tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74374194739078294742011-04-21T13:30:00.865-07:00Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437419473907829474.post-90361349033157619882008-12-02T08:17:00.000-08:002008-12-02T09:13:41.400-08:00

Most kids in Laos have never owned a book...but you helped change that! With the donations for whiteboard photos, village kids received brand new children’s books through the Big Brother Mouse program. We visited Luang Prabang, Laos in late October and it was amazing seeing how excited (and hyper!) the kids were. Justin had a little girl cracking up by holding her hands and swinging her and

Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437419473907829474.post-31324368140569100392008-12-01T10:42:00.000-08:002008-12-01T22:56:29.353-08:00

The Last Hoorah in Asia!Our first day in Singapore happened to be the start of the “Christmas in the Tropics” celebration. In mid-November, entire streets were lit-up, parks displayed larger-than-life nutcrackers, and the decorated super mall kicked off its daily “Dream Time” trapeze holiday show. This city-state favors going over-the-top, and does the same with their uber-clean streets,

Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437419473907829474.post-87355280186633053882008-11-25T07:14:00.001-08:002008-11-26T12:54:15.187-08:00

It’s about time we put some words to writing as three weeks have passed since we first entered Thailand. From lounging on long tailed boats to spinning fire on the beach with friendly locals, this country has had us wrapped up in eye-opening and life changing experiences. We first went to the lively city of Bangkok and showed up at our hotel, ironically, in bright yellow shirts from the night

Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437419473907829474.post-84360724671857900152008-10-26T12:31:00.000-07:002008-10-28T05:45:01.725-07:00

It’s starting to feel more like home in Southeast Asia. It must be because our host parents ROCK! Here in Vientianne, Laos, Bob has an amazing guitar collection and his wife Jiangping even gave our beat-up whiteboard a complete makeover (with stylish fabric and shoulder strap included!). <!--[if gte vml 1]> <![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[

Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437419473907829474.post-59931179324408368452008-10-15T01:10:00.000-07:002008-10-15T01:38:08.946-07:00

Let’s fast forward through Hong Kong for a minute. The mud pits and luring village women in rice fields were calling our name, so here we are in Yangshao, China! We were immediately awed by the huge hilly formations stretching aside the Li River, while bearded men on bamboo rafts leisurely paddled by. It’s been a great transition from the bustling cities we’ve recently experienced, but needless

Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437419473907829474.post-83147643576889465392008-10-07T07:55:00.000-07:002008-10-11T05:45:26.372-07:00

Fuzhou, China. Where's that? We didn't know either. But we got there as the sun came up after an overnight train and as usual everything was in Chinese. Remain calm. Look inquisitive. Act in charge. Apparently this worked because a local quickly came to help us book our train tickets to Hong Kong, as well as found us an Internet café and told us the must-see sights in Fuzhou. These sights

Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437419473907829474.post-7286044797680507832008-10-03T11:09:00.000-07:002008-10-03T11:38:03.951-07:00

If that didn't make sense, we're referring to The Olympics, and even though they're over, there’s still much to see! First stop: The Forbidden City. Highlights included a lesson on Chinese Art by students selling their works, some temples and a statue that everyone took pictures of (including us), oh…and Justin’s purple ice cream. It all started to look the same, but it didn’t deter us from

Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437419473907829474.post-45982837114599746832008-09-24T08:27:00.000-07:002008-09-24T09:13:16.521-07:00

The wheels on this bus are going to Beijing! We planned to be there a few days ago, but it seems our most memorable experiences have been when we haven’t planned at all. The bus isn’t as bad as it seems though—we’re over halfway there, and everyone seems to be reclined in their beds…well, the people who have beds that is. The rest are all crammed on mats in the narrow isles. Yeah, real comfy.

Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437419473907829474.post-38615288083579415862008-09-17T08:06:00.000-07:002008-09-23T21:14:19.960-07:00

Our impromptu stay in Busan, Korea ended up more interesting than we could’ve ever imagined. Our first night came with gold embroidered pillows that read “Hotel Dong Shin”. There was also a rather large complimentary can of bug spray—needless to say, we didn’t stay a second night; the mosquitoes were hungry. In need of a new location, we headed to the Aqua Palace Hotel where we were introduced

Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437419473907829474.post-79196548768076265502008-09-13T05:41:00.000-07:002008-09-17T08:44:49.166-07:00

Greetings from Pusan, Korea! Oh, and we mustn’t forget Happy Thanksgiving here at Hotel Dong Shin! Apparently we missed the memo that it’s holiday weekend across the country and all trains, planes, & automobiles are booked until Tuesday. Here’s to an unplanned adventure—more on that once we make it to Seoul! Recap on Japan—Although we weren’t able to get past “hello” & “thank you” in

Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437419473907829474.post-61583036406313651612008-09-08T16:05:00.000-07:002008-09-21T21:34:09.893-07:00

We arrived in Mt Fuji Sept. 7. We rented bikes to tour around a gorgeous lake, but shortly into our trip it started to rain. We made a quick turn-around for town. We found a supermarket where Justin’s dinner consisted of free samples. Oh yeah, and a corn dog, sushi, a donut and ice cream. How he came up with that combo, no one knows. When it came time to check-out, the lady kept talking to

Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7437419473907829474.post-8678501931408579812008-09-06T17:38:00.000-07:002008-09-07T02:56:19.953-07:00

We skipped a day! We left Iowa on the morning of Sept 4th and woke up Sept 6th in Japan. That's a very surreal feeling especially when we went to breakfast and everything was in Japanese, and hundreds of people were hustling around that didn't quite look like us. Once we figured out the elaborate metro system--serving the 34 million people in Greater Tokyo --we were well on our way to see what

Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413682260341048514noreply@blogger.com2