wow. so these passed 2.5 weeks have contained some of the best moments/days of my life.

Started off with Cambodia. 5 days in Siem Reap with Darla, Emma, Izzy, & Nicole. We were blessed with this opportunity because Darla was a part of the founding team for an Organization called Caring for Cambodia....This organization provides the Siem Reap area (as well as surrounding communities) with an education system for the Cambodian children. In the passed 6 years it has become one of the best in the country, attaining recognition from government education as well as the prime minister. Most western countries spend around 5.5% to 6.4% of GDP on education. As one of the poorest countries in the world, Cambodia only contributes 1.6% of its national GDP for education...

That breaks down to:
$18 USD per student/year, $0.38 USD per student/week, $0.05 USD/day.

Finding out all of this really weighed on my heart...I prayed all week for God to prepare my heart for the things we were about to witness...with Galatians 5:13-14 in mind...

"...through LOVE serve one another"

I knew we were sent there to make a difference. someway some how. We (Darla) donated and got donations (from P&G) of toothbrushes...a total of 700...to give to the children and their families and teach them the importance of dental care (Did you know that not brushing your teeth not only leads to tooth decay and such problems but it can also shorten your life span). We also brought along several donations for the school from the foundation & other supporters. Headed to the air port with 11 bags. Definitely a change compared to our usual backpacking crew. Another difference compared to our trips before was the amazing airline we were able to go on (thanks to Kevin & Darla) SilkAir, which is part of Singapore Air....we waited in the business class lounge (Darla is a member) prior to our take off...ate appetizers, relaxed, had glasses of champagne...roughing it up.

We left for Cambodia, Nov. 6. Saw some boys from school at the airport, random...but fun. Nov. 7. Tour time~! Our driver and tour guide (yes we had a driver for the week, there are no taxi's in siem reap) took us to Bayan, To Phram, and Angkor Wat. Those names may not mean much to you but they are full of ancient history...hand made temples/memorials from the 11th and 12th century. They were beautiful. Made from sandstone (taken from somewhere 50km away, chopped out of a mountain, put on rafts & floated down the river to siem reap....incredible), hand-carved, and constructed)...it was amazing to see that throughout so many years of history...wars...religious battles...natural disasters...that these buildings still held up...holding hundreds of stories...hundreds of lives...so much history. I love thinking about that, imagine...400 years ago seems like a long time...still not long enough to even comprehend the beginnings of these structures...but for scenarios sake...400 years. Right where you are walking. Wait stop. Now where you are standing...someone else was standing... maybe a servant...a child...a man in love...a trespasser...a beggar... someone with a story to tell... someone rich ...someone poor... someone healthy...someone sick... maybe they were inspired to write a book....paint a picture... maybe their lives were changed... maybe they had no idea where they were... the world may never know. but what is certain...is that you are here today...someone was there yesterday...and hopefully someone will be there tomorrow. its history. right before your eyes. ive never been a fan of history. but now im kind of interested. mostly ancient stuff.
http://alexa-martz.blogspot.com/
Anyways, oh yeah note: ta Phrom was where Tomb Raider was filmed. fun fun.

Nov. 8. Went to the Floating Village. I can

these are my obsessions

Things I've developed newfound loves for (since trading up Pacific Standard Time for Singapore Standard Time *realllll original*)

1. Vegetables- honestly, i intentionally look for meals with the most possible vegetables possible...especially ginger, which im not quite sure if its a vegetable or not but yeah whatevs.
2. Kaya Toast & Half Boiled Egg (accompanied by coffee, tea, or milo)- breakfast 5/7 days a week.
3. Mentos [yes, the freshmaker] we can't have gum, its illegal, apparently its on the same level as stealing a car or stabbing someone...totally normal. regardless, mentos..they're amazing. go buy some, appreciate them with me :)
4. Gossip Girl & The Hills. Verdicts in, I'm a girl. Dang it.
5. Fruit. Its sooooooo amazing here, I mean I was obsessed at home but I have taken it to a whole new level. I max out at maybe like 10 a day. haha.
6. Carrot Juice. Sometimes I get crazy and mix it with orange or pineapple. dont knock it till you try it.
7. Indie Music. I mean i dont really know what all qualifies for this title butt i cant get enough of Minus the Bear, Death Cab, Imogen Heap, The Appleseed Cast, bladdy blahhh.
8. Cover Songs. duh.
9. House Music. SOME OF IT. Mostly remixes, which traces back to my original obsession. (See #8). But yes, MSTRKRFT, deadmau5, and DJRi of course.
10. Skype. self explanatory--although my friends from home are too busy farmvilling to actually say hi. but whatevs. oh and tara's wont work. sad story.
11. the gym. Going with Darla twice a week. It's glorious.
12. Traveling. Who knew?
13. Indifference
14. Adventures. Standard.
15. Life. Happiness. all of the above.

thailand.

thailand. theres way too many stories/time to cover so ill go by bullet points.

