Semester 2 all in 1 post!

Wow, sorry to leave you all hanging for 4 months. Lemme try and bring you up to speed. After I was hospitalized in Thailand with a god awful bacteria infection, bit by a wild monkey, and kidnapped by Vietnamese bus drivers, I finally made it back to Australia only to be unceremoniously dumped by my boyfriend. He wanted to live on a deserted island for 3 months and then permanently relocate to the occupied territories of the West Bank (ya know, the usual). Needless to say, I was a bit of a hot mess in the beginning of my second semester. I started having these horrible panic attack episodes that I just couldn't shake off without receiving consolation from my amazingly supportive roommies and a few glasses of wine. Other than a couple random nights of salsa dancing I was either on the couch or in the computer lab reading or writing something slightly morbid and depressing (the usual IR topics of debate). This was nothing like the first semester I had experienced in Australia, and through my bouts of hysteria I came to a couple of relatively sane conclusions:

1. If there is such a thing as fate or destiny, than I am obviously not meant to live a normal life. I'm currently working on coming to terms with this. I used to envy the people who cruised through life, keeping things static and safe. I know I've seen some of the most beautiful sides of life and some of the most horrific sides of life - and I'm grateful for both perspectives, each one humbles me.

2. This journey was not, nor has it ever been, about getting a degree - that was only my excuse for getting to Australia. Originally I didn't know why I had to come here I just knew I had to leave LA. I've since realized a big part of the purpose of this journey was so that I could learn fearlessness, and more importantly, learn to perceive the unknown as exciting and not scary. Once you become fearless, you can actually LIVE life.

3. Strength is seeing the darkest side of humanity, yet still maintaining the capacity to find beauty in every corner of your world.

4. The best way to learn about the world is to experience it. We live in quite an extraordinary place and we have a very limited period of time to learn as much as we can, try to take advantage of it.

5. While this traveling lifestyle might seem cool (it kinda is) it's really difficult to maintain old relationships and form new ones. The old friends you miss a whole lot, and the new friends (and boys) seem to come and go in and out of your life very quickly, so it can get lonely. And I miss MY bed - that moment when you come home to your space and face plant into your bed out of sheer exhaustion and throw the covers over you and stay in bed for the rest of the day. It feels more comforting and acceptable to do this in your own territory. It's hard to explain.

Of course I have some Australianisms for you, just a couple things I've noticed and a few interesting facts. Often times you'll see (mostly younger to mid 30s aged) people walking around barefoot, grocery shopping barefoot, filling up gas barefoot, it's pretty much acceptable to be barefoot almost everywhere that doesn't have a dress code policy. We might view this as beach style, or hippie, or brittney spears-like-behavior at the peak of her meltdown, but to Aussies its totally normal. I really wanna do it just because of the "when in rome" factor, and Brisbane is a really clean city, but I just can't get past the sanitary issue of walking barefoot on an inner city sidewalk. Gross. Interesting fact - Australia (or at least Sydney and Brisbane) is having a major counterfeit problem with their $50 notes. A tour guide in Sydney pointed this out to us but there are lots of fake $50s floating around, they are really easy to spot too! I don't have two $50s on me but the one pictured above is fake. You can tell because all Aussie notes have a picture of someone on them and it has their name printed under their picture (as the $10 note shows the name written just below the photo on the right side). This is clearly missing on the $50. It's only $50s that I've seen fake versions of and for some reason I haven't seen any kind of news on this. Since about 1 in every 4 or so times I receive a $50 it's fake, I'd say that's kind of an issue. So, other than that one glaringly huge fuck up, it's a really good fake.

