No, the title is not a misspelling. My
first day at NDFZ the principal, who is new to the school, invited Sophie and
me to his house for lunch. Seven months later (I had to recount that a few
times… I’ve been here for seven months? That’s
insane!) he finally set a date for
the occasion.
We were
informed last week that we would be having lunch with the principal on Sunday
the 10th. A car would come to pick us up (not as fancy as it sounds,
it’s kind of a “thing” here) at 9 AM, since, as you all know, 9 AM is when I
start most of my lunches. Sophie and I had no idea what to expect, because in
China, expectations are always a bad idea: they’re always wrong.
Surprise
number one, Zhou Laoshi, the head English teacher for the Juniors who is
incredibly generous and is kind of our second supervisor after Fang Laoshi, was
in the car waiting for us! So I guess she was invited as well. Surprise! When
we arrived, we were led through a labyrinth of apartment buildings, and finally
up to the top floor of one of the identical looking homes. The principal’s house
was gorgeous.
I
have been in enough upper middle class Chinese homes by now to make a few
generalizations, so here they are… First of all, as many of you know, it is
considered impolite to wear your shoes in someone’s home. Some houses I’ve just
worn my socks, in some houses they have “guest slippers” for visitors, but in
the principal’s house, they gave us those plastic shoe covers that scientists
or surgeons wear, so in my mind, seeing these higher up NDFZ staff walking
around in bright blue plastic shoe coverings was pretty funny. Also, no one
took off his or her coat the entire time. It was like the opposite of an
American get together, where it would be shoes on coat off. That day, it was
coats on shoes covered in weird plastic elastic.
Next
commonality between all houses I’ve seen: professional photos. There are
professional photographs of the woman of the house everywhere. And they are always super edited so that she looks like
she’s, say, reading a magazine or cooking in the kitchen or sitting by a plant
or whatever, in a movie dream sequence. As the visitor, you always have the option to look
through her photo album filled with said professional pictures. And all
engagement photographs have a few themes, one traditional Chinese, one in a
Western white dress and tux, and then regular engagement photos: them at the
park, them with photo-shopped flowers in the back, etc.
While
we were having a tour of the house, surprise, all the vice-principals were also
invited so our number was more like fourteen instead of the original six (the
principal, his wife, Fang Laoshi, Zhou Laoshi, Sophie and me.) We all sat
around and ate (which, in China, means that the host or hostess is constantly
handing you more food that you cannot decline and pouring you more tea.) I
stocked up on fruit, nuts, and chocolate because I knew afterward we were going
to a banquet style lunch, and those can either feature incredibly delicious
foods or foods that are mostly animal fat, and I didn’t want to be hungry
later. One of the vice principals told me it was good that the principal
invited us (me and Sophie) to his home, because it gave the principal and his
wife a chance to clean the house, prepare for guests, and “learn how to love
each other more fully.” Not sure what that means, but I’m happy to have helped.
I guess.
I
knew that we would be eating lunch at a restaurant, but what I didn’t know is
that it was a restaurant/golf resort. Surprise! When we arrived (around 11 AM,
by the way) we found the principal and his wife on the balcony of our private
room hitting golf balls into a large field. I successfully swung and hit a few
balls into the green while Quit Playing Games (with my Heart) by the Backstreet Boys played in the background. Inexplicable, as per usual. As an
appallingly frightful mini golf player, I was worried that those skills would
hamper my regular golf ability in front of respected leaders of NDFZ. But it
was no problem. I golfed with the best of them.
I
tried to learn how to play a popular Chinese card game by watching the
principal, Fang Laoshi, Zhou Laoshi, and the school’s driver (I guess since he
drove us to the place he was able to join us for lunch?) play but it literally
made no sense. Sometimes they put one card down, sometimes more. Sometimes the
cards they put down had something in common (they were a straight, same colors,
same numbers, same suit) and sometimes they seemingly had nothing in common.
