Same but different, different. (April time capsule)

Dawn hill walk, pre lockdown 2, when my bike was brokenish.

It’s what we normally do- stay home during hot weather over the big holiday (New Year) in April. So it was kind of the same. Stock up on food, stop homeschool lessons and trips into town.  Being at home together is cool and relaxing compared to being out in the hottest part of the year.

But different this time because it was with neighbours rather than extended family.  Neighbours who were stuck in the village like because of the lockdown that happened when 20^th  Covid case in the province was detected near our market. And extended family were stuck outside the province due to the Covid 19 provincial travel ban (April 7^th).

A whirlwind of pandemic related breaking news seemed to surround us along with some new and surprising experiences, another difference to our familiar holiday.

2nd year in a row- Easter at home!

We already experienced a weird new thing back in March. They taped us off from the rest of town, along with our whole commune.  No one else in town had this, and we had never heard of it before so it was hard to understand what it was at first.

Straight off that weirdness my mother-in-law had to suddenly cancel her Khmer New Year visit. The fruit she picked and packed fruit to bring us for the biggest holiday of the year had to be unpacked on April 7^th as travel between provinces was banned.  Disappointing for us (and devastating for others), but happy the government drastically reduced the chances of the virus spreading. 

A couple of days later...

Next up another confirmed Covid-19 case was found near our market on April 9th.  At first all we knew was that there were lots of uninformed people and chaos in our village one evening. A family taken away, buildings taped off. Scary.

Then, like dominos the bits of news came out- at least one case- the market shut but commune still open...no wait, now the village is taped off and manned by uniformed official looking people.

Once the confusion settled we were left with a teenager (he came for the afternoon but ended up having to stay 2 weeks), orders to stay in our house (apart from twice a week out to get food), and no access to a market, supermarket or ATM. The village is a smaller area than a commune, so it was a more extreme lockdown than the first one and with no market how would people make money and buy food?

April 10th?

Around the same day, April 9^th, cases in Phnom Penh suddenly spiked.

” The COVID-19 situation seems to have fallen into a state of emergency as the MoH reported 576 new cases today, a number which exceeds the total tally in all of 2020.” April 9^th, The Khmer Times

Siem Reap joined in Phnom Penh in having an alcohol ban, and 8pm-5am curfew and schools were shut  around that time.  Those things hardly impacted me especially as I basically wasn’t allowed to go out at all and didn’t have brain space for noticing, although these things would have seemed significant to me before.

A few days later....

A friend from outside the village brought us some cash, handed it over at the village border checkpoint.  A few days later his commune and two others in town went into lockdown, so was not able to help us anymore.

A few days later...

Milk, bread and toilet paper other friends brought to the checkpoint for us had to be sprayed before members of our household were allowed to put it on their bikes to bring it home.  I didn’t dare go to collect these strange foreign items myself.  My walk back into the village past the empty market and various checkpoints made me realize I’m probably the only white person here and I didn’t want to draw attention. (The walk also reminded me of things I’d read about April 17^th 1975, I wasn’t eager to repeat that feeling.)

A few days later...

A casino about 150km away found a positive Covid-19 person. It shut suddenly with our neighbour inside (April 23^rd).  Was she going to have to stay at work for 2 weeks with no access to her bed, money, clothes, food etc?

The next day...

She tested positive too and was moved to a restaurant (makeshift medical facility). (At first she thought  she was being taken to a hospital in a bigger town.)

Meanwhile other neighbours were stuck in a Red Zone in Phnom Penh.  They had even more extreme restrictions than the Orange and Yellow zones in the capital, and struggled to get food even before the government shut the markets down.

At that point we didn’t know if our lockdown would end in a couple of days, or did we have 2 more weeks? Or was it five more days?

After much confusion the “lockdown refugee” who had been camping in our yard was finally able to go home! He was so excited he came back to tell us within the hour!

I think I had imagined that the end of lockdown would feel exciting and freeing, but confusion was overwhelming as I mentioned here.

The superficial sameness of it tricked me. Each day looked normal, but the emotions that popped up at the end of the month said otherwise.

