All my bags are packed....

Am I ready to go??

I just got back from a week in Laos. I leave tomorrow to start my journey home. I feel like I have been traveling for forever....I will be very happy not to be living out of a backpack or duffle bag anymore. It seems unreal to me that this experience is over. I really feel like tomorrow I will wake up and be at the farm again messing with the kids, preparing my lessons, eating rice, riding my bike, etc. I really have come to love Thailand and feel at home here. I will really miss it and more than that, I will really miss my kids. Saying goodbye to them was the hardest thing I have ever done. My last weekend I was with them they kept asking me when I was leaving and when I was coming back. I wish I had an answer for them. They then would proceed to tell me that they are going to shoot the wings off my airplane and then superman fly up and save me and bring me back to Thailand (this was all in sign, btw:). I really had no idea how attached I would become to this people and place. I wish I could tell you how special these kids are. I know I have learned more from them than I ever could have taught them. I have so much more to tell you about these kids and a blogpost will not suffice. So here are a few pictures and I will tell you in person. See you in 2 days!

Nose, Bonn, and I on our way to the bookstore.

O, Nam, Fa and I at my farewell barbeque

Fa and I at the farm

Bonn

Tuanne

20 days

So I am sitting here realizing that I have 20 days until I come home. While I am very excited to see everybody, I honestly don't want to come home. I love Thailand. I love its people, its food, its attitude....its culture. I have been surprised by how fast and how deeply I have come to love this place.

Have I accomplished everything that I set out to do? Have I really taken advantage of my time here? I am pretty sure I have grown up in a lot of ways...and I am pretty sure I won't even realize just how much Thailand has changed my life until I am back in the States trying to reconcile what I have learned and experienced with normal life. One of my students told me today that he thought that after I have been back in America for a month, I will have forgotten all about Thailand. I told him that it was impossible, that Thailand has changed my life. I hope he believed me. I am so grateful that I got to come here. It has definitely been the hardest thing I have ever done....and the most rewarding. Its funny how often those two coincide.

Livin' it up

Here are a few pictures from my bike ride last night:

Happy 4th of July!

This weekend was probably my favorite so far. Oh, I loved it! We started it off with elephant riding (my new favorite animal). We then went hiking through the mountains through different hill tribes. We ended up at a beautiful waterfall where we camped for the night. It was so fun to sit around the campfire singing random American songs that one of our guides knew on the guitar. Our guides were from the Karen hilltribe, where we stayed. They were born and raised in this little village and they were so excited to show us their home. I loved it because I didn't feel like it was the typical touristy zoo thing. They weren't in it just to make money. They honestly loved their job and we loved the experience. The next day we took off again, saw a few more waterfalls, played a soccer game with another hilltribe, and ate lunch out of banana leaves. That is hilltribe backpacking food for you. Forget Chunky soup, stick some fried rice in a banana leaf! We hiked about 10 miles all together and it was some pretty steep terrain. I am definitely sore today. After our hike we rafted down the river on bamboo rafts. We might have stopped to do some cliff jumping and swimming too:) To top it off, we went and got pizza and root beer and some more delicious Swenson's. As we were finishing our sundays, we saw fireworks in the distance...somebody else was celebrating too:) Oh happy day. I have never felt so patriotic than when celebrating my country's birthday somewhere else. I love Thailand. But it has really made me appreciate the freedoms and opportunities that I have as and American. We are truly blessed.

Tut Tut Tut

And so it begins....across the rickety bridge #1

beautiful terraced rice fields

Rambo: one of our guides (check out his awesome machete)

the waterfall where we camped

where we slept

our lunch

Jenessa and I playing in the waterfall

Margo and I LOVING a delicious sunday from Swenson's!

(Dad you would have loved this weekend. I kept thinking of you the whole time, pretty sure I even dreamt about you being there:) We will have to do it again, right?)

Flight of the Gibbons

(Sorry about the late posting...I wrote this last week and didnt get a chance to post it)

What is a gibbon? A gibbon is a monkey that likes to swing through the jungle in Southeast Asia. This last weekend I was a gibbon. We went to a zipline/repelling course and got to spend 1/2 hours swinging through a spectacular jungle. Amazing! I tried to upload a video but the internet is bad so no luck, I will have to show you when I get back. Here a few pictures though.

Angkor What????

Sorry about the delay, but here is the beginning of the Angkor Pictures. This is the main Angkor Wat temple. It is the largest in the complex. We got there late afternoon so we only had a little time in the temple itself before they kicked us out. It was okay though, they had blocked most of it off anyways....something about Japanese tourists hurting themselves (and there were Japanese tourists everywhere!) However, we did stay till dark outside the complex and it was an beautiful vista. We got to see the sunset and it was the most incredible sunset I have ever seen....nay the most incredible sunset MAN has ever seen. You had the glorious ethereal pink clouds backdropping the temple, you had a storm rolling in giving it a foreboding aura with lightning flashing occasionally. To top it off, there was a rainbow? (forgive my meager attempt to describe the indescribable) Really what more can you ask for?

inside

the sunset

The Royal Palace

After Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields, the Royal Palace was a nice emotional break for us. It is where the king of Cambodia used to live and where he still does formal ceremonies. It was a beautiful place….and it was blistering hot. It was interesting because it felt like a Buddhist wat. The architecture was the same, the buddhas were everywhere. It is interesting how the Buddhist religion permeates all of southeast asia.

some of the monks let me jam with them in the temple....it was awesome!

