vpn-ing

What is a VPN? I had heard this acronym many times before actually deciding to Google it/ask my Dad (last year, before moving to China). A VPN is a virtual private network, which basically a private network that is extended into a public network. There is a lot of mumbo jumbo technical stuff that is associated with that, frankly, I don't understand and don't care to since that's not my field of expertise. Anyway, in layman's terms, a VPN allows you to mask your IP address by connecting to other servers and use the internet without having this blocked, which is necessary living in China.

Before I moved here, I did a lot of research to see which VPN was the best--not only had good reviews but was also affordable. I Googled "best VPN for China" and came across a lot of different articles, but this article was the best and most concise. It also had a chart and I'm a sucker for a good chart and stellar formatting.

As I did more research regarding VPNs, I found out that a lot VPNs will struggle because China is consistently attacking proxy servers to get them shut down. Express VPN, the VPN that is consistently listed at number 1 and is affordable, has never had that problem because they offer not only over 100 servers, but different types of protocols. Astrill had good reviews and a lot of my coworkers were using it this year until the Chinese government managed to shut it down (that's the rumor at least).

So, if you're in need of a VPN, go with Express VPN. It has worked brilliantly my entire time in China thus far (and here's to hoping that it will continue to work for the next bit, too). Though there are days that require some finessing to figure out which server will have the fastest connection and which protocol is working the best, it hasn't failed me. They also have great customer service and a website that is accessible without a VPN if you need to get in contact with them. I'm not gonna lie, I won't miss having to use a VPN, but it is nice to be able to access things on different websites that are blocked because of geographical location.

The end. 

what do you want?

In reading class today, the kids read a story called A Friend for Little Bear. It is about a little bear (obviously) that is stuck on a desert island and wants a cup. Several random things wash up to the island's shores, but no cups. Eventually a wooden horse comes along, but the little bear wishes it will all go away so he can get a cup. When the wooden horse leaves, the little bear realizes that he is lonely and rather than have a cup, he wants a friend to be with him on the island.

Keeping with the desert island theme, I asked each group of students to prepare a list of ten things that they would bring with them if they were stuck on a desert island. Here are the lists:

List #1
1. friends
2. bed
3. food
4. water
5. house
6. iPhone
7. coconut
8. tree
9. boat
10. airplane

List #2
1. a friend
2. a ball
3. some food
4. 3 bottles of water
5. my family
6. a radio
7. a toy car
8. a TV
9. a country
10.  pet

List #3
1. a friend
2. a barbie
3. a book
4. water bottle (orignally spelled waterbotter)
5. a pater (I have no idea what this was meant to be...)
6. pencil
7. eraser
8. colored pencil
9. water
10. food

List #4
1. a friend
2. iPad
3. iPhone
4. water and food (haha, clever kids trying to get two in one)
5. computer (small) <--- they actually did write that
6. bed
7. dresses
8. pencil and eraser and paper (many)
9. ship
10. book

List #5
1. toy
2. friend
3. restaurant
4. boat
5. paper
6. bottle
7. ball
8. tent
9. adult
10. pencil

List #6
1. boat
2. friend
3. iPad Mini 4
4. food
5. water
6. flower
7. family
8. bottle
9. suitcase
10. tent

I couldn't help but laugh at the specificity and the inclusion of technology (Apple technology, of course). It was an interesting commentary on these children's lives and what they think they need. I m well aware of the fact that they are 6-7 years old and therefore won't be as concerned with the logical issues surrounding being stuck on an island, but it goes to show what is important to each group and what they think that they can't live without. The fact that some kids included boats and airplanes on their lists was great because it shows that they are thinking ahead and wonder why would they remain stuck on an island when they can go wherever they want. My favorite entry on a list is tied between coconut and iPad Mini 4 (I assume that no other kind of iPad is good enough?).

I leave you with a question that one of my students left for me on their sheet: what do you want?

sound off! grade 1!

On Thursday we had Sports Day. Well, the administration at SSBS went between calling it Sports Day, Sports Meet, or Sports Meeting. Anywho, it is kind of like a Track and Field Day that you probably had when you were a kid, except this was more intense because it is China and everything is serious competition. 

The first and second graders had their time in the afternoon. There were speeches and introductions first (because again, this is China and everything is a ceremony) and then the kids did a "fitness dance". It is a loosely choreographed dance that the kids have been practicing for months and thank goodness it is over! Bless their hearts, some kids are just born without rhythm. After the dance performance (complete with blue poms-poms for everyone), there were a few dance presentations put on by professional dancers. I think many young boys and girls were inspired to become dancers and cheerleaders that day, especially the boys because the professional guys were total awesomesauce. Once that was wrapped up, it was event time. We went around to several events for the kids to compete it. And when I say compete, I mean compete. They timed and measured absolutely everything. Good things the first graders don't seem to care as much as the older kids and wanted to have fun. After the four events, there was a massive relay race for all the first and second grade classes. That was entertaining, considering I had one kids run back to me rather than run to the other side of the field like she was supposed to. The day ended with the kids participating in a three-legged races with their parents and that was hilarious because try watching a first grader with tiny legs trying to keep up with an adult (though not a tall adult) was just funny. They were so sweet to watch. 

