Spring Break has been a time full of adventure! Clay (age 15) went to Nepal with a group of students and teacher from his school, and the rest of us packed off for Thailand. Both of these locations were totally foreign to us, but if we are going to be on the opposite side of the world for a while, we might as well see it!
Let me begin with an explaination of why we went to Thailand without Clay. When we began discussing the possibility of taking a trip somewhere during the two weeks we would have for spring break, the school that I taught at did not have the same break period as the school where the boys attended. We were only going to have one week in common. So we decided that would be the week we would travel. Once that decision was made, we received notification of the official travel dates for the service trip that Clay had been chosen for way back in November. Wouldn't you know it....same week that we were planning our Spring Break trip. So now the one week we would have in common was going to take Clay away on the Nepal adventure. We did not like the idea that we wouldn't all be experiencing Thailand together but after much thought we all agreed that he was going to be experiencing Nepal without us, so we called it even! LOL!
Now after the tickets were bought for the flight and the hotel reservations were made, the school that I am teaching at all of sudden realized that they were the only school in Abu Dhabi to have the Spring Break dates that they had. According to the education council here, all schools are supposed to have the same break dates. (I think this is because so many families do not have all of their children in the same school. Some have kids in multiple schools.) So my school announces that the Spring Break dates will be changed to match the other schools of the area, which of course, now gives us the entire break together! BUT, remember I just said tickets had been purchased and reservations had been made, so we left things as they were.....
The day arrived for Clay to leave for Nepal....we packed him a little suitcase, delivered him to the airport where he met the rest of the group, and off he went! We went home after sending him off and packed our bags, and left out the next morning at 5:30am for Thailand!
We didn't have much communication with Clay during the entire week due to where he was internet connection was hit or miss and power outages happened frequently. We got the occasional update from one of the teachers via email. I knew ahead of time that communicating would be tough so I told Clay to be sure to take a lot of pictures!!!! (And he did, such a good boy!)
Our Thailand trip was a little more leisurely than Clay's but both locations were definitely amazing experiences in their own ways. In Thailand we ziplined through the jungle, walked across the historical River Kwai bridge, shopped at a floating market, rode and swam with elephants in the River Kwai, ate Thai food, saw amazing views of the land, swam in the South China Sea, built a sand castle on the beach, and enjoyed a relaxing time together!
Elephants + Water = Soaked!!!
Clay spent time working on an orphanage in Nepal....providing a service to help those in need. He meet children of all ages that lived in the orphanage, and played games with them. They didn't really have any toys so Clay found a bunch of paper and some tape and he created a ball for them. This led to a game of impromptu soccer between the kids from the school group and the kids from the orphanage. The teachers reported that they all had a blast! When they weren't cleaning or painting walls at the orphanage, the service group spent a few days trekking up the mountain side and staying in little hotels along the way, eating traditional dishes of Nepal, visiting a mountain top temple, walking among the temple's monkey inhabitants, and basically roughing it by showering with water bottles in tiny bathrooms. Even though Clay's accommodations were not as nice as ours in Thailand he had a wonderful time, and gained an even greater appreciation for the things that we have been blessed with. He has mentioned that he would love to go back one day with his friends from Texas!
Let me begin with an explaination of why we went to Thailand without Clay. When we began discussing the possibility of taking a trip somewhere during the two weeks we would have for spring break, the school that I taught at did not have the same break period as the school where the boys attended. We were only going to have one week in common. So we decided that would be the week we would travel. Once that decision was made, we received notification of the official travel dates for the service trip that Clay had been chosen for way back in November. Wouldn't you know it....same week that we were planning our Spring Break trip. So now the one week we would have in common was going to take Clay away on the Nepal adventure. We did not like the idea that we wouldn't all be experiencing Thailand together but after much thought we all agreed that he was going to be experiencing Nepal without us, so we called it even! LOL!
Now after the tickets were bought for the flight and the hotel reservations were made, the school that I am teaching at all of sudden realized that they were the only school in Abu Dhabi to have the Spring Break dates that they had. According to the education council here, all schools are supposed to have the same break dates. (I think this is because so many families do not have all of their children in the same school. Some have kids in multiple schools.) So my school announces that the Spring Break dates will be changed to match the other schools of the area, which of course, now gives us the entire break together! BUT, remember I just said tickets had been purchased and reservations had been made, so we left things as they were.....
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| Here we go to Thailand! |
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| Clay with the Himalayas behind him! |
We didn't have much communication with Clay during the entire week due to where he was internet connection was hit or miss and power outages happened frequently. We got the occasional update from one of the teachers via email. I knew ahead of time that communicating would be tough so I told Clay to be sure to take a lot of pictures!!!! (And he did, such a good boy!)
Our Thailand trip was a little more leisurely than Clay's but both locations were definitely amazing experiences in their own ways. In Thailand we ziplined through the jungle, walked across the historical River Kwai bridge, shopped at a floating market, rode and swam with elephants in the River Kwai, ate Thai food, saw amazing views of the land, swam in the South China Sea, built a sand castle on the beach, and enjoyed a relaxing time together!
Elephants + Water = Soaked!!!
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Clay told us that Nepal is a very poor place and that trash is everywhere. We experienced the same thing while in Thailand. There were even some places that our taxi drivers told us to avoid due to the trouble caused in those locations by the Thai mafia. Being able to see how other cultures live their daily lives is an eye opening experience, and I am glad that we have been able to experience it first hand. We take so many things for granted so it is good to be humbled and reminded of just how blessed we are when we see those who have way less than we have. It is also a lesson in how much we could all actually do without. So many things that many of us consider neccesities are really no more than frivalous wants....
Overall....we all enjoyed our Spring Break adventures! God is good....All the time!!
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