I felt scared to go past where the checkpoint had been.  After 2 weeks anticipating the moment I could finally ride my bike again, it was a big anticlimax.  First ride out I rode really slowly, waiting for someone to stop me.

I felt surprised to see people going about their everyday business and realised they had been doing that the whole time we were locked up. I had known that of course, but seeing it was a different feeling.  Even though some parts of town had commune lockdowns I don’t know of any other extreme village lockdowns like ours.  As far as I know others had access to shops and banks the whole time.

I felt like our family needed some time at home together to recover. Even though we had just done that for 2 weeks! But it was by force, and with neighbours. And we all knew no one could come or go. I didn’t realize I found that intense until it was over.

A few days later...

Restrictions lifted- travel between provinces allowed (apart from worst areas such as Phnom Penh), and then the 3 commune in Siem Reap were also freed.

Such a relief in some ways. People were stuck away from their families, and limited access to food and money. But also, cases are still going up, so we expected and indeed saw more cases once those bans were lifted.

At the start of April: 2478 cases of Covid-19 in Cambodia and 15 deaths. The whole month felt like a whirlwind of changes. Constantly surprised and having to readjust. By the end of the month over 13,000 cases and at least 90 deaths.

Riding out the hot season at home is what we usually do. Nothing new about that. But seeing a child barred from going home for 2 weeks, and the feeling of not being able to access money and buy food was a bizarre surprise.

Same but different, different.

This is an attempt to sum up April, I was doing small updates each day as new things popped up. Hopefully this post brings it altogether for our time capsule collection.

And while we had been at home in Siem Reap, the capital city was also in lockdown, you can read about it here. 

Finally back inside Angkor Thom after not riding for over 2 weeks.

March Time Capsule

Current fave toys and their whiteboard likeness. 7/3

Before last month moves too far into the past we’re making a collection of words and photos from March 2021.

A child-made scroll.

Hot season started, we paused our school work for our long summer break, the 38 roads project continued, walks and rides in the Angkor Park still happened but only in the early morning!

Srah Srang 6th March, 6:36am

Covid19 disrupted our lives with Cambodia’s worse outbreak to date continuing on from February 20, which gave me a vivid reminder that it was one year since it felt like the world turned upside down.

We still buy a lot of food, but not all of it. 7th March

“March 2021 is just like March 2020 only now we have toilet paper.” 

I saw this on Facebook and it felt true. Although we never had a toilet paper shortage here it did feel like we were doing March 2020 all over again. We hadn’t had to take much notice of restrictions for ages, then suddenly in March we had to cancel trips out of town and pay attention to how many new cases each day.

 

Wat Bo Road, 6th March, 10:15am

1^st March

A birthday party we went to on the last day of February 2020 popped up in my newsfeed memories. It was the last big gathering we went to before everything shut down for the new virus. We had just said goodbye to two families as they moved out of Cambodia. We didn't know a few more were about to leave. They didn't know either!

Bougainvillea- such colourful flowers in this season...and masks

4^th March

Hot season takes me by surprise every year!
The last few days the kids were tired and grumpy in the late afternoon and today one even fell asleep half an hour before dinnertime.
Time to think about some hot seasons habits.

Hot season habits might include:

Cornflakes for easy dinner

Naps during the day

Less or no school work

Less bike rides during middle of day

Less everything during the middle of the day

Ice cream

Drink more water

Eat mango

Angkor Wat, 12th March, 6:51am

6^th March

While feeling so tired from the 'feels like 38' humid day I questioned my son on  why is he  still so energetic even in hot season. He said without missing a beat, very loudly and while jumping around:

BECAUSE I GET MY ENERGY FROM THE SUN!
I'M SOLAR POWERED!
I AM A JAPANESE ROBOT!

Angkor Thom moat, 10th March, 6:54am

7^th March

It was on this day last year schools in Siem Reap town area were ordered to shut for at least 2 weeks.

I remember what I was doing when I found out, (I was in the middle of messaging a friend about kids and dental issues) .
It seemed like such a bizarre idea at the time. We didn't know that in a week’s time all the schools in the whole country would have to shut and for a lot longer than 2 weeks.

