Still Tickin'

Generally speaking, I consider myself to be a healthy person.  Oh, I have the occasional bout of sniffles and annoying manifestations of arthritis, like my creaky back or my 'weather toe' that predicts storms with uncanny accuracy, but for the most part, these are little bumps in the road of life that come and go and are quickly forgotten.  I like to think of myself as a person with a lot of stamina, akin to a human Energizer bunny, whose health motto is taken directly from the old Timex commercials - 'Takes a lickin' but keeps on tickin'.  

I recently wrote, "Can't keep this old girl down!" in response to someone's kind words of concern when I'd casually mentioned that I was into my second week of 'Montezuma's Revenge'.  (Yes, you read that right....Two weeks worth!)  Somewhere around Christmas day, Gordon and I must have eaten something that disagreed with our 'constitutionals'.  Taking turns sprinting to and from the bathroom soon became a comical dance, but fortunately, a couple of days plus a couple of dozen bismuth tablets later, Gordon was his 'old self' again.  Not so for this gal.  My condition persisted, some days worse than others, but not bad enough for me to miss going to the orphanage.  Finally after two weeks, I relented and took Azythromycin, which set me back on my feet again...well, almost..... 

Right on the heels of the 'Revenge' came a bout of sinusitis, a cold virus I'd probably picked up from one of the kids at the orphanage.  No problem, I thought!  Out came the Daytime/Nighttime cold medicine I'd so wisely packed, which kept me slightly groggy but functioning at an acceptable level.  At the end of the fourth day, I had a sudden burst of energy and felt so totally normal, it was as if I'd made a remarkable recovery.  We even went out for a nice dinner and had a martini (or two) to celebrate.

No telling why, but the next morning I woke feeling like I'd been hit by a truck - cold sweats, weakness, dizziness.  In total denial (or delerium?), I headed off to the orphanage to teach sewing classes anyway. ("Can't keep this old girl down!"?  Yah, right!!)  By noon, my usual hearty appetite had vanished and I could barely stand. 

After two days flat out in bed with what was probably a mild case of the flu, I woke this morning feeling 'almost' normal.  It's amazing what a good rest can do, and how the body heals itself when given the half a chance.  As much as I like to think I'm tough and invincible, and nothing can get me down, occasionally I'm wrong.   

It's been a tough go these past three weeks, but you know, there's always an up-side to everything.  I've lost a few pounds and my clothes fit so much nicer now....  Better still, I didn't feel the least bit guilty today when I ordered hot chocolate instead of tea.

How could something this sinful and decadent cost only $1.00?

Pretty Lights!

In Cambodia, January 7 is a national holiday.  Schools close for the day, and at night fireworks light up the sky.  Yesterday marked the 33rd anniversary of the day that the Vietnamese invaded, expelling the Khmer Rouge and ending the genocide of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

 Yesterday as we passed by the compound of the CPP (Cambodian People's Party) here in Siem Reap, we noticed about 1000 chairs set up under tents, and imagined they'd be marking the anniversary at an elaborate ceremony with speeches.  As we watched the fireworks display from the rooftop of the Golden Takeo, it appeared to originate from that location. 

We've heard that not everybody is happy with the celebrations, though it's not openly discussed.  Occasionally we hear that real freedom only began when the Vietnamese left the country in 1991.  Sadly, no major Khmer Rouge commander has ever faced justice for the atrocities of their rule.  Although we've heard and read that several Khmer Rouge higher-ups are facing trial, these prisoners are in their eighties, feeble and frail, and few people believe they will ever get their just desserts.

As for us, we don't form opinions, we don't take sides, and we don't judge.  We are guests in this country and we respect their laws and customs.  We read what we can about the history of this country, and try to understand the past.  We are here to give what little we are able, to help a few individuals develop a brighter future for themselves.  

And whenever there are fireworks, you'll probably find me on some rooftop taking it all in, waiting to see if the next burst of colour is better than the one before.  No matter what the occasion, it's always fun to 'Oooh and Ahhh' at all the pretty lights, and be a kid again.