Amidst all the study madness I was able to get away for a bit during the break and visit an old friend in Kununurra, which is located in Western Australia. I have always wanted to see a bit of the outback and I got a pretty good glimpse of it on my 10 hr. bus ride from Darwin to Kununurra. Kununurra is specifically referred to as being a part of The Kimberleys. It's gorgeous and very scenic with beautiful jagged cliffs and red dirt and the sunsets just illuminate all the vibrant desert colors. It's a pretty beautiful place that photos have a difficult time capturing. I spent a night camping in the outback and laid awake at night looking at the stars, thinking of all the millions of deadly animals in Australia and came to the conclusion that the majority of them were probably right outside my tent, waiting for me to emerge so they could devour me whole or something. so that was fun. But seriously, it was fun. It was rugged and cowboy-like (as any girl would agree that anything rugged and cowboy-like is a good thing, like brad pitt in Thelma & Louise... Sorry, sidetracked). Anyway, more serious, there are lots of aboriginals in Western Australia, and it doesn't take a lot for an outsider to look and get an idea of what their story is. You can tell they were pushed into these areas and made to live in underdeveloped towns in the more desolate and uninhabited parts of Australia. They often sit under trees all day, not only cuz it's fucking hot(!), but because 1)they are given pensions to live off of from the government and 2) they were never properly assimilated to a "western culture" or "western style" of living 3) and there is a huge prejudice against the aboriginals so the majority remains unemployed. Is this starting to sound like a familiar story? Many of them also have drinking issues as part of not knowing how to cope with this transition. It's very sad to see especially because the actual recognition of aboriginals as people that deserve rights and freedoms didn't happen til the late 60s and early 70s, so for a people that had previously inhabited the country for thousands of years, this transition has been fairly recent. To this day Australia's deplorable treatment of the aboriginals remains as the country's dirty secret. I share this not to be depressing but to create awareness, and if an Aussie ever gives you shit (as they love to give Americans shit for everything we do) this will be your ammo to throw back at them.

So after a lovely boozy time in Kununurra I wrote one of my papers for class completely hung over on the bus ride back and managed to pull a 7 on it - miraculous! (7 is the highest score in the grading system, also known as high distinction). It was a proud and confounding, but mostly proud moment for me. After the semester wrapped up I packed up a majority of the life I have collected here in Australia and moved it back to LA in preparation to live a nomadic lifestyle. I promise I will start to write more frequently!

Enjoying the ride,

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Bones, J-Dilla, and sometimes Crabcakes

Looking Forward

My second semester has officially begun and I am finally beginning to come out of a bit of a head spin. I think it took me a while to get off my travel high, especially since so much happened during my travels, and when I got back to Australia nothing was the same as when I left it. However, I'm continuing to stay focused on looking forward, because no doubt if I look back I will probably trip and fall (that is supposed to be taken metaphorically but it also applies to me literally because I'm a very clumsy person).

Anyway, I kinda came back to a mess in Australia and spent my first week picking up some pieces here and there. Luckily Lina, Kate, and I booked a trip to Sydney a long while back for the LGBT Mardi Gras Festival. It was my opportunity to get away and seek some comfort and normalcy. Yes, drag queens and gay people dressed in very little clothing are my sense of normalcy (I am from L.A. don't forget). Not only that, but if you know me at all you know I am a huge advocate for the overturning of Prop 8. The festival's theme this year was "Say Anything" which of course was a ginormous platform for the gay community to voice their rights to marriage equality. Kate and I proudly represented NO H8 logos on ourselves, even though it missed with the general population since they don't know California Propositions, it was what we wanted to say and stand for. Other than that we had some great beach time at Bondi beach, which apparently you can be topless at and not get arrested, and then enjoyed the "drag races" on the beach later on that day. How to describe the drag races: exhilarating, exciting, highly competitive, a little scary at times... those bitches can really run in heels on the sand, let me tell you! When I say drag races I do mean of the Queen variety. It was incredibly fun. The main drag queen announcer had the entire audience in stitches for an hour and a half, and the drag queens themselves should have seriously won Olympic gold medals for being able to haul ass in the sand in stilettos, that takes some serious skill that very few women (or Olympians for that matter) possess. Michael Phelps can win a bajillion gold medals in swimming, but can he run in stilettos in the sand? I don't think so. Other than the epic drag races and really fun mardi gras parade, we went out for a night of dancing at the gay bars. I love me a bar full of men that proudly dance and sing their asses off and get crazy and sexy to the sounds of Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. Good times!!!

