Sam Among the Elf's

Hey everybody, I have arrived in East Asia. Being surrounded by Asians makes me feel like I am Sam among the Elf’s (very happy). Let me tell you what has happened the last couple of weeks. I spent my first week in East Asia visiting Taiwan while going through some training. I absolutely loved Taiwan and wished I could have spent a much longer time there. During training we discussed things that will help us out during our six months abroad. I also got to meet my supervisor while I was there. My supervisor lives in a city I have nicknamed Chang.

After moving to Chang I have gotten closer to my supervisor and his family. My supervisor has a wife and two kids, a boy and a girl who are in their early teens. Chang is small for East Asia but it was bigger than I expected. There are three malls in Chang and tall apartment complexes everywhere. No one speaks English in Chang and it has given me a feeling of helplessness when trying to do something simple like buy something or tell directions to a taxi.

During my time here in Chang Brady and I are live with a spiritual brother and sister who I’ve nicknamed Jon and Sofi. They are a young couple being married for just a year now. Jon and Sofi both work for my supervisor in performing community service projects. Jon is an artist, a very good artist, and is working on art in his spare time. Sofi is a perfectionist and is working on cleaning in her spare time. The apartment we live in is somewhat small and has no AC, this makes sleeping at night a little bit hard.

I just got back from spending the last five days in a nearby city teaching English to fifth graders. We had a group of Americans come visit and we all taught English in a program for children Kindergarten to eighth grade. My class had 25 students in it, and the boys were kind of ruff with each other. I didn’t like teaching very much but I am discovering that I have a skill for it. Hopefully more opportunities will arrive in that city again.

An average day in Chang starts off with waking up in sweat and taking a shower. Lunch and dinner consume most of the day because it is almost always eaten with others and nothing is pre made and there is no microwave everything is made from scratch. In-between lunch and dinner everyone takes a two hour satoshi (nap / break) and then start preparing for dinner. After dinner comes more work until it is late at night. Then everyone in the town gets together and dances at the square until they go home to sleep.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here and can’t thank all of you enough who have supported me and still support me with your thoughts and prayers. Living here is like a dream come true for me. Please keep me in your thoughts / prayers as Brady and I start language study tomorrow. Thank you all again, I love you.

Shipping soon

Hey everybody! I said I was going to soak up the summer and I have. I am leaving this Tuesday July 3^rd, for my semester abroad. I have been spending most of my time in preparation for this semester abroad. However, I did manage to do a summer project in-between these times. I created a web series which you can find all of the episodes here: http://blip.tv/overanalyzingjune Don’t expect anything important or life changing from it. It was a fun little project but their certainly are points I regret about it.

Brady and I will be leaving along with a fellow classmate named Wade Holcomb on July 3^rd, we will spend 24 hours in the air not to mention three lay overs. Talk about starting off a journey with a journey. However, this could be a good chance to cram in those last few chapters I haven’t read for class. We should arrive to our destination July 5^th. At which point we will lose cell phone communication and will have to communicate back home through email and Skype.

I have been preparing for this for a long time, but there is preparation going on right now. After writing this blog I will be packing up my bags and making sure I have everything. I have also returned home from Bolivar and am spending the last few days with my family. I have kept up with my exercising both cardio and weight lifting and plan on bringing footbag’s (hacky sacks) with me to play with the locals. I have kept up with my diet until recently when I have been enjoying my favorite American meals before leaving.

            This summer was a blast for me and I wish I could sit down tell you all of the cool stories. However, I don’t think they will add up to the stories I am about to share with you.

This update marks the last update out of my own will. As of now I am required to post a blog every two weeks. I will try to keep them as brief and direct as I can be. Once again, thank you all for your support.