Xin chao (hello in Vietnamese) world ! It is I, George Ruiz, ready to let the world know what the Southeast Asia group had done this past week. As student directed travel week continued, the group and I did made good planning with a ton of teamwork to have an awesome and successful Student Directed Travel. We started Wednesday morning in Dalat, Vietnam hyped up for the Crazy House. Yes,… Read More

We started off the week by travelling by van from Phnom Penh to Kampot where we worked with the mangrove conservation project. Being in a remote village was a nice change after the busy city. An awesome Cambodian guy named Sela led us through our week. On our ride to Kampot, all 13 of us along with Sela and our driver were jam-packed in a small van with our huge… Read More

Greetings from Chiang Rai! We bid our farewells to the Dhamma Center last Friday. The day before we left the monastery, we took a vow of silence for the better half of the day. The purpose of this was to reflect on what Laurie and the monks had taught us during our stay at the center. Most of us took the day to journal, read, meditate, and explore the grounds.… Read More

It’s been a very eventful week here in Thailand. We celebrated our time with our host families at a farewell party at the ecolodge on Friday night where we ate, danced, performed our Thai speeches and rousing renditions of “Wagon Wheel” and “The Elephant Song.” We also lit floating lanterns, “loy gratong,” to bring good luck to our group and our host families. We said a tearful goodbye to our… Read More

The Sabai group has safely landed in Chiang Mai and they are in fine form. Despite the lengthy journey, they look like a million bucks. Stay tuned for more reports from Thailand.… Read More

The mighty Sabai group has successfully gathered at the San Francisco airport and checked in for the first leg of the their flight to the other side of the world. Stay tuned to hear from the group in Thailand!… Read More

This is really happening! We’re going to Southeast Asia! It’s going to be delicious. Be prepared to engage all of your senses, embrace the unexpected, and take chances. We are busy planning, dreaming, and creating the structure for our upcoming adventures. Soon this blog will be your platform to share your thoughts, experiences, and pictures with friends and family back home. Some things to think about as you pack… Pack… Read More

Dear parents, Your baby birds are flying back to the nest! All students made it through final goodbyes with some tears and lots of hugs. Look forward to a follow up from Brett and Alisha soon. Give them lots of love when you see them!… Read More

Day one is quickly coming to a close. The question of “Is 7:30 too early to go to sleep” has been floating around for the last few hours. Fortunately all of the flights went smoothly and we immediately jumped into a damp adventure. The students eyes were wide as we zoomed to our hostel, and even more so when their first plates of Pad Thai hit the table. The rain… Read More

We’ve received word that the Seasia group has landed safely in Chiang Mai! Stay tuned to hear more from the group themselves as they begin their exploration of Thailand.… Read More

The mighty Southeast Asia group has successfully gathered together at the San Francisco airport. They’ve gone through security and they are off to board their plane. We’re wishing them traveling mercies as they travel across the world. Stay tuned ’til we hear from the group in Thailand! – Mike and the HQ team… Read More

Hello wonderful Sabai family! This is Alisha and Brett, we are your Overseas Educators for your semester in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The time is drawing near! Before we know it a plane will be taking us to the other side of the world (how crazy does that sound?). We have been working hard here in Portland, preparing for this massive adventure we are about to embark on. We frolicked… Read More

Some final words from your OE team ol'greg and Audrezzy Dear Sabai, it's Audrezzy here! Your capacity to push yourself, to learn, to grow, to love, to accept each other, and your crazy OE team has inspired me beyond words. How can I possibly tell you how much I adore you all!? I am so thankful that each and everyone of you heard the call and signed up for this… Read More

We've received word that the intrepid Southeast Asia group has safely checked in for their flight homeward from Hanoi.  Here is a final shot of Andi and Sam, the last two to go through security.  Traveling mercies to you all.  You've been an amazing group.    … Read More

Lindsay and Topher here, checking in from Ho Chi Minh city, all by our lonesome after seeing our group of lovelies off at the airport this afternoon. Tears were shed, a final dice game was played, laughter was shared, and Topher serenaded us one last time before the plane to Hong Kong boarded. As Shannon mentioned in her last post, we spent a paradisaical last week together on Vietnam’s coast,… Read More

It’s been a crazy last week to say the least. We had some unexpected early goodbyes, but didn’t let the decrease in numbers keep us from enjoying our final days in paradise. After a couple of days of adjusting to our new group dynamic, we were more than ready to start the last part of our adventure. We’d already trekked through tree-covered hills and burned rubber through busy city streets,… Read More

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