I'm going into my 2nd week and realize that this is going to be a really rough semester. So far I don't have an interest in my classes, and am relying on my human rights and ethics class to be so fulfilling that it makes up for all the other classes. However, I have a major interest in my potential thesis on social networking sites/ modern technology and its affects on international relations, a subject I've been mulling about in my head ever since the people led uprising following Iran's 2009 elections. It was a moment where the legitimate news sources became the people, and news was only able to be documented through Twitter and few other technological devices and networks, which was then broadcast to the world through other mediums to create an international awareness, dialogue, and transparency that even one of the most authoritative regimes could not suppress. While it's not the first time modern technology had been used in that way, I would argue it is the first time modern technology was able to relay information in real time creating an irrefutable transparency and urgency for immediate international response. The world has given me a lot to go off of since then, especially with the recent revolutions in the middle east, and I've been following all of it very closely. So, more to come on that front as I learn more. Hopefully a professor will be willing to work with me on this thesis idea that needs a lot of polishing up and fine tuning - we'll see.

My last thought, and sorry to not end this post on a pleasant note, but after the awesome weekend I had I'm having a hard time letting this incident go. Kate and I went out to dinner last night with two of her friends visiting from out of town. We went to a small restaurant where only a few tables were occupied. One table consisted of 2 guys and 2 girls in their early 20's, the other table consisted of a group of 4 transsexuals. When the transsexuals left the restaurant, one of the girls sitting at the other table knocked on the glass wall to get the transsexuals attention and proceeded to flip them off. The guy sitting next to her asked, "why did you just do that?" and she said, "because they're trannys!" One of the transsexual woman saw this and came storming back into the restaurant, got up in the girls face, towered over her and said, "was that directed at me?!" and the girl replied in all her cowardice, "No, it was meant for someone else." The woman replied, "That's what I thought" and left the restaurant. I was secretly hoping the transsexual would have punched this piece of trash girl in the face, but she had far more restraint and class than I would have had if that were me. Kate and I were fuming over this blatant act of intolerance, and we both wanted to bitch this girl out so bad, but we didn't. We didn't say anything. Maybe I was afraid of getting my ass kicked for standing up and saying something, or just not wanting to get involved in someone elses fight. But I'm more angry at myself for doing nothing, than I am at that girl for being ignorant. She might not have known any better, but I did. I'm still unsure of what the appropriate response would have been in that situation, but I know it's not watching something bad happen to someone else and not do anything about it. I'm not going to get up on my soapbox and lecture, you know where I'm going with this one.

Say something, say anything,

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Bones, J-Dilla, and sometimes Crab Cakes

An Education (Part 6)

Finally home and safe in Brissy!

Our last few days in Vietnam consisted of Lina, Kate, and I being sick and Hilary avoiding us as to not catch our cold. After our trip to Halong Bay, and subsequent monkey attack, I decided to go to a clinic to check up on the bite while Lina headed out on a bus to meet her friend who lives in Hoa Binh, a town 2 hrs. outside of Hanoi. Kate, Hilary, and I took a later bus out to meet up with them. I noticed the asst. driver who sat in the cab (we were in more of a van than a bus) collected everyone's bus fare except for ours, which I thought was weird but was secretly hoping they forgot about us and we wouldn't have to pay. They passed our hotel dropped off half the people on the bus at the bus stop. With hand gestures (they didn't speak English) they told us to remain seated and they would turn around and drop us off at our hotel. They turn around and pass by our hotel so we got their attention to stop but they insisted they would turn back around for our stop soon (this was gestured by them holding up their pointer finger as if to say 'one minute' or 'one more stop'). We dropped off a few more people and headed over a long bridge into another town. It didn't seem right they would go so far out of the way when we had passed by our stop twice. They continued dropping people off and in an effort to not be the only ones left on the bus alone I got up when the last person exited, but the asst. driver quickly shut the door and the bus took off very quickly. At this point we were about 20 min. away from our hotel, this wasn't right and I told Kate and she agreed. We were in a residential area heading towards fields, so before we got to a desolate area I decided to gesture to the driver to pull the bus over, which he shook his head no. I kept asking to pull over and kept being denied, so I feigned being sick and motioned that I was going to throw up, he still would not pull over. If it wasn't obvious before, it was obvious now that they had other plans for us. After making a fit, and the girls joining in as well, the driver stopped the bus and I got up to open the door, which was locked. I kept pulling on the door as a signal for him to open it and the asst. driver who was in the cab with us pushed my hand away from the door so I pushed him away and continued while motioning to him that I had to throw up. The driver tried to drive off again but since we continued fighting with them and I wouldn't back down on getting out, the driver finally unlocked the door and we ran out of the van. Kate paid the asst. driver while Hilary grabbed our bags and we quickly ran into a house nearby. Luckily the daughter spoke some English, invited us in for tea, and her brother was a cab driver so he took us to our hotel. We were pretty shaken up by what had just happened and all I wanted to do was crawl underneath the covers, but Lina's friend, Trang, invited us over to her families house for a traditional Vietnamese dinner, so we pulled it together and went to her house. We dined on the floor with large plates of varieties of food to share, I have no idea what I ate but most of it was delicious. The next day Trang took us to a nearby mountain village where the Mong tribe live. We were invited into her friends home (a one large room bamboo hut set up on stilts) for another traditional lunch and tea, which was all amazing. We spent a couple hours walking around the village and relaxing at her friends house and then headed back to Hanoi City later that day. After that we had a group visit to the doctors where Lina received antibiotics for a firecracker that landed in her ear, Hilary got x-rays showing her foot was actually broken, and I received my 2nd rabbies vaccine. We then left Vietnam before anything else could go wrong.

