Cambodia Adventure

The four of us at the airport...'the beginning!'

Here are the first few sights from our trip to Cambodia. We started out in the city of Phenom Pehn and then travelled by car to a city called Siem Reap. It's really quite difficult to wrap up our experience in a post, but it was like a completely different world! I have never seen poverty like this before and the various smells, (sometimes good and often not good) were a little hard to adjust to initially.

Below: This was the car ride where we travelled to Siem Reap. We often had to wait for random cows and waterbuffalo to cross the road. I also saw a few scooters drive by with a few dead pigs hanging off the back. Apparently that was not something to freak out about, but I certainly was trying to find my camera...but I didn't get it in time.

Safety is the highest priority! It was quite normal to see 3,4 even 5 people on the little scooters. We found it quite unbelievable as we watched a scooter whiz by with 4 people and a baby on it. It was a little much for our Canadian brains to handle.

Below: Jenny and Jordie in the tuk-tuk

Below: Attempting to cross the street. Normally something I wouldn't take a picture of, but crossing the street in Cambodia is a little different. There really aren't traffic lights the same as other countries and vehicles don't really seem to stop for pedestrians. The key is to simply walk out into traffic and the cars and scooters just zoom around you. I was pretty freaked out the first time...ok I never got comfortable. Complete chaos, but it just seemed to work.

Below: People gather in the park for evening exercises.

Happy baby at the park

National Museum

visiting an alligator park

Making New Friends- this was a family we met while buying fruit. There is a lot of poverty in Cambodia- we were encouraged to take children home with us on a few different occasions.

These next few pictures are from the killing fields near Phnom Pehn. During the years 1974-1979, nearly 17 000 civilians were tortured, murdered and buried in mass graves under the Khmer Rouge regime. These mass graves are now termed 'the killing fields.' They were dug up in recent years and 8000 of the skulls were placed in a memorial building as a reminder of the atrocious brutality of the former regime.

Below: This memorial stands in the middle of the fields and houses 8000 skulls of those brutally murdered during the genocide.

8000 skulls

Below: If you look closely you can see holes and chips in the skulls.

Cambodian Sunsets

Riding in the tuk-tuk

Jenny and an elephant




Blake and I at the East Gate of the ancient Temples.

Ta Prohm- ancient jungle temple built in the late 12th and early 13th Centuries. The trees have left this temple in ruins.

Jenny tree

Huge tree roots!

You may notice that where we are standing is where a scene from Tomb Raider was filmed.

Temple 2- Can't remember the name, but I do remember after tromping all over the grounds someone casually mentioned that poisonous snakes live in this temple. Yikes! Would not have walked so confidently...ok let's face it...probably wouldn't have even gone in.

Boys climbing extremely steep steps.

Temple 3: Angkor Wat- built in the early 12th Century- considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Chilling

Pretty Jenny with a flower

To Cambodia we go...

We are leaving for Cambodia and Thailand tomorrow together with our travel buddies Jenn and Jord. We will be leaving February 15 and returning February 28. I am really nervous and excited all at the same time! We would definitely appreciate your prayer for safety! We will update as we can and I have no doubt that Blake will ensure you get some good photos.

Erin's Winter Camp

When Blake and I returned from holidays in early January, we were flung into the thick of what's termed "English Winter Camp." Please don't let your Western mind be fooled by the term 'camp' because the majority of the 3 weeks was spent studying science, social studies, math...just all in English. We did have a few fun days mixed in with the school work and I recently received a CD containing photos from the camp. Thought I'd share.

This first photo is the opening ceremony where we were solemnly sworn in as teachers of the Winter Camp. Pretty intense! :)

These are the kids promising to learn and behave.

These next few photos are of my Language Arts classes. Don't they look so dedicated and behaved?!




This is my class playing the human knot game. Teachers get tired of doing work sometimes too! I decided to play a game instead.


The following few pictures are of my Fantastic Art class. The kids are displaying their final projects.
Making puzzle piece ornaments

Sean with his Iris Card.

Iris Folding Cards

Hanging snowflakes

The girls eating their decorated cookies.

Amy with her lightbulb penguin.


Nicki with her picture frame.

We had a few special activity days where we took all the kids to various locations. The first outing was to an English Village.

First step is going through customs at the 'airport' using appropriate English. Soooo nervous!

Learning appropriate English for when you go to jail? hmmm


Next activity was jumping in 'Castle Land.'


Tubing at a hill.


Me and my buddy Chris.

Printed Fame

We always knew he had it in him! Jordan landed a half-page colour photo in a Korea-wide newspaper. The article is about English education in Korea. Way to go Jordo!