Overall, it was a successful day and nice to not only have a day out in the sun with lower pollution, but it was lovely to have the kids have significant time outside because that never happens here. Enjoy the pictures!

Dance rehearsal. It was quite endearing to watch how hard the PE teachers worked to keep those kids in straight lines.

Yes, they all got matching shirts. A color for each grade. Second grade was white, third was sky blue, fourth was yellow.

My co-teacher, Ms. Cai, giving the kids a rousing speech about safety. She is wearing a pink polo shirt that all the teachers had. I did not wear mine, I wore a pink shirt because I absolutely DESPISE polo shirts with a passion. (Plus, it was a bit small.)

Ben, the boy on the right, was actually excited to have his little sister there and it was so cute to watch. Alas, when I asked them to smile for a picture, this is what I got.

This is one of the interns this semester, Sharon. She's a complete star and got her master's in education at the University of Edinburgh. Respect. 

These little ladies decided to adopt Ben's sister for awhile and it was the only time that I saw that sweet little baby get even moderately frustrated. 

My team for the relay race. I still have no idea what team won....no one told me. 

don't compare yourself to others

In the last few weeks, the kids have been focusing on comparing and contrasting in their writing classes; the prompts have included compare Halloween and Christmas, you and your mom, and Anna and Elsa from Frozen. (What is funny about that last one, I had a kid refer to Elsa as a "mature lady" and Anna as the "frisky sister". I guess they got the director's cut of the movie?) Anyway, one the homework prompts was to compare and contrast your English teacher and your Chinese teacher. I admit, I wasn't too thrilled. Why? Not only are children deadly honest about everything (except when they are in trouble), these are Chinese kids: they have their own way of saying things and they aren't shy about it, no siree.

When the grade leader sent out the prompt for us to assign as homework, my first response was "well, this is going to be great for my self-esteem". When I gave the prompt to my kids for their homework, many of them started to manically giggle and I wasn't too confident in what I would get in my inbox the next day.

Here are some samples of what was turned in:

"Ms. Mary is fater than Ms. Cai."

"My English teacher is Miss Mary. She is from America. She has a sweet smile and a high nose. She likes perfume and lipstick, so she always smells nicely. No matter what seasons it is, she always wears dress. She encourages competition. We compete to get stars and stamps to win the gifts."

(What I love about this is she interprets my use of essential oils as perfume and my chapstick as lipstick! At least I smell nicely! And it is true that I wear a skirt everyday...no matter what the weather is.)

Notice in the Venn diagram that Dove lists the English teacher as "very fat" and her Chinese teacher as "not very fat". 

"Ms. Mary is a British." 

"Ms. Mary eats one apple every lunch."

(It is a little disconcerting that the kids have noticed my eating habits. I've switched to pears in the last two weeks to mix things up a bit."

I personally like this representation of me, even though I have no belly shirts with stars on them.

"Ms. Mary is very good because we can play in the playground. Ms. Mary play with we so I said Ms. Mary is very good. Ms. Cai is very good but Ms. Cai is very angry. Ms. Mary has a good face to smile so Ms. Mary is very good. Ms. Cai is very angry because Ms. Cai wants we learning very good so I thing Ms. Cai is all so very good. Ms. Mary all so very good because Ms. Mary is very friemdly so I said Ms. Mary."

(What is funny about this one, this little boy came up and asked me how to spell angry and my first thought was "oh crap". I was so surprised when I got this!)

"They are both dazzling beautiful." 

(I need Amy to write me a dating profile!)

"Both are beautiful. I love them both."

(Yes!!!! Ms. Sophie and I for the win!)

"My english teacher is funny. My chinese teacher is no funny."

(Disclaimer: Ms. Sophie is hilarious!)

I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome of this homework assignment. I guess I should have had more faith in the kids, even though I had two write that I had blue eyes....

you big disgrace

Let’s just say that there are a few defining moments in my teaching career thus far and not all of them for the better. I had one of the moments recently that I continually laugh about because it was just so ridiculous. Seriously, first grade is the strangest thing sometimes, covered in insanity and topped with craziness. No joke, I got home one day to find a massive streak of blue marker on the bottom of my foot, even though I had worn chacos all day. This story, however, is a little bit more exciting than finding random marker on my person.

