A flipped computer, language training, and gender equity

I am finally updating this note while spending a leisurely afternoon in the Freebird Bar which is a wifi and American type bar. I am drinking gin and tonics and while the internet is free I am rapidly going into chronic debt drinking and eating the spring roll appetizers at the final calculation of probably $6 or $7 dollars. God, life can be so tough!I am very sorry about the delay in updates, but I have been going through a series of adjustments due to the loss of my computer. Not the actual loss, but an “oweee” inflicted by a maid during my workshop in Kampong Chnam. I thought I was being clever by sliding my computer under a pillow to keep it out of sight but when the maid came in to clean the room I am sure she just grabbed the sheets and flipped them. Of course my computer got flipped as well and that night when I returned I could not get it to power up. I tried and tried but nothing.

Later in the week I returned to Phnom Penh and went to a computer store to see what they would tell. I was not hopeful, as a matter of fact I was pleased that I had as much backed up as I did since in previous episodes I had lost everything. The fellow at the store was helpful but he said it would possibly be better to go to another store on the riverfront since it was a Mac. I did, and to make this long story a little shorter, they worked on it, sent it to Singapore and this weekend it was returned to me safe and sound.

The purpose of this long discourse is not to burden you with the routines of computer repair but to emphasize the psychological impact of losing what has come to be a very important part of my life. My music is here, my financial accounting is here, and all of my thoughts and correspondence is here. Granted this time I had a backup but even still, I was a loss without my laptop. I was actually depressed. I am aware that it may only have been the trigger for other issues but since I am not in psychoanalysis yet, I am not sure what those other issues are yet. My distance from home and loved ones, a strange and challenging country, and a ton of other factors could all play a part but I was focused on my computer. So now, all is better if not perfect, and I am a happy pilgrim again.

This week I begin language training. This is a serious point in my stay in Cambodia and hopefully it will allow me to become more effective in my daily work. I have some phrases and vocabulary that I depend on a great deal but I would surely like to converse with people even at a low functional level. I don’t think I have a very good aptitude for languages. I did enjoy Latin in high school, Spanish in college and personal efforts at learning more Spanish since school. Tagalog was a disaster since I basically blew it off after learning that everyone spoke English in the Philippines and while they said they would help me with Tagalog they always keep speaking English. So, now I am in a country that basically has been exposed to their own native language, Khmer, but also Vietnamese, Thai, Russian, and now English. The nationals know that the one constant is Khmer and if they are going to be understood, the barang (foreigners) are going to have to speak Khmer.

I have been involved in several workshops during my short tenure in Cambodia. I have been a observer in Kampong Speu for Accelerated learning, a semi-involved observer in Kampong Chnam for Accelerated learning again, and last week, a participant in the reviewing the Child Friendly School Policy in Sihanoukville, where I had had my annual conference for VSO two weeks before. This last one was my most active participation since I arrived and while I was pushing for more involvement of children with disabilities, particularly physical disabilities, I seemed to have received a reputation for advocating for gender equity. In one small working group, I had mentioned the need to focus on the recruitment for more girls in the school population, especially disabled girls. I also mentioned that the focus could not just be limited to girls in school but also on women in the teaching and administrative ranks, hopefully women with disabilities. There has recently been a letter from MOEYS (Ministry on Education, Youth and Sports) stating that it was no longer permissible to deny women with disabilities teaching jobs because of their disabilities. But time moves slowly in Asia and in a Buddhist culture everything is explored at depth and repeatedly, even government communiqués. During a summary session where all of the discussions of the small groups were collected, Mr. Richard was mentioned at least twice as advocating gender equity and most people nodded wisely at this radical idea. The fact that it is a key component of the UNICEF and World Bank programs in education did not seem to diminish its wisdom.

That is it for now. I am happy to back in the communication links with all of you and hopefully my future notes will be a little more interesting. For the time being I remain your loyal and loving far eastern companion.

Kampong Speu

I am currently in Kampong Speu just to the west of Phnom Penh. I am literally a pilgrim without the benefit of language skills.We arrived here on Sunday to attend a three-day workshop on accelerated curriculum, for which I presume I have some responsibility since the Special education office is hosting this workshop along with the Provincial office of education.

Anyway back to my interesting dilemma, I am here in a strange town, don’t know the language and I find myself at a restaurant with my four compadres, and eight other guys whose English is as good as my Khmer. We are all drinking, me beer, them some wine that is the national treasure of Cambodia and is guaranteed to make you strong physically and mentally. It says so on the label. We are eating very well and I am making do with my chopsticks. The fish is fabulous and the twenty or so other dishes are also good. I don’t think there was any dessert unless you count the Chinese dessert (toothpicks).