Ode to Jenny

I had a moment of reflection the other day as I was hanging out with my kimbap loving friend and thinking how neat it has been to watch these guys go through the process of helpless and brand spanking new in Korea to quite competent and independent. I'm so proud of their progress!

I remember with clarity the first day they arrived in Korea. We knocked on their apartment door and a sleep deprived Jenn answered saying something like, 'What the heck are we doing?!" They gave us such big hugs that afternoon- I'm guessing it was good to see a familiar face. :) Blake and I made special mental note to really treasure those first few days/weeks as we witnessed them adjust. As we showed them the subway and experienced the Korean version of 'packed with people,' sweet Canadian Jenny asked with innocent politeness, "how can I say excuse me in Korean?" (For those unaware...you just push) Ah yes...those were the days of sweet, polite Jenn.

For friends and family back home, I am happy to report that these two are doing well and are enjoying the Korea experience, but there has been a subtle change in Jenn that became painfully obvious to me last week. Jenny and I were on a Wednesday night date while our men met with the guys for Bible study. We decided to splurge on Starbucks because it was a super cold night and Starbucks has really comfy couches. We arrived and despite the huge restaurant, there was not a seat to be found. We strategically split up bettering our chances of landing a spot, but it seemed as though there were some other people who came in way after us who had the same idea. Out of the corner of my eye (closer to Jenn's strategic location) a couple started to clear their glasses and move. I alerted Jenn, but the girls behind us (need I mention again they came in WAY after us?) saw the opening as well. The one girl started to gain ground on Jenn and it almost looked as if we had lost (again), but one too many elbows and shoves and seats taken from under her nose on the bus had finally gotten the better of Jenny. With a look of determination in her eye she made a run for it, leapt through the air and landed on the couch, triumphantly declaring with satisfaction in my direction, 'I got it!". I think the rest of us were all a little shocked, especially coming from the sweet Canadian girl who used to ask how to say 'excuse me.'
'Able to adjust to a new environment' and 'adaptable' are resume worthy qualities and by-golly, Jenn's got them! We're all hoping that she's just as adjustable and adaptable when going home to Canada again.

She promises to stop before becoming the old grandmother in this video at her granddaughter's wedding. We love you Jenny! Pushy and all! :)

January 2009

Wow- I have been really horrible these days with updating the blog.

It's definitely beginning to look a lot like winter these days...actually, it's more just feeling like winter here and it's been feeling like winter for awhile. We don't have any snow aside from the random falls where it melts almost instantly, but it's still stupid cold.
Blake and I made the decision to go home for the holidays this year and it was a pretty eventful trip home. We found ourselves in the middle of what was termed 'snowmageddon' and we almost thought we weren't going to make it to Toronto. We had 3 flights, 2 transfers to get home and after 35 hours of travel, we found out that our last flight from Detroit to Toronto was cancelled with no hope of rebooking for days. We made the decision to take a bus home from Detroit and had to navigate in the scary city of Detroit to find the bus station. The area of Detroit we saw was such a stark contrast to our home in Seoul. We had to wait about 7 hours in the bus station in Detroit and there were homeless people trying to break into lockers beside us and cornering us for money in the bathrooms and calling us on if you made eye contact. Wow was all we could say. We rode the bus all night long and my dear father-in-law drove to Toronto to pick us up. We were so happy to see a familiar face after almost 2 days of travel with hardly any sleep. I have never gone to sleep so fast when my head finally hit the pillow!

Our luggage was extremely delayed and we didn't actually have it for the majority of the time that we were home. Northwest gave us some money back for clothes so that was pretty exciting.
It was such a blessing to be home for the holidays and re-connect with our loved ones. It felt like such a short time and we didn't visit everyone we wanted to visit, but it was so great to just take a break.
We made a few discoveries about ourselves amidst all our travels. The less you eat, the better your body adjusts to time change. I adjust much faster than Blake. Poor Blake was completely switched around and would find himself exhausted in the day and wide awake and on the computer at night. Funny enough, he's still having a bit of a hard time now that we're back. Aside from feeling a little tired, I think I've pretty much adjusted and back on track.
We are full throttle at work and running what they call 'winter camp.' It's an intensive program and we really gave ourselves no time to adjust to the jet lag or anything before starting work. This past week has felt like we're in survival mode and we're trying to take measures so we don't get sick. Yay for Ginseng- it's worked so far!
Our trusty travel buddies Jenn and Jord decided to embark on an adventure of their very own this Christmas and went to the Philippines. This was Jenn's first trip to a tropical area and they said they had a blast.
That's about all that's new with us. We are looking forward to the weekend here so we can clean and make some sense of the apartment.