After the Royal Palace we had some time to burn so we went to the mall in Phnom Penh. No biggy except for two things. 1- I bought my first pair of sunglasses….ever. nice pair of Gucci sunglasses for $5 (you like how i "pretend" like i'm trendy:) 2- and even more importantly, I had Swensons for the first time…and it was love at first sight...i mean bite!! Seriously the best ice cream i….have….EVER…..eaten! granted it might be the fact that I haven’t had legit ice cream in over a month, they actually gave me a decent portion, they had peanut butter!, and it was blistering hot, but I stand by it: BEST ice cream EVER!

can i say peanut butter chocolate chip!!! and what???? moose tracks!!!!

After the swensons discovery we went on a boat ride/barbecue down the Mekong River. It was the perfect end to a physically and emotionally exhausting day. Just to sit on a boat with a cool breeze and the chance to talk with each other about what we have been experiencing. Just throw in a spectacular sunset and you have the perfect end to an amazing day in Cambodia.

The Killing Fields

Okay, so while Toul Sleng left me feeling heavy and depressed, the Killing Fields, while no less horrific, left me with more of a feeling of awed reverence and solemn sacredness. The killing fields is where they found nearly 10,000 people buried in mass graves. They made a stupa in memorial of the people that died there. Conserved in the stupa are all the skulls of the victims that they found. I found that I have a really hard time viewing things like this and Toul Sleng. It hurt to see evidence of the terrible things that humanity is capable of. There were still bits of bone and cloth that was visible on the ground that had worked its way up after it rained. Nonetheless, there was a reverence that I felt here. It was a hallowed ground and a pristinely beautiful place.

Tuol Sleng

Crossing the border from Thailand to Cambodia was quite the experience. It was extreme culture shock all over again. The poverty was devastating and the people were….different. We had to be very careful because there were beggars and pick-pocketers everywhere. Everywhere we went people were trying to rip us off and milk us for all we were worth. It was frustrating but as I was there I got to know a little bit more about the country and the people and I could understand a little bit more where they were coming from.

Sadly enough, most people don’t know very much about Cambodia. Cambodia actually has a painful history. In the late 70’s a radical government party, the Khmer Rouge, came into power and completely obliterated the Cambodian economy, culture, and society. They were a poor group that came from the country. They wanted to go back to a completely agrarian society so they redistributed the urban population to the country and forced everyone into harsh farm labor. Furthermore, they executed and killed anyone who opposed them, anyone who was educated, anyone in the military, anyone who wasn’t 100% Khmer, it was the Cambodian holocaust. Estimates of 3 million people were tortured and killed during the Khmer Rouge regime. That is ¼ of the country’s population! Their own people! It is incomprehensible to me. This genocide took place just before I was born! It really wasn’t that long ago. AND, I had never even heard of this until I came to college and took a geography class about southeast asia. 3 million people!!!! Completely meaningless slaughter. While in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, we were able to go see Tuol Sleng (the Cambodian equivalent of Auschwitz). It was a hard place to visit. It is hard to explain but my soul felt heavy. I felt bad being there casually viewing the atrocities that are so foreign and removed from me that I couldn’t hope to understand, but were so real to the people that suffered there. And I felt sacreligious casually wandering the prison taking pictures like I was a spectator at a zoo. I did, so that I can remember what I felt and what I saw and because I think that it is important, but I will only select a few to share with you. Sorry for the downer blogpost but I think that it is a story that needs to be told. Anybody in Thailand over 40 lived through the Khmer regime. Its affects are still deeply imbedded in Cambodian society. That is why everyone in Cambodia seems to live as though today is their last, because that is the mindset they were forced into by the Khmer Rouge. It was frustrating to deal with it offered some explanation for their behaviour.

They took pictures and had biographies for everyone who went through Tuol Sleng. There were rooms and rooms full of pictures similar to this one. Only 5 people survived.

The prison used to be a high school.

One of the signs at the prison.

Sorry for the condensed history lesson. If you want to learn more, I would highly recommend the book Survival of the Killing Fields. It is an powerful autobiography of one of the survivors of the Khmer regime.

Cambodia!!

Okay, so i just got back from Cambodia. We spent a week there. It was a whirlwind of a trip. So many amazing places, so many experiences, so many emotions, so little sleep, so much food, so much to talk about. I will do my best to recount my experiences there but it will be hard to put in words so bear with me. I will try and upload pictures but it takes forever but i am working on it so be excited!!!!

Food Post

One of my favorite things about Thailand has definitely been the food. When I first got here people told me that that I would lose weight because the food was so much healthier here than in the States....and apparently causes digestive problems....nuff said. En contrare! If anything I have gained weight! I eat sooo much and I am always wanting more. I am never completely satisfied. I have found that I love the fruit here. Kinda a big deal, coming from me. Here are some of my favorites:

the famous mangosteen (rumored to be the forbidden fruit)

dragon fruit

Rambutans (look like they are out of a Dr. Suess story)

Last weekend, our group got to go to a cooking class. We all learned how to make some absolutely delicious dishes. I only hope I can somewhat replicate them whe

n I get home. I made yellow curry, pad thai, pad grapao gai (stir-fried chicken hot basil leaves and chili), tom yam gung (spicy prawn soup), and khao niew mamuang (mango sticky rice). Oh, so good! All of it, all six courses. A ton of food, I know, and I ate it all, I can put away!

My Weekend

Sorry it took me so long, pictures take forever to load and the internet has been faulty. This is what i was up to last weekend.

one of the many wats we saw on our wandering

found a familiar face

Dionthe and I during our ride in the tuktuk (i will take a picture of one, they are awesome)

another random wat ....and guess who was in front??

i'm not sure what it means

genie pants: they are everywhere! and I love them!

Overall, a pretty awesome weekend. 8 days till Cambodia!!