we worked out to a 1990 Paula Abdul dance workout in our den. And the winter is the rainy season for this part of the country- so it rains nearly every day. It just keeps getting worse....if you're reading this and you live in America- please go outside today and just stand there for a minimum of one minute and just be silent and be thankful for what you have. I'd appreciate that!

Last weekend I ran my second half- marathon in a year! I have to say the first one in New Orleans last year was almost like a fun run compared to this one in Asia. I was so glad to be finished with training- I've loved being forced to run and stay healthy, but the burden of having to run 10 miles on a rainy Sunday night at 8 pm is not so fun. I traveled with my roommate and some other girls from around the country to a beautiful city that is near the coast. This city was incredible- it is known for its large lake which is supposed to be the most beautiful lake in the country. There were huge oak trees lining the streets and they hung over and covered the road surrounding the lake. There were so many Western-ish restaurants, cafes, and shopping - which we didn't get to experience a lot of, but it was enough to give me the fix I needed! Our run was on Sunday morning, so all day Saturday we walked around the lake, rented bicycles, toured the city, and took a boat/canoe ride out on the lake. That night, we sat on the rooftop of this nice restaurant which had gorgeous lanterns and lights everywhere and you could actually see the stars out- so exciting because I have seen maybe three stars since I've been here- our city is a smog hole. It made me miss American life, fine dining, enjoying a dinner and sitting around a table with a nice atmosphere and having good conversation. I cherish these few and far between blessings.

So Sunday morning we traveled down to this giant stadium ( not sure what goes on there still, but it was huge) and started preparing to run. I have never seen this many people in one place before. There had to be about 5,000-6,000 people there ready to run. Our race was a combination of a family run, a couple's run, a 10K, a half-marathon, and a marathon. My first half-marathon maybe had 400 runners. I was overwhelmed to say the least. As soon as the race began, people put their elbows out and started plowing through. There were no rules to this race. And no dress code either- Asian people do not usually run in running gear, unless they are pretty serious. Some ran in Converse sneakers, some in blue jeans, some in sweaters. I actually saw this guy limping across the finish line after running the half-marathon- he had Converse on- I think that will destroy his body permanently.

The run was a beautiful run, and it was a beautiful day - sunny and probably 75 degrees. But it started to rain, pretty heavily, for about 20 minutes in the middle of the run. Regardless, Lyndsey ( my roommate ) and I ran the whole thing without stopping- and made it in good time.

Since last weekend, I have not run one time. Maybe because I'm tired of running- or maybe because the weather has abruptly become winter this week. Our race was just in time before the cold weather hit! The temperature right now is colder than Alabama was at any point last winter. I'm realizing I didn't pack warm enough clothes, so I'm thinking of going shopping. The only problem is that everything is too small and too short for Americans. I guess I'm going to have to keep running to be able to buy some clothes over here!

Something I've noticed for a while and have become used to- the way raw meat is packaged here. Any time of the day, you will find people walking down the street with a sack of raw, fatty meat of some kind. It is not wrapped tightly by the butcher, on top of a nice styrofoam plate, but it is piled into a clear grocery sack that is thinner than tissue paper, and is tied at the top by someone's careless efforts to make a knot. I am sure that raw meat juice constantly drips from these bags. But people don't care here. They just stroll around with these sacks of solid white (not like white meat/dark meat but white fat) meats and just go on with their day like they were holding their purse in their hand! Bizarre- and gross.

The weather has begun to get cooler here. It is about 50-60 degrees- but you would think that it is below freezing by the way people here dress. It is like there is a memo written on everyone's calendar that says, "First Day to Wear Your Warmest Pieces of Clothing" and they put on every heavy coat and sweater they own and will not take them off until March. So it's obvious that they think I am crazy when I wear a short sleeved shirt in this weather. Girls will come up to me on the street and ask me if I'm cold. Really?

It has been a while since I last blogged- we traveled about a week ago for a national holiday and then getting back into our routine this past week has been a bit hectic. During the national holiday, a group of us decided to take a three day cruise down a famous river in the country. Let's just say I feel like I took a huge step in crossing cultures as a result of this experience. First of all, our cruise ship was nowhere near what an American cruise ship would be like. It did have more than one level- four or five actually. One of the most hilarious things about the beginning of the trip was that two of us, probably the girls, were going to have to be in the same tiny room as an old Asian couple. We got it worked out thankfully and all got to sleep together, but the fact that total strangers will sleep in the same tiny rooms together while practically living on top of each other for three days just blows my mind. The bunk rooms were tiny- four or six people stacked on top of each other with about 2 feet or less of aisle space in between the bunks and no other space to be found in the room. We did have a bathroom in our room - which was smaller than a hall closet and smelled so terrible that we made the call to keep it out of use for the duration of the trip because every time the door even opened, the stench would linger for an hour in the poorly ventilated room. The food on the ship wasn't served at any kind of interval- first of all it was not good at all and expensive- so we avoided eating on the ship and just threw together some pbj's and some street food if we ever found any.

