And the winner is...

If you're reading this, then you probably know that I'm heading to China in ONE MONTH!  That's right.  I leave June 28th and return August 6th.  I'll teach English to some middle school students for three weeks after one week of training, then head to another country for one week of exploring the long-term focus of the program I'm serving through.

Until yesterday, I had no idea which country I'd be headed to for that final week.  I mean, I knew that Laos, Cambodia, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Mainland China were my choices.  Laos and Cambodia were my top two choices, not necessarily in that order, but my coordinator said I'd most likely head to one of those.  I picked Laos because I have a friend whose sister is teaching there, but I've never met the sister or even heard about her experiences, so I have no real connection there.

The story about my Cambodia choice is pretty comparable.  A friend of a friend spent a year or semester or some extended period of time in Cambodia and told me a little bit about her experiences when I met her at Tulip Festival last year.  (If you don't know what Tulip Festival is, Google it, then come to Orange City next year for the third weekend in May.  It's awesome, seriously.)  I somehow have developed this deep passion for girls caught in the sex slavery trade--through a recent trip to Nicaragua and some special speakers at college--so when Joy (my friend's friend) told me that was a huge issue in Cambodia, the country received the same passionate vigor.

So, I put down Laos and Cambodia as my top choices and waited and waited and waited to hear back.  I'm not the most patient person in the world, and I applied to teach in China way back in August, so I've been waiting for quite a while.

But TODAY... I found out the exciting news that I will be headed to CAMBODIA for that fifth week of the English teaching program.  I'm pumped.  Part of me now wishes I were doing something with the sex trade rescue missions now that I'm heading there, but who knows what is in store for me in the future, or even in that one week?!


Anyways, that's an update on my China trip.


I'll be traveling with Brendon, Rick, Michelle, Candise, Rachel, Abby, Joy, and our team's leader Amanda (a Dordt alum...I'm even friends with her sister!) to Hong Kong, and then on to Cambodia in approximately ONE MONTH!