On the cusp of changes

Yesterday, Mr, Ouhok picked me up from my hotel.  Maybe you remember that Mr. Ouhok was my faithful former independent gold extractor-turned tuk tuk driver for heading out to schools the last time he was here.  Apparently his daughter just had a baby and he is considering retirement to Phnom Penh although he has promised Diane that he will not leave Siem Reap until she finishes here at CFC.  Above is a sort of shaky video that I tried to take as he approached Aranh school.

Anyway, yes Mr. Ouhok picked me up yesterday and we drove out to the new Arahn High School south of the town.  I was reunited with Chanda who was absolutely delighted at the box of brand new 250 mL beakers that I carried in my suitcase.  Chanda is now the Vice Director at Arahn High School and is even busier than before although I didn't think that was possible.  She showed me the brand new Science labs that had been outfitted with equipment since the last time I was there.

The last time I was there, the school had just finished construction, and this year it has been full of classes.  She tasked me with taking an inventory of all of the science labs in the CFC family of schools and so I started with those ones.  I feel like my lot in life is to take inventory - so this means that I can do it pretty quickly.

The physics, chemistry, and biology classrooms were all neatly organized with all of the equipment neatly packed into rows of baskets.  The teacher in me took a look at how neat it was and thought  'it doesn't look like much of this is used because its way too neat' and indeed, Chanda confirmed that if teachers didn't know what something was, then they wouldn't use.  I found many beautiful glass pipettes still in their original packaging, but not pipette bulbs, and other specialized equipment that simply hadn't been worked into one of the set labs that they do in the schools.

Today, Mr. Ouhok drove me back out to Aranh and I took the inventory of the elementary school science labs.  It was here that I found the equipment and experiments that Kyle and I set up last year.  It was kind of cool to see all that stuff again reorganized into actual classrooms.

My afternoon and evenings over the past couple of days have been spent visiting hotels with pools, and enjoying drinks and meals in the comfortable evening temperatures of Siem Reap.  I met a young Dutch woman named Elma and we spent much of that free time together.  The Golden Temple Villa has a several sister hotels and we rented the rickety bicycles that they offer for free and peddled in the crazy traffic over there to be rewarded by cool water, shade, fresh peanuts, and fruit smoothies.  Today, with Elma gone, I biked over to Frangipani and was delighted to see some of the staff that grew to knew the last time I was there.  I swam in the pool amid the lush and fragrant Frangipani trees with blossoms falling everywhere.  I do miss that hotel.  This afternoon I also biked down the main business street and ordered a pair of prescription glasses.  I haven't bought a new pair of glasses in 5 years or so and my prescription has changed slightly.  As I was debating between 3 pairs, an Australian woman with a small Cambodian girl walked in and told me that she worked in the optical field for 25 years and that I had to take the black ones.  And so the black frames I did take.  Turns out she is the volunteer coordinator for an NGO that worked with and on the behalf of children in Cambodia and Diane is a good friend of hers.  Small world.  She was there getting the girl set up with a pair of glasses.  Pretty cool.

After dinner last night and the night before, Elma and I wandered around the spiffy Angkor Night Market.  It's really within spitting distance of what I guess is now called the Old Night Market.  It has a fair amount of local craft work mixed in with junk that is imported from Vietnam or China, and I get the feeling that over time, more and more Artisans will begin to set up shop there.  It is organized in such a way that you follow a board walk around twists and turns until you get to a quiet island bar in the centre of it all, with a spa and a coffee shop.  Pretty nice I must say.  I never really explored this neighbourhood the last times I was here when I stayed on the other side of the river or on Airport Road.  This block that my hotel is on also has some real gems of restaurants that I hope to sample  in due time.

Last night I sat in the hotel restaurant for two hours and delivered a mini lecture to the students at Shad Valley Carleton.  I talked for a short while about Cambodia and CFC, and then gave them some time to break into groups to work on a challenge that I had created for each house in advance.  I knew that they would produce some great ideas and they did not disappoint.  Some of them created games for children to teach dental hygiene or about child exploitation.  Some of created activities where the students could build a model water filter or barrier.  And one group outlined a long-term project for older students to help them transition to the working world.  It went until 2:30 am for me but it was worth it.  I am now sitting bleary-eyed in the hotel restaurant getting ready to head off to Bakong High School.  Hopefully I can finish inventory today.

Thanks for reading (as always),

Leslie