Angkor What!?

Greetings from hot, sunny, moist Cambodia!

We are currently in the city of Siem Reap, closest city to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and other famous temples and sites. The temples are so ornate and interesting that you can't help but spend hours marvelling at them. We have been walking around in the jungle looking at these places and enjoying them. The Cambodian people have been very friendly and warm to us, despite the fact that we blend in with a million other tourists.

Today we went to see Chong Kines the floating village that floats on Tonle Sap, the largest lake in Cambodia. The water level of the lake flucutates by well over ten feet depending upon the season. I'll add pics as soon as I get back home.

Anyway, my time in the internet bar is drawing to a close, so I'll say goodbye from sunny Cambodia.

P.S. I'm wearing shorts and sandals RIGHT NOW!!! Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

Don't Stop

Peace Corps Volunteers are meeting this week. I made a video for the volunteers using photos from all of their sites and experiences. Here is the end result.

11,000 Words

As penance for being so lazy I'm updating again and including a lot of pictures from our trip last summer. Enjoy!






First up is a photo from right here in good ol' Chengxian. This is a shot of the lotus blossoms in the library fountain on campus here.












Next is a shot of some of the artwork on display in one of the museums of the Forbidden City in Beijing. This is ceramic and absolutely amazing work. This one is for Garrett.









Here's a photo of Chairman Mao Zedong at the front of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The word is that the government has several copies of this picture on reserve and can replace it in a very short amount of time, should it become defaced.













Beijing is a place where families go on vacation, much like Americans often journey to Washington D.C. Here is a father taking his son's photograph in Tiananmen Square. You can see the Chairman Mao portrait in the background.







A trip to Beijing (or China) wouldn't be complete without seeing the Great Wall. This is the most famous and popular part of the wall at Badaling. It is very touristy and it seems you can't go five feet without some tout trying to get you buy something. I've been to the westernmost point of the Great Wall and although it isn't nearly as impressive in size, I prefer it because it just seems less restored and, therefore, more authentic.









Now for a jaunt westward to the city of Xi'an. This is on the grounds of the Big Goose Pagoda in Xi'an. There are a number of out buildings that once operated as a school for monks. They now work as a series of museums and stores.









Here's Shell and I and the actual Big Goose Pagoda or 大雁塔 Dayan Ta. It has been around since about 700 AD. To give you some perspective on how old this thing was: the Vikings hadn't reached their stride of their European raids and Islam was just in its beginning stages. Translation: it is *old*!







Back to Beijing one more time to see the Beijing Lamasery. It is a beautiful place. The highlight of the lamasery is a statue of Buddha carved out of a single piece of wood that stands well over two stories tall. This is a couple of people offering prayers at an altar on the grounds of the lamasery.




This blurry picture is included because it has a good story behind it. The guy in the photo is one of 9473987439847 salesman in Shanghai who pester folks (Especially foreigners: they have money and are obviously not policemen...so they are good targets.) to buy whatever they may be hiding in their pockets. This guy was selling fake Rolex watches. It was getting late and we were walking back to our hotel and had been approached by a lot of these guys. I decided that the next one who came up would get his picture taken. He came up and I raised my camera toward him....then he sprinted away as fast as he could! Victory!







Back home in Chengxian. I had a college professor who once told me that if you ever want to find out about a culture you should always go to the market. There you can find out what foods people eat, what they use in their daily lives, and what is important to them. Here is a shot from the market. I thought the colors of the veggies here made for a good shot.




This is a photo of the lotus garden at the poet Dufu's cottage in Chengdu, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I think this shot turned out great.

He's back!

Hey Thad, where have you been?

Oh you know...around...doing stuff, bein' lazy.

Garrett, my good friend who lives in San Diego, managed to fix the problem with my provider so now posting pictures, the most interesting and fun part of this little bloggy enterprise, is fully functional.

See?

How cool is Garrett? He's 盖了帽子 (gailemaole: awesome!)

This is a photo of the Christmas party, turned into a New Year's Day party that the English department had.

The school wanted to throw a party for the foreign teachers, but some of them were out of town during Christmas, so they postponed it and made it for a different holiday. Good enough.

Much like last year, this year there was singing dancing and musical instruments galore. Last year, many of my students performed. This year Michelle's second year students were the primary performers and mine didn't really participate. Afterwards, there was a huge photo session for a half hour with students grabbing the foreign teachers and literally having tugs-of-war with us over the chance to have a photo together.

See?

Let's see, this week the dean of the English department asked us for a favor. He wanted us to go judge a speaking contest among the students of the Little Star English School.

The school operates in addition to the kids' regular school day and it operates on weekends and at times when school is not in session. Their ages ranged from four to twelve or so.

They each memorized one of three short stories or poems and then performed for us.

The first contestant was an eight-year-old boy who was wearing eye shadow (Had to ask Michelle what that stuff is called...eye shadow...got it.) He said, "Hello, my name is Charlie (He actually said his Chinese name, but I forget it now.) and I am a very pretty boy!"

Pretty Charlie then proceeded to prance around the stage while reciting the poem about the little kitty who tried to catch the butterfly. Entertaining to say the least. Most of the kids were dressed up for the occasion and they were pretty cute.

Unfortunately, I thought we were going to judge a high school speech competition, which is something that we have done several times in the past, so I didn't bring my camera.

After all 30 contestants performed, we were ushered down to have a banquet meal, which for me is always an adventure.

The head of the Little Star school was there, and he was the guy for whom we were really doing the favor by being judges. He ordered the food and then the English department dean told Little Star principal that I don't drink, so he didn't need to order the baijiu (potent rice wine.) The principal leaned over to me and said, "You know, if a man doesn't drink in China, we call him a girl!"

The girl in question, me, just happened to tower over this guy and could snap him in half like a chicken wing. What's more, the same girl in question just endured several hours of performances, a photo shoot with said performers, and small talk for 2 hours afterward to help him out...at no charge or obligation.

Who insults a person that is doing a favor? Really...who?

I just smiled and told him that may be true, but I still don't drink. He gave me a Sprite and we got along well after that.

This week is finals and the students have been spending a lot of time studying, so things have been pretty lax around here. We finish up next week and then we are off on vacation!

First, we will go to Chengdu for a few day of classes (and poker!) Then Shell, John, Erin and I will travel south to the country of Cambodia to see Angkor Wat at Siem Reap. From there we will travel south of the equator to Indonesian island of Bali for some fun in the sun. After that we will spend the Chinese Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) in Guangzhou, China. Then we take a 27 hour train ride home. Should be pretty fun and much warmer than it has been here!