Self-Sufficient, yet Incompetent....

I did it! I am currently in Ubon Ratchathani and I did it all by myself. No one helped me at all! I went and bought the ticket, made it to the bus station, found my dock, got on the bus and found a tuk tuk from the bus station to the Mission here in Ubon ALL BY MYSELF. I am so proud of myself. If you know me, you know that I get lost rather easily. If you ask my opinion, I think I have an actual disease. A disease that affects my sense of direction(slightly kidding). So I am stunned and elated to think that I am capable of traveling 8 hours away from Bangkok and arriving here in one piece. I'm so happy!

I'm also excited because I get to spend the rest of this week(well, until Friday at least) with Erin & Leah. I've missed these two so much! We've all become such good friends and I can't imagine my Thailand experience without them. God has truly blessed me with some amazing friends and I'm so glad that I came to Thailand, not only for my teaching experiences and life lessons, but because of the awesome friends that I have made here. Who would have thought that I would meet so many American friends in Thailand, of all places? Huh, we had to go around the world to meet...God works in such creative ways.

If you don't want to read a long but funny story, then stop reading - HERE -

OK - So, I made it on the correct bus. The dude showed me to my seat and I noticed that there was no one next to me. I figured that someone would come later, but quickly realized 20 minutes into the ride that no one else was coming. I was sitting in the aisle seat, leaving the window seat open. I put my purse and things in the open seat and tried to get some sleep. Somehow in my slumber my legs(which seem to be as long as anacondas here) managed to fall into the aisleway and block everyone's way to the bathroom. After the attendant nudged me, I thought it best for me to move into the window seat so my long, farang legs didn't obstruct the aisleway anymore. Oh, I should mention that I believe my legs went into the aisle in order to get away from the seat in front of me. The lady in front of me cranked her seat ALL the way back, and was literally almost laying in my lap). It wouldn't have been so bad if only I was shorter.... Both of my seats were laid back as well(the people behind me were short) into the laying down position but when I moved to the window seat, I noticed that there was a large protrusion at the area where my lower back came into contact with the seat. "Huh," I thought, "must be why no one's sitting here. The chair must be broken." I twisted sideways and tried to make do and actually found a somewhat comfortable position, even with the lump. After a couple of minutes, the lump moved. "Whhoooaa, there" I thought, again. Then, it occured to me. I figured that the lump must be from the lady's feet behind me. The lump went away and came back again. It was starting to get old. I was getting frustrated after waiting a few minutes to see the if the lady would stop moving, because I was trying to get some sleep for crying out loud! She kept moving. She would move her feet back, then after 30 seconds to a minute, they would poke me in the back again. Something felt odd about the lump. I looked behind me to see if I could see the lady's feet. She was sound asleep. I was shocked that her feet would reach that far! Then after a few more nudges, I noticed a pattern. The nudge was always for the same amount of time and it was a consistent, almost mechanical nudge. I wondered to myself, then looked down at the side of my seat. There, plain as day was a glowing green button pressed down for a massage. I laughed to myself. It had been the chair massaging me all along. Odd massage, but a massage nonetheless. I thought this was a rather humorous "Ashley" moment, so I had to share it with those interested. Hope you had a good chuckle.