# 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...

# 19: "..If you can't beat 'em, and you don't want to join 'em...you can always just run away..." - Me, just now.

Ok, so it's 4.30am...I have a VERY strong coffee in my trembling hands (thanx Tara), and am slowly calming my shattered nerves after being jolted from what I had thought would be a lovely, relaxing, Saturday sleep-in, by 'music', and I use the term loosely, that was SO outrageously, unbelievably loud that it actually initiated my long-dormant, Fight or Flight Response! My brain kicked into Flight mode, which then threatened to became panic mode, when arms, legs and head became awkwardly entangled in my new & wonderful, but momentarily forgotten, mosquito net which, I might add, was apparently more firmly tucked in under the mattress than it was secured to the hooks in the wall... 

As Logical Brain slowly came to the party, I realised what it was - another wedding... apparently it's next door but, after I managed to disentangle myself from the folds of my own net-trap, I decided to check under my bed and in my cupboards just to be certain...
I haven't heard music loud enough to make my internal organs vibrate since I spent an awesome evening sitting right next to the speaker stacks at a Jethro Tull concert back in the 70s! And I'm damned sure I wasn't sleeping peacefully at the time. Well...perhaps a little, shall we say, 'comfortably numb'...
 4.45am: Starting to calm down and my dear landlady's daughter decided it was a good idea to send her wide-awake-and-kinda-cranky 3yr old over to play. It was not a good idea...at all.

By 5am Kate, another CCT volunteer who lives in the 'Big House' in front of mine, came stumbling over looking totally shattered. Not only had the cacophony woken her, but in a fit of rage she'd slammed her bathroom door. Apparently the team had forgotten to tell her that the door will automatically lock if closed, so she couldn't even go to the loo...She rang her beloved, back in Berlin, hoping for a sympathetic ear, only to be told the music was too much, HE couldn't stand it any longer. End of call!
The whole scene was beginning to feel a wee bit Pythonesque and I felt like laughing but I took one look at Kate's face and figured, if I laughed now, violence could well ensue..

Solution? Call Sambaht and take my company-car-tuk out to visit the beautiful, tranquil, QUIET Kamping Pouy. The Lotus Lake.

Naran & 'friend'

First stop, Gecko, to have breakfast (omelettes and coffee) and to pick up one of my favourite waitresses (& friend), then jump into our trusty tuk-tuk and head off outta town and through the stunning countryside.

And here's a photo journey to Kamping Pouy:

Driving through a whole range of plantations of tropical fruits: Mangoes, dates, papaya, coconuts, bananas, pineapples, to name a few. Fields and fields of rice - this is the 'rice bowl' of Cambodia after all, so no surprise there.

And along almost the entire last 15kms, tonnes of rice, on large plastic sheets, drying in the sun.

Hahahaha...I didn't notice the dog when I took the photo. Something to think about when I buy my next packet of rice...

After almost 45mins of bone-shaking joy on this 'new-and-improved' road, while keeping an ever-watchful eye on the on-coming traffic...

...we eventually reached this idyllic water wonderland. The lotus flowers are grown in leases owned by local farmers, who make a few extra dollars by taking folks out on the lake to see the blossoms.

Our Khmae friends can't swim, but we talked them into joining us by promising we could save them if they fell in...tehehe. Well, at this time of year, the water's only shoulder-deep (on them) through most of the lake...

The local children had no such fears and, like all Khmae kids, their smiles say it all...

The lake itself is about 6km x 2km and holds over 100,000,000L³ of water. It was built by the Khmer Rouge, as one of their more  grandiose schemes, to provide irrigation for their planned agrarian society. Sadly, as seems to be the case with everything connected to the regime, the construction cost thousands of lives...

But it is a beautiful place.

  The water is only about 1-2 meters deep, at most, so we were able to stop, in the shade of trees, in the middle of the lake, to take photos of several different species of lotus that grow here. 

There were lots of the huge, pink ones that I'm now a great fan of.

The smaller, but equally  pretty, exotic and delicate looking white ones... 

...and these little purple-hearted flowers that don't look like lotuses at all, but were nevertheless beautiful.