We ended our trip with a final night in Singapore, where we would've liked to spend more time, it's an incredible place. Extremely modern, clean, and rich. In the cab on the way out of the airport I think I was actually in civilization shock, just a completely different world from Vietnam and Cambodia. We had a lovely dinner at Mozza, a restaurant in a new plaza where coincidentally they had a grand opening media event. Wolfgang Puck and other various celebrity chefs were there as well opening up their new restaurants in the plaza. AND, we were there on a Wednesday night (which apparently is ladies night) so we got free drinks until 1 am at a bar near our hostel and continued our boozy night until 4am and left at 7am for good old Brissy.

I feel like I've just woken up from a crazy dream filled with Asians! I played and hopped around on spectacular ancient ruins, went bike riding in Siem Reap everyday past orange-robed monks and through small hut villages, taught children in a country where children were often bought and sold, lounged around on an exotic electricity-free island, learned Spanish while cruising on a junk in one of the most beautiful places in the world, experienced my first monkey attack, explored caves, spent a day hanging out with the Mong Tribe, cleverly (if i do say so myself) escaped a potential abduction/ robbery plotted by our bus drivers, went strolling through some charming french architecture inspired towns, more bike riding to imperial tombs, monasteries, and palaces, saw what propaganda and conditions of living under a different kind of government was like, and ended in the opposite end of the spectrum by visiting Singapore, a metropolis of opulence.

The past month has been quite an adventure and my strength and resolve have been tested in numerous ways. I could go into a whole long shpiel about what I've learned from this experience, but I'd rather keep it brief, mostly because I'm exhausted.

As far as Vietnam is concerned, half the locals we met were complete sweethearts and the other half were assholes, and we never knew which one it was going to be with the next local we spoke with. I've also never been to a country where the people so blatantly try to rip you off, it's offensive and a complete travel turnoff. Vietnam was by far the most conservative country we have visited and I've verified several things about cultural and societal differences and gender roles that I found really fascinating. First, the woman is always supposed to serve the man dinner before herself. Second, women are expected to be sexually conservative with men, this includes not holding hands til seven months into the relationship. Third, for the past 10 years Vietnam has had a 2 child limit per family. This is why it is illegal to find out the sex of the baby before it is born ( some women will have an abortion if it is not a boy). Did you know that in some Asian cultures (including Vietnamese) they start their lives at age 1 (unlike how we are born at 0)? I didn't know that and found it really interesting. All in all, it is hard to get past the way tourists are treated in Vietnam, but at the very least it is worth the visit for Halong Bay.

Cambodia is the complete opposite of Vietnam. The people are the kindest and warmest people I have ever met. There are so many beautiful and extraordinary aspects to Cambodia and I could've spent a much longer time there. It was eye opening, to say the least, to be in a third world country and it has given me a lot to think about in terms of the human condition, the potential for sustainability, and the need for development. After my experience volunteering it got me to thinking of how to best be an effective agent of positive change. It's overwhelming to think of where to start and when I expressed this to one of the directors at New Hope his answer was, "you start with one person, and then you build off that." Unfortunately it is hard to measure the quantifiable affects of sharing stories, raising awareness, or being a volunteer, or an intern. But these are often the things that inspire new ideas, and are sometimes catalysts themselves. So, I will be brief here and just say I hope you've found my travels interesting and share some of the stories about Cambodia that I've shared with you to other people. You never know who might be inspired by them or what new ideas may evolve in discussing them.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to catch up on my lost sleep, wake up and get my 3rd rabies vaccine, and then I plan on having a cheeseburger, or a salad, or anything without rice that's not a curry, FFS!

