Pursat and Kampong Luong

This weekend I headed off to see a bit more of rural Cambodia. Marked on my map are several places tantalisingly marked as "floating village". I was aiming for one up north near to the provincial capitol of Pursat. Too tired just now to say much about it - ask me sometime round a campfire and I'll relate the tales of daring do with much embellishment (thought probably not as much as this masterpiece of hyperbole). The picture above is linked to my new flickr account - the old one is kaput.

Calculus and concrete

There is some building work going on at the school just now. Even though we rent our property, landlords in Cambodia expect you to make any alterations to a building you want, as long as you leave the structural supports in place. The school is adding a third storey to the high school building.

When you employ someone to do a long term building project here then their families just move in on site and live there for the duration. Often the families will help out with whatever work is going on.

Yesterday, I was teaching my a class and watching as a young cambodian teenager carried bag after bag after bag of cement past the window. I had the class stop work and watch for a while just to make them appreciate that they were so privileged to be getting and education, instead of having to work really hard in the heat, dust and dirt to earn a hand to mouth wage. Now, I've tried before to make my classes in glasgow realise how fortunate they are, being in the minority of people who live in the developed world. Mostly, this lore from grandmaster dave fell on deaf ears, but yesterday - with the "other half" sweating and toiling outside the room - I think the kids got it. It certainly hit home to me.

Protecting Cambodia's History

This seems like a good idea...

Ahem.....

Moon festival

Last night, Phnom Penh was celebrating the Moon Festival (or Mid-Autum). Flatmate Dave and I were sitting outside a restaurant having dinner when there was what sounded like gunfire really close by. Turns out it was just kids playing with firecrackers, thankfully! It was then that we noticed a lot of the shops and houses close by had set up little tables with candle, incense and mooncake.

It was really interesting to see the different approaches to celebrating. The family who ran the restaurant hurriedly set out a table, put on a tablecloth, had their adorable daughter light 2 candles on it, place some cake.... and then take it all away within the space of 5 minutes! They seemed almost apologetic but were happy to explain in broken english what was going on. For other, like in the picture above, it seemed to be quite a serious event, quiet devotion at the homemade alter and then a lengthy period staring at the moon. My Khmer skills were enough to politely ask if I could take this lady's photo (she was only too happy!), but I thought afterwards that maybe I was being intrusive. Hmmm, no harm done I hope.

The kids were certainly enjoying themselves! Lots of firecrackers and colourful lanterns. Unfortunately I was only armed with the mobile phone camera which wasn't really up to the job....

Science with Mr Dave...

0.5*(Curriculum) + the Chemical Cupboard / ((HOW2 + (Internet - Fear)^2) = Science with Mr Dave

I've always wanted my own chemical store to play with. Now, it's part of my job! The kids are learning, but I don't think they realise a lot of my "let's see what happens now!" banter isn't actually put on for their benefit... ho hum. Today we made some sulpher dioxide, did a sacrificial electrolysis of copper in a copper sulphate solution and demonstrated the greater reactivity of aluminium by dissolving some foil in more copper sulphate. My attempt to make slime with PVA glue and Borax sadly didn't work. Tomorrow, sodium and water...

For when you absolutely 100% need things dead

Bat. Guaranteed death with a zesty fragrance...

A trip to Kampong Chhang

Phnom Penh - Kampong Chhang, 91km

Confirmation

I love it when biscuits rescue me from a potential mire of existential uncertainty and doubt...

Finally, recognition!

This came to my attention through my femme flatmate fantastic... thanks Mary!

I particularly like the tagline - ''the home of witty banter''. Perhaps I should get business cards made??

'Dave' channel targets young men.

Khmer Dreams

Dave and Laura Vann (sorry if I spelled that wrong guys!), fellow missiony types, are blogging at: khmerdreams.blogspot.com

The current post is an really good reflection on what happened when the multi-million dollar Hillsongs show hit Phnom Penh, worth a read!

Top Khmer Rouge leader detained

From the BBC: Top Khmer Rouge leader detained

Image courtesy of the BBC

Something that sets this country apart from many others... Pretty much everyone over a certain age has a past which either includes horrendous suffering or perpetrating horrendous brutality.

A few days ago I was reflecting on this as I waiting in a government building in a "queue" (read scrum) with about 50 others waiting to get my photo taken. I was the only white guy in the building, I didn't really understand what was going on, I felt very much in the spotlight - people clapped and "ooohed" when my turn came to be photographed. Another learning experience.

Anyway, as I was looking around the room I was spotting all the people over 40 and wondering what stories they could tell of their own experience. How many had mothers, fathers, siblings or even children who sat proped up, too weak to support themselves, in the photographers chair at Tuol Sleng as the flashbulb exploded their world in a stark glare of light? Running this through my mind, watching as people sat, stoney faced (Cambodians tend not to smile in photo's) and a harmless webcam clicked a digital record of their feature, it was easy to picture the other scene, in a different time where a photo in the records of S21 would be the only reminder of a persons. existance. Grim stuff.

