Birthdays and Christmas

It's the 30th of November and I've just spend 2 hours marking science tests while listening to the Sufjan Stevens Christmas albums. Such wonderful music, it even made me forget that I just about ripped a toe nail off during breakfast this morning. Teaching barefoot is a dangerous business.

So, I'm guessing most people reading this blog have already been exposed to the Stevens Christmas tour de force. Even the people at church back in Shetland were privilaged to have it inflicted upon them at a Christmas Eve service where I put it in the CD player and superglued it shut (buoy, fits yon treeemendus din??). Such whimsical, sublime and quirky arrangements of all the old classics. If you don't have a copy make sure it goes in your letter to Santa this year!

Shameless pluggery aside, I've been super busy with actuall school work this week in preparation for the dreaded report card writing. It's actually quite an honerous task for a young teacher - perhaps a lack of experience makes me want to be careful that I'm being fair an honest in the grades I assign. This is particularly important in this school where a lot of the kids will be in deep shame if they are not performing to their parents (culturally imposed) expectations (Confucius meets Piaget).

I also turned 24 on monday. Interesting having a birthday celebration with people I had never met until 4 months ago. I really appreciate the friends I've made here - people from all over the globe with an eclectic range of experiences and perspectives. However, I must admit, I did miss not being with longtime friends on that occassion. A curious mix of feelings. We went out for a nice meal though, eaten sitting on the floor at a classy restaurant. Sadly the hilariously luminous cambodian shaving-foam cake was missing. May have to buy myself one for the experience! Is that allowed?

Glasgow churches

According to this report, they do quite a lot in the city. Nice to see something like this in the headlines.

A Khmer Wedding

I was fortunate enough to be invited to a Khmer wedding last night. One of the school secretaries was getting married and the whole staff was asked to come along and enjoy the celebration.

Things kicked off in the morning at 7am with a fruit carrying ceremony, where people bring the happy couple gifts of fruit (and because it's cambodia, this includes coke, biscuits, chocolate etc...!). The rule is that there are two line, and you must bring the same type of fruit as the person you're standing beside. I was still in my bed at this point, so I'm not exactly sure how it's all organised but it sounds bananas...

I rolled up about 9am just as the main ceremony was starting. We had traditional music, some singing from various groups of wonderfully dressed Khmer girls, a band from the school and a hymn or two sung in Khmer. While they weren't actually playing, the band sat at the side and footered away with their instruments, punctuating the speeches occasionally with a drum roll or some canned laughter.

Another oddity... Just off to the side of where I was sitting, a group of older men gathered round in a circle. They promptly all lit up their cigarettes, turned on a radio and started gambling away good style over some vigorous form of card game. Still... the vows were said, the rings exchanged, and a hesitant smooch on the cheek was offered by groom to bride. Hey presto, married!

The evening entertainment was great craic. All night karaoke supported by a live band, and a banquet of Khmer tastyness. The waiting staff only serve a table when it's full so it's a case of flagging people down and making them sit with you if you want to eat. I ended up having a yarn with a theology lecturer at the Phnom Penh bible school... the upshot being the confirmation in my head that hermeneutics really only equals common sense. (I'm sure you'll disagree, oh father mine...!)

There was lots of parading around by the B&G.... and more attempted kissing. Picture a loud excited guy on the stage with a microphone practically forcing the couple together "One, two, three...!" (Moi, bi, bie...!) only for the painfully embarrassed bride to actually run away. Hmmm, Cambodians really don't do public affection! Fair enough!

Anyhoo, it was a right old shindig and I'm glad to have been part of the experience.

Today was a brilliantly sunny day in Phnom Penh. Can't believe it's the 18th November. Things are really getting busy here in preparation for the Water Festival. Easily a few extra thousand people at the waterfront tonight. Allegedly, next weekend there will be between 1-2 million visitors in the capital. I'm wondering whether to stay and try to catch the spectacle or to escape to the coast. Hmmm, isn't life full of choices?!

Get your boffin hat out

Which I'm guessing means I use the occasional big word, or write in a confusingly obtuse style.
Found this link at Jesus Creed

The global village

For dinner tonight, this Scotsman had Spanish Tapas in a South African owned restaurant served by Cambodian waiters in the company of two Aussies, an American, a Dubliner, and two Dutch girls who are studying in Singapore.

Truly, we live in a small world!

