Froggy Quotes

"We think too small, like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view. "
Mao Tse-Tung

“Truth, which is important to a scholar, has got to be concrete. And there is nothing more concrete than dealing with babies, burps and bottles, frogs and mud.” Jeane J. Kirkpatrick

“Frogs have it easy, they can eat what bugs them”

Destressing Techniques

After a tough week, flower arranging is my "cable a tierra"... in my feeble ikebana-wannabe style (my short-lived ikebana course teacher once commented on one of my (I had hoped!) "ikebana" arrangements: "It ok, but it western. Come, everybody. I show you western way. It very easy!"...and so, culture creeps into everything...even when I was consciously trying to be ikebanaish...sigh...

Trip to Cambodia (October 2006)...just had time to upload now!

Tree embracing ancient stone wall remains...

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Reaching for the sky...

Me again...breathing in humidity and antiquity...

Tree sitting pretty...

Some of the fearless floodwater-waders!

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Smiling through the incense...

Fooling around with effects on Picasa....

Time added color...

It was explained to us that these trees cannot be taken away or the structures will tumble...another take on a real tree house!

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

A Naga, staring silently into oblivion for centuries....

Timeless dancing....

It's quite a steep climb!! (Yours truly didn't attempt it...hey, it was HOT and humid, and I only had 10 minutes left to finish looking around...I wasn't about to spend them walking up and down some steps! :)

I was here (and got a picture to prove it!)

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Trip to Cambodia, Bayon

Smiled upon...

Storm clouds add a spooky backdrop...

Peek-a-boo!

Buddhist nun

Trip to Cambodia

Sunset on flooded rice paddies...the flood continued onto the roads...we ended up riding on a cart behind "rice tractors", wading through the waters (in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere), and riding on one pickup truck with 20 other people...(and don't get me started on the scam artist who made all this possible!)

The old way meets the new way...

Endless stare...

Trip to Cambodia (October 2006)...just had time to upload now!

Riding on water, thanks to unexpected (by us...duh! it was rainy season!) floods.

Multipurpose flood waters, wash your motorbike and your child (mud flecks come from the "rice tractor" driving by).

Hidden smiles

Wai Kru/Dia del Maestro en Tailandia

El Dia del Maestro en Tailandia es bastante espectacular... Los alumnos preparan unos arreglos florales especiales que luego son entregados a los docentes con mas antiguedad (y administradores) por parejas de alumnos "caminando" sobre sus rodillas. Luego "cantan" un himno dedicado a los maestros (a capella, al estilo thai), y entregan a cada docente un brazalete de jazmines y rosas (de nuevo, los alumnos estan acuclillados frente a los docentes, realizan una reverencia, agradecen al docente, y le entregan el brazalete)...ahh....uno de los pocos paises donde el ser maestro es algo honroso y respetado...




According to http://repository0.tripod.com/mj_cheatsheet_23.html

C.2 The tradition of paying respect to one's teacher
Humility is one of the virtues heavily emphasised along with 'patience' and 'self-discipline' in the ceremony of respect for one's teacher practised in the Buddhist tradition by schools and educational institutions annually throughout Thailand. At this ceremony called 'Wai Kru', there are three symbolic gifts which have been used traditionally in the ceremony to pay respect to the teacher -- aubergine flowers, coarse grass and popped rice:

1. The aubergine flower is a symbol of humility because each flower that will give rise to a fruit must bow its head towards the ground. Flowers which hold their head high will give no fruit and in the end will wither. In the same way, humility is quality of every student who will receive a teacher's knowledge to the full. Just as water must flow down to a lower level, the student who is humble will receive the most knowledge the most quickly.
2. Coarse grass of patience. This sort of grass can endure being parched during the dry season. It can endure treading and crushing by countless feet at the side of a footpath where other plants might have withered and died. In the same way, only the student with patience will endure the full duration of the course -- doing whatever is needed to succeed in their studies.
3. Popped rice is the symbol of self-discipline. When by exposure to heat upon the stove, only the rice which can stay in the cooking pot without jumping out before time will be sweet and tender: ready to eat. In the same way, the one who can stay within the discipline they have set themselves in studying will succeed in their studies. The one who cannot stand the discipline and has to give-up half way can be compared to rice which is charred but not popped and ready to eat.

Dónde más...?

...se puede escuchar la lectura de 1ra de Corintios 9:22 leída por un iraquí en árabe mientras un búlgaro, un finlandes, una seychelliana, un alemán, un japonés, una china, una nepalí (no cristiana), una serbia, y un argentino esperan su turno?
Las sorpresas de un sábado de mañana en el lugar donde vivo.....

Flowers fit for dragons...

The simple beauty of a dragon fruit flower...
(If you want to see what the fruit looks like, click here)

Caracoles!

...las cosas que hacemos para que nuestros alumnos practiquen ingles...

El Argentinosauro que habita mi oficina

Gracias a Marlise, ahora puedo lucir mi dinosaurio favorito en la puerta de mi oficina...a veces el argentinosaurio menea su cola a lo tigre, azotando el piso impacientemente frente a los avances de ciertos burocraciosauros, algunas veces se esconde debajo del escritorio para dormir una siesta, y otras veces echa su largo cuello para atras y da rienda suelta a unas colosales dinocarcajadas al leer algunas de las cosas que escriben los alumnos.

Museo de caracoles

Si uno es coleccionista (como yo solia ser), este es un lugar lindo para visitar en Phuket...es una coleccion privada convertida en museo.
Hasta tienen caracoles fosiles!!
...Y una perla gigante!!