There are also scores of stunning little iridescent dragonflies in every colour of the rainbow. I had to climb along a tree branch and lay down on a dubiously narrow limb over the water to get these shots - a totally Attenborough moment...you would have been proud of me Jassie-girl!

We snacked on Lotus seeds as we cruised and treated ourselves to one of Cambodia's great delights - Fresh Coconuts, kept on ice and only chopped open when you're ready to drink 'em. Chngyan!! (delicious).

I didn't finish mine 'til we got back home - must work out how much liquid is actually in one of these...

Sambaht made lotus leaf hats to keep the blazing sun from boiling our brains - stunning don't you think?

And this is a shot of the controls for the sluice gates - just get 1 person on each of the 20 platforms, whack a length of pipe through each of the 'screw' mechanisms and start turning!

Piece-a-cake..

By the time we got back home, the wedding was still going strong, so poor Kate headed off to a hotel for the night and I went back into town to have some dinner,

 and write this blog post..

Cambodian Wantons - filled with cream cheese and herbs and served with scrummy sweet chili sauce...and a 'Lime Mint Freeze' to wash it down. 

What a splendid way to spend a Saturday!

Goodnight All.....

# 18: “The secret of happiness is: Find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it.” - Dan Dennet

Another week of fun in downtown Battambang.
I've certainly found Happiness....
We had a meeting with the Principal of Dewey International School (where most of our kids go) about a potential collaboration with the Ethics/Philosophy course. They seemed impressed with what we're doing. I'll be sitting in on one of their "Ethics" classes next Wednesday...
I really hope we can make some inroads here, it could be the catalyst we need to have our course introduced in more schools.
 
Our classes are getting more and more raucous as the kids continue to gain confidence in asserting their own opinions...and disputing each other's.
I've had the older kids, from 5th grade up, playing 'Devil's Advocate' and debating things like 'Animal Rights' and 'Intervening in Nature'. Interestingly, the boys have no trouble finding arguments to support something they actually believe is wrong, but the girls find that really challenging.

How the girls prepare for a debate...

..and how the boys prepare for the same debate...

Our illustrious leader returned from the Wonderful Land of Oz bearing tales of adventure, like watching the total solar eclipse from above the clouds over the Great Barrier Reef and making a speech at her old school, NEGS at Armidale, that brought the entire room to tears! Then managing to secure Full Boarding Scholarships for 2 of our girls to attend this prestigious school from years 7 through 12 as a result of said speech - that's a gift of about $120,000... FOR EACH GIRL!! 

She also came home bearing gifts for her loyal minions. Check this out family:

AEROPRESS - and REAL COFFEE!!
...now all I need is Tim Tams and Paradise will be complete......

We had a party at CCT to welcome Tara home and the kids put on a delightful Apsara Dance concert.

They were SO beautiful, both the boys and the girls. It's such a graceful and artistic form of dance.

I'm afraid I only had my Android with me since I went straight from work, and the 'stage lighting' was provided by Tara's headlights so the pictures are pretty poor quality, but you get the idea...

The Big Girls...

The Little Girls...

..and a dodgy video of the boys & girls together - The 'Coconut' Dance 

Tara showing the little ones her awesome moves...

After the concert, the party started with hoards of wild'n'crazy dancers and loud, western dance music - Don't think I've ever heard such an enthusiastic and impressive rendition of 'YMCA' or the 'Macarena' or even Bieber's 'Baby' !

And then there was the gorgeous Face-Art...
From just sa,aht' (beautiful),

 To stunning Dragons...

I just love watching these kids in party mode. They all get along so well, they all look after each other and they very clearly ALL LOVE TARA...

Nat & Kate...tehehe..

 

I feel I should point out that not ALL the Face-Art was so spectacular...

Meanwhile, back at my Li'l Log Cabin, my very first Lotus flower burst into bloom:

And I am now one-up on the silent mozzies!

Everything continues to roll along beautifully, I'm definitely where I belong ! 

# 17 “ A Bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. ” - Maya Angelou

Festivals and Weddings...

