Dancing In The Rain.

I would like to begin this blog article with a story that really touched my heart this week. In the beginner class that I teach from 3 to 4 o’clock, are around ten little boys sitting in the first row. They are always loud and noisy and care about nothing more than playing football. One of them is especially mischievous, always grinning like he just ate a box full of cookies and nobody could tell his secret. On Monday this week I was making little hearts and flowers with some girls in the library, when I was turning around to grab some piece of paper. He was standing behind me, probably since an eternity and watching what I was doing. I smiled at him and asked if he wanted to join us. For a second I actually thought that he would say yes, but then he raised his eyebrows as if to say: “A tough guy like me is not going to do such a girly thing as cutting out heart and flowers.” When I came back to school the next day, I saw him standing in front of the ping pong tables. I was just searching the key for the door as he ran to me and put a little star in my hand. It was just made like the hearts and flowers from the day before, cut out with a scissor and decorated with patterns. I didn’t even get the chance to thank him, he was gone in a second and I was way too astonished. While I was looking at the handicraft, I thought about how the little boy probably sat at home, deciding to make the star and give it to me the next day. There must be so much going on inside him, so much that nobody could ever tell from just superficially knowing him. He seems to be this cheeky boy who is not giving much attention to anything around him. And then he is thinking so much about an event that it makes him spending his time creating something beautiful. And he seemed to be so proud of it and he cared about sharing it with me. This made me think about how little we actually know about others and yet we tend to judge. Telling someone he is worth nothing when he fails in one of many challenges in life. Blaming someone when we only know a little piece of the whole story. Giving up on someone when we see them falling down once.

This week we were talking about “Education Equality” in my advanced learner class. We started a discussion with the topic: “Girls shouldn’t study as much as boys”. I was really happy that my contra- found many more arguments than the pro group and even came up with great examples like: “The prime minister of Thailand is a women, therefore girls are capable of doing mans jobs like taking up a lot of responsibility and smartly dealing with difficult situations.” We were also playing a lot of vocabulary games this week. We always play with two teams. In the first game we formed a queue and everyone had to write words on the back of their foreman and he/she had to write the spelled word on the board. In another game we had adjectives like hot or fast and two competitors had to find the opposite to the word as fast as possible. I believe that everyone learns much better when a lesson includes something fun, when it is not a game then at least a song or a role-play.

    

On Wednesday we had another day off. As I mentioned before, Cambodia is the country with the most holidays in the world. This day was the memorial of the kings second death anniversary. I went with Sopheak to the Tamao zoo, as we found we could also think of Norodom Sihanouk (maybe I will mention some things about the former king of Cambodia later on, just to say that much: he is famous for the quote “I can go without everything, besides luxury”) when we are not at home. The zoo is about an hour away from Angtasom. In the beginning I was not very fond of the idea, as I experienced how a zoo in China was like and I didn’t want to support that kind of animal cruelty. But when I got there, I found no circus shows, tiny cages and barely moving creatures. Actually, a wild life rescue organization cooperated with the zoo. In that way many animals that were hold in horrible conditions could be saved and brought to Tamao where they get enough food, space and medical treatment. Of course I don’t support the idea of capturing animals in general, but the conditions there, are good compared to alternatives. The night before Sopheak slept over at our house. We spent the evening reading three more chapter of the Fault in our Stars, the book I was giving to her as a present from Germany. She likes the story as much as I do, what makes it a lot of fun to read together. I already spent a night at Sreydiebs house, but I missed to have someone over, as normally my little sister stays in my room every second night.

