Long time, no see.

After some deliberation, I've decided to keep up this random dialogue, even though I am no longer on the road. I'm not asking anyone to ever read it, but after quite a month that's tested my powers of patience and optimism, I feel that I need a space to organize my thoughts and frustrations. Granted, I'm sure that this reason lines the foundation of the reason that blogs were invented in the first place, but being chronically behind the times and stubbornly on the sidelines of technology, I cannot make any assumptions about the motivations of the bandwagon bloggers but instead have simply arrived at the blog phenomenon by a roundabout, scenic route.

So this past month. What happened? Well let's start with the late acceptance to Humber College in August, which left me with 3 weeks to pack up my life in Ottawa, find a place in T.O. and make it to Wabikon, which anyone at Sunrise will tell you, is not to be missed under any circumstances.
Suffice it to say, all happened in due course, and I moved in to a place on the Danforth the day before I started classes. That day, my computer also decided to throw in the towel. In addition to being in school, I was now of course in need of part time work, which I was under the impression would not be difficult to come by in a city where the first question isn't "Do you speak French?". Sigh. Not the case. How does one search for jobs with no Internet at home, and resumes saved to USB drives in case of a full on computer crash? One stays at school hours after class has ended to use their computers. One also walks to the public library, gets a library card only to find out that many sites are too large for the already saturated server used by the library. Our school site, Blackboard, routinely caused the computers there to lock up, therefore denying me access all weekend to any school updates.
On the computer front, the other time not taken up with job searching and school work, was spent taking up the time of my computer friends, as well as repeated trips to the LCBO for beer with which to thank them with. Also, I tramped College Street one rainy Saturday, utilizing all of the computer shops, only to speak with numerous slimy computer guys trying to sell me dodgy computer parts, or looking at the model and grimly saying "Ohhhh you have that model....". Very reassuring.

Suffice it to say, it was not one of my happiest months, being so out of touch with those I care about, and on top of it all, trying to adjust to life in a new city and having left all of my contacts and extra curricular things behind.

I now have a job - at a candy store, nonetheless! And the computer issues have been solved with the installation of Linux. (After a year of issues with Windows, I'm thinking that Justin Long truly had a point....)

On the other hand, in the same week that my computer got fixed and I found employment, my car went into the shop and I was told she needed a brake job. Awesome.

Anyone want to go out for a pint?

J.

Moose, Kayaks and Fjords, Oh My!

Oh my goodness, I love my country!

We are now in Gros Morne National Park. For the last 2 nights we stayed in Shallow Bay, one of the 5 or so campgrounds within the park limits. On the way into the park, over rolling hills and sun kissed mountains, we passed 3 moose, safely on the side of the road!

Yesterday we were up early and headed to Norris Point for kayaking. In true east coast form, we woke up with sun, and arrived in rain, the kayak tour was delayed an hour, then we got into the kayaks in the sun, sat in them for the instructions in the rain, paddled in drizzle and finally the sun came out for the last hour.


Having never kayaked before, Ang and I were amazed at how easy it was. Granted we had kayaks with rudders, which I've heard are similar to training wheels on a bike? But really, it was so amazing! We paddled in a fjord, around to different harbours, heard stories of Newfoundland history from our two awesome tour guides.

After the paddling, we had some quick lunch at the campsite then went for a boat tour on Western Brook Pond. Seriously, look this up. Google it, or do what you have to. It's incredible what secrets lie in our own country. It's a land locked fjord - so not really a fjord anymore - but its beauty is astounding! Plus we had the perfect conditions - the rain earlier had left paths of water running down the tops of the cliffs, and the recent sun glinted off of them so they shone. We met some awesome people on the boat - one gentleman who works in Bowmanville at the power plant! Small world!

Then back to the campsite for dinner......good old beans and wieners augmented with Passion Flakies!..... and a clear night filled with stars!

Today we drove to Trout River, also in the park. This place houses the Tablelands, and incredible stretch of peraditite....(spelling....?) which is normally found under the earth......here is one of the largest deposits above ground! Thanks Africa, for bumping into us during Pangaea!!
We hiked back into the land this afternoon, 4 kilometres downhill to a beautiful beach in crazy winds, but lots of sun. But of course.....4 kilometres downhill means 4 kilometres uphill on the way back......sigh.......