(fuzzy, but still pretty!)

Oh Be Thankful, Gentle And Kind!

Those of you who read last year's blog may remember my references to 'Oh Be Happy' and 'Oh  Be Joyful', the two Honour Village cats.  Happy and Joyful are brother and sister (not brothers as originally assumed), and once this was discovered, discussions arose regarding the possibility probability of them producing a family, and what should be done before that event occurred.

When we arrived in early December, we learned that Happy was booked for a visit with the vet, since he'd begun that typical male cat practice of spraying things.  One particular item he favoured was the founder's hat, which may have been the final straw that led to the inevitable loss of his masculinity.  We also learned that a few weeks before our arrival, Oh Be Happy had made Oh Be Joyful 'quite joyful' one day.  Apparently this had occurred at a time when the founder was off-site, but the children had been (in her words) quite eager to describe the 'act of incest' in great detail.  And so when we arrived, Oh Be Joyful was quite noticeably 'in a family way'.

Joyful is a typical Cambodian cat with a kinked tail - a dainty black and white lady who is barely out of adolescence.  Since it was her first preganacy, I fully expected she'd have only one kitten whose chance of survival would likely be slim.  Late on Wednesday afternoon, she began to moan and pace about, and we knew the big moment had come.  We'd prepared a box for her, but she was very distressed and refused to stay put.   The only thing that calmed her down was holding her, and when I left, she sat on Susan's lap, saucer-eyed, wailing in distress and bewilderment at this laborious situation that gripped her being.

The next morning, I arrived at Honour Village anxious for news.  Several small children, wide-eyed with wonder and excitement, grabbed me by the arms and led me to a box where three tiny black and white bundles squirmed blindly, nuzzling into Joyful, kneading furiously at her belly. 

It seems to me that mankind has a universal reaction to new life.  Newborns leave us awestruck.  We marvel at their total perfection, miniature duplicates of their parents.  As I stood over these wriggling babes, mere hours old, I couldn't help feel that I was privileged to be a part of this, to witness the delight of the children, the contentment and pride of a new mother, and the tenderness and love that filled the room.  Of course they've already got names.... (You guessed it - Oh Be Thankful, Oh Be Gentle and Oh Be Kind.) 

Come and see what's new at our house!

It's been a hard day's night....

Have it your way.... I'm too tired...

Can you pick out three babies?

Proud papa admiring his new family...

Oh, yes, one more thing.... That proud papa?  He'll have to be content with a family of three.  Yesterday the vet paid a visit.

I think I can hear him singing that old Beatles song... How does it go again?  

"Suddenly... I'm not half the man I used to be....." 

Just as well... Three more mouths to feed is plenty in this neck of the woods.

On Pins and Needles

The title of this post "On Pins and Needles" can be interpreted as: a) An essay about pins and needles', or b) An expression meaning 'to be very excited or tense about something'. Actually, it's meant to be both. 

For the last 6 months or so, I've known that I was going to teach sewing in Cambodia again.  It's been an exciting time, planning what projects I might do, and gathering up all sorts of fabric, needles, yarn, embroidery floss and thread.  Thanks to the generous donation of supplies by my Mom and my sister-in-law, added to my own stockpiles, and a donation of mini cross-stitch kits from DMC Threads, I was able to amass enough resources to fill a giant suitcase.  When we arrived here, I couldn't wait to get going!  Exciting!

In a previous blog, I wrote about how I ended up 'volunteering' to make skirts for 14 little girls shortly after we arrived.  Tense? Oh yes, I had my tense moments....  For one, I was very worried that the stretch fabric would be difficult to work with.  (Not as bad as I expected, after I figured out what pins and needles to use!).  Even more scary was trying to work with a huge audience....sometimes as many as ten children hovering over my shoulder at once.  They were curious, and had me in panic mode a few times when I would glimpse them out of the corner of my eye poking their fingers in and around moving parts, picking up scissors, needles and pins.  They would sit closely, and try to 'help' by tugging the fabric along, often faster than I could feed it through the machine, and sometimes dangerously close to the sewing machine needle that whirred up and down with lightning speed.  They would pull the unsewn cut lengths out of my bag, (rearranging my work schedule), and argue among themselves as to which fabric belonged to which girl.  It was not the best environment to work in, but somehow all those skirts got made, and I even managed to teach some children a few things, while making sure that everybody (including me) ended up with ten fingers intact.

