Same Same, but different!

And now it's time for the update from Brett.

I have succesfully survived my 14 day trip to Laos. The tale of the trip will be coming soon. Probably in several installments, so please be patient. There is a lot to tell.

Maya succesfully survived 14 days without me. She will probably kill me for writing that with the slingshot that I bought her in Laos. Not exactly the wisest gift for me to give a woman with her tendancies towards violence.

The other important things that I feel that are neccesary to mention are that

a: we started planning the wedding early with the full expectation that things were going to change.

b: there has already been a very drastic change.

c: that change is the date of the wedding which is now MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND, SATURDAY MAY 29TH, 2010.

d: we have also decided on the location, which is going to be in ZION NATIONAL PARK, SPRINGDALE, UTAH USA. the exact location of the ceremony and party will be decided soon but that should give you a good idea of how far you need to plan on traveling. I know it is a long way for everybody but that is the only way we thought we could make it fair and it is as close to an equal trip as we could find from both Texas and Oregon and it is a very beautiful place. (Thanks to my mom for agreeing to handle all of the really difficult parts of planning a wedding. All we have to do is come up with the ideas.... see (e). We are both very appreciative.)

e: when we are closer than more than a year away, we will create a website listing the possible options of activities (there is a golf course, Stan), places to stay, options for camping, and a better idea of the kind of wedding we are going to have. Just so you know, it is in the desert, it will be very non-traditional, and the groomsmen may not be wearing pants. We are planning on having a good old fashioned bbq for the reception and possibly renting a mechanical bull (that is the only thing I can think of when trying to decide how to entertain Texans, Oregonians have a good enough time just doing keg-stands).

f: Maya wants me to mention how much I love her, so, I love Maya very much.



Now its time for the update from Maya:


So while Brett's been galavanting around Laos, I've been busy working, doing yoga, not cleaning the house and changing up all the plans we made prior to Brett leaving for Laos. It's been a grueling process but luckily Brett takes to change like a champ. The change revolves around our post wedding/honeymoon roadtrip plans. We had initially decided to move back to Austin so that Brett could get his teaching certification in order to get gainful employment at well-paying international schools wherever we happen to head to next. But then, I got inpsired. What inspired me? Two things really: 1. I met a woman with my dream job. She's the SGBV (Sexual Gender Based Violence) coordinator for the project in a refugee camp where I work. I love what she does. I want to do it, or something like it. I need a Master's. 2. Kit and Michelle. Michelle is going back to grad school and Kit is finishing grad school. They somehow managed to write that daunting essay and get their recommendations and get into school. So I've decided that I just might be able to pull off the application process as well. I absolutely hate the application process because of one thing: The essay. And while I'm comfortable writing silly stories about riding motorcycles up mountains and putting them on the web, that 500 word essay is, to say the least, intimidating and procrastination-inspiring. I've sang this tune of grad school before. I even had my recommendations and GRE all ready. It was the essay that stopped me in my tracks. This time, hopefully, I will persevere.

In looking for programs in what I want, 4 programs really stand out: 2 in Massachusettes, and 2 in the UK, and then there's UT. The programs in Massachusettes is double the time and because of that almost quadruple the cost of the UK programs. And because of the shorter period of the UK programs, they even beat UT in costs. I'll be applying for scholarships and aid but we'll see what happens. I'm only looking at schools where Brett would be able to get his teaching certificate at the same time and he's being more than accomodating about locations. He's awesome that way. So we'll have to see if, 1st of all, I get in to any of these school, and 2nd of all, which won't knock us back into decades of debt. Bottomline: Our intended move back to Austin might be shortened to a few months up...depending on if I get into a school. A lengthy visit to Oregon is also planned so I can finally see what all that hype is about ;). High on the agenda of next year for both of us is catching up with family and friends before we take off again.

That's about it. Brett will be writing lots of long, detailed and funny accounts of the past 2 weeks. Mine went something like this : Wake up, Work, Yoga, Sleep, Wake up, Work, Run, sleep, .... you get the idea. I've been trying to take advantage of my time in BKK to work out as much as I say I want to work out when I'm not in BKK. With no one to come home to, that makes it much easier. Riveting, isn't it. Yeah....I'll leave Brett to it.