Now we are gobbling ice cream sundaes in the small town of Trout River before heading back to crash for the evening!

That's it for now! Tomorrow is the long drive back to St John's and then a flight on Tuesday afternoon!

Hey, did I mention.....I love this country!!

I'll try anything once....

I forgot to mention that the other night, during the George St. Festival and prior to the Screeching In, that we had cod tongues! Not sure what to think....the texture's a bit odd, but deep fried and dipped in sauce, they're not that hard to take. Anything else I need to try while I'm here?
-JM

What are ya at?

For those of us who have said how Ottawa feels like a small town sometimes, St. John's feels even more so. It's possible to get everywhere easily on foot (although it also boasts some of the steepest streets in the country, so maybe easily is a relative term...) We met two awesome gals from Toronto and Montreal, and have been meeting up periodically with them over the last 3 days, and we've noticed it's not really necessary to make specific meeting plans because we run into each other in town anyway!

Everyone here is more than happy to give directions and tell you about the favourite spots, or just chat about the weather (something all Canadians love to do!).

And finally, on the first evening we arrived, we went down street (because from hostels, hotels or houses, everything is down.....from the harbour, everything is up) to get tickets for the George St Fest. Found out that Blue Rodeo was the headliner for the night, so I got my ticket and Ang decided she would have a quiet night in. No sooner had I bought the ticket than we walked around the corner, and Greg Keelor (one of the two Blue Rodeo frontmen) was strolling down the street! He stopped and chatted for a moment - I asked if he was still living up Kendall way since it was always well known in Bowmanville where his house was, and jam sessions could be heard floating over the fields on summer evenings. It was awesome, and random and a key reminder of our Canadian sense of humanity - that our greatest stars are not just faces on billboards, but are our neighbours, our relatives, our friends, and not above a simple hello on the street.

(I was recently reminded of this also, as I discovered that a friend of ours from university, a member of a band that I knew well, is now lead guitarist for Justin Bieber. Crazy)

Anyway, today is a rainy day in St. John's (shocking!). Some shopping is in the plans and some planning for tomorrow. Last night we were fortunate to visit The Rooms - an incredible new building housing the Museum, the Archives and the Art Gallery - and free on Wednesday evenings! We learned about the Beothuk people, the influence of Irish culture and saw an amazing photo display by Edward Burtynsky.
Then down to George St to a micro brewery for some delicious beer. Ang turned in for the night after, and I ventured to some live music, which is primarily why I'm here. I can't get over how many of the songs I know! Those two awesome gals, previously mentioned were there, and while they chatted, I went up to dance, and made instant friends with some Nova Scotians who were also dancing along to the tunes. (This is the story of this city - if you're willing to say hello to the person next to you, or to sing along to the tunes that are playing, you will make fast friends).
On a random note, I also met Michael Ignatieff's Press Secretary and Executive Assistant. I guess Ignatieff was here for the Regatta as part of a 12 day tour of Canada, and after he retired for the evening, these gentlemen came out last night for a rare couple of hours off.

That's it for now!

Screeched in!!!

So since the Cambodian adventure, and the inception of this blog, I have found myself consistently dictating the retelling of all of my adventures and wonderments, in my head. So I thought I might continue to write them down, and if you'd like to read along, that'd be lovely.

I am, at the moment, in St. John's, NL. I have officially put it on my list of favourite cities - it is astoundingly beautiful here. I am here with my dear friend, and former roommate Angie.

Last night was the final night of the George St. Festival (for anyone who is unaware of the wonder that is George St., it boasts the title of most bars per square foot in the country, possibly even in North America) After watching the live bands and standing with hundreds of people singing along to East Coast tunes, we went down to Christian's bar, for an official Screech In. In a cramped sweaty bar above George St, a local dressed in fisherman's getup taught us Newfie words, songs and the phrase we had to repeat to be screeched in. Traditionally there'd be a scoff and scuff - food and dance - all the fixings of a proper kitchen party, but we had some meat, and chanted along to Come and I Will Sing You, before kneeling for the next part of the ceremony.
Yes, we kissed a cod. It was huge and frozen and smelly, but we all did it! Then we drank a shot of what I heard was Jamieson, and we were done. Certificates and everything!

