As the year got underway, we found ourselves presented with some excellent opportunities to experience local history and culture — to peel off the veneer of tourism and plunge into the pulp of residency. This included a visit to a prime Phnom Penh landmark, and attendance at a traditional Cambodian wedding celebration in a rural part of the country.

At the start of the school year, Kimberly’s younger students discovered the world of mask making. And Dennis’s older students became infatuated with chess — a game he taught them as a tool for introducing some English vocabulary and practicing conversation. But they became so engrossed in it that some of them were playing during their breaks, initially using the dinky little pocket magnetic sets he’d bought. But seeing that they were serious about it, he got them a serious full-size chess set.

Early in January, the school started the new year right with its second field trip of the school year, this time a half-day excursion to the historic attraction called Wat Phnom. Kimberly did not go along, as she still needed to teach the wee kids during the morning. But Dennis accompanied the group, and was supposed to help keep tabs on the Second Graders, but ended up helping to corral some stray First Graders as well.

Wat Phnom is an old temple on a hilltop — “wat” means temple and “phnom” means hill. It is considered the historic heart of the city. After it was completed in 1372, the city sprang up around it; the major streets in Phnom Penh radiate from it.

But the focus of this outing was not so much history as science. The kids were on a scavenger hunt to locate various natural items, including butterflies, leaves, bugs and flowers, which they then marked off on the sheet they were issued. They had been encouraged to bring along a magnifying glass, which virtually all of them did, and it was a brilliant move on the part of whoever suggested it. With this tool of scientific investigation in hand, the young budding scientists were much more enthusiastic about looking for and examining specimens than they otherwise might have been. Another smashing success field trip in the books.

On another Friday we had no classes to teach except for Kimberly’s morning session with the wee ones. That’s because essentially the whole day was taken up with the school’s public speaking competition. The theme of the speeches was “Good Habits Lead to Success”.

In the morning, the students speaking in Khmer had their round, and we didn’t attend because, sorry to say, our Khmer is still not adequate to understand what anyone was saying.

In the afternoon, the English speakers had a go at it. There were 17 contestants in all, divided into 3 proficiency levels; they included students from the branch of the school upstairs, as well as our own department. We did watch this session; in fact, Dennis was one of the 4 judges. The students were scored on clarity of message, organization, relevance, originality, voice projection, pacing, body language, eye contact, vocabulary, grammar, and responses to judges’ questions.

The winners of the two lower levels were both from the upstairs school. But the winner of the most advanced level was one of Dennis’ sixth graders. No, he did not show her any favoritism — in fact, he was probably tougher on scoring her than he was on anyone else, and asked her what was probably the most difficult question. (“What have you learned from doing this speech?”) But we’re thrilled that she won; it was very well deserved.

We’ve had plenty of staff meetings at the school where we teach, and we don’t exactly look forward to them. But in January we had one that was quite a doozy. It was the first and only meeting we’ve ever attended standing up to our knees in water.

It actually began with a 2-hour drive, north of the city and way out into the sticks. Because the first stop was a wedding celebration. One of our fellow teachers had gotten married a couple of days earlier. Cambodian wedding celebrations last several days, and this part of it was at the home of family members. So as the school director, who was also present, told us, it was a chance to see the “real Cambodia”.

It began with a meal, cooked outside by relatives. And it was a very Cambodian meal, which means there were many things we couldn’t eat — whole fish and chickens, for instance. In the end, we settled for rice and cauliflower, and finally someone brought us some eggs as well.

There was dancing and merrymaking, and our school officials insisted on trying to make us part of it all; which was both hospitable and awkward. Because one of the things we were prompted to participate in was a “blessing” ceremony for the bride and groom.

They were seated in elaborate chairs, and the guests (apparently just the married couples according to tradition) took turns approaching them and tying a little red ribbon onto the wrist of each of them. So far so good. But it’s also tradition to slip some money into the groom’s hands. (Some people contributed as much as 100 dollars.)  And that was the part we were quite unprepared for. 

Normally it would have been no problem, because we almost always carry a little cash with us. This time we had almost none, so we could not make a contribution to the happy couple, as we apparently were expected to do.  A few minutes later, we even took careful stock of our currency, and confirmed we had nothing except for some 20 dollar bills that were slightly worn — only very slightly, but Cambodian businesses won’t accept them if they have any flaws at all. So we were, apparently, the only ones who “blessed” them without actually blessing them.

After that embarrassing experience, our group drove a little farther to a creek, where we all got out and waded a few yards to the spring that was the source of the water. And there, as we stood in the running water, our director, who was sitting under a tree, called the spontaneous meeting to order. It didn’t last long; just a couple of little speeches.  And nobody minded, considering the environment.

The most memorable staff meeting we’d ever attended, and the most memorable wedding party we’d attended, all in one day. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

January 2024