Busy at the treadle machine.
Sometimes I got to sew alone....

But more often than not, I had company.

This young boy sat and watched for a long time. 
A safe job for him was to hand me the pins.
There are a lot of tailors in Cambodia....
Perhaps he is a tailor-in-the-making?

Up till now, getting the sewing classes up and running has been slow.  There have been holidays and parties and game days.  We've had a change in the volunteers as well as some taking vacation.  The children already have a full schedure with ongoing English classes, dance classes, and (recently added) a football practice. Part of the mix are village children that come and go, and may not attend regularly.  Trying to establish which days I will teach, (and which children) has been a bit confusing.  Most of all, I don't want to barge in and take over, or demand that MY classes need to get done, so I've been doing some investigating, getting  some great input from Susan and Chhunly.  I think we're almost there.

Last Friday, I decided to try a simple project just to get a few kids interested in sewing - a bracelet made with plastic canvas and yarn, using a large blunt needle.  It was easy enough for the younger children and interesting enough for the older ones.  However, the one thing I didn't count on was chaos.... everyone wanting attention at the same time, and not everyone at the same ability to understand instructions or at the same skill level.  It took a big effort to ensure that all the needles were returned, since this type of needle is not easily found here.  Fortunately, on Friday I had a LOT of helpers (a big thanks to each and every one of them!).  I taught three separate classes.  The kids loved it, and I felt quite satisfied with the success of our first attempt. 

Let me show you how....

An intense onlooker

Help from Alice

Am I doing this the right way??

Enjoying the project

Busy, busy

Serious concentration

Look what I made!



Proud of his results!



Friday was a real success!  Saturday was a different story.  That morning I tried to teach a class on my own.  Instead of two separate classes like the previous day, everyone came at once, and I had more than thirty eager students.  Even the Khmer staff wanted to learn.  I felt like I was being torn in pieces, everyone wanting to get their supplies first, everyone wanting my attention at once, and only one of me to instruct and hand out materials.  Fortunately for my frazzled nerves, the afternoon class was a lot smaller, with older children and much more manageable.  What a learning opportunity for me!  I'd taught sewing classes two years ago which were fairly large in size, but they had been older children.  Those classes had run smoothly (with a translator), even though I spoke no Khmer.   Saturday's experience made me realize that I need to restrict the class size, limit instruction to the older children (8 yrs and up?), and ensure that there are fixed guidelines in place.  (It's either that, or get myself a straight-jacket LOL!)

 

So this week we will start over.  I'm going to try a new approach, and I'm betting it will work just fine.  One thing I've discovered is that every time I teach something, I'm the one who ends up learning the most!  So once again, I'm on pins and needles, anxious to discover whether this new line of attack will be more successful! 

 



This requires some serious meditation



 

 

Happy New Year!

This is not the first time we've rung in the New Year away from home.  In fact, we've spent four out of the last five New Years Eves in Southeast Asia.  

It all started when we rang in 2009 with a group of friends some 50 stories above the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, gazing across (and down) at the seemingly hundreds of fireworks displays celebrating the New Year and honouring the 80th birthday of the beloved King of Thailand.  

In 2008 we built our house in Bayfield, and didn't take a vacation that year.  We suffered through four months of icy blasts, dreary skies, road closures and desolation brought on by countless snowstorms.  It was our first year of retirement and it was all the convincing we needed to coclude that we were no longer cut out for Canadian winters.  Nothing memorable about that New Years Eve ~ I think we rang in 2009 with champagne and pizza.  