Sometimes they took turns around the circle, sometimes they didn’t. Plus it was
played with two decks, so who knows…
The
food was banquet-y, which means some dishes I really liked and some were
continuously heaped onto my plate and I nibbled slowly and pretended it was
delicious. I have gotten really good at dealing with banquet food. Basically,
it is impolite not to at least try the things that the person next to you has
put on your plate or urged you to eat. However, if it is congealed duck blood
soup or crystallized pork fat, it might not taste as good as expected. So what
happens next? I realized early that regular tea often isn’t served at these banquets;
instead it’s an extremely sweet, gloopy liquid that is either purple or white
and, in my opinion, is undrinkable. So you can’t take a sip of something to
ease the crab stomach you just ate down your throat. And the only food you
liked, some vegetable or noodle dish is all the way on the other side of the
lazy Susan. So, lately, I’ve been stocking up my plate with things I know I
like (preferably bread-y or vegetable stuffs) and then when someone insists I
try something like “pigeon” or “tofu and raw meat soup,” I chase it, if you
will, with something I know I like. It’s been working out fairly well,
especially because it allows me to eat more of the food that is truly delicious
at the banquet. Worse comes to worse, fruit is always served at the end of the
meal. The fruit plate usually has watermelon, but the other fruits are a
surprise. It often has tomatoes. Birthday cakes, other pasties, and fruit salads often have tomatoes in and around them as well. Not sure who to cite here, but I saw a great quote about this phenomenon on Facebook: “Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is
not putting it in a fruit salad.” Truer words, guys, truer words.
Before
I arrived in China, I had ceded the fact that I would spend a lot of time
listening to people speaking Chinese and would have no idea what was happening.
Sophie, Fang Laoshi, and Zhou Laoshi are good about translating for me, but
there are still a bunch of times where I just sit there daydreaming while they
converse. I’ve gotten really good at learning the cadences of the Chinese, so I
know when to smile (because they’re telling a joke) and look concerned (when
they’re talking about something serious.) But during this banquet, I was
excited to discover how much I understood. I couldn’t necessarily answer the
questions in Chinese (posed in Chinese) but I could answer them in English! And
I couldn’t contribute to the discussions happening, but I could follow a few
conversations. My Chinese has improved so much! I am really looking forward to
May, when I will start having serious lessons 2-3 times a week rather than just
one.
By 12:45, which felt like late afternoon for
me, we headed home. I fell asleep in the car. Spending the entire day
translating and trying to be culturally acceptable is difficult! But at the end of the day, this China Doll was just happy she didn't have to eat the snake skin sitting out on the lunch table... it's the principal of the matter.
Brie and Soph's Excellent Adventure Part V: The Final Countdown
Sophie and
I basically spent six days “getting back to Nanjing.” We left Koh Chang for
Bangkok in the mid-afternoon. We spent one night and half a day in Bangkok. Since we weren’t sure what to do in one day, we ended up going to a market with
one of the women who stayed in our dorm-style hostel with us. She was from
Germany but lived in Spain. She was super cool: as a side job, she travels to
Thailand and buys things to resell in Spain.
Flowers and sunglasses
Fake flowers
The
Chatuchak market is famous in Bangkok for being enormous and overwhelming. We
only spent a few hours there but I think we barely made a dent. I loved all the
jewelry, vintage clothes, and random stalls that sold only plastic purses or
denim products.
We then
flew to Chiang Mai. We met up with Maddie and Heather at the Sunday walking
market for dinner and walked around some. Afterwards, we sat in the tree house
at our hostel (yes, there was a tree house at my hostel… it’s Thailand don’t
ask questions) and just hung out for the night. Sophie and I were exhausted and
I was starting to feel a little sick.
Last papaya salad... boooo
The colorful hill tribe accessories
The next
morning we flew to Hong Kong (see what I mean about it taking “six days” to get
back?) We stayed with a different friend of a friend who is now, I would say, a
one degree of separation friend. At that point, I had a bad cold and couldn’t
stay awake for longer than a few hours at a time. So the next day I didn’t
really do much, even though there is so much to do in Hong Kong. For lunch,
Sophie and I got dim sum at a fancy restaurant.
