After an exciting weekend with two amazing ladies and friends from a place so near to my heart, Syracuse, NY (my hometown) I am left with lots of inspiration, new memories and a rejuvenated feeling in my heart. I discovered a while ago through social media that Hannah and Hannah would be traveling in South East Asia and specifically Thailand. Although I hadn’t seen or talked to them in years I knew that I had to reach out to them! Luckily, the universe aligned and they were able to come visit me within the first week of their three-month trip through South East Asia. As soon as they arrived at my apartment we began talking; swapping travel stories, reminiscing, getting in extremely intense conversations about life, love, adventure, YOU NAME IT!
We had a jammed packed weekend in my town Suphanburi; including attending a Suphanburi FC match, lots of delicious Thai food, a trip to the Samchuk 100 years Market, a visit to my school and did I mention delicious Thai food! The past few weeks have been filled with lots of Suphanburi activities! It actually feels like my home now, not just a town I am teaching in. We attended two Suphan FC matches which are the closest thing we are going to get to a college game day or professional NFL or MLB game here in Thailand. Our town lives and breathes for Suphan FC! We even bought our own jerseys so we could officially represent! We have had tons of activities going on at school and I have kept busy teaching my 7th and 9th graders. Every day guarantees at least one surprise! My kids keep me on my toes, make me laugh, frustrate me and most importantly remind me why I moved here in the first place.
It is a true blessing to wake up everyday and love what you do and I actively remind myself of that. The day I posted my blog about gratitude happened to be the day before a very important day at our school; the Wai Kru ceremony. It is a special day dedicated to students thanking their teachers for all of their hard work. They have a ceremony where they sing many songs and chants and wai out of respect for their teachers. They also present the teachers with extremely elaborate flower arrangements that they make themselves. I will let the pictures speak for themselves because these arrangements were truly works of art. I continue to feel lucky for how appreciated I feel each and every day. It is something that never will get old.

As I sit here today, I am pondering the months ahead and I am excited for Fourth of July weekend and the long weekend the following weekend where we will travel up north to a small town in the mountains called Pai. I am especially ecstatic about our newly booked backpack finale before we head home for the states in November. We plan on going to Bali, Australia and then back to Thailand to soak up the sun one last time on our favorite island Ko Phi Phi.
I can’t believe how fast the time has gone by! Last night Jackie and I began watching all the video footage we have acquired since moving here nine months ago and we had to stop because we were getting too fired up for our trip in October. The energy that my friends Hannah and Hannah had fresh off the plane from America was absolutely contagious. Sharing stories and advice with them about backpacking through South East Asia reminded me of the magnitude of the experiences I have had in the past nine months. We discussed so many things and had more than a few, “THIS is why we travel” moments in conversation. It is not something that is for everyone. But if it is for you, once you start, it is not something you can ever “get out of your system”. It is not something that should be put off until your old enough, rich enough or have “enough time”. If you crave adventure bad enough, you will find a way to make it happen. Life is about priorities and passion. When you are passionate about something, you make it a priority. When you are dedicated to a goal, you can make it happen with hard work, patience, and most importantly the 100% belief that it WILL happen. It’s The Secret folks. If you don’t know The Secret, you are missing out on the universe. “The time to embrace your magnificence is now”. Cheers to today, tomorrow, and the great unknown. Cheers to freedom, enthusiasm and a renewed sense of appreciation. Cheers to adventures that go by much too quickly but also the countless adventures that await! Happy Fourth to my fellow Americans! Now we plan to show South East Asia how things are done on Independence Day! 😉 Xx