12 hour layover in Bangkok

We left Uganda on Thursday at 7:55 PM. We didn't arrive in Korea until 7:50 AM on Saturday. That's a lot of travel time. We had a 12-hour layover in Bangkok, which gave us about 8 hours in the actual city to explore. We ate some good, cheap food, bought some souvenirs, saw a couple of the sites, and most importantly, got massages. I think we pretty much did everything there is to do in Thailand. We don't have too many pictures to show for it, but we had a good time.

Traffic in Bangkok

It happened to be the Queen's birthday while we were there so there were all sorts of things put up in her honor- pictures, gifts, parades, etc.

Riding in a tuk-tuk

The signs weren't too easy to follow.

Phra Som Fort

Wat Arun Temple

It rained big time that evening

I had to cover my shoulders inside the temple

The reclining buddha

Wat Pho Temple

Wat Pho

Wat Pho Temple

Wat Pho

Wat Pho

A trip to Thailand wouldn't be complete without a massage!

One last view on the way back to the airport

This is why Asians are not fat

 We've spent most of this week adjusting to the time change. The photo below was taken sometime after midnight as we went on an ice cream run to the convenience store down below our apartments. Both of us had tried to fall asleep starting around 10 and just could not do it. So we got up, went up to the roof to look out on the city, went down for a pint of ice cream, and back to the apartment to watch The African Queen.

Back in Seoul

 I think I am all caught up on blogs and pictures now so I'll be taking a blogging break. I've spent way too much time updating this thing!

Videos from Uganda Part 2

 

I found Taylor in this classroom at Favor of God Primary School playing Simon Says with the kids.

Our tour guide at the Source of the Nile.

We paid a guy to go over Bujagali Falls. You can read more about it here.

We found this little guy making lots of noise outside of the church in Kyabazaala.

Videos from Uganda Part 1

Not in any particular order.....

No video...but listen to the sound of these children's voices praising God from Favor of God Children's Home in Gulu...these children are fatherless in the natural, but they know the goodness of God and are far closer to Him than many adult Christians I've met in my life. These kids actually go into local hospitals and lay hands on/pray for the sick, they go into the town and have crusades...they are radical for Jesus. We loved being with them.

Another video from Favor of God children's home- this time you can see them. They are singing "I can use my (hands, chest, feet, etc..) to praise the Lord. Look at the Mzungu (white person) trying to learn!

Favor of God Primary School Children Nursery Class singing "Shake Shake the Mango Tree"

Children at Jireh Children's School in Masaka welcoming us to their school. "How are you? How are you? How are you ladies and gentleman? Whoa-oh-oh-oh how are you? On this happy day."

Jireh Children's Center- "What number is this?" It's so cute how the "teacher" instructs the class to "Stand up. Sit Down. Clap."

AcaciaTree Baby Home in Entebbe

If you know anything about Taylor and I by now, you should know that we both love children. Taylor worked as a summer camp counseling for over 5 years. I've been babysitting and working with kids since about age 10 and I was pretending to be a mom with my live baby dolls, Nicholas and Samuel, since the age of 3. Babies are my favorite...I think Taylor is more of a fan of older kids that he can play and be active with, but he does really well with the babies too. We were so blessed to be around so many children and go to so many children's/baby homes. 

AcaciaTree Baby Home was the perfect final stop before we left Uganda. Robin Hancock actually went on an ORU Missions trip to Uganda several years before I did. She ended up coming back to live in Uganda and has opened a baby's home. She really tries to keep the babies with their families

Sadly, we only got to spend about half a day there, but it was such a joy to be around those little guys. 

At the beginning we were just hanging out with Sophie, John Mark, and Emma. Everybody else headed off to nap.

Little Sophie. She's tiny but strong.

I'm happy to say that Sophie is doing better. She was pretty sick about the week before we went to visit. She is HIV Positive but with the medications she is on (called ARV's) she can live a long life. You can read more about little Sophie here on Robin's blog. She was still not feeling fully well when we were there so she was really cuddly.

Sophie fell asleep like that on Taylor. Then we just had John Mark and Emma awake.

Trying to get John Mark to wave

Emma soon fell asleep

 

Naptime is over! I heard noise so I went back to check on the boys and this is how I found them. :)

The weather was beautiful so we played outside.

teaching Henry how to play hide and seek

Joshua

The two girls in the back are Robin's adopted daughters

Esther is learning early how to balance stuff on her head.

 

 

Moses!

I definitely want to visit these guys again someday!

