long overdue post.

I guess its probably time to update this blog on my activities so far this winter... Well, I must say Fukui winter thus far has been extremely mild. We havent had a ton of snow and right now the sun is shining and its 50 degrees. Awesome. However, my teachers warned me today that all day tomorrow we are supposed to get tons of snow. I guess we can't be lucky forever!

Over Christmas and New Years I spent 2 weeks travelling around Southeast Asia with a few other fellow ALT's. We left Fukui in the freezing cold snow and had a layover in even colder Seoul, South Korea for 5 hours. Korea is a huge hub for SE Asia, kinda like Chicago. When we got on our plane we realized that a couple of other people from Fukui headed to the Philippines and to New York also had the same flight to Korea. We were in Korea for about 5 hours. The airport was probably the nicest airport I've ever seen. They had rest stations for people who had over-night layovers. with places to take showers for free, sleep in beds, and get on the internet. They also had a Smoothie King for me to enjoy. It was heavenly.
After our awesome layover, seriously, it was great, We flew 6 hours to Cambodia. Cambodia is an incredible place; The sun was bright and beautiful, The people were super warm and friendly, The jungle temples were incredible, and all the food was amazing. I totally recommend a trip to Cambodia if you are ever thinking about it.

this random hike was to see some waterfalls. The waterfalls weren't that awesome but, the hike was probably my favorite part of cambodia. It was a great hike and a ton of fun to feel like Tarzan wandering the jungle!

On our travel day to Phuket Thailand, we left our hotel in Cambodia at 8 am and drove to the border. We were supposed to walk across and get on another bus to drive us to Bangkok. They told us we would get there at 3pm which would give us plenty of time to catch our plane at 9:30pm.

 ...However, our bus was an hour late to our hotel. Then it took us 5 hours of standing in line to get across the overcrowded border. At the border there was no food, no water, and no bathrooms. In an effort to catch the plane we decided to just forgo food and bathroom breaks. However once we were across the broder it took us another 45 minutes to get on the second bus. We were officially going to miss our plane. But, luckily, there was another plane leaving at 10:35 and we wanted to catch that one. We paid the driver to go extra fast to get us to the airport as fast as possible. We got there at 10:00pm. The air asia desks had just closed and we had to stay the night at the airport. The silver lining here is that we could finally got something to eat and use the restroom. The first time since 6am that morning. We had a deliriously hysterical night at the airport and caught the next plane in the morning at 5am.

Once we reached the hotel in Phuket everyone collapsed in exhaustion. We had earned a good nap. The beaches in Phuket are gorgeous and we enjoyed snorkeling, floating lanterns, new years celebrations, cheap shopping, and jet-skis. All in all it was a successful trip.

floating lanterns on new years eve!

After new years we flew back to Bangkok to enjoy the city for a few more days. We were lucky enough to stay in a really nice hotel. We got a great deal like 70% off. It was easily the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. Bangkok was great but honestly we were so exhausted we didn't do much besides hang out together.

welcome to Bankok.

Note: almost all the Thailand pictures are not mine. I gave up on taking pictures...

 Coming back to Fukui was perfect timing. It truly felt like coming home. It was strange to think of my tiny apartment in Japan as my home. It was the first time that I felt like that. I remember the first time I called Fort Worth home too, It was an equally strange feeling. But that's exactly what Fukui is to me. For right now, It is home. I should be making a final decision soon whether or not I'm going to be staying another year. Stay posted!