Today was a brilliant day in St. John's. Incredible weather, 23 degrees, with a breeze off the water. It was also Regatta Day - where everyone gets the day off (save some working in tourist shops) to go to the Regatta on Quidi Vidi Lake. There are carnival games, jumping castles and food stalls stretching around almost the entire perimeter of the lake and lots of the games and raffles go to charities! Lion's Clubs, Rotaries, Autism and Diabetes Associations - everything!

Then, we walked to Signal Hill. We took the road up, the paved way, and took the path along the water on the way down. It's quite a trek and commands an amazing 360 view of the city. We could even see the crowds at the Regatta. There's the tower, with displays on Marconi's experiments and successes and lots of info chronicling the shifting ownership of the land from British to France and back again. The surrounding land is impressive, rolling and green and rocky with untamed purple and yellow flowers.

Now we're grabbing some dinner - I have leftover stirfry from the veggie restaurant, The Sprout - and then heading to The Rooms, the new building with a museum and the archives, that's free this evening!

Now that there's finally internet, I hope to be able to write again before we head out on Friday to the other parts of the island. Friday morning we get a car, and will be off to Gros Morne National Park!

Till then, long may your big jib draw!

On My Way

All is well so far here at Singapore Airport. First, the plane was on time out of Siem Reap so that in itself puts this trip at a higher success rate than the one from TO.
I was given my Siem Reap and Singapore boarding passes while still in Cambodia, and it was suggested I pick up my London one here in Singapore. At the desk I was served by an awesome employee by the name of Colorado Cherry Rose, so I'm all sorted for flights.
After a few thousand tries at international calls, I've chatted to my friend Matthew in London and set up plans to meet in Leicester Square at half nine tomorrow. Still allows me some time at Heathrow since I get in at 5:45 am - yeesh!
And finally, upon using the fancy shmancy washrooms here in Singapore, I was elated to be able to put the toilet paper in the toilet again...
We don't do this in Cambodia. I wish I could have uploaded photos because when you enter a Cambodian bathroom there is the toilet, a garbage bin or a little baggy hanging on one wall, and a small hose hanging on the other - similar to the ones we have on our sinks at home.
I know you can put the rest together. It takes a while to get used to, but that is the way of things. So, the fancy bathroom here is the first step back to reality.

Here's hoping the rest is as smooth. I've got a middle seat for this 14 hour flight coming up so bring on the free in flight Singapore Slings.

J.

It all fits!

The suitcase is packed, and it all fits, but just. 

I was hoping to bring some of you some PLF shirts but alas, it is not to be this time. 

I really am going to have to come back, cause I already have a souvenir list for next time! Among the items would definitely be a pair of silk pajamas, as fashion here in Cambodia is such that pajamas are perfectly acceptable in the daytime hours - at the market, the shop, the temple. Whatever!

Lori said once that she knew it was time to head home to the States for a bit when she went out for breakfast in her pjs!

It's been an amazing 3 weeks, but I don't consider this venture completely over. There is a couple in Canada that are going to start a Canadian chapter of the foundation, and I chatted to them while they were here about how I could help.

I'm sure I will also end up back here sometime - maybe next year, maybe not for a few years, but if the fates allow it, I do want to come back.

This country is changing everyday - and I think that differences will be noticeable after any time away - long or short. There is so much to be done here - things that we can help with - like getting more and more kids an education and improving that education - and things that we can't, like the political situation and foreign investing.

It's been a fascinating 3 weeks, and I know I will miss the schools, the kids and the people of the guesthouse so very much. I will definitely miss 5 year old Alice, who is sitting on my knee right now. 

 

See you all soon! Here's hoping for no flight delays and no lost luggage!

Love,

J. 

Move over Amsterdam

Ok..I have learned some new things today! There are multiple parts to this story and they are all so ridiculous (good ridiculous) that I don't know where to start, but they all came about with a simple question about pigs. Ready?

First, I am on the tuk tuk with Lori today, and past us flies a moped with two pigs, upside down, strapped to the back. I assume they are dead, on their way to the butcher. Why else would they be hoof-in-the-air-upside down?
Well it turns out that they are very much alive. And pig farmers are often also marijuana farmers. And when pigs need to go to the butcher, the farmer feeds them a whole lot of pot, gets them stoned out of their mind, wraps them in a bamboo mat, turns them on their backs and straps them to the moped. That's right, folks, this is really how it's done! Lori's father, a pig farmer in the States, confirmed that if one can get pigs on their back, they go into a sort of state where they don't move. But how does one get a pig on its back....well here is one solution!