12th March, 6:44am

8^th March

This day last year was the first time to wash our hands at Khmer church. Soeun built a tap and sink for this purpose. We didn’t know at the time but it was also the last time for our children and I to go to Khmer church.

Wat Bo road again

9^th March

Countless diggers, dump trucks, detours.
Lots of destruction and dust.
Most of the main roads are construction sites these days, it is hard to describe how bizarre it seems. But also people just go about their daily business. “Reaper Roadworks” group on Facebook has a group collection of photos and videos of this transformation.

Part heat, part covid, we don't want to go out too much. Shop in bulk when we can.

Meanwhile the virus is creeping closer. Since Feb 20 cases have been rising. Mostly it was in the south of Cambodia, but last few days cases have appeared in provinces closer to us.   And today we heard just outside our town there was a case which meant schools there closed. Some community overlap with the high school near us, so our neighbours are impacted. Possibly geographically the closest we have been to people getting tested for C19. 

Fixing up the pond, although the kids pretended it was a World Wa trench

11^th March

Up until this date there had been no confirmed deaths from Covid19 in Cambodia, this was the day the government announced the first fatality.

Food by Aunty! She has been staying with us since June 2020. This is a corn dessert with coconut milk.

 

20th March

“Travel ban for our commune. No one in or out. Starts in 12 minutes”

Such a confusing shock to hear this, I didn’t know what it meant for us. A man had travelled from one of the infected provinces and sought medical treatment at the market near out house and about 3 other places in town. Our whole commune was banned from travelling for a week, and the pharmacy in question had police tape on it for two weeks.

I wanted to hurry in and see the sunrise, but some were more interested in how they are restoring the original bridge.

Sheepie and Koala

 

Always drawing

Summer holidays at home. 3pm is ice cream time!

Today March 22nd- last year and this year

The day we heard the schools would closed down for the first time, 

the day the Australian government urged international travellers to fly home asap,

the last time we went to church- March last year was very memorable. 

And this is what I post on Facebook this day last year:

Weird newsfeed today, what a surreal Sunday.

Basically my Aussie Facebook friends who are posting today fall into 3 groups. All of them are in situations they have never been in before.

1. Those doing online church. I saw many photos of laptops and mention of how fun it was to wear PJs to church!

2. Those heeding the warning from Aus government to get back to Aus asap before it closes.

(Facing flight cancellations, new travel requirments like health certs/ x-rays and fears of getting sick along the way, the stress of quick goodbyes. Most hope to return in X amount of months but one traumatically had to pack up her whole life in a week. Those who are leaving have specific health/financial issues for leaving).

3. Those staying put in their host country.

(Feeling safer in isolation than travelling, but knowing they are away from good medical care. Yesterday a few of us set up a Fb group for those of us staying here, so comforting to connect with others here.)

Meanwhile, here we are at home with the handprints we made yesterday in the new cement near our front door.

And here we are in March 2021. A month into the biggest community transmission. Until 4 weeks ago there had only been around 400 Covid 19 cases in Cambodia. But just since Feb 20 it has gone up to 1753, and the first 4 deaths.  The first case in our province had some community overlap with us, so that felt like it was getting quite close. Then the day before yesterday a case from our commune was discovered so we suddenly had a travel ban on our area! I'm not sure how long for or what it will mean for us. So far its just meant Soeun had to cancel some meetings and I had to rush home before getting shut out!
Latest numbers in this article Cambodia's Covid tally- March 22 2021- Khmer times

Third and final new year of 2019

So I'm  a little late with this. Two years late in fact. 

The year 2019 started with the international new year, as I mentioned here NEW!, then we had the Chinese New Year as I described here FIRSTS, then in April the Khmer New Year. 

I did mention a bit here HOT but I still had these other things I wanted to remember. And that two years has passed I still want to record them here along with the perspective from now.

At the time I didn't get around to posting the photos and writing about it but I remember that I wanted to  remember that we said goodbye to the N family, that we had our last play at Rosy before it closed and that the children were creating things faster than I could take photos of them.