For the sophisticated sensibilities of my friends who take an active interest in what I do and don’t do, I will skip the marriage vows and the karaoke struggles afterward except to say that while I don’t sing, I don’t get married in a blink either.

Today was the first day of the conference and to say that I was lost is to heap praise upon my navigational skills. Evidently workshops and conferences are not held in English or Swedish or even Norwegian no matter who sponsors them. I was introduced and from that point on I didn’t understand a word. Another Caucasian (European) came in about ten minutes after the beginning and I was introduced to him. His name was Serge and he had spent some time (5 or 6 years) in Cambodia as well as in Viet Nam and he currently resides in Madagascar with his wife and family. He is French and as luck would have it one of my companions from the Special Ed office speaks fluent French and Cambodian but no English. This guy speaks English and French. So between the three-way hook up, I was able to make quite a bit of sense of the morning and afternoon session. He is leaving in the morning and I am on my own. Even worse, my brother and bosom companion who loves me like his father and who speaks a modicum of English is leaving in the morning for Phnom Penh. I am desolate. From here is anyone’s guess.

Rainy season

It is pouring rain as I write – not an uncommon experience in Cambodia during these six months of wet weather. It is expected to last for about an hour or two and during that time, the streets in Phnom Penh will be flooded for the most part. Some streets will have water up to an adult person’s knees. When the rain stops however, the streets empty and very soon all is back to normal. Phnom Penh does not seem to get as much water or rain as the other provinces do. The various mountain ranges account for that. There are two of them closeby: the Elephant mountain range in the far southwest and the Cardomon mountain range in the west just above the Elephant range. Each of these two ranges protects Phnom Penh during the rainy season to some degree. In the dry season – the other six months –it is just basically hot everywhere.Tomorrow morning I leave for my first trip out to the provinces. I will take a bus to Kampong Speu, which is the next province over from Phnom Penh. I am traveling with another fellow from my department. His English is not very good and my Khmer is non-existent except for numbers, Good morning, afternoon and evening which is different from what they use, and a few other minor words. This should be a great adventure, three days speaking in numbers and salutations.

This note will focus on one of the stranger sights I have ever witnessed. When I first arrived in PP (Phnom Penh), Liz Webber my program officer mentioned that I might be interested in going to the Olympic Stadium around 5:00 sometime. That was as much as she shared in the suggestion because she didn’t want to say too much. Based on this cryptic description I was very interested but it took some two weeks before I could get over there. When I arrived it looked like any other big stadium with the exception that there were a lot of people around, most of whom were playing soccer (football) on the dirt outside of the building. There were vendors in several different places and I made my way into the stadium after buying a coke for $1.

Have I mentioned how American dollars are used for everything here? The Riel is the Cambodian currency and is worth $1 = 4000 riel. It is used for everything that is cheap or under a dollar. When the price gets above a dollar U.S. currency is used. The entire country operates on this system.

Anyway, back to the stadium. Once inside I was immediately impressed by the size. It is truly an Olympic sized stadium and the scoreboard looks as though it could be used for American football games with lighting and labeling for downs, lines that the ball is on, etc. The notable image is however, the number of people inside. There must have been at least a thousand, most of whom were on the top stand of the seats. The space up there is much wider than the seating area, 12 to 15 feet. I was seated on one side of the stadium looking across at the main sections. It was simply continuous action as there were different groups all engaged in dancing. It appeared as though there were twenty different “dancercise” classes going on with huge speakers separating the groups. In addition to all of these people engaged in dancing there were hundreds more just walking around the infield or on the steps of the stadium. Several had their dogs with them and the dogs would just trot along with their owners. I also saw several mothers who had their small children with them and it felt like a family park.

I finally made my way over to the other side and went up to the top. Here there were more vendors and in one area, which was like a central receiving or entrance/exit place of the building, there were Tae Kwan Do classes. These kickboxing classes covered all ages and were very impressive. Training seemed to consist of matches with the referee also serving as an instructor. He would occasionally stop the action and show one or both contestants how something should be done. Finally I had absorbed all I could for the time and left. I definitely will return but I don’t think I will enroll in any of the classes. I don’t think they have memberships; it looks as though one just shows up and joins in.

I hope those of you who are looking for more cultural and sophisticated descriptions will be patient with me. Right now I don’t believe I know enough about the sect of Buddhism they practice here to describe it. I also have not seen enough of the Wats (temples) to describe them or explain them in any detail. I plan on saving them for a future note.