Korea is Famous For....

Teaching children is always a joy and an adventure. They make me glad I'm alive and cause me to chuckle. The other day I was sharing a powerpoint about myself with the kids and had pictures of what Washington State is famous for. They yelled out the names of Bill Gates, Starbucks, etc. as they saw the pictures on the powerpoint. I asked them to tell me what they thought S. Korea is known for. I meant things like imports and exports, maybe technology. One little boy raised his hand and said "Kim Chi"

They crack me up! My students are on the average 13 years of age but they look much younger. They are beautiful children and bright as the stars. They go to regular school during the day, cram school at night, and now are going to English school during the summer. Their whole life exsists around education at this point. They are little sponges. Yesterday I asked how long they have been learning English and they told me they have been learning it since they were four. Amazing!

Now taking orders

Gestures-A Universal Language

I am now at Korean University about 2 hours from Seoul. I will tell you more about our adventures in Seoul. Shopping in Seoul makes shopping in Canal street in New York look like the mini-mart!!! So without saying much more you can imagine the kind of joy I was feeling in Seoul.

Yesterday was the opening day of the school for teaching English. All these darling Korean kids came in with their parents and they had a bunch of activities. Before the activities began they divided up the kids and I got a group of rowdy 3rd graders. (Understatement!) Anyway my task was to get my group to scream the loudest to win the competition, and being the competitive soul that I am I got those kids worked up to a frenzie and they were climbing off the walls. One of the little darlings, was jumping all over the place and I gave him the evil eye... the little stinker flipped me the bird! Thankfully I had just used the restroom, because it was so unexpected and I about lost it laughing my head off!

I am pretty sure he had no idea what it meant but he knew it was not acceptable and was trying to see my reaction to his small but powerful display of defiance! Kids are kids, a universal fact!!

Luckily, he is not in my class, as I have the oldest and most fluent kids. I have some great stories to tell already. So there will be more tales for another day.

Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities in Hanoi

In the Autumn of 1070 under the reign of Kin Ly Thanh Tong, Van Mieu was built. The statues of Confucius, Zhow Kung, and Confucius' four best disciples were carved. We went to this center of learning and wisdom while still in Vietnam. I thought this was very fitting as Confuscius has been honored as the "Everlasting exemplary teacher."

This was also the home of Vietnam's first University. The text on the stele talks about importance of education, it states " Virtuous and talented men are state sustaining elements: The strength and prosperity of a state depends onits stable vitality and it becomes weaker as such vitality fails. That is why all the saint emperors and clear-sighted kings didn't fail in seeing to the training of men of talent and employment of literati to develop this vitality."

It was too dark in parts of the center to get good pictures but I have included a few of those I could get. It was very inspiring.

The Hanoi Hilton

Thank you John McCain and those who fought and gave their lives in VietNam. We recently toured the prison where John McCain was kept during the Vietnam war. To say that this place was sobbering is such an understatement.

It confirmed again to me how terrible war really is. I have uploaded pictures of the place and a picture of the actual clothing he wore when he was captured. (JM) I can't imagine what it was like to spend such a long time in a prison like that and still come out with the ability to be such a strong survior. It seems like the psychological damage not to mention the physical tortures would be almost impossible to overcome. My respect for him and all the men that were there has increased one hundred fold.

Some pictures from Viet Nam

On to Viet Nam

I don't have access on my own computer today so I won't be able to add pictures to this entry. We flew from Cambodia to Viet Nam and landed in Hanoi. There is still evidence of a very strong government in control as we got off the place. I was getting the evil eye for laughing in the line to show my passport.

We rode in a van through the streets of Hanoi, it is very crowded here with millions of people and about that many motor skooters. We stopped at a restaurant to eat Pho, which was delicious but am still wondering what some of the components were in the soup.

It was then on to a beautiful hotel called Da Woo, not sure if that is spelled correctly. It is a 5 Star in the middle of Hanoi, with a breath taking view of water and a bustling city.

We got up in the morning and went to the memorial for Ho Chi Minh. Wow that was interesting. It was so hot and humid, I wonder if I will render down from all the food I am eating???? They take us to three full meals of incredible food everyday and I am just not used to this. Oh to be sixteen years old and not have to worry about calories!!!! When we were in the memorial the guards literally grabbed me by the arm and moved me along. I was not happy about that. There were thousands of people in the memorial I was so afraid of getting lost from the group. We then toured the grounds and saw where Ho Chi Minh lived, the emotions of the history of our relationship with this country were ever present in my mind.

After this huge buffet, we headed out for Halong Bay. It is a three and half hour drive from Hanoi. The scenery on the drive seemed like entries from a National Geographic Article. You could see people working in rice paddies, water buffalo grazing, many small business people selling their wares and people in traditional Viet Namese clothing. It seemed like a long but beautiful ride. Today we head out for a five hour boat trip in Halong Bay. I can't wait to share some of the pictures I took.

Enjoying the moment

Maybe its the heat or maybe its just me, but I had to find a few Kodak moments to share with my fans!

Cambodia...so beautiful

While I was on the airplane I read an article about the "Teachings of Tea" or the tea cermony practiced by the Japanese called chado. The path of tea is measured according to the four principles of harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility. One of the chado principles advises us to "Find perfection in imperfection." This thought was on my mind as we began to discover Cambodia.

There is so much history here in Siem Reap, the centuries-old temples, the lost city of Angkor, the ruins everywhere of a civilization that disappeared. Today a city with gorgeous hotels amongst a people who's average income is less than $400 a year living in shanties. Then you interact with these beautiful, humble people with loving souls that bow to you with their hands in upward prayer position and sense more inner beauty than you can behold. This on top of the foliage and the landscape that is absolutely breath taking. My words to describe this place are weak for what a lovely place this is. I would never have known I would feel this way about Cambodia, my prior knowledge of this place is so limited.

Can you say Jet Lag?

Today I flew from Seattle to San Francisco to Korea to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Talk about a long flight, it was about 12 hours from San Fran to Korea and then another 5 hours to Cambodia. The service on the Asiana Airlines is the very best.

First of all the flight attendants are these darling little Asian girls with perfect skin and a natural desire to be helpful. They wait on you hand and foot, they feed you constantly (not necessarily an upside unless you love Kim Chee) and it is an experience many American-type Airlines could learn many things from.

When we finally arrived in Cambodia, we were exhausted. The hotels in Siem Reap are very Indonesian in style and are absolutely beautiful. They remind me of the movie "Anna and the King," in fact when I looked out of my room in the morning as I looked at the building and the landscape I had a personal debate as to whether this was the movie set itself. The tropical landscape is lush with gorgeous flowers and foliage.
The furniture in the hotel and by the pool is the heavy teak wood that is famous from this part of the world.
Check out the website @ www.pacifichotel.com.kh The pictures on the website are not that great but you might get the idea. The hotel strip is a string of 4-5 Star Hotels mixed with very simple businesses of the locals and plenty of fruit stands.

I am digging all the fruit here, my favorite new one to add to my list is Dragon Fruit. It is so ME! Hot pink fruit, with white flesh, with lots of little dark seeds. It looks like a pink Kolorabi and tastes similiar to a Kiwi.

Leaving Town

Yes, you guessed it folks, this is the hardest part for me. As many of you know it is not a simple task to get everything you need in one, yes thats right ONE suitcase for meeting all my "high maintenance" issues for 5 weeks. In addition I also need to take all the supplies necessary to have exciting and engaging lessons to my students.