WA-OR-CA-NV-AZ-UT-ID-WA

Welcome to the next two weeks of my life. We Le's don't mess around.

I'm leaving Monday morning around 8am for Lake Tahoe. My family has been on countless road trips through all parts of WA, OR, and northern CA, so we're breezing through those states and going straight for the gold. Our tentative schedule looks something like this:

6/27: Leave Bellevue
6/28-29: Lake Tahoe
6/29-30: Greater SF area/Napa Valley
7/1: Malibu
7/1-4: Santa Ana
7/4-5: Las Vegas, NV
7/5-7: Grand Canyon (!!!)
7/7-10: Utah, various (Lake Powell, Arches National Park, etc)
7/11: Home

The reason why I say tentative is because my family fails at making plans.  In my father's words: "it's not our style." The advent of the internet (and my father's subsequent recognition of the internet as a necessary evil, decades after its invention) has helped planning somewhat, but we remain people of our roots. The last Epic Road Trip my family took was in 2002, when we took three weeks to scour every major city from here to Phoenix, AZ. My father did not print out directions or make reservations. Nope. We had a US map, more detailed state maps, and my 12-year-old self as front-seat navigator (I thank my dad for my great sense of direction despite being an Asian female). Where did we sleep at night? We camped where we could. And if we had to stay somewhere more people-friendly, we just drove along the highway until we found suitable accomodations. Now that's adventure.

This time around, though, we have a plan. Sort of. Knowing us, two-days into the trip we're going to see a sign pointing left to some cave, and my father won't be able to say no. We'll swerve off the highway, follow some dusty, overgrown road, and take a locally-guided tour down into a damp, dark, cave that will turn out to be incredible and the highlight of our trip.

Case in point: Lake Shasta Caverns on Lake Shasta, CA. Never heard of it? We hadn't either until we drove past it on our way back from Yosemite National Park in 2008. These caves remain the highlight of that trip.

Hopefully we'll make it to the Grand Canyon. And, after that, Utah. Oh, Utah. This has been on my dad's "To-visit" list for years and years now, but he's never wanted to do it without the kids, and I've been an awful daughter in that since leaving for college I've never been home long enough to go on a proper road trip with my daddy. Well, we're changing that this summer. We're going to spend four days in Utah, which, for a Le family roadtrip, is pretty much a lifetime.

You may be wondering, then, why we're spending 4 whole days in Santa Ana. Good question. The real reason why we're going on this road trip is for a Vietnamese Christian Conference in Santa Ana. This month (June) marks 100 years of Evangelical Christianity in Vietnam which is a Big Deal for my family and for the Vietnamese Christian community worldwide. Thousands of Vietnamese Christians from all denominations will gather in Santa Ana from July 1-4 in celebration. Sound terrifying? It will be. Exciting? Even more so!

So there you have it. My itinerary for June 27th-July 11th. Blog updates will likely be rare, but I promise a good one upon my return.

LE is not only my last name

Everyone knows more or less that I work for a non-profit. For the most part, when people catch me freaking out on the second floor of our library ("Nhaca, you live here," I'm often told. True--it's a sad, windowless existence), it's because of something work-related and not school related. I joke with my friends that the reason why I don't panic about exams and school in general (although, as an IPEC major, I have many things I should be panicking about--another post for another day) is because I use up all my stress/panic buttons on LE. Even my darling dean and employer, Dean Kaneda, cautioned me at the beginning of the school year not to "overexert myself with extracurriculars", because my academics would surely suffer.

To that I can only say one thing: oops?

You may be wondering, "What is LE?" The easy answer: my last name. The not-so-easy answer: the acronym for the best non-profit ever, Learning Enterprises.

I applied to teach English in Thailand as a wee little freshman nearly four years ago with LE. Back then, Learning Enterprises was a fee-free opportunity to leave the country for the first time since I was brought to these shores as an infant and engage in meaningful service. I lived with a host family, gained weight on authentic Thai food, and taught English at a tiny rural school in Sanamklee, Phitsanulok, Thailand. The experience, to this day, remains one of my best and most-cherished (you can read about my experience on change.org, where I served as a guest blogger for the summer, here).

 Everyone, in unison: "awwwww!"

 My sophomore year I served as LE's Georgetown Campus Director, where I recruited, interviewed, selected, and trained volunteers for service. It was a difficult and frustrating experience, for sure, but definitely, in the end, worthwhile. In summer 2010, I directed LE's program in China, and also spent 4 weeks with LE's Cambodia program.

At Nanjing Train Station with my good lookin' bunch of kittens

And, this past school year, I served as the Executive Managing Director of Learning Enterprises. Aka I don't sleep and run shit.

Running a non-profit has been the single-most worthwhile, rewarding, and painful experience I've had in college. On lucky days I wake up thinking "Wow, I'm the shit!" Most of the time, however, I wake up with a panicked stone lodged deep in my chest, thinking "Whose awful idea was it to put me in charge of this crazy thing?"

