45) CAMBODIA: in pictures: On the Water

I met these kids while on a trip to the country-side visiting some temples (I will show pictures of the temples in another post). After we visited the last temple the driver suggested that we go down by the lake. The drive to the temples was about 2 hours, about half of that on dirt road, and all of it on a motorcycle. So we both welcomed the rest by the lake. I inquired about where to find some lotus flowers in the area. The next thing I know a boat with four kids in it comes by. I was a little unsure about this, as I was going to be taking my camera with me, but I decided to go for it anyways. The kids offered me some crabs, which I declined, and some sweet cake-like treats made from palm fruits, which I accepted. We went around on the boat for about 45 minutes or so. The girls picked lotus blooms. They saved some of them, and made beautiful little rafts out of some others, and gave me one. In the process of picking the flowers the boat almost tipped several times, once water even started rushing in over the side.





I came upon these kids the day after the kids mentioned above. I visited The Killing Fields just outside of Phnom Penh, and these kids were looking to show foreigners around. Their father (at least a couple of the kids father, is also pictured) is a fisherman.

44) CAMBODIA: in pictures: Market Children

This first series of photos is mostly of children from the local markets in Phnom Penh. I have spent many hours wandering around these markets enjoying the sites, sounds, smells, colors, and bizarre sites.

Many of the parents have been very proud and or happy to have me take pictures of their children. And the children have mixed reactions- some of them cry, and some of them get very excited. One little girl kept her composer while I was taking the pictures, but after I said good bye, and turned my back she started to jump and laugh with excitement. At the very least it is safe to say the kids are curious.

43) Livin' it large and on the edge... (mom don't read this)

Well, the last four days in Cambodia have been un-real. The first three days I spent in Phnom Penh where I did quite a bit of traveling around on the back of motorcycles. It is quite a rush, and very fun to drive through a crowded third world country on the back of a moto. I have also been taking trips to the country side and to many of the local markets. The markets have produced some of the most disturbing things I have ever seen. For example- a man and woman skinning live frogs and then putting them into a large pan type container. As if that was not bad enough, many of the frogs were still alive while in the container, and half hopping around. I have been trying to go to markets that are not visited by westerners, and that has really been paying off in the photography realm of things. I do not have any pictures I can put on just yet, but hopefully I will be able to get on a computer that I can transfer images to.

The people in certain areas of the country side seemed stunned to see me on several trips so far. One mother pointed me out to her child, the boys jaw dropped- all he could do was stare at me. Many of the kids are very happy to see me and pose for pictures. And those who don't want to pose are occasionally forced into it by their parents (although I do not take the pic when their parent does that- because the kid usually just hides). Most parents seem very proud and happy when I take pictures of their children, and the children get very excited.

Currently I am on a trip to the coast with Chips cousins Greg and Dacia. How is the coast you may be wondering- let me sum it up with this: I am paying five dollars a night for a room that over looks the sea (I can see the sea out my window), and I just got done having a baracuda dinner. The dinner cost $4 and I ate it litterally right on the sea. The sea is beautiful, and the water is perfect. This country has been unreal on so many levels so far.

42) Good-byes

Well, I couldn’t have anticipated that it would be so hard to say good-bye to some of my kids. I knew it would be tough with the kindi kids- they were my favorites, and I loved them. It is a little bit easier with them because they don’t really understand what is going on the same way kids who are just a little bit older than them do. However, it was horrible to see the reality sink into a couple of the smarter kids that liked me as much as I did them. Alice (who is one of my favorite kindi kids) was upset all day when I told her yesterday that I was going to be leaving- she would only smile when I picked her up or tickled her. Chris kept asking me why I had to go, and was trying to figure out if I could stay. When he explained it to the other kids in Korean, they all got a little upset.

I made them a movie and showed it to them in class today. It was a sort of picture collage set to music. I put pictures of their nicknames and then pictures of them that I had taken throughout my time at the school (nicknames like “Apple Alice” or “Molly Mouse”). They loved it, and it was actually pretty tough for me to watch with them- just because I knew I would miss them so much, and their reactions to the movie were so sweet. They all made me cards and gave me hugs before they left, and told me they loved me. It was pretty tough to walk out the door today knowing I would probably not see these kids again.

