"With all these things that I've done...I you can hold on, hold on"

We're already desperately trying to HOLD ON to our summer memories. The flight home, the party weekend with Sal and Shane, the move-in have all been a whirl wind. All the thoughts of school and groceries and work feel like they're pushing their way into my mind and ousting the reality of this summer. BUT! We've got good stuff to look forward to. Watching Wipeout, eating way too much at Papa's, jumping the Lehi bridge, rock climbing, hiking to a waterfall, and playing a stirring game of Rummykub in the past two days was definitely a good start. Anyway, here are some of our memories and reflections that we will never forget (*disclaimer* these are given from a totally bias American born and breed point of view; if anyone is offended, you reserve the right to laugh at us too):

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES
China
- Alex eating a barbequed half formed baby bird at London's in Longfang, China

Vietnam
- Drinking a fruit smoothy off the streets of Saigon. The ice they use is transported on moto bikes in big blocks, exposed to the dirt and dust. They then crush it up and feed it to you. Why did we do it? We REALLY REALLY wanted a smoothy. It's hot there people!
- Swimming with jellyfish. Joe swore they’d kill you.

Cambodia
- A moto with two girls bumped alex’s arm in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The girl screamed and I thought his foot got run over

Thailand
-boat ride from Koh Tao, Thailand to the mainland. No other foreigners, crazy seas tossing the boat 180 degrees back and forth, trying to sleep, praying our guts out, and clenching each others hands, getting air off our beds, looking desperately for life vests and an escape route
- (The only actual near death experience) motorcycle gear change on a busy super downhill downhill road. Instead of pushing the gear up, Alex pushed it down and the bike did crazy fishtailness, alex put it into neutral and we survived. Had we fallen we would’ve been run over and definitely dead. We praised the Lord after that one to be sure.
- Almost getting eaten alive by spiders in the bunk house at Kao Yai National Park in Thailand. It was like a wooden shed no one had slept in for ages and there were millions of spiders. We slept on reed mats with a tiny blanket and listened to all the night time hub bub in the jungle next to us.

Myanmar
- long tail ride back from the Myanmar boarder. There was a crazy rainstorm which soaked us in addition to the big waves we were charging in our little long tail boat.

Indonesia
- Almost dying of exhaustion getting there. Night bus to Bangkok (no sleep), flight the next night at 12am, four hour delay and arrived in Jakarta at 4am, going straight to the LDS church and chillin until church started at 8am
- Alex got electrocuted in Bali when he used a Chinese iPod charger and touched the part that goes in the iPod. The 220V current threw him back on the bed
- Climbing the most active volcano in Indonesia- Merapi. If the volcano didn’t kill us, the hike almost did- it was soooo hard!


FUNNIES/ IRONIES/ INSIGHTS

- Fatty Europeans topless, in thongs, or both. (On Gili Air, Bali we saw this lady with the biggest butt we’d ever seen and she was in a THONG! I mean one of her butt cheeks was at least the size of both alex's and mine combined- DON'T WEAR THONGS PEOPLE! especially when they're not flattering)
- Air Asia- they’re so funny, never ever take them seriously. By that I mean, their flights are always at least 4 hours delayed.
- Korean lady on the ride to Bromo volcano, Indonesia. We hadn’t been around oriental Asians for a while and she was so funny to us because she was sooo incredibly stereotypical asian woman. Big bag full of goodies of every kind including: a blue plastic octopus thing to massage her arms and legs to keep the circulation going, all sorts of bad smelling snacks, and a sleeve to put on the arm that was exposed to the sun. She was also 100% dependant on her husband and couldn’t even figure out how to open the door of the van. Darling lady! I love Asians.
- tourist gimics. We were caught by a ton of them. One of the best though was the 12 hour bus ride from Bromo to Bali. There were tons of us tourists packed on to the crappiest, hottest tour bus ever. The seats were so jammed together Alex couldn’t even sit down right.
- Ladies carrying the craziest stuff on their heads. One woman had a dinner table with all the settings and food.
-being offered special mushroom drink in Kuta, Bali, and weed on Gili Air
- Alex zip lining upside down in Kuta, Bali
- Lady who sang her testimony in Jakarta, Indo.
- Our scuba instructor, Jesse, and all his raunchy jokes, hand motions, and hilarious laugh
- hearing French people say their own words, like “Baguette”
- break dancing underwater in Koh Tao, Thailand
- kids in Myanmar making babies in the same bed as 5 other people
- all the things you can hog tied to a motorbike, including a cow
- Mike McDermit.
- French Helmick.
- Thai music videos. They’re all about unrequited love. Every single one has faded scenes with happy memories, a fight scene, and either a reunion or betrayal
- Indonesian transport. It’s ridiculous. There are no highways in the entire country and so if you are on a bus or in a taxi you’re just traveling down the craziest, most random, curvy roads ever
- Peeps shouting “yes” at you as you pass by, as if you’d approached them with a question or something
- “shopping?”- that’s what an Indonesian jewelry sales man asked us as we were sitting at a restaurant table waiting for our food
- Battalions of kids in Cambodia
- Indonesian movie finales- or should I say, the lack there-of

LESSONS WE’VE LEARNED
- don’t get caught up in the material aspects of life (appearance, belongings)
- recognize the beauty that surrounds you, it will always be there; whether in nature, you’re relationships, or in quite moments
- relax! Don’t wig out!!! Life is worth LIVING, every single moment. The seconds in time are like diamonds- don’t waste them on grumpyness, contempt, or anger- recognize their value. And the best time to apply this is when things go crazy! Be calm, be chill.
- smile, be happy; even the most unfortunate people do
- give back, help people, help strangers (Joe the Cambodian English teacher taught us that)
- be humble, be greatful, pay it forward
- if you care about a bargain keep trying to find the cheapest way around something, it’s almost always there; but don’t fight for it, just find it and if you have to bargain do it nice
- more secluded empty beaches
- the church is true- don’t let being a non-conformist drive you away from the spirit or the church
- Mc D’s, KFC, Burger King, and 7-11 will never be the same
- THANK YOU to those who showed us their support by their generous gift giving at our wedding. We feel like we’ve learned so much on this trip and I think is will have been a valuable investment for our future. I don’t think Tupperware could’ve taught it all to us; not that we don’t like Tupperware.