This "crazy thing" being an entirely student-run US-registered 501(c)3 education-based non-profit that sends 100+ college-aged students annually to 10+ developing communities to teach English for 6-8 weeks abroad. We charge our volunteers no program fees, and our entire organization is run on the generous donation of family and friends. It sounds crazy and impossible, but it is possible. So possible that it has totally changed my life

LE has given me the opportunity to push myself beyond anything I knew was possible, make a difference in the lives of children thousands of miles away, and create real, lasting relationships with people who do not speak the same language as I do. My goal as a silly little freshman embarking on her first real adventure was to empower and inspire a small group of children in rural Thailand. In the end, I was the one who was empowered and inspired to believe in myself and believe in the power of these little midget hands creating change.

Now that's something money can't buy.

But money can help! I turn the big TWO-OH (21) this Saturday and the best thing you could possibly do for my birthday is consider donating $21 to LE. Within the next couple of weeks over 100 volunteers will be going into close to a dozen countries to touch the lives of over 5,000 children, and countless others. As Managing Director, I am directly responsible for ensuring that these programs have the necessary funding. 21 dollars goes a long way in a small non-profit like LE. In giving, you do not only make my 21st birthday the best ever (undoubtedly it will be), but you also ensure that we, humankind, are taking the right steps towards a future where children worldwide are afforded the same opportunities to access quality education.

=)

Mount Si + Lake Serene

My dad is my outdoors inspiration. When I was younger, he'd take me and my siblings on camping trips and hiking trips and beach trips. I'm honestly not sure if he knows what a hotel is. Whenever we'd travel somewhere far away enough to need overnight lodging, we always pitched a tent. In a camp ground, in the middle of freaking nowhere. Whatever. If there was a patch of dirt big enough for our tent, we would pitch it. My mom constantly bemoaned, "Why do we drive miles to sleep on rocky ground when we have perfectly comfortable accommodations back home?"

Why, indeed. My mother raised me to be a fashion-savvy, modern, capable-in-the-home city gal. My father raised me as a rugged, mountain-climbing, tent-pitching, outdoorsy tomboy. Typical. My mother was born and raised in a modest town with comfortable amenities in Vietnam, whereas my father was born and raised among rice paddies.

In anycase, this is the first time since I graduated from high school where I've had enough time at home to really get back in touch with my more rustic roots. In DC, mommy's influence easily won. Here in the Pacific NW, daddy definitely takes the cake.

I've been on two incredible hikes since returning.
1. Mount Si:

2. Lake Serene:

It really doesn't get better than this.

Mount Si is a hike I know rather intimately. It's about a 25 minute drive east of Bellevue, and my daddy took me and my siblings up this mountain many times in the past. I even went up it once with my best friend and hiking partner-in-crime, Kayla. Every time I've been it's been very crowded, which can be a little annoying when you run into rude hikers. According to the WTA, land managers estimate that Si draws between thirty thousand and fifty thousand visitors a year, making it the most heavily used trail in the state.  It's a long, totally uphill hike, with not much to see or do until you get to the very top. But the top is so worth the 2 hours of trees and trail. There are views of the Upper Snoqualmie Valley, the Puget Sound basin, and far beyond. The WTA cautions not to try to climb the haystack for obvious safety reasons, but my baby sister is a nimble little adventurer and forced me to climb climb climb. Well worth it in the end.

Lake Serene is new to me. Kayla found it on the Washington Trails Association (www.wta.org). We hiked it on a Thursday morning, so the hikers we ran into were few and far between. The hike to Bridal Veils Falls was comfortable enough, and well worth the work. The falls were absolutely deafening and incredibly beautiful. But they were nothing compared to Lake Serene, nestled in a deep basin beneath the spires of Mount Index. Jeez. I could've built a house and lived the rest of my years up there. It was awe inspiring, majestic, beautiful.

Up there, I couldn't imagine living my life comfortable in some city and be content in never venturing out into the natural wilderness that is so available to us. It's funny how living and loving DC almost tricked me into forgetting how much more formidable and magical God-created landscapes are than man-made ones.

So maybe I'm not traveling thousands of miles away from home this summer to scale the walls of Angkor Wat or run my feet through the blinding white-sand in Pattaya. There's beauty everywhere. You just gotta remember to look.

Rooted

I can't help but be struck with an incredible, all-consuming jealousy each time I talk to a friend who has summer plans to leave the country. It's not lady-like, it's not becoming, and--hell--it's not really even rational. But I CANT.HELP.IT.

Notice the title of my blog? "Knock Around the World." Very apt for my blog last summer (nhaca.tumblr.com), when my itinerary was: DC > Seattle > Taipei > Saigon > Nha Trang > Hoi An > Da Nang > Hue > Saigon > Shanghai > Hangzhou > Nanjing > Guangzhou > Saigon > Siem Reap > Phnom Penh > Saigon > Taipei > Seattle > DC. There was not a second for rest last summer, and I loved the fear of not knowing what tomorrow would bring just as much as I hated it.