Another week of Public Holidays !!
This time it was 'Bon Om Tuk' - the Water Festival. This is a 3 day celebration marking the biannual reversal of the Tonlé Sap River.
Geology 101... 
This is an amazing, and unique, event caused by the annual monsoonal flooding of the Mekong floodplain. This flooding causes the waters of the Tonlé Sap River to drain north into the shallow Tonlé Sap Lake. For most of the year the Lake is fairly small, around one metre deep and with an area just under 3000km².
During the monsoon season however, water is pushed back up the Tonlé Sap River, from the Mekong, into the Lake increasing it's area to 16,000km² and it's depth up to 9 metres, flooding surrounding fields and forests.

Sunset on Tonlé Sap Lake

So, around June every year, the river waters pour into the Tonlé Sap Lake and in November it begins to drain back out.

Apparently, when the river returns to it's expected southerly flow, the lake can drain so quickly that it's not unusual for fishermen to be plucking their catch from the trees !

One species of fish, the Elephant Fish, has developed the ability to survive for several hours out of water, in case the receding waters leave it stuck high'n'dry. Darwinism at work in Cambodia again...

Remember this one Jassie?

Elephant Fish

 It's also the official end of the rainy season.

Unfortunately, the usual festivities were canceled this year as a mark of respect for the passing of the Cambodian 'King Father' Norodom Sihanouk, 6 weeks ago, so we didn't get to watch the dragon boat races...guess I'll have to book that one in for next year.

Bon Om Tuk - Dragon Boats

The end of the wet season also heralds the beginning of the 'wedding season'.

And the Khmae sure know how to celebrate a wedding!

So, even though I didn't get to experience Bon Om Tuk, I did manage to get myself invited to my first traditional Khmer wedding.

Beginning at 4am, the music is amplified and piped through monster speakers for the entire neighbourhood to enjoy... and the celebrations go for 2 to 3 days.

 Day 1: 

• Procession by the Groom & his entourage to the home of the Bride, bearing bowls of fruits and deserts, to 'negotiate' the Wedding.
• Friends and relatives also give bowls of fruit and deserts (and, apparently cigarettes & Coke..)

Wedding Gifts

Followed by the blessings of the monks and the exchange of Wedding Rings.

Day 2:

Tributes for the Ancestors

• Tea Ceremony and tributes to the ancestors.
• Cutting of hair - This is done to symbolise the Bride & Grooms new life as a married couple. Traditionally the Master of Ceremonies would make the first cut, followed by the parents, relatives & friends. Today this is only a 'symbolic' ritual. After seeing the incredibly coiffured hair I'm not surprised it's become symbolic....

Day 3:

• The Pairing Ceremony. This is where family members & friends tie the bride and grooms left & right wrists with 'Blessing Strings' amidst praises, well-wishes of happiness, good health, success, prosperity and long-lasting love accompanied by the loud sound of gongs and cheers. 

Congratulations Chit and Meardey..

 A relaxing week ending with the weekend in a classy $15/night hotel after I'd heard enough of the wonderful wedding ceremony...

The Vy Chhe2

Even though I really didn't have any breath-taking news to share, I am still so happy here, so excited by the inspirational potential that I see developing in the hearts & minds of the beautiful people around me, I just had to 'sing'...

# 16 : “ Stung by the splendour of a sudden thought. ” - Robert Browning

Ok, I know, it's been 10 days since my last post but I have been rather busy, so here's a rundown on my last 2 weeks.

The ethics/philosophy classes are running pretty smoothly now, although kindergarten's still a bit of a challenge.
We covered a topic on "How we Treat Animals", from grade 5 through to the staff, last week and it went gangbusters!
I showed the staff a video on Bullfighting since most of them were unfamiliar with it. WOW! What a response. They were fascinated, horrified and appalled that it continues to be considered a national 'sport' - I think they were all secretly routing for the bull..

