When I first learned about the Asian zodiac, I really wanted to be something cool, like a dragon or a tiger. As it is, I'm not even something nice, like a horse or a dog. Nope, according to the little place mat at that Chinese restaurant, I'm a rat. Yuk! Rats are dirty, they bite, make people sick, nobody likes rats.

For a long time I've been running, and I never knew what I was running from. I think if I never stop, never look back, whatever it is that is chasing me won't catch me. I laugh at jokes that aren't funny, accept things I don't understand, and ignore the misunderstandings of others. I don't push back, because I'm tired of politics and talking. I've learned to forget so well.

That is, until I end up in a bar in Siem Reap, snacking on grilled frogs and beer, laughing with my Cambo friend Aki, while Steve the Australian is trying not to look at the platter of frogs in front of us... (haha... those were some tasty frogs, brother don't know what he missed!) I have some serious respect for the Cambodians, what they've been through and how they push forward. They eat anything, make it all taste good (fried tarantulas anyone?) and are very generous! I think I gained like 3 kilos we ate so much. But when I would meet with other foreigners, I found a lot of them to be (not ALL thankfully)... snobby. In their faces I could see that look of disgust "this is once in a lifetime... and never again!" I felt so embarassed, these people live with dignity, work hard, make miracles from nothing and deserve all the new-found economic success that is trickling their way. Then I would see foreigners arguing with kids over the price of books they were selling (way below anything they would pay back in their home!), foriegners with young pretty girls in the clubs, complaining about the hard bed and the cold water...

And all that I saw, made me think, is it so bad to be a rat?

Dragons aren't real, tigers are endagered, horses, dogs, pigs are all domesticated. Nobody expects anything from a rat, but rats are smart, live anywhere and survive on anything.