After some rain

We are lucky- our house doesn't flood. For others Wednesday morning meant they could go for a swim in the comfort of their home.

October newsletter photo

Feeding the Dead

Katherine:

When I’m in the traffic these days I see so many people dressed up in nice clothes carrying cylindrical containers. The women are all wearing lacy white tops and colourful silk skirts like they wear to weddings. What is happening?

Kimsoeun:

In Cambodia right now, people are having a major religious festival, called Pjum Ben, when people go to Wat (Buddhist temple) to offer food for their dead ancestors, whom they believe to become hungry souls (called Pret), kept and tortured in hell, and allowed to come to earth only 15 days a year, that is, these last 2 weeks.

The hungry souls will go around to 7 Wats to eat food offered by their living relatives. If they find food they will bless their family, if not they will curse. This is very important festival. People are making sure that they take food to a Wat at least once.

Please pray for Cambodian Christians that we would stand firm and remain faithful to God, and not being tempted to do otherwise.

Pray for those who are being forced to offer food to Wat or insulted by their family or relatives, that they too will have wisdom to do what is right before God.

Man creating gods

Thanks to those of you who tried to guess the photo a few posts ago. Here are some of the answers:
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A Cambodian coffee cart.

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I guess the picture is a filter trap for a prawn farm, surrounded by slabs of rock to hold the filter mesh, and with a wacker-packer used for smoothing the hole lying on its side in the middle.

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hmm tricky....

there is a steel bar in the background along with some green safety netting. On the right looks like it might be a big power tool. In the foreground are two big lumps of concrete, although the one on the left looks roughly chiseled, so maybe its rock. Perhaps the big powertool is for cutting the rock.

I guess that only leaves one conclusion.... Katherine's making pancakes again!!

No wait... it a building site! :-P

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And here is the picture in full, along with some others- I'll let them explain the real answer!

Beginning and Endings

This month the “ summer holidays” end and new school year starts for college, under this heading there are lots of endings and beginnings. Some notable ones for us are:

A 3rd year student has been my language tutor this year. She stayed on campus over summer so we have spent lots of time together. This month she has moved out to start work. Her job is with kids who have been rescued (from being trafficked). She was very sad to leave campus after living here for 3 years!


A girl from Denmark has just arrived and will be teaching English at college. We met up so I could tell her about the course and college. She seemed quite comfortable and happy here already!

And of course the campus will fill up with students again and KS will start teaching “Jeremiah” and “How to Study the Bible”

Another ending for me this month is finishing Level 2 of language (July-Sept). We have a two weeks off, I’m planning to spend more time doing listening and speaking. During term time I spend a lot of time writing and reading just to keep up in class, so I think I’m in need of some conversation practise. (Ask me how it’s going.)

Unrelated to academic things, but still keeping with the theme of endings and beginnings is that I have started going to a different church.

KS is committed to helping his church. He preaches at least once a month, involved with music and youth as well as working with the elders to build up leadership of members (there is no pastor).

I’ve found the moto ride there each week very un-fun, and so it’s been hard to get to know people. Its hard enough to try to speak Khmer, but adding in a sore back and general traffic exhaustion makes its even harder. Along with the fact we only see the people once a week (no one lives near us) means I’m always feeling like I want to be more involved.

So I have started going to a church that is close enough to ride my bike to, and I already know many of the people there. I would prefer if KS and I could be part of the same church, but after 7 months of trying, it wasn’t working. I hope I can get involved in my new church.

What is this?????????

What is in the photo????
You tell us! Please send an email with your answer (or you could leave a comment on the blog but then everyone can read it- so only do that it you think you’re wrong). Winners might get a postcard from Cambodia. Answer/s will be revealed in the future. Feel free to share with you Bible study group etc.

Cow goes up the hill

Here is a picture of a meal we had at our house with KS’s small group. It’s similar to Chinese meals – Hot Pot/Steam Boat. All the food comes to the table raw (or in this case the floor) and you cook as you go in pot in the middle. Instead of a pot of boiling soup this is a small coal stove that is shaped like a hill. And most of the meat we cooked on it was beef- hence the name!

International Visit # 2 and traffic photo

An Aussie family we know who financially support the work of the college recently came to visit Cambodia. It was great to introduce them to the student they support, show them around and have some meals together. We were excited that as well as sending money to support work in Cambodia they could come and see and experience a bit.

It was also fun for me because we got to ride in tuk tuks (rather than moto taxi or bike) and we got to feed them fun/interesting Cambodian fruit.

Pancakes

Language and Culture sharing usually involves food. In China and here I have tried cooking and serving Western food.