Somewhere in 2009, we decided to spend two months volunteering in Cambodia.  More through good luck than planning, we found ourselves on Pub Street in Siem Reap on the eve of 2010.  It's the Cambodian version of Times Square, without the dropping ball at midnight.  Revellers gather by the thousands to party the night away and ring in the New Year.  Music blares, people dance and shout.  It's a shoulder-to-shoulder crush, a wild time, and a 'must-do', if you're ever there at New Years.  To get an idea of the magnitude of the celebration, you might want to go to youtube and search 'New Years Eve Pub Street Siem Reap'.  It's nothing short of crazy.

The following New Years was quite a contrast.  Our flight landed at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport on December 31 at 11:45 pm, and we rang in 2011 watching luggage go 'round and 'round the baggage carousel.  Boooo.....

This is the firstyear we've been in Siem Reap for both Christmas and New Years (see my earlier post about Christmas).  However, after the disaster in Phnom Penh during the 2010 Water Festival, we made up our minds to avoid large crowds and potentially dangerous situations, and decided against the frenzied revelry of Pub Street.  Instead, we spent a quiet evening sharing conversation and drinks (including a bottle of champagne) with good friends at the open-air restaurant on the rooftop of Golden Takeo Guesthouse.  It was a great vantage point to view the myriad of fireworks displays that dotted the midnight sky.

A big surprise awaited us on New Years morning.  The breakfast buffet was adorned with gorgeous fruit carvings, something you'd expect from a 5-star hotel.  Just one more reason why we came back to MotherHome Guesthouse.  Their motto is 'Arrive as guests, stay as friends, return as family'..... and it's true.  We are treated SO well here - their staff is wonderful.  And another thing....they're giving us informal Khmer lessons too.  So to all of our friends around the world, I can now say 'Susdey Chnam Thmey'  (Happy New Year!).

Carved watermelons & pineapple

A rose and the MotherHome emblem carved into a watermelon

My compliments to the chef!

Beautiful pineapple flower

Hearts carved into a watermelon

A carved dragonfruit

Food Glorious Food!

 This is a post I started last year, but didn't complete.  Although some of the pictures are from last year, the content is still relevant, so I've decided to update what I'd written, and add a little bit more 'flavour' to the pot.  Hope you enjoy this journey into the culinary delights of Cambodia.

  

Sign above a restaurant In Pub Street area

A couple of years back, when I anncounced we were headed to Cambodia to volunteer for tthe winter, I received an email from a friend saying "I hope you like rice".  I still chuckle about it, because he was so right.  In this part of the world, rice is served with just about everything, and I never dreamed I'd consume so much of it!! 

Rice is a staple in Cambodia.  Most people eat rice three meals a day (if they're lucky to get three meals), usually mixed with a little bit of meat and vegetables.  At Honour Village, a 50 Kg (110 lb) sack of rice lasts less than 2 days - (46 kids and about 12 adults, three meals a day). 

 I used to wonder how Cambodians manage to stay so thin when they eat so much rice, but living here for a while has given me a whole  different perspective.  Cambodians work very hard, mostly manual labour.  Many walk or cycle wherever they go.  Many don't get 3 meals a day, and snacking is rare.  Many suffer from chronic intestinal maladies.  I suppose under the same  circumstances, we'd probably be thin too.

Breakfast

Whenever I go to a different part of the world, I like to eat the local food, and that goes especially for Cambodia.  I figure I can get Western food at home anytime, anywhere, but I can only get authentic Khmer food here.  It's delicious, and although we make concerted efforts to duplicate them at home, we still haven't quite mastered the recipes.

