Where is democracy?

"I not only weaken the opposition, I'm going to make them dead...and if anyone is strong enough to try to hold a demonstration, I will beat all those dogs and put them in a cage."

Well it certainly is not in that quote, but we will get to that.

So I had expected to be writing about my last day as a teacher next weekend, but I probably should have expected different.  The ability to be flexible is important when it comes to being a teacher, maybe even more important in Cambodian(I'm sure many of my SALT friends have stories that would demonstrate competing thoughts).  Tomorrow, June 3, commune elections are being held throughout the Kingdom of Cambodia.  I've been trying understand exactly what that means, and how they would relate to elections back home; Cambodia has a parliamentary system, so there has to be some similarities, right?  The best I can equate these elections to is municipal elections, like mayor and city council.  However, in Cambodia the people running in these elections are tied to a party, the same parties that run for the national election.  So it might be safe to say that the outcome on Sunday will give us a good idea what the big election will look like next year.

Because tomorrow is the election, and Cambodia's Prime Minister just joined the 10,000 club I figured now would be a great time to update you on situation here in Cambodia.  When I say situation I mean the human rights situation.  It ain't pretty.  However, it is nowhere near Syria in terms of human rights offences, but it certainly is no sunny day at the park.  The rich are getting richer, The poor are being evicted,  opponents are getting thrown in jail, and yes people are being killed.

Let's start with the poor getting evicted.  The story that has been dominating the headlines for a long time over here is the evictions of Boeung Kak.  For along time the lake was a major tourist attraction in Phnom Penh and allowed thousands of residents to make a living.  In 2007 an agreement was signed to start developing this lake and the lake and slowly been filled up.  Home owners were forced from the land that they had lived on for decades and were told that they had been squatting on government owned land all this time.  With no land titles they did not have much to stand on, but there has been a group of them who have refused to stay silent.  Since I have been in Cambodia there have been numerous rallies by Boeung Kak residents, as well as local and international human rights organizations.  Often these rallies end with the police and military rounding up a select group, stuffing them on a bus, and taking them down to a detention centre or jail house.

The most recent incident occurred on May 22.  Thirteen women were arrested during a peaceful protest about the Boeung Kak evictions.  2 days latter they were put to trial, and were quickly convicted on the grounds of illegal occupancy of public land and obstruction of public officials.  One of the sentenced was a 72 year old woman.  There are some pretty tough women out there, but I think that you would agree with me that most woman at that age are not that formidable and are not doing a lot of obstructing.  On the same day a prominent monk was picked up at a rally outside the courthouse and taken to a nearby pagoda where the police threatened to de-frock him.

As sad as this is, 2 years in jail pails in comparison to losing your life to a bullet.  Chut Wutty, a well known environmental activist in Cambodia was shot to death in late April.  He was taking 2 reporters through a forested area that has been the scene of rampant illegal logging.  They were approached by an official who asked them to stop and presumably turn around.  An argument then ensued between Wutty and the official which ended with the official shooting Wutty.  Another incident happened a couple of weeks ago, again surrounding the issue of land evictions.  This time a 14 year old girl from Kratie province was killed when a stray bullet struck her.  The event happened during peaceful protests in Kratie.  It seems the military and government really know only one way to deal with protests, and that is by force.

These are some of the more recent incidents that have happened really leaving a sour taste in my mouth and many others.  There are many past events that have happened as well and I challenge you take a look at some of them including the story of Chea Vichea

Now back to that quote.  It comes directly from the mouth of the democratic leader of Cambodia.  Let's hope he doesn't have another 10,000 years here in Cambodia.

The Traveling Barang

This post will act as a quick summary of the last 6 weeks or so and hopefully kickstart another road of weekly posts to end off my term here in Cambodia.  That's right the finish line is less than 2 months away now.  Unfortunately that means my days of inexpensive tailored clothes are numbered but on the bright side I will get to see a number of your shining faces again.

Let's start with April.

April 6-7

MCC took off the first Friday in April and headed down to the beach for our annual retreat.  The 4 hour bus ride was filled with some stand up by the one and only Chylong.  Chylong is one of the longest serving MCC Cambodian employees, and seemed to enjoy the spotlight that the bus platform afforded him.  He was grinning from ear to year throwing out the Khmer and English mixed in with a little re-verberator.  Upon arriving we ditched our gear at the hotel and made our way down to the beach for an afternoon of swimming.  In the evening we all gathered for a delicious dinner in what appeared to be a garage.  We shared the resturant with a large group of male business men who were standing through most of there supper and toasting every few minutes.  After eating we made our way back to the hotel where we played some Khmer New Years games and some more traditional North American games.

