Sweet enough

After a funny few weeks of nothing much happening in my district due to rice harvesting and training from the Ministry of Education anywhere but Phnom Srok, I had started to spend less and less time there. Whenever I arrived home it seemed that I hadn’t been missed and most of my colleagues were not around anyway. Meetings and training we had planned for January and February were cancelled and postponed again and again which was becoming increasingly frustrating.

One afternoon I arrived at the office to find it empty but for Daney. Seeing my disappointment she suggested we head to Tropieng Tmar reservoir together to da-laing (hang out!) and so that’s exactly what we did. There have been countless similar occasions when there has been no work to do and/or no-one around to do it with and to begin with I would experience serious guilt pangs when I’d nip off home early or head to the reservoir instead of doing nothing at the office. Now, I feel free of that guilt and have discovered that usually such occasions do my mental health the world of good and often lead to very productive afternoons or at the very least, more knowledge and understanding of culture, relationships and what life is like for Khmer people. I have come to realise that this knowledge is crucial to the success of my relationships here and also adds richness to my life as I continue to enjoy new experiences here.
We had a fantastic chat at the lake in a mixture of simple English and Simple Khmer, and we both discussed our futures. Daney has applied for a job with a Cambodian NGO for which she timidly asked for a reference as she thought I might be mad with her! Far from feeling cross, I am over the moon that she feels confident enough and has the capacity to do so. She was a very quiet and shy general dog’s body at the office when I arrived in Phnom Srok back in November 2007 but now is a confident, capable and very motivated young lady who has become a district trainer for many training courses and has delivered workshops to teachers and school directors! I had hinted that Mr Sophan should consider grooming her for a management role in the DOE, particularly as he will retire in a couple of years, and this resulted in her being promoted to an Assistant position (rather than admin!). I will obviously be sad for Phnom Srok if she leaves as she has been involved in all the recent developments so far and could really continue to take the district forward, however I am so proud of her for taking an opportunity with another NGO!
She also talked about marriage (she is 25 and most Khmer women are married by this age), assured me that her family would allow her to marry for love rather than a business deal as most marriages seem to be, but that she wasn’t interested yet as she wanted to study and work first. We also talked about how we would stay in touch when I return to England in 8 months time which reminded me how quickly the time left is going to go (it’s already March for goodness sake!!). It also brought it home that this month was probably the most crucial as April and May are full of public holidays, soon after which the schools close for the 3 month holiday, then open again in October when I will be saying my goodbyes!
We took a different route home, down a back road I’d never used before behind Tropieng Tmar village. It was absolutely beautiful and more so because it was my favourite time of day when the light is really low, warm and soft. We passed the backs of wooden houses, saw the various animal enclosures, and passed numerous cows and water buffalo wandering home, gorgeous yellow hay stacks which looked like they were inviting me to jump into them and children collecting plastic bottles of palm juice. We collected a big bucket of palm sugar from one house for Daney’s mother and then with a friend we picked up on the way, started hunting for palm juice to drink! We found some and drank from the dirty plastic bottles dodging bits of wood and drowned fly corpses to taste the wonderfully sweet juice straight from the palm trees – delicious! I’m not sure who it rightfully belonged to, but it felt like it didn’t really matter much. If left to ferment the juice turns alcoholic which provides quite a different experience altogether and one I have sampled on occasions (in moderation of course!) but much preferred the sweet fresh version.

