Well okay I will... We decided since we were one hour away from the border of Cambodia that we couldn't miss a visit to this country. Many people told us of the beautiful old temples mainly Angkor Wat, so we took the weekend and made the 4 hr. ride to Siem Reap Angkor.I'm so glad we did. My first impression as we crossed the border was how clean the roads were, the land was green with rice fields and the air seemed fresh; it's amazing that an imaginary line called the border seemed to allow us access to a whole new world. Two countries living side by side yet so completely different. This was the needed relief that we all needed from Surin, as we were starting to feel a bit homesick for hot showers and western food. Yes teaching at the local school is fulfilling but the comforts of home are missing. Being vegetarian in a country that is largely meat-eating is quite challenging, my breakfast, lunch and dinner consisted mostly of rice and more rice. This was the only thing I could be sure they didn't add fish, or oyster sauce too. 

Let's get back to Angkor Wat, we only had the weekend so we made the best of it by hiring a tuk tuk and making the tour from temple to temple. I noticed that their was a lot of Hindu influence in the temples. Vishnu, the preserver seemed to be the main god represented throughout. We were told that Angkor literally means "Capital City or "Holy City". The temples clearly had roots in Hindu mythology. For example many of the temples like Angkor Wat, Bakong, Ta Keo and others were based on the layout of mythological Mt. Meru, which sits at the center of the universe, and is the home of the gods of Hindu mythology. Hindu mythology is also evident in the carvings that adorn the temples. A variety of scenes can be found although the most commonly carved mythological characters are apsaras- celestial dancers. There are nearly 2000 apsara images carved in Angkor Wat alone.

For me the most impressive was Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. Angkor Thom was the last capital of the Angkorian Empire, still very impressive to this day. Ta Prohm had a very special meaniing to me, because when I was working on my Yoga DVD for Teens I unknowingly took a picture from the internet of Ta Prohm to use as the idea for the setting and feel of the DVD. I didn't know this till I arrived at the scene of this temple and saw the exact picture in front of me. That was amazing!

 our Chariot awaits... This was our ride around Cambodia.

 on our way to Angkor Wat.

one of the Vishnu statues in Angkor Wat.

 Angkor Thom

 Buddha statue in Angkor Thom.

 Angkor Thom

 one of the temple walls.

 Ta Prohm

So we are now in Surin, Thailand. Makaylo and Morgana have been teaching at the local school where their are 25 - 30 kids in a class, they each teach two classes, one class with 7yr. olds and one with 9-10yr. olds. I've taken on the role as their assistant, assisting both of them by handing out assignments, and helping the kids once they give them an assignment. I also help them in the evenings as they get together the lesson plan for the next day. It's been great watching the kids in this role of "teacher"; I think it's also been nice for them to see me in the role of "assistant". Although they have really embraced this role they are very clear that this is not what they want to do in the future, but they now have a new appreciation for teachers.

It's amazing and humbling to see these young kids so eager to learn. I think it's really good for my kids to see this and understand how fortunate they are and to not take their education for granted.  You can see that the funds are not there for the kids to have qualified teachers, so the schools are more than happy when a child of 13 or 17 volunteers to come and teach, and the kids let us know how appreciative they are by really paying attention and focusing on what's being taught.