Another celebration

One of the great things about living in Cambodia is the holidays! While I love my job, it is demanding, and a long weekend periodically helps me to stay sane and enjoy life. Tomorrow, Saturday 28th January is the start of Chinese New Year. While not an official holiday in Cambodia it is widely celebrated and many business were or will be closed as people travel to spend time with their families. Today as I walked to school (by a somewhat long scenic route) I thought I'd snap a few photos of some of the decorations I was seeing.

Offerings for the ancestors.

I love this one, with the Chinese New decorations blending in with snowflakes, probably left over from Christmas!

 Here's a news report that explains a little more about Chinese New Year celebrations in Cambodia. Chinese New Year is also celebrated by many Australians, especially those of Chinese descent. Here and here are articles appearing in the Australian news media, explaining both a little of the history and some things to do or not to do.

Australia Day with a Difference

Australia Day this year was not "just another school day" this year for me. This year it coincided with the beginning of Chinese New Year holidays here in Cambodia, and it was scheduled as a Professional Development Day for staff, while students got to start their holidays a day early.

I had offered to run a session on Positive Behaviour Support and Classroom Management for our Elementary staff, and so decided that a good way to get everyone there on time would be to offer some snacks about 20 minutes before the scheduled start time. In honour of Australia Day I went to one of the local grocery stores and stocked up for a highly unhealthy morning tea, consisting of Anzac Biscuits (freshly made last night), a fruit cake (Black & Gold brand - pretty good), three varieties of Arnott's Shapes, a tub of cream cheese drizzled with sweet chilli sauce, and a wide selection of lollies (Minties, Fantales, Jaffas, Freckles, jelly snakes, Life Savers (musk and peppermint), bananas, false teeth, black cats, Chickos, milk bottles, spearmint leaves and a few "party pack" lollies.

It worked, and a number of people enjoyed lollies they had enjoyed as children in the UK. I think the most popular item was cream cheese "dip". Others really enjoyed the fruitcake, evidenced by the fact that I didn't have a lot to bring home. A couple of people took some goodies home to share with their family after it was all over, and I'm stocked for lollies for a while.

With tummies and/or sweet teeth satisfied, I started the session by displaying the statement "Prevention is better than cure" and asked if that statement could apply to school. We had some discussion and then I presented the session that I developed as part of my uni studies last semester. One of the goals of the session was to come up with four or five positive statements or rules for the elementary school. The photos below show staff discussing their points.

First they all wrote their own four "Be ... " statements, then they paired up, then groups of four, then four groups of about 8 each. Finally I wrote all the words from all the groups on the board and we narrowed them down to five.

We still need to do some work on this, unpacking each of the statements and getting some specific statements about what they look like in different areas of the school, but we've got a starting point, and teachers can think about unpacking them at least in terms of what they look like in the classroom. From there we moved into looking at creating caring classrooms and some specific classroom management strategies, finishing off by watching a brief video where a teacher shares some simple and practical strategies.

Next on the agenda was relaunching Scholastic Book Clubs in the elementary school. I'm hoping there will be lots of excitement among the children when they get their forms after the holidays.

After that it was lunch time, which ended up being fruit and a baguette, then I did a few more jobs around school, making sure the guy dealing with work permits has all the information he needs from me, and meeting some people from one of our "sister schools" within the bigger organisation that East-West is part of.

About 4pm I decided to call it a day, and go for a walk. I'm waiting on some snail mail at the moment, so I took a walk up to the post office. Unfortunately when I arrived there at 5pm it was already closed (usually it doesn't close until 6pm). That was unexpected, since Chinese New Year isn't an official holiday here, but I guess it shouldn't have been, since already I'm noticing other businesses closing early or not open at all. Cambodians love their holidays!

By the time I got home I'd walked about 14,000 steps and climbed 50 flights of stairs today. Yes, I'd say it was definitely a different Australia Day.

Dear Miss Karen

Recently, among the writing choices I offered my students, was for them to write a letter to me. It could be about anything they liked. One of my students wrote a huge list of questions, and since they were mostly fairly basic facts that anyone who knows me well might know I thought it might be fun if wrote an answer to her letter here and then shared it with the class.Something I've learned is that children are often fascinated by their teachers, and it really doesn't hurt to let them get to know a bit about who you really are.

First of all, her letter:

Dear Miss Karen,
What do you like to eat? Do you have a pet in your house? Have you ever been to Canada before? What country do you like most? Do you have brothers or sisters? What colour do you like most? What book do you like most? What movie do you like most? What do you like to wear? When is your birthday? How many friends do you have? Can you eat kimchi? Where is your house? Do you like to wear glasses? How many cousins do you have? Have you ever taught grade 12 before? Who do you believe? Did you have a nice Winter break? Do you like to read books? Do you like to watch a movie? Did you ever go to Korea before?

At that point I think she was told to stop writing as it was time for Khmer class. So here is my answer to her letter. Enjoy!

Dear Student,

Thank you for your letter. What a lot of questions you have. Let me try and answer some of them.

I like to eat all different kinds of food. My favourite meal in Australia is Roast Lamb with baked potatoes and sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, and lots of mint sauce gravy. For dessert, I like apple crumble with custard. Here in Cambodia I like sweet and sour tofu from Ms S, ginger chicken, and lots of other things. I have tried kimchi, but I don't really like it. I do like kimbap though. 

I have never been to Canada, but I would like to one day. I think I'd find it very cold. I have never been to Korea either. Maybe I will go there one day, since it is quite close to Cambodia. My winter break was very quiet, with no students, and I enjoyed going to Bangkok. I have to say that I like Australia best of all, because that is my home country, where I was born. I have a house there, in a city called Toowoomba. Sometime I might show you on Google Maps where it is.