The first year we were in Cambodia, our guesthouse didn't provide breakfast, so we almost always went out early in the morning for noodle soup.  The guesthouse we now stay at provides free breakfast buffet, which has a variety of tradional western breakfast food - juice, coffee, tea, toast, cereal, eggs, fruit - and some less usual choices - fried rice, fried noodles with vegetables, congee (rice porridge), and chicken 'sausages' (actually mini hotdog wieners).  They alternate between French toast or delicious banana pancakes, both hard to resist when drizzled with 'honey' (thick syrup made from sugar palm - yummmm).  Fruit choices are usually sliced dragon fruit, watermelon or fresh pineapple, and pint-sized bananas that you pull right off a giant stalk.  I still prefer noodle soup over western breakfast, but  I also prefer 'free' over 'paying', so we mostly eat breakfast at our guesthouse.



Noodle soup with pork balls and 'fry bread'
(tastes like a yeast doughnut without the honey glaze)
The reddish piece  in the bowl is either a big hunk of liver or clotted blood....
One of the few things I haven't managed to get past my lips yet.  I give that part to Gordon. 

  

Buffet breakfast at MotherHome Guesthouse



Lunch

On days when we work at Honour Village (5 to 6 days a week), we eat the same lunch as the kids do. The cooks prepares a huge pot of rice, and a huge pot of soup, consisting of vegetables, some meat or fish, and a variety of wonderful herbs and spices.  Dessert, if they're lucky, is almost always a banana.  (Bananas here are typically smaller than the bananas we get at home - the same thickness, but about half the length).

At  the outset, food at Honour Village was prepared outside under a canopy, cooked over a wood fire.  In the past year, they've progressed to cooking over a wood fire indoors, and most recently upgraded to cooking with gas, a luxury provided by a generous donor. 

Wonderful blend of herbs & spices for the soup

Each child gets a bowl of rice with one bowl of soup  shared between two.
Refills keep coming as long as they keep eating.



The adults eat at a separate table.
Usually there are about 10-12 staff & 6-8 volunteers.
On this particular day, we had a lot of visitors as well.

 

These two little girls put away four large bowls of rice and soup each. 
Neither one of them weighs more than 35 lbs (16 kilos) soaking wet. 
Where do they put it all?



 

Dinner

On days we're not working at the orphanage, we go out for lunch, and we usually go somewhere different for dinner every night.  We love Khmer food, but we occasionally opt for Thai, Indian, Mexican or Burmese.  No matter what ethnic food you crave, it's available in Siem Reap.  If you watch for special deals, like $1.00 tapas, and stick to smaller establishments slightly off the beaten path, you'll end up getting a fabulous meal for two persons (including 2 glasses of wine) for under $10.  The food is so tasty and so inexpensive, it's easy to understand why I went back home last year 10 lbs heavier than when  I'd arrived!

Half the fun of going to Little India
is seeing a Cambodian waitress wearing a sari

The food here was fantastic and really inexpensive. 
We especially loved the Eggplant Stew and the Tea Leaf Salad.
How sad to discover the restaurant was gone this year!

This plate of fried spring rolls looks like something straight out of a gourmet magazine.
In fact, we get this at a tiny restaurant around the corner from our guesthouse.
Helen Cafe - Price: under $2.00

I love food, and I'm not too afraid to wander into new areas of eating, but I have to admit, Cambodia has foods that I can't swallow won't try, not just yet anyway.  There's a whole variety to choose from - snakes, spiders, crickets, grubs, duck egg fetuses, cow uterus, red ant sauce (tried that).  I'm sure they're fine, and people tell me they're tasty, but I can't seem to get them past my lips when the brain screams "No!"

Clockwise starting from top left:
BBQ Beetles, BBQ Crickets (grasshoppers?), BBQ snake, Deep-fried battered little birds..
The locals love them!

As in a lot of under-developed countries, there are a few food rules we  have to abide by here.  Sanitation is just not the same as it is at home, so we have to be careful where and what we eat.  We know that and we just accept it.  We avoid buying food from street vendors, except for BBQ bananas or sticky rice, which we know are safe. 

A typical roadside 'restaurant' that serves up quick orders of rice or noodle dishes.
We avoid them even though the food is really inexpensive.

Doesn't look too appetizing does it? 
A burnt cabbage roll maybe?

