January 7th was National Genocide Day. In the past, we have taken students to Toul Sleng, which is the high school that Pol Pot took over and used as a prison camp during the Khmer Rouge between 1974-1979.
But this year, since some of our older students have already been to Toul Sleng, we decided to go to the zoo.
Here is part of the group with Rich mimicking the poses of our girl students.
The zoo is small but it was nice just to get out and walk around in the woods (instead of the usual concrete streets).
This is the place we gathered for lunch. You are allowed to bring in your own food and drinks, so Navy prepared food for us.
This is:
Eang, Vatana, Rich, Neath (pronounced 'Nite') and Phorn (pronounced 'Poan')
Lymeng (who will be graduating on January 31st), Ratana, Piset, and Rotha (pronounced 'Rota')
Mony (busy eating), Sraynu, Savy, and Neera
Sokray, Khai, Samathe, and Seyha
At the zoo, there are monkeys everywhere.
Which is all fine and good until one decides that he wants your food. Sraynu got bit on the arm. It was just a small place, but she ended up having 4 rabies shots when we got back.
This is our truck. The monkeys really liked our vehicles - probably because they could smell the food that we brought.
Other than Sraynu's monkey bite, it was a fun day.
They have been working on the electrical poles in the neighborhood, so we have had 3 days where they cut off our electricity for the day while they replace poles and the lines.
I got back from the market one day and this is what I saw. The balcony in the background that is purple(the 2nd one) is our house.
This one is taken from my gate.
I took these because I was thinking about how different it is here than in the US.
Srayroat, a lady that has a coffee cart outside of my house, asked why I took the picture. I tried to explain to her how it would be done in the US. I told her the guys wouldn't be allowed to just sit out there with no safety harness or ropes. Ha!
The landlord for the school gave us invitations to their son's wedding.
This is the inside of the invitation. The paper on the table is the list of events from Thursday night to all day on Friday. Thankfully we were only expected to attend the Friday night part.
This is the front. It was really thick, like cardboard.
Weddings here are VERY LOUD! There are tents (I have showed you before). We, however, opted to sit outside of the tent on the side. Khemrin and Navy went with us.
By sitting outside we could actually have a conversation. However, it also meant that it was dark, making it a bit difficult to see the food. As their custom is, there were several courses. After about the 3rd round, Rich is full. (And that is usually about halfway). Since I don't eat supper, I just sit and watch.
I think I have told you before, but the tables are each set up for 10 people. Once a table is full, then the food begins to be served to that table. Since we were out on the side, it took a little while to get the additional people to sit with us.
This is Khemrin, Navy, the CBI landlords, myself and Rich in front of the wedding house. We took this picture when we arrived. It became dark shortly after this.
Please keep our students, Sokrey, in your prayers. Her mother passed away with liver cancer. Her mom was in her late 40s. Sokrey is in her 2nd year at CBI. She plans to come back to the school after things are settled at home.
On January 31st, we will have a graduation for 2 of our students. I'll post about that next time.
Much love,
Ronda
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