Hello again,
I am writing this while in the car with my husband, Jonathan. We keep bickering on what I should write to you next and I think we have decided that I need to keep keep talking about myself (which I hate doing) but here is goes…
Hmmmm where to begin. Growing up my Dad worked for Exxon Mobile. He actually just retired a few weeks ago. Woo! But working in the oil business can take you all over the place. When my mom was pregnant with me my family was living in Lousiana and my mom drove to Houston, Texas to deliver me because they couldn’t have a non Texan born in the family. Yes, I am serious! When I was just 10 months old, we moved to Jubail, Saudi Arabia. (Side note; I am the youngest of 4 kids) We lived there till I was 3 years old. Then we moved to Houston for about 7 years. From there we moved to Los Angeles, California for a year and a half. We had some great times in LA. The vacations were the best part of living there; if you haven’t been to California I would highly recommend a visit.
At this point I was in 5th grade. From California we moved back to Jubail, Saudi Arabia. I ended up repeating 5th grade there for many reasons but it ended up being a great decision for me. During our time in Saudi is when 9/11 happened and we moved home a year after that. I was in Saudi for 3 years. It was 8th grade when I first moved to Dallas. I went to a private Christian school for 1 year. At this time I was known as the Saudi girl and would get questions like, “Did you ride a camel to school?” (The answer is no btw) It’s actually funny because in Saudi people would find out I was from Texas and ask, “Did you ride horses to school?” So really, everyone is really the same. Ha! After this we bounced around in the Dallas area. I went to 3 different high schools and was a major loner through those years.
Looking back at all of these life changes I can only feel gratitude because I have learned to truly love culture. I absolutely love meeting people from all over the world. I have a love for international people no matter where they are from. If you are from another culture I will want to have dinner with you and ask you a million questions. I can’t help it! There is something special about growing up and some of my best friends were from Pakistan, Malaysia and Egypt.
I gotta say… sharing actually makes me really uncomfortable because I always feel like I am bragging when I talk about my life. I have been privileged to travel all over the world, and sometimes I think I shouldn’t be sharing this with people.
Anyways, after all of this I studied Family Studies at Abilene Christian University. During my college years I traveled to several places in the US, studied abroad in Oxford, England, and spent a summer in Thailand. Then after college I spent a year in Cape Town, South Africa.
I have SO many stories from all of my travels but one of my absolute favorites is about the baboons in South Africa.
Update: I am still in the car writing this and Jonathan is next to me rapping and dancing to Will Smith’s, "Getting Jiggy with It." LOL
Anywho, about the stupid baboons. In South Africa, at least where I was, baboons would roam the streets. So there were a few times where they broke into my home. One time in particular I was upstairs in our kitchen (now that I think about it, it was kinda funny that our kitchen was upstairs) and I just came out of the bathroom and all of a sudden I hear someone coming up the stairs. And a foot in front of me was a giant baboon. We made eye contact and he went past me and went directly for the kitchen as I ran as fast as I could downstairs. He proceeded to open every cabinet, pee in our fridge and steal my brand new bag of granola. I was so mad at him! Darn baboons!
Fun fact, there was a baboon patrol that would walk the streets with paintball guns.
Well, that’s a little bit more about me and who I am. I love traveling, I love culture, and I hate baboons. I guess that’s it. Jonathan and I will be in Missouri in about 3 hours for a little getaway, so I guess I will join him in singing “Can’t touch this.” Enjoy the pictures below and please share if you have any interesting travel stories. I always love a good story!
Until next time! Peace
South Africa
Thailand