Here’s the cheese: first grade doesn’t have lunch in the cafeteria because there isn’t enough room, so the lunch is delivered via lunch personnel every day to the classroom. Before the kids eat, all 6 first grade classes send their kids to the bathroom to “wash” their hands (since we all know it doesn’t really happen). Anyway, the boys’ bathroom is on my end of the hallway and there are some rather rambunctious youngsters that wait in the hallway outside of my classroom while they wait on the rest of their classmates to be done. I will randomly go out and patrol the hallway, making sure no one is choking other people or being too crazy. Usually it is fine, with the occasional moment of telling the boys to be a bit quieter or asking them to move out of the way of the flow of traffic.

Until a few weeks ago.

I went outside after a not-so-great writing class and wasn’t in the most pleasant of moods. Our classroom is efficient with the lunch process, so I escaped from my homeroom and went out into the hallway for a breather. I looked around and saw four boys getting into it about ten feet away from me. One of the more corpulent boys was sitting on another kid’s face and pushing into the floor; the two other two boys were pushing, shoving, grabbing, and hitting.

That. Was. It.

I was gone. I stomped down the hallway toward them (imagine Doris Day’s angry walk in The Glassbottom Boat and add ten) and pulled the boys off of each other. I stood them in a line, staring them down in absolute frustration.

“You. You. You. And you,” I said, punctuating each word with a jab of my finger. “What class are you in?”

Silence.

“What. Class. Are. You. In,” I repeated, saying the words through clenched teeth.

A boy behind the guilty lot spoke up, “Class 1-2.”

“Okay,” surveying the boys in front of me. “You, you, you, and you: follow me.” I said each word with a point in the boys’ direction, but silence again.

“Follow. Me. Now.”

There was a bit of shuffling as I turned to lead them down the hallway. They were hesitant and I put them in front of me and told them to walk. As we were walking, I realized that I had no idea why they were fighting in the first place and I should probably figure that out before I deliver them to their homeroom teacher. We approached an empty classroom.

“Go in there” I directed.

The boys slowly walked into the room. I was seething but also trying to keep it cool. If I were a cartoon, my hair would have done those corkscrew things, you know what I’m talking about? Anyway, I stared them down, “What happened?”

The boys looked everywhere but at me, not surprising because no one enjoys getting in trouble. I waited for a few moments and was getting nowhere. Ugh, I needed to sort this out and move on, not just because of the fact of time, but I wanted to wrap this up and back in my space.

I needed to give them incentive, something to get them talking.

“Do you like lunch?” I asked.

Confused stares met my face.

“Do you like lunch?” I repeated, waiting for them to make the connection. “Well, if you want to eat lunch, you need to tell me what happened.”

That did it. Small voices began to talk all at once: “He hit me.” “He pushed me.” “He pushed me and I pushed him.” “He sat on me.”

“Okay,” I said. “Just because someone pushes you, you don’t push them back. And you definitely do not sit on anyone!” The boys looked at me incredulously because first grader logic dictates that if someone does it to you, you do it back even harder. (That’s a great conversation for another day.) I gave the boys a tough stare down and told them that Ms. Gioia—their homeroom teacher—would decide their consequences for fighting.

We walked down to their classroom and Ms. Gioia wasn’t there. I turned to the boys, “Stand against the wall while we wait for Ms. Gioia. When she gets here, you’re going to tell her what you did and then she will decide what your consequence is, understand?”

The boys nodded and moved to the wall. We stood in an icy silence since the boys knew that it wasn’t over yet—for them. I looked up the hallway to see Ms. Gioia approaching. I called out to her in a fake everything-is-rosy tone. “Hello, Ms. Gioia!”

“Hello, Ms. Mary!” she replied. “What’s going on?” She came around the corner to see the boys looking at the floor.

“These boys were fighting and I told them that you would decide their consequences,” turning to stare them down again.

“Oh, boys. Do you have something to say to Ms. Mary?” Ms. Gioia asked. “You need to apologize.” The boys shuffled a bit and they mumbled muted apologizes. I turned to walk away to my classroom, triumphant and ready for the next thing.

“Ms. Mary, did you know that you have pen on your face?”

WHAT? I quickly put my hand up to my face and broke down into fits of laughter. Just look at this, here I am trying to be all serious and in-control, only to have a huge blue pen mark across my face. No wonder the boys wouldn’t look at me or answer my questions, I looked like a complete maniac!

As Ms. Gioia and I laughed, one of the boys peeked around the corner. “Back against the wall!” said Ms. Gioia before she went back to laughing. “Well, you better go wash that off. So much for your discipline.”

“Yeah, my life!” I laughed, walking away towards the bathroom. I washed off the marker, laughing and having the song “We will, we will rock you” stuck in my head because it has that part that goes something like “you have mud on your face, you big disgrace”, and that is what I was right then. A total disgrace in a humorous way.