A soccer party, a snake and some sickness after KNY, as well as hot weather and grumpiness and a lady burning her protection belt were among the notable events I listed in my notes. And we got to know the neighbours more during that holiday time. Well, Soeun and his mum did I guess. But I'll stick with the main three things here.

Goodbye poolside party March 2019

Playgroup morphing 

Since our children finished at preschool we had been meeting a couple other families for playdates. I already knew of two mums, or "moms" who had children the same age as our second child. As soon as we said goodbye to part time preschool, I contacted them and we started meeting weekly at each others houses or a playroom in town.  A few other families joined our trio. But in March 2019 one of these families left Cambodia.  Perhaps the first big goodbye for our children.

And then March 2020 the other left! Our youngest said now she had no friends, those 2 had been her weekly age mates since she finished preschool. COVID shut down happened just after that, so there was no chance for her to get to know others. An ever changing remnant of the group exists, but between children starting school, COVID, and others leaving the days of the regular originals are over. Almost all the places we used to meet are closed as well.

Goodbye Rosy

Pregnant and with energetic toddler, moving to SR was exhausting. Rosy restaurant and guesthouse had food my child and then children liked plus a playroom. And a nice riverside view. WIth the chance of running into friends. So it was sad to visit for the last time in March 2019, before they closed down forever! I think they had been around for maybe 14 years, so it was a big deal for many.

A year later the whole town shut down! March 2020 in a tourist town, terrifying. Some businesses are still limping along despite that there is not tourist visa at the moment. And despite massive roadworks.  Getting anywhere is an adventure.

Making things

Costumes, chicken house, puppets. That is what I wrote in the notes for this post. I can't remember the details but I remember being amazed at all the children's creations and felt like I wanted to record them.

I think the chicken house was outside made of old bricks, and the puppets might have been toilet rolls. From Sept 2019 to now I have been taking photos of their creations and posting them in monthly FB albums.

Two years on, sooo many more creations and drawing. I gave up recording each one as there are just too many. Like yesterday, a stretcher for the war wounded toilet roll was constructed out of an old mask.

I had more photos ready, and I would have written things differently at the time so its not the post I planned. But happy to record these events here, I'm sure another two years we will will have forgotton some details.

Why did it feel like the world turned upside down?

It felt like the world had turned upside down, and yet at the same time stayed the same.

For the May Linkup on A Chronic Voice  I'm attempting to describe my experience of being an Australian in Cambodia during Covid-19. Part of the experience was scrolling Facebook and incongruously laughing at all the memes, so I've included some here.
  

Prompts for this month: foreseeing, upbringing, accessing, panicking, soothing. Sorry, they're a bit hidden this month. 

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.

That was the sound of five heavy, rough stones falling into a small, thin, plastic bag in quick succession. It could really only fit two rocks, so the bag was painfully stretched. The weight and shape of the rocks was uncomfortable.  And the speed at which they were dropped in, almost all at the same time also caused distress.

......

It had already been sneaking into our lives, but in the third week of March 2020 the new virus really made its impact. We had been aware of it, but we didn’t foresee it turning our world upside down.

Only 1 confirmed case in Cambodia for the longest time, but in March they began to rise.  Schools in town were shut down in the first week of March, and the COVID-19 outbreak declared a pandemic. 

In hindsight I see these as heralding the changes to come. That Sunday, 15^th in church Soeun explained hand washing and distancing. It turned out to be the last Sunday church service to date.

I felt like that thin, small, plastic bag the week beginning 16^th March. By the next Monday I was so tense, anxious and confused, not even sure why it felt like everything was different. Because it also felt like everything was the same. 

So what was going on that week?  My husband being extra busy in new ways; his role as Christian leader morphed from teacher to a million other roles. Humid weather arrived, its stickiness slowing my brain and body down. People all over the world panicking, things in China seemed to be easing while in many other countries things sped up. While also slowing down. 

Into this busy, humid panicky backdrop fell those five stones, landing one after the other. 