Arrive in Bangkok--->overnight train to Chiang Mai

got our pictures taken at the restaurant we went to- pad thai=incredible.

Chiang Mai- 3 days.

1. arrive at our beautiful guest house, the keeper Naan is a saint. rooming with Manon woo. destined for an amazing trip! ordered food at a local stall. took a good 20 mins to find a place with english subtitles. this was our first day here and also our first encounter with a place that isnt westernized. i love it. accidentally ordered canned fish and basil instead of basil chicken (memo to self. the thai words are written BELOW the english words. point to those). met up with dan and nick (we lost them at at the air port). bar down the road- awesome! local music...cover song of james blunt-you're beautiful,that song follows me everywhere. night market. lots of shopping. puppies sold, soo cute, price tags on their heads...strange. tried street food- i.e. grubworm and cricket. yumm. bought gifts for people.

2. adventure! rode elephants (ohhh my buddah) through the jungle, bamboo rafting through dirty water sooo fun, amazing homecooked meal ( i loveeeee thai food), hiking through rice paddies/forest, went to a village, saw a waterfall, alicia slipped and fell soooo funny :) love you roomie, another village, thai massages!, rooftop bar, hung out with a magician, AMERICAN FOOD, some club- no lady boy signs, tuk tuk home with manon, attempted to swim in a koi pond...slipped and fell, bruise number 298 of the trip.

3. rented scooters!!, lost nicole in the city, played fast n the furious around the city wall- not as fun as it sounds, ate a great sandwich (hot commodity out here), found nicole, lost manon, rode scooters up with mountain with dan nick and manon, to the 'holiest place in the north' doi suthep, had to rent coverings because my shorts werent appropriate, 'foreigner prices', rain, wore panchos down the hill, INCREDIBLE dinner at the Riverside (steven speilbergs favorite restaurant) appetizers/wine/meal/dessert river view =$20 USD ohhh yeah, sunday night market.

Bangkok

went to the fishing village which was super pretty, ate cashew chicken, bangkok=sooo dirty "i miss chiang mai", road a boat, ran into julie & allie soo small world :), went to temple of the dawn, 120 baht incident- dang bangkok scams, met a guy from LA..in the band Terror...played at Chain...again, small world, rented sexy clothes- standard, went to the reclining buddah, over temples, went back to room, took naps, ran into alex & innes, met up with everyone, dinner, bargained tuk tuks, ended up with allie and manon, crazy driver, dropped us off in china town- not particularly where we wanted to be, ran into innes julie and alex...lost 3 commrads, stuffed ourselves into a cab...yes 6 of us, ate hong kong noodle- tried chrysanthumn tea- yuck, found everyone, went to kho san road for jeremys birthday!!, bought random hats from street vendors, ran into the local artist from chiang mai so weird, came home at 4 super fun night!

Krabi
flight at 9am. woke up some way some how. met a lady from the phillipines named girlie- she was wonderful, krabi is beautiful!!!, beaches, really pretty cliffs, cutee beach town.

cameron highlands, malaysia

well everyone, these last few weeks have been quite busy. Eye-opening, life-changing, and FUN! Its been about two months since I have been out here which is really hard to believe because I feel like I have been here forever...not that it is boring and dragging me down...I just feel like we have accomplished so much in so little town. It just makes me wonder how things will be when I go home...if I'll keep busy and take advantage of each and every opportunity as I have been here...or if I will be bored with the daily routines college life at home brings...regardless I am excited. As I was saying these few weeks have been crazy..we went to Cameron Highlands in Malaysia...just me and the boys...well it started off as a venture with Charlie. He's super fun, he was headed there by himself and invited us all..as usual i was the only one up for it. But I'm so glad I went. I'll post pictures when I get a chance..but yeah it was beautiful up there..cold which was so weird because it has always been hot and humid anywhere we have gone, I was definitely under prepared.

