Cambodian Birthday!

Tuesday July 26th....I turned 28. In DC, that would be a normal and average age. Here, with the other volunteers, you would have thought I said 80! Most of the volunteers are young and were shocked by my "age". It was so funny to me. Most of them, even the French who don't speak much English said I had a "young face".

At work, one of my classes surprised me with a little cupcake! I was so surprised and blown away by how sweet they were. They were all so excited that it was my birthday and wanted to sing to me. They bought me one cupcake that came with one candle and a little spoon. See Picture Below. Oh, and I'm sorry that the cupcake is already gone! My camera was out of battery and I wasn't able to take a picture of it at the school. It had a huge sugary flower on top!

To celebrate my birthday 24 volunteers trekked to an "American Bar and Grill", no one had ever been there before, but I thought we should try it out. We all gathered in apartment 1...while there I was propositioned to try a silk worm....and I did! SO DISGUSTING. You are able to see how gross I thought it was by the pictures below.

 Because so many of us were going we had to get four tuk tuks to take us. We had a great time! I ordered all the cheese, meat, and potatoes possible. I had cheese fries as an appetizer and my main course was a cheeseburger with mashed potatoes on the side (Please keep in mind that the meal was definitely Cambodian American).

When I returned to my apartment my roommates surprised me with a death by chocolate cake! I was so surprised and happy :-) More pictures of birthday night to come..I accidentally unplugged my computer and don't have time to upload them to the computer again right now. Off to dinner!

Birthday..

Hi all! I don't have time to post now, but I will blog about my birthday in Cambodia in the next couple days. Also, sorry about any typos, grammer, ect. I write these super fast and as most of you know I probably have ADD, so I can be distracted easily. :-)

Pictures from Angkor

Siem Reap Weekend!!

 Above is Dr. Fish Massage. Little fish eat the dead skin off your feet!!


What a weekend it has been and I still have the evening left!

Me and along with five other girls headed to Siem Reap for the weekend. We took a night bus that left at midnight and arrived in Siem Reap at 5am. It was quietttttt the ride. I will tell more about it when I am home safe tomorrow morning :-) The hotel arranged for someone to pick us up at the bus station and I was told he would be holding a sign with my name on it. Well, there was a man that said he was with the hotel, but of course, no sign and didn't know my name. I then proceed to call the hotel and they say they can't find my name in the reservations and they are all booked (reservations here consist of calling and leaving your first name. No deposit, phone number, or anything!). TO make a long story short, the man to pick us up was who he said he was and when we arrived at the hotel they were overbooked, but since it was their mistake we got to stay at their "upscale"hotel for the same price ($20 a night). SO 20 minutes of panic at 5am in the Siem Reap sketchy bus station worked out amazingly well, as I sit on their computer with free internet!

We slept at the hotel Saturday morning for a couple hours and then hit the town. Our hotel is within walking distance of shops and a few markets. We all laughed at how different it is in this town. It is so obvious how much more touristy it is here!! So many westerners! We were warned from our other friends that it was going to be much more tourist oriented and they were so right. Last night I actually felt like I wasn't in Cambodia for a minute, it was weird. Many people from around the world fly directly into Siem Reap just to visit Angkor and all the temples. Phnom Penh is completely different. Even without seeing all the "westerners" many more of the locals know English and they are suprised when we try to haggle for lower prices at the market. They say, "how do you know the prices?"

We went to a great dinner with a show of Traditional Khmer dancing. I have pictures attached that show some of the dancing and I also included a picture of the menu. Look at the prices! My meal was $3.50, the show was included and last two hours. After the show we walked around the night market and I got a $1 back massage.

After the most amazing night sleep (we had AIR CON!!!!) all six of us piled into a tuk tuk and went to the temples. We visited all the temples on the small circuit, which is about six. I will list all the exact names tomorrow as I only remember the main ones off the top of my head, which are Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. The temples were AMAZING. I loved them. It was like entering a different world or travelling back in time. Some of the temples had rooms that were so peaceful, where I could take a minute to myself. I took a million pictures, but here are a few for you to see. When we visited the last one I didn't want to leave. They were so impressive. For those of you that don't know, this group of temples is the largest religious area in the entire world. Some say they are one of the major man made wonders of the world.

Going to a Cambodian bbq tonight. I am going to try to be an adventurous eater, we will see...ostrich, python, kangaroo, crocodile, ect. I'll let you all know!

This computer is not working with me right now..will upload the other pictures I wanted to tomorrow!

First experience riding in the rain

Hey! Felt like typing in a different font today. Just have a few minutes to blog, but I wanted to share some information that I learned today...

I talked with one of the teachers at the school and told him that I was going to Angkor Wat this weekened. He told me that he can't afford to go. His monthly income as a teacher $125/month. I, of course, wanted to know more so I asked lots of questions. They do not have any type of benefits and it doesn't matter how long they have been teaching they get paid the same amount. He shared with me that he doesn't think he will ever have a wife or kids because he can't support them. He said "you're lucky that you were born in the United States."

I have to admit that the conversation was really hard for me. Even now I'm becoming emotional writing about it. It's hard for me to put into words...I think of it as backwards culture shock. I usually can adjust to my surroundings and (this may be a surprise to some of you) can survive with not much. I am a traveller, so I have learned to expect the unexpected BUT I tend to be overcome by feeling badly for what I have. I had the same type of feelings when I went to Africa, but it didn't hit me until I was home.

This teacher's yearly salary is half of my plane ticket cost.
My trip to Siem Riep for the weekend will only cost me, at the MOST $100, which I thought was cheap. How many volunteers do they see work at the school and travel there on the weekend?
In the United States someone will buy a pair of jeans for $125 and they are probably made here by someone making $50/month.

It's a lot to think about...

Oh lice, how I love thee

Don't panic, I don't have lice!

I did find out however that many of the kids at my school do though. The teacher was trying to explain to me that many of the students have lice, but the orphanage or parents don't have money to pay for the treatments. I am realizing that me being here is more than to teach English. I am finding that it is about educating, even the adults. I tried asking the teacher if there was anyone that could check the kid's heads. I tried to explain that if any of the kids get treatment and there are other students with lice then they will get it again. He laughed and said that it would take too long (in the whole entire school there are at most 80 kids). One of the other volunteers bought some treatments at the store, but we want to make sure they are used properly and have a purpose.

The longer I am here I am realizing more and more of the "small things" that are impacting some many of these children. While I'm here I really want to at least improve the life of even a few children or educate them on how they can care for themselves and they can teach others.

Samantha brought toothbrushes to her orphanage, but then she found them in the gutters...

Till next time..going to the temples this weekend!!!
Bus ride...$11
Hotel...$6.50 (after being split three ways)
Walking around the temples and sweating the most I ever will in my life...priceless.

Pictures of River Cruise and Apartment...and a random pic of me and my beau (because I wanted to!)