Day 6 – Cue the Friday Song

This was the last day of class. I gave a marathon sediment lecture for most of the morning then we offered to stick around after lunch to actually do some modeling if anyone had data. Two modelers took us up on the offer and a couple others stayed to watch. It was fun to cobble together a couple preliminary models of the Mekong in an afternoon.

The multi-national class has been a bit of a challenge. English was a pre-requisite, but an interpreter is always helpful, if only to give the students two shots to bridge the language gap. But because there are four languages represented, this wasn’t possible.[1] But on the whole I think it went pretty well.
After class we went to the ‘night market’ to buy gifts for our families. I think my wife would be good at this given her success at garage sales, where she doesn’t allow the low starting price to keep her from getting to the lower actual price. But I am pretty bad at the market scene.

I got dresses for Aletheia and a skirt and shirt for Charis.

After that we ate and got beers at the elephant bar, a room that presumably has 1000 elephants in the art, tapestries, and nick knacks.  Then Cam and Jeff caught a ride to the midnight flight to Incheaun. But I’m staying just a little longer. You see, northern Cambodia was home to one of the great civilizations of the ancient[2] world, and they left behind a city and temple complex so large, dramatic and tenacious that it is often listed as one of the wonders of the ancient world.[3] So I went to bed to get a little rest before I caught my flight the next morning to Siem Reap, which is the gateway to Angkor.
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[1] I have taught multi-country classes in South America, but the unifying language allows us to use an interpreter there, since even the Brazilians understand Spanish.
[2] Is it ‘ancient’ even if it corresponded with Europe’s medieval period? Not sure. I’m going to go with ancient.
[3] In the updated, non Euro-Centric lists that have more than one representative outside of Greek/Roman/Egyptian civilization and put a premium on…um…still existing.