So I ask, silly me, what's the scoop with pot in the country - do people smoke it, is it an issue? What? Well, apparently a few years ago, there were bags of it (like garbage bags of it) available at the markets, as no one really thought much of it - locals didn't really use it. Well then foreigners found out, as they are wont to do, and they started getting all messed up on it, as they are also wont to do....and making poor choices...like trying to smuggle it out of the country. So now...no more bags of mary jane at the market.

So I ask, still the innocent one, how does one come to know this information? Well, from the pizza guy. The pizza guy?Sure, the guy from Happy Pizza.

That's right.....forget pot brownies, baked in the secrecy of your own home. Right here in Siem Reap, (and apparently other neighbouring countries- Thailand, Laos etc.) out at some places on Pub Street, one can order a Happy Pizza, or a Really Happy Pizza, Extremely Happy Pizza, or a Pizza with Extra Happy. I've heard it's quite potent.
And better yet, if you order a pizza with Happy on the side, you actually get a bowl of pot.

Seriously.

Always here to provide your bit of randomness for the day.
J.

Scrubadub

I am so lucky.
I have soap.
I have a shower.
I have air conditioning.
I have food and clean water.
I have all of my teeth.
I have people who love me.
I have never been beaten.

We've done two big days at Khnar school, scrubbing the kids clean. We take out the first aid kit, but also buckets, cloths and scrubbing brushes, soap, Johnson's baby shampoo...
The kids are really helpful now - they see us coming and they grab the big basins and fill them at the well. They get the stools and set them on either side of each basin. And they huddle around waiting their turn. Many are still reluctant, but all of the students are very supportive - and they understand levels of need. They push forward ones with bad cuts or who are really dirty.

They sit on a stool, feet in water and we scrub. You wouldn't believe the filth that we see everyday. Especially anyone who reads this that is a parent cannot imagine the grime - when we wash arms and legs twice, three times and the skin is still black with dirt that won't come off.
There's a baby that is brought by his mother - originally for a wound on his back - that Lori has deemed the dirtiest baby in Cambodia -seriously, it's on her Facebook page! He had been cleaned a bit the first time he came - and he was certainly upset about being bandaged up that time. But on Friday when they showed up, we stripped him and immersed him in soapy water and two of us, Barbara and myself, got brushes and scrubbed. He cried at first, but once he was clean and wrapped in a towel, he was laughing! He smiled for the rest of our time there, and when we saw him yesterday he was excited about being washed up and his wound is infinitely better.

We know how great it feels after getting dusty and dirty to get into the shower....but I can't imagine what it feels like to wash off a lifetime of dirt!

Yesterday also, once most kids had gone off to class, one little girl stayed behind - her friend pushed her to see us. It was clear she had been beaten - looked like with a switch. One of the mothers that was there said the girl's mother had done it. She was pretty scared with us foreigners but we shoed away all of the boys that were hanging around, and she allowed us to take off her shirt. Not sure how old she was......looked about 8 but could mean 11 or 12 here....she had scrapes on her back, her tummy, her legs and on one arm. Granted, they had healed well, so there was not much we could do in that respect. But we put some ointment on, we talked to her, brushed her hair and eventually the tears stopped. She rejoined her friend and seemed a bit happier.

Finally, we brought two boys back with us to Siem Reap to see the dentist. These two boys - 14 and 15 but they look about 9 - had never been to Siem Reap, never ridden in a tuk tuk. It was exciting I think for them, but as they were on their way to the dentist, it meant that they were probably in a good deal of pain. (We only take kids with serious problems - all kids have rotten teeth here, so it has to be pretty bad to go into town)
One had to have 5 teeth pulled, some filled and some cured (?) which I understand they were trying to solve some infection so they didn't have to pull those teeth as well?
The other had a couple teeth pulled to solve a major infection near one cheek and had a solid cleaning done. Since I teach night class at Khnar, I took them back out there after the dentist. The one, with the 5 teeth out, which included his front teeth, was so upset. He would never show it, but I can't imagine what he endured that day. A bunch of strange people whisk him away, he sees a big loud city for the first time, sees a Cambodian dentist which is not one of the nicest experiences, gets bunch of teeth yanked, and then has some food, which must have been so painful to eat, and then is returned to his family. He was certainly in pain, and had stress bags under his eyes. I tried to chat with them - make them laugh - in the tuk tuk on the way out, but I think they had reached their strength limit for the day.
I'll see that one kid again today as he's coming back to get a bridge in front.