I was still chuckling to myself as I was walking back to my room, a path that took me right in front of the boys. I wanted to look serious and give them one last scathing look of disapproval as I sauntered past, but I ended up looking like the Joker: mad eyes, awkward smile, halted cackling. I laughed all the way down to my room and have laughed about it ever since. Good news is though, those boys haven’t been fighting. I guess my craziness is just too much to handle.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my life as a first grade teacher at SSBS.

how to send money internationally using paypal

Before I moved to China, I did a lot of research on how to send money internationally. There's going through the bank, using Western Union, just carrying cash and converting it when you're in the States, and PayPal. (Alas, Google Wallet doesn't work as an option because it is only available in the USA and the UK.) PayPal is a great way to send money internationally: it is cheaper than going through Western Union and you have control of it. Yes, you're sending it through a 3rd party but it isn't like you're trusting the banks to bounce from one to another. 

See, I don't have an account with a bank-bank, if you catch my meaning, and my bank uses Wells Fargo to do its international wiring. I found out that when banks wire money internationally, it can bounce through quite a few different banks before it gets to the destination. Also, the bank I use in China requires you to convert money from RMB into USD before you can use their online system to send it internationally, which means you have to physically go to the bank with your passport and convert your funds anytime you want to send money home. Call me a millennial (which I am) and wanting things to be easier, but yeah, I do. Online banking is the way to go, people, so it's a lot simpler to send money internationally with PayPal. 

To send money internationally using PayPal, you need to do a few things first:

1. Have two email accounts.
2. Set up a PayPal account with your international banking information with one email account. Change the PayPal website to the right country because the PayPal options can be slightly different. (There's a flag in the lower corner in order for you to do it.)
1. If you happen to be in China, you don't need your VPN for it to work. I also recommend that you use a non-Gmail email address: Yahoo and Outlook work fine. 
3. Set up a PayPal account with your home country banking information with your other email account. Again, make sure you're on the right PayPal.
4. Verify your banking information.
1. For example, when you link your bank account to PayPal, PayPal will make 1-2 deposits in your account and you will need to verify the amount that was deposited.
2. For a Chinese banking card, you'll most likely need to install a security control in order to enter the PIN to verify the card. You can uninstall the program after to verify it.
5. Make sure that your information is correct. There's also an option to verify your account even further to remove account limits by verifying your SSN, etc. 

Once you have your two PayPal accounts set up and active, you're ready to send money internationally. The first thing to know is that the fee to send money internationally is about 3.9%. Second, PayPal has 20 currency options for sending money. If you're in a home country that doesn't offer your currency, you'll have to send it another currency, just make sure your bank will accept it. For example, I get paid in RMB. PayPal doesn't have RMB as an option but it doesn't matter because I want to send money in USD. All I have to do is make sure that I know how much money I have in my Chinese bank account in USD (xe.comhttp://www.xe.com/ is the most accurate currency converter out there) and I'm ready to go. 

So, here's how it works:

1. Log on to your international PayPal account.
2. Click "Send Money".
3. Enter your home PayPal account email address. 
4. Enter the amount of money you want to send. 
5. Select the currency you want your money to be sent in. (Remember to know how much you have in another currency if you have to convert it.)
6. Click "OK".
7. Verify that your email address is correct and the amount of money you're sending is correct.
8. If there's a shipping option, select "No Shipping Required".
9. There's a space to write a message that will accompany the email if you want to make any notes.
10. Click "Send Money".
11. Log on to your home PayPal account. 
12. Withdraw the money to your bank account by selecting "Withdraw Money".
13. Write in the amount of money that you want to withdraw from PayPal and click OK.
14. In 3-5 business days, that money will be in your bank.

And that's it. You're basically sending money from yourself to yourself. My only experience has been sending money from China to the USA, so apologies if these instructions don't match your options exactly, but PayPal is easy to figure out. They also have good customer service if something goes wrong, so never fear. 

I've heard a few stories of people have money getting stuck in the ethereal layer of the internet through PayPal, but they have been few and far between. Once or twice I've had my Chinese PayPal be a bit finicky by saying you can only use American Express to send money but all I've had to do was refresh the page and it's worked fine. Just remember, the money that will arrive in your home PayPal account will be 3.9% less than the amount that you sent. 

I hope that this was helpful. I recommend PayPal to get around international wiring through banks and having the freedom to do it yourself. If you have any other good ways to send money internationally, comment below, I would love to hear about it. 

what is privilege?

We often hear talk about privilege: white privilege, having the privilege of education, genetically privileged people. Talk of it is everywhere, from the wage gap to the diversity problem in Hollywood. There is even a Buzzfeed video that features a social experiment about how far ahead you are in life based on what your circumstances were growing up. But what is privilege? Like the word literally that is literally overused, the word privilege is thrown around without a thought given to its meaning, so let’s take a moment and examine the word privilege.

