Still Not Dead

Hey All,

I'm still not dead. Which is good, I promise. I'm still house sitting and I'll be finished on Wednesday morning and can't wait to sleep in my bed again. Don't get me wrong -- the places I stay, they have some pretty sweet beds for their guests . . . almost like they never want them to leave! But there's much to be said about sleeping in your own bed. Its got your body spot, you know? That slight dip in the mattress which allows you to instantly find a "good" spot. The only downer will be going back to the neighbors. According to LB, they're still blasting music and dancing across the floor while dropping everything they own on the floor.

In other news -- no more frozen! The weather popped back up and it's just a whole lot of mud now. But at least I don't have to dress in five layers to brave the barn. Jeans, rain boots, and a sweater are sufficient these days and I couldn't be happier.

I've been doing lots of thinking, like usual. I've updated my 5-year plan. Again.

• 2014
• Pay off credit cards
• Save money for Thailand
• Paris for New Years
• 2015
• Teach ESL in Thailand
• New Years in Thailand
• 2016
• Teach ESL in Thailand
• New Years in Japan with my Japanese Sister
• 2017
• Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) through hiking from April to September
• Apply for Bachelor degree in Earth-Space Science at Western, WSU, UW, and BYU-I
• New Years at home with my family
• 2018
• School for the next four years or so until degree is finished
• Approximately 2021
• Graduate
• Travel the world with my teaching degree

Not to shabby, right?

A friend of mine is currently in Thailand teaching. She is having a great time and living my dream! I was talking to her and she said you don't need a degree to teach there. If you don't have a degree, you can still teach. You'll be more like a "guest speaker" than a teacher but you'll still grade papers and give lectures. You're mostly there to engage the kids and help them become enthusiastic about learning English. The program ($1,500), plane tickets (RT: about $1,000), and food, rent, and entertainment ($500) for the first month will cost approximately $3,000. I still need to look into travel insurance and other "fun" things like it but I'm super stoked about this opportunity!

By teaching abroad for two years, I'm hoping to have a huge advantage over my competition to enter the education program at Western -- A) It shows I'm serious about teaching, B) It gives me a lot of experience, and, C) I'll have marked off something amazing on my bucket list and write about in the entrance essays. I'm not very diverse and haven't done much of anything in my community. And I'm getting old. I'll have to duke it out with those uppity youngsters and that's always a challenge. If I'm not accepted at Western, I'll have backups at WSU, UW, and BYU-I. I'll apply for those programs in the fall of 2016 for Fall Quarter of 2017. That means while I'm hiking the PCT, I'll need to be finished in under 5 months. Which means a lot of 40 mile days to travel. Which means a lot of preparation is going to happen. A challenge, surely, but I'm willing to accept it and destroy it!

I feel better now that I've got some guidelines to follow. I'd been floundering ever since I finished my AA in June this year. I didn't have anything to do or plan towards. So, like I said, I'm feeling much better about life!

Cheers!
LC