Kate does Kampuchea

It was a great honour to have My Mate Kate come and visit me this month. The last time I saw Kate was also the last time I saw Gok Wan in Brighton! Oh long ago it seems! I met her at the airport in Siem Reap and after being somewhat distracted by a mischievous taxi driver throwing a cockroach at unsuspecting members of the public; we enjoyed our reunion with red wine and LOTS of talking back at our hotel. We spent a wonderful few days by the pool, chatting, swimming, chatting some more, catching up on the events in both our lives over the last 16 months, eating great food, sipping wine and yep, chatting even more. It was fantastic to have her around and we enjoyed many of the delights Siam Reap had to offer including dips in the pool, nice meals out, a very happy pizza and an interesting experience with flesh eating fish!
The highlight for me, other than catching up with Kate and what’s happened in Eastenders over the last 18 months, was the boat trip to Battambang. We were told the journey was between 5 and 8 hours, so hoping for nearer the 5 hour mark we bought our tickets with great excitement at experiencing a day on the Tonle Sap. I had heard that the trip was worth doing from other volunteers and tourists’ recommendations and thought what better way for Kate to experience rural Cambodia than a lazy water cruise, a route straight past the floating villages and a meander past fishermen and traditional Khmer houses. In total the journey took closer to 10 hours! But apart from the last hour and a half (when mild dehydration and severe bum ache had kicked in!) it was well worth it! And we saw all of the above and much more! The inhabitants of the floating villages are just ingenious at living simply but resourcefully and we were awestruck by the intricate fishing devices we saw in action. As we wondered how many Khmers can actually swim and whether there are many accidental drowning, we were equally amazed at the number of swollen dog corpses which floated past us!

We shared the boat with a lot other tourist with the same idea as us. Some sat on the roof for the whole 10 hours, burning to a crisp while others, namely us, manoeuvred away from the engine fumes to secure great viewing seats to watch the world go by. The boat would’ve got no where near passing any kind of health and safety standard but Kate was game and I’ve got used to living a bit on the edge!

So, next stop was Battambang where we sampled the delights of another swimming pool and did a moto tour around the countryside with my good friends Tony and Poe. It was a fantastic day out starting off with a trip on the bamboo train, bumping into some other VSO volunteers on a day trip but finishing with a speedy ride home in order to put Kate to bed nursing a dodgy tummy and consequently missing the incredible flights of the bats at dusk from their cave home in the mountain! Next morning, and one disappointing breakfast later, we were on our way again, travelling north to Phnom Srok where Kate enjoyed the privacy of a roof top terrace (ha – sounds grander than it is!) to sunbathe on to her heart’s content while others went to work! And thankfully (well, sort of), we hadn’t missed out on Cambodian bats!

While I had been holidaying with Kate and left my home empty, 2 small bats had decided to move into my bathroom. They were the right side of the mosquito netting on the windows which meant that they didn’t look like they’d be much bother. However, somehow one of the bats got himself on the wrong side of the netting and dragged himself across the tiled floor towards our comfy DVD viewing area. It was a huge shock to be so close to this creature, as my cries and screams made obvious at the time! And as I sought shelter in another room, scaring Kate out of her wits in the process, the bat just up and disappeared. We hunted for it, timidly, but couldn’t find it anywhere until it magically turned up again on the bathroom mat. Kate was feeling braver than me so she took charge in trapping the bat under a complicated system of baskets (you can’t be too careful!) and setting it free again outside! Phew! Freedom for the bat and a quiet night for me!

When it was time to bid Kate farewell it actually felt just as surreal as when we had first met at the airport. It made me very reflective on what life will be like back in the UK when I return in November. Kate talked of her job and the current financial climate back at home and reminded me of how demanding, busy and often stressful life was like in London. It is exciting to think of coming home and now that we’re into a new year it feels like the count down has well and truly started, but sometimes I wonder whether the culture shock of returning will be greater than when I first arrived in Cambodia.

It was weird to say goodbye after getting used to having a good friend around. It’s amazing how I have got used to talking slower to friends and colleagues for whom English is a second language but how quickly I was able to slip back into easy conversation styles with Kate. It was also really refreshing to have her around as she knows me so well and I don’t have to explain myself all the time – a breath of fresh air! I will never forget her face as I packed her into the front seat of a pick-up truck on the main road to Siem Reap. I had explained in Khmer, to whom I thought was the driver, where Kate needed to be dropped off and that my friend didn’t speak any Khmer. I was assured that they knew where they were going and felt confident Kate would be in safe hands. Kate on the other hand didn’t look so confident and the las thing I saw was her mouthing the words “I’m scared” as the pick-up took off with a jolt!

Our goodbye turned out to only be a warm up though as we were able to meet in Siem Reap again before Kate’s return home. It was fantastic to touch base another time before her departure and we even managed to repeat the flesh eating fish experience together! My feet have never felt happier!