The next day was spent mostly in the shade around the pool, as I had a wicked sun burn from the day before.  After lunch most of us crawled back on the bus and made our way back to Phnom Penh.  Though the retreat was short it was a great time to catch up with everybody and leave the stress of work back in the city.

April 13-16 Khmer New Year

One of the many great things about living in  Phnom Penh is the number of New Years we get to celebrate.  In recent years International New Year (January 1) has become an honored holiday in Cambodia.  There is also Chinese New Year and of course Khmer New Year.  Khmer New Year is often celebrated by going back to your hometown and celebrating with your family.  My host family got together however we did not go back to their hometown instead we went to resort down by the beach.  The resort was located on a lush hill in amongst a forest of trees and wildlife.  It was gorgeous and the best part was it was only an hour or so from the beach.

The view from our bungalow

On our first full day we headed down to Ream Beach.  This beach is located outside of Sihanoukville, where most of the beaches are, so were able to escape all of the crowds.  The day was spent like any old day at the beach.  Swimming, eating seafood, sleeping and reading.  In the afternoon we headed back to the resort had a barbecue supper and playe Dutch Blitz while getting attacked by crickets.  These things were huge and my one host brother caught a few and grilled them on the grill.  Yummy!

On our final day we visited Kiriom resort another beautiful natural area in Cambodia.  Cambodians have a little different idea when it comes to mountains.  You see they don't enjoy hiking or climbing mountains like we do.  Walking as a whole is not hi on the priorities of many Cambodians.  So instead of climbing this mountain we just drove our cars to the top.  Definitely saves time, but takes something away from enjoyment i f you ask me.  On top, or close to, we grabbed a place to eat.  We had been carrying around leftovers for most of the trip and so we ate what food we had left and then played a few games, before heading home.  Fast Forward to May.

May

May 12-15

I had been waiting for this weekend since at least Christmas.  The province of Mondulkiri is located in the Northeast region of Cambodia.  It is known for its cooler weather, waterfalls and elephants.  Luckily we were able to experience all 3!  On Saturday Grace, Phil, Tiya, and myself made the 8 hour bus trip to the Nature lodge in Mondulkiri.  The nature lodge was one of the first eco-tourism places in Cambodia.  If ever in Cambodia I really do recommend it.

One of the Cabins at the Lodge

Because the trip was so long we only had two full days in Mondulkiri.  The first day we rented mottos and explored some of sights in and around the Nature Lodge.  The highlight for most people visiting the province is the Boursa Waterfall.  Being a holiday it was not a surprise to meet a large group of Khmer tourists at the waterfall.  Luckily we had been given inside information that there was a lower portion of the falls that was more beautiful and guaranteed to be less crowded.  After one or two wrong turns we eventually found the path that led to the lower level.  It was so much more amazing down below, and we only had to share the setting with a handful of other people.

A view of the upper falls

Our second day involved another, this time with a different mode of transportation.  We hopped on a few elephants and trekked through the Cambodian Jungle down to another water fall.  Ridding elephants is quite the experience.  They are magnificent animals, but not very elegant.  Your body gets bounced around on top and the sitting area that you have is extremely small and not really made for large people from the West.  What I want to say is you need to try this sometime because it really is amazing (especially when they let you get into the water and play around with them a little) but expect to be sore for a few days after the trek.  Our group did run into one situation that reminded us that these are giant animals and if they want to they can do really whatever they want.  One of the elephants was guided by a kid who was probably 10 or 12.  Near the end of the trek his elephant stepped off the trail into the bamboo brush.  Not a big deal.  Most elephants would stop and take a few steps off the trail every once in a while to grab something to eat.  However, instead of pulling the elephant back onto the trail, the kid urged the  elephant to go through the brush to presumably come out on the other side.  The elephant seemed to get spooked and veered off to the right and further into the brush knocking the driver and one of the women off.  The other women who managed to stay on came out badly scraped up and visibly shaken.  Luckily for both the women the cuts were minor and they seemed to be good sports about the whole situation.  The thing that shocked me was how nonchalant everybody seemed to be about the situation.  The guides acted as though it was no big deal.  Maybe a cultural difference, who knows.  

The view from the elephant

One other thing I need to add, the last night in Mondulkiri I pulled my sweatshirt out of my bag and put it on!   I think that is the third time I have worn a sweatshirt in Cambodia in 9 months!

