O Christmas Tree

A couple of weeks ago we made a very exciting purchase--our first Christmas tree. We set it up last week (yes, it is a fake tree, must to our dismay). Sherrie gave us some of their old lights and decorations, so we had a good time decorating our tree tonight. The most exciting part was probably throwing the tinsel on the tree. As Ben says, that makes it so much more gaudy (which is a good thing when it comes to Christmas trees). For the grand viewing, Ben made me wait outside until the lights were off and the proper background music was playing (O Tannenbaum). This was the final result:

The San Francisco Treat

We had quite an extended Thanksgiving vacation this year. It included hours upon hours of driving, fish and chips, Walt Disney, and being a couch potato. Have I piqued your interest? These are just the highlights.

Our route, which according to Google Maps takes a total of 1 day, 7 hours:

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Ben ran across a busy street to reach this gem that we came across somewhere in the middle of Nevada.

We forgot our camera on the first day, so you will just have to rely on my words to spin a picture. We drove to California with our friends Ian and Lauren, and we stayed with Ian's grandparents, Grammy and Papa. They were extremely hospitable and Grammy did a good job of feeding us. Our first stop in San Francisco was the Walt Disney Museum. We learned about Disney's life and his early cartoons and movies. 

Our other main event that day was a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. The last time Ben was in San Francisco he found a fish and chips place and had been missing them ever since. We drove around in the rain and asked for directions, but eventually we were so hungry that we gave up and ate mexican food. I was happy (not being a seafood fan myself), but Ben was quite sad. After we ate, we drove about a block down the street and lo and behold, there was the fish and chips restaurant. So of course we stopped.

On Monday we hit a lot of the touristy sites. I made a special request for Lombard Street, which lived up to its reputation.

We ate lunch at the most amazing sandwich shop, Ike's. Ben and Ian split a sandwich which included Roast Beef, Corned Beef, Pastrami, Salami, Turkey, Bacon, Ham, Mozzarella Sticks, Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers, Beer Battered Onion Rings, Avocado and Pesto. Tasty.

Just a side story, when Ben was last in San Francisco, he and his four male friends stumbled into this 24-hour diner in the middle of the night only to discover that it was the self-appointed "gayest diner in the world." It happened to be down the street from Ike's, and upon seeing it, I wondered how they didn't realize that Little Orphan Andy's, adorned with rainbow flags, was what it claims to be.

The rest of our trip was just as touristy. We took a bunch of pictures in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. I wasn't even posing for this one.

We visited Chinatown briefly and spent the rest of the evening walking around the pier. Ben particularly enjoyed Ghirardelli Square.

We ate dinner at Boudin's, which is famous for its sourdough bread. We had some amazing views of the city from the pier. 

The rest of our trip was spent in Los Angeles. Our friends have family there and we stayed with my grandparents who live outside of LA. It was the most wonderful visit, during which we spent a good deal of time just relaxing on the couch in front of the fireplace. Thanksgiving itself was just as laid back, with more of my family coming over. And now... our wonderful week of being taken care of by grandmothers is over.

FSOT

You know that saying, when it rains it pours? Well we have definitely noticed that in our lives lately. 

Except for a two-week stint at Pinnacle Security, I have been virtually unemployed since we got back to Provo in August. I left Pinnacle so quickly because of another job offer I had--transcribing classes for hearing impaired students at Utah Valley University. For the past month I have been training at home for that position. Thanks to Kelly, I also had a bit of work providing Tahitian Noni with some transcriptions (which was a great blessing). I finally cleared training and was able to start transcribing at UVU this week.

The same day I started, I found out that I was hired by Tahitian Noni to work full time in the call center (French speaking). It's amazing the relief that comes with finally being able to work full time, especially when only the week before there didn't seem to be an end in sight to my unemployment.

