Driving in the States

Nothing like driving down the Interstate when things come to a standstill. Gotta love driving in the Lower 48 where you can be going 3mph on the highway when there's no good reason. No accidents, no snow or ice, etc. Oh well, guess that's part of the reason I love the remote areas of the world. :) 

yep, 0 in a 60 zone. lovely

Was on my way home to Alaska, when a winter storm hit the central Lower 48. Snow and ice in Alaska is one thing, but it's something totally different in the south. I had gone down to Austin to see a couple friends, the day my flight left from Dallas to Fairbanks, I was driving north. I knew they were expecting bad weather, but it got really rough the farther north I drove. About 1/3 of the way to Ft. Worth, I received word my flight had been cancelled. Called the airline and got rebooked, then kept driving. About half the time I was going 40mph on the Interstate. Thankfully most people stayed home that day, so there wasn't much traffic. At one point, I had to pull over and take a break. I was a little uptight with driving a small rental car on such nasty roads with others on the road, especially semis. After stretching my legs a bit, I continued on north. 

Eventually I figured out my flight I had been rebooked on had also been cancelled. So they reserved me a flight for the next day. I was slightly disappointed, cause that first rebooking had me in First Class! It would have been my first time traveling in style. Not that domestic first class is anything like international first class, but hey! it still would have been cool. Thankfully I have friends in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, so found a place to crash for the night. Spent an extra day chilling with my friends in a nice, warm house, eating pizza and sweets, watching Christmas movies. 

The next day I headed to the DFW airport. Took me about twice as long as it should have normally. The roads were still pretty bad, but at least it wasn't still raining/snowing. And many people still chose to stay home, which meant less traffic for me to deal with. Was glad to drop off the rental car. In conditions like that, I'd much prefer to drive my own vehicle. 

signs around Dallas/Ft. Worth

Travel may be discouraged, but I'm not stopping! I know they were talking about the road conditions, but there are times when people think I'm crazy for some the places I visit and things I do while traveling. Some might want to discourage me, but until God tells me to stop, I'll keep going! For some reason, I love traveling and can't get enough of it. New places are so exciting and the people I meet..... life is far from boring. Ha! 

my life story

Made it home to about the same weather I left in Texas. But honestly, I'll take snow and ice in Alaska any day over snow and ice in Texas. We are a bit more prepared for it and it's (kinda) normal, so we are used to driving in it. It may be cold and all, but Alaska in the wintertime is beautiful! And beautiful in the summer..... actually it's beautiful all the time, just in different ways. 

Anywho, I am glad to be home. Especially for Christmas time! 

our driveway my first week home

Back to America

Between my stay in Fiji and getting home to Alaska, I went down to the South for a quick visit. Figured it would be a good transition between the extreme heat and the extreme cold. I hadn't planned on the winter storm though that was to hit Texas. Oh well, just a bit of preparation for coming back to the Alaskan winter. 

While in Louisiana I ate some good seafood - crawfish rolls, shrimp pasta and fried catfish. Also enjoyed some jambalaya during that weekend. Yum! that is next on my list to try making. Gotta get that recipe. Also had beignets and au lait, which for those (like me) who don't know French, is donuts and coffee with milk. 

eatin' shrimp, catfish and crawfish

au lait and beignets

enjoying friends

Thanksgiving Day we drove from Louisiana to Texas. So our lunch was a delightful, delicious meal at McDonalds! Okay, so maybe I exaggerated with the delightful, delicious part, but it was actually better than my Thanksgiving meal last year. While traveling we tried to spend some holiday cheer. We gave a loaf of banana bread to a guy at McDonalds and he was really thankful since he was spending the day at work and away from family. The other guy we gave cookies and water to, said they were "kinda hard" cookies. Well, so much for the gratitude. Ha. 

road trip!

stuck in Dallas traffic

I am SO thankful for all the wonderful friends God has blessed me with. 

People are so much fun, aren't they!? :) 

Last Days in the Tropics

While life in Fiji was slower than my own crazy life at home, I still found plenty to do. Always helps that I had some awesome new friends to spend time with, as well as old friends that I hadn't seen in a while! I enjoyed my time with the Grays. I hope they were as glad to have me as they said they were. I can attest that it is nice to have someone from home visiting. Tho' I couldn't bring the cold, snow and hockey sticks, we still had a good time. And we've made plans for when they come back to Alaska.... I think somehow I owe the boys a steak dinner. Haha

Some things I experienced were brand new experiences.... like standing outside waiting for the bus.... it's bright and sunny and in a matter of seconds, the sky opens up and dumps buckets of rain. So I go back to the house to get an umbrella, head back out to the edge of the driveway.... now with an umbrella, one that leaks a bit, I must say. After waiting in the pouring rain for about 45 minutes I decided to change plans and stay in that day. Sunshine and rain is a good description of Fiji. 