defining privilege

Dictionary.com (the most used dictionary on the internet, I think) offers 7 definitions of the word privilege when used as a noun, with the top definition being a right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed by a person beyond the advantages of most. The Oxford Dictionary features 5 definitions of privilege, with the top being a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available to a particular person or group. Notice the difference? The Oxford Dictionary definition uses the adjective special to describe the right that is given, an adjective that is not found in the dictionary.com definition. The verb granted is also used in the latter definition, as opposed to the verb enjoyed. Though small differences, there are slight changes in the resultant meaning. The Oxford Dictionary’s definition insinuates that it isn’t just any right or immunity, but it is unique and set apart from other, more common rights. Furthermore, by using the verb grant, it connotes that it is an allowance and therefore not something that is merely there because of its existence.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary offers a simple definition of the word, that being a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others. I prefer this definition to the others because it gets rid of all of the hubbub and jumble of extraneous words and goes directly to the heart of the meaning: it is something that you have that others don’t. Done and dusted, but it isn’t always so simple. The word privilege comes from the Latin word privilegium, which is an ordinance or law against or in favor of an individual. It is probably a result of combining the words privus (private) and lex or leg (law). It has been borrowed into the English language and employed in various ways such as law, history, religion, luck, government, and computing. There is an archaic definition from Middle English that states privilege as bringing or putting into a condition of exemption from evil or danger; to deliver.

There are so many uses and definitions of every word in the English language and it is impossible to know all of them, well, unless you’re an etymologist and just love words. For the sake of this post, I’m going to use the simplest definition that the internet has to offer:

            privilege (n): a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others

the conversation

I am not claiming to be up-to-date with all of the information regarding privilege and the research that is being done. This is just me in my little corner of the internet sharing my thoughts and going off of what I see in the news and social media. From my observations, the word privilege is often used in the same conversations and articles that discuss equality. Take the whole issue and fuss that was thrown up about the diversity issue with the latest Oscars. I personally find that Hollywood, as much as I enjoy movies, is one of the most self-serving, self-absorbed, and self-obsessed parts of our society and can do so much more to serve society in positive ways, rather than pitching fits and continually worsening their own problems. Seriously, the problem of diversity in Hollywood doesn’t come from the consumers not wanting equal opportunity for different genders and races, but the producers of the movies! It’s an internal problem, but they make it seem like the world is at fault. No, Hollywood, get over yourself. Though there is a population of consumers that enjoy movies—me being one of them—we’re not all about your lives. Stop sharing the problem and instead initiate the solution. Done. Solved your problem, didn’t I? Now I expect a check that will cover the cost of my grad school tuition because it seems like you think the world owes you something, so it only stands to reason that you owe me something for so elegantly voicing the solution to your problem.

See what I did there? I thought it was rather clever. The word equality, like the word privilege, has an etymology and varied definitions that I won’t get into here (since I probably bored you enough with my discussion of the word privilege). In simplest terms (provided from Merriam-Webster), equality is the state of being equal, which is the same in number, amount, degree, rank or quantity. It also can mean being in a state that is free from extreme, an aspect of equality that is not often discussed. Why do privilege and equality go hand in hand? It is because those who are not “privileged” in certain aspects, such as wealth or education, claim they are not equal to those that have those opportunities or rights. Well, guess what? It’s true. The mere existence of privilege makes it impossible for there to be full equality in this world because there is something that someone else might have access to that you don’t. Take my rant about Hollywood, for example. There was, and still continues to be, a lot of discussion about how a woman will not get cast when she is over the age of 35; therefore, young female actresses are privileged from the mere fact of being young. Is it fair? No. Is it life? Yes.

There is quote from one of the most brilliant movies of our time, The Princess Bride, that demonstrates this issues perfectly. At one part of the film, the grandson is annoyed about the plotline of the story and expresses his frustration and adolescent angst to his grandfather by claiming “that it isn’t fair”! The grandfather looks at the boy and says with a rather sardonic tone, “Who says life is fair? Where is that written?” I love that because it is the truest statement, up there with the comment that anyone who thinks life isn’t pain is selling something. Life isn’t fair, so get over it and move on.

Privilege exists because we have created that society. There are those who are privileged with greater wealth, giving them opportunities to travel and see the world, whereas others will never leave the small town they grew up in. There are those that are privileged to have access to clean water, others don’t have access to that basic human need. There are those that are privileged to be in places that are calm, free from war and political upheaval, while others are not so fortunate and are forced to give up everything to flee those places. As sad as that is, that is reality of life. Privilege comes in all shapes and sizes, from the richest person to the poorest person, we all have our own privileges that others do not by virtue of our circumstances, our hard work, our innovation, our successes, our grit and determination. But may I offer a different perspective of the word?

a different kind of privilege

Our world takes things so negatively. Yes, that’s a generalization of things and a somewhat depressing worldview, but it is true. We take what can be positive, beautiful, and exciting and turn it into ugliness and hate. I think that has happened with the word privilege in a way: we have taken the idea that we have increased opportunities to improve and help others and turned it into a competition that breeds distrust, hate, ignorance, and fear. I am not denying that fact that there are those that are privileged to have more have created issues—Donald Trump, anyone?—but that does not mean we should follow suit and exhibit that same self-serving attitude. We have the opportunity as decent human people to be awesome!