And so, in sum, I am lucky.
I have soap, and a shower, clean water, all of my teeth, I have never been beaten and I have people who love me.

J.

Hmm

I just wanted to mention how much I love it here. 

There is something about it, that makes it very easy to fall into step. I've heard this from others as well - and truly, I had been here only a few days and it felt like ages. 

To be fair, foreigners can live a very good life here. A few dollars go a long way - meals are anywhere from $1-$5....more if you want to get really fancy. There's happy hour everywhere and a pint is 50 cents. The Vietnamese coffee is amazing - and packs a good punch too! And for coffee hot or iced is usually 50 cents to $1.50 depending where you are. 

Getting around Siem Reap is easy as it's all walkable, or when it's hot, cycling is popular or hop a tuk tuk for $1. (I've really gotten used to the whole tuk tuk thing.....I'm going to get home, get in my car and roll down all the windows, just to get that wind in my hair feeling! But don't worry, I won't try to make left hand turns through walls of traffic or anything.....)

So for the average foreigner, life is pretty great. But that's not all there is here. The people are pretty amazing - they are very friendly, and very welcoming to foreigners. It's really not just because tourist dollars are important since only a very small percentage of tourist dolllars stay in Cambodia - it's just how they are.

Being able to get out to the schools, and to interact with the kids has been a real privilege. And classes are pretty relaxed - at the one school that I taught at for one day, (before my schedule was finalized) volunteer teachers really just walk in and say, Can I teach your class today? Seriously. And sometimes teachers walk in and out of the class during lessons....not really sure where they go....things are pretty relaxed!

I've been lucky enough to do a few day trips as well  with Lori and the other volunteers -I haven't written about the fishing village on the Tonle Sap River yet, but look up pictures - it's wild! I've also been picking up the language as much as I can - it's super hard! The writing comes from Sanskrit so I cannot read it, but I can count to forty!

That's it really. It's lunch time, and just yesterday I found the best iced coffee in the city.

More later,

J.

A fly in your soup? Pah, there was a monkey in my restaurant

It has been called to my attention that I forgot to mention about the monkeys. When you get out to the temples, there are lots of monkeys running around. Just on the edges of the road, they run alongside the tuk tuks but they're not bothering anyone. They just live in the jungle and so you see them now and again. 

But today, I went with two other volunteers, Nicholas from Belgium and Barbara from Oxford, to a Burmese restaurant on our street. The food was lovely and all the dishes were $2!! We got up from lunch, turned around to leave and in the entranceway, sat a monkey. He seemed pretty relaxed, just leaning on the first step that leads into the restaurant. He acted like a regular.

And sure enough, the staff came over and brought him peanuts. 

He munched away, strategically removing the skin of the peanut with his tongue and spitting it out. And when he finished, he hopped up on the nearby cooler. We thought maybe he'd like a beer on this hot afternoon.

J.

Mmmm......

Did I mention I ate frogs again? Voluntarily?

This time we went to the BBQ place in town - that is pronounced beeb-bee-cue, not barbecue. It is a real Cambodian experience, as it's always packed with locals but rarely sees any foreigners - although there are a few now that the word is getting out.

We began with rice and beef (and chicken for me).....pretty average.....a couple pitchers of beer.... then this fried corn dish which was amazing!.......then some frogs - normal size this time. These ones come piled on a plate and you just pull their legs off and eat them as if they were chicken legs. 

That was all followed up with duck smothered in ant sauce. And not one or two ants - the entire sauce is ants. They're dead, of course, having been cooked at a high temperature. But they really do stick in your teeth. 

This doesn't sound like your thing? As least we opted for duck instead of cow's uterus.

Enjoy your dinner!

J.

Shades of Indy

How do the temples here compare to those places of worship in Europe? Good question.....

