Welcome to "Fantastic Fridays"!

In order to encourage myself into a weekly blogging routine, I decide to start  “Fantastic Fridays!” where I’ll share with you some of the good things that happened to me throughout my week. My inspiration? While I was the TA for the Wellness (ED 191 W) class at UCSB, which focused on being balanced, positive, and proactive as well as other life skills that enhance well-being, we often referred to the article Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions.  The authors focus on three psychological interventions that increase individual happiness and decrease depressive symptoms. 

Which brings me to, the “three good things in life” journal!  As instructed in the study, I have been trying to keep a three good things journal for months and months, and finally I’ve been sticking to it!  Every night before I go to bed, I write down three good things that happened to me each day and a brief explanation/ cause of each.  Awesome things are happening to me all the time, everyday, even in between the bad and stressful things that happen.  It’s easy to ruminate on the things that didn’t go well (got my blood taken at the hospital today due to new work permit regulations.. I HATE needles!  Kids were running amok, Thai people staring/glaring on our morning ride to school); we are usually much more unpracticed at remembering the good things and savoring them.  So I’m changing that about myself!  The study shows that keeping a gratitude journal can increase happiness,  and also shows that people who kept the journals felt better about their lives and are more optimistic as well as make progress towards important personal goals.  With that said, why not keep a three good things journal!  And why not share some of my weekly highlights in Thailand with you! 

Interested in the other two interventions? 

• Writing a gratitude letter/gratitude visit: write a letter to express gratitude to someone who has done something important and wonderful for you, yet who you have not been able to properly thank.  Then, deliver the letter personally and spend time with the person talking about what your wrote.

• Using Signature Strengths: Take the test on VIA Signature Strengths to identify your signature strengths.   Using your top strength in a new and different way every day for a week has shown may make people lastingly happier.

Okay okay, on to the good things!

•  Last weekend, a group of kids performed in competition at the small mall next to my apartment, Saturday was the tug-of-war and Sunday was the cheerleading competition! I was able to run over there and see my kids wave their pom poms to Madonas “Like a Virgin” and the popular club song “Boom Shake Drop” by Pitbull. They did amazingly and it honestly brought tears to my eyes, I was SO proud of them! They ended up getting third place overall and won 3000 baht (almost 100 dollars). Watch the video and see for yourself what my five year olds can do after skipping class every afternoon for a week to practice.

• When I first arrived in Thailand, I had a really hard time with the food. I was very stubborn and Jess basically had to order food for me and force feed me.  Well, that is definitely not the case anymore because I’ve discovered what I like! I’ve been trying to cook in my room more often and have attempted to cut out meat from my diet, so I now cook tofu! I also try to not use dairy, so I use soy milk!  The meat and milk here really weird me out.  BUT here is one of my favorite dishes, Som Tam!  It’s a Thai spicy salad made from unripened papaya, tomato, lime, peanuts, fish sauce, and plum sugar. This is one of my favorite Thai dishes, I get it every Monday after tutoring at the mall and Jess and I learned how to make it at our Chiang Mai cooking course. My som tam this week was especially delicious!  Free of dried crustaceans and no spicy pepper, just the way I like it.

Fiona and I in our IV days!

• In about two weeks, I have two weeks off of school and I have had a solo trip through Malaysia and Singapore planned. I was really looking forward to traveling completely solo for a few weeks for the first time (expecting a mini "Eat, Pray, Love" adventure, yada yada), but I just got word that I have a friend joining me!  Another one of my Gaucho friends, Fiona, is spending some time in Australia traveling and visiting family before she starts grad school in January.  Her Aussie roadtrip ends just about the time that my semester break starts, so the timing is perfect!  She’s going to fly from Australia and meet me in Singapore, then fly back with me to Thailand after Malaysia where we will meet up with another Gaucho friend for a few days!  Fiona is so awesome and I know she’ll be the perfect travel buddy.  I’m MUCH more excited for this trip now, traveling solo is cool but traveling with a friend is even more fun!  (Mom is also really relived that I wouldn’t be running around Malaysia solo for two weeks anymore.  If it had been the original plan, I bet she’d be sitting at the computer white-knuckled for two weeks!) Its Fiona’s first time traveling SE Asia and I expect us to have an amazing adventure!

•  These kids are always making my day

TGIF!

Countdown until October break: 14 days!!