May 18-21

Finally this past weekend us Yalters payed Prey Veng a visit.  I hadn't been out to Prey Veng since Thanksgiving (American), so it was nice to be able to get out of the city and just relax.  The highlight of the weekend was the Murder Mystery Dinner Party we had on Saturday.  Unfortunately my emotions got the best of me and I was the one who committed the crime.  Thank you Lisa for organizing that, it was so much fun!

So I have tried to hold off on the countdowns, but being so close to the end I have started them.  I have 9 days (maybe 8 a co-worker told me that the school was taking off one more day off.  Because the 20 plus days we have had off this semester wasn'y enough) of teaching left.  36 days until my family gets here, and about 7 weeks left here in Cambodia!

Class is Unbelievable

Alright gather 'round it's story time.

So for most of March I was given a rest from my day to day duties as a teacher.  University students studying English were placed in my class, and for 4 weeks tried there hand at teaching.  I will admit it was boring sitting in the back of class, taking notes and offering advice.  Not to say they did a bad job.  My mind, however, can only concentrate on the English Language for so many minutes at a time.  I became very productive in writing postcards during class, but that is besides the point.  I want to take you back to one particular class where I was paying attention.

As an experienced English professor there isn't much I don't know about my mother tongue(wink).  However, on this particular day my practicum student introduced me to a term that I had never come across.  Part of the class was on affixes; prefixes such as re- and suffixes such as -ology.  After introducing these two terms to my students the student trainee went on to a third term.  Infixes.  I shifted my weight in my chair and leaned a little closer to listen to what she was going to say, after all this was new to me and I was slightly interested.  As I guessed, infixes are words that include another word inside of the them.  The trainee wrote one word on the board to demonstrate all three terms.

Unbelievable

In this word un- represents the prefixe and -able represents the suffixe.  I thought to myself  "well where is the infixe?" She wasn't finished.  To demonstrate to the class an infixe she added a word to the middle of unbelievable.  With her back to the class she busily wrote this word on the board.  When she turned around there it was basically shouting at us on the board!

Un(bad word that starts with F)believable

I was taken a back at first.  Was this actually happening?  After the shock came laughter as she casually pronounced the word to the class and explained how it could be used (I'm afraid they are going to start using  it when I hand them back their midterms).  She had lost my concentration. and would have lost any students concentration in Canada, but the students wrote it down like they were learning a new vocabulary word and then continued on with the lesson.

At the end of the lesson I approached her and told her she probably shouldn't use that example in class in the future.  I then asked her where she found the term infixe and the example she so eloquently used.  I will admit I was thinking it had to be Urban Dictionary, but she said it was in her textbook.  "Hmmm can you bring it tomorrow?".  "I won't be here tomorrow, but I can bring it next Monday."

Sure enough, Applied English Linguistics, page I forget, but it was there.

One Place you Must Certainly Visit When you Come to Cambodia

Well of course you should visit Angkor Wat.  I don't think I have to go about telling you that.  So you will be happy to know that this post is not about Angkor Wat, but instead about a little beach town called Kep.

I would describe Kep as a quaint beach town.  I am not sure what the population is but it can't be more than 40,000.  There are a few foreigners that you will see scattered throughout the town and on the beach, but on the whole it is very quiet, and a scene much different than the other beach town Sihanoukville.  Things quiet down around 8 and I mean quiet down; the city feels dead by that time.  Perfect, if you are looking for a relaxing getaway.

I was down there this past weekend to remove myself from the hustle and bustle of the capital.  Most of the day was spent around the pool soaking up the sun, however we did stop to eat lunch near the crab market.  The prawns were amazing!  Yes family,especially Mik, this does mean you will have to try some prawns.  We then watched the sunset from the beach.  I did not get a picture of it but you will have to take my word that it was beautiful..  Dinner was at the Veranda, a real treat.  Great food and an amazing environment definitely a must do.

That basically caps off my trip to Kep.  Not a lot to do, but when you are looking for some R & R this is the place to go.

Livin' the AsiaLife

Some of you may have already seen this, but for those of you who have not, yes that is my mug.  I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time, or should I say know the right person.  Thanks to April and the crew at AsiaLife for letting me start my modeling career off with a bang!  Anywho my face is all over Cambodia on one of the more popular magazines here.  You can marvel at the lovely cover for as long as you would like, but I also encourage you to go to www.asialifeguide.com and check out the article that goes along with the photo!  You can also check out a story on our group of guys and gals that play hockey here in Phnom Penh at montreal.openfile.ca/

Hobbies in Cambodia

I am not sure if I have mentioned one of my new found hobbies in any of my previous posts.  And frankly I am to lazy to look back through all of them, so I will continue with this post. There is no ice to play hockey on (though I have found street hockey).  The only hockey that I can watch is on really early in the morning in one of the sports bars here.  The mountains in Cambodia would typically be referred to as hills back home, so hiking is a rarity.  To add to that I forgot my saxophone at home and so I have had to search out new hobbies.  One that I have become particularly fond of is shirt making.  

