Hello from Cambodia 14
on Chris and Jon in Cambodia (Cambodia), 10/Jul/2008 10:04, 34 days ago
It’s been rather a long time since our last blog and we can’t use the excuse that we are rushed off our feet. It’s more that we have settled into a rather mundane existence here and we no longer get the “wow factor” which we desperately need to share with you all. Still here is the continuing story of “2 years in Phnom Preuk”……..The highlight of the last few months is that Will and Russ came to visit . You cannot believe how wonderful it was to have friends and family from home here and someone else to share the“long summer evenings” (actually they are the same length as the “long winter evenings” cos we’re so close to the equator - Jon) with, playing Canasta while battling swarms of small black beetles out of our hair.We met the boys at Phnom Penh and spent a few days showing them the city’s sights and introducing them to our VSO friends. Many of them were in town for the Queen’s Birthday embassy “do” which was being held at a very posh hotel. The reception was quite a show with ice sculptures of Tower Bridge and a London bus. The canapés were miniature versions of traditional British cuisine, including roast beef and horseradish sauce on tiny biscuits, mini Cornish pasties and little Scotch eggs. The chamber orchestra and buckets of free Pimms did a lot to add to the convivial ambience. Big screens around the room showed videos of Britain’s Green and Pleasant Land and the promotional video for London’s Olympic bid with celeb’s such as David Beckham, Steve Redgrave and Martine McCuchan (!?) posing by London’s landmarks. By the end of the evening even the most staunch republicans were toasting the dear old Queen with a patriotic tear in their eye. Althoughthat might have been more to do with the free Pimms!The boys wanted to visit the Killing Fields and Toul Sleng (S21) Prison. This was a return visit for us as we had been there 4 years ago when it had made a huge impact, bring home the brutality of the Pol Pot regime. This time however it was not so affecting, maybe because we are no longer so intrigued by Cambodia’s tragic past but more interested in the present and hopes for their future.Will and Russ made a big hit in Phnom Preuk. They learned how to ride a moto and were soon zipping around. They even managed, in true Khmer style, to transport a small tree in a large pot from the“garden centre” to home. The young teachers, who come to conversation classes with us on Sunday evenings, were particularly taken with them, inviting them to breakfast and then escorting them on a trip round market where they bought the ingredients for the evening meal, this included the slaughter of a live chicken.The ladies in the market were fascinated by these two fit young barangs and were discussing loudly across the stalls which one they fancied the most. Word of their arrival soon whipped round the town so a visit to the bank was met with the question“how long will your son be staying?” As Will put it, he and Russ were very proud to be the first tourists to visit Phnom Preuk, but they didn’t think that it would be challenging Ankor Wat as the number one Cambodian tourist spot.Work wise things seem to have taken a more positive turn. Both the Education Office staff and the school headmasters and teachers seem more accepting and trusting of us and are more willing to sit and chat. Alarmingly we have discovered some of them speak quite good English and were not letting on about it. Part of the reason for this break-through is that we took all 7 of the office staff on a 2 day“capacity building” trip to visit another District Office of Education (DOE) based at Phnom Srok in Banteay Meanchey, the neighbouring province, where our friend Anna is a VSO volunteer. Not only did they get some good ideas about how to run an education department (something they rather lack) but they also saw that we volunteers could be fun. We were all taken on a tour of the local domestic silk weaving industry and then on to a picnic by a beautiful lake (which was in fact a reservoir built by slave labour during the Pol Pot regime), this proved to be quite an ice-breaker.Our work in the last month has been, to misquote the History Boys,“one f*****g observation after another”. However we have found that observing teachers’ lessons and then feeding-back positive criticism to both them and their headmaster is having a marked effect on the standards of teaching and learning. We are seeing a positive change in both the classroomsand lessons which is very heartening. Unfortunately now we are coming to the end of term and all the teachers are moving back to Battambang until October. We were invited to be the guests of honour at the local primary’s Prize Day. In fact the heat, the speeches and the interminable clapping madeit not so different from the same event at Parmiters. Officially term ends on 31st July but many schools were closed by the end of June and all shut by 10th July. On top of this our DOE staff has disappeared off the face of the earth as they are all involved in organizing the election which is dueon 27th July. So we spend our days sitting in an empty office chatting to Sophen and Sophea…..It’s going to be a long summer.The election is a big deal and there is a lot of campaigning activity, especially by the ruling CPP (Cambodian Peoples Party). One morning we were greeted by about 20 huge trucks packed full of flag-waving CPP supporters, in matching T shirts and baseball caps, being transported to a local rally. As our office is next to the CPP HQ we are subjected to rousing party propaganda songs being blasted out at full volume all day long. Unfortunately when they go into competition with the Wat (on the other side) broadcasting uplifting religious tracts very, very loudly, lets just say it can be a little wearing (we love Cambodian culture honest).………….Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhg.We now have some pets. Firstly Spot the Tok Kai moved in about a month ago and lives under the day bed. He emerges at exactly 7.30 each evening to hunt the many creepy crawlies that inhabit our sitting-room. Although rather nervous of him at first, we are now used to him suddenly scuttling up the wall in pursuit of an unfortunate beastie– though fear of treading on him means that we don’t move out of our chairs without first asking “Where’s Spot?” (a reference only understood by those who were under 5 in the 1980’s or their long suffering parents).We converted a very large plant pot into a fish pond. At first we had problems finding fish until Sophen turned up one evening with a blue watering can saying“I have Four Fresh Fish For you” which is quite an achievement as Khmers have real difficulty pronouncing the F sound. These 4 little fellows immediately swam into the shadows of the rocks at the bottom of the pond and were never seen again – which was rather boring. So when we were in Thailand we appropriated some beautiful neon tetras and brought them home in a water bottle. They were happily introduced to the pond but they now seem to be disappearing. We fear that the Cambodian monsters are surfacing like Jaws and dragging the pretties away to their lair in the depths.Here is the latest picture of Touche’s grandson. As you see they believe in starting them young on the moto here. It will be interesting to compare his development with Jessica Rose who was born on the same day. (Photos please M and N)As an aside, the Monks are building an extension to the Wat. It is a most theatrical spectacle to seen them in their orange underwear posed on bamboo scaffolding silhouetted against the sun. One guy completes this tableau by wearing a yellow towel on his head, dark glasses and a fag hanging out his mouth. It is very surreal.Will and Russ took off for Ankor Wat and, unable to keep up with the fast life of PPk, then crossed over to Koh Chang in Thailand where we met them for the weekend. Although the weather was a bit grey and the sea a bit choppy we had a perfect time just chillin’ out – and playing Canasta, again. It was very, very hard to leave them there for all sorts of reasons.On a final note, last night we caught the thrilling Wimbledon Mens’ Final on the telly brought back memories of (real) long summer evenings, chilly BBQ’s, Pimms,strawberries and cream, salmon and asparagus and Big Brother - enjoy.