Great tea and great dimsum
Looking classy
Some kind of glass noodle dumpling, it was great!
Afterwards,
we took the star ferry and walked around downtown Hong Kong island.
View from the star ferry
Hong Kong skyline
Some random chick
Cool escalator at a Hong Kong art museum
In honor of Chinese New Year
Skyline at night
Even though
it was the last day of our travels, I was so exhausted and sick that it didn’t
make sense to go crazy. We got Western food for dinner, since a lot of
restaurants were closed for Chinese new year (and also, I really miss it!)
The next
day, we headed to the train station in Shezhen for our long trip back. This
time around, we didn’t have sleepers, we only had seats for the 25 hour train
ride. There are definitely advantages to having seats rather than sleepers. It
made the “awake” parts of my trip easier. But they don’t turn off the lights at
night in the seated cars, and even though it was 4 AM people were still up and
talking. Sophie and I were not the only people making the trip from Shenzhen to
Nanjing in seats, there were other Chinese people with us from start to finish.
The trip would have been easier if I wasn’t so sick. But I got to read, play
set, and befriend a small adorable Chinese boy, so all in all it wasn’t that
bad.
Three countries in three weeks! When I returned, lots of people asked
me to tell them about my trip, but I saw so much and experienced an uncountable
amount of new things. Writing it out blog-style really helped my comprehend the trip as a whole. In the end, I loved every minute of my travels. I can't choose a favorite part... can my favorite part just be the whole trip? And now that it’s over, I’m looking
forward to my next adventure: Shanghai, Beijing and Xian!
It took an
entire day to get to Koh Chang from Cambodia, but it was a day well spent. When
I have planned vacations for myself in the past, I have always chosen to go to
places with historical, natural, or educational merit. I am not really an
all-inclusive resort kind of person. However, I do love the ocean (Jersey girl
over here) and I really wanted to relax by the beach after doing so much in
Chiang Mai and Angkor Wat. I was exhausted!
Brie and
Soph’s Excellent Adventure Part IV: Island Girl
Koh Chang
is an interesting island. There are lots of different beaches: “White Sand”
beach is for resort lovers, Klong Prao is nicely secluded for couples, and “Lonely Beach” is for young backpackers. You can guess where I went.
The three
main types of establishments on Lonely Beach were travel agencies, bars, and
tattoo parlors. I was definitely in the minority with my un-inked skin. I
stayed at Ice Beach hostel, the cheapest of the cheapest places we could
possibly stay. I think it was about $3 a night. We stayed in a bungalow that
was so small; all it fit was the double bed that Sophie and I shared. It had a
mosquito net full of holes and one dinky light: we used our phones as
flashlights. There was a shared outdoor bathroom for the group of bungalows,
where the toilets didn’t have plumbing and the showers didn’t have hot water.
Those things would have bothered me five years ago, but I’m a whole new person:
it really wasn’t that bad.
Sophie and a new friend at our bungalow. We met him when we mistook him for another person we had met the night before! You can see the stone bathroom shacks in the background.
The first
two days, we drank fruit smoothes and relaxed by the beach. All I did was nap,
swim, and read. It was perfect. The water was so blue, and once you were in
ocean there were great views of the mountains of Koh Chang. Sitting on the warm
sand and doing nothing: I forgot how great that is…
The walk from our hostel to the beach
Sophie at the beach
Koh Chang sunset
Palm trees, sand, ocean, ahhhh
So. many. smoothies.
There were a lot of friendly backpackers staying in Koh Chang. A lot of them were resting
on the beach and had been there for a week or two, since they were doing one
year backpacking treks around Southeast Asia. I am not sure I could ever live
out of a backpack for an entire year! There was a lot to do at night, a million
little bars all in the same area, and my last night there was a huge party
right on the beach.
