oNe PhOtO a DaY nOvEmBeR 2018

THE PROMPTS FOR THE MONTH

THURSDAY 1st MORNING SKY: In the bright light of the tropics it appears much later than it really is but the fisher people are still untangling their nets and the boats haven’t set off yet. We caught this couple preparing their boat with a pale morning sky in the background, on our way to the little monks this morning. Now that they have been given the opportunity to attend Khmer School in the afternoons we will see a lot more morning skies over the fishing villages on route to their classes

FRIDAY 2nd I WANT: The difficulty I have had with this prompt has made me realise how blessed I am. So I want to always be grateful for all I have..... Having said that we arrived in Phnom Penh this morning and our vegetarian food options expanded considerably. I always want to eat cheap, fresh, healthy and delicious vegetarian food and a that’s exactly what we did today ..... our $8 lunch

SATURDAY 3rd I HAVE: a mission to end the use of plastic straws. I also have great friends, who carried these stainless-steel straws to me from Australia and donated them. So now that we are in Phnom Penh I have a gift of locally made bamboo straws and stainless-steel straws for a former refugee and Manus Island survivor, who established his own restaurant, called Mideast Feast, here in the capital

SUNDAY 4th I NEED: As an expat I need a cultural connection to the community, in which I live. This weekend in Phnom Penh has been all about seeing more and understanding more about Cambodia. We have attended a photo exhibition about rural life in the 1960’s before the turmoil, watched films about the Pol Pot era and sought tranquillity and contentment in Wat Phnom

MONDAY 5th FAVE FRUIT: is definitely mango but pineapples and strawberries run a very close second. The local trees are now beginning to bear fruit and even those in our yard have the small green beginnings. I had to quickly purchase these small local ones in Kampot after a bus run from Phnom Penh and another hospital visit. Looks like smoothies tomorrow

TUESDAY 6th STRONG: black coffee, the early morning start me up and the late afternoon pick me up in this house

WEDNESDAY 7th IN MY KITCHEN: Right now, the delicious smell of chocolate brownies is mingling with the exotic tang of this Lotus Root Salad. My all-time favourite cold Chinese dish, which I learnt to make from students 30 years ago when we lived in Taiyuan in China. When I need to escape I bake and cook - tragedy struck today

THURSDAY 8th THIS RULES: We have now spent a year with these little monks and they can focus and apply themselves to tasks and some like Nit can work independently

FRIDAY 9th PALE: Natural and handcrafted soap by Sui for Aiyana. It is created in Kep using pure organic essential oils and in exquisite pale natural colours and available at the Nine Market today and every ninth of the month

SATURDAY 10th BIG: After thinking about it all day, I went with the first idea I had- Kep’s iconic big crab. We had to take a late afternoon spin on the bikes to capture it

SUNDAY 11th SMALL: The new Buddha we bought at Wat Phnom last Sunday, is now set up in the living room. I made the backboard earlier in the week and hung the small Bhutanese Prayer flags this morning after returning from a huge gathering for a religious festival with our little monks. We now have a slice of Bhutan in Cambodia

MONDAY 12th IMPERFECT PIC: Yesterday’s feast at the pagoda with none of the little monks clearly visible, a pole on the corner too little light and too much food

TUESDAY 13th VIEW FOR THE DAY: At Fishing House Kep for sundowners for no reason at all but the view inspires

WEDNESDAY 14th GORGEOUS: water lily blooming in a gigantic ceramic pot in an over run garden

THURSDAY 15th WALK: At the end of our class today our bikes were nowhere in sight but there were a few giggles coming from behind the Buddha at the entrance steps. Two cheeky little monks had hidden our bikes but quickly gave themselves away and tried to walk them back to their original parking spot. The bike is so much bigger than Duan that when he walked it back it nearly took off with him but that didn’t stop him from having a quick scoot around before finally relinquishing it

FRIDAY 16th CLOUDS: After a cloudless hazy day in late afternoon the thunder starts and the dark storm clouds roll in

SATURDAY 17th SOMEONE YOU LOVE: Only one possible choice love of my life - Ian forever and ever

SUNDAY 18th ACTION SHOT: A sleepy Sunday with everyone lazing on the beach today in Kep. So, this is an archive shot of the play time after class with our little monks who were so amazed at the new Phlat balls which were donated by an Aussie mate

Better action shot. Unfortunately, it happened a few days late. Go Duan - acrobatic, mischievous bike thief

