Jongmyo... a UNESCO site in Seoul

During a break in the girls' basketball action on Saturday (January 30), Brian and I ventured to see a palace and UNESCO site in Seoul that we haven't had a chance to get to. The palace was a smaller royal palace, used primarily from the 1600s to the late 1800s, that contained an interesting greenhouse built in 1909. Most interesting was the UNESCO site called Jongmyo. Built as a shrine that contains the spirit tablets of dozens of Korean kings and queens, the original shrine was constructed in the mid-1300s. The large, long buildings contain rooms that house small wooden blocks, each with the name of a deceased king or queen engraved on the outside surface. Each room is built like a tomb, with splendid curtains, lampstands and various other pieces of furniture. Every year there is a big ceremony conducted to honour the spirits of the deceased royals. Priests bring gifts of food and drink and these are offered to the spirits in detailed and precise ceremonies. Korea is the only Confucian-based Asian country that still conducts this traditional ceremony that has been celebrated for hundreds of years. Hence, the site's UNESCO status.

APAC basketball action...

Basketball season is wrapping up and this past weekend the girls engaged in their big APAC (Asia Pacific Athletic Conference) with teams from all over east Asia (the Philippines, Japan, China and Korea). Usually the girls travel out of country for this big event (Rebecca has gone to Beijing, Manila and Shanghai) but this year's basketball tournament was in Seoul (which meant we could all go and cheer for our team!). The girls played like never before and tied for second place in their pool. Rebecca is the team's primary point guard and played so well. Hannah got out on the court for a few minutes in a few games as well and even scored her first varsity basket! It was a great weekend and we all need to let our vocal chords recover for a few days.

Amnesty Fashion Show for Haiti...

On Thursday, January 28th, our TCIS student chapter of Amnesty International hosted a big fashion show event to raise awareness about conscious consumerism and fair trade products. It was a hugely successful night that featured a guest speaker from a nearby fair trade cafe and fashions designed by four TCIS art students. We raised almost 1.2 million won (about $1000 US) which is being donated to our school's Hope for Haiti campaign (which has raised almost $5000). It was a great night and the four Amnesty leaders (pictured in a photo with LeeAnne) were amazing in demonstrating how passionate they are to help others in our world.

Siem Reap...

There is no way that photos can capture the vast size and scope of the temples in the Siem Reap area. Angkor Wat is spectacular and massive and iconic; the Bayon temple and Banteay Srei were also intricate and detailed, with hundreds of gorgeous stone carvings. Even several minor temples we visited were epic in scope and absolutely beautiful. We spent two full days visiting temples and getting a sense of the Khmer empire at its peak. What an incredible place to visit.

Phnom Penh and the Killing Fields...

We all fell in love with Cambodia. The Khmer people are warm, welcoming and helpful and everyone has a big smile ready in almost every situation. Phnom Penh is a vibrant city, as well, with some trendy cafes and restaurants. We spent one evening eating delicious Khmer food (we also fell in love with the food in Cambodia) and then sipping drinks at the Foreign Correspondents' Club overlooking the Mekong. It was wonderful. We also spent one full day exploring the Killing Fields and the Tuong Sleng prison museum in the city, both of which document the tragic massacres carried out by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. It was a dark and heavy experience, but we were very grateful to learn more about what happened; awareness is so crucial in standing against darkness. In the midst of recovering from unbelievable collective pain, the people of Cambodia are full of optimism and hope. We were also blessed by visiting the Lighthouse Orphanage and spending a few hours playing with children there. Hannah and Cora wished they could spend days playing with the kids.

The vast Mekong Delta...

For three days we trekked up the Mekong Delta from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh. That is quite a trek and we covered a lot of miles. The miles by boat were wonderful; the miles by bus were tedious. We saw the largest floating market on the Mekong and did a homestay one night with a local family that involved us staying in small wooden, airy huts with mosquito nets next to the house. Life is simple for many people in the Delta and, while the house where we stayed would be considered very basic and lacking by North American standards, it was fairly well-appointed for the Delta region. It was a good experience to chat with the family members and eat meals with them (not to mention how we got there - in the dark, up a small river with big boats coming the other way, with no lights to speak of except a large flashlight our driver would shine every now and again!). Additional highlights from the Delta: drinking snake wine with a group of new friends, cycling around a town (and having the pedal on my bike fall off, meaning that Brian and I were abandoned for about 30 minutes), being paddled in dugout canoes, checking out crocodiles at a crocodile farm, watching the sun set near Chau Doc and eating Happy New Year cake with our group, watching weavers in a Muslim village and watching life roll by along the Mekong in Cambodia.