Traveling Soul

Today is the 9th day of being in China and the second day of camp, but it is the first day that I have seen the sun shine and the blue skies since coming here. The sun is the source of my happiness and when I saw it, I couldn't believe it. The pollution had dispersed and the sky was absolutely brilliant. I'm conscious about how appreciative I am of the sun and the clean air that we have back home but being here has just reaffirmed my love for it.              Camp was far less chaotic today than it was yesterday, however we still have a lot of work to do. Whenever I am in the presence of children, I am always in awe at their imagination and their colorful expressive minds. One of my student told me that she "colored what she felt". Her picture of dolphins jumping out of the ocean was described as coming from her imagination. Today I got three more kids added to my group making the count to thirteen. The majority of the children that I work with do ...

There was a rumor that some people were getting bit by bed bugs, but no one had actually seen one. However, this morning, I woke up and found red bumps all over my face, arms, and legs. My roommate also had bites on her face and arms. We were informed yesterday that we needed to turn off the air conditioning every time we leave the room and to unplug everything because it runs a lot of electricity. When the rooms reach their maximum "electrical output" things will start shutting down, such as hot water running out or the air conditioning will shut off. Camille and I tried to use the remote that was written in Mandarin, but the AC would not turn off so we unplugged it. But then our room began to get really hot and muggy like it was outside. Our room also had this awful musky and moldy smell that we couldn't identify where the source was coming from. We searched our whole apartment and cleaned everything, but the persistent smell remained. I was anticipating the smog and th...

Right now I am sitting at a really beautiful and expensive coffee place called "Rain Coffee". Only the coffee here is over priced, but the food is really cheap. While exploring China, I've noticed that the food here is always really inexpensive when compared to the beverages. You can easily purchase a meal for $5 in US currency, but the drinks might be the same price, if not more. The cafe is about a ten minute walk from our apartment. There are massive chandeliers here and all of the furniture are leather. It is two stories decorated with colorful murals on the walls. This place is a hidden gem. I've been craving a nice cup of coffee to sip on and relax. Borrowing a computer from Jocelyn, this is the first time I've been able to sit down and think about the fact that I am actually in Beijing, China right now.         With the advancement in technology, our generation seems to be losing touch of genuine conversations and the appreciation of nature without s...

"It's not an adventure if everything goes as planned". It's only been four days and I can already attest to this. Our day started off at 5 this morning with a plan and an intent to explore the Forbidden City and a mission to buy clothes for myself. We left our apartments around 6:15 and walked to the subway station. Thankfully it was fairly close to us and not too difficult to figure out; we had outlined the stops and directions the night before. The subway was packed and full of busy people. It was my first time riding it and I felt so overwhelmed by the constant rush of people running from one metro to the next. Chinese people are not afraid to push and shove past you. Our first mishap was when we had a disagreement of which stop we were supposed to take. As we argued and talked about what to do, the subway door closed and left with 3 people while the other 3 stayed behind. I was one of the 3 who did not get on the subway. We reunited at the 4th exit and Jocelyn e...

Our apartment is located about an hour away from downtown Beijing which I am so excited to explore! We can't flush anything down the toilet including toilet paper because the sewer system is too weak to handle it. Also we can't drink water from the faucet because it contains too much metal. These little adjustments are minor compared to the language barrier. Most of the people in the area that we are in don't speak English. Surprisingly though, most of the packages and the signs have a couple of words in English, an accommodation that I'm so thankful for. Living in Eugene, Oregon was a privilege. I had the opportunity and the ability to eat raw and organic food and to know exactly where my products were coming from. In America we don't accommodate for China, everything is written in English and every once in a while, in Spanish. But travel outside the US and I guarantee you English will be available. The bathroom was the strangest thing I had ever seen. The shower...

As soon as I stepped off of the plane, the smog and heat instantly hit me. According to the New York Times, China is considered the second most polluted place in the world with Beijing coming in fourth. There was a little girl in front of me who was being carried by her mom. She looked tired and before I could let my mind take in the unfamiliar surroundings, the little girl projectile vomited, barely missing me, as if saying, welcome to China. As I was walking with the flow of passengers I recognized the uniform that I should have been wearing. Her name was Camille and together we found our embassy representative, Asia. Asia took us to a cab driver and gave him the directions to our apartment where we would meet Holly. Both of the ladies spoke English but the cab driver did not. The driving here is insane. Driving lanes, although on the road, does not exist. He stopped us off at a place, pointing to some big buildings, I tried to ask him if this was our apartment and he nodded. Cam...

If you haven't already, you should go watch this movie! It's worthwhile. Traveling alone is one of the scariest things that I've ever done. It's also one of the most rewarding experiences. I've never felt so taken advantage of, so vulnerable, so angry at the world...my last day spent in Eugene was in the company of good friendships , in fact the last couple of days had been really pleasant. My dear friend Taylor from back home drove me up after I parked my car in my mom's driveway and we went  on a camping trip with some of my favorite human (lady) beings. I truly wanted to be engulfed by the beauty of nature, its simply yet breathtaking scenery has always been my constant escape. Last night, Stephanie, Sol and I decided to drive up to Portland a little early before my flight to enjoy the night life. It was intended to be a fun last night spent with my best friends, a distraction from the goodbye's, the harsh reality that when I returned, many people...

11:20 PM Since this is my first post, I want to describe myself and explain a little bit about where I am coming from. I was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and when I was five years old, I was adopted by two incredible parents into a family with 3 adopted children. My parents found out that I had a blood sister and as a result my mom returned to Cambodia to bring her home. Two years later, we were reunited and our family grew to consist of 7 people. I have lived in the same house since moving to college in the small tight-knit community of Bandon. As a child, I knew that I wanted to travel the world, to gain perspectives, to increase cultural awareness, the reasons seemed endless. In fact, one of the main motives for why I decided to come to the University of Oregon was because I had heard that you could study abroad as a sophomore (one of few colleges that lets you study abroad your second year). I had heard about various programs, attended numerous information sessions, and every t...