Living and Laughing in the ‘Bodia!

Last weekend (sorry, I wrote this awhile ago and have had trouble with uploading, it is more like last month…) we visited Koh Ker, a rural area about 3 hours from Siem Reap were we proudly own 22 hectares of farmland. Brandon wanted to go out to check on his land so I thought he would enjoy having the kids and I tag along and have an adventure. My cousin Tom and his cousin Iona were also visiting so we all loaded up and headed out. Koh Ker is starting to become a tourist attraction because of the pre-Angkorian temples there. I love visiting these temples because they are always empty of tourists and because my magic man is there. The magic man is a legend in Cambodia. Covered in tattoos the story is that he has been blessed and can now repel bullets and mines. He will show you the scars where bullets have burned him, but then bounced off and he will tell you in his own words how he has stepped on land mines twice, both times with those around him dying and him walking away without a scratch. He attributes this to the magic tattoos he has all over his body that protect him. I love seeing him and hearing his stories. Now the head of police in Koh Ker you can usually find him in a hammock outside the main temple where his wife runs a noodle soup shop.

After visiting him and the temples we headed into town. Imagine if Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, David Beckham and Mr. Ed showed up in your town, together. That’s what it’s like showing up in Koh Ker. We took some rooms at the local guesthouse where we were briefed on the 6 to 9 electricity rule. They have electricity from 6 at night to 9 at night, most nights. I took the kids for a walk and let the locals get an eyeful. Most of the kids ran away when they saw us coming, but a few paused on their bikes to watch…they looked ready to pedal like hell if we made any sudden moves. My kids take it all in stride, even lunch and dinner at the town’s “best” restaurant, where the choices were rice or noodles didn’t seem to phase them.

We had a fun night four-across in the bed. We kept the windows opened so when the fan stopped at 9 we had some fresh air, but at about 4 in the morning when the rooster started crowing I actually opened my eyes to make sure he wasn’t in the bed with us! Even Callie rolled over and muttered something about Old McDonald. In the morning we drove out to visit our land and meet the nice family squatting on it. My kids commandeered their kids toys while the Cambodian kids hid. That night we got back to Siem Reap and celebrated with a little AC and our own beds!

During my grueling 48 hours of travel from New York to Hong Kong to Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, I experienced my own version of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (minus the humor of Steve Martin and John Candy). The Asian version: “Puddle Jumpers, Airbuses and