The title really tells it all. What a great time we have had bringing the project here.I will try to get comments from Niels and Jessica.
We actually completed this two days early due to a holiday that starts on Thursday. It's the King's birthday, and apparently it is quite a big bash. The shortening of classtime came as a surprise to us, but Niels and Jessica adjusted the schedule so that everythiing could be completed in the time we had.
I woke up early Wednesday morning, which is actually normal for me no matter where I am,. though we were out late last night. But I haven't been sleeping as much since I've been here. After stumbling around a bit I realized I was up for real and needed some coffee. On other days there were some instant coffee packets in my room, but the maid did not replenish the supply, so I thought – well, let's go down to the lobby – maybe they'll have some! Not knowing whether this was a 24 hour serviced hotel, I wandered down to find the lobby quite dark. A gate was pulled across the hotel entrance and was locked, and some motorbikes were parked in the lobby. And, the two front desk clerks were sleeping in the chairs in the lobby!
My first thought was how I wasn't going to be having coffee anytime soon. I also thought how it seemed awful that these guys had to sleep in the lobby. I couldn't imagine that happening in the U.S., but actually this is quite common in Cambodia, from what I've been told. I've been told the tuk-tuk drivers sleep in their tuk-tuks. Many people sleep on their motorbikes. And, there are many who live and sleep at the city dump. Sleeping in the lobby is obviously better than the dump.
So, I headed back up to my room without coffee, showered, shaved, no coffee. By the way, I have an amazing view out my hotel window – the Sap river meets the Mekong River that goes out to the Mekong Delta. And, I can watch the sun rise over this every day. Wow. I love it.
Checked email, no coffee.
Around 6:30 I decided to go next door for some coffee. And that's when I saw the elephant. I was sitting in a chair facing the street, under the fans (you have to sit under the fans – it's hot!) Sipping my coffee (Yayy!). Motorbikes going by. Tuk-tuks going by. People walking by. And an elephant walking by!! Was I in Jumanji?? It just leisurely walked by, in the street, with his walker holding a rope. I guess it was out for a stroll.
I researched this and apparently the elephant's name is Sam Bo and he lives at the Pagoda up the street.
Today we visited the homes of eight of the students who attend the school we sponsor in Phnom Penh. It really was an incredible experience. First of all, we expected to visit the homes with just us plus the director of the school but instead were an entourage including several teachers and around 20 enthusiastic students. It really was a blast for us spending all the time with everyone and almost unbelievable seeing the conditions in which these poor families live. The families welcomed us with open arms into their homes which were in many cases smaller than some bathrooms you find in houses in Southern California.
One family with a mother and two children had $40 per month coming in as income of which $25 per month goes toward the rent. The rest has to somehow cover everything else.
Yesterday we visited the Stung Meanchey dump in Phnom Penh which until recently was covered by scavengers looking for bottles, cans and anything else of value, as well as families actually living on the dump. Children from here are among those currently participating in our photo portfolio project. Homes come right up to the edge of the dump where everyone was recently evicted to make way for a company that will be extracting methane from the site.
Below is a status report video from Jessica from a few days ago. After the weekend, we'll be back in the classes again on Monday morning.
One of the more interesting and noticeable things in Phnom Penh are the motorbikes and traffic in general. Motorbikes are the most common mode of travel on the streets. They're everywhere, weaving in and out of other vehicles and people, sometimes driving in the opposite direction of traffic or perpendicular to traffic. Pretty much anything goes, though there are a couple key rules – biggest vehicle wins, and the responsibility for avoiding accidents lies with the vehicle that is behind another vehicle. So if you are driving any vehicle, you don't worry at all about what is going on behind you – only what's going on in front of you. Makes driving simpler, doesn't it? Also, as a pedestrian crossing traffic, if you've committed in your actions to moving forward you better keep moving, because the motorbikes and tuk-tuks and cars are going to go behind you – they are assuming you're not stopping. And don't ever back up while walking across the street.
One of the main modes of hired transportation in Phnom Penh is the Tuk-Tuk. They are basically like taxis (there are traditional taxis also), but these are open-air and a motor bike or bicycle pulls it. They're really plentiful all over the city and pretty inexpensive for getting around.
I woke up early and felt really good Monday morning. Niels and I headed next door to the hotel for breakfast and had traditional american stuff. For me it was an omelette with toast and Niels just went for the toast with jam. And coffee, of course!
It was a good day today. Niels kicked off the photo project with 3 different classes. It was quite impressive how many of the children have a pretty good command of English.
Niels and I arrived on Sunday morning into Phnom Penh right on time at 11:00 am, and yes, I know it was three days ago and I'm just writing about it now.
It was a pretty long trip for both of us, though it really didn't feel so long. Door-to-door for me was around 26 hours and for Niels a little longer since he flew out of San Diego and I flew from LA.
I had a pretty cool experience when dropping off my Hertz rental car (I rented a car rather than leaving my car in the parking lot at LAX). After getting my receipt at rental return, the attendant offered to drive me to the terminal, which was amazingly helpful considering I was traveling with 4 bags which otherwise I would have had to lug on the shuttle bus.
It took a while in the terminal with it taking around 2 hours to get my boarding pass and get my baggage x-rayed.
Once on the plane I had an interesting experience – I sat next to a couple that was also from San diego (not that big a deal I guess), but the woman volunteers for a fundraising organization based out of Rancho Santa Fe that raises money for organizations just like Class Act. Nice!
So the plane took off at 1am and I went to sleep. I woke up, watched two movies, had breakfast, plane landed in Taipei, Taiwan, couple hour layover, took the flight to Phnom Penh and was greeted at the airport by the director of the school we are supporting. His brother drove us in his car to the hotel, we had lunch (mine was a rice and chicken soup, a local dish, really good, Niels had a spicy prawn soup) hung out for a little while and I crashed around 9pm.
It's been a while since I've been on a long trip, and I've been putting off packing. I've been told it's warm so I should expect to wear shorts, a short-sleeve shirt and sandles/flip-flops. I think I should be pretty happy with this dress code!
Niels divided up the items we're bringing for the students. We have a 50 pound per checked bag limit. I have the stuff I'm bringing spread out on my bed. For the kids there are cameras to be used in the photo portfolio project, as well as books, bookmarks and pens, markers and pencils. Many of the books were donated by the Encinitas Kiwanis Club.
Then there's my stuff: reading material for the flight, passport, visa (which I was able to get off a Cambodian website), "just-in-case" meds like Cipro if I eat the wrong thing, Malaria medication for the trip to Angkor Wat, Pepto Bismol (my father told me I had to bring it), a water bottle with a filter (in case there's no bottled water available), ipod, headphones, and my new Lenovo Ideapad Netbook to stay connected.
The days are ticking down until our trip to Cambodia to visit a school we've been sponsoring for 8 months, plus we're bringing our most recent art project, a photo portfolio project, to two schools and an orphanage. There was some recent press about our trip in the North County Times.
Here's a photo of Niels, Jessica and me from a recent get-together, and a photo of the whole crew at a send-off dinner last night. We're leaving Friday night.