It was here where we developed an amazing relationship with one of the local mom and pop stands. It was in the middle of no where, a kind of dark and dingy place..but being in adventure mode (and starving for breakfast) Charlie and i decided to give it a shot...sometimes these are the best places :). We were the only people, seated outside..well thats the only seating that existed...with an aluminum plated roof...across the street from an abandoned building, lets just say the view was breathtaking. They had pancakes! so excited. I have been eating this Singaporean delight- consisting of toast with kaya (egg and coconut jam type thing), half-boiled eggs, watermelon/banana (mix it up), and coffee/tea/milo $1.80...its amazing but im kind of getting over it. Anyways this first day at our mom and pop place...the old malaysian (assuming) woman comes to take our orders, charlie goes first...we order in English...she doesnt understand. so we do the standard point and shoot method (c) daniel kamen. she attempts to see exactly what we want and uses her hands to show a cup, hot or cold? she grunts and motions with her hands. Usually id be weary...but i thought it was beautiful..its an incredible thing to witness and partake in the merging of two different cultures...our hands never fail us. non-verbal communication is key. we went to this place each morning. the last. the old woman hugged me. her husband waved by. i never could tell them that we wouldn't be back. but it was a lovely relationship to have built. their banana porridge and peanut butter toast were amazing!!

The rest of the weekend consisted of adventures, standard. We toured a tea plantation, butterfly farm, rose garden, bee farm *lame*, local village, learned how to use a blow pipe (like in jungle-2-jungle), went off roading, hiking, saw a rafflesia (the world's largest flower), swam in a waterfall!! in my clothes haha, and had amazing south Indian food. It was such an adventure getting back to Singapore...our tour took longer than anticipated and our tour guide was minorly shady but whatever... we were waiting for a cab...missed our bus. attempted to walk down the mountain (7km) i think. it was fun for a while, people were waving at us like we were in a parade..honking and such. so random. lol. before it got old we caught a cab. went to the bus station. found out there werent any buses left to Singapore or kl, so we had to go to some random city (i forget the name now) but we had no other options. the bus was coming in an hour. so zach insisted we get reflexology (foot massages) like $6US for an hour. not too shabby. caught our bus. arrived in the random city like 2 hours later. still no buses to Singapore or the Malaysian border. so we had to go to kl. which was totally out of the way. 4 hours. drive. some how lost my bus ticket in 2 mins. but the man let me on. luckily. arrived in kl. 1:30 am. still hours away from Singapore. the boys have class in the morning. solid. oh yeah. charlie went to penang. i was with zach and david. anyways managed to find a bus to the border. arrived at 5 am. took a public bus across to Singapore. another bus. the mrt. and another bus. arrived at my dorm at 7 am. wow. long journey.

The town of Cameron Highlands was really quaint. It was a great weekend getaway, oh and they had the BEST vegetables ever. ohh and strawberries :).

just a thought

i love thailand

life is one day and one night. enjoy it.

The title of this entry is taken from a note I found at the hostel I am staying at in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I am only here for the weekend, but even in the course of 24 hours I have had such a great time. KL is a big city, I compare its chaos and "hustle and bustle" a bit to LA. There are constantly people asking you to jump in their charter bus to a next city, or a taxi driver offering a ride...people are desperate for any business they can take.

We are staying at a hostel called the Reggaehouse, its quite nice. For about $12 USD a night we have a room (a bed with springs, who knew how much of a hot commodity this would be), air conditioning :), internet, tv, and a safe place to come to. The funny thing is that although I appreciate having these things, I don't find them to be any sort of highlight this weekend...I love the people staying here. This morning, over breakfast, I chatted with 2 girls from England and a girl from Denmark- who is on her way home from studying in Australia. In the little amount of time we spoke it was just incredible to hear the places they had been in the course of a few months...the things they had seen...the things that they learned to appreciate. All 3 of them are on their way back home, the thing they dread the most is the routines....all the things they 'have to do'...I feel like that is the hardest part of traveling, going back to the 'life you live' [or don't live] depending on the perspective you take. Fortunately, I won't have as much of a culture shock (i don't think) when I get home because I am developing a routine in Singapore...with classes, study groups, tutoring, church, etc... but I feel that one day I would just like to set off on a journey..with no intentions but to enjoy the world...to see God's creations...to meet people...to live without the restraints of time/plans/etc.. one day.