Forget the polished marble and the paintings of Italy.

Imagine instead that you are Indiana Jones. 

You are exploring temples of rough stone blocks, carvings in the walls, soaring white trees digging their finger-like roots into the temple itself, creating jungles inside the walls. Or watch Tomb Raider. It was filmed here.

Imagine also that everything is unfinished, at its best. And crumbled by decades of war, at its worst. Many temples have piles and piles of stone pieces stretching out from the walls. There are restoration projects in place, funded by the French and the Japanese, among others.

Finally, temples are constructions of Buddhist and Hindu both. As Cambodia was Buddhist during the 12th century when the temples were built, that remains the primary focus. Check out Angkor Thom online and see some of the 216 faces of the Buddha. But check out pictures of the wall size carvings from Angkor Wat and you will find of the stories of the Ramayana.

They are certainly unique, and inspiring and beautiful. Probably why tourism has increased magnanimously since the 90s.

Suggest viewing: Tomb Raider - not for the quality of the film, people. Just the temples.

Two Brothers - filmed at Beng Mealea which still has the wooden platforms that     were constructed for filming, so that tourists can walk above the temple floor 

and look down.

Temples, Monkeys and Elephants, Oh My!

So I thought since I am currently residing 15 minutes from some of the most famous temples in the world, maybe I should actually go out and see them?

Yesterday, I booked a guide - Ponheary's brother Dara, who also lives in the guesthouse with his family -  booked a tuk tuk driver, Chomnan, and we went out to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. This is a weird experience as you arrive in the pitch black and have to walk across a stone causeway with water on either side. Luckily there was a half moon to see by which helped.

We then picked a spot inside the outer wall and faced the temple itself. There were hundreds of people - just shadows in the dark - stretched out on the lawn or sitting on the ledges of the outer wall. The sun comes up behind the temple - the only temple in the entire complex of temples to face west. All others face east, but Angkor Wat, they surmise, is the funeral temple. 

The sun came up, big and red. When it was light, we walked around inside Angkor Wat, which is famous in part because of its monstrous size. We then went to Angkor Thom, a few minutes down the road. It is smaller but has many towers all with faces of the Buddha carved right into the stone - there were once 47 towers and 216 faces.  To get to Angkor Thom, you can walk, drive or take an elephant ride. Waiting in line to go through the archway that serves as the entrance reminded me of the Lincoln tunnel, except that instead of following Beamers and Hondas, it was a pack of tuk tuks and elephants!

 We then walked to a bunch of smaller temples before stopping for a quick bite and heading home to get out of the heat. By 10:30 here, being in the sun becomes unbearable. I've seen tourists come through the guesthouse who have come down with heatstroke while out doing the temple thing, thinking it wasn't that bad. In this case, do as the locals do - take it easy in through midday. And, it's only going to get worse.....April is the hottest month which leads into the rainy season.

We went out again at 3:30 to a few more temples, finishing at Pre Rup, which I pass everyday on my way to Khnar School. For this one, we climbed as far as is possible and watched the red sun sink and disappear into a stripe of haze that sits just above the horizon line.

This is also the only place I've been that has a red sun morning and night. The proverb would never work here.....Red sun at night, hot and humid with no rain, red sun in the morning, hot and humid with no rain....

No need for a weather report really......

Duuuuude....I just ate frogs!!
They were little ones....deep fried and crispy....tasted like chicken!

What I did today

Today was a luxurious day. It is Saturday, so there are no English classes today, though students do have regular classes. Instead, I went with Jessica (a frequent volunteer teacher from Vermont who is moving here in Sept.) and her 17 year old daughter Jaz, (who fast tracked through high school so that she could volunteer here) to a reservoir. About 20 minutes in a tuk tuk, after stopping for fruit and cold drinks, got us to the reservoir where the is a free beach. But nuts to that.....we rented a boat - $10 for the day. The driver took us across to an island, where aside from the kids that are always around trying to sell tourists little trinkets, we were the only ones. On the island are raised platforms with rooves (no walls) and underneath the roof of each one are hammocks. We picked one with 4 hammocks, as our tuk tuk driver came along too. We sat on the platform, had some chicked and rice that Jaz had picked up from a vendor before we crossed, and then we lay in hammocks, with a refreshing breeze coming off of the water, and we read and chatted through the heat of the day. 