We bought passes to the ship's "sun-deck" for the trip. The sun doesn't shine here, literally. So we should have known before we expected luxury, that it would less than perfect. But this outside area where we could actually breathe and move around was our saving grace. It was just an open space with plastic chairs and stools where we sat and watched the scenery roll by as the boat cruised.

We spent a lot of our time off of our boat- walking around temples or cruising on other boats that were more mobile. The scenery was gorgeous - the mountains were enormous and towered over the river on both sides. The weather was foggy and rainy, no surprise again, which was a shame but it added a very "native" feeling to the whole trip- typical Asia weather.

The people here love to take pictures- with only one person in each picture. It was a struggle at every stop and every beautiful scene to take pictures of our group or pictures of the scenery because they were going crazy with their solo shots. Just a cultural norm I'm learning.

There was some drama on our boat on the last night. An Asian lady was apparently deemed "crazy" by someone else on the boat and so the captain had asked her to leave. She had already purchased a ticket so she was refusing to get off the boat. Everyone on the boat was crowded around this lady who was sitting on her luggage with her arms crossed and they were all fighting and yelling and arguing. It was an event! After about two hours of arguing, I guess this lady either got off our boat or was allowed to stay on, because we finally left shore. The way the people here approach problems in public is so different. Everyone is in everyone's business and there is no privacy about a matter.

Overall, our trip was incredible. It was one of those trips we'll talk about forever. I loved traveling with people who are so laid back. I love that in the midst of these less than par accommodations, we were right at home and at ease. The high maintenance people who demand luxury in life miss out on some amazing things in this world- they can say they don't care, that they're satisfied with their nice couch and nice TV, but I doubt any of them would get to the end of their life and say they wish they'd spent more time in their house on their nice couch, and less time experiencing new adventures in this world. I'm thankful I never learned to expect luxury or to demand it. The experience is all about what you make of it. And we definitely made it great.

Living here is making me a blank slate. All the things that were once important and necessary to me are slowly being removed or altered.

Every time I connect with family back home, Alabama football is one of the main topics that we talk about. This has made me realize how SEC football has been the dominant factor of my fall schedule for 22 years. If you live in the Southeast, fall = football season, and if you're an Alabama football fan, you can't help but talk about the Tide in nearly every conversation during this time of the year. The environment supports this lifestyle. Here, there is no environment for SEC football. I watch the games at 3 am or 5 am on Sunday mornings, and if Alabama plays a great game and is victorious over a rival team, the game ends and I'm hit with the realization that I live in East Asia. If Alabama plays a terrible game and (possibly) loses to a rival team, the game ends and again, I'm hit with the realization that I live in East Asia. Without the environment of a "gameday", or the smell of an autumn breeze outside, or the faint (or loud) sound of hearing "Sweet Home Alabama" playing from someone's car, house, porch, or RV, it is hard to have the same excitement about football. I know it's just football, but it's our culture. I'm learning that part of living in another culture is having to leave some of your culture behind to gain some of theirs.

I'm also realizing how little time I spend here worrying about what I'm wearing, how my hair looks, etc- overall, my appearance is becoming even more invaluable to me. I'm still taking care of myself- I haven't let myself go to the point where I'm wearing oversized sweatsuits and baseball caps everyday. I just see how unimportant it is to spend so much money and time investing in these garments I put on my body. Once again, the environment does not support this lifestyle of value in appearance like America does. I could continue to dress in fashionable style everyday here, but what is the point? People here wear the same outfit everyday, which I may add is very trendy and stylish to my taste. If it doesn't matter so much to me here, why does it matter to me in America? If there is no point here, then why is there a point to it in America? My Asian friends see me as beautiful and worthy of their friendship regardless of how I look. And I think my American friends do too. I think the difference is my heart's motives behind what I put on and how I fix myself. Here, my heart is void of the need for approval and pride in my appearance. I can replace my "want" for pride in my appearance with the "want" to know people for the beautiful person they are beneath their skin. As I lose the importance of appearance, I can replace it with what matters- loving people.

SoI gain some and I lose some. Losing the excitement of football is a loss, but losing the importance of appearance and materialism is a gain.

I have learned something: my name, Audrey, sounds similar to the word "ao-da-li" here. I asked what it means today- powdered breast milk. Great. No wonder the people look confused when I tell them what my name is.