Thud- thud- thud- thud- thud. Without enough time between them to see what they were.  All I knew is they were heavy and uncomfortable. It wasn’t until later that I was able to pull them all out and have a look at each one. Somehow it was soothing to examine each one.

1. Uneasy about accessing medical care in this country.

Confronted with a friend’s hospital experience reminded us health care in Cambodia was not pandemic ready.  When a fractured bone is left untreated, and yet still sends people into debt, you don’t like to think what would happen if many people were sick at the same time.

2. Undone?

Like a newborn baby our church community was only just starting to form. After about half a year of intentional bonding with church members and the leadership team suddenly religious meetings were banned. Making the abrupt change with a brand new group wasn’t exactly plain sailing. We are happy to stay apart to prevent the virus spreading faster and thankful for online connections, but wondering what all the newly formed relationships will be like when the dust settles.

3. Unexpected.

Air travel changed quickly, flights cancelled, extra travel restrictions and bans came into effect and borders threatening to close. The Australian government urged Aussies to get back while they still could, especially if they were in countries with questionable healthcare.  

I had not even considered this option before and suddenly I had to decide immediately. 

Amidst the humidity I tried to weigh up the dangers of travel verses the danger of getting stuck in South East Asia during a worldwide health crisis. I would have to start packing for the kids and I right away, if I was to get out before it all shut down. What kind of upbringing did we want to give them? If we left,  when would we get back to Soeun and our house where they are used to playing and learning?  

I saw the government message on Wednesday 17^th, by the 19^th two Aussie families I know had announced they were leaving. By the weekend they were on the plane. One, traumatically actually had to pack up her whole life in a day as they had to leave permanently.   

4. Economic uncertainty.

The sharp decline in tourism was being felt by a town full of people already just getting by. That was only a blurry background for me until seeing the desperation of a family known to us.  Suddenly, in that third week of March it was brought into sharp focus.  I felt like we were living in a town of hospitality workers who had not earned enough for a few months, and the months ahead looked like things would get even worse.

5. Unprecedented.

Like a giant game of musical chairs everyone suddenly jumped up and started racing around the world, hoping to end up in the right place before the music stopped. I saw (via Facebook) fellow expats around the world making a quick exit from their host countries. Often without goodbyes, and not knowing when they would be back. Some knowing they wouldn't be back.

While others who were meant to make an international move stayed put.  Also via Facebook I saw friends who were about to move overseas, or about to move back to their passport country having to cancel the long planned for transition. 

And still others got caught in a third country where they neither lived, nor were from. 

...............

After I had looked at each "rock", and had time to get used to it all I felt much better. Uneasy, undone, unexpected, uncertainty, unprecedented. No wonder I felt overwhelmed and exhausted!

Although my daily life was almost identical to pre March 16th, the changes in our street, town and the world were filling the windscreen. 

I noticed on the Linkup Sheryl mentioned this is Mental Health month in America.

"It can be easy to get caught up in your emotions as you’re feeling them. Most people don’t think about what emotions they are dealing with, but taking the time to really identify what you’re feeling can help you to better cope with challenging situations."

For more about this see Owning your Feelings. 

Photo credit: Unsplash Fateme Alaie

Staying at home with celebrations, storms and sickness. April 2020

Happily Easter was much more noticeable his year, it normally gets swallowed up by Khmer New Year as they often fall close together in mid April. We often don't have any special Easter thing at church, or sometimes we don't even have church if most people are away. And going out anywhere, such as church, is hot and chaotic, not very pleasant.

Palm Sunday

Thanks to Covid-19 the KNY public holidays and travel were cancelled, so the 4 of us were at home together for all of April. No travel, no relatives staying, no church. So great, I wish we could do it that way every year. Well, you know, apart from the unprecedented uncertainty playing in the background.

We spent the lead up to Easter reading out bits of Matthew, and then in the days before Good Friday reading some of Mark. And because Australians were also at home, we got to enjoy some extra things as everyone took their ministry online. Colin Buchanan started doing Facebook live concerts at home, Quiz Worx put some talks up with activities sheets and extra things. So great! We also watched the weekly Sunday school lessons from a church in America called Saddleback, just randomly found on Youtube. The first one we watched is here, in the lead up to Easter, then it became our weekly thing.