On our last
day, we did a half-day of snorkeling before getting on the bus to Bangkok. We
went to a really small, private island off of Koh Chang (with a Chinese tourist
group that snorkeled in their jeans and a very tacky, very Russian family.) At
first, I was a little bummed because I couldn’t really see any fish. Our Thai
guide would swim down and pick up cool shells, coral, and other giant spiky sea
creatures… but no fish! However, I ventured off pretty far away from the group
(I was actually worried the boat left without Sophie and me!) and I finally got
to see some awesome, colorful fish. I had snorkeled before in the Caribbean
when I was nine, and I remember seeing schools of small, colorful fish. This
was really different. I saw lots of giant,
colorful fish swimming alone. One was green and pink, almost zebra striped,
with a yellow fin. One looked like it was hounds tooth patterned! I also saw a
fish that was the brightest blue I had ever seen, it looked electrically neon.
I’m glad I swam away from the crowd, because I think the group of people was
scaring the fish away!
My private beach. Kind of.
Ready to snorkel!
We left Koh
Chang sunburned and rested. By that point I was getting pretty excited to go
back to Nanjing to see my friends and sleep in my own bed. But I still had a
long journey ahead of me…
We interrupt your regularly scheduled stories with this China Doll life update.
This past week was my first back to work, back to life, back to reality. I had been feeling really meh about China: I wasn't in the mood for Chinese food, I was frustrated with my lack of language skills, and I was really missing my family and friends from back home. However, getting back on track really helped me remember how great this city is and how much I love it here.
This semester, Sophie and I switched students from last semester. It was a huge compliment when my students groaned in upset that I wouldn't be their teacher again (of course, Sophie's students felt the same way.) My new students are great though! This semester, I am teaching all my classes once a week, but I have five Junior I classes and two Junior II classes like last time, however I am now teaching a total of ten Senior I classes (I see three of them every week, and seven of them every other week on alternating schedules.) Super complicated. However, it's great because I love teaching the Senior Is. I'm really excited to teach this semester. Sophie and I decided that last semester was for "pragmatic English" (ordering at a restaurant, asking for directions, etc.) and that this semester will be "creative English." We want to do a lesson on American cities, and we decided that this month will be "fairy tales" month in our Junior I classes. We will teach them about fairy tales and how to write and orally deliver stories. I'm really excited!
Also, we have new classrooms in the brand new school building! The school is under construction, so last semester we were constantly moved around and we couldn't really use our offices because they were too far away from our classrooms. But now, we have our own space in the new building! I don't have to carry around my books and jacket all day, I can leave it in my new classroom/office. It's nice to leave a room one way and return the next day and it's still just as clean and tidy. Plus the new building is really beautiful and well-designed. The only downside: we are in the furthest corner from anything and we're on the top floor. At least it's quiet!
I also started working at Rise Kindergarten again, which is just really a fun job. The kids are so cute, and I am always doing something different. I am like a traveling teacher, sometimes I work with four year olds who are just starting to learn English, and sometimes I work with nine year olds who can read and write quite well. Sometimes I administer oral exams. Before the Chinese new year, a teacher recorded me doing a fake lesson for the kids to watch during their vacation. I had to do things like read a story about raccoons and ask "What do raccoons eat?" then wait a few seconds for the student to "respond," Dora the Explorer-style. So when I came to work my first day a student saw me and totally freaked out, pointing at me and talking in Chinese really fast. Apparently, the kids had to watch these videos every day and she was so excited that she recognized me from the videos. I'm famous!
I also really like all the Chinese English teachers at the school, they're really nice and a lot of them are good teachers. I learn a lot watching them because I literally don't know anything about teaching kindergarten. Plus, I'm making money. And making money makes me happy.