It was the first time for Sopheak to go to a zoo. She never saw most of the animals before and as we walked past the tiger cage, she was shocked about how big they were. (To give a short inside on Khmer vocabulary: kla means tiger, kmom means bee and klakmom translates to bear –> tiger bee.) They also had three elephants in the zoo what made me really happy as they are my favorite animals. I could watch them for hours, they are so wise and when you look them in the eye, it seems like they want to say: “Hey, I can understand you!” They were rescued from a small island where they were mistreated and had to show off artistic tricks. I think that nearly every wild animal of Cambodia was represented, from sun bears to siamese crocodiles and the king cobra. After the zoo we went to a Pagoda that was on a mountain just five minutes driving distance from the zoo. We walked up the stairs and suddenly had an amazing view over the whole area. On one side the rainforest went on to the horizon, on the other were more rice fields and a wild river. The pagoda was the most beautiful one I have ever seen. We greeted the monks and I had to take a picture with them. An older monk asked us to come inside, as he wanted to give us our blessing. We knelt down in front of him and he began to speak while taking a sort of brush that he dipped in the water to sprinkle us. The thing is, that he swung the brush in such a way, that only a few drops landed on me and everything on Sopheak. I couldn’t help but start laughing as she shrieked every time she was weeped. Immediately I tried to think of something sad to stop giggling, but somehow the monk started laughing too, as if he understood what was so funny. Then he ended the ceremony and wished us good luck. Once again some kids began to follow us as we walked around the pagoda to see the other buildings. They looked so poor and of course they wanted money. You really want to give them some when they look at you with big eyes, but giving to beggars is not helping their situation for more than some hours. And they start to get dependent on it. Then something happened, that really shocked me. When we were coming down from the mountain and driving back to the main road, there were around fifty more beggars standing on the wayside. It was horrible. All of them old and sick. I believe that they sometimes stand there for days and nobody stops to give them something. It was a picture of misery and their glance followed me long after we left the road.

          

I was surprised when our driver suddenly turned to the left. In front of us I could suddenly see the river from the mountain view. Little huts were built by the waterfront and you could walk to them by stepping on trunks. Sopheak told me that many crocodiles lived in the water and I could imagine that it was just the most enjoyable place for them to swim around, next to all the lotus flowers. After having seen so much in one day, I was not even surprised anymore as we discovered a temple just by the waterside. It reminded me so much of Angkor, that I felt a sting in my heart. These temples are so beautiful, breathing the wisdom of their ancient origin. This time it felt a little bit more personal when I was walking inside, as there were no tourists at all and the sun slowly sayed goodbye to our side of the earth. It made the stones glow in a magic way. It was easy to imagine then, how the life of the people must have been so many years ago. Living with the climax of their culture, tradition and religion, their beautiful art and skills, that are keep on being the heart of the country. We left the river and the mountain behind to get back home before the darkness tinted everything in black.

          

After having finished the development of our strategies, our new activity plan (we are doing exercise in the mornings from now on!) and the evaluation paper for our trainees on Friday, I was happy that the busy week was coming to an end. I think most exhausting was the fact, that we had no running water since Monday as there were some problems with the Vietnamese government. It’s not exactly wonderful when you have no chance to go to the toilet or even wash your hands. Mixed with some power outage from time to time…

On Saturday in the morning we were sining a song with the children in the library. I suggested to sing something like “If you are happy and you know it” but everyone insisted they wanted to sing “Take me to your heart” the most popular song in Cambodia next to “My heart will go on”. The more slow and romantic, the better. You can hear them being played wherever there is a loudspeaker. During lunch break I went to Rathanas house. It started to rain heavily when we were sitting under the roof, pealing off the skin of beans. You can make a delicious juice out of the beans, that is healthy and good for the skin. It just takes an unbelievable amount of time to fish the skin out of the bowl. After you squeeze the beans, you have to take the mush, put it on some kind of fabric (we used a scarf) and let water run over it. It’s the same thing like using a filter. Afterwards you boil the processed juice for about an hour while adding a little  sugar and salt. The next thing is, that you fill it in bottles and let it cool. It’s the most delicious thing ever. It’s really cosy to sit inside, talk and sing while you are working and the rain is dropping on the roof. What is not so good about it, is the fact that the internet is even worse as to none existing when it rains. But I see it as yet another chance to learn. The only thing you can do is being patient and not worry too much. Eventually the internet can be turned on again and nothing dramatic will have happened in the mean time.

