Loas

So I wanted to write this great moment in time, but haven't had the chance till now... On the flight from San Francisco I was next to a small women from Loas. She didn't speak much at the beginning, or the first 4 hours of the flight. Well I was dead asleep (after taking my sleeping pill in hour 3 of my flight) and with about 6 hours left in the flight she nudges me awake and says 'you don't want to sleep, when you get to china you will want to sleep, it's night time. So wake up.' I obeyed her and then we talked randomly for the next 6 hours, as groggy as I was I made a fabulous hilarious friend. She told me about her 40 year marriage and two girls living in America. She joked and we laughed about the fat American next to her, lol. I loved her and was so excited to meet more amazing friend to look out for me!

Too Big Buddha

Day 1 in Hong Kong... our first night after our 14 hour flight (I was mislead with 16 hours, but 14... was still enough!!)  So our first night we headed out for some local cuisine.  It was cheap and super delish!  Vegtable curry... mmmmmmmmm.  

This is Daisy trying to read the menu...key word trying, ha. 

Day 2 we woke up to our 'american style' breakfast.  Too bad we could pick Asian style, this is what we got offered.  I had oats and a ham sandwich with hot herbal tea (which they bring with every meal). A great start for a long day.

  Today we headed into the Educational Bureau for their government and spoke with them regarding the upcoming changes to their schooling and we offered advice for both here and they offered for us.  It was quite enlightening and enjoyable to see the changes we both hope to gain for future students.  

Then we headed into Hong Kong Island and went to the top of 'the peak' where we were able to see a view of all the tall sky scrapers here.  It was pretty fantastic!

Here are our new travel bff's... Aaron and Jessie whom just graduated with their masters. 

After this we made the hour long journey to the Too Big Buddha.  It is the biggest Buddha statue in all the world.  It was phenomenal!  First because I love the Buddhist beliefs and all that they stand for.  But also because we had to take a cable car up to the top of a mountain and then hike a bit to get there.  It was seriously fantastic.  Along the way I found a future baby daddy ;)   A man from Thailand told me 'next time I come to Thailand to visit him'  hahaha... then he wouldn't leave me alone.  It was so fantastic.  Gotta love all the openness around here.  Maybe that is the energy I am suppose to pick up while here???  (Alli??)

From our cable car, it took about 40 mins to get up and then 40 mins back down. 

Drinking my delish bubble tea

(just an FYI, these photos are from my phone and when I am finished with my trip and editing, I will post more of my camera work.  But thought you would enjoy a few along the way!

Beijing here I come!!!!!!

16 hour flights :(

Asians! Just boarded the flight to Hong Kong and I love it already!! It's such a different world and I'm so excited to get there. Although the seats are much smaller than anticipated and no
personal tvs...I think I'll survive the 16 hour flight, eek!

UNKNOWN

"Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.  You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." - JRR Tolkien

(this pic is from Mordor, figured it was fitting)

Here I go again, right?  Traveling... it's just in my blood.  No matter how hard I try I just keep managing to find amazing opportunities to experience the world and to taste the different cultures.  Tomorrow I embark on a new adventure.  I am participating in a Graduate Educational Asian study abroad.  Basically those in the Masters in Educational Psychology were offered a chance to go and learn from different Asian Universities.  


The itinerary will be: Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Osaka and finally Tokyo.  After our studies I am spending a week in Japan and catching up with my Japanese friend and her family from my ward in Chandler, who is visiting her family in Tokyo. 


When first learning about the program, I figured that because I had traveled quite frequently that this trip would be just like any other.  But seriously I am about to enter the unknown.  I will be in a world where the only form of communication that is similar to mine is breathing, and I think they are better at that than me too! HA  I can't even grasp the languages or find any of the Latin roots ;) LOL ugh.  But with every hardship greatness emerges.  I have been offered so much help from fellow travelers or people whom have visited in each area.  Today I entered the excitement phase and can't wait for the uncovering of a whole new world. 


Wish me luck and look forward to my awkward stories from abroad !  ..... more to come from Asia! 

How to stay YOUNG...

1. Throw out non-essential number – This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay ‘them’.

2. Keep only cheerful friends – The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning – learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever… Never let the brain idle. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s.

4. Enjoy the simple things

5. Laugh often, long and loud – Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen – Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Cherish yourself with what you love, whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health – If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don’t take guilt trips – Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people that you love them, at the every opportunity.

This is from a forward that my dad sent out... very profound! I love it.

Healing

Life continues to happen around us. As we each make choices daily, this affects our path and can have impact on the people around us. With that also means that others' choices can also affect us, whether it is for the positive or the negative. I have come to recognize that as we aren't in control of most things in life, we have to find a way that we are able to deal with these affects.

I am continuing with my Masters in School Counseling and I absolutely love it and can't wait to be able to make a difference in the lives of children. But with this I have really seen how much people are affected by their pasts. I have started doing research into energy healing. I love it!

"Working with chakras quickly leads to positive change. Anyone can feel its beneficial effects on mind and body. At the same time, the growing interest in holistic healing methods has highlighted the importance of the chakras in furthering physical healing. We have to come to recognize that healing should provide more than symptomatic relief; the more subtle and encompassing the method, the more effective it will be"

Not only are there energy's within each of our own personal 'chakra', but energy that surrounds our beings. It is within our environment. So with that, we can help to create an environment that will be most beneficial to our life. "The light side of [energy] was the facet aligned with compassion, selflessness, self-knowledge and enlightenment, healing, mercy and benevolence, while the dark side of [energy] was the element aligned with hatred, fear, covetousness, anger, aggression, jealousy and malevolence. The Unifying [energy] essentially embraced space and time in its entirety while the Living [energy] dealt with the energy of living things. Though this energy was categorized in this way, there were no specific abilities or powers that were only usable by a follower of a different path of energy; the [energy] partially existed inside the life forms that used it, and drew energy from their emotions."

To make a long story short basically I truly believe that our physical bodies are inhibited by the energy around us. Some of it is our own fault from the choices we make and yet it is also affected because of our surroundings. We need to connect our body, mind, and spirit together to help create an atmosphere that we can dwell in.

We are in fact in control of our happiness and well-being.

WHIRLPOOLS

I feel like everyone I speak to is grasping for breath... Let me preface this, everyone in this life must face trials and each of them are completely different. For the most part we are trying to do our best to be a good citizen, friend, husband, wife, daughter, mother, lover, neighbor, etc. For me at this moment, I feel like life has become a whole lot of distractions, not necessarily bad distractions but pulling at me in every direction. Some days it feels like it takes everything I have to just lift my head up for a breath. The world is spinning all around us and all we can do now is to remember the few things that we can hold onto that will give us the strength to pull us completely into the eye of the pool. For some of us it is our family, friends, spirituality, God, love, etc. Some days we are gasping more than others... I just hope we can each find that strength to make it out.