I've decided to take a new approach here with my updates. At the end of the month I'm going to do a recap of all my highlights and stories. So here goes the January report!
We went back to school the first week of January, it was an intense week of exam review as the following week we had midterms. It was a challenge motivating kids to start studying after two weeks of Christmas hoidays, but even harder to motivate ourselves as teachers to finish making our exams! : P I guess protcrastination is a problem at every age! My exams went incredibly well, I was finished marking all 125 exams a day after they finished! I think I've really got a handle on this whole exam thing now, or at least I'm starting too. Certainly it was the easiest report card period I've ever had.
We were only in school for 3 weeks between Christmas and Chinese New Years. I travelled to Cambodia with 3 other teachers for a little over a week during the first half of the New Years holiday. It was quite the experience! Definiately the most diverse trip I've ever been on. We flew to Siem Reap via Kuala Lumpur. We had a nice hotel in Siem Reap, and the staff was very friendly. We spent a day at the temples of Angkor Wat. I put up some pictures, you should definiately check them out! I've seen quite a few temples by now, and these are by far the most amazing, breath-taking sight I've ever seen! Angkor is a collection of temples built in the 12th century. They were originally Hindu but as the religious makeup of the country changed they became Buddhist. Each temple is actually quite unique and we only went to four of them, but that was only the beginning. For an avid explorer, it could take days to see everything at Angkor. Angkor Wat is the main temple in the complex. The big thing to do is go and see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Our group was not so amitious, but I can imagine it would be an awesome sight.
We also went to a war museum in Siem Reap. They had a collection of military parafanalia in an open-air courtyard. It was kind of cool seeing the tanks, helicopters, planes, anti-aircraft guns, and the like, all sitting in amongst the trees and bushes. They had a big collection of landmines there. These are still a huge problem in Cambodia, and the travel books expressly said not to wander off the beaten path or venture outside the main three cities as the country is still riddled with active mines. It was really sad seeing all the amputees on the sidewalks, and everywhere there were collection boxes to help the children who are orphaned due to landmines. Of all the countries I've visited, this was the saddest one. There were little kids everywhere, running around barefoot (sometimes even naked), homeless and completely unsupervised.
After Siem Reap, we took a 9 hour bus ride down to Sihanoukville, the beach city. Our first night there I got a parasite and spent the next two days in the bathroom, in bed watching tennis or sleeping on the beach. I guess of all the times on the trip to get sick, that was really th ideal time, it just sucks having an asian bug in your system! I was doing better for a few days but now that I'm back home, I'm back in bed with killer stomach pains. I've realized I was really self-inflicted. There are two things I've always done to keep myself healthy in China, yogurt and a special tea I drink twice a day. But due to the milk scandal this past fall, I stopped with the yogurt and due to the price of the tea, I haven't bought anymore since I ran out in December. Needless to say, today I went shopping and bought both! The milk scandal has come to a close here, the guilty parties have been imprisoned and executed, so I think our food is save to consume again. Just another tragity in Asia I guess though, hey?
Anyways, back to Cambodia. After Sihanoukville we travelled back up to Phnom Penh. This was the tough part. We went to S-21 which is a high-school that got converted to a prison by the Khumer Rouge. Thousands of Cambodians were interrogated and tortured there before they were taken to the killing fields, just outside the city and executed. Over 750,000 people were killed there between 1975 and 1979, 20,000 of whom were children. What I found very amazing and inspiring in all the sadness, was the committment of the Cambodians to tell the truth of what happened, and use the tragic stories of their past to prevent anything like that from happening again. There was nothing showy or commericalized about anything we saw, it was all very real, almost too real. There were a few points when we just had to stop and take a break from it all simply because the reality of the genocide too much to handle.
And now I'm home after brief stop overs in Bangkok, Macau and Hong Kong. We still have another week of holidays and I plan on spending it around Guangzhou. I'll do a little shopping, hopefully yoga every day, a lot of sleeping and probably some prep at school for next term. Happy Chinese New Year! The year of the ox is supposed to be a good one! (although I don't know any particular reason why, it's just what everyone's saying) : ) Later!