This is how I would like to end this article, take every difficult situation in life as a possibility to learn. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. When life gives you citrons make lemonade out of them. Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about dancing in the rain. 😉

This Life is full of Beauty

For the first time since I’m in Cambodia, I have the feeling that everything settles down a bit. Slowly I’m adjusting to all the things that ones seemed stunning and new to me when I was confronted with them for the first time. The work in the learning center is following a rhythm that helps me to plan my schedule beforehand and I know what I’m doing in the evenings and on the weekend when I’m free.

To focus this article on the daily life in the learning center, I want to give an insight on one day at work that can be an example for basically all the others that I wont describe singuarly. Of course this is not exactly true because like every child is individual, every day has a variety of shades that shift day by day.

In the morning I wake up at 6 o’clock. When the rooster is awake, I have to leave the land of dreams. I put on my running clothes and let my first steps lead me into the ricefields. The first rays of sunlight paint the new day, the green of the riceplants tends to be so full of colour, it seems like a trick of the eye. Women are already awake washing their clothes, dogs chase the chickens, children are making mud cakes, life begins and ends so early here. An advantage of being awake at this time is the sunrise that differs every day. No artist has the skill to draw something so utterly unique. Missing it feels wrong, like leaving out a little marvel. It always reminds me of one of the many wisdoms this country can teach you. There is beauty in everything. In the nature, in the culture, in the way people interact with each other. We often forget to open our eyes and see these things that are right infront of us, most significant don’t cost us more than some seconds of our lifetime to perceive. When I get back home I take an icecold shower and leave every bit of dreamy feeling behind.

The breakfast consists of many fruits that look as tasty as they are. Malita, the daughter of Siphens niece is always dancing and singing in the mornings. She wants to help everyone with everything and can make the most delicious pancakes what is quite remarkable for her 5 years of age. Grandma is 86 years old and tends to complain about everything and everyone. The years of the Khmer Rouge left a mark but she is a very strong and determinded women and follows her habits like she probably did 30 years before. Siphen and Mach are my guestparents. They are both teachers at the public school and good people from the bottom of their heart. Eric and Amy (their English names) are 15 and 22 years old. Amy got a scholarship to study in England and the whole family is very proud of her. Then there are Pon and Oun. Pon is Siphens brother and both of them take care of Malita. They themselves have four children but they live elsewhere. You can’t forget to count the dogs to the family. Their names are Tilo, Lucky and Sally. Sally is only one year old and always up to some kind of trouble. You hear his name shouted through the mouth of every family member about a hundred times a day.

At Bookbridge I start the conversation class with Sreydieb at 8 o’clock. Each week we talk about something else. Today we discuss our favourite stories as this week is about fairytales. Everyone has to tell what their story is about and why he or she likes it so much. Then we talk about the characters that usually appear in fairytales. For example giants, mermaids and fairies. I draw their pictures on the board and we write down what their special abilities are and if they are good or bad and appear in any of the stories we just talked about. At ten o’clock the class is over. I go to play „Heaven and Hell“ with some of the younger children, pin some of the pictures we drew the day before on the wall and help to build a brick tower. At 11:30 Kadet and me go to the market. She really knows every single person. I might have said this before but I never met anyone who is as lovely as Kadet. That’s the only way to describe her. She once told me that she simply likes everything about her life. She loves gardening, cooking, washing, sewing, planting, learning English and working at Bookbridge. She seems to care about everyone around her and could never say no when someone needs help. She says things to me like: „I missed you so much!“ when I didn’t see her over the weekend and „I also love you“ when she talks about the important people in her life. I could never ask for a better boss. Over lunchtime I try to learn Khmai and not freak out when there a five words that sound exctly the same to me. At two o’clock I ride back to the learning center. We are making memory cards today. They are extra large and help the children to learn basic vocabulary. There is always someone who tries to peak underneath the card and I have to keep my eyes everywhere to avoid this kind of unacceptable cheating. 😉 At three o’clock the next English class is beginning. We talk about places and build sentences like: „Where is the teacher?“ „He is at school.“/ „Where is the nurse?“ „She is at the hospital.“ At four o’clock I play japanese jump rope with the children in the court. The height wanders higher and higher every round and the movements of the jumps change. The game really is quite tricky. You need seven to count down the days of the week, for every day one jump. From five to six is the last English class. As I want to start an e-mail exchange with a school in Morocco, we are talking about what to write in the first message and how to adress someone in a polite way. After six o’clock I drive back home. Dinner is at 6:30 and it’s always chingai (delicious). Siphen would be a five star cook when she was working in a German restaurant. Then I talk a little bit with the family and plan what I want to do the next day. Everyone goes to bed around nine o’clock. I read some pages and fall asleep quite fast. This is the description of a weekday that is as normal as it can be. Usually you hear the sound of grills and if you are lucky the soft drops of rain on the roof. This is the best possible way to fall asleep.