Pic 1 - Mong Tribe baby in a hanging makeshift bassinet
Pic 2 - Mong Tribe Village
Pic 3 - The village message board
Pic 4 - A picture I'm not supposed to have of a casino in Singapore (a stark contrast to the other 3 pictures)

Much Love,

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Bones, J-Dilla, and sometimes Crab Cakes

An Education (Part 5)

Holla! Que pasa?!?

Bet you never thought I'd be speaking Spanish in Vietnam, me neither. After two nights in Hanoi City we hopped onto a junk and cruised out to Halong Bay. We quickly befriended three spanish guys (who only spoke spanish) and lina translated while we practiced our year 2 spanish skills, which we quickly realized are shit. However, for not understanding each other we all got along really well. At night we told bi-lingual ghost stories and did english/ spanish karaoke battles. During the day we visited an amazing cave, went hiking (but it was more like mountain climbing - i would define it as extreme hiking), visited aggressive monkeys, and relaxed on the beach in one of the most beautiful places in the world. If you were only able to see one place in Vietnam, I would say see Halong Bay, it has outshone every other sight Vietnam has to offer by a long shot and is absolutely spectacular.

We've been taking it easy the past few days and just enjoying Hanoi City. The food is gourmet and amazing here due to the French influence. Today we had a girls spa day, I spoiled myself and it was awesome. Tomorrow we head out to Hoi Bin for a night to visit one of Lina's friends. Then we will be back to Hanoi the next day and hopefully meet up with our spanish friends for a lovely snake dinner. Yes, you read that correctly and I'm still on the fence about it.

Interesting things about Vietnam...

1. I guess it's a major fad for women to wear jeans and heels - everywhere - market, airport, shopping, you will always see women in jeans and heels.

2. Similarly, I could easily create a whole picture album dedicated to cute Asian babies in animal hoodies and beanies, they are all wearing them and are completely adorable!

3. It's a much more conservative country than Cambodia. I've heard a lot of differences in culture (like if a woman gets a divorce here she's considered ruined) but don't go off that, it's only what I've heard so I'm not sure how accurate it is. I will only say from observance, it is more conservative.

Pic 1 - Lina and Hillary kayaking in Halong Bay
Pic 2 - View from the top (side note: I hiked that in sandals - it was a bad idea)
Pic 3 - Halong Bay and boats

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillybean, Jillypet, J-Bones, J-Dilla, and sometimes Crab Cakes

An Education (Part 4)

Chuc Mung Nom Mui ( or Happy New Years in Vietnamese)

The Tet New Year (year of the cat) came and went without much notice or massive disturbance to our travel plans. Its a pretty low key holiday here, people spend most of their time with family and at temple for three days. Quite the opposite of the new years celebrations we are accustomed to. Hoi An was a charming, sleepy, town filled with tailors. Since getting clothes made was pretty much the only thing to do there I found a tailor that was open during Tet and had shorts made. They came out really nice looking so I then decided to get a dress made as well from this fabric that had a design on it that I really loved. Kate fronted me the money and we went on our way. I came back the next day for my dress and it was nothing like what I had asked for. I was willing to leave the dress and walk away with a lost deposit until Kate told me she already paid in full for the dress. So we tried to negotiate a deal of leaving the dress (I wasn't going to wear it) and receive half the money back. That to us was fair. Of course since the tailor lady had all my money, she wasn't about to give me a cent of it back, so we both got into a heated yelling match. Without a Plan B and no gambling chip I grabbed a stack of the fabric I liked so much and said, "FINE, then I'm taking the fabric!" at that point I seriously debated making a mad dash with the fabric down the street and finding the nearest taxi as a get away car. However, I then realized that I have no idea what the laws are in Vietnam. Is cloth stealing punishable by death? Do they have a pack of wild dogs in the back ready to unleash at dissatisfied fabric stealing customers?! I just didn't know and wasn't about to find out. As the old saying goes, better safe than in a Vietnamese prison. She took the fabric out of my hand and said "you buy?!" I replied, "with what money?!!" This was going nowhere, and she went into the back of the shop and was cursing in Vietnamese. So I did the only thing I could and said, "BAD LUCK TO YOU IN THE NEW YEAR! VERY VERY VERY BAD LUCK!!!" and left without any money recouped and without a dress. I'm sure my words had a devastating affect on her for the rest of the day (or at least that's what I keep telling myself).