To top it all off, Ben got the results for his Foreign Service Officer Test, and he passed with flying colors. This means that now he will send in a series of essays, after which they will determine if he is to fly out to Washington D.C. in March for the interview portion of the exam. Passing that means they will perform background and medical checks on him and then place him on a "to-be-hired" list. This sounds like we are still far away from being accepted, and we are. But the fact that he passed this first test is an amazing accomplishment, and we have high hopes.

I think it's safe to say that we owe a lot of our recent blessings to the fact that I have just started working at the temple. It's an amazing way to spend my Saturdays and I am learning so much. Ben just spoke with our bishop about being able to work there too. 

Family Vacation

A couple of weeks ago we had the privilege of attending a Boise State football game, courtesy of Ben's brother Danny (ahem, Deejay Vermillion).  His wedding present to us was tickets to the first home game.  Ben was very excited to see the game and show me the blue field.  

It was a weekend full of adventure--fake ID's, night clubs and macaroni and cheese.  Our nephew Cory came with us, and he impressed us by consuming 2,000 calories in the first hour of our trip.  We also picked corn, which Ben has been raving about for years.  All in all it was a good trip.

С днем рождения !

I know it's Kelly's job to do the Happy Birthday blog thing, but since this is Ben's first birthday since we've been married (and he's known I get excited about birthdays since we met), I had to say a little something. Today is the day that Benjamin Bernard Fisher turns 25. To someone three years his junior, that just seems old. But not to worry; despite Ben's advanced age, he still has the energy of a six year-old. He still dances like a spaz, invents his own games to play and gets excited about really big sticks. He still has a wonderfully loud laugh, loves playing with kids and lights up a room (and not just because of his bright hair). He's encouraging, clever, stubborn and handsome. And he's my best friend.

The New Kid

Well, after over a month of that agonizing process we call searching for a job, I have finally found a place that will take me. I'm working at a security company and my new professional title is Licensing Coordinator. I won't bore you with the drawn-out details of what I do (mainly because after two days of training, I'm still not entirely sure of everything that entails). But basically I make sure that the company and its sales people have the right licenses and permits to sell/install security systems across the country. Yes, it is about as exciting as it sounds.

The first couple of days are always interesting with the bombardment of information and all the new faces you have to remember. But it seems like there's always that dramatic moment where some confusing concept clicks and you realize you can do it. It always seems to come just before I think the tears are going to flow from being so overwhelmed. Luckily, I work with a great group of people in a really laid-back environment. Ben and Ifeel so blessed that I was able to find a job.

Ben has been working at the MTC for a few weeks now. He's also started school, and recently became Co-President of the Foreign Service Student Organization. Plus, he is signed up to take the Foreign Service Entrance Exam in October. But most importantly, college football has started up again and Boise State won their first game. Ben has arranged his schedule so that he is free on Saturday nights and any other time Boise State might be playing.

My younger brother Geoff moved in with us this past month. He just moved out to Provo and he's staying with us while he finds a job and an apartment. My dad came out this weekend to help him get settled and he made his first big purchase--a new car. Ben and I are only slightly jealous since we have yet to make this adult step.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

The past few weeks have been ones of excitement, blessings, and boredom. After our visit with my grandparents  in California, we finally made it back to Provo, with our new apartment waiting for us. It was a long and arduous task gathering all of our belongings from Draper and Highland (special thanks to Sherrie and Garrett and Rob and Annie for letting us keep our stuff there).

The only furniture we started out with was a couch and a rocking chair. Oh and a blow-up mattress. Considering the fact that we haven't made money all summer, we knew we had to get creative with our purchases. We spent the next week filling up our apartment with things from pawn shops, second-hand stores and peoples' homes (don't worry, we got their permission before we took anything).  My family was a wonderful help--my parents let us use their van, and that thing was a life saver.

Now that we're done with the excitement of moving in and having my family visit, we're settling into a more mundane lifestyle. Most of our time is filled with me searching for jobs and sending out resumes and applications, Ben waiting to hear back from the MTC and a few other places, doing puzzles, knitting, running, and watching 30 Rock. Looking for jobs is always frustrating, but we're praying very hard that we will be able to find some work soon.