MONDAY 19th BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE: I’m constantly torn between the mountains and the beach and Kep has both but I think this serene beach scene wins. It was taken recently but not today. We have had unseasonably cool, wet weather and grey skies all day today not that I’m complaining

TUESDAY 20th LIMITED EDITION: This footstool or ottoman was made from recycled plastic bags and stuffed with them by the talented team at IWA Kep. They create a range of amazing products from trash collected locally and are a shining example of an NGO, which empowers local women and enables them to provide for their families. Each piece is unique and therefore a limited edition

WEDNESDAY 21st EAT: We spotted our little monks on their alms walk, at the beach this morning. I can’t imagine what it must be like to only be able to eat what others donate. They wouldn’t take money from us so we were thrilled to see them again at the market. Having asked what they wanted we knew to buy them watermelon and pineapples and more to take up to them tomorrow for after class. Gam is clutching his alms bowl in the Tuk Tuk, so I hope it contains something delicious. We received two prayer blessings today for our donations

THURSDAY 22nd SLEEP: Sometimes you just have to set up the hammock behind the Buddha statue and sleep the afternoon away! Our monks seem to be featuring heavily in this month’s prompts and Gam in particular. He was totally out to it and it took some effort to get him to open those eyes and join us for the class- too cute

*Belated update: Happy to say that this shot was selected for the Fab Four on Instagram after this blog post went up! Yay! Yay! The first time for me! 

FRIDAY 23rd CREATE: All set to start this year’s batches of traditional Xmas Cakes. We have adapted the Guinness Cake recipe we always use to include as many local ingredients as possible. So, we are about to create Xmas Cakes with a tropical twist and since the local brewery makes ABC stout, we’ll call them ABC Cakes - appropriately renamed to suit a couple of volunteer teachers, who intend to gift most of them to friends in the local community. The house smells totally delicious right now

SATURDAY 24th AN EMPTY ROAD: lined with mangroves and leading to the fishermen’s village

SUNDAY 25th GOLDEN HOUR: Facing the mountains with the warm glow of the setting sun amid the storm clouds forming a dark silhouette of the landscape

MONDAY 26th BUILDING: An abandoned mansion on the main road in Kep. The grounds are always beautifully maintained but squatters reside within. I often admire it and wonder what stories this building would tell if the walls could speak

TUESDAY 27th FAVE VEGETABLE: I love mushrooms! No oyster mushrooms left by the time we got to the market this morning but I reconstituted some dried shitake and bought fresh enoki to have with couscous with roasted veggies for dinner

WEDNESDAY 28th I LOVE THIS ABOUT ME: Even almost two years after retiring I still love to teach! Once a teacher always a teacher.... photo credit to Ian - taken earlier this year when the rain flooded our outdoor teaching space but we just relocated to cover inside and continued

THURSDAY 29th A DRINK: My tipple of choice - vodka lime and soda

FRIDAY 30th VANILLA: Sometimes as an expat one single word of English is enough to reassure you. I’ve bought mothballs thinking they were mints in China and made plenty of other wrong assumptions but this Thai vanilla essence bought in Cambodia is what it says it is

A long overdue update on the little monks of Kep

We returned from Australia in late July keen to continue with the little monks but were quietly cautious about how many might remain in the group. As it turned out all those who had been with us when we departed were still present and three new twelve-year olds had been ordained. 

The rainy season, which we had hoped would be long over was still very much with us and after the first experience of getting bogged on our bicycles on route to the pagoda, we gave in and resigned ourselves to taking a Tuk Tuk there and back until the rain abated and the track became somewhat more passable. Even now deciding is hit and miss. Some days it's all mud and others a huge dust bowl! We ride whenever possible but it is not always easy to ascertain what condition the road might be in before we set off.

As we had been warned, in this season monks rarely leave the pagoda. As a result, we were delighted with near one hundred percent attendance for a few months. We were also thrilled that the little monks were very happy to see us return and highly motivated to learn again. It was endearing to have them determinedly demonstrating how much they retained of what we had already taught.

We picked up almost exactly where we left off and set about trying to catch up the newbies but also simultaneously teach new material. Experience has taught us that with new vocabulary the late arrivals in the class develop confidence in their own ability to learn and find it easier to then catch up with material, which was taught before they joined the class. Regardless there are several levels among a mere eleven boys. 