So after Hoi an we took a bus up to Hue. The weather is a little bit colder and the food is not as good. Hilary had to hang back from our outtings because she pulled a ligament in her foot while walking down some stairs, so lina, kate, and I rented some bikes and went biking around Hue. This is my new favorite way to explore. We saw the Citadel and the Imperial City. Kate wasn't feeling well after that so Lina and I went biking around some more and went to a monastery and some of the emperors tombs. The next day we woke up at 6AM to do the "DMZ" tour. It was alright, kinda lack luster but interesting and eerie to be at these historic places during Tet.

So, first impressions of Vietnam - it's a beautiful country, the people are nowhere near as nice and warm as Cambodians, the food is about the same to me, you're much more likely to get ripped off here, hopefully N. Vietnam will produce something more entertaining because right now I'm not that impressed. To me the most interesting thing about Vietnam is all the propaganda everywhere.

Next stop, Hanoi...

Pic 1 - View from our hotel balcony
Pic 2 - French/ Asian architecture and lanterns lining the streets in Hoi An
Pic 3 - Che Guevara lantern?! writing says "Before and Now"

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Bones, J-Dilla, and sometimes Crab Cakes

An Education (Part 3)

Since I've been without electricity the past 5 days or so I will need
to go back a little to update you on my travels.

In case you couldn't tell, I had an amazing time in Siem Reap. I spent
my time soaking up my long bike rides through the city and villages to
get to school, teaching the most adorable children you'd ever hope to
see, and going out for dinner every night with the lovely volunteers
and staff. It's been, hands down, one of my most favorite life
experiences. We also saw spectacular temples (I really didn't
anticipate the temples to be as magnificent as they were - and being
able to climb on all of them and explore them from the inside out was
a cool bonus).

I made necklaces for all the kids in my class as a goodbye gift
(thanks for the idea dad, the kids LOVED them)! It's hard to move
forward without constantly thinking back on an experience like that.
There are so many areas of development needed for these people to just
survive let alone live a life of quality. Not only education (programs
for special needs children are non-existent) and proper health care (the
local hospital asks for $6 a night for a bed or $3 a night to sleep on
the floor - these prices are a typical weeks worth of wages for a
family), but education in preventative healthcare would be incredibly
beneficial. They need modes of transportation so they can go outside
their villages to work, the parents need to learn trades so they don't
have to sell their children or put them to work. The list goes on and
on, but as one local teen I was speaking with said, the government has
to stop being corrupt, then Cambodia can prosper. Maybe at some point
I will be able to travel back there and learn some more about
development and possibly work with new hope on one of their
development/ sustainability projects.

After Siem Reap we headed straight for the islands off the Cambodian
coast for a little R&R. We picked Bamboo Island from a recommendation.
Our boat dropped us off at the shore (which was kinda crappy looking
for an island) and we were told to walk straight through the jungle.
Starting to feel a little bit like a scene out of Lost or Survivor we
took a 20 minute trek to the other side of the island and sure enough
we found paradise. It was amazing. with only two resorts, one on each
side of the island, there were about 60 people in total on the island
(and we were on the gorgeous side of it). Not too many people know
about Bamboo Island (there are other islands way more built up and
popular) but the people at our resort (approx. 40 people) were from
all over the world. So, we had the best of both worlds. Unspoiled
beaches, a cool youthful relaxing scene, and a small community of
people to share it with. The first night we got there just so happened
to have a huge party on the other side of the island with DJ's and
people being brought over from the mainland. The rest of our time was
spent relaxing on our side of the island, drinking buckets, laying out
on the beach, listening to battery powered tunes of bob marley and the
like, and adjusting to the fact that we had no electricity. We're
pretty lucky to have ended up there because in about 3 yrs. or so the
resort will be torn down and a luxury hotel will be taking its place
as that side of the island was just bought on a 100 yr. lease for $40
mil.