We Comin' to America Today

It's true, the Fishers have returned to the US. We'll be spending the next couple of days in southern California with my grandparents. They're throwing us a belated wedding reception, plus we're celebrating my birthday here. But we'll have plenty of time to talk about our plans and endeavors back in our country of origin (though they may not be quite as exciting)--we still have one last Thai adventure to cover.

For our last few days in Thailand, we traveled north to the city of Chiang Mai. We took a sleeper train there, which helped the 13 hour trip go by very quickly.

We spent our first two days there on a treck through the jungle. First, we rode around on an elephant for about an hour, feeding it and enjoying the scenery. Boy do they eat a lot.

Once we finished with the elephants, we began our hike.

It was about a 3 hour hike through the jungle up into the "mountains" as I call them.  The first 20 minutes of the hike were along the road, and this was quite deceiving--the last hour or so was straight up the side of the mountain on what can only be described as slippery mud. However, the view when we got to the top was amazing. 

We stayed in a hill tribe village with the 10 other people in our group. They fed us and we all slept in a room covered in mosquito nets.

The next day, we hiked back down the hill/mountain, including a stop to swim at a waterfall.

We ended the trip by white water and bamboo rafting (during the white water rafting I became reminiscint of the aches of paddling a kayak). Needless to say, we were relieved to get back to a clean bed and a shower. We spent the evening talking with a couple of Buddhist monks. We also found a diner that served the most amazing hamburgers and cheese fries.

The next day, we woke up early to do Flight of the Gibbons. This is supposed to be the most amazing thing to do in Thailand, and it lived up to its reputation.  The best way to describe it is as a ziplining tour through the jungle.

We were outfitted with equipment and went from tree top to tree top ziplining and bungee jumping. Our only complaint was that it wasn't long enough.

So now after spending 36 of 48 hours on either a plane or a train, we are back in the United States and happy to be here. We had a wonderful time in Thailand, but there's nothing like being able to converse with people in English or order a Domino's pizza delivered right to your door at midnight.

Ko Chang!

Our most recent adventure took us to Ko Chang, which in English means Elephant Island. We spent a few days lounging on the beach and exploring the island.

For the first 3 nights, we stayed in a little bungalow literally feet from the beach. It was very basic, but worth it to be so near the ocean.

We rented a motorbike and drove up and down the island. We found this "massage hut", if you will, right on the beach. Hearing the waves lap while being rubbed down by an old Thai lady is what paradise is all about. The best part was probably being forcibly disrobed by the masseuse while other tourists were walking by.

Wednesday we rented a kayak and paddled out to a few of the islands. One of us may have spent half the time leaning back in exhaustion and asking if we were there yet. But no one needs to point fingers. This is one of the islands we rode to (don't be fooled, it's farther than it looks).

Thursday we went snorkeling. The crew on our boat was very energetic and would often find things like a sea cucumber, an octopus and a sea urchin for us to hold.

We also got to just play in the water, which Ben took full advantage of.

That night we moved locations to a nice hotel with an equally beautiful, but slightly more distant view. I was ecstatic that they had a blow dryer in the room--such luxury. We spent one night there recovering from our busy week before heading home.

Tomorrow we leave for Chiang Mai, the last of our adventures before we head back to the US on Thursday. It's been a great trip, and we're sad to leave, but excited to see our family again.

Update

We have been remiss the past while as far as blog writing is concerned. For some reason, Blogger decided to delete all of our pictures, so we put our blog in a time-out. But recently we've been uploading pictures again, but we should give you an update of the many things we've done the past couple of weeks. Just a warning, we have been very busy, so this is quite a long post.

Ben spent a few days in Taipei for his internship. He spent most of the time at the food fair, but he did get the chance to see a bit of the city and even go to the temple.

He rode to the top of the second tallest building in the world.

The weekend he got back, we were invited to the house of a woman he works with, Daun (pronounced Da-gun).

