Happy Merry Christma and Chol Chnam Tmei!

Christmas felt even more irrelevant this year than last year! Unlike the UK there is no build up to the festive season here in Cambodia: no buying presents, no sending cards, no Christmas parties, no “jingle bells” in all the shops you walk into since September, no school play and no de-icing the car windscreen before work! It is hot, dusty and work as usual! It’s been really refreshing to be in a different culture and climate for over a year now and observing the festival times and celebrations in Cambodia has been wonderful and has also made me appreciate my own culture more in terms of what is important, what actually means something and what is just inherited from traditions from the past.

Christmas Eve was spent motoring down to Onno in Bavel district with Corine as the sun was setting and falling asleep in front of Lord of the Rings with a gin and tonic! Perfect! Christmas morning four of us then motored on to Phnom Preuk, 2 ½ hours through beautiful Cambodian countryside, over very dusty and pot holed roads to arrive at John and Chris’ festive home! It had a very familiar family Christmassy feel to it and our hosts made sure we ate very well! A relaxed Christmas of mixed western culture and interesting sharing of traditions. Us Brits explained to the Dutch what a Christmas cracker was (although their origin remains a mystery to us all – that’s the crackers not the Dutch!) and the token American provided egg-nog for us all! I developed a very British head cold in true ‘end-of-term’ style which sent me to bed after a couple of games of Werewolf and after a family breakfast on Boxing Day we took to the dust ridden streets once more and the 4 hour journey back to Sisaphon!

Of course I missed the Maton touch on the whole thing but Ruth assured me that even though all the siblings were together with mum this year (minus me of course), everyone in Harrow would be having an utterly boring time without me! She reminded me how anti-climatic Christmas always was and that she would send photos to prove it! When I spoke to a good friend about my sisters’ promises I was told that, ‘Love’ is definitely letting someone you care about who is half way round the bloody planet volunteering in a tropical, corrupted 3rd world nation for 2 years know that they didn’t miss an unforgettable family Christmas together! I think my sister must love me a lot! But that wasn’t the end of Christmas! I enjoyed opening several parcels from the UK and another huge Christmassy dinner (this time with a streak of Australian festive tradition) in Poipet with Elise and some new friends!

And as if that wasn’t enough, the new year was seen in from Pam’s garden in Sisaphon with many friends from the province and beyond. A hat themed party (I wonder whose idea that was...!), fireworks, champagne, dancing, karaoke, sparklers, random improvised representational modern dance routines and vegetable curry! I had stupidly volunteered to be responsible for the music on the which meant we got a good portion of Abba hits but because of my distinctly lacking ability to forward plan and make up some playlists also meant that I was juggling 4 ipods all night! It was great fun and felt really good to have a proper dance in between setting the next song up. I’ve made no resolutions for the new year although 2009 will require some decisions to be made about the next chapter of life post-VSO! Still 10 months to think about that yet and lots to do in the mean time!

Happy New Year x