Going to China

            These last two weeks have been great. Teaching was more fulfilling than I expected, to be perfectly honest. The speed with which these kids picked things up was astounding, or at least relative to my expectations.  They were great kids, always in a good mood and really excited to learn English. They come from extreme poverty, yet talking to them you learn that they have lofty dreams, and their enthusiasm for English stems from the fact that they believe that English will help make those dreams come true. In that sense it was an honor to be entrusted with giving these children the tools needed to reach for their dreams.

           

I feel much more comfortable as a teacher now thanks to that two week trial period and I am now leaving for China. It feels odd, leaving this place. I can’t say it feels like home, but it certainly feels like a familiar place that could easily be a home, if that makes any sense. Phnom Penh has provided me so many memories in such a short period of time that I will always have a soft spot for this city. I’ve made some great friends here, many of whom are now scattered throughout Southeast Asia. I’ve learned a lot, not just about teaching but about people and about myself. For that I am truly thankful.

If you ever have the chance, visit Cambodia. I know it is often an afterthought when it comes to Southeast Asia, but it really is a place worth a detour. See Angkor Wat. Go party on Pub Street in Siem Reap. Visit Laughing Fatman for dinner in Phnom Penh, and then go hang out at Howie Bar after hours. Go to Sihanoukville and relax on the beach all day and have fresh fish grilled for you while you sit with your feet in the sand and a cold beer in your hand. Meet new friends, be they other visitors like you or locals. I did all of these things and more, and I can say I enjoyed every step I took here. Bye bye Cambodia, it’s been real. 

Show and Tell

Time to show pictures. Most of these come from the weekend of October 7th. Pictures from past that will be up at some point. Ok enjoy.


First night out in Phnom Penh. This is a fish massage (or pedicure, can't remember). The fish eat the dead skin off your feet. It tickles. A lot.

Still first night out. At Howie Bar. Awesome place. The little (well average by Cambodian standards) guy in the middle is Pithol, one of our drivers, who we convinced to come out with us. He sucked at pool. So we put money on a game against him. He then proceeded to completely destroy us one after another. Hustling 101. Jerk.

View from our hotel. As you can see, there is some serious poverty. Below is a tuk tuk, our most common form of transportation. Really fun, but sometimes nerve-wracking. Especially when you are dodging traffic or driving in the wrong lane of a busy road.

On the way to Siem Reap. There was some serious flooding, and at times even the road was under water. Oh and we saw water buffalo. I don't have pictures. Sorry.

Our group at temple no.1 (forgot the name). This one had a lot of Buddha faces, some smiling and some frowning. The second picture is me in deep thought at that same temple. We saw 4 temples in all, including the Tomb Raider Temple (where they filmed Tomb Raider) and Angkor Wat.

First picture is the Tomb Raider Temple (Yes, they really did film Tomb Raider there). Very cool tree. No statue of Angelina Jolie though. The picture below is of the Baphuon temple, which was never completed. Because of this, there were no restrictions regarding access, so we got to climb into the ruins Indiana Jones style. It was a lot of fun exploring all the nooks and crannies of this ancient structure.

Angkor Wat. One of the ancient wonders of the world (name the others?) and just ridiculous, in both size and beauty. The picture with the reflecting pool is really cool and just like all the postcards. Too bad about the scaffolding.

Crocodile dinner that night. One of those crocodile was fated to be our dinner. The second picture is of the bill (in case you don't believe me), and the third is of the prepared crocodile meat. They wouldn't let me wear the crocodile head as a helmet. No idea why.

Finally, eating Tarantula. Shit why not? Apparently you're not supposed to eat the butt. The rest tasted fine though, really not that bad.

That's all for now. Yeah yeah still too long. They're just pictures it's not like you have to read. Until next time. Hopefully I'll have pictures up from Sihanoukville. Also, in case you're wondering, I don't go to China for another two weeks. C u later. Go Caps.

A Cambodian Frosh Week

It has now been a week in Cambodia. You should go. Seriously. I have already started to fall in love with this place. It would be impossible for me to recount all the things that have happened to me in the past week without writing a couple of pages, so I will do my best to create a highlight reel spanning this and the next couple of entries. And it'll still too long. Whatever. Deal with it. 

Let me first say that all the people doing the training program with me are awesome. A lot of us are recent graduates, while some others have put their previous careers on hold to go on this adventure. Everyone it seems has a different background, but we all have a similar mindset with respect to moving to Asia, and because of that we have been able to build friendships amazingly quickly and easily. It feels a bit like Frosh Week 2007, and that is the highest compliment I can give. The teaching staff is as professional as it is nice, and the additional staff, comprised mainly of locals, is simply amazing. They do everything for us, and they do it with a smile on their face. I have quickly learned that language barriers are a minor detail when it comes to the human ability to connect.

Cambodia, at least the way it is now, is a very young country. It is still in a sort of recovery stage from the reign of the Khmer Rouge, and that becomes very clear when you see some of the poverty and the standards of living that exist throughout the city. You don’t see many old people, because during the Khmer Rouge era about a third of the population was killed. The recent history here is unbelievably sad. The most humbling part however is that the people here have found a way to put it behind them. Their positivity is contagious. It really makes you rethink how lucky most of us have been.

The energy (yes I said energy, don’t worry I haven’t turned into a hippie) here is amazing. Life moves at completely different pace than life back home. It seems chaotic, especially when driving through the city and witnessing a million motorcycles passing each other in bumper-to-bumper traffic, seemingly completely oblivious to any sort of traffic laws. I have frequently found myself driving on the wrong side of the road or simply cutting straight through moving traffic. But you learn quickly that there is a very distinct order, evidenced most clearly by the fact that there are literally no accidents.

One of the things I was most looking forward to before coming here was the food, and I have not been disappointed. I have eaten frog, goat, tarantula, and crocodile. Still haven’t been sick. I have eaten some amazing Pho, some ridiculously good spring rolls, and a plate of dumplings that simply has no peer stateside. But the best meal I’ve had happened when four of us asked one of our Cambodian drivers to take us to his favorite restaurant, because we wanted an authentic taste of Cambodia. What happened next was a feast featuring spring rolls, dumplings, and pork belly. But the piece de resistance was an entire Fish (couldn’t understand him when he explained what kind of fish, and the menu was not in English, unlike most things here) very simply wrapped in tinfoil and prepared on an open flame. Unbelievable. Oh and no meal has cost me more than 7 dollars. And beer is 75 cents a can. Shit, now I’m hungry.

I will post pictures soon (that I have poached from some others in the group), and I will also tell the story of our weekend trip to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat (one of the ancient wonders of the world), which was unbelievable. This post is already too long. Until next time.

Oh and the title change happened because I am pretty sure that I am by far the largest person in this country.