Back At It!

I just started my fourth week of my last semester at BYU.  So crazy to think about that.  I don't say my last week of school, cause who knows?!  I just might be crazy enough to go back someday, but probably not to BYU.  So I feel like I'm safe to say that.  I'm really loving school.  More that I thought I would.  My last in the classroom experience was hard.  Really hard.  And I questioned if teaching was for me or not.  Well, I've been through 3 weeks in a second grade class at Barnett Elementary School in Payson, UT, and I'm loving it!  I feel like I'm thriving down there instead of just surviving!  I'm excited about my lessons and I LOVE those kids!  Who knew you could love a bunch of 7 year olds in such a short amount of time?!  I'm also loving actually getting ready and wearing teacher-y clothes :)  Still had to take a first day of school pic to send to my mom!  Ha

While I'm loving my schooling part of being back at it, school most definitely does NOT rule my life!  I've been loving the things of my single/college/BYU/Provo life.  

One of my favorite things of being back is the gym.  I got a pass to VASA this semester and it's been so nice!  I don't ever have to wait for weights or machines, and it's literally a block and a half from my apartment.  

I'm loving my roommates!  I knew Ashlee (the super cute blonde on the left) a little bit, and we both met Jessi (the babe on the right) when we moved in.  We had a fun ice cream party on Wednesday night with a bunch of our friends, and it was a hit!  It was so fun for me to meet more of their friends and to see some of mine.  We're definitely doing it again next month :)  I also really love our apartment and ward.  Everything about it is great!  

My mom has already been down to visit twice, and there's no complaints here!  I LOVE when she comes!  This past weekend we hiked Timp and did our center street walk.  We found this fun bookstore down there!  Pioneer Book.  So great!  I'm not a lover of reading, so for me to say that is a pretty big deal...

I'm enjoying concocting my own meals again.  I've had some interesting ones.  The most random one was probably taco meat with spinach, brown rice, and plain greek yogurt.  It was actually quite a bit better than in sounds!  I also have no clue what I would do without eggs.  I've eaten at least one every single day.  

I've also just loved being back at the Y.  I really do love BYU.  I love the campus, I love going to the games, I just love the spirit of this place.  I'm not like a psycho fan or anything, but I'm so so glad I came to school here.  I've met so many good people here and while I'm not going to stay here forever, I'll forever be thankful for the time I have spent here.  It's definitely special to me.   

My cousin Sadie is finally down here at school too, and it's been fun to do some things with her!  I just love how comfortable I can be around here and we've had fun on a few hikes.  I've also been able to do some things with Liz Dayton from Cokeville, and that's been fun for me to get to know her better.  She's a great girl!  

Life is really good right now.  I'm really feeling content with what's happening, and I feel like it's God's way of letting me know that I'm on the right track.  I'm thankful for that.  

Siquijor Island

Friday morning we woke up early, grabbed our bags and headed to catch the 7:00am boat ride to Siquijor island.  The boat ride was only about an hour and a half long.  

As soon as we got there, we rented 3 scooters.  Maddie and Faith hopped on with me, Reed and Lillian with Yet-yet, and Rix and the Ryskamp luggage with Angie.  We were heading to a beach resort, Salagdoong, on the other side of the island.  The ride there was beautiful and we had fun laughing and telling stories.  When we got there, I was speechless!  The sand was so white, and the water was so blue!  Well, I guess the water was so clear--it just looked so blue!

One of my favorite moments was Faith telling me all about how it was going to be jumping off of the cliff!  I was cracking up!  She was so animated about it!  She was going to show me how it was done, and then decided to let me go first, and then she ended up not even jumping off?!  Haha!

We spent the day jumping off the cliffs, snorkeling, eating, and I even enjoyed some time reading my book on the beach :)

That night Yet-yet and I grilled some pork chops, and they turned out delicious thanks to Yet-yet's marinade.

We stayed in a hotel room right there off the beach.  I didn't take any pictures of it.  It was nothing fancy, but the location was perfect!    

The next morning we just enjoyed being a little lazy and then we ran into the nearest town, Maria to try and find some breakfast.  Some people ate at a cantin (little food stop), and I grabbed some fruit and bread from the public market.  

After breakfast we headed back and Angie and the kids swam for a little bit longer while I read and Yet-yet listened to music.  We checked out around 11:00, and then we were off to the next stop, Cambugahay Falls.  

This place was unlike any place I'd ever been before!  It was SO beautiful and SO much fun!  The rope swing was a blast!  The guys would push us up higher off the ground so that we could gain more momentum, and then we'd fly out over the natural pool and drop into the water.  It was great!  Everyone tried the rope swing, and I lost count of how many times I went.  Then you could jump off of the waterfall, and that was fun too!  The waterfall was just the right height--not too high to freak me out (like the one at Salagdoong, haha), and the water was so nice!  We spent quite a bit of time there and enjoyed every second of it!  