I don't know what we're doing today, but the one thing I can count on is an adventure :). That's just a part of every day abroad, theres always something to explore...places, people, traditions, things... its a learning experience every minute. I love that. Just wanted to let you know I was alive and I am truly enjoying my time here..in Singapore and every where else. I hope all is well with you. Miss you. x

Bintan, Indonesia

hiii!

well, i knew I would be slacking on updating my blog but i didnt think it would happen this quickly :). Sorry. Anyways, things are incredible here. I love it. Every day is a new adventure...whether it involves a physical journey--like finding classes or trying to order food, an emotional journey--bridging gaps in social understanding...understanding the concept of being a minority etc... Just for updates sake, these last couple of days have involved ALOT of exploring...Singapore itself [the city, malls, surrounding islands-paula ubin], NTU [the campus, my school, classes], food [this has been the hardest, i have subway at least twice a week haha but i am working on it, i reminded myself that I never know until I try it..no matter how weird it sounds..i most likely have never tasted it and if i dont like it..i dont like it. no harm done. its a daily process].

The last couple of days have by far been my favorite...like i mentioned before we went to a place called Paula Ubin which is a little rustic town off the coast of Singapore- about an hour and a halves journey. Everything is described as 1950's-60's coastal asian town. Its one of those places that have never and probably will never changed. I love it...the people just live off the land mostly...and uses necessities..nothing else matters. I didn't talk to too many of the locals...more observation than anything (I kinda wish i did talk to them a little more now that I think back on it). It was here that Nicole, Heather, Jeremy, Charlie and I went bike riding around the jungle...it was soo pretty and it was an amazing workout. haha. Did not see much wildlife, well actually lots of wild dogs..and apparently Jeremy saw monkeys but I am pretending he didnt because I want to see them so bad so its better that they never existed than to think I missed it. haha. After our bike ride we ate at one of the 3 little family owned restaurant...this one was called the 'first stop restaurant'- couldn't resist that. It was like a family style chinese food establishment..it was really good. We tried an ostrich meat and ginger dish...it was pretty good (once I ignored the fact that it was ostrich)...i liked it.


What else...oh yeah we did the touristy thing of the week and went to the Birdpark at Jurong Point- which unlike everything else...is pretty close to our school. It was like a zoo with just birds...the best part was that we got to feed these beautiful lorey birds. anddd they were on my shoulders and arms and it was sooo cool. although initially one almost headbutted the heck out of me when i first..everyone thought it was hilarious... i beg to differ. haha. oh and by the way..shane went with us..and she is terrified of birds (some traumatic childhood incident) so that was pretty entertaining.

Those are my stories for the day...but yeah just so you know, everything is going great..im looking at joining a club or two- one is a business club that focuses on corporate social responsibility which is what I want to do when i get out of school...and they have projects that focus on Cambodia which is pretty awesome...and the other is a Christian club so I could meet local believers and have an amazing time in fellowship while im out here. so far things are looking great :)

My CAMPUS:

National Day

August 9/10 are days that commemorate the 'Birth of Singapore', it is similar to our Fourth of July- Independence day celebrations. These pictures are from numerous parts of the city that we wandered around during the festivities. Hundreds of people gathered at City Hall to watch fireworks, hear speakers, see military planes flying over, etc... They sang the National Day Song which was "What do you see?" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0I2inJdaT8&feature=player_embedded). As always we ended up in a mall during part of the celebration and people were jumping up and down singing it. Although we felt slightly out of place it was incredible to see the amount of pride citizens had in their country *ah class, i have to finish this later*

oh yeahhh and last night Nicole and I went out for the first time.
well actually we didnt really "go out" cause we were tired and came home at like 10.30 but, the point is we attempted.

We had dinner with the Bryans family, they are incredible...I can't wait to spend time with them more this semester...it is such a blessing they are around. But yeah we went to an American Brewery called Brewkerz which is one of the best breweries in Asia. Nicole and I had BBQ burgers and fries- yes we caved into American food already. It was amazingggggggggg.

After, we walked around Clarke Quay. Which is a beautiful downtown area...every restaurant and club is very intricately designed and conceptualized. The architecture and lighting is incredible. There was a band there attempting to play "American classics" such as Journey-Midnight Train and Coolio-Gangsters Paradise haha...it was hilarious.