Now, the most exciting question I ponder each night before bed is: "WHO DIES NEXT IN A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE???"
(When creating this blog, I should have changed the name to "Knock Around the Seven Kingdoms". Hah.)

Now, don't get me wrong. I love that I have the time to read for pure pleasure again. I haven't done this in what feels like decades. Everyone I know at Georgetown is beyond stressed and over-committed, but I probably take being over-committed to a new level. Rarely does a day pass during the school year where I don't go to bed exhausted, but I like it this way.

Case in point: I have zero commitments this summer. I'm not even responsible for making my own bed or for feeding myself. And I'm going insane.

How did I become this person??

I remember in high school and middle school and from what little I remember from elementary school the lead up to responsibility-free summer being full of a certain type of impatient, bone-gnawing anticipation. I remember being stuck in god-awful physics class as the fake-Seattle-sun shone dreamily through ceiling-high windows, counting down the days until June-whatever when I wouldn't have to get up at 6am. When the answer to "No plans?" was always "No problem!"

Lucidly, I remember this. But in my brain and in my heart I've forgotten the feeling of being excited for freedom from responsibility.

Again, I ask: HOW DID I BECOME THIS PERSON?
Who is this person who needs to be worked to the bone, who needs to travel thousands of miles to be satisfied? Who refuses to be happy at the prospect of sleeping in late, spending quality time with her family, and breathing in crisp Northwest air?

Me, apparently.

Strange.
Sometimes I look back and don't recognize the girl I was at 14, and other times I look at myself now and don't recognize the woman I've become. I admit to loving the fast-paced, driven, incredibly successful and materialistic east-coast that has become my second home (and perhaps my second identity). But at the same time, I love this slower, dreamy, rugged and all natural west-coast that is my first and true home with a fierce, passionate, and loyal kind of love.

So, in this moment, I will embrace the fact that I am not yet a professional jet setter (though I aspire, I truly do!), go on walks my mother, curl up on my leather poang with a cup of ginseng tea, cry when ***** inevitably dies in "A Clash of Kings," and learn how to be content.

And if I have to force it, I will.

Minds in the Making

Last week I had the incredible opportunity to sit down and talk with the Co-Directors of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington, Patricia Kuhl and Andrew Meltzoff. It was a very intimate setting-- me, a good friend of mine Alexandra, her mother Maria Eitel, some family members, and Pat and Andrew.

Though I frequently belittle my math skills, no one ever believes me (and rightfully so--I'm indeed very good at math). Less frequently do I belittle my science skills. In truth, I am pathetic at science. Looking back at high school general chemistry class makes the hairs of my arms rise. The thought of taking another physics exam sends a chill down my spine. The other week, my good friend Megan had to explain to me what a proton was.

I know. I wish I were joking too.

Why do I suck at science? Do I suck at science, or is that just something someone told me and I for whatever reason believed them? Like most Georgetown students, I got straight-As in high school, which included all my science classes. I was at the top of my biology class in the 9th grade. My sister wants to get her PhD in biology. We share the same genes, right?

Pat and Andrew may argue that society has stunted my belief in my ability to succeed in this area. In the United States, math and science are "boy" subjects, whereas reading and the arts are "girl" subjects. Girls on average consistently score lower than boys in science and math.

In Singapore, girls and boys score, on average, the same. In fact, girls score a bit better than boys.
Huh. Interrressting.

Pat and Andrew believe that little boys and girls are taught through social media their place in the classroom. Pictures of girls reading outside as the sun shines a golden halo onto her hair. Pictures of little boys with huge safety goggles and bubbling test tubes. Who's at the front of the classroom doing math problems? The boy. Who has a paintbrush in hand and a smear of pink on her cheek? The girl.

If at 5 years old she is taught that she's not good at math and science, and she takes this belief with her into middle and high school, why, as an 18 year old, would she choose to devote the rest of her academic career--and the rest of her career, period--to these subjects?

Economically, this is absolutely disastrous for girls, especially in a world where high-paying jobs are becoming more and more high-tech-centered.

The solution? Change it up! If girls in Singapore are succeeding at levels equal to boys in math and science, there is absolutely no reason for why girls in the US shouldn't also. Pat and Andrew have done a ton of research on this subject, and they're working closely with policymakers to understand the policy implications of their findings.


Sitting in the room with Patricia was extremely eye-opening, but admittedly it made me uncomfortable. Her research is incredible, and something I would've absolutley loved to be a part of. BUT, I thought to myself as I said my thank yous and left, I know nothing about science, I'm crap at it, I haven't taken biology since the 9th grade, what could I possibly contribute?



Huh. I guess I didn't learn anything, after all.