On the island are also ruins of a small temple as well as a raised* pagoda with a Buddha statue for those who wish to worship. 

*(Most things are raised on stilts here due to the rainy season)

Really, not much to complain about today. I can't believe that this place was so isolated, cheap to get to and so relaxing! 

Tonight we're heading to a carnival of sorts that happens every night on the edge of town - the big nights are Thursday Sunday so it's not really a happening place tonight, but we are just going for dinner. (More on this once I actually go to one of the big nights!)

That's it for now!

J.

What's that noise?

There's currently some booming going on outside, similar to the cannons they set off on Remembrance Day at home, though I'm not sure what is used to make the noise here. I was just out, and on the corner are a hundred people or so, in white tops and black pants holding flowers. Turns out a monk died today, and the occasional *boom* is to scare off the spirits. 

Never a dull moment,

J.

Today, a cook

Today, instead of teaching as usual, all of the volunteers at the guesthouse, plus Lori and Ponheary, went out to Koh Ker school (pronounced Ko Kay). This is another school supported by the PLF but one that is 3 hours away. (It really not that far by our standards, but the last third of the drive is on an unpaved road.) We left at 6am, loaded with uniforms and flip flops, for students who had outgrown their current ones, as well as 700 packages of ramen noodles, about 25kg of beef, plus tons of carrots, cabbage, garlic and other veggies. The students at Koh Ker get breakfast each morning, but when the PLF visit the school (which they manage about once a month during the dry season) they also take lunch. Noodles are a big thing to the students....rice is the regular fare around here, and for poorer families, rice can be grown. Noodles have to be purchased. 

As soon as we got there, we started opening packages of ramen noodles and chopping veggies. Some of the older girls at the school came to help as well. In the kitchen (a shelter with a fire going ) some adults got out a massive iron pot and started cooking up the garlic and seasonings. When everything was ready, we mixed it all together and it was placed in buckets and taken around to the classrooms - every student had a bowl and they waited patiently while we served. Once served, we received a bow and an enthusiastic "Som oh keun", which is a polite thank you, and then they ate like crazy. Even the littlest ones came back for thirds. While they were eating I was able to take some pictures with them - apparently they used to be terrified of Lori and everyone that visited, but now they love seeing us and they love hamming it up for the camera. We got choruses of thank yous, and goodbyes from each classroom as we headed out.

It's a far different school now than when Ponheary was first asked to provide some assistance. It only went to grade 3, had very few students, a missing principal and teachers who showed up once a week or so. Because it is so remote, there had been volunteer teachers, with very little stipends to make it worth their while, besides the fact that it was in an active landmine zone. 

Now, with thanks to the Canadian government, the area has been cleared, teachers receive a monthly pay from the government, (which is still very small, so the PLF pays them monthly as well), they have increased classes up to Grade 6 and recently, four students graduated and will be attending high school - the first students to graduate and continue on since before the genocide of the 1970s. Unfortunately there's still a lot of work to be done - the PLF is currently supporting the initiatives completely as some organizations have declined to be involved due to the isolation of the school. But things are looking up it seems, and today was a great opportunity to meet and chat with the students and teachers. 

After, we stopped at a temple for lunch and to tour around. Ponheary, who is actually a tourguide amidst all of the work she does for the foundation, took our group around, giving us the details of Cambaodia's ups and downs - between its troubles with the Thais and troubles with the Vietnamese, and how Angkor Wat and the other temples eventually made it back into the hands of the Cambodians who built them in the first place.

It was a long day, but the more time I spend with Lori and Ponheary, the more I understand how much work the foundation has done in the past few years - how much change they have managed to initiate. 

More later!

J.

Yesterday, a nurse

The other day, following my class at Khnar school, Lori (the president of the foundation) and I got out the huge first aid kit that she brings along to the school every few days. The kids now recognize the first aid kit, they run around making sure everyone at school knows, and they line up near the steps of the school. Because the students are frequently playing in fields and ditches, full of contaminated water, manure, insects etc. and due to the lack of cleanliness at home, simple scrapes that we all get as kids, can become life and death issues. 