Two days ago I told one of my favorite classes that it was going to be the last time I would be teaching them (the kids are 12 years old, and the class meets 3 times a week, every other day, but there are two teachers for the class, and it rotates every other class, so I only had them once this week). When I told them, Christina, Olivia, Heidi and Jenny got pretty upset and pleaded with me not to leave (those four girls are the reason for me loving the class). They became more at ease when I told them I would see them on Friday (today). I was planning on making them some sort of gift before I left, just because I loved them so much. I ended up making them each a DVD full of music (because sometimes we talk about music in class, and often times when I come in they are listening to their mp3 players). Before I could leave the office to find them today, I saw them waiting outside the door. I was surprised with a small arsenal of gifts from them. Origami, sweet notes, drawings of me and them, money, candy and little crafts they made! It was so sweet!! I gave them their gifts and told them we didn’t have to say good-bye now, but we could do it after our classes (because they have the last time slot of the day). So after everything was over, I went out to try to find them. They were waiting by the door again, all of them looking sad and Christina was crying. Apparently she wouldn’t do anything in class today, and the rest of the class was pretty unresponsive as well. It was a tough good-bye, and the owner had to drag them away as I assume they had already missed their busses. By the time I got home I had emails awaiting me from them.

It is kids like these that make teaching the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I am just sorry that I was not at a school I could stay at.

From left to right: Heidi, Olivia, Christina, and Jenny

41) Fun things to deal with

These are probably going to be some of, if not the last pictures from Swaton (my school) that I will be posting. After a bizarre and rather angry meeting with the owner of the school, I was told I could no longer take photos of my students (although this was not the main topic of the meeting, it is just the most relevant for this post).


My experience at this school has been steadily going down hill as the time passes. I am just glad I am almost out now, and in a short time I will be in Cambodia. Things went from bad to worse, and anyone who has had direct experience with this school is not surprised. Chip brightened my mood a bit today with these comments: “Sounds like life keeps tossing you fun things to deal with. Just keep good spirits, and think of the sweet stories you'll be able to tell. Everyone likes to hear how bad someone else's life is/was, and how you got through it. So all this could somehow make someone else's day brighter, so think of that....”

Anywho, enjoy the pictures. I may get around to writing a more indepth post about the school, but at this point I don’t know if it is even worth my time. I would rather just leave this all in the past.

These are all pictures from my Fo2 class (which is one of the lowest level classes we have- so they learn things like colors, letter sounds, etc). They are a fun class, and have produced some of what I consider the best photos. I will miss these kids.

40) Sam I Am

It has been a cool and rainy day so far, but not at all depressing. It kind of reminds me of my summers in Washington, which I remember with fondness. It has been a good day to just stay at home and edit photos, listen to music and the rain, and read. I had some fun last night in Seoul with Billy, and have just been relaxing today. I edited some of my favorite photos from the last week, and below I posted the two I like the best. I updated them on my photo site too, but I suspect this is more convenient for most of you.

Sam I Am

Colorful Ruby

39) Beautiful Nights

Fall is certainly in the air. The hot and humid days have given way to weather that seems like it was made for jeans and a T-shirt and a nap in the park. The nights and mornings have been absolutely perfect. Walking through the parks I have caught whiffs of the sweetness of decaying leaves- a smell that learned to treasure long ago while hiking with my parents in Wisconsin. I love the Fall weather and especially love the colors (which have not really started to take affect yet). But Fall is also a reminder that Winter is just around the corner, and will bring with it cold weather, and shorter days. So I guess the only thing to do is enjoy it while I have it.

Last night I took some city shots of Bundang, and the shots of the children are from the last two days.



Playing some late night basketball in the park



Ruby and Daniel

Kiana and Rejina

Christine- in the middle of a fierce r/p/s battle

Jay showing me the revered "Take 2" card

Ben- he fell to the ground when I turned my camera towards him

Zack- I don't really know why he was doing that...


Just a picture I thought was funny- and hope his mother did not see me taking from the web came. These kids know that the finger is not a good thing- but don't really know how it plays into US culture- so it isn't really taken too seriously.