It was time to say goodbye to our students, the boys, Monk Hun and Sue. Our last classes with students we played games. Every class loved playing balloon volleyball ! Lots of laughter and sweating because we had to keep the windows shut to keep the balloon from escaping. On Sunday morning, we headed into town to buy food for a farewell feast. Rog and the boys got a charcoal fire going and grilled the meat while Sue and I fix a salad, sliced the bread and cut up the watermelon. We set up tables in the library and by noon all was ready. We feasted on what the boys said was the best meal they'd ever had: small chunks of of beef, chicken leg, hot dog, garden salad, watermelon, banana, rambutan, bread, Coke and a slice of yummy cake. Just watching them eat was such fun! After many words of appreciation and heartfelt hugs, we left with great memories and a sense of deep satisfaction. Sue and Monk Hun have been our fabulous host and now friends. Off we go…
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
Update 11
Tidbits: Gas is about $3.50/gal, whole chicken about $3.50
-Coke is 50 cents a can. You can sometimes buy Coke Lite or Coke Zero but never Diet Coke. I asked Hun about why & he said that people around here don't like the word Diet!
-We recently passed a strange looking very tall building with small holes all over. It was a place for birds to build nest which then would be sold for bird nest soup. I didn't get the recipe!
I must say there's been lots of improvements since we arrived: Garden is clean, compost is nearly done, seedlings are growing and a new garden gate & fencing will keep the dogs & stray kids out! A chicken coop & mushroom house are near completion. The office has been cleaned & a white board & bulletin board put up there as well as in the classrooms. And our English students…especially the 7 pm older kids have so much more confidence & ability to read and speak English! It's been extremely rewarding being a small part of these improvements. Saturday a.m., I was invited to Hun's family home which is right next door. I went with one of the boys here who speaks fairly good English so he could translate for me. I met Hun's sister who cooks for the boys. It was one of those times where you have to control the expression on your face. Her kitchen was outdoors on dirt floor. She had built a fire under the 3 prong cement stove & had a pot of water boiling. She'd cut up a chicken…every single part of it…and put it in the boiling water. A bit later, she added some spices from her multitude of containers and then some fresh vegetables. Writing these steps sounds all ok…but it was the surroundings that changes the image. The dirt on all the containers, the mess piled up under & around her work area, the chickens pecking under her feet. While I watched & tried to converse, one our pm students was doing her homework ever so neatly while watching a show on phone propped up in front of her on the nearby table. A large plastic screen covered the left over maybe breakfast food in the center. The girls auntie was carefully combing through her long, thick hair…picking out the lice eggs & crushing them on a piece of paper. Again, I just had to act like this was all normal. Open fire, chicken guts, dirt, grimy containers & lice picking with the comedy show laughter in the background. I came back to find Sue preparing a delicious smelling stir fry on her gas stove in her neat, clean kitchen. How do you make sense of the differences?? Maybe you just don't.
-Coke is 50 cents a can. You can sometimes buy Coke Lite or Coke Zero but never Diet Coke. I asked Hun about why & he said that people around here don't like the word Diet!
-We recently passed a strange looking very tall building with small holes all over. It was a place for birds to build nest which then would be sold for bird nest soup. I didn't get the recipe!
I must say there's been lots of improvements since we arrived: Garden is clean, compost is nearly done, seedlings are growing and a new garden gate & fencing will keep the dogs & stray kids out! A chicken coop & mushroom house are near completion. The office has been cleaned & a white board & bulletin board put up there as well as in the classrooms. And our English students…especially the 7 pm older kids have so much more confidence & ability to read and speak English! It's been extremely rewarding being a small part of these improvements. Saturday a.m., I was invited to Hun's family home which is right next door. I went with one of the boys here who speaks fairly good English so he could translate for me. I met Hun's sister who cooks for the boys. It was one of those times where you have to control the expression on your face. Her kitchen was outdoors on dirt floor. She had built a fire under the 3 prong cement stove & had a pot of water boiling. She'd cut up a chicken…every single part of it…and put it in the boiling water. A bit later, she added some spices from her multitude of containers and then some fresh vegetables. Writing these steps sounds all ok…but it was the surroundings that changes the image. The dirt on all the containers, the mess piled up under & around her work area, the chickens pecking under her feet. While I watched & tried to converse, one our pm students was doing her homework ever so neatly while watching a show on phone propped up in front of her on the nearby table. A large plastic screen covered the left over maybe breakfast food in the center. The girls auntie was carefully combing through her long, thick hair…picking out the lice eggs & crushing them on a piece of paper. Again, I just had to act like this was all normal. Open fire, chicken guts, dirt, grimy containers & lice picking with the comedy show laughter in the background. I came back to find Sue preparing a delicious smelling stir fry on her gas stove in her neat, clean kitchen. How do you make sense of the differences?? Maybe you just don't.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)