Cambodian Trip - Day #1

First of all, we've officially fallen in love with a new airline - Emirates. We were sitting in regular economy class (of course) and can't even imagine the luxuries that the business and first class passengers receive. We were first treated a hot towel before taking off. We then noticed that every seat has a small television on the headrest in the seat in front of you. No big deal because there are some US airlines which have those too. BUT, these offer a full menu of over 400 movies, television shows, and games which you can control with the half sky phone/half remote control. I played a little backgammon and some mini golf before watching some of the movie Iron Man. Jamie watched Friends episodes the whole trip. All of this is free with more leg room and the food was really tasty as far as airline food standards are concerned.

We took the Emirate flight out of Hong Kong on Friday evening at 10:30 and arrived just after 1:00 am in Bangkok, Thailand. Our flight for Phnom Penh, Cambodia was not scheduled to leave until 7:40 am on Saturday, so we have plenty of time to relax. Have you ever tried to relax in an airport? Impossible. We did, however, find the lounge area for Bangkok Airlines and we were able to find some couches to sleep in until about 6:00 am.

Our flight to Phnom Penh was not spectacular, but the breakfast was tasty. We filled out our forms for customs, visa application, and arrival card. The visa for Cambodia is only $20. You are supposed to have a passport size pictures, but they will wave that for $1. I did have my picture taken by some webcam. Jamie didn't. The driver of our guesthouse was waiting for us outside and quickly drove us to our guesthouse, Frangipani Villa.

We couldn't check in yet, so we decided to walk around the city for a while. I'm posted some pictures in a slideshow entitled "Cambodia 2008 - Eric" and Cambodia 2008 - Jamie." We both have cameras and it is just easier to upload from 2 different ones. Feel free to browse them and let me know if you have questions. I'm not sure I'll be able to place a caption on all of them. Not sure I'll place a caption on any of them right now. Nonetheless, enjoy the photos.

We walked around Independence Monument and then up by some shops near the Royal Palace. We couldn't get into the Royal Palace until the afternoon, so we decided to go to the Cambodian National Museum instead. It was nice and you could read more about it by searching than I could ever type here explaining it. I have taken several photos you can view below. Jamie has also taken some from her camera.

Driving in Phnom Penh. While it is a general rule that you drive on the right side of the road, this is just simply a "guideline." Phnom Penh drivers make Chinese drivers look like Drivers' Eductaion instructors. There is no public transportation, so just about everyone drives a motorcycle. Tourists are guided around by carraiges pulled by motorcycles. These are called "tuk tuks," and they are very useful. We have had some problems so far the drivers not being able to find our guesthouse, but they are all friendly. A tuk tuk ride across the city can be exciting as you will find yourself going the wrong way down one way streets, going down the wrong side of the road, making U-turns in the middle of traffic, and nearly getting nailed by larger vehicles at just about every turn. We were going to rent bicycles from our guesthouse, but riding them in this city would be a deathwish.

We rested in the afternoon and went to Khmer Surin for dinner. Jamie had a traditional Thai/Cambodian fish plate and I had pineapple chicken fried rice. We had "banana soup" for dessert which consisted of cooked bananas with sugar and coconut juice - yummy!

We have free internet here at our guesthouse which is good for posting these and emailing. We were going to watch the UT and UGA games, but the Slingbox is working really, really slow here. We might actually have to miss a game. Not to fear, we have them recorded and we can always watch them when we return back home or this week if we have a faster internet connection in Siem Reap.

One of the cooler pictures we took today is of the 5 different currencies we've used in the last 24 hours - Chinese RMB, Hong Kong dollar, Thai Baht, American dollar, and Cambodian Riel. Cambodia for the most part takes American dollars which has been odd for us considering we haven't used US dollars since we left Atlanta on July 30.

Long post I know, but it has been a busy day. Our plan tomorrow is to go the Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields as well as the Royal Palace for a tour. We leave Monday to go to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.

Hope I haven't forgotten anything. Let me know if you have any questions or you can just leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading!!!

International Peace One Day

For just one day a year (not sure why it can't be all year) the world observes Peace One Day. QSI Shekou is observing Peace One Day. Each teach is doing something in their classes to at least mention it and then figure out a way to observe it. After my students' writing prompt assessment, I am introducing Peace One Day, (ironically, the students know more about it than I do because it is not observed in the states) then I am showing them a couple of YouTube videos that explain it. There is also a music video. I'm posting all of them below.

Peace One Day (You Tube Video Explaining Peace One Day):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FmEIP46B-E&feature=user

Peace One Day (You Tube Video - Imagine If There Was a Day):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L_PowoTU3A&feature=user

Peace One Day (You tube Music Video - One Day One Goal):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QUJXtvrtLU&feature=user

Teachers reading this might want to mention it tomorrow in your classrooms. There are a ton of materials online reached by a simple Google search. You can use my Google search if you wish to make it easier.

Jamie and I will be relaxing this weekend and watch some college football games on early Sunday morning. Not sure what we are doing Saturday. We might go to Windows of the World if the weather is nice. It is cooling down here, but still very very muggy. We haven't had a clear day of none haze/smog in over 2 weeks. They say that is the norm here. Oh well.

We have booked our hotel for Phnom Penh. I am happy about it and they act as our travel guide while we are there. We are staying at the Frangipani Villa in Phnom Penh From there, we'll take a boat/ferry to Siem Reap and stay at a guesthouse there. Then, we'll travel back to Phnom Penh for our flight back to Hong Kong. I'm really excited about going to Angkor Wat. For those who haven't done their homework on Angkor Wat, here is the wikipedia page on it... Angkor Wat.