To add some other things that fall out of line and are worth mentioning, I might want to begin with the fact that I taught an extra class of students four days this week. They go to a different, small school that has only one course from five to six everyday and they are all my own age. Normally there is a women from the USA teaching them. Her name is Stacy and she works for Peace Corps. This week she was in Phnom Penh so I was taking her place. It was an utterly strange feeling to teach a class of people that could have been in my own grade last year. I read „James and the Giant Peach“ with them, we talked about environmental pollution and played Tabu that I made out of little paper cards with easy words. Now I have 20 more Facebook friends and a new teaching experience.

When I went to Takeo this week I made a bycicle trip with Sopeak when we had lunch break. First we went to the market and bought loads of fruits. I might have mentioned that Sopheak is also a vegetarian so it’s great to eat lunch with her. It was a nice ride along the lake and fields of pink blooming lotus flowers. We made a picnic in a little pavillion and talked about things on no end. Sopheak is a person that falls out of every line. She thinks that we have to change the policy in Cambodia, for example she is totally in favour of emancipation. She stands up for free universities, health care insurance and nature conservation, She thinks that she needs no husband to support her and she wants to open up vegetarian restaurants all over the country that serve fresh, organic food. I really admire her for this attitude, the world needs more people like her that leave a mark, leave the world better than it was before by standing up for their believes.

On Saturday Sreydieb, Buntha (a friend of Sreydieb) and me made a trip to a nearby lake. It took us about an hour to get there by motorbike. We drove on the main rode and eventually took a small path to the left. The landscape shifted dramatically and so suddenly that I couldn’t quite believe that we only just left the endless way that is enclosed by rice fields and palm trees and leads us in a never ending way down to the horizon. An old quote says that the best dreams happen when you are awake and I had to think of this when we drove next to deep green mountains. Because of the stones and holes we had to go very slow but it was not a shame as we had more time to enjoy the nature around us. Suddenly Sreydieb stopped the moto and I saw this valley lying infront of us with a blue lake in it’s middle. Not a single person was to be seen anywhere around, I couldn’t believe that after what I experienced in Siem Reap and Kep, there were no crowds of tourists around that took pictures, screamed excitedly and and left their rubbish where they stood. The mountains were mirrored in the surface, watterbuffalos were gathering in the water and dragonflies rested in the little hut that we chose as our pick nick place. We went swimming and the temperature was as warm as you would expect it to be as a child, seeing the sun kissing the water. Everything seemed to be so untouched by human hands, I felt like being invited to a secret. I told myself I had to come back eventually, just to sit there, stare in the wide open space and wonder about the wonders of earth.

I sometimes forget about the beauty around us, but this week reminded me of it, there is some of it everywhere. You just have to open your eyes, your heart, your mind and your soul. It’s not difficult.