I have one sister who is married, seventeen cousins and many friends. My family mostly live in Australia, with a few in New Zealand. Some of my friends live in Australia, some in Cambodia, and others in different places around the world. I don't have a pet in my house, but I used to have a dog. One of the families I stay with in Australia has a dog that I love. 

My favourite colour is blue, but I like lots of colours. My birthday is in January. I like wearing glasses, but only because they make it possible for me to see well. Without my glasses, I wouldn't be able to read, write, play on the computer, ride my moto, or drive a car.
I love books!!! I love reading them, and I have quite a collection of books. My favourite series is The Chalet School series by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, and I also love The Abbey Girls books by Elsie J. Oxenham. These are books I read when I was growing up, and I still love reading them. I also like reading mysteries, especially Christian ones. The best book I have ever read and will ever read is The Bible, because it helps me to know God, and how He wants me to live. You might guess from this that I believe in Jesus. The movie I like the most is "The Sound of Music". I like to wear clothes that are comfortable and that cover my body in a way that is respectful. Mostly I like to wear clothes that have lots of cotton in them.
Next time you write to me, I'd like you to answer your own questions so that I can get to know you better too!
From Miss Karen

Welcome to 2017

A new year has just begun. I celebrated its arrival very quietly in a guesthouse in Bangkok, where I'm enjoying a change of scenery. This year I decided not to make New Year resolutions, but instead I've set myself three goals.

The first goal is to increase my level of physical activity, and thus my fitness. I'm hoping to play netball at least once a fortnight at school (if we play every week that will be even better, but that depends on other people being available so I'll hope for every fortnight). I've played once, and it was fun, even if I'm not very good. I'm also going to be monitoring my activity levels, having invested some gift money in a fitness tracker. I specifically wanted one that would keep track of the stairs I climb, since I do a fair bit of that at school, and ended up getting one that I can wear swimming if I decide to get back in the water. So to make that goal more specific and measurable I'm aiming for 10,000 steps a day and 20 flights of stairs. So far I've done very well, but then I did have a very active day today. Yesterday afternoon I enjoyed taking a walk in Lumpini Park, where I snapped a few photos of the beautiful orchids in the picture below.

Today I decided to give my budget a break and get some exercise and fresh air. Well, I'm not sure the air was totally fresh, but I definitely got the exercise, along with a lot of other people. One thing I hadn't done here in Bangkok was to visit the zoo, so this morning I hopped on the skytrain and went as far as Victory Monument (see photo above), from where my sources indicated I could take a local bus to get to the zoo, or I could walk (not recommended by the sources). According to my map, it is about 2 kilometres, so I decided to take a walk. It felt a lot longer than that, but I made it, and then after waiting a while to get a bus, for which the number of waiting passengers seemed every increasing, I decided to do the return walk as well. According to my activity tracker I walked 12.36km today!

Now when I was in Singapore a few years back I visited the Singapore Zoo, the Night Safari, and the Bird Park, and thoroughly enjoyed all three. Probably helped by the fact that I had company for the Zoo and the Night Safari, but I also think my experience there spoiled me a little for today's experience. Nonetheless I did enjoy taking in some of God's amazing creations. I have to admit to thinking that God really does have a sense of humour. After all, just have a look at some of the birds I saw.

I also know that He loves to show us beautiful things, and I was privileged to enjoy the display put on by one of the peacocks today. I got photos from both in front and behind, and the difference is fascinating. From the back, everything is brown, but from the front (and side) the colours are spectacular.

The photos don't do it justice, but given that I was taking these through wire fencing I'm fairly happy with the results.

I couldn't resist checking out the Australian section of the zoo, where I was delighted to see some fresh looking eucalypts. I also saw some sleepy koalas, a sleeping wombat and a pair of cassowaries.

Here are a few more of the amazing creatures God has placed in this world. Sadly so many are at risk of extinction, thanks to humans either destroying their habitats or killing them for "medicinal" benefits. That's not a goat in the top right of the next photo, it's a Sumatran Serow. 

Finally, another example of God's amazing imagination. I mean to say, how many people do you know who would design a creature like these giraffes. They are amazing in that they are perfectly designed for the environment in which He placed them in. 

The second goal I've set is something I've set myself a number of times but not yet accomplished. This year, I'd like to read the whole Bible. Now, given the amount of reading that I do, it really shouldn't be that hard, but it is something that requires commitment to doing a portion every day. Back when I first got my Kindle I invested in a copy of the Bible that is set up to help me do exactly that. It's called "Grace for the Moment Daily Bible" and is in my favourite easy read version (New Century Version). Each day has a short devotional comment, a passage from the Old Testament, a passage from the New Testament, a passage from Psalms and a passage from Proverbs. So far I've been reminded of God's creation, man's failure, and God's plan in the sending of His Son. What a great way to start the year. I'm hoping I can stick with it, but know that God's grace will be sufficient for me if I don't get there.

The third goal is a fairly important one, and if I can accomplish it, it will help me accomplish the other two goals. Over the last few years I've found social media taking up a fairly large chunk of time. This year I want to reduce that time to no more than 30 minutes a day. That should allow me to keep in touch with those that I want to keep in touch with, without wasting time that could be better spent doing other things.

Aside from that, I've got a pile of professional reading to complete, and I hope to do some short courses in specific areas as well. I've been asked to consider an additional role at school, which I'm thinking about seriously. Maintaining a good work/personal life balance isn't easy for a teacher, but I hope that, in His strength, I can do better at that this year.

What about you? Have you set goals for 2017? I'd love you to share if you have.