While new novices attempt to learn the basics of letter recognition and writing as well as initial phonics sounds, those who have attended for longer have drastically improved in their handwriting skills and have an extensive vocabulary of numbers, colours, shapes, stationary items, fruit, vegetables, animals and random other words. Those who fall into the middle group having arrived later but before the newest novices, are more sketchy in their knowledge but strive to catch up and take pride in knowing most of what they have been taught. They all delight in colouring, copying letters and words and in the past few weeks cutting, and gluing are fine motor skills, which have advanced dramatically. Even with limited vocabulary they are keen to communicate with us and convey information and sometimes attempt jokes. In reply to, “How old is Vicky?”, Net mischeviously shouts, “One thousand.” What exactly is meant is sometimes lost on us, but more often than not they can inform us of who is missing, “Hong bye bye!” or other current news. 

With respect to their physical surroundings, great changes continue to take place. Construction of a wall and new steps, as well as a more inviting outdoor meeting area and widening and improving the entrance roadway is now underway and many more Buddha statues and religious articles have been added to the surroundings. More changes and improvements are apparent every time we return. This also means that there have been a few thankfully small injuries resulting from the boisterous play in what is to all intents and purposes a construction site.

More importantly from our perspective at least, the installation of more water storage tanks coinciding with the rainy season ensured that there was more often water available for them. However, it doesn't ensure that there always will be as we have since discovered, or that they will therefore be mindful of keeping themselves and their robes clean. We still undertake randomly checking their hands and nails before class and supplying basic hygiene products and sometimes first aid but unfortunately even constant reminders and praise has limited impact. We have noticed that now that the rains have stopped they are increasingly grubby and again skin issues are prevalent.

On one notable occasion as we cycled along the water front track and approached the turn off to their pagoda, we spotted several of them hanging about on a statue. They immediately indicated most of the other boys were swimming in the water surrounding the boats in the nearby fishing village. We took some time to identify who was in the water and leaping off boats into it and enjoyed their antics before gathering them in to all march up the hill to their makeshift classroom and lessons. Twenty minutes later the sky opened up in a huge deluge and we abandoned class completely and watched their joy in playing in and washing in the rain! 

With the summer vacation for government schools over and the Pchum Ben festivities complete we also learned that they were to commence regular school in the afternoons each weekday and Saturdays. We of course were delighted that they would receive a more formal education in their native language but also a little fearful that that would mean the end of our project as we had always conducted afternoon classes. Thankfully with the unerring support and input from our dear friend Yary, we were able to communicate with the Abbot and continue with a morning time slot. Almost exactly a year after we first started with them we were excited to be heading into a new phase.

Unfortunately, this new time slot eliminated the two village boys who have always attended our classes as that is their regular school time. We, however have thoroughly enjoyed going in the mornings and were pleasantly surprised to find the boys even more attentive and focused. Since they have already eaten a simple breakfast of porridge and their main meal of the day happens immediately our classes are over, they are definitely less sleepy and more alert and receptive. That is at least until the ice cream vendor or another mobile shop arrives to distract them. However, it is impossible to deny them the opportunity to purchase from these vendors if they arrive and we succumb to a break, which can result in quite the distraction, to say nothing of the sticky ice cream fingers all over flashcards and other resources. Boys will be boys! 

The latest amusement for a few of the younger ones is to forego the playtime activities to disappear quite quickly once instruction time is over. This means our bicycles will be hidden in the nearby area and giggles will alert us to their location as we casually stroll out of the pagoda. They emerge rapidly and scoot around on the pedals before good-naturedly returning our bikes to us. They cannot actually ride as they are much too small for the large frames but as I discovered last week they can fill the back basket with rocks to make the load of resources that much heavier. Duan is definitely the instigator of this activity and Gam a more than willing accomplice. 

Our honeymoon period with these new class times came to an end recently when once again the boys were able to venture into the community. Some mornings we have had a few missing as they have gone to the local villages on an alms walk. At other times however, half the class is absent as they are off in the Tuk Tuk to downtown Kep and the beach area. In the last week we have spotted several of them downtown ourselves on days when there are no classes and we would never deny them this opportunity, which they so obviously enjoy. We always donate when we can and often ask what they would like. They usually have no say in what they are given but we all enjoy this interaction and the opportunity to apply their expanding language skills. “Watermelon”, “Papaya”, “Pineapple” and even “Crabs” have been their enthusiastic responses. I’m not sure how they even know the word crab as it's not one of our vocab items but they'll never get crabs from a couple of vegetarians like us. We endeavour to give them something they really want to eat and often take more of the same the following day to their class. 

We have had a few visitors attend classes with us since returning and they are always delighted with the enthusiasm and focus of the boys. Usually they also take a small treat or make a donation to us for something in the future.  We feel grateful for the help and blessed to be able to continue with this little project, which brings us such joy.