– Written by a Teacher in Cambodia –
We have had our first full week of teaching, and it went really well. Kelly is teaching PE and drama, Rachel is teaching art and science projects, Megan is teaching geography and international culture studies, Lacy is teaching painting styles, Bethany is teaching photography, Kamaya is teaching 1st and 2nd grade, and I am teaching creative writing. The students really enjoy the wide variety, and the other Logos teachers were impressed with the fun lessons we have been doing.
Every morning we all gather together at 8am to pray for the day and for our teaching. We ask that the Lord be with us and that we are able to shine and radiate his light through our teaching and through our relationships with our students and with each other.
My 8th grade class is very small: only 7 students. Six of them are from Cambodia, and one of them is from Malaysia. They are all very sweet. One thing that my teammates and I have noticed is how long the students take on assignments. My students at home just try to rush through their work, but here they take their time and want to do well! (it’s just so refreshing!)
One hilarious similarity though: the fascination and obsession with Twilight and Harry Potter series. I asked them to write a story using the elements we had brainstormed together as a class. We had generated a list of their favorite characters, settings, conflicts, and resolutions from stories and they had to mix them up to create a new story. The girl group wrote a story featuring Bella and Edward Cullen, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, where they were extras in a Japanese film. It was hilarious! The boy group wrote a story about Cinderella taken prisoner from Pizza the Hut, and Harry Potter tried to rescue her, but she was already eaten by Pizza. Also hilarious! So there you go all you people who laughed at me for liking both of those series: they are loved all over the world!
Devotion
We do get to teach a devotion time every morning with our students for 15 minutes. This past week we talked about Joy and Faith. We talked about what it meant to have real joy, and the difference between happiness and joy. Cambodians are very happy, pleasant people so the happiness question is not really an issue. But, talking about joy and what that means was interesting, but I feel like they all understood. We also talked about faith and placing your faith and trust in Him. My favorite day though was Friday. The students had requested that we sing songs, so I put together a playlist of worship songs and we all sang – it was glorious!
Field Trip:
This weekend we took a field trip to the Tuol Sleng genocide museum and the Killing Fields. Not for the faint of heart, this museum shows pictures and honors the souls of the skulls of the thousands of people who lost their lives at the torture center of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. I went there last year, so I didn’t walk through all of the musuem, but it is a very depressing day. When prisoners first arrived at the torture center, they had their picture taken – these photos were displayed and it really showed just how many people lost their lives there. Looking into their faces, I could only imagine what they must have been thinking when they first arrived at this place: confusion, anger, pride, emptiness, hopelessness. And then I mourned for their lost souls. Genocide does happen, every generation has a time when people needlessly try to wipe out another people group. But what gets to me is the fact that humankind is capable of these things, and will continue to do so unless they know the love of Christ.
Food:
Lunch is provided for us at the school, where all the faculty and staff eat. It’s nice sharing a meal with the year round faculty and staff. We have gotten great tips from them on Cambodian culture and what we should experience. We have dinner at Asian Faith, the girls’ orphanage home, and we all love eating with them.. These girls are so fun to be around and willing to help us any way they can. Their guardians are from the Philippines, so they all got a great laugh knowing that I am part filipino, but don’t know how to speak it, so they are teaching me a few words.
Ordering food. On the weekends we are on our own for dinner, so we have now learned how to order takeout and delivery from restaurants. It has really been a lesson on communication, how to speak and listen carefully. Saturday night after our depressing day, we ordered pizza from the Pizza Company, and it was some of the most delicious pizza. Megan and I shared a large pizza and later, we noticed on the menu that it normally served 6-8 people, so we felt like gluttonous Americans. Sunday night we ordered from Java Cafe, and it was hard understanding what the man was asking – apparently he was asking what kind of cheese we wanted on the chicken burger, but it sounded like it was saying chicken over and over again.
The Grocery store. Going to the grocery store, or really anywhere with food is always a great lesson on the country. We have gone to several different stores to buy food, and we even went to one that caters to foreigners. At Lucky Market in the Soriya mall, there are familiar items thrown in like cereal. This is a strange thing to see because Cambodians do not eat cereal (they eat a hot breakfast), therefore it is VERY expensive. Though I did find my favorite cereal: raisin bran crunch, I am not about to pay $6.50 for a box. I’ll just keep eating tangerines, and pb&j sandwiches for breakfast, thank you. The gas stove makes the kitchen unbearably hot, so none of us like cooking in the morning.
Overall, we have been having a great time experiencing Cambodia. We have been going out trying to find new things and more local experiences and attractions. This week we’re planning on going to the market, to the dump, and to the river front.
Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. Awkun Cheran!