The Teens all agreed that hunting elephants for their tusks is TOTALLY unacceptable. I had asked them to score each case from 1-10, with '1' being unacceptable and '10' being totally acceptable. 
When I taught this topic back in Oz last year, my dear Alex pointed out that the pictures provided in the course were actually slanted to elicit a particular response, so this time I had two pictures for each case, one pro and one anti.
For the 'elephant tusks' case, everyone, in all the classes, initially gave it ZERO - off the scale UNACCEPTABLE. 
My 2nd picture was a starving African child. I asked them: "What if the poachers are people whose children are starving to death because of drought & famine? What if poaching the elephant for meat is the only way to provide food for your family and what if the foreign markets will pay you more than you could earn in a year for a tusk?"
They discussed this for a while and eventually decided to change their score to 10. but ONLY for people in this situation. Only they should be allowed to hunt the elephant.
Sayon said: "This could still wipe out the elephant and that is not good. The countries that buy the tusks must be stopped from doing this. The world needs to help these people to feed their families and maybe they should move to a place that gets more rain, so they can grow their own food.." This child is such a THINKER!!
I then moved on to Whale hunting with Sayon's class and received a grinning "Do you have any video of these giant animals jumping out of the water? Has anyone else seen this amazing thing?"
...Thank you Youtube!!


We discovered that the International school our kids are going to, Dewey, has an Ethics course for all the students. Wonderful, we thought, maybe I could go and check out, talk to the teacher, maybe even collaborate. So Erin asked them to send her a copy of their Ethics Curriculum... 
It's a Christian scripture class pure and simple, sneaking in under the radar in a supposedly secular, expensive, international school. NOT COOL!!
Since Tara's in Oz for another 2 weeks, we're just biding our time in anticipation of the expected fireworks when she returns


I haven't had a chance to investigate the country around Battambang yet and I'm itching to do that...although that could just be the mosquitoes...
Incidentally, I believe we're witnessing Darwinism in action here; 
Battambang's mosquitoes are absolutely silent ! You don't know they're around until you you discover ginormous bites on every centimetre of exposed skin that hasn't been liberally doused in Aerogard. It's a little bit eerie...
Have they really worked out that making irritating mozzie buzzing noises just gives us a chance to squish 'em before they can carry out their evil mission?
Is this a case of selective breeding through survival of the quietest?
I'd love to know what an etymologist would have to say.

Chhaiya, one of the guys from Kinyei, the-best-coffee-in-Cambodia-Cafe, who make my regular morning lattes, offered to take me out on his moto, to visit his village and check out the countryside, in exchange for more discussions about history, English & geography.
Chhaiya:" What's all that white on the map under Australia?"
Me: "That's called Antarctica.."
C: "Why is it white?"
Me: "Because it's all ice & snow. It's very cold.."

 So that's the plan for next weekend - riding out around the countryside. I can't wait.
 He sent me a friend request on FB and when my dear Chantha saw his picture she became just a little bit hysterical - turns out she grew up in the same village, went to the same school, knows him well and had no idea he was in Battambang.

Our beloved Pommies, Louise & Phil left us yesterday morning. After 8 weeks of sorting out our accounting systems and doing some training with our own Khmer accountant, they're heading back home, via Nepal & India, to get married.

Louise

Phil

 They are really going to be missed. No more sounds of pommy Football or World Cup Rugby floating through the open windows...









I got to experience Cambodian red tape first hand on Friday - I had to laugh:
While you don't actually need a licence at all to drive or ride around BB & very few Khmae bother with them, you do have to have a Cambodian licence (US$45) if you want to be covered by your insurance. Which seems like a good idea after witnessing the total absence of anything remotely like adherence to road rules here, and Cambodia doesn't accept an International licence that says "accepted in Cambodia". So off I went with Lavi to get my licence...

Lavi

Official: "No problem, we just need your passport and a colour copy of your passport and visa." 
Me: ok, I have those..
Official: "Oh, and your address in Battambang. Name of the village, street name & house number."
Me: ummm I live in a village? Silly me, I thought I lived in Battambang...and my house doesn't have a number, none of the houses on my street have numbers and while the street is marked as 'Street 153' on the maps, the locals actually call it River Road..
Official: "Oh, and you'll also need a signed letter from the Headman of your commune saying you actually do live there."
Me: I live in a commune??
Official: "When you have those documents, just bring them to me and I will give them to my Manager's secretary so she can give them to him to take to Phnom Penh next time he goes."
Me: when will that be?
Official: "I don't know, but after he takes them to Phnom Penh it should only be about 3 or 4 weeks until you have your licence."

Me: sweeeet....