There is a park right near Rise, and I got to work really early one day so I sat there and read. It was so nice to be there, the weather has been great these days. At dusk, elderly people in China often power walk, so it's fun to people watch. There is a small lake and lots of statues and gardens. I had one of those moments when I remember how great this city is and how much I love living here. I had arrived early at Rise because I wanted to see if I could walk there from NDFZ, my day job school. I totally can. It's like a twenty minute walk. I'm so embarrassed that I used to walk all the way home and take the bus, which took about forty minutes during rush hour. I am so bad with understanding where places are in relation to each other! Rise is literally a straight shot from NDFZ! But now it's clicked and I have a whole new understanding of that area.
This weekend was also a lot of fun. Last night, I went to KTV with a large group of friends. We sang everything from Spice Girls to The Kinks, David Guetta to Nancy Sinatra. Considering how much I love to sing, it's hard to believe how infrequently I go to KTV. It was a lot less expensive than I thought it was going to be, so I hope to do it more often in the next few months. This morning I got real American-style brunch at a restaurant across the street from my dorm. It's a little expensive, but it's not that bad and they give you so much food! Salad, eggs, potatoes, real crispy bacon (crispy bacon=not a thing in China), sausage, and french toast, with unlimited coffee or tea. I've never been a breakfast person, but I've been weirdly craving American breakfast foods lately, and I'm really missing pizza, salads, and cheese. I was going well with the foreign food cravings until about two weeks ago... but it's hitting me hard now. Tonight, I am going ice skating with some friends and it should be fun!
I am glad that I am back on track and living my life instead of festering in a haze of TV and sleep. I always complain when I'm too busy, but I've come to the realization that I get really bummed out when I have nothing to do and it makes me feel really meh. I actually had plenty of stuff I could have been doing during my last week off, but laziness incurs more laziness. But now that I'm busy, I can actually sit down and get stuff done (like, for instance, blogging) and I feel much happier. So you can all expect lots of posts in the next few weeks, including Parts IV and V of my vacation updates!
*SIDE NOTE* I discovered that if you click a photograph that I have posted (like the ones from my vacation) you can view all of my photos all together in full screen mode. The pictures are so small, so if you want to see them all on a larger scale, you can click the picture and browse them all at the same time. It's great... try it!
Brie and Soph's Excellent Adventure Part III: Holiday in Cambodia
Our arrival in Cambodia was the one part of the trip I researched obsessively. I was determined not to get scammed. After two almost scams, I made it safely to Siem Reap from Poipet, but it was fairly stressful.
I basically wanted to go to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. Sophie brought a book she found in her room about the temples, with suggested tours and information about each crumbling rock and wall carving. I learned a lot about religions (Buddhism and Hinduism) and Cambodian history, but I think the best way to present Angkor Wat to my admiring fans is through the art of photography. I'll try to not write too much...
Day 1: Angkor Thom (Bayon, Bauphon, Phinieanakas, Terrace of the Leper King and Terrace of the Elephants)
Angkor Wat is the biggest, and best preserved temple. However, there are so many other temples in the area that draw just as many tourists and deserve just as much fame. So when people say they're going to Cambodia to see "Angkor Wat," they actually mean that they are going to Angkor Wat and all the other surrounding temples. "Angkor Wat" actually means "city of temples" so remember, it's both a specific temple and a cluster of temples. It would take a few weeks to see them all, but I'm happy with what I saw on my three-day pass.
Quick overview: The temples in Angkor Wat were built over many centuries, by different kings who followed different religions. In general, most kings added onto the temples and/or built their own. Many of the temples were once used for Hindu prayer, but when the country became Buddhist, the sculptures and reliefs were edited to reflect Buddhist tenets.
On the way to Angkor Wat with our tuktuk driver, who, interestingly, is also 23 years old.
The entrance to Angkor Thom
The walkway to Angkor Thom
Elephants picking up lotuses with their trunks. I remember it's important but I don't remember what it stands for...
