Zombie Blog

    Number one thing about our hotel: It is a hot spot for sleazy old white men and their lady of the night. The first night here I sat in the lobby with some of the other ducklings and watched these couples parade in and out. Cambodia is the hot spot in Asia for AIDS and we have often overheard men in the lobby of our hotel discuss where the prostitutes are cheap and clean. Second thing, the beggars here are everywhere and they speak English. Actually, as I was writing that I had one on each side. They can come into the restaurants here and they target foreigners. Some of them sell bracelets, others books, many sell cigarettes. It's very difficult to ignore them, especially the disfigured ones but I have seen at least three people with the same baby. As Papa Duck explained to us this is a business, just as much as the prostitutes. In fact, from where I am sitting I can count six brothels disguised as bars. It has been an interesting time in Cambodia. 

• Monday
• Went to a national museum. It's only open two hours a day but it was filled with statues and other pieces of art and some more statues and some wood carvings and pictures of statues. They like statues here. 
• Tuesday
• Papa Duck took us to a school that had been closed down and converted into a torture center during the Khmer Rouge. Some of the devices they used were still there, most of them  involving water and stimulating drowning. When the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia there were only seven people left alive, one of whom was an artist and painted many of the horrors he had seen within the center. People were brought there if someone accused them of being Western. Wearing glasses was the minimum offense. They prisoners were tortured until they confessed and then were killed. 
• Wednesday
• Visited a killing field. They would bring the people from the torture prison and kill them immediately upon arrival. Most of us went took the audio tour around and learned about the horrors there. The worst things were the trees. The second worst were the beggars reaching through the fence trying to get money from tourists visiting Cambodian Auschwitz. It ruined the image that was formed. Except for the open graves a few feet away it was a very nice place to sit. This only added to the eeriness of the area. 
• Taken to a music school after that. The students seemed really nice and they gave us presentations on the instruments they played. The only problem was most of them didn't speak English and my translator kept getting a little too close for appropriate. They gave us plenty of water and fruits and were incredibly friendly. 
• Thursday
• Had to be ready to leave at 7:45 to spend time with kids. They were so sweet.and adorable and we taught them "O my darling Clementine" (then Drexler came in and retaught them it which was a tad bit annoying). Engaged them in a game of volleyball and lost because they should be entered in the Olympics. Then I taught them Gangnam style because Drexler thinks it's hilarious I know the dance. He also called me a famous singer and dancer from Minnesota. Really sad we can't spend more time with them. In previous years Asia Term has been there for a week but because Lindsay wanted to meet her relatives our time in Cambodia has been cut down.

The hotel we are staying at is crawling with jing jocks. And ants.  It's a very odd place to stay. I will try to update more in the next few days but the internet situation is unknown. This blog will be resurrected back to a post a day soon though!!