Lori and I, with the help of Sovani (the Cambodian teacher whose class I am teaching in) and Chomnan (our tuk tuk driver) as translators, we checked out out any kids who had cuts that needed attending to. For the most part, according to Lori, the kids are doing much better than months ago when she began taking the first aid kit out there. Today we saw mostly scrapes, one fungal infection and only a couple of serious infected cuts. With just a portable bin of disinfectants and bandages, we are not miracle workers, but our goal was simply to clean the wounds and keep them bandaged if only for 24 hours, to help the medications start the healing process. 

I had begun taking a child or two over to the well to wash their cut before Lori attended to them, but as soon as they saw me helping out, I had my own line of patients waiting for help. I quickly learned the Khmer words to ask if it hurt, to which most kids will never admit that it does, but I occasionally got a wince from them while I cleaned it up. Our translators came in handy as we inquired when the cut happened, what was it from, did they have soap at home, and then passing on the info of how to take care of it once they were out of our care.

Occasionally Lori will get serious cases - a boy the other day had teeth growing behind his front teeth - basically on the roof of his mouth - he will be taken into Siem Reap (the school is an hour outside) and go to the Children's Hospital where most care is free for those under 13. One of the services that the PLF provides is the transportation to the hospital, as most of these students will never even  make it into town, as well as finding their parents if the child needs to be admitted. The hospital does not employ nursing staff or provide any food, so if a child is required to stay over night, Lori and Ponheary will head back out to the country to locate their parents and bring them into town.

For my part, I spent the better part of an hour, washing, bandaging but mostly being a mother to these kids - reassuring them, laughing with them. Part of the reason so many kids love coming to school is that it is a safe place. A place where they get a meal, they have friends and adults who look out for them, and with the recent installation by the PLF, they have clean water. 

J.

A Walk Down the Street

The first thing to know, whether you're riding in a tuk tuk, a van, or walking, is that in Cambodia there aren't stop signs or stoplights, or any of those sign type things that define what you should be doing on the road. The first trip out, and really the next twenty five trips as well is going to seem like there isn't any order. But there is, in its own way. In theory they do drive on the right hand side of the road, like we do, but if someone ahead of them is in the way, they'll drive on the other side for a while. Eventually they're return to the proper side, usually when a few other vehicles are heading straight toward you at a shocking velocity. Downtown there are vehicles everywhere - parked everywhere, driving all over the place, turning seemingly whenever they feel like it. (There's everything from tiny carts being pushed by people to massive shiny SUVs and Mercedes.

 Today our tuk tuk made a left hand turn through a mass of motorcycles and carts coming through the intersection - he just pushed closer and closer to the stream of vehicles till some slowed down enough to make a space just big enough for us to fit through. 

Oh and I did see one stoplight today - in town - a big one with green arrows and a countdown. Nobody appeared to be using it.

On the roadsides there are small stands of people selling large glass bottles - often Jim Beam bottles of yellow liquid. It's gasoline. There are large gas stations for the vehicles, yes, but the moped drivers, the tuk tuk drivers and the people with generators buy their gas from these stands. 

Lining the roadways and piling up on street corners are tuk tuks and their drivers. They shout to us as we walk by, Tuk tuk? Ma'am, tuk tuk? but I learned quickly how to say "no thanks". I'm working on "I'm happy walking".

There are also markets in town - small ones with just a single line of shops, and big ones that are inside, taking up a whole block with one big building. Inside, are racks 10 feet high of household items, dresses (they're big on the 80s colours, frills and bedazzling), wooden crafts, handmade bags, scarves, fruit and fish. It's all organized by sections - so that while there maybe many people with stands that sell wooden crafts, and we'd assume there'd be huge competition,  they will instead go ask their neighbour if they are out of the item you are looking for. 

The roads are also wildly dusty and often the ones that aren't paved are watered down during the day. 

There are massive hotels as well as the small shops and restaurants - evidence of the tourism that is increasing massively year by year. New buildings are popping up, fancy guesthouses and malls. In Siem Reap there is Lucky Mall. It's tall and white and shiny with beautifully clean glass windows. Its the touristy mall, with a hamburger place inside, a massive grocery store with everything you could ever want from home, as well as some clothing shops, a Playstation store and aircon that's blasting. 

And down the street is the KFC. The first of any Western chain to infiltrate Siem Reap.

J.