safe in cambodia

we've been safe in cambodia during the cyclone and its aftermath in burma and the earthquake in china; thanks for your concern! neither country's government is letting anyone in for relief efforts, but we're keeping an eye on the possibility of going to burma to volunteer. or perhaps the burma/thai border, though that may be a lot of medical help needed and, as you may know, i'm a little squeamish. things to consider...

while these natural disasters were occurring, we were spending some time in siem reap, cambodia. the temples of angkor wat are phenomenal. there are so many that we could only see a fraction, but i really enjoyed walking around the ruins we did visit. i think i was able to get a few great photos while we were there, and i hope to show them to you when i get them all developed in a year. :)

after seeing the temples, we spent a few days volunteering at a day center for street kids. we taught english classes and art workshops to kids ages 4-14 or so. they were so loving and smart and just great children. it gave me a new appreciation for how hard teachers have to work. i was exhausted after day 1. morgan and jasmine are amazing at it; i will strive to keep up with them while we're in korea teaching at sullivan school. (for those who don't know: morgan and jasmine taught english to kindergarteners in seoul, south korea, for the past year. we've been invited back to work on the summer program in august.)

yesterday we arrived in the capital, phnom penh, with a one-night stop in battambang. our plans to travel on the only train in cambodia were thwarted by 2 things- the train runs only on sundays and when it does run, it's apparently not fit for human passengers at this point in its life. bummer. but now we're here and have plans to see the killing fields on friday. i think that will be very intense and extremely important to see.

and to end with a photo:

morgan and me swimming in a cave