If you read my post about my afternoon going on the river in Cambodia, you would have seen the pictures of the impoverished conditions in which those people live. Their hands bear the scars of manual hard labor, their brows the wrinkles from working all day under the unforgiving sun. Children run around the dirt roads—roads that have to be rebuilt after every rainy season—shirtless and shoeless. There isn’t electricity, no corner markets to run to in a pinch, no foundations for the houses. I wasn’t shocked by this, having seen poverty of this level during my travels in the Middle East, but it tugged my heart strings. As the tuk-tuk bounced at an unforgiving cadence down the road and dust was thrown up into my eyes and coating my skin in a thick layer of grime, I wondered about life here, life without the conveniences that I am privileged to have.

It was a privilege for me to travel to Cambodia and the 6 other countries that I hopped to; it is a privilege for me to live and teach in China, making a decent wage that allows me to travel and see new places; it is a privilege to have this blog and share my thoughts about privilege. I am privileged to be able to go to graduate school this fall, even if I have to take out a loan to cover the costs. Bunny, my tuk-tuk driver, can’t even get an associate’s degree because he can’t afford school and loans aren’t an option in Cambodia. I am privileged to have access to mountains of knowledge to learn and improve, knowledge I can take my life to learn because I don’t have to worry about going into a field every day to sow the seeds of my livelihood.

I am privileged.

Do not mistake the list of my privileges as a “oh, how fantastic is my life” kind of thing, but like this: I am privileged to be able to do my part to change the world. As I looked at those lovely people along the road, my mind was racing with the opportunities that I have to make a difference in their lives. I am privileged not of myself and my own self-serving gain, but privileged to take the opportunities and affordances that are granted me and change the world in any way that I can.

See, we of more privileged mindset have a tendency to be lazy in our privileged-ness because of the mere fact that it is available. Why do everything? I realize that it is impossible to accomplish everything that is open to us, but we have opportunity, why not seize it? As I looked at those tanned-backed people, ribs showing and bent over in the sun, working in the fields for their livelihood, I wondered how many of them just want to have a bit more: go to school, not worry so much about getting food, clean water! I felt like I owed it to those people, and all those less-privileged than me, to live up to those opportunities that are there for me. I owe it to them to chase my dreams as hard as I can, otherwise that privilege is wasted on my apathy.

Be positive. Be happy. Embrace the privileges given you, not in pride or in a holier-than-thou way, but as an opportunity to make something of yourself and contribute to the world. Be an instigator of sunshine and change, not flardness (a word of my own making to mean general jerkiness or stupidity). Take those privileges to be gifts. Do not look down to others that are less privileged, look for ways to lift them up. Life might be pain at times, but it doesn’t mean you have to buy it.

instant storyteller

Have you ever had that moment when you walk into a room and start something you think to be cool and exciting, only to realize that you are way more pumped about it than anyone else in the room? Well, that was my life today. See, I'm in charge of the grades 1 and 2 English drama club this semester and I've been planning out lessons for the first two months. I've been looking up ideas and I've been thrilled about the variety of activities that I have prepared for the kids.

Today was the third official club class that I've had, but the first real drama class that I've been able to do due to the schedule in the last couple of weeks. I, being the werido that I am, entitled my class "instant storyteller". My idea was to have the kids listen to instrumental songs, figure out what kind of movie that song would be in, and then act it out. For practice, I played an song and had the class share ideas. It went well, so I decided, "hey, why not make this more interactive starting right now?" I was thrilled that the kids (most of them anyway) were participating and I asked them to act out their thoughts and ideas the next time that I played the song.

Yeah....the excitement died. It was like someone popped a hole in my happiness balloon. I asked the kids to stand, gave the instructions and started playing the music. Blank stares greeted me as the music began playing. I read an article today about how kids will build confidence if their teacher gets physically involved in activities that are more silly, so I went around the room and tried getting the excitement to boil to the surface.

Nada. Zilch. None.

What was wrong?? They seemed so into it and all the sudden they didn't care. I realize that the kids were tired--my club class is in the late afternoon--and they still had two more class periods after that. (On Wednesday, primary school goes until 4:30pm. Asinine, I know.) Plan averted. New plan...but with the same concept.

Since they didn't seem too into the whole kinesthetic deal, how about a writing activity? Still telling stories and being creative (as much as they can in this stifled environment, but that's another discussion...), but without the pressure of movement. I played the song again and asked the kids to give me their ideas about a movie that they would hear the song in and I wrote them on the board. Then we came up with a 5-sentence story using those words as inspired by the music. The story ended up being about a monster and a strange man fighting, hehe.

I played a new song, Protectors of the Earth by Two Steps from Hell and asked the kids to share their ideas again. We boarded words and then I gave each group a paper and pen to write a story. Here are my favorites:

"Yesterday I see a danger kingdom. There is a dark cave in the kingdom. The king in the kingdom is very angry. There is a big dragon in the kingdom. Then the dragon will eat the kind. And the kind die. The End."