It's worth remembering that, apart from the guy in the article above, the only other Khmer Rouge member in captivity is a man known as Comrade Duch. He was in charge of the S21 prison in Phnom Penh. He subsequently converted to Christianity and believes he must be tried for his crimes. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors?

A tale of two weddings

I was on my way to catch lunch at the market yesterday (30p for the tastiest noodles ever) when I came across this wedding Marquee - in the middle of a 5 road junction. The custom is to put up the tent for the wedding outside your house... even if it is in the middle of the road.

There was another wedding going on yesterday, right across from my house, complete with uber-large PA system. Cambodian music is not for the faint of heart, and they like it loud. I was woken this morning (party still happening!) to the sound of someone chanting through the PA... or perhaps it was an invading army of daleks... to be honest, I don't think I could tell the difference.

Susan continues to get worse in Bangkok. Please pray some more. Also, Sun Hour, one of the Khmer admin staff at school told us that his young kid fell out of his cradle and bumped his head and keeps vomitting. I'm sure that's not a good thing so remember him too.

Update: I've been told that it's not a wedding opposite us, but a funeral. I feel kinda bad for mocking them now. On the down side, Cambodian funerals can last from 4 days to a week...

Following the food theme... "Waiter, there's an octopus in my soup..."

Yah, so I ordered pork and noodle soup for lunch today and this little fellow was hiding in it! Maybe octopus are a garnish over here like parsley would be in the UK...? Anyway, down the hatch it went.

This was washed down with some sugar cane juice, freshly squeezed from a stall across the street. I'd often wondered what the ladies selling ground up plants were up to, but it tastes really good. Probably contains the same calorific value as a small rhinoceros though, and I'm sure I heard my dentist going apoplectic somewhere in Partick. Ho hum.

The school switches timetable tomorrow, so effectively I start working full time. Looking forward to it, but I think it's going to be busy. Also, Khmer lesson no.2 tomorrow afternoon! Allegedy, my teacher shouts at you if you don't remember all you 'learned' last time - I'd better go and do some revision!

Oh, one of the school staff, a scottish lady called Susan, has been airlifted to Bangkok with Dengue. Prayer for her and her family would be good.

Mom, there's rain on my sausage...

Last night all the staff and their families came to my house for a bbq! It was awesome... someone had made real sausages which were tasty as a very tasty thing. It was a quality eveningm even when the heaven's opened and it rained enough to make Noah quiver in his grave.

The whole street (dirt track) outside the house was flooded so I headed out to see what the locals were up to. Most of the families are trying to stop their houses flooding, but the kids were having a great time playing with polystyrene boats. As usual, everyone was only too happy to have their photo's taken! All the school kids were busy in my back yard (get off my lawn!!!) turning it into a swimming pool / mud bath. Very tempted to join in but my sense of professional responsibility got in the way...

In contrast to these happy times, the plight of some of the beggars here is really hard to deal with. It's difficult when people with horrific conditions are asking for your help and your heart cries out to give and give and give, but your head says that the chances are there's a kingpin type guy hanging out in the background waiting to collect the money. Really difficult. I'd appreciate prayer for wisdom in this. At the moment I'm going for the giving food option and at least if I hang around for a bit I can see who's eating.

Must dash... I'm off to see a Bob Dylan tribute band. Surreal!

The times they are a changing...

Humanitarian technology

Google knows where you are...

This is really interesting: Fosset saught via google earth

Of dead trees and thankfully not dead cambodians

Took this outside Sarah and Pola Chin's house on sunday morning. These local dudes were busy dismantling a very dead mango tree that was threatening to collapse onto their house. Needless to say, there were no ropes involved and climbing a dead tree isn't exactly the safest thing to do of a sweltering sunday morning. I watched as one guy broke the branch he was standing on, made a desperate lurch for the trunk of the tree, wrap his arms around it, and slide very painfully to the ground. Health and safety???

I took a trip to the russian market in the afternoon. Psar Tuol Tompong is an amazing place, fairly bewildering until you crack it. Bartering is fun and a good challenge for my language skills (skills??), although I think it's important to remember the comparitive poverty of the sellers and the most things are very much cheaper than the UK anyway. E.g I bought a North Face backpack that in the UK costs £60... I got it (dodgy zips included) for $12. I probably could have got down to $11 but while a dollar is relatively little money to me, it goes a long way for the average Cambodian.

Week 1

Today marks the end of my first week back in Cambodia. I'm absolutely delighted to be back in this fantastic country, and in the city of Phnom Penh with all the sights and smells of life in the heart of this developing country. The people are fantastic, the food is great (particularly the fruit) and the school I am working in is unlike anywhere else on earth. Best of all, you don't need to wear shoes in the classroom, hence - teachingbarefoot!