Consorts of the Leper King. He may be a leper, but he still gets all the ladies
Beautiful writing
Bauphon, a temple dedicated to Shiva but then rededicated to Buddha
Bauphon
View from Bauphon
In Bauphon
Monks making a pilgrimage to Angkor Wat
Terrace of the elephants
Bayon, a Buddhist shrine
Bayon is known for having around 50 huge stone faces on its many, many towers that look toward north, east, south, and west
Bayon is also known for its bas-reliefs
Devatas, Hindu deities
I love that crazy elephant
Some soldiers, doing as soldiers do.
A close up of the picture above... the detailing on each relief was incredible at all the temples. The shirts have patterns
Day 2: Banteay Srei
Banteay Srei is a temple an hour away from Angkor Wat dedicated to Shiva. It's especially famous for its incredibly fine and miniature carvings. Some scholars believe that women decorated this temple, because the buildings and the artwork are extremely small.
Entering Banteay Srei
The towers
A good example of the red sandstone used to build the towers and the incredibly detailed decorations
A view of the whole temple complex
Banteay Srei isn't so big, and Sophie was intent on finding this specific pediment. It tells the story of Siva and his wife Uma. According to legend, Kama (tiny and on the right top) fired an arrow at Siva (center) to fall in love with Uma (left.) It took us a surprisingly long time, but it was so rewarding when we finally found it!
Day 3: Angkor Wat and Ta Prahm
First... pictures from Angkor Wat at sunset (day 1)
I was supposed to go with Sophie to see Angkor Wat at sunrise on day 3, but I had a little too much fun at "Angkor What?", a popular Siem Reap bar, and was too tired to do the 4 AM wake up call. I saw the sunset, I saw the pictures of sunrise, I was really sad but I've made my peace.
Later that morning, we went to Angkor Wat. It's a huge complex, and the most famous bas-reliefs are on all four sides of the main area in long hallways (my favorite one was "The Churning of the Sea of Milk," the story of creation.) Inside, there are towers and large areas, I can't really describe it. Honestly, this was my least favorite of all the temples because it was so crowded, and it's mostly bas-reliefs. It just didn't have the same character as the other temples. But let's be real, it was still pretty awesome.
A looooooong hallway
He is riding a water buffalo and it's important.
A view off of an Angkor Wat tower
Performers at the temple
Cute couple taking wedding pictures
Next, we hit up Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm was actually my favorite temple, but Banteay Srei and Bayon were close seconds. In a stroke of sheer genius, the explorers who discovered Angkor Wat decided to leave one temple "as they found it," still in ruins with no restoration. Of course, they restored it so that it is not dangerous for tourists. However, the carvings aren't perfected with different colored stones, and there is still lots of rubble and rocks around every corner. I think what I loved about it was the moss (such a great color) and the seriously amazing trees that grew into the temple. They are destructive trees that are slowly destroying the temple, but they're so completely cool that I didn't care.
Look at that TREE! What?!?
Rubble rubble, your face is a mess.
Me, and my temple pants
When trees attack
Apparently this is a famous shot from "Laura Croft: Tomb Raider." So I'm told.
A rare photo of the two of us, together!
In a word, Angkor Wat was incredible. Memorable. Unforgettable. Edible. Kidding. But speaking of food...
Since Cambodia is not known for food the way Thailand is, it was easy to find the few restaurants recommended by Lonely Planet. Hands down, the best one was "Khmer Kitchen" on Alley Street. Lonely Planet recommended Mick Jagger's favorite dish from the establishment: coconut and pumpkin soup. It was amazing... definitely one of the best dishes I had on my entire trip. Lonely Planet also recommended a Western restaurant, and since we rarely ever eat Western food (ever) we went there and I got to eat feta cheese, which is newsworthy for me but probably not for anyone else. I also tried some more traditional Siem Reap foods, like "fish amok" and fresh spring rolls.
Sidenote: apparently Siem Reap has a similar amount of transvestites and transgender people living in large cities as Thailand, and some "lady boys" as they are called in Southeast Asia came and sat with Sophie and me during our first dinner in Siem Reap. Just sharing.
I like posing with food. OK?
Traditional Cambodian sample platter: "fish amok," spring rolls, ribs, mango salad, and other delicious foods all served on banana leaves.