The first step to shirt making usually involves lunch.  A great spot is Asian Spice as it is on the way to Oressei Market, where all the best fabric in town is.  At lunch we discuss what kind of fabric we are looking for and for what purpose.  Often the reason for purchasing the fabric is for a new shirt.  After lunch we go to the market and begin the hunt for that one piece of fabric that we have on our mind.  And oh what a search it can be!  Looking and feeling making sure it is exactly what you want.  Alas! you see that perfect pattern starring you right in the face.  Cue the dramatic music as you make your way over to your new found treasure.  And now the bargaining begins (sorry Grace my efforts last week were less than spectacular)

"Tlay ponmaan?" you say

"Muey Mite, pram muey dollar" says the seller

"Buen dollar?" you respond

"at tee, pram muey"

"Pram dollar" you try to be a little more forceful this time

"Pram muey" She is not budging!

One more try

"Pram dollar kanlah"

"Chaa"

You got 50 cents off, but she won that round!

With fabric in hand now you need to find a tailor.  And there are many options here.  First there is the best tailor, a favourite among MCCers.  He practices his trade at the Russian Market.  Other options include tailors at Orussei (very convenient) or a new place that I have found just down the street from my house.  After getting all measured up you play the waiting game.  Finally the day comes when you get to pick up your shirt.  After that it is time to start the process all over again!

And that my friends is the art of Shirt Making!

 One of my shirts

A Visit to the Province

So another update is in order!

I have settled into my new host family and have found my role as proh poh quite enjoyable.  Growing up as the oldest in my family I always had to be the mature one.  I am now the youngest sibling in my host family and am enjoying some of the riches of being the spoiled one.  Not that my little sister has ever been spoiled ;).  I have been treated to great food, as well as some interesting food (last weekend I ate some pig stomach as well as some crickets).  We have also played numerous games of dutch blitz and sequence and for the most part I have been on the wrong end of those games, but it has been great fun so far!

Let me look back to last weekend.  I joined some my host family as they traveled to the province for a wedding.  This was my second wedding, so I had an idea what to expect but this time I did not have the safety net of my fellow MCCers.  We arrived in Kompong Thom Friday evening and made the rounds greeting all the family members.  Then it was off to bed because we were going to have to get up mighty early the next day.  Turned out to be 5:30 in the morning early!  This was to attend the first part of the traditional wedding ceremony, the fruit walk.  The grooms family walks from the grooms house to the brides house with platefuls of fruit.  The distance between the two homes was a little far for this, so we just walked a little ways down from the brides house and then walked back.  Somehow I found myself at the front of the procession.

The one Barang among many Khmer.  The guy to my left kept asking me if I wanted a Khmer wife.

After the procession we ate, watched another ceremony called the hair cutting ceremony.  Do not worry the brides lovely locks were not harmed during the ceremony.  They only pretend to cut their hair.  Then it was time to have our noon time nap.  With a two hour nap in me I was ready to get back at it, and by at it I mean the food.  One of the real treasures of Khmer weddings is the food.  Now I know you read earlier that I ate pig stomach and crickets and are probably thinking that doesn't sound much like fine dinning.  That assumption would be correct.  However, those items were not on the menu for the wedding dinner.  Instead we were treated to barbecued beef, fried octopus (slowly becoming a favourite), a big old fish, and I completely forget what we had for dessert but I can assure you it was not cake.

The fish that we ate

Once again we head back to freshen up and then head back to the party for another meal and some dancing. By the time we got back to the party unfortunately all the food was gone so that left one thing, dancing.  I have had a few different occasions to practice my Khmer dancing and though I am getting much better it is still far from being any kind of spectacle that anyone would want to watch.  Unless, that is, you are into car wrecks.  Nonetheless I always have fun out on the dance floor and it was no exception on this particular night.  There were some interesting events out on the dance floor but if you are really interested you will have to ask me about those events.  That concluded the wedding and what a great wedding it was.

Sunday morning we went to the local church where I shared a bit of my testimony and why I was in Cambodia.  After church and lunch we started our journey back to Phnom Penh.  We were stuffed into a 15 passenger van, that by the time we hit Phnom Penh had 28 people in it!  Of all my experiences in Cambodia it has probably been the least pleasant.  Thankfully I had a window seat and could stick my head out and get some fresh air.  We arrived safe and sound thus ending another one of my great adventures in this lovely little country!