with my leaky umbrella

My final week at the Grays, I got the urge to do some baking. Course, they were pretty okay with that, seeing as they have three older boys who like to eat. :) Bro. R had some misgivings about my cooking abilities, though in the end I think he conceded that I do know how to cook. Pretty sure he just liked to give me a hard time. One day I made cinnamon rolls; a double batch to be exact. That was a lot of rolls! but they were gone within two days. I also made apple pie that week. And gave them a recipe for BBQ sauce (thanks Carpenters) that we made pulled pork with. It had a slight twist to it, so it was more like Fijian Louisiana bbq sauce, but it was still good. 

half of the batch

yum!

 We had Youth Night my last weekend in Suva. Many of the youth I had met previously, but we had others show up also. It was a grand time, I mostly just hung back and watched the excitement. The highlight of the night had to be CG acting like a pig. Ha! And Bro. J did an excellent job teaching and sharing the Gospel. 

yay! their team won!

Saturday we went out visiting. During the time I was out and about that day, I baked in the sun (the most sunburn I had of the entire four weeks) and got drenched in the rain. Like I said, Fiji = sunshine and rain. The morning was sunny and HOT and then the afternoon was cool and rainy. There was impressive thunder and lightning! I LOVE thunder & lightning. But my friend who was with me doesn't have the same appreciation. :) 

I am so grateful I had the great opportunity to travel to Fiji, visit my friends, make new ones and mark another country off my list to visit. :) The people are very friendly and I have many wonderful memories of my time there. Hot climates are not my favorite, but it was an awesome experience. 

last Sunday

my amazing housemates

Singleness

I have been following this blog for a while. Never met Grace, but every time I read one of her posts, I can SO relate to it! Many times, it is the exact echo of my own heart. Here are two posts in particular that spoke to me. It is Grace's words, but I could have been mine. (tho' she writes better) :)  

Thankful for others who understand!

http://gracefortheroad.com/2013/09/26/sojourning/

http://gracefortheroad.com/2013/11/26/we-can-find-you-one/

Around the Island

I know I'm a little behind on blogging, that's what happens when you travel and internet is not readily available all the time. oh well, life happens. 

One week while in Fiji, Filo and decided to travel around the island. It's a fairly small island, so you can drive all the way around in a day (roughly 10 hours). But I wanted to see more than the road, so we took about four days to do it. 

First bus ride was almost four hours. We were only stopping briefly in that town before heading to a small village on the beach. While waiting for a our bus, we had a little food so had us a mini picnic on a random cement picnic table near the river. Only thing was it started to rain, so we tried eating our food without it getting soggy and keeping our possessions dry. It didn't rain long thankfully; we had a taxi driver next to us that kept talking to us, he offered to let us sit in his car out of the rain if it got bad. Ha. 

When we arrived at the village, it was pretty quiet. Everyone was at work still, so after greeting the old grandfathers we went for a swim. It was raining lightly, but hey we can swim in the rain too! That was only my 2nd time swimming in an ocean. We also went swimming the next morning in the beautiful, bright, HOT sunshine. We ate fish (go figure) for dinner and there was octopus soup for appetizer, but after one bite, I determined I wasn't hungry. ;) 

The sunset was spectacular. We sat on the big rocks overlooking the ocean and watched the sky change colors until it settled into a deep blue. So cool to sleep at night with the ocean roaring and crashing in the background. 

after swimming in the rain

eating fish Fijian style 

3rd time swimming in the ocean!

sunset at the beach

the village near the beach

traditional Fijian hut

The next day we traveled on. Stopped on the west side of the island for two nights. Went into the big town of Nadi (pronounced Nandi) to look around and do some shopping. Don't think I bought anything though. I didn't realize that they sell Ugg boots in Fiji! Yep, they sure do. Have no idea why you would want to wear winter boots in a tropic climate. crazy. (shaking my head)

day two of traveling (at a bus stop)

look like a tourist, eh? 

traveling by bus 

I had a great time! The last day we traveled by taxi, since others were going our direction and they already had a taxi reserved. It saved us money, but no a/c in the car, so rode with our windows down. My hair was blown to frizziness, I was hot and sticky and the sun burned the top of my knee. Yep, the only sun burn from that week was the top of my knee. Weird. Both Filo and I were so glad to get home that night. 

We had  a lot of fun.... I enjoyed swimming in the ocean and she liked the small green friend in her purse. Ha!

last day of traveling (headed home!)