Vietnam - Episode 1

Hmmm, I hope this doesn't turn out too negative! It seems like most of my memories are a bit tainted by the bad rather than the good points of VN. Here's the start of the tale in good old bullet point fashion. Perhaps I should leave it there and you can ask me the rest in person! This feels like being 5 years old and sitting politely through yet another set of holiday snaps courtesy of some distant relative.... except it's minus the actual pictures! Ho hum!

Day 1 - Phnom Penh to Chau Doc

- Ghastly smell as a dead dog floats past the boat as we leave the quay in Phnom Penh. In retrospect, this was an appropriately Homeric omen. If only I was the superstitious type I'd have stayed at home.

- Cool racing down the Mekong to the border. Hanging out of the boat window to get the full effect. Fun!

- Border crossing, very obvious transition into Nam. Dingy checkpoint with local kids throwing stones at government buildings, watched by apathetic men with guns. I love the smell of communism in the morning.

- Arrival in Chau Doc. Followed for a while by a tout on a bike trying to get us to stay at his recommended hotel. Ignored him... but learned the lesson. Touts in Nam are like limpets clutching a rock in a storm.

- Ended up staying on the river front. Cheap, mildly nasty. Watched life go by for a while. Wandered around the town square taking in the atmosphere. Had my first bowl of Pho. Mmmm, Pho. This stuff is really really good. 1st positive impression of the country.

Here's a 'pho'to if you wanna see some... Thanks to the random flickr dude.

Day 2 - Chau Doc to Saigon

- Had previously purchased bus tickets to the big city, we waited eagerly for the "air conditioned minibus" to pick us up at the hotel. Along came a beat up old car which we shared with 5 other VNmese. Ah. Then it took us to the bus station where we transfered to a beat up transit with um, air conditioned windows. Hey ho. Still you play the cards you're dealt and we settled down for the 5 hour ride.

- As soon as we hit the main road, all notions of settling down for the ride dissapeared - or rather leapt a foot in the air with every bump we hit. We hit a bump every 5 seconds or so.

- 20 mins into this, a Vietnamese lady is sick. This starts a chain reaction among the rest of the locals. Dave and I look at each other with horror and he turns a pale shade of american.

- 24 mins in. I jam the ipod in my ears... put some tiger balm on my neck to keep the smell away, and stare fixedly out the window. Nice scenery. VN roadside looks similar to cambodian, but is subtly different. Different vegetation etc. I start to enjoy the ride - years spent on boats in the North Sea has somewhat hardened my stomach to this sort of treatment!

- Break for lunch. Pho. Mmmmm. I notice the duck one lady has in a bag is trying to escape. And it's made a terrible mess of the bus floor. If transporting a duck, make sure your bag is watertight. Or your duck is toilet trained.

- Arrival in Saigon. Moto's to the backpacker district. Realistation that the city traffic is about a million times more crazy than in Phnom Penh.

- Find a hotel, eat more Pho. Head out to walk around and see the night life. Saigon deserves its reputation as a melting pot of craziness. Lost count of the number of times we were offered drugs, 'massage'.. etc. I don't think anyone was too bothered about our apparently rigid morality... they had enough business to make walmart look quiet. Not exactly a place to take aunty gladys for an evening stroll but worth experiencing. It's not all bad, we met some friendly travellers, had some banter, and head back to our air-'conned' hotel.

- 1am, the power goes off. Bummer.

Day 3 - Saigon to Dalat

- 7am, power back on. Suspicious.

Chong dahlaing?

It's a mystery why the mighty BBC have chosen to use this stock photograph for the article below. You would think that if the speeding hooligans in question were indeed as plentiful as the beeb makes out then it would be easy to pop down the riverfront and snap a few quick shots. I'd have done it myself if asked... oh wait, no I can't - my camera is busy sponsoring someone in Vietnam.... sigh.

So, please don't get the misinformed idea that the joyriders ("dahlaing" = joyriding) are cruising around 6 at a time on trailers full of bannana leaves, hauled by antiquated scooters. Come to think of it, that might be more amusing than the ludicris reality. Some youngsters here have a very Buddhist attitude to driving - fate is in the hands of the gods, rather than in actually looking where you're going. Mind you, it's not even half as bad as Nam.... that's the real deal for crazy driving - mental!

Cambodia's PM Takes on Boy Racers