I had some sweet girls approach me on the street today to talk to me. They wanted to speak with a "foreigner". It was their school assignment for the week so I chit-chatted with them for a little bit. I feel like a movie star here- I am giggled at and whispered about; everyone wants me to write my name down for them so they can oooh and ahhh about the way I write my name. It's kind of fun actually. They just flock to Americans. I have a feeling that returning home will be depressing when I find out that my fame is contained on this continent only.

So today I ate lunch with some Asian friends who took me to their "fast food" restaurant in town. I'm not sure why they wanted to go here. I was reflecting on fast food in general and why we in America will eat fast food. Usually, the cheap price and quick service are what draws us to these places. I guess the food can draw you too, depending on your preference. But here, every place is cheap and quick. At any given restaurant, a meal is around $1-2 and you order as soon as you sit down and begin to get your dishes about 5 minutes after you order. So anyways, this place we went to was just like an Asian Mcdonald's. People everywhere, kids screaming and getting yelled at by their parents, long lines of people order their food and taking it to their tables on trays. There were no seats anywhere, so people just put their trays on other peoples tables and just stare at them while they finish eating. And there is nothing wrong with this scene to anyone. No one minds if they are stared at while eating. I just chuckled to myself as we hovered over this table of people eating their lunch. Oh and my friend ordered a lime and plum tea for me. It was beyond nasty. It was narsty. So was the rest of the food on my plate. After this experience, I'm certain that fast food should be eliminated from every culture.

There was a cock roach crawling on the dinner table last night. I was almost whisked away by a giant dump truck dragging a large tree behind it. I saw two dogs jump on motorcycles and zoom away like it was their normal routine. These are all too normal.

I want to comment on transportation and related safety. The double yellow line on the roads in this country must mean "have a nice day", because they certainly could not mean "do not cross in any situation" as they mean in America. In fact, most vehicles do not have speedometers, or have ones that have not worked in 10 yrs. Being in a car/bus/motorcyle (sorry parents, it's true), is like being in a video game. But the cool thing is you win every time (I know you're thinking "no you don't win every time! you're not invincible!!"). But the system simply works so much better here than in America. You see horrific, deadly accidents daily in America. Here, the traffic flow is crazier but somehow safer. I never worry about friends traveling, if they'll make it there safely or not. Not to mention how cheap the transportation is here! We can get anywhere in our town for less than a dollar, split four ways usually. And traveling an hour away costs us about $1.25 and you can travel with ease. You gotta love it. You gotta be flexible- you may sit by an odorous individual or sit on a velour bus seat- but it's worth it.

I've been realizing that perspective is everything. Having good perspective, wider perspective, or seeing someone else's perspective can open your life to a whole other way of living. If my perspective of a situation is negative, then I will have a negative experience. If I go into it with a positive perspective, it may still be a negative situation but my perspective can allow me to turn it into a positive one -one in which I am undefiled by the negative. I want this for my life. Living here is helping me, or forcing me rather, to have a wider and more healthy perspective on life. I'm seeing this whole other world that I never knew existed for 22 years. I have such a passion for seeing and experiencing other cultures because every time I encounter these "whole other worlds" it increases my perspective. I no longer live my life the same - I have seen that this life isn't about my life. If it was about my life, then my life would be the only one that mattered, the only one that existed and everything would revolve around my life. But it doesn't! People here, people everywhere are just going through these patterns of birth, work, death. Some get to have fun, some experience a lot of pain, some get to love, some never know love. My perspective needs stretching daily because I constantly revert back to thinking that this life is about my life, my agenda, my gain.

I can choose to live here with the continued perspective that my life is the only one that matters- and I base my activities and relationships around that. Or I can choose to live a life with bigger perspective- one that is eternal; that opens my eyes to see this life as the tiny dot it is on the line of eternity. With this perspective, my heart loves more, my selfishness dies, my time is invested in things that matter, and I can see that the people around me matter just as much as I do- and they are starving for the bread that satisfies and gives meaning to this life.

The weather has been beautiful today. Blue skies, about 75 degrees, low humidity and sunny! A day like this here is as rare as finding someone from Alabama who doesn't say "y'all" at least ten times a day. Speaking of the word "y'all", I've found that this word does not cross over into other languages. I've received many blank stares when "y'all" slips out in conversation with Asian friends. It is a staple in our language like rice is a staple in the food here. I also find myself using the word "maybe" more than I ever thought possible...I've wondered if the way I speak with my Asian friends will permanently mark my jargon. Maybe I think it will.