Life in the Tropics

If you had asked during my first two weeks in Fiji, I would have told you that I was sure Fiji meant "outside sauna." It was HOT and very humid! I was tired a lot, some I'm sure from traveling, but I think the heat also made me exhausted. I went to bed early for the first week and slept in most days also. Felt like a bum, but I was SO tired! Now I've adjusted and it's helped that it has cooled off. Normally this time of year it would be getting hotter as we coming up on their hot season. But maybe the Lord knew this Alaskan girl can only handle so much heat! The past week it's been really breezy and cooler. Lots of rain also. Some people have been wearing coats and jackets, but not I. Still not cool enough for that. :) 

Life here has been interesting to say the least. Never have to worry about being lonely at least... there's always a lizard around somewhere to keep my company. I don't mind the lizards except for when they run across my foot unannounced while I'm taking a cold shower. Didn't scream, okay, so I yelled, but it was just a short, quiet yell. Just glad it wasn't the large spider that had watched me on a previous day. Then I probably would have screamed. My first night I arrived, I had gone to bed early on account of traveling for so many hours. Had just laid down on my bed (only about six inches off the floor), when I glanced over and saw a tiny mouse peeking through my doorway. I looked at him, he looked at me, then he ran off. I rolled over and went to sleep. 

Alaska is far from humid, so living in such humidity has been different. One of the biggest challenges is putting on mascara every morning. Each time, I pray that a sneeze won't sneak up on me for the first five minutes after application. If it does... well, time to start all over again. Sometimes I wonder what people would say if I left the black lines on my eyelids for the rest of the day... haha 

As for taxi rides, well some are uneventful and others.... last week we cooked up a huge meal at our house and had to take it to the church for dinner. There were five of us in a station wagon, plus the driver. They piled in and there was no room left on the back seat. I was the last one... "uh guys, where am I going to sit?" so I crawled in on top of the three girls' lap in the back seat. We barely got the car door closed. My head was practically touching the ceiling and I couldn't lay down across their laps, cause one girl had a pitcher of hot sweet and sour sauce behind my head and another girl had a cake and pan of meatballs near my lap. My abbs sure got a workout that day. You should have seen the looks we received from people on the street. Getting out when we reached our destination was interesting as well. We laughed and laughed about that trip. 

my house for the month

at the bus station

cooking dinner

dinner with my lovely friends

Oh, Canada....

Vancouver was just as beautiful as last time I was there (in April). Jaime and I caught our bus on Thursday.... well to be truthful, we missed our scheduled bus Thursday morning, so had to sit and wait for the next bus at 1pm. We chilled in the lobby at the SeaTac Airport and just talked. And it was a blessing that we were on the 1pm bus, because at the border crossing we met a mutual friend! I overheard someone behind me talking and they mentioned an international event that I knew many people don't know about. So I turned around to get a look at said person and then I noticed the writing on his shirt. I introduced myself.... ok, actually I asked his name first and then I laughed and said "oh I know who you are." Then I introduced myself.  He was a good friend of one my awesome friends from BBTI. Cool way to finally meet someone. So for the rest of the ride until his stop, Jaime and I chatted with him. 

 We spent a lot of time out exploring Vancouver. Hannah was a great tour guide! Friday was a bit cloudy and drizzly, but Saturday was sunny and nice. Rain or shine tho, we went out and had a grand time. Granville Island was pretty cool. Lots of little shops and handicrafts. And food. :) I love food. 

The three of us had an awesome time! It had been five years since we had been together. I have seen Jaime numerous times since school and Hannah once; Hannah and Jaime have also seen each other, but not the three of us together. We gallivanted all around, traveled by sky train, were attacked by pigeons, drank lots of coffee, laughed, parked illegally, etc. 

good friends

Being Tourists in Seattle

Currently sitting in an Airport waiting for a bus... yes, you read that right, a bus. Many airports have bus terminals located in them also. This morning we were scheduled to leave at 930. We arrived at the airport at 938; yep, our bus wasn't kind enough to wait for us. :( No biggie, I confirmed we could get on the 1pm bus and now we sit and wait. 

Since being here, I've watched hundreds of people, kept an eye on a lady's bag, thought about moving the water man's cart of water jugs when he walked away, received a compliment on my hair, was asked to donate to a charity, talked to my friend (and traveling partner). Been grand. 

Yesterday was a fun, long, slightly cool day around town. We took the metro into downtown Seattle. First stop was the Original Starbucks. Have to say it was THE best pumpkin spice Latte I've ever had. AND it was actually extra hot, like I requested. From there we strolled through Pike's Place Market. Just a normal day, watched some fisherman throw whole fish around while singing. That was legit.