We had a Khmer zoom Sunday morning meeting, and there was also an English language church meeting by zoom in the evening, but we had a huge storm as mentioned here and power cut so couldn't join.

The next day was the first day of Khmer New year, and people welcomed the New Year angel around 8pm that night. It was so noisy and smoky! I think they usually visit relatives out of town to do it, I hadn't realised but I think it was the first time the kids saw and heard what I described back here- photos from 2009 but the post is mainly about 2007. 

The rain started the Thursday before Good Friday, and since then it has been stormy/low pressure so Soeun has been unwell since then. The cooler change meant I was feeling a bit more energetic though, after the humid weeks of late March and early April, so I started adding a bit of school work into the day. We don't really do much homeschooling in the hottest part of the year.

As far as hot season go, it wasn't so bad. In fact according the to BCI it was easier than normal. We only had a few short power cuts, and the pump only stopped a few times, probably due to lower water level underground. It was also much calmer than March, which I'm still getting my head around. And the stress that caused the blog black hole of Nov19-March 2020 took a back seat, so despite the humidity it was actually a pleasant month. The kids spent a lot of time drawing and playing together, I tried to take a photo of some of their creations and activities but I couldn't keep up!

Still reeling from my own March 2020 experience (hope to write about it here soon), I was reading stories like these: Aussies who stayed and Aussies who left.

At the start of the month we had just been through what felt like some quick, scary changes and were bracing for a disaster. On the final day of April I went to buy fruit and veggies at our local market as usual and felt like people in our village are more relaxed about it now. In Feb I was the barefaced white person at the market while most others were masked, but now on the other side of March, I'm still wearing a mask but less Khmer are.

The last time the kids left the house/yard was 8th March, 8 weeks ago! We have the space set up for our homeschool life, with a big yard and they are used to playing at home together, so its been mostly quite nice. Things are beginning to open up a bit now it seemed, although it doesn't feel like things will just spring back to normal in weeks. Maybe never? Siem Reap economy is missing the international tourists.

The kids just keep making things out of things they find around the house. Their ideas are like a tap that won't turn off, we have an endless supply of boats and spaceships.

Sick, Stateless and Starving. (January 2020 catch-up journal)

"This month feels like an impossible mountain to climb. It also feels like time travel, as if we are back in 2006."

I didn't post on this blog for a few months as I lost interest in reading and wrting, but now I'm feeling ok, I feel like catching up. So here is a bit of what I wrote to friends in early January: 

"Hi friends, hope you are staying cool and safe today, the news from Australia is awful!

This month feels like an impossible mountain to climb. It also feels like time travel, as if we are back in 2006.

If we don't hike up the mountain of our January to-do list it feels like we will be sick, stateless and starving.

Happily we have reconnected with 4 friends from 2006 who are helping us with this mountain.

......... life admin is going to consume more time, energy and money than usual this month. Feeling overwhelmed!"

Expat life admin means a trip to the capital city

Also that month on Facebook I posted a link to a news article about a new virus. During SARS in 2003 I lived in China so I was interested to read about this new corona virus. 

I started remembering all the crazy things that happened during that time, and all the hype around it. 

Friends evacuated back to the USA overnight, no time to say goodbye. 
I had a go bag packed AND was stocking up on food. Go or stay??? 
We were constantly checking the CDC and the WHO websites, as well as news sites and exchanging all the wild stories people were telling. Thankfully no Facebook back then or it would have felt even crazier.
Those 5 days in quarantine  when a friend was in hospital as a suspected SARS case. 

I decided that I wouldn't get caught up in all the hype this time around, it was fun last time, but I don't have spare time and energy now, with a family and sickness. Planned to try to stay informed but to try not to become too obsessed. 

If I wrote this at the time I probably would not have thought to include a bit about the 'Rona, but as I'm writing in April, after it turned the world upside down, it gets a mention.

Photo credit: unsplash