Anyways, the best part of the night was that Nicole and I figured out the public transportation on our own. We went from Clarke Quay to home...which was about an hours journey on mass transit, but everything fun takes a while to get to.

Oh yeah... P.S. it takes about 35-45 minutes in a cab/driving to get from one side of singapore to another. its insane.

thus far.

day 4. i think. time is strange here, the days go by so slowly.

observations I have made:
1. Napkins are a personal choice. Nearly all the eateries sell them separately or they're nonexistent.
2. CROCS are really really cool. (well thats what they think, still haven't made the transition...i'll work on it)
3. In spite of the fact that it is really hot and humid. Singapore natives wear pants, never shorts.
4. Parking a car means backing it into a stall.
5. Extra words are unnecessary. Get straight to the point. [Carpark= parking lot] simple enough.


Things that the U.S. should learn from Singapore:

1. There are an allotted amount of cars on the island. Only a certain number of citizens have cars to prevent mass quantities of traffic. It enables the city to rely heavily on public transportation which is really well developed, organized, and dependable.

2. Also, citizens trade out cars every 3-5 years, to keep up with changing technologies and keep exhaust emissions low. There are NO old cars, they are all new and very well kept.

3. SUPER HIGH FINES. (its a 'fine' country *drumroll pleasee*)
$1000 for eating or drinking on the MRT (train)
$1000 for bringing flammable liquids near certain places
littering/jaywalking fines
etc...

4. HIGH regulation and prevention of illegal drugs.

5. No firearms unless for military usage

6. Each Singapore citizen (i think just males) must serve the country for 2 years

Although some of these things seem absurd or unnecessary, each of them has contributed to the success of Singapore...its cleanliness, extremely low crime, etc...

Speechless.

wow. the last 48-63 hours have been the most ridiculous ones of my life. Good news is...we're all in Singapore yay!

For the next 4 months I want to use this blog as a refelection, a mirror of my thoughts...and experiences..but for today I think a run-down of general statements is a necessity.

4. 8. 09 [Aug. 4, 2009- this is how the Asian cultures write their dates so I have to make it a new habit]

Departure- LAX 2:45 PM- Nicole, Shane, Alicia, Anna and I were all on the same flight! amazing start.

[7.13 PM]-Journal Entry from my new italian leather adventure book Melissa gave me! :)

Flying over ALASKA!! so cool, I wish I could go see it (I want to go there one day, I decided)...this flight-all 34908 hours of it- has helped me, actually no...it just furthers my theory that I have ADD, its an issue. Here's what my last four hours have consisted of:

-boarding the plane with Nicole (oh i bought a travel pillow...best investment ever)
-Sat down in our seats, they're snazzy and purple..photo seshh
-Played with the interactive screen in front of my seat. Tried to get it to teach me Mandarin, epic fail.
-Read every magaize the plane has to offer
-Learned escape routes, just in case. YESS the plane has an inflatable slide raft!
*pictureee
-Watch an episode of Mad Men
-Write in my journal
-Read cards from family & Mel...cried.
-bathroom break
-Singapore Sling! free, no id necessary, Score. (It's not as great as they make it seem...but gotta give Singapore some credit for their incredible marketing}


-Meet William. Sitting to the left of Nicole and I. He's headed to Indonesia to visit family, student @ UCLA, he thinks Phil's BBQ is one of the best things San Diego has to offer (he is slightly mislead), Chem major. Oh and he gave us a heads up on Singapore Slang- "eat what?" "where go?" apparently sentences are useless. Nicole and I might come back slightly retarded.
-attempted to eat an awful lunch. Stuck with the familiar, roll with swiss cheese and ice cream!
-Played super mario brothers for like 45 mins- oh how i miss that game. its weird how I havent played since i was like 12 and I still know where each and every life, magic bean stalk, and random coin bricks are. I should've majored in Nintendo *reevaluating life*.
-tried to read
-tried to sleep
-writing...currently
still restless...still stoked to be over alaska.

wow.

My Savior.

God is amazing. That's all I can say.

Sidenote:

My whole life God has been the only consistency [besides my siblings], he NEVER lets us down...and its a beautiful beautiful thing.

You may be wondering why I am rambling about this, but I think its important that I thank Him for this incredible opprotunity and the provision He has given me....whether it has been friendship, family, funding, etc... He has always had a plan and I am blessed to be a part of it.

Thats all.

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things - air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” - Cesare Pavese