Leaving home.

Jansen says good bye to little sister, Tia.

And to little sister, Tani.

Which of them will have the longest hair when he returns next year?

Walking into the airport to leave for a year with less packing than mom takes to St. George for the weekend.

I'm not sure what is going through his head right now...Here are a few ideas...."WooHoo! I'm finally getting out of Utah!"  "Help!  How do I get out of this?"  "I am so excited to get to Thailand!"  "How in the world am I going to live in Thailand for a whole year?"  "Mommy?!"  

Jansen and his mommy.  

Jansen and his daddy.

Final hug for mom.  

Final hug for dad.

So the time finally came for Jansen to take his much needed Thailand adventure.  For those of you who know Jansen, he is very adventurous and needed to do something grand.  He thought of hitchhiking across America.  Then he came across this chance to go to Thailand and teach English as a second language.  Mom and Dad are much more secure with this plan than the hitchhiking plan even though this one has been a bit scary too!

Jansen started off with a flight from SLC to San Francisco.  Easy peasy!  We thought...When he was getting his boarding pass the lady helping him asked him for his Visa as he was to be leaving the country after San Fran.  Jansen had been told by the company he is going over to that he would be able to get his Visa upon arrival into the country.  So this stressed us all out a bit.

She told him that without a Visa in hand he would have to have his return ticket bought.  So we bought a ticket to return next September (we will have to solidify the date when we know it better,) We were still worried if this was going to suffice when he reached Bangkok or if they would put him back on the plane and send him home.  It was a bit of a risk but hey....Jansen can handle anything!

So with happiness and excitement (and a lot of faith and prayers) for him we bid him adieu as he went to go through security.  He has flown before but he was young enough that he doesn't remember it. What a trip to break you in again!

Everything was smooth as he went to San Francisco. He had a little layover there and then got on the long flight to Singapore.  On the way they had to stop in Korea for gas.  He sent a quick Facebook message that everything so far was going fine.  In Singapore he was able to Skype with us from the airport.  He was there in the middle of the night and was all alone in this airport.  No one around.  I'm sure he felt a bit strange there.

It was the next flight that made us all nervous.  He had to be welcomed into Bangkok or tossed out!  We were expecting to hear from him by 10:00 or 11:00 PM at the latest.  But we heard nothing!

When he got to Bangkok he needed to go through customs, get a Visa, get his luggage and get on his last flight.  We wanted more than anything to hear from him here.  We did not....we finally heard from him at 3:45 this morning and he told us the scoop.

His first message to us was "I am at my new home safe and sound."  The second message was "I will have to tell you about the wild goose chase I had in Bangkok."  He didn't have good enough WiFi at the moment so we had to wait until 5:45 this morning to get a nice Skype call with him!  Yay!  We were so happy to see him and talk to him.   So here is the wild goose chase!  I wish I could have him recorded telling it because he is always fun to listen to when there is excitement...like when he gave us the play by play of the van burning up on the freeway when him and his brothers were driving one day....But that's another story!

When he reached Bangkok Airport he said it was like being in Salem, Utah.  It was huge!  He went from one side of the airport to get luggage or Visa and was told to go back to the other side and then got there and was told to go back to the other side AGAIN!  He finally found someone who was able to help him get his Visa taken care of....whew! that is one big relief taken card of!  But then he tried to get his luggage and it was not there.  It was in Hong Kong....At least he made it to the right place but with nothing but his backpack to his name.  He needed to catch another flight and found out it is in ANOTHER airport!  So he left that airport and realized he had LEFT ALL HIS IMPORTANT PAPERS, including PASSPORT AND TICKET inside the security in this airport!  They would not let him back in but a security guard offered to go see if he could find his folder.  Another tender mercy....he found it all safe and sound and got it back to Jansen.  He barely made it to his final flight!  He got a taxi and made it safely to the school where they were waiting for him on the steps!  Goodness gracious!

He said his room is just up stairs from the school.  It is very hot and humid and he was swatting away a few bugs as we were talking.  I think he is a little bit overwhelmed at the moment.  He may even be questioning his idea a bit once in a while but all in all I think he is very grateful to be where he is.