It was a bit cool, breezy and foggy. I kept hoping it would warm up, since I had worn my flip flops. But alas, it never did. oh well. We sauntered down to Pioneer Square, where we went on an tour of the Underground city of Seattle. The original city of Seattle lies 15 feet under where it is today. That fifteen feet is the difference of sea level. They used to have major flooding problems, which  is compounded by the use of outhouses in the 1850s. Glad I didn't visit back then. So, after the fire of 1889 burned the city to the ground, they decided to raise it up past sea level. The original sidewalks were never filled in, thus today you have the "underground." Quite interesting.

For lunch, we grabbed some chowder. I tried some Seafood Bisque, that was AMAZING! I never had anything like it and was a little uncertain about it, but it was an excellent choice. We made it up the Space Needle in time to see the city in daylight, watch the sunset and see the city lights at night. Perfect time of the day. :)

Long day, but we got a lot accomplished. Twas fun!

outside Pikes Place Market

at Pioneer Square

old bank under the city of Seattle

daytime view from Space Needle

sun setting

sunset 

Seattle city lights

I <3 Traveling

Traveling!

I am by no means a travel expert, but I do LOVE traveling. Many of the following I found on other travel blogs and since I can relate to most of them, thought I'd share. My next trip is only twelve days away! So, I'm getting excited.... and you who have the travel bug know what that's like..... 

Cheers to the Vagabond life!

You know you're a traveler (or missionary) when......

your boss doesn't ask why you want time off, they just ask "where are you going this time?"

you have a collection of SIM cards from around the world and you keep hold of them, just in case....

you can say "thank you" in ten or more different languages

you don't need a scale to measure your luggage

you can do currency exchanges in your head and it doesn't hurt

you refer to cities by their airport code instead of their name

you have a credit card that allows you to collect air miles

you always know exactly where you passport is and when it expires

someone asks where you got your outfit and you name countries instead of stores

you have to factor in time zones for every Skype call 

you wonder why people are always saying they want to travel, but never do

you often plan trips you never take

you suffer reverse-culture shock

home refers to more than one country 

you hardly ever get lost and when you do, you have no problem asking a local for help

your permanent address is still your parents' house, cause you're never in one place long enough

you commonly start sentences with, "my friend from _________ [insert country]"

all your friends ask for help in finding tickets or other travel advice

you get restless if you haven't traveled in too long

you hear strangers talk about traveling, you immediately eavesdrop

someone tells you they don't have a passport, you look at them like they have two heads

everyone counts on you in geography class or trivia time when required to name the capital of some random country

you to go McDonalds simply for the wifi

you watch a movie on DVD a week before it is released in theaters

fellow travelers ask you for directions in a city you don't live in

you have more friends overseas than at home

your bucket list is almost entirely travel-related

the majority of your paycheck goes into saving up for travelling

you aspire to write a travel memoir

you're not satisfied with the name of a country when you ask someone "Where are you from?" 

One travel blog I read today had a short comparison of travelers and tourists. I had to laugh at one paragraph, cause been there, done that.... 

"A tourist will go by the destinations to visit to such an extent that there will be nothing he will want to miss. Reached Agra on Friday? No matter what, the tourist will demand that he be shown the Taj Mahal without disturbing the rest of his itinerary. A traveller, on the other hand, will seek out people and other places to explore. The tourist will gush about Taj Mahal for a few days but a traveller will carry the stories of daily life from Agra and every other place he visits forever."

Sun Rising

The shorter days allows me to experience the magnitude of an incredible sunrise. During the summer months, I occasionally see the setting sun at 1am or midnight... (thanks to my night job) But sunrises, yeah I don't usually see those during the summer. I'm not one to get up at 3am to see the sun rise. :) 

But wish you could have been with me this past week on my drives to work. One day last week when I turned from my dirt road on to the main road into town, the eastern sky was just beginning to come alive. I drove west into town, so the horizon before me was still a combination of blues and grays. But glancing in my rear view mirror, light flooded my eyes. As the minutes passed, the blue began to be tinted with pink, then more pink and orange. Pulling into the parking lot, the entire heavens were ablaze with color. The sun was just cresting the horizon, but the world was overwhelming alive with color and light. 

I thought of John 12:32 - "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." 

As the sun that morning (and again today) rose higher into the sky, no part of the heavens were not reached with it's light. Clouds that once appeared blue and gray were now pink and eventually white. If we lift Christ up, He will do the drawing of sinners to Himself. His Word does not return void, so we must share His Word. 

Not only do I enjoy a sunrise for the awesome, inspiring beauty which magnifies my God, but it is also a wonderful reminder that my job as a child of God is raise Him up. I am to bring Him glory with my life; every aspect of my life. 

sun rise from last year, viewed from my front porch