Nope.  It's a package of 'banana sticky rice'. 
A small banana encased in sweet coconut-flavoured rice,
wrapped up in a banana leaf, and roasted over charcoal.
Absolutely scrumptious!

I have a confession to make.  Lately I've been getting a little cocky about eating raw vegetables, and having ice in my drinks, and drinking filtered water rather than bottled water, and now I'm paying for it.  In the past few days, I've had to make sure I'm within sprinting distance of a bathroom, and I've been breaking out the boxes of bismuth tablets.  One thing is certain, if this keeps up, there's a good chance I won't gain any weight while I'm here this year!

On the other hand.....
'Balck Sesame-Ginger'  ice cream from the Blue Pumpkin
may just end up being my downfall.........

  

Christmas in Cambodia

This is our third time volunteering in Cambodia, but the first time we've spent Christmas here.  Late in September, we lucked into a really good deal on flights for December 6th, and grabbed at the chance to save big without giving much thought to the fall-out. 

Leaving so early meant we had three weeks less to close up the house, make all our arrangements, and get all our Christmas gifts wrapped and delivered.  We had our 'family Christmas' in mid-November, with turkey and prezzies, and I kept telling myself it was OK....that Christmas is all about the feeling, not necessarily about the day.   So when we arrived here in Cambodia, I was OK with being in a tropical climate with palm trees, in a Buddhist country where Christmas is not celebrated, because I told myself I'd already had my Christmas.  Yet from the day we arrived, everywhere we looked there were vestiges of Christmas - blinking Christmas lights and tacky tinsel trees and Christmas carols in the lobby -.  And still I was OK with that..... I really was..... until the day before Christmas, when my daughter emailed me a couple of pictures....

......one of her at age 4, surrounded by presents....

.... and one of her spending this Christmas with her aunt and her 104-year-old Grandpa....

After seeing those pics, and reading all the comments from my friends about how they were spending their Christmas with family and having turkey dinners and loads of presents, I admit it.... I was filled with pangs of longing for the good old days.... and a tear or two came to my eyes. 

But that was Christmas morning.... Little did I know what lay in store for me that afternoon....

As soon as we arrived in Cambodia, we'd been enlisted by the Honour Village crew to help out at their annual Christmas party.  Staff and volunteers alike were focused on the afternoon of December 25th, when more than 200 children would arrive from the village and descend on the premises for an afternoon of fun and games, food and prizes.  From the outset, a lot of organization went into it, and it was obvious that this would be quite an event, but until I experienced it, I had no idea how big it really would be.  We invited some of our friends to come out and help, and even a few tourists arrived to pitch in.  We needed all hands on deck, and everyone was kept busy for the entire afternoon.

The main building was festooned with decorations

The kitchen staff prepared busily for the feast

Gordon had blown up hundreds of balloons,
and filled several hundred more with water...

The big sound system arrived

Children sang songs while they waited for the crowds to arrive

Throngs of village children arrived - probably 200 or more

Squeals of delight playing musical chairs

The battle for the last chair when the music stopped

Limbo competition

'Sleeping Lions' game.  You move, you're OUT!

Sack races, three legged races, all sorts of field games....

Burst the balloon tied to your opponent's leg. 
Last one left with a balloon tied to their leg wins!

Faces powdered with flour!

Apsara dance demonstration

Honour Village kids performing traditional Cambodian dance

Taking a bow

Chhunly was such an enthuisiastic announcer!

Passing out water balloons while Chhunly directs the crowd

Long line-ups for food

A big baguette with yummy minced pork filling

This little guy collected up everyone's crusts....
Yummm...the best part !! 

Lining up for prizes after dinner

We left when the sun was low in the sky.....
exhausted from a day filled with fun and joy.....

.....a day when we'd given it our all...... 
....and I was sincerely happy.....

 I believe everyone present experienced the true meaning of Christmas that day....

“For it is in giving that we receive.” ~ St. Francis of Assisi