Adventure city!

Traveling is an interesting journey. It's unexpected, unpredictable, adventurous, exciting and unknown at times. You meet some really sweet people along the way and make some really good memories. 

There is a part of me that dislikes the unknown state of which city i'll go to next but there is excitement and less stress at times just going with the flow and not having an agenda. This past week has been neat! Unexpectedly I decided to hop on a 2 day small boat ride after crossing the boarder in Laos. I never thought to go to Laos but my friends here in Thailand suggested it's a beautiful place to explore, so off we went on an adventure! The small boat ride the first day was so great! We were spoiled with the amount of space we had. Reviews said we might be crammed, but it was cozy and comfy and we met really cool people to travel with! We played UNO on the boat, a classic I might say! 

Brought back childhood memories! The first day was about 7 hours. We than arrived around 5 to a small village basically located around a jungle! Oh and we saw a wild elephant on the way to our destination! The accommodations in this village was interesting! It smelt like musty goodness with a little bit of coffee smell perhaps? A group of us went out for dinner at this really neat Indian restaurant in the village. It had Christmas light decorations with really neat lamps! The meal was pretty good! I ordered one of my all time favorites, butter chicken! I love having meals with groups of people! A sense of community coming together to share stories and enjoy a meal is so refreshing! Such a good evening! The next day we had to catch a boat to Luang Probang, which would take about 7 hours. That day we were in for a surprise! I walked down to the boat and it was COMPLETLY jam packed!

I started laughing and was curious if I'd be sitting on the roof with my friends! The day before in our luxurious spacious boat we had learned there was 2 boats that day and the second day they only had one boat! At this point i'd go back to my word of unpredictable I used at the beginning as key words with traveling! Always be prepared for the unpredictable things you may encounter :) I hoped on the boat and there weren't 2 seats availed to sit with my friend so I shared a seat with a nice retired Australian man. We talked for the first while of the boat ride and shared stories about our lives. He was super kind and had been traveling all over Asia for 6 months so far. Had some good advice on traveling and it was good company! A large group of us got together for the remainder of the boat ride and played UNO again with a group of 10! It was crowded and lots of fun! OOOOO and did I tell you that we picked up, what felt like a person from each village along the way. I laugh because our boat already had many people on it :) I will upload a fun photo later of a woman from one of the villages on the way holding a dead large fish walking onto the boat with a huge smile on her face. She had a beautiful smile! I feel there was lots of surprises that day! 

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    We arrived in LUANG PROBANG! What an interesting and neat little city of about 60,000 I believe. This town was neat! Along the waterside were lots of restaurants and neat places to eat! They had a night market every night with some beautiful things in it! I tested out my bargaining skills and got a sweet painting for about 7$! A bunch of us went bowling that night! Yes, they actually have a bowling ally in this town! A really smart idea! The next day was followed by an awesome waterfall!! What beauty! We took a tuk tuk to a waterfall out in the country side which is popular to go to! We had a nice small hike up to it and enjoyed the day! 

On the way back we stopped and took photos of the pretty rice plantations! 

And I also had Daneille find this tree that you can take the flowers from it and put them on your nose to look like a bird....AHAHHA! Tucan sam?! 

Priceless. 

      I think that one of my favorite places to go to in Luang Probang was a place called Utopia! It was the coolest place! You can get good eats there, play volleyball, sit outside on a beautiful terrace porch and enjoy a view of the waterfront surrounded by trees all around! I had dinner there one night and it was so relaxing! We went there two nights in a row and it was so much fun! 

Loving my travels and the people I'm meeting along the way! Really neat to also catch up with my friend Daneille who I did Kaleo with years ago! Loving the experience and cultures I'm leaning about! So thankful for this time around Asia! Met this cute little girl at a crepe street vendor! She made me smile! With the language barrier It also makes me see that body language is a huge thing. When we smile at others without a verbal word, it can go along way. Although I didn't speak this girls language, my heart was happy exchanging a smile :) 

Back to Thailand now! YIPPPEEEEE! 