Considering it took 6 weeks to open a local ANZ bank account, I should be riding my moto, legally, by next year...

 CCT had WiFi installed at our house on Thursday. The signal covers the volunteers house and my little bungalow, so no more depending on dodgy dongles. Very happy about that.

And last but not least, I finally remembered to get a shot of CCT's Main House:

Main House

It's a great house. We have our classes on that balcony on the first floor:

Chantha teaching a grade 5/6 class on the balcony

Time to get back to work... Chatcha soon :)

# 15: “ Every great dream begins with a dreamer. We all have within us the passion to reach for the stars and change the world. ” - Harriet Tubman

Well, the wet season is officially over, now maybe the humidity will finally start dropping - 87% at the moment and forecast for 91% overnight....

Sambaht and my 'Company Car'

 I can usually get by with only 2 cold showers a day now that I have my 'company tuk-tuk' to chauffeur me around instead of cycling everywhere - still riding around town after work, just for the exercise.

Off to work again...

 Never thought I'd actually welcome cold showers! We had a hot shower installed in the 'volunteers house' last week, which I dived into immediately, then decided that, in this climate, cold is definitely the way to go. It's certainly easier to rinse the conditioner out of your hair with hot water, but that's all it's got going for it here. You don't actually get dry after a hot shower. By the time you've toweled down you're immediately coated in a sheen of sweat again..

The ethics & philosophy classes are going amazingly well - we now have a philosophy club on Saturday evenings for all these enthusiastic thinkers who need more than one lesson a week...

I am finding myself in a bit of an ethical quandary though. Last week I asked the kids what they like to do in their free time.
 From a group of  'street kids', who do have families but are so poor they're often out begging late in the evening and/or early in the morning and often fall asleep in their classes, I got:
 "help my mother with the housework", "help with the cooking", "look after my nephew/ brother/ sister" and "give my grandmother massages"- and that was a group of adolescent boys!
 From the CCT kids in Residential Care: "play football", "read books", "watch TV" and "play computer games"...

When you're homeless, a sheet of plastic on the footpath becomes home &
that really doesn't cut it during monsoon season... 

I'm not sure what this is telling me, except to say that the kids who are living in the more comfortable and stable environment no longer seem to see the need to contribute to their 'foster' families..They've had such a hard start to life that I suspect their House Parents are over-compensating and being a little too indulgent. I've included a topic on the importance of discipline, responsibility, consequences and community in some of my classes, especially for the staff & House Parents. I hope they'll take it on board.

Yesterday I was giving my most enthusiastic class - 5th & 6th graders, including dear "S", a lesson on 'Ethical Dilemmas'. I first asked them if it was ever acceptable to kill another person. Of course they all immediately said NO. Then I gave them the following scenario:
"We're all sitting here one day looking at how guns work, so there's a loaded gun right here in the middle of the floor. Suddenly, a man bursts into the room, carrying his own gun, and says he's going to kill me then go find Tara & Daisy & Erin & Nat and kill them too because he hates ALL white women. What are you going to do?"
Now, when I put this question to the adults, they all said: "Well in that case, I would have to kill him." Except my dear friend and avid philosophy student Jedtha, who was a Buddhist monk for 17 years and still holds his Buddhist beliefs unquestioningly - he said : "It would be very sad to lose you and the other ladies but killing is ALWAYS wrong. I'd try to talk him out of it but the decision is his - it's on his Karma. If I kill him, that would be bad Karma for me." Harsh but fair enough - and primarily about 'what's good for ME'...
 So, back to the 'street kids'. They all suggested a 3rd alternative that would disarm, but not kill him...and the response from "S"?
"I would have to stop him from hurting you, but I must also try to stop him from hurting himself. I would grab our gun, shoot him in the arm so he drops his gun, then pick up both guns and tell him he can't do this terrible thing. He's going down a bad path and I would not want him to go to gaol." 
With these kids, the answers are always in terms of responsibility to family and community. What's best for Srok Khmae is ultimately what's best for all of us.....

As is so often the case here, I find myself thinking what a bright future the Khmae could have if only we can succeed in giving it's children a decent education. They are so ready to reach for the stars...

And I'm so ready to give them a lift up....