So, that was my Cambodia experience. Oh, I also really hated Phenom
penh so I'm skipping writing about it all together. Other interesting
Cambodia facts...

The first night I saw a lot of mini outdoor bonfires. At first I
thought maybe cambodians were into outdoor community cooking, but by
the stench in the morning it became really obvious that this was how
people got rid of their trash, and subsequently why the streets were
soooo litered with trash.

Monks in Cambodia are quite modern and many of them have lost
respect from the Cambodian people for being "corrupt" by indulging in
drinking, sex, and other un-monkish like things.

This goes for most asian countries and Cambodia is no exception,
becareful when buying skin products (like bodywash) most of them have
skin bleaching components in them since having white skin is
considered beautiful.

I'm in Vietnam now and the New Year (Tet) is starting tonight. It is
the Year of the Cat and Year of the Rabbit. All the streets are filled
with hanging lanterns and flowers and lined with flags of yellow stars
and the hammer and sickle.

Pic 1 - Beginning of the Bamboo Island party
Pic 2 - Tree covered in shoes
Pic 3 - Our last night in Siem Reap good-bye party
Pic 4 - Traveled to the village where my favorite boys live so I could give them their necklaces
Pic 5 - Me inside temple ruins

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Bones, J-Dilla, and sometimes Crab Cakes

An Education (Part 2)

It's been a hectic past couple of days.

Thursday - About 12 volunteers/ employees from New Hope took a caravan out to farmlands that New Hope has purchased. They have purchased these lands because the government is kicking out people in and around Wat Bo Village (pressumably for building up the area) and New Hope is looking to relocate these people to the farm where they can grow and sell agricultural products and maintain a self sustaining lifestyle. Very cool project in the works. From there we went to work, then went out to dinner, treated ourselves to massages and made it an early night.

On Friday we were woken up by Chris around 7am randomly to "go out in the field." The purpose of this mission was to examine a slum area behind the children's hospital that the government will be building a road on, thereby kicking out the people that currently live there. These are the people that will be relocated to the farm. We went there with doctors and the directors of New Hope to get stats (which are constantly changing) from each family in the area, like how many people live in the home, their income, illnesses, etc. They build relationships with the family and share their stories with others in hopes of finding other people to "sponsor" them as well since these people are well below the poverty line. This was the hardest day thus far. After that we got lunch we headed stright to work and after work we went to a local carnival/ fair that is almost all year round. I was shocked when one of my students (a 5yr. old boy) came running up to me shouting "teacher jilly, i love you!" and i immediately thought what is this kid doing here? Apparently many of my younger students (4-10 yrs.) are there every night after school begging for money and collecting cans and bottles. Thats the moment your heart breaks a little and you start to contemplate what kind of future these kids will realistically have. After having dinner at the fair we went out to pub street for a very boozy evening and stumbled in around 1:30am.

Saturday we woke up at 4:45am to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat which was pretty spectacular. Angkor Wat is HUGE so we spent the day touring around various temples, came home showered and out the door again for dinner with most of the staff and volunteers at New Hope and then karaoke afterwards. We learned early on in our trip that karaoke here carries two meanings. The first, bad public singing. The second, a brothel. We decided to go to a newly opened club/ karaoke spot called Wonderland. We had a private room to ourselves for bad singing, but realized all the private rooms around us were being used for the other kind of karaoke. Needless to say we didn't stay very long and headed out to pub street for more drinks and got in at 4am

Sunday got up at 8am for a guided tour with people from New Hope to see a temple and floating village. At this point we are running on fumes or what I like to call travel adrenaline. Both sights were spectacular. We got back at 8pm and went out for dinner with NH people, and just got back in around 11.

Yes, I am completely exhausted, but having an amazing time and bonding with lots of great people.

Pic 1 - in between karaoke sesh
Pic 2 - me kissing Buddha
Pic 3 - lounging in the restaurant/ hangout area before class

xoxoxo

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Bones, J-Dilla and sometimes Crab Cakes