"There is a kingdom. In the kingdom there is a dragon the dragon live in a dark cave. The dragon is strong and angrly. Because he do not have food. So he fly and fly to be a travelling people. The dragon go to danger."

"In a dark night, a travelling man went to a danger kingdom. He saw dragon in the cave. The dragon was angry. The man was strong, but the man was afraid of dragon. So the man be friend with the dragon. They are the best friend ever. The End."

I think we have some playwrights in the making here.

the floating village that's not floating (lone wolf series - 7)

Cambodia was the coolest place that I visited on my country-hopping adventure. I loved it, everything about it. It was calm and exciting, set apart from the rest of the world. It was bustling, but not crowded. The people were so kind, the weather was lovely, and the food was fantastic. It reminded me a lot of Cairo, which I have been missing a lot in the past couple years. 

On the Sunday that I was there, I went to church and then I headed out to see two small temples. As we were heading from the last temple, Bunny asked me if I wanted to go see the lake and take a boat ride on the river. I figured since I had the time and I was loving everything that I saw in Cambodia up to the point, what the heck! Let's go on the adventure. It was the best way to spend the Sunday afternoon. Here are some of the pictures of my afternoon:

This is the church building that I went to in Siem Reap. There was another expat member there and some American missionaries that were able to interpret the meeting from Khmer into English. Lovely people, those Cambodians. There was also a bunch of geckos running all over the place. 

The is what a rice paddy looks like when there's no rice. It is the dry season and the people are getting ready to plant the new fields. 

This is a ton of rice that the people were collecting by the side of the river. The river is really low right now, so Bunny had to drive the tuk-tuk a lot further down the river in order for us to get a boat. There were loads of people working the fields, surrounded by sad-looking emaciated cows.

It was soooooo dusty! There were cars and tuk-tuk coming from the opposite direction and I had forgotten my sunglasses, so Bunny let me his for awhile. Don't I look fabulous?

This is our longboat! I was too tall for it, so I had to scrunch down every time I wanted to stand or move. What is interesting is when we got the boat. I gave Bunny the money because he said that if I went to pay for it, they would charge more because I was a foreigner. I wasn't surprised at that, happens all the time. Bunny is an honest man, so I let him handle that situation. 

The water was rank! It was so dirty and full of trash. The people that live in the floating village on the river drink and use this water for everything. Truly, we get mad when the wi-fi goes out and these people use this water. Definitely puts things in perspective. 

This sweet little boy gave me a massage for a solid 30 minutes. Talented kid, too. I loved it. 

Had to take a selfie (as much as I despise using that word) with Bunny! We laugh that even though I was getting tanner, I look so white next to him. 

I love this picture because it captures so much of what the floating village is like. As you see, it is currently not floating because it is dry season, but when it is the rainy season, the river rises to the bottoms of the houses. During dry season, the people need to repair their boats and replace any of the wood that props up their houses that has become moldy. The work is never ending for these sweet souls that live their entire lives on the river. 

We ate at a small B&B which was more like a living room in a shack. This is the bridge that connects to the house next door that they use when it is the rainy season.

Let me tell you, this is the best food ever!!! It might not look like much but it was delicious. It was rice, pork, and leafy greens with this amazing spice stuff. 

What are these? Shrimp! Tiny shrimp that the people catch in the river and then dry in the sun before they take them to the markets to sell. 

I love this picture. I love that you see the river, the trees, the man fixing his fishing net, the houses. Just perfect for showing what their lives are like there.

This forest gets flooded to the tree tops during the rainy season as well. I guess that they do canoe rides through it, which sounds awesome. It is illegal to chop down these trees because there are medicinal properties in the leaves and bark that the locals use.

This is Tolne Sap Lake. It is the largest lake in Cambodia. In the distance is the floating boat market. 

It was an awesome afternoon. These are fantastic people, people that know the virtue of hard work and sacrifice. They can't just take a break or a day off like we can because they live off the fruits of their labors in a way that someone like me, someone that does not have to worry about planting food or getting clean water has to. If you find yourself in Cambodia, take a moment and visit the river and the lake. Spread a little of your tourist money to these people, they need it. Besides, you won't regret the time spent here, it is time well spent. 

PS - Bring lip balm with sunscreen in it. This is the day that I sunburned my lips something fierce and it was rather unpleasant for the next two weeks. Blistex is a solid choice! 

on the exploitation of tigers (lone wolf series - 6)

What do you see in this picture?

You know what I see? I see an American tourist giving in to the exploitation of wild tigers, tigers that are mistreated, mishandled, overfed with the wrong type of food, dehydrated, and drugged out of their minds, all for the experience of "petting" a tiger and having a picture of it. This was taken at Thailand's Tiger Temple, which is just outside of Bangkok. It boasts the experience of petting wild tigers, playing with cubs, and enjoying time with the Buddhist monks that "save and protect" these tigers. 