I also got to enjoy a fresh, young coconut.  First I drank out the juice, then I went back and he cut it in half for me and I ate the meat out of it.  So yummy!  I am loving all the coconut here and will be so bummed to not be able to have fresh coconut whenever I want :( 

We left there and headed to our last stop, the Mystic Tree and Fish Spa.  It was a pretty neat tree, and the fish spa was nice.  

When we left there we were all starving!  So, we drove and drove until we found a nice little outdoor restaurant.  I had this yummy fish!  It was just what I needed after a long, fun day.  

After lunch/dinner we raced back to the port to catch the 6:00pm boat back to Dumaguete.  We got there right on time and ended our wonderful visit to Siquijor.  It was probably my favorite trip we've had here in the Philippines.  The kids all got along, the sun was warm, the water was so beautiful, the places we went were fun--everything just seemed so surreal.  I am so blessed to be here and experience some of the more beautiful places in this world.  

Oh, and here's the video :)

The New Normal

I've been here about a month now, but it's crazy to me how quickly everything that was so new and shocking to me when I arrived has become so normal.  Today I decided to look through some pictures to try and find things that used to shock me.  That's right, I actually had to look for them?!  I think it's a good sign.  

Trips to the ocean literally take 3 minutes by scooter or 15 minutes walking. (This particular beach was actually about 30 minutes by scooter, but we live close, none the less!)

This is what construction looks like.  You couldn't pay me to climb up there and work! 

Roosters and chickens are constantly crowing.  I'm reminded of that every time I FaceTime anybody back home.  I've totally gotten used to them.  I guess it's kind of like living in Cokeville and never noticing the trains.  

Petty cabs don't look weird anymore. 

Cruising through the Philippines on a scooter with a passenger or two is now a regular occurrence! 

There are no stop signs, yet traffic moves pretty smoothly!  I figure about 50% of the vehicles on the road are motorcycles/scooters, 35% petty cabs, and 15% regular vehicles.  

Seeing a family of 5 on a motorcycle is not uncommon!

Anyone anywhere can cook and sell food, and it's some of the best! 

Exercising along the ocean is a daily thing.  

Trees near the ocean have this cool moss stuff growing on them.  

Grass is very rare.  There are mostly just dirt areas where I normally would expect grass to be.  

This makes the perfect "box" for step ups, box jumps, etc.  

Sharing a room with 4 other girls is actually not a bad deal! 

This is what cows look like here.  No wonder they don't prefer beef?!

Everyone smiles, waves, and says hi to me where ever I go!  It must have something to do with this exotic blonde hair?! 

 You smell fresh, warm bread everywhere! For 2 pesos (about 4 cents) you can buy yourself a delicious roll at a Bread Camp or some other bakery :)

The neighborhood volleyball courts come alive at 3:00 pm when all the petty cab drivers in the area meet to play.  The winning team gets 30 pesos.  

So, there ya have it!  Just a glimpse at my new normal :)

Tejero

Yesterday we went and had a fun day at a little resort up in Valencia City called Tejero.  It was really fun!  It was pretty nice, like the status of a nice, quiet resort you'd find in Cancun or somewhere, but there was fun music playing, kids, barbecues, and a zip line that gave it more of a Seven Peaks feel.  Needless to say, it was a super fun day!  How can it not be when those two luxuries of life are combined?! 

We packed up a lunch, all of us piled on motorcycles/scooters (Lillian rode behind me on Leo and Yet-yet's second scooter and we had so much fun!) and we headed up to Valencia City.  We got to Tejero around 1:00.  We changed, ate our lunch or PB&J sandwiches, fresh fruit, and boiled eggs, and hit the pool!  The Ryskamp's know how to have fun in the pool!  Constantly there were people being catapulted through the air, chicken tournaments, and trips down the water slide.  You had to be weary of lingering near the edge with Rix around--I got pushed in more than once! haha  We had such a fun time!

Maddie catapulting Rixy into a backflip!

Some of the girls on the slide.

The rest of the fam anticipating their decent :)

When most people had had enough of the swimming we decided to do the zip line.  It was just one cable, but was still very fun!  Reed was too little to go on it, so Leo sat out with him.  The rest of us strapped on our gear and headed up the mountain to the launching platform.  The view from the platform was so pretty!  We could see the ocean out to the left of us and a skyline of coconut trees straight ahead.  Each of us jumped off, some more hesitantly than others :) and enjoyed the trip down the cable.  I was the last to go.  Here's my ride.

It was such a great afternoon and we enjoyed a nice 30 minute ride back home to Dumaguete.  Thanks again Ryskamp's for the fun afternoon!   