We only stayed in Cambodia for three days, which is not really enough time to see Angkor Wat let alone explore the country. We thought about staying in Cambodia instead of going back to Thailand for the last two days of our trip, however, we decided against it for a few reasons. Basically, Siem Reap was an emotionally taxing city for me, personally, to visit. I felt like people were constantly trying to take advantage of me. For instance, a very recent Lonely Planet guide insists that a tuktuk driver for the day should cost about $10 (the best way to see Angkor Wat is to hire a "tuktuk," a small motorized taxi, for the day.) My hostel wanted to charge $15-$18 for a tuktuk driver, to which I said, "Thank you, but it's too expensive for me." The lady blew up angrily at me, yelling that the cost of gas is expensive (I saw my tuktuk driver pay for gas once, it was under $0.50) and that the tuktuk driver needs to be paid enough. I hadn't even tried to bargain, I was just asking so I could compare prices later. And the worst part is, she's right. $5 is not that much for an American, so I felt guilty insinuating that I should pay less. I felt ridiculous bargaining at the night market over 50 cents, but that's just how Cambodia works! (Side note: Cambodia uses American bills, but doesn't use American coins. The Cambodian "riel" is used as change. $1 is about 4,000 riel: so if something is $0.50 and you paid with a dollar, you would get 2,000 riel back.) Basically, I didn't want to be the "dumb" tourist who paid more for something when I could have bargained down, but arguing over $1 felt petty, even though $1 can buy you a lot in Cambodia. It was such a terrible feeling. This story is amplified by a million on my trip from Poipet (at the border of Thailand and Cambodia) to Siem Reap... that was unpleasant and something I don't wish to do again anytime soon.
My traveling is limited to fairly well-off countries, so I have never really experienced being a tourist in a place where the tuktuk drivers, masseuses, waiters, and people at the market are relentless in trying to get tourists to buy their products. Of course, I've experienced that kind of harassment before, like at the Eiffel Tower or Leaning Tower of Pisa. However, I've never been to a place where it is on the scale of Cambodia before. And the begging was heartbreaking, especially the children. I passed by two schools on my way to Banteay Srei, and they were both empty. I passed by shack-like homes that had naked children playing with deflated truck tires and sticks. I've never been to a place like Cambodia before. I got the impression that kids often don't go to school, or if they do, they spend their mornings selling wares to tourists and their afternoons at school. The way they advertised, saying "postcards, postcards, $1" or "I don't want money, I just want food," almost became like a song. They said it so often, with so few successful results, that they looked bored but at the same time desperate and tired. One girl actually pinched my ribs, hard, when I didn't give her money.
Children playing with monkeys
A market
A child at work
Children playing in the water
Markets
Seeing the impoverished children and the houses in Cambodia made me think a lot about what I could do to help. I think after I live in China I will not want to continue teaching abroad, but my grandma did the Peace Corps in her sixties, so who knows, perhaps I will get the chance to work in Cambodia. However, how much help I can actually give in a country like Cambodia? Volunteer to teach English? Work in an orphanage? Build homes for people? Adopt a Cambodian child? All of those things are helpful by my (Western world) standards but maybe that's not actually helpful in the long run. I think about the same things teaching in China: what is it about teaching English that's such a great gift to my students? I know that English has become a "universal language" in a lot of ways, but I am not so sure that teaching kids "Baby" by Justin Bieber is really the most helpful thing I could do for them. Learning is learning, and I (with my Western world ideas) think that education is always a good thing, and the Chinese pretty much agree, but it's so different in Cambodia.
Basically, Cambodia made me feel a lot of emotions. What I really wanted was to see the non-touristy side of Cambodia, but thinking realistically, as a female traveller with no knowledge of the language or culture, that would have been impossible. It would have been great if I had a friend living in a remote village in Cambodia: then I could have seen what I wanted. So I think in the end, going back to Thailand was the right move. But who knows, maybe I will get a chance to go back!