I admit, I did enjoy touching real tigers--it was neat and I'm not going to deny that. But the matter of fact is that this was the wrong way to do it. When I sent pictures to my parents, my dad responded that "it was sad" to see these tigers clearly being used only for photo-ops. And it is, it truly is disgusting and disrespectful to these animals. 

The Tiger Temple is a supposed refuge for tigers in Thailand, run by Buddhist monks. Now, I have no problem with monks or Buddhism, but I do take issue with how they treat these animals and the facilities that these tigers are in. When entering the Tiger Temple, you sign a wavier that basically says that you're not going to sue if the tiger bites your arm off. Okay, that's fair. Wild animals are wild animals. They shove a map into your hands with some history of the temple on the back, which tries to tell you that these tigers aren't drugged, but merely "exhausted" in the heat in the afternoon. (Yeah, don't buy into that load of blatant and obvious lying.) 

The first thing you notice when you enter the Tiger Temple is the fact that it is not like a temple at all, In fact, there is one building that serves as the meditation place, the rest is a pathetic-looking zoo. (I didn't really see that many monks either.) You walk in the first gates and the overwhelming smell of cow pies assaults your nose. (The temple has some farm animals as well.) As you walk long a dirt path, you enter the main part of the temple. There are small deer, cows, chickens, and a few hogs roaming around. The place looks decrepit and unkempt. I remember being struck by how poor the facilities were. I knew that the temple took in tens of thousands of dollars each year because of tourists and I was saddened to see that there weren't any proper animal-keeping buildings. Maybe I have high standards because of the zoo I grew up going to in Colorado Springs? A zoo that respects and takes care of animals? Yeah, I don't think it's high standards I have--it's moral decency and respect for animals. 

The photo-ops with tigers are taken down in a small valley...well, more like a large hole. You walk down and see a dirty and rocky cove, filled with about 15 absolutely high tigers that are chained to the ground. Workers drag tourists around to a few of the tigers, take pictures and move you along. There are some foreigners working there, which I found interesting. I wonder how they really feel about it. Maybe they are trying to help the tigers? 

When I got into the cove, a worker grabbed my arm and another took my phone to take pictures. I was pulled from tiger to tiger, barely getting a chance to pet them before being taken to the next one. That picture I have at the beginning of this post? That tiger's head had fallen to the side as it slept and a worker forcibly grabbed its head and propped it up because that looks better for pictures. I was shocked, but I still kept going, caught up in the novelty of touching real tigers. Ugh, what a stereotype I was! 

As I left that area of the temple, I looked back at the tigers. Something that I know about tigers is that tigers need water and there was not a single drop to be found. It was very hot in that unforgiving Thai sun that was beating down and I felt for those tigers, felt pity and sadness. 

I explored the rest of the temple, nothing was of note. For all of the "fun and cool" things the temple has, it was a huge letdown. There was a cage with a tiger roaming in it, looking rather distressed and, well, peeved (I don't blame him):

 

Some wandering farm animals:

And nothing else. Just heat, dust, and a grim atmosphere.

There was a cutting and in-depth exposé written in National Geographic about the exploitation of these tigers to supply the black market. Now don't count me as one of those crazy conspiracy theorists that thinks there are shady deals going on behind every routine civil order or tourist trade, but this investigation is legitimate. Southeast Asia deals heavily in the black market for animals, just as the Middle Eats has been a center for illegal antiquities trading. This article garnered attentions from both the Washington Post and USA Today. In fact, there is a very popular blog post entitled "7 reasons to think twice before visiting the Tiger Temple" that is worth a look.

I echo those reasons from that blog: think before you contribute money to a corrupt organization. In a way, I'm glad that I went in order to be able to write this post and add my voice to the voices of those that are calling for the shut down of the Tiger Temple and the confiscation of the tigers to better environments. Now, I realize that the process of relocating 140 tigers to new homes is not an easy or cheap thing to do, but when we as humans are messing about with the lives of wild animals, animals that could have lived in the wild and thrived there, we have the responsibility to make sure they are taken care of. I do not call for the shutdown of the temple as a sanctuary for the Buddhist monks--I have no issues with that, let that be--but as a place to the tigers to be kept. All living things on this planet deserve respect, animal or human.

Do not be like me. Do not fall into the trap of the tourist, going to a place that exploits and mistreats animals for the picture. (Trust me, those pictures won't bring a smile to your face later.) There are wonderful animal sanctuaries that are located throughout the world, including a wonderful big cat sanctuary in Colorado, that have the proper facilities, staffs with fully trained workers and vets that know how to take care of the animals, and aren't banking on tourist dollars. A true sanctuary does it for the animals, not for the money. It is places like those that deserve your money, not the Tiger Temple.