Two 23rd's

When I came to the Philippines I didn't plan on anyone I was with knowing that my birthday would go by while we were here.  Well, on Sunday I became friends with Yet-yet on Facebook, and she found out!  The lovely Ryskamp family and Leo and Yet-yet went out of their way to make my 23rd birthday great!  My day started out by being greeted by these signs when I walked down the stairs.  They had stayed up the night before and made them.  So nice of them! 

The day was fairly normal with school in the morning and then a trip to the beach in the afternoon.  We also had Cebuano lessons, which I love.  

Here's a 23rd birthday selfie at the beach, because I will probably never have a birthday at the beach again, seeing as how my birthday is in January :)

That night, Rix said we were going out to dinner and that I got to choose the place!  I had no idea where to go, so we went downstairs and asked "the guys" (the filipino men who work for Rix) what some of the best places were here to get some authentic food.  They suggested Captain Ribbers, so that's where we went!  It was so fun!  Our plates were these giant banana leaves, and we all kind of shared.  

They brought our food out in these huge platters that had a little bit of everything in them!  I tried it all, and I liked it all!  Even those little fish :)  I felt so brave! 

When we got home I was given these cute birthday flowers.

Then we had a delicious cake that was made and decorated so beautifully by Leo's mom.  Angie bought the candles, and they were awesome!  Seriously, so fun!  Everything was just so great!  

Then the next morning, the 27th here, I continued to receive the birthday love from everyone back home.  I had emails, messages, and Facebook posts all wishing me a happy birthday.  It really is amazing what a kind word or two can do for someone, and I was humbled to be the recipient.  What fun to be celebrated twice :)  

The Pigs

Remember those pigs that were in the yard? Well last night they were killed. 

And this morning around 5 am their buddy was brought over and killed as well. 

Now they're being roasted. 

We were invited to attend the feast (it's following a funeral, so it might be kind of weird...), but I have yet to hear if we're going or not. I hope we do. 

Life Near the Sea

So I've been here about two and a half days, and I've been doing so many sea-ish things!  The first night we went to a seafood restaurant called "Labas" which means fresh.  And fresh it was!  It was right next to the ocean and they had containers full of seafood.  You would go over and say what you wanted to try and they would get it out, cook it up, and bring it to you.  I've never had fresher!  

Rix (the dad) and some of the guys that work for him ordered it all, so I was at their mercy?! haha  Luckily, they did a great job!  I liked everything I tried.  My favorite was probably the shrimp because it was the most normal to me, but we had tuna, talabas (kind of like oysters), squid, and kinilew (kind of like ceviche).

Saturday morning Angie, Reed, Faith, Lillian, and I spent quite a bit of time down by the ocean.  We walked and it was less than a mile!  Where we went wasn't really a beachy-beach, but it had a lot of fun creatures and the water was really clear.  

Me, Faith, Angie, Reed, and Lillian

Sea Urchin!!!

The coolest starfish ever!

Faith inspecting the creature.

Reed was a lot more excited than he looks, I promise!  haha

This afternoon we went to a sandier beach called Silliman.  There were lots of families down there swimming and eating and having a good time.  It was fun to see so many families doing things together.  I'm sure we'll be spending more time down at that one.  It was just a short distance as well--maybe a mile or two.  

So, in the short time we've been here, I feel like I've taken pretty good advantage of being close to the ocean.  The water's warm, it's close, and the kids love going!  I have yet to go swimming, but I'm sure I'll cross that one off this week :)  

Family

The best part about being home is being able to spend time with my family.  It's been so fun seeing them all!  We all get along so great and if I could spend everyday with all of them, I would!  I've seen all of my family except Sulli, Michelle, and Austin since I came home ( I miss you guys dearly!!).  It's been fun to spend some quality time with each of them and spend time with their growing kids.  

Taffy, Tami, and Violet all came home one day and it was so fun to have all of the cousins together.  It was my first day of work, but I cut it a little short to come and play with all the little rag-a-muffins.  

Can you find all 8 kids?

  

We also had Dixon's baby blessing up at Tami and Casey's.  He is one cute, chunky kid!  

Oldest cousin and youngest cousin.

This boy is seriously a tank!

We also went up to Star Valley to celebrate Tel's birthday.  You couldn't ask for a nicer, more loving little boy.  He's one great kid!

Memorial Day Taffy and Tami and their families came back :)  We had a little cook out up Pine Creek and I got a good start on my consumption of hotdogs, Doritos, and s'mores for the summer.  The kids and I even got to go on a few hikes.   

This boy is so darn cute!  He's really good at saying my name now, and trust me, "Livi" has never sounded cuter! 

While we were planting the garden earlier in the day I said to my mom, "Today it finally feels like summer."  And I couldn't be happier!  I just love summer and all of the fun, family, and sunshine it brings :)