Sunday 30 December 2012

# 20: “ I'm an idealist. I may not know where I'm going, but I know I'm on my way..” - Carl Sandburg

Another Blog-slack fortnight...you know what? Just deal with it - I actually have a life now and it turns out living and doing stuff takes up a lot of time.

I have no idea what I was doing 2 weeks ago and since I'm off galavanting in the jungle with a disreputable and totally irresponsible bunch of Aussie Babes, I can't even check my work notes for clues. Add a night on the Red with 'a few' shots of Absinthe thrown in, courtesy of the aforementioned Babes, the half midi glass of Baileys, followed by the same amount of Jameson the barmaid just poured me when she discovered it was my birthday and I can barely remember this morning.

So moving right along to the standout, memorable moments of the past fortnight.
Chantha and I decided there was absolutely nothing unethical about bribing the kids, in the context of a monthly Encouragement Award for one child from each class - it was just in the form of an edible reward, ice cream, which they could choose for themselves, rather than your standard slip of totally INedible paper, declaring their prowess in "Good Listening" or "Being a Helpful Harry" or "Staying Awake" or even "Not Punching Everyone...as much".
So, 15 assorted Cornettos later and it's Annie's turn to choose. Having had more time to consider her options, she looked at me, said "ANY one?" then, with an encouraging nod from me, dived into the ice cream fridge and came out with a huge grin and a 1/2 litre tub of chocolate ice cream! And she ate it...ALL...although at 32°C , it was more like a chocolate thick shake by the time she finished it. What a sticky afternoon! 

 Next, our Philosophy Club. We had an interesting collection of thinkers, 4 or 5 Khmer & a dozen or so Barang (foreigners), American, Canadian, Belgian, British and Aussies  - good range of philosophers but perhaps not the best choice of topic :
"What's the best form of government?" - thanks Jedtha...
It started off philosopically enough, but degenerated into a 'corrupt-Hun Sen-Government-bashing' session which the Khmer participants were very vocal about at the time, but VERY nervous about later, as word spread of our 'seditious' discussion...
Perhaps something a little less inciteful next week...

 Then there was CCT's 'End-of-Year' party @ Tara's on Saturday 22nd. What a fun night. Open with games:
 'Target Practice' - this is basically throwing-paper-plates-full-of-whipped-cream-at-the-heads-of-your-teachers, who have, perhaps foolishly, built & painted a couple of 'teacher-size' chipmunks (Alvin & Theodore) and a 'Rambo' (a CCT dog not a crazed US soldier), with the oval of their faces cut out so the victims could poke their silly heads through.
It's a Jedtha-Monk !!

 Messy, but hilarious, followed by Pin the tail on the Donkey & Pass the Parcel. Now this seemed like an easy, trouble-free game. We'd spent a couple of hours the night before wrapping monster parcels with little gifts and coloured foil confetti between each layer. The kids were sitting in 2 HUGE circles on giant plastic tarps (for easy clean-up) and there were more than enough layers of gifts to go round.
Haute Couture - Battambang Style...
well, the kids seemed to find the 20 odd mini-pigtales amusing...
In fact, it all went smoothly.. until I got home and had a shower, only to discover that all those bits of pretty, bright coloured foil that were stuck to my legs were actually not foil at all. It seems the foil is dyed with some kind of indelible food colouring and the gold, purple, pink, blue & green splotches all over my legs were there for the next week...at least they didn't clash with my subtle fashion for the night.


Gangnam Style..

Great food, dozens and dozens of really excited kids, presents, a live band, lots of dancing - Daisy, Nacha & Tara on the stage dancing, Gangnam Style! Which all the kids were doing by the end of the night, with great passion, along with the inevitable funky Y M C A !! Some of these kids are really extraordinary dancers and they all love it!





The CCT boys jumped onto the stage to play a tribute to Tara...so sweet...









and the night wrapped up with a wonderful fireworks display that brought all the neighbours and their kids out as well. 




The following morning, after the CCT party, we managed to get on the 8.30am bus to Phnom Penh and our much anticipated week in the jungle..
..To be continued...

4 comments:

  1. From one Aussie babe to another...love your guts Di!!! xxx

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  2. Right back atcha Blondie.. xxx

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  3. I'm impressed by Annie's cleverness with the ice cream. That's one bright little girl!
    The end of year party looks like a lot of fun. Nothing beats throwing pie at your teachers! xxx

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  4. never a dull moment with Annie!
    I can think of a few teachers I could've enjoyed throwing pie at...on heavy, stoneware plates, none of this namby-pamby-don't-really-want-to-hurt-'em-plastic....

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