A random fact: owning a poodle is a status symbol here. I questioned if people actually owned any of the dogs roaming the streets all around this country and I have found that many do! And certain dogs are status symbols even- especially the poodle. Weird. I'm just not sure what makes the poodle a trophy dog. If you own a poodle here, people will charge you more money for anything you want to buy because they see you are "very rich".

Another random fact: everyone here rests in the afternoon after lunch- to the point where you cannot get a taxi and stores shut down so people can take a nap. This is so foreign to Americans. I'm not sure why every other culture in the world values resting during the day - or why they have never eliminated the resting. America makes resting seem like laziness. Thanks America- I have never been able to take a guilt-free nap in my life! And I can't do it here either!

I bought some Skippy peanut butter at the grocery store yesterday. It has rice in it. Almost like Rice Krispies. I cannot escape the rice. What am I supposed to do? Have you ever had an experience with a certain food that was so devastating that you could never go back to it? Well I think I might be headed in that direction quickly.

Down time here has a new meaning. A Sunday afternoon now has a completely different feel- which is great in some ways, but hard as well. I've always wanted Sunday to actually be a day of rest, the way it was intended to be. One without work, schedules, requirements, or time frames. And that is pretty much what I get here on a Sunday. But along with it comes loneliness and nostalgia. The idle times are the times that I think about family, friends, how much I miss college, and I imagine myself back at home on a Sunday and think of what my day would look like then. I think it's good for me to face these things here... I'm so used to running to the next thing or the next person in my day for a fix of comfort. I think that's a pretty lousy way to live...one reason being that I really just use people in my life to give me something I need, and the second being a busy schedule, people, or activities never fill the void that they seem to promise to fill - they do not satisfy.

I think everyone believes the grass is greener on the other side. I think life is better back home. People in high school think college is better. People in college think life after college is better. People who are single think being married is better. Some married people think being single is better (sad but true!). When its summer, you want winter. When it's raining, you want sunshine. When you're traveling, you want to be home and settled. When you're at home, you want to travel and be adventurous. When you're alone, you want to be around people. And when you're around people, being alone seems so appealing. Why can't I just we, and I mean I really, just be satisfied with what we've got, the cards that have been dealt today or this week or this month? We're always wanting: more or less, change or constancy, hot or cold. Whatever it is we're always wanting. Do you ever think your "wants" are misdirected? I want for things that are too weak- they are things I've decided I want, not things that I was created to need. I wish I could say more! But I'll leave it at that.

These are just a few of the scattered thoughts that have run through my mind today.

Last night after dinner with a big group of friends, we were walking out of the restaurant and standing on the large sidewalk, when all of a sudden, two girls with us were hit with someone's spit from above. So gross! But sadly so normal here. Spitting is probably one of the biggest cultural differences that I've had to get used to. People make the loudest sounds when they spit...ugh. But like I said it's becoming normal to me. The girls just wiped it off of their hair and their skirts and walked on. We proceeded to get milk teas after dinner. A milk tea is the equivalent of a bubble tea in America, which began to pop up in cafes about a year ago. I hated them in America, but I have been pleasantly surprised to find them delectable here! I usually go for the coffee or chocolate flavor. I'm still unsure of what they put in them, but I know it has the flavor, some kind of tea, and some kind of dark milk. Oh yeah and they put a huge scoop of tapioca gummies on the bottom of your drink. Milk teas are becoming my new Skinny Vanilla Latte from Starbucks, but I'm sure there is nothing skinny about them.

Most of the food here is high in oil or sugar. Deep fried, or sauteed in 4 in. of oil. Oh well. At least you know your chicken isn't four months old...they pretty much pick one out of the coop behind the restaurant and serve it to you right there. It's funny how I would probably never eat at a restaurant that was anywhere near as unclean as these places, but here it's like I can no longer see sanitation. I don't think you can consider clean food when you live here. You would starve if cleanliness was a high priority for you...and besides, the food here is off the charts delicious! What's a little duck feather going to do to ya anyways?

Today, I woke up and went for a run. I'm training for a half marathon in November...not sure yet if I'm going to make it. Running here is just a different ball game. It is 100 times hotter than the first Crimson Tide day game in Sept. And 100 times more humid. And the air quality is so poor I thought I almost had an asthma attack during a jog a few weeks ago. So while my friend and I were running today, I thought to myself, "I feel like I am in a Nike commercial right now" as I was dressed in typical running gear amidst the street folk going about their normal days, in normal dress. I weaved in and out of moving trucks, motorcycles, fruit baskets, uneven tile sidewalks, stray dogs, etc. Despite the hundreds of eyes that were on us, thinking we were insane for running in the morning (no one runs here in the morning, only night), we finished our jog without getting lost or injured. Every run is an adventure - I love it.