-A :) 

"Perfection"

Would you say this picture is perfect below? At first glance, I think not, but as I look again I question what does this word perfection actually mean. I am pushed to think beyond "perfect", and deeper into my own life of the daily tasks I complete and how this word might effect me or others at times. I typed "perfect" into google and I was intrigued at what came up. 

Perfect: Having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.

1. synonyms:

   ideal, model, without fault, faultless, flawless, consummate,quintessential, exemplary, best, best-example, ultimate, copybook

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This picture would not make the perfect list of synonyms if it was judged by some photographers. But it makes my list of AWESOMENESS. haha! I might be over analyzing but in all seriousness, I believe this picture has made me think through some tough questions. Even the words behind the definition of perfect, made me feel heavy inside. Being without fault, ultimate, and flawless. What???

    

This past week I went up to The Peak in Hong Kong with a couple of the girls from the team. The Peak is a place up on a mountain, over looking the beautiful view of Hong Kong. I got to take some really sweet photos of the view from up top as the sun was setting! This particular photo above caught my eye. I had my camera on a 30 second open shutter option. This means that for 30 seconds the lens stays open so it can capture all the light. The camera is usually on a tri pod but I didn’t have one with me so I was holding it on a railing in hopes I wouldn’t nudge my camera. However, I shook it by accident while holding it and this following picture happened. At first, I was not happy with the photo. I wanted it to be crisp, clear, warm, and beautiful. When I first looked at it, I was disappointed with myself. It took me a moment to realize that I actually liked it and see that it was different, which was a good thing! My pre-conceived thought process was, that I wanted it to be “perfect”. For a moment I was upset than it clicked that it’s art, and that I actually think it’s really neat! It made me think about “perfection” in our own lives. How often are we trying to aim to be perfect and not succeeding for what we hoped or wanted to achieve. Constantly feeling like maybe you’re a failure because you can’t measure up to the meter of “perfection”, of how you wished something would have happened or turned out differently than had hoped.

    I should also explain why I italicized the word “perfection”. I italicize it because I wonder if something can actually be perfect? Are we living in a world that is aiming for perfection when we need to be aiming for our very best regardless if in our eyes it is not perfection. Do we set our standards to high, to constantly feel like we are failures. Or is it okay to have perfectionism in a healthy way? I don’t have the answers; I just am questioning the basis for perfectionism in our own lives and if it takes over our lives in unhealthy ways sometimes, rather than healthy. 

     It’s could also be in the way we perceive things to. We have the ability to change the way we see something. What if we looked at life a little bit more like art in some ways. The unique opportunities, possibilities and expectations that we daily encounter, may not always have to be looked at in the eyes of perfection. This is a process I am trying to go through in my daily life. To giggle at things that don’t go the way I wanted. Or situations I encounter that are not as I desire. Maybe I’m over thinking? Someone told me once, “it’s a process Liv”, and I think that can relate to so many things in life. It’s a process of learning, growing, and laughing along the way in the endeavours we take on in every aspect in life.

Oh how He loves us. The Father is gracious with us. He knows the desires of our hearts better than we do. When I desire perfection, He desires for me to please Him in all I do.

Time and time again, I am reminded of this verse found in the Psalms 37:3-4. The profound word, desire. It get's me every time. God knows the desires of our hearts better than we do. He created me, He knows me, I need to press into him in everything I do. My desires and his desires are different sometimes. I need to continually learn patience and joy in the midst of feeling like I am not succeeding at some things in life, because in his eyes, he see's me differently than I see myself. To God I may be succeeding further beyond than what I think. He will lead you :) Psalm 23 is my favourite passage! Talking about the Lord leading you :) 

In the end, maybe the lense we are looking through is too narrow and maybe we need to readjust?
I think that is a good question to ask.

Psalm 37:3-4

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Much Love,

Liv

p.s. I will update about my teaching soon :)