Summer Break

We are currently on summer break until the new school year begins on May 18th. As such, I've had a lot of free time to explore the city of Chanthaburi with my host family, eat delicious food, and take a three day teacher retreat.

Chanthaburi is famous for having the largest Catholic cathedral in Thailand. It's an impressive looking building on the waterfront. 

At the King Taksin Great Shrine and City Pillar Shrine with my host family. 

Day trip to the National Maritime Museum 

 

Dessert on Chanthaburi River

Vietnamese dinner at home. I could post dozens of amazing food pics here, but I'll let you visit my Facebook Timeline for those. 

I was invited to join the end of school year teacher's retreat to Kanchanaburi, the other side of Thailand from where I live now. They chartered a party bus, and as you can see below, there was plenty of karaoke, drinking, and gambling the entire drive.

One of our first stops was to the famous River Kwai Bridge.

Srinagarind Dam

We visited several wats (temples), including this one at วัดบ้านถ้ำ

and this one at วัดถำ้มังกรทอง

But honestly, the highlight of the trip was this wonderful foot massage.

Northen Japan Service Trip

I had the opportunity to join a service trip into Northern Japan. We spent two days working at a community seaweed coop in Ishinomaki, Onagawa. This area was wiped out by the devastating tsunami several years ago. At this stage, they are focused on rebuilding the economic infrastructure.

Much of the labor force has left the area, so they are shorthanded and don't have enough resources to hire many workers from outside. It's peak seaweed season at the moment. By bringing in a free labor force for 2 days, it helps them be that much more profitable for this crop season, allowing them to rebuild faster.

There were four of us from my Yokota Ward, including the bishop. The rest were Japanese volunteers from throughout the Tokyo area. We rode up late Wednesday night, arriving early Thursday morning. We worked all day Thursday and Friday, staying in a hotel one night. Another overnight on the bus returned us home early Saturday morning.

My fellow Yokota Ward Volunteers

Not exactly a modern factory. Processing methods are very hands on and labor intensive. I didn't mean to catch that lady coming out of the john.

They separate the seaweed into different sections for other groups to break down further. This part was left to the professionals.

In the mornings, we were put on "skinning" duty, removing the leaves from the thick stems. 

They take regular coffee breaks at 10 am and 3 pm. Most of the peace signs doubled as cigarette holders. Smoking is rampant among the fishermen. 

We had a nice Japanese meal at the hotel that night.

Our rooms were on the water. (Hooray for no tsunamis while we were there!)

After skinning, we spent the rest of the day in chopping sheds, where we would work on a different part of the seaweed.

Bishop Skabelund

Child labor

Senior labor

Our entire group prior to heading home. You can see the destruction to the only building left standing. It had steal framing. They use the hollowed out bottom floor for storage, and the second floor for office/meeting space.

Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point)

I'm in Rocky Point this week with friends. Aaron generously offered up their beach house to us Utah folk trying to escape our chilly spring. It was a long drive down but totally worth it.

Driving down in the Emig van: This is Jack, their second oldest boy

Grace and Carolina getting their wiggles out after lunch at Taco Bell.

This accident delayed us a bit.

My sweet digs at Casa Alahaja

Banho de Shane

Views from the balcony

Looking back at the house from the beach

Joe and Cali walking back to the house

Cort taking much better photos than I

Vegas Trivia Bowl 2010

I hosted our third annual Trivia Bowl on our way to and from Vegas for our NCAA basketball opening weekend guys trip. Hosting trivia games is something I've enjoyed doing since I was a kid. I don't know why.

Anyway, this year's players were the same as last: Scott, Dave, and Joey.

I broke up the competition into two segments: "To Vegas" & "From Vegas".

In To Vegas, Joey proved to be untouchable, winning 3 of 4 games. He was awarded a pair of Skullcandy headphones for his win.

From Vegas was a different story. Dave and Joey picked up a game a piece, but it was Scott who dominated with 3 wins. He walked away with a new golf shirt for his prize.


[Shane is available to host trivia games at your party or special event. Call for rates.]

MLS Champions

In case you don't follow soccer, which means 99% of you, our home team, the Real Salt Lake, won the Major League Soccer Cup this weekend in Seattle. It's like the Superbowl of soccer. I schlepped it 15 hours up and back on a bus to witness it in person. This was a Cinderella win if ever there was one. It's also a big win for our company, as we are the team sponsor. (note their jersey's below) Here are some photos from the trip.

National Champions

Watching Magnificent Seven on the ride up.

Ready for the day outside the Hyatt: Ryan, Conn, Me, Carson, Erik, and Marden

In case you ever wondered what a shirt made entirely of licorice might look like.

Ryan carried this flag wherever we went.

Marden's brother Shawn catching a fish at the market.

Parade of RSL fans leading to Qwest Stadium. We outnumbered the L.A. Galaxy fans like 10 to 1.

Met up with a company founder, Gordon, just outside the stadium for this shot.

Inside Quest Stadium. Packed house.

Our $25 seats were way up there.

The view below.

The big save in the equivalent of "double overtime" that sealed our victory.

Carson celebrating post game.

Where To Start?

I'm so behind in sending out my journal and posting to my blog, I can hardly think straight. Do I go in chronological order or skip to my Baja trip and catch up later? I have pictures from my birthday, the lot for my new house, and the Honolulu marathon that need to go up.

I'll start with Baja and play it by ear.

In case you didn't know, I was on a Green Tortoise trip to Baja Mexico from Dec 19th through Jan 3rd. That's a long time to be on a bus, especially with 34 new friends, not counting the 2 drivers.

This pack was my life for 15 days

I flew into San Francisco and took the BART to the hostel. The tour begins and ends in S.F. Life on the Green Tortoise revolves around the bus. It's how we get around, often where we sleep, and next to where we prepare our meals.

During the day, time is spent talking, playing games, reading, napping, watching the world go by, drinking, and sometimes playing D.J. with your iPod.

The front of the bus has bench seats along the side with a walkway down the middle

The middle has 2 tables with bench seats on either side, plus the walkway down the middle. I spent a good deal of time in this area playing cards.

The back is one large cushion covered area, with cushions along the side to lean against. There is no walkway.

Above are luggage racks which convert into 6 bunks at night. I slept here most of the time. There's also an extra elevated bunk in the back for the driver's to use. The bathroom in the back left is off limits. We stopped often for toilet breaks, which usually meant the side of the road. Guys had it much easier than the ladies.

At night, it's sleeping bags galore down below. I snapped this photo with my Blackberry from the safety of my top bunk. This is a good example of the 'zipper' method used to pack more bodies into a tight space.