We visited her village where we watched the monks get fed and participated in a party celebrating her cousin becoming a monk.

The family we're staying with left that weekend, so we've spent the past couple of weeks finishing up our jobs and seeing the surrounding area.

The children Megan taught at the kindergarten were so fun and quite enthusiastic.

Ben finished his internship by working at Thaifex, the Thailand food fair. There were many delicious samples and a bit of food carving. Yes, this is all made of food.

For our two-month anniversary, Ben surprised Megan by taking her to a nearby beach, Hua Hin. We had fun playing in the water and exploring the town.

We rented a motorbike so we could get around easier. Ben had fun driving it, but it made Megan quite nervous, to say the least (but NOT because of Ben's driving, that has to be made clear).

Back in Bangkok, we have been able to make quite a few small trips downtown.

We went into town one night to check out Backpacker's Road (locally called Kao Sahn Road). It was interesting, but considering all of the tattoo parlors, dreadlocks, and bars that could be found, we were not quite at home. However, we found a night flower market that we loved. We took advantage of the cheap prices.

We also visited Lumphini Park, which is home to joggers, high school band players, and monitor lizards.

We walked around and rode a paddle boat around the pond. We got to see many monitor lizards up close, including these two that seemed to be having a territory battle. Please note the accuracy of Ben's imitation.

Yet another trip we made was to a nearby floating market. It rained most of the time we were there, but it was still fun to walk around.

We ordered Pad Thai and cocoa yen from boats. Both were tasty. Unfortunately we didn't have time to stay and watch the fireflies.

The most recent trip we made was yesterday. For only 120 baht apiece ($4) we took an all-day tour on a train.

We stopped to see the Bridge on the River Kwai and were able to walk across it.

The train continued over the bridge and took us to the end of the line, where there was a waterfall. We ate our lunch there and then continued back. Plus we saw the Burmese/Thai border (though from a distance). It was a long day.

We were planning on going to the beach today after church, but we were both so tired that we decided to take the day to rest. This was lucky, because we were invited over to another couple's house for lunch, and we've enjoyed getting to know the people here. So tomorrow morning we'll leave for Ko Chang, where we'll be for the rest of the week. We'll be sure to keep everyone updated. Oh, and for more pictures on all of the above-mentioned activities, please see the photos link over on the right.

Cambodia

We had an amazing time in Cambodia this weekend. We spent Friday and Saturday in the city of Siem Reap. There we were able to see the Angkor ruins, which is the largest religious compound in the world. Every temple we saw was breathtaking in size and beauty.  Words can't do this place justice, so prepare yourself for a lot of your pictures (we took over 500 this weekend, so this is just the tip of the iceberg). I'm still working on getting our pictures online. When I do, you should see a link over on the right called "photos." Then you can peruse all of the other pictures we haven't been posting.

This temple is at the top of a hill and we hiked up here for a view of the sunset (which we never actually saw because it was overcast). We spent awhile on the roof enjoying the view.

We had our own personal tuk-tuk driver (kind of like a carriage hooked to the back of a motorbike) and he was great, usually singing or whistling as he drove us.

For dinner, we went to Pub Street and ate at a place that let us barbeque our own meat. This is me cooking the snake and crocodile (which we ate in addition to beef and shrimp that included, much to my disgust, the head, tail, and legs.

The food was good and the atmosphere was really fun--there were tv's all over that were showing the World Cup.

We got up at about 4:30 to see the sunrise behind Angkor Wat. As you can see, it was worth it.

Angkor Wat

Another shot of Angkor Wat

After the sun rose, we explored the temple. It was huge.

Another famous structure here is Ta Prohm, which is overgrown with giant trees.

This temple is called Bayon. If you look closely, you can see faces on all of the towers.

The temple walls were covered with carved murals. We each took turns making up stories.

This building was once a Buddhist monastery and university.

On our way to Phnom Penh we ate bugs. A great way to end such a cultural experience.