 Well, we are back! The previous post I just realized I wrote before I left but never publicly posted, so we're not dead we've just been gone a while.  We had been planning to take two weeks of vacation sometime before leaving Korea (Mark had saved up his year's worth of leave), but we weren't sure when his schedule would allow for it. So finally we were able to book a trip and decided to go to Thailand. It's a fairly popular place for Koreans to travel to, since it's only about a four hour plane ride from here. We spent two weeks in three different places: Bangkok (Thailand's captial) for two days, Chang Mai for five days, and Phuket for six days. Phuket is really an island but still part of Thailand, it actually was hit pretty hard by the tsunami in December 2004 but has recovered for the most part. We had an incredible time. We rode elephants, mountain biked through the jungles, went canoeing in sea caves, spent time with hill tribe people, rode on a bamboo river raft and had some time to relax on the beach, too...It was a nice balance of adventure and rest. We hit a rough patch when I came down with the stomach flu but I got over it just a couple days. Our weather was great, very hot (95 degrees!) and humid but not much rain. Most of the tourists there were from Europe. We first referred to them as Euros, until Mark changed the term to yoyo's due to their "flamboyauncy," as he called it. I think most everywhere we were the only Americans. So we had the chance to meet so many different types of people. Anyway, we arrived home Friday night and are now facing our final month overseas. Yes, we are soon returning to the USA, home sweet home! Mark flies out on May 30 and I leave the 29th. It's a little earilier that we'd thought and will be somewhat sad to say goodbye to our life here, but overall we're ready and looking forward to returning to El Paso, Texas. Who knows how long we'll be there, but right now it seems like we can plan on settling down a little bit. We're kind of excited to look into the future and not know what exactly will happen...the amount of decisions we will need to make is a bit unnerving but we feel at peace that God has a plan for whatever we do. I also have to mention quickly that while I was gone I recieved in the mail a letter from AFAA (where I tested for aerobics) saying that I had passed my tests! I was so happy, and so I am hoping to pursue that more in El Paso. Yea!! Ok, picture overload here. I took about 250 pictures there, but I'll try to post just a selection here.   Arriving at the airport in Thailand..we couldn't wait!  In Bangkok, we were able to visit a WWII cemetary for American POW's who died under Japanese control. We also went to the Death Railway and Bridge over the River Kwai, which the POW's were forced to build during their imprisonment. This was the grave of an undentified POW.   Here we took a trip to a "Floating Market," where Thai women sell produce and goods out of their canoes.  This is a "tuk tuk" or translated it's "taxi." You take them everywhere in Thailand; not very safe but fun to ride    Elephant riding in Chang Mai (Northern Thailand). Mark was SO excited he got to ride bareback on the elephant's neck by himself. I stayed in the seat. And we floated down a river on a bamboo raft like Huck Finn :)  Mark getting a hug :)  We got to visit an orchid farm and found out they are actually not even grown in soil, which I never knew. The roots are just sprayed to make them grow.  Sea canoeing...a guide took us through these caves into caverns within the rock formations; it was so beautiful!  On the sea canoe tour we were taken to this location James Bond Island, famous for it's appearance in a couple James Bond movies.  This sign was posted outside of our hotel in Phuket, which was right on the water. Thankfully no tsunami warnings during our stay. A couple thousand people died in Thailand from the waves that day, and we saw many parts of the country still trying to recover.    A few pictures from our hotel in Phuket.  Gorgeous sunset from the balcony of our hotel room.   One day we took a biking tour through the jungles and villages. This was probably our favorite tour. We also rode through a rubber tree plantation and saw how rubber is made, very interesting.  So...Mark got REALLY into "Muy Thai" Boxing. That's all I heard about all week. He even bought his own pair of shorts, I guess he's sponsored by Red Bowl..haha! Thai boxing is a big sport in the country, but we didn't go to any matches :) We had a great time, but we were ready to get back. The night we came home we also had a Praise and Worship night on post, so it was a nice to see our friends there right after getting back. Our Thursday night Bible study group got together for a picture..this is Mark and I, Zach and Theresa, Tae, and Rebecca and Brian.  So I guess that's it for now. We miss you all, thanks for putting up with the pictures :) | 
No eggrolls, no sweet and sour chicken...isn't that weird? They didn't even have fortune cookies! Well anyway, the next night we went to a Mongolian barbecue which was a lot of fun. There was music and dancing, and because I was sitting near the stage they had me do this little dance with them and made me drink a shot of Mongolian whiskey! It tasted so terrible 
(Mark said that's what my face looked like after drinking it). Here's a video clip of the music, these guys were really good! Sorry it's sideways.
