BrieAlderfer

Yes, I’m a little delayed in my journal writing. Yesterday, was the 25th and our last day in Thailand. We spent the morning doing evaluations and talking with the staff about our time in Thailand. I thought that things came off harsher than I would have liked them to sound, and I felt slightly annoyed by the complaints that were being made, given that we had already talked to Debbie about most of them. I recognize that I make cultural mistakes all the time, but it is frustrating to me that people continue to push American ideas and reactions onto situations even after already talking about how to do things better and more respectfully. At least evaluations are over. I am hoping that next year goes just as smoothly as our year. I was extremely bummed ... read more

Well, I don’t think I have too much to say about today. It was extremely chill. We started off the morning going to breakfast at BCNC and then headed over to the coffee shop nearby the school called Maliwan. We had past it many days and always got back to the school after its open hours. It was everything I loved: Ferns. Thai tea. Good conversations. Calm early mornings. Friendly greetings. Strawberry shirts. Sunshine. Cat figurines. Wooden tables with fine, clean lines. I could go on and on about how happy I was at this coffee shop. It seems so simple, but sometimes the smallest and simplest things bring us the most joy. After this I was able to go back to BCNC and have independent devotional time, which was most needed. During my devotional time ... read more

AM. Well today we go back to BCNC. I’m so bummed. I am excited to see my buddies, but it would be really nice to spend more time here especially because our travels were longer than anticipated. It is cloudy outside, so I am grateful for the sunny day we had yesterday. God knew what we needed. Yesterday couldn’t have been any more perfect. Well, I am off to breakfast for the buffet! I’m craving chocolate croissants and a smoothie — some of my favorites. I have to be careful thought because my stomach still is not happy. I do not want to be in pain our whole travels again. Hopefully I can get some medication to chill it out. PM. We are back at BCNC now. The travel seemed way shorter on the way back ... read more

Today was definitely not what I had expected. We were all so excited to go to the beach, so the wake up at 530am wasn’t a big deal but…. then we found out that after our plane ride we had a bus ride. That bus ride was supposed to be “2 hours” which actually was more like 4 hours. Then we found out that we would have to take a ferry for 45 minutes which was actually a little more than an hour. Then we took a bus on the island to the hotel. It was about 12 hours of travel for our 3 day weekend. I immediately felt bummed. Dang we would only really be spending about one day at the beach. I immediately realize how selfish I was being. Here I was in one ... read more

I’m going to be honest. I’m not in a great mood today, and I’m not really sure why. Even though it’s only 20:30, I may need to just go to bed and try again tomorrow ha! I just feel like I am having a lot more internal monologue going on today, telling myself that I’m not annoyed with everyone. I think that I’m probably just hitting my introvert wall. It’s been over two weeks now since I’ve really had any time to just myself, and I have not been able to have too many in-depth conversations while here in Thailand. A lot of my conversations have been about Thailand with another person and offering perspective into why this culture might do the things they do. I spend so much time trying to offer people the big ... read more