Dinosaurs lay eggs out of their butts…What?

I was gracefully informed, by a 7 year old today, that dinosaurs lay eggs out of their butt. Along with this revelation, he stood up and pointed to his rear end to show me exactly where he thought they came from. He said this is almost a questioning fashion and I, frankly, had no response for him. I was trying not to laugh out loud at the amazingness of the question. First of all, we weren't even talking about reproduction of dinosaurs, we were talking about fossils. Somehow, in his tiny Cambodian brain, he leapt to the fact that dinosaurs lay eggs and apparently they come out of dinosaurs butts.

As a new teacher to this class, I strove to keep my calm and politely answer this child without getting into the mechanics where eggs actually come from. Not a conversation that is appropriate for a 2nd grade class, nor should they be learning the facts of life in their second (or in some cases 3rd) language. As I have been thinking about this for the past few hours, I have also decided that I am still way too immature to explain the birds and the bees to anyone, I giggle when someone says "duty" still. 

When answering his question, after a dead silent 30 seconds where everyone, including my 25 year old Khmer Teaching Assistant, was eagerly waiting for my reply, I vaguely nodded and said, "uh-huh." This is the first blatant lie I have told my students and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, I'm building up Christmas and the magic of Santa for all its worth (I have to reassure my students Santa is INDEED real and he can see every time they cheat off each other's papers) but I believe that is part of childhood that needs to be lived by all. How do you explain where dinosaur eggs come from? Seriously,…. How? Question for the ages… or in this case, for a seven year old, and a 27 year old teacher out of her depth with that particular question.

 

 

What is Love?

"Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me… no more"

Well I've fallen in love again, twice! There is something so special about Southeast Asia, I don't know how to describe it. I traveled around Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia for about 4 weeks and it was such an amazing and humbling experience. Each country has a unique feeling that I am excited to explore again and again as I have moved back here.

Cambodia holds a special place in my heart and is definitely my first love. It's so beautiful, dirty, loud, disorganized and amazing. The people are what really makes this my love though. They are some of the nicest people that I have ever met. They have such a compassionate and giving spirit, even though they have been through so much and have so little. I felt such a pull towards this place, from the moment I stepped on its soil back in June. I am so happy to be back and experiencing this place in a different way, as an Expat resident, as opposed to a 1 month visitor.

My 2nd love is definitely my kids at the school that I teach at now. I am a second grade teacher and get to teach all subjects, in English. These are the smartest children I have ever met, in addition to being the cutest things I have ever met. They spend 1/2 a day learning in English. 1/2 a day learning either Khmer or Chinese. Some speak all three languages!  They are all so inquisitive and have a MILLION questions. I spent 45 minutes on Friday (when we should have been playing games) answering questions about black holes and space. It was the best teaching experience of my life so far.

So my advice to everyone is to be open to new experience and don't be afraid to fall in love. You can love many things and many people. Each love is different and special. Treasure what you have!