Open House and Cambodia

QSI Shekou had their Open House last night from 7 - 9 pm. The schedule was a bit strange, but it was a pretty quick evening. I would say about one-third of the parents Jamie and I teach showed up. We didn't get to speak to all of them, but the ones that came seemed very supportive. Some were very adament about things while others were just glad their child was in school at QSI. Or week has continued and things begin to pile up around us concerning grades, Reading Tests (which we've heard of nor administered but are obviously supposed to master and give to the students), and extra-curriculuar duties. I have plunged into the middle school Student Council and had 60 students sign up to be officers. There is only enough room for 12 positions.

The picture above was taken last week and I have uploaded a new folder for stay at the bottom of the blog. I've simply titled it QSI Shekou 2008-2009 and plan to place pictures of our school, students, and activities from this year. I have already uploaded our classrooms on there. Most are without students.

The International Lunch is this weekend. It is a HUGE event at QSI as parents and students come dressed in their home country's dress. I will take a ton of pictures. The faculty must make a native meal. I believe Jamie is going to take Texas caviar which she is renaming Southern cavier. I'll get the recipe for you of what all is in it. It is a chip dip of some sort and it is awesome. Some other Americans are bringing Beenie Weenies, Rice Crispy Treats, and I'm sure Hot Dogs. We also must dress "American." I think Jamie is going to wear her tailgating attire. I'm not sure what I'll do yet. If you have any suggestions, I will entertain them. I guess I could go as an Appalachian American. Some may refer to this as "hillbilly."

We've officially booked our flight for Cambodia at the end of the month. More details to come on this later and my new camera can't wait to go. We'll be flying to Phnom Penh (the capital of Cambodia) via a red-eye flight from Hong Kong and Bangkok. We'll then take either an 8 hour bus ride to Siem Reap or take a 4 hour boat ride to Siem Reap. We would fly, but the tickets from Hong Kong are already running us a fortune. The main spectacle of the trip will be Angkor Wat. I'll be posting some information concerning this wonderful place, because everyone I have talked to hasn't even heard of it. I'll invite you to do some research on your own. A simple Wikipedia search would be the best bet. Here, I'll do it for you: Angkor Wat. Gorgeous isn't it!

I'll share more information with you later on our specific details of the trip. We hope to make it to the end of the month. We are putting in about 10 - 12 hours days of constant non-stop work here. Typical teacher hours and typical first of the year teacher duties.

Enough for now. Let me know if you have any questions. I've received a couple of emails about our newspaper article in the Daily Post Athenian. We'd like to thank Richard Edwards for the wonderful article and opportunity to share our story. Also thanks to my parents for sending us an electronic version of the story.

Have a great Wednesday America!

My New Pin!

Check it out! A co-worker from Tennessee gave this to me today. For those flag illiterate, it is a lapel pen of the Tennessee state flag and the Chinese flag. Apparently, Phil Bredeson, Governor of Tennessee, came to China, and this was one of the gifts they distributed. I'm going to wear it daily and with pride and will wear it when I return home for summer. I'm really excited about it, as you can tell.

We are winding down our first week with the students and getting into a routine. We will receive our passports and year work visas tomorrow, so we will be able to go into Hong Kong. We are both excited about going to Hong Kong. For me, I just want to see the city. For Jamie, she is excited about going to an English bookstore. Please pray that she will not spend all of our money on English books.

The students continue to amaze me at their ability and eagerness to learn. They are so well behaved and are truly a delight to teach. I have started my Mock Trial "specials" class, and it is going fairly well. They are amazed at the American legal system, although I'm not sure they understand their own legal system. Nonetheless, we are putting Roy L. Kingsman on trial for agitating Humpty Dumpty enough that he fell off of the wall. Of course, all of the King's horses and all of the King's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I'll let you know how my students decided the fate of Roy L. Kingsman.

I have a percentage of the students who are attending QSI Shekou this year. There are 47 nationalities represented. The nationalities break down as follows:

27% Korean
16% USA
11% European Union (8 countries)
9% Brazil
9% Japan
7% Taiwan
6% Hong Kong

For those looking for Chinese students, the school is not allowed to enroll Chinese nationals. Not sure why, but I'll ask. Why so many Koreans? Well, aparently, the Koreans are the builders of the world now, so they are moving all over the world to build factories, high rises, and other buildings. The Korean students are very well behaved and are excellent at Math. They are eager to learn English, and I will often get responses on their papers that mention they can't wait until the master or perfect the English language. Many also want to "make their parents' proud." How many American students would write that down as one of their "3 wishes."

Thanks for those who have been posting comments. I really enjoy reading them and the emails you send. It keeps me closer to home. Feel free to drop me an email anytime. If you really want to correspond, you'll download Skype on your computer. We can then correspond for free. Google Talk is also a way to do this, but I've never used it. Let me know if you get Skype and I'll add you to my contacts. It is quite amazing to watch via webcam and listen to someone 7000 miles away.

Long post but I've slacked lately as I've gotten busy with school. Things will settle down a little bit. We are 100% positive we want to go to Cambodia for our first break. We will be flying into the capital, Phnom Penh, and then taking a boat across a lake to Siem Reap. From Siem Reap, we'll be able to see the world's largest religious temple of Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat was the capital and center of the Khymer Empire of Southeast Asia. It was only uncovered in 1861. Truly amazing! I will take more pictures than I can snap and will share all of them until Google shuts me down. I'll keep you posted. We won't go until the end of September, but I'm down right giddy thinking about it. How many people do you know have been do Cambodia?

Have a great day America! College football starts Thursday night! GO VOLS!!!