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.

Public Holidays and so on...

If there was a contest for the country with the most public holidays, I'm sure Cambodia would be right up there at the top of the list.

Since school started on 3rd September, we have had a total of 7 public holidays and 1 teacher work day when we did parent-teacher conferences. So that means that in the first 11 weeks of the school year, we have had 7 five day weeks (i.e. no public holidays). We've had two 4-day weeks, and two 2-day weeks.

This week was supposed to be the 8th five day week, but alas, ASEAN has come to Phnom Penh, and schools are closed. We were officially notified on Friday that we would have to close on Monday and Tuesday. So that makes a 3-day week this week. Next week is a 2-day week (Monday & Friday with holidays Tuesday to Thursday), then a five day week, a four day week, and one last five day week to bring us up to the Christmas break. Hmmm.

Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the holidays. They help me stay sane, giving valuable catch up time, BUT they also make it hard to maintain momentum with my students. Have a look at this.
Week 1     5 days
Week 2     5 days
Week 3     5 days
Week 4     4 days (I was ready for that long weekend) (Constitution Day)
Week 5     5 days
Week 6     5 days
Week 7     2 days (The 5-day break was good) (Pchum Ben)
Week 8     5 days
Week 9     2 teaching days, plus 1 day parent-teacher conferences (Coronation Day & King Father's Birthday)
Week 10   4 days (Independence Day)
Week 11   5 days
Week 12   5 days (only now it's 3 days)
Week 13   2 days (Water Festival)
Week 14   5 days (Hooray)
Week 15   4 days (big concert that weekend, so don't mind that Monday is a holiday - International Human Rights Day)
Week 16   5 days
CHRISTMAS / WINTER BREAK (2 weeks)

We haven't got the calendar for 2013 yet, but I'm fairly sure the holidays are a little more spaced out after Christmas, and we should be able to get some solid teaching happening. Life is interesting.

It's interesting, because this means we have a 16 week term! It would be way too long if it weren't for all those sneaky little holidays. So, what should I do? Well, I think that what I do is actually OK. I enjoy the holidays when they come, and do my best to keep some continuity happening in the classroom despite the interruptions. Keeping routines going helps kids, so when I can do that I do.

And as for ASEAN, well, I wonder what Aussie parents would say about school being closed for two days with only one weekend of notification. I wouldn't like to be a teacher there in that situation. Here, it's just part of life, and you do what you have to do. Either the kids will go to work with Mum & Dad, or Mum and/or Dad may just have to stay home too. Life is different here.

What about me? Do I get two extra days holidays. No, although I do get two shorter days (9am - 2pm instead of 7am -3pm). We need to get working on WASC, and hopefully I can get some grading caught up and some extra planning done.

As for those lessons I had planned for Monday and Tuesday .... Well, that will teach me to try and plan two weeks ahead. Some can be shuffled to Wednesday, and some will just have to wait until I return from ICEC in Chiang Mai after Water Festival. Life's like that.

Holidays are for ...

One of the great things about teaching at a school in Cambodia with a largely Cambodian student population is that we take all the Official Cambodian Public Holidays in the correct day. Now in May, this is a bit of a nightmare for getting any actual work done, with Tuesday off the first week, Monday and Wednesday off the second week, and Monday through Wednesday (3 days) off the third week, but you are unlikely to hear me complaining.

Today was an important day on the Buddhist calendar: Meak Bochea Day. This day particularly commemorates Buddha, and his teachings.

So what about me? I don't celebrate Buddha or his followers. Well actually, for me it was a perfectly timed "Pupil Free Day" when I got into the classroom and got my grading caught up, made sure I was ready for the rest of the week's lessons, and recreated some of the documents I lost in the great flash drive disaster!

I think, for the first time since the start of the school year, all completed class work that needed to be graded is done! That said, I have a big project about to hit my desk and one of my next top priorities is to set up the grading worksheets for it. I have been reviewing student work informally during the course of the project, to inform teaching of the rest of the project, but I haven't actually done any formal grading. Fortunately it's a half class project so I should be able to tackle it without feeling overwhelmed.

All this is just as well, because it is now 3 1/2 weeks until my next one day break (a Thursday), and after that it is 4 1/2 weeks until Khmer New Year and a 6 day break (including the weekend). In the past we've had a whole week for Khmer New Year (with a weekend either side), but because of the timing this year we only get Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Monday this year. Life's like that.

Well, it's time to finish. I'm in great need of a good night's sleep before I tackle the coming week. It was hot today! With no students in the classroom, there was also no a/c, so I'm fairly tired, although it could have been worse - the power could have been off so I'd have no fan, and the funeral ceremony that went for much of yesterday could have gone on all day today (instead of finishing around 10.30am) which would have meant keeping the classroom door closed, thereby reducing cross ventilation.

Good night all.