Final Days in Jinja

Okay, I am going to attempt to get all caught up with the remainder of our trip to Uganda in a few posts. We left off with Amani Baby Cottage in Jinja, Uganda. After Amani, we spent a few more days in Jinja. We went to dinner at Pastor Terry and Debbie Nester's house and met their Ugandan son, Emma (Emmanuel), who happens to be living in South Korea! What a small world. We had no connection with Terry and Debbie before we came to Uganda. We found out about their church- Acacia Community Church through someone at Amani who recommended that we attend there. We met Pastor Terry and he told us about his son, Emma, who had bee studying in South Korea for 3 years, but just so happened to be home in Jinja on a break at the same time we were there!So after a full day at Amani, we went to dinner at their home.

This is a picture with Terry (light blue North Carolina shirt) and Emma (Terry's arms are on him) and a team that was visiting from the Uganda Water Project. I'm telling you- we made so many connections while we were there! We want to stay in contact with all the awesome people we met.

The next day, we went horseback riding along the Nile River. After the ride, we went and packed up at the home we were staying at and headed to Kampala for the night.

 

We spent one night in Kampala at a nice hotel that Pastor Kintu told us about. I don't think foreigners really go there much. I think it's more of a place that Ugandans just know about. But if you're in Kampala, you should definitely stay there. It's called Pacify Hotel and it is only 30,000 Shillings for one night which includes breakfast in the morning. 30,000 Shillings which is about  $11 USD.

The next day we headed to Entebbe- our final stop before leaving.

New Address in Seoul

This is the new address of our school, which is probably best to receive mail and packages at. ;)

Ashley and Taylor Hankins
GVCS Junior
612-121 Banpo dong
Seocho-gu
Seoul, South Korea
137-040

Happy 2-year Anniversary!

It has already been 2 years since that day in 2009. In our 2 short years of marriage, we've been in 7 countries together. We already took an anniversary trip to Sipi Falls in Uganda a few weeks ago.

Tonight we celebrated with an amazing dinner at a revolving restaurant on top of Seoul Tower.

The first year was great; the second year in Korea was hard. We're ready for an amazing 3rd year!
Happy 2 years babe!

Amani Baby Cottage

Back when I (Ashley) first came to Uganda in 2005, I wanted so badly to visit Amani Baby Cottage. I wasn't able to go on my first trip, so I said I would just have to come back to Uganda again someday and go there. My dream came true. We spent Sunday afternoon and Monday at Amani Baby Cottage in Jinja.

I think there are currently almost 2 or 3 times many boys as girls at Amani. Also, their numbers are low (35 children) because they have some success with a child sponsorship that allows the children to return to their families that couldn't otherwise support them. They like to reunite children with their families. Sometimes that is not possible due to death or mental illness, etc. So sometimes the children get adopted, mostly by families in the States.


Snack time for the boys



It's pretty obvious why he doesn't wear clothes at snack time

Hanging out with all the girls

This is Grace. She seems like such a sweetie, right? NOT! She CAN be sweet, but she is one of the most ornery children I have ever met. She pretty much does the opposite of whatever you tell her to do; and laughs while she's doing it. She's still cute though!

And now it's time for the babies of Amani! There are currently only 5 under 9 months. They stay in a different area from all the other children.


Dorothy




Simon- such a happy baby!




This was a great moment. Taylor went to pick the baby up but there was something in the seat that he said looked like spinach artichoke dip. After touching it he quickly realized it was poop that had leaked out the side of the diaper. Way to go, Precious.



"You have no chin!"



Jennifer- she always had a really cute angry/inquisitve look.



This is Enoch. How old do you think he is?  2 months? 3 months? Try 8 months!

I fell in love with Baby Enoch. He came to Amani 2 months ago when he was only 6 months weighing about 1.5 Kilos (about 3.3 pounds). They thought he was going to die. His father died of HIV and his mother was also HIV positive. He has an older sister that is also HIV positive, but he is negative. Someone told his mother that he could get HIV through her breastmilk so she stopped nursing but she didn't have money to buy milk for him. So she would go out and collect field greens, boil them, and give him the water which other mothers in similar situations also do. That's the only reason he stayed alive as long as he did but also the reason why he was as small as he was. During the 2 months he's been at Amani, he has gained several kilos and now weighs 5.2 K (almost 12 pounds). I just love that little guy! And all the other ones too!



My buddy Enoch




Jennifer giving one of her angry/inquisitive looks.

Baby Homes go through  A LOT of laundry. No washing machines and no dryers....think about those days where it rains a few days in a row. They get really backed up!




Dress up time

 

Mary; a twin to Martha (not pictured)

Here's Grace again, all happy



Esther- she was such a sweetie



Ahhh...here's Grace in one of her finer moments

The girls' room



One last picture of Jennifer


And lastly, a video of Emily singing "Aleluia, Amen" in the background. At the very beginning of the video, you can hear Grace screaming.