Sunday, October 5, 2014

Furlough

I am back from mini-hiatus! (That's what we called it in showbiz.) I had a lovely trip to the US and had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with my family, especially my little niece and nephew.

 I did a month in Washington, where one of my Kiwi (that means New Zealand) friends that I know from Thailand came to visit for a week and a half. It was fun to play tour guide to the Pacific Northwest for the first time in many years. Also, it gave me an excuse to eat a lot of not-so-good-for-me food because it was new to her! 
Here are some highlights:
Seattle: visited my friend Kate Lindsay and her adorable 4-year-old twin girls, visited Theo Chocolate Factory, ate baklava at Turkish Delight and pierogies at Pierogi, Pierogi; had fish and chips on the waterfront, took the monorail to the Seattle Center and saw the Space Needle and where the Grey's Anatomy hospital should be


 Eastern Washington: saw a Switchfoot concert, went cycling, ate elephant ears, curly fries, S'mores and Magic Cookie Squares (not all at once, of course), saw some movies

Road trip to Portland:  saw a wildfire, climbed to the top of Multnomah Falls, stayed with my cousin Kate McPike, spent too much time at Powell's Books, ate Voodoo Donuts, ate a lot of things at the Bite of Oregon, ate some delicious Indian food and homemade ice cream (including one with cherries and bone marrow!) on Division Street, had yummy food truck food, did a lot of shopping

Basically, I spent a lot of time eating in the first couple weeks! Then I went to my dad's family reunion, and when back in Prosser, read a lot of books that my mom ordered for me from the library. I spent a lot of time with my family and got to visit with most of my supporters from the area, and connect with many friends from high school.

In early September, I went with my parents, my sister Lynae and her husband and kids to a cute little cabin in Sunriver, Oregon. Sadly, the week we were there, it was FREEZING! Like, literally 30 degrees F in the mornings. I was not prepared for that. But, we still enjoyed ourselves in using the huge water park facilities, eating a lot of ice cream, and going for bike rides and to the park. They even have an outdoor rock wall there. We saw a lot of wildlife, mostly deer and chipmunks, but at the nature preserve, we saw some adorable owls who had been rescued.

My niece, Lexi, and I took Oliver, my nephew, to the park one morning and saw several deer grazing right next to the path. It was pretty magical. Oliver learned to walk with more confidence in Sunriver, and by the end could go from one end of the house to the other and back again! Now, apparently, he's running all over the place. Lexi came back from Oregon to start preschool.

After Oregon, my parents and I continued the road trip to California! We first stopped in Redding for the night, then continued on to my Great-Aunt and Uncle's house in San Jose, where we had dinner with my mom's cousins. My Uncle Maurie had a bad fall earlier this year and shattered some vertabrae, so it was good to see him up and moving around. Still strong for 90 years old!

After San Jose, we met up with my friends Denise and Chris Bueno for breakfast in Salinas, then lunch with my friend since 4th grade, Jennifer Marx (now Vacovsky) and saw her adorable baby girl, then made it to Thousand Oaks for dinner with my other Great-Aunt and Uncle (Pat and Bob). Finally, after dinner, we ended in Los Angeles, where my parents deposited me at my friend Helen's house.

The very next day, we went to Disney's California Adventure! (That's the park next to Disneyland). It was a fun day, and I got to see my favorite Disney show: World of Color. That alone is worth the price of admission!

Finally, we packed up the rest of my stuff from my storage unit in LA, cramming everything into my parents' CRV (actually, the credit for that goes to my parents as I was running errands around town at the time of the actual packing) and they were off back up north! I am so grateful to have such accommodating and generous parents.

I spent the next three weeks planning a fundraiser at my cousin Colins' climbing gym ROCKreation, with a lot of help from my pastor, Doug, visiting friends and eating a lot of great LA food. I managed to pack in some volleyball games with my pseudo niece, Maya and have some delicious family dinners due to Helen's gourmet chef talents. I was lucky enough to get to spend a lot of time with some of my friends from my beloved Bible study, Warrior Princesses and saw my friend Tricia do stand up for the very first time at the historic LA Improv!


I also got the chance to see a lot of my supporters, both those from my church in LA, and other friends, like Greg and Emily Wilson and my script supervisor friend Veda, whom I hadn't seen in years!

At the end of the trip, I flew back to Washington to see my friend Helen Pagal, whom I have known since kindergarten, and her husband and baby, who is adorable, of course. I spent the rest of the day with my friend Kathryn and then some more time with relatives in Olympia and then flew home to Thailand. Not a super exciting story, but that's where I've been for the past two months!

Now, I am excited to jump into work with HUG Project and see what new inroads we can make in the fight against trafficking and injustice to children and youth in Thailand. If you would like to be a part of our work by partnering with me financially, you can click the link to "CORD Donations" on the right.