Chinese kitchens don’t come with ovens, but I had a small one, looked a bit like a microwave (similar to the one we have now, see blog post from May). I used it to bake pumpkin and one of my Chinese friends really liked it. One day I went to visit her family for dinner. She had bought a pumpkin so I could show her how to make the baked pumpkin she liked. But she had no oven.

I’ve discovered pancakes are great to cook and serve to Khmer people if I want to feed them some Western food. I can cook them using the same things Khmer people use to cook dinner everyday- our gas stove and frying pan. All the ingredients I can get at the local market. Some Western dishes I would need to make a trip to a supermarket in town. Things like cheese, butter, cocoa we can buy in Phnom Penh but only at certain shops.

In the pancake batter I put water, eggs and flour. I serve them with sugar and lime juice. Limes are common here. They are sold along side chilli and ginger at the market, rather than with fruit, as they are used a lot to flavour meat dishes.

As my previous house mates can tell you I love pancakes, they are great for any meal!

Construction

I pass heaps of construction sites each day so I thought I’d share these photos. In a recent edition “Phnom Penh Post” there is an article about safety for workers. “Fuelled by increased investment, construction has been a boom industry in Cambodia’s urban centres for the past half decade, but rapid growth has outpaced regulatory controls.”

The author spoke to a worker who saw his friend and co- worker fall 14 floors and die a few months ago. He also said most construction workers are paid 8,000 riel per day (about $2 US), 7,000 for females.

As I may have mentioned once or twice before it’s quite hot here most of the time. Just riding home from uni (20min, around 10am) is often enough heat/sun to give me a headache (no matter how much water I drink). I can’t imagine what it would be like to spend the whole working day outside. They usually start early and have a long break in the middle of the day- but they still get a lot of sun.

Recently we...

KS has been spending his days preparing lesson on Jeremiah. The new year will start in about a month and for the first time the college will have semesters instead of terms.

Campus life is different with most of the students away. I was worried I wouldn’t have as much opportunity to (try) speak Khmer during these months. However there are a few girls still living in the dorms next door. And with less people around I think we tend to spend more time together, sharing food, talking etc, than during term time.

My classmate who was evacuated cos she has Dengue is getting better. It will be awhile before she is well enough to come back, but she is much better.
Another classmate was in a car crash recently and he has just started coming back to class. There are 63 stairs up to our 3rd floor classroom, according to him. He has plaster from toe to knee, so he has time to count the stairs and he slowly makes his way up and down each day.

I’m still riding my bike to class each day, although it enjoying less. About once a week I take a moto taxi if I’m tired or its raining or something. As I was riding home recently a moto accident happened right beside me. I don’t think it was fatal but hearing the moto crunch on the road and seeing people flying through the air increased my fear of the traffic here.

Multi cultural wedding

Recently we went to a wedding of a Khmer man and a girl from Hong Kong. The cultural mix was obvious in the days activities.

It began with a fruit procession from Khmer culture at 7am, which was followed by a Chinese tea ceremony. After a short sermon, breakfast of rice porridge was served.

Next we moved to a bigger hall and the bride- in fact the whole wedding party- had changed into white. The groom went out the front on stage while the bride walked down the aisle Western style.

After a church wedding service in Khmer and Chinese the new couple walked out together while we threw Jasmine flowers over them.

Next was lunch with an informal ceremony, sort of like speeches. And I’m not sure what happened after that.

I think the bridal party only changed clothes three times which I think is more Chinese than Khmer (Khmer brides change about 5- 7 times!)

Meat on line

Well, I was so happy that we were able to buy a fridge. I've grown up with a fridge in the house, keeping food cold is good! However, my husband didn't grow up having a fridge so we have some different ideas about storing food! For example one Sunday he chopped up the meat and mixed it with garlic and stuff- and then put it on the washing line to dry!

You can see in these photos the beef in a red plastic basket thing sitting on the piece of string that used to be our washing line. Until recently thats where we hung clothes to dry, but the string kept breaking just after I'd put all the clean clothes on it- so they weren't clean anymore.

Heaps of people in Cambodia have a metal rod on legs they use. After putting the clothes on coat hangers they put them on this rod. Well, we finally bought one and worked out how to get it home. So far we've just been leaving it inside with wet clothes on it. After the workmen are finished I plan to take it out side some where.

Happy Birthday Edwin!

Evacuation

My class mate I wrote about in a previous post (Dengue Fever, click on side bar to read or scroll down) does have DF. After waiting a few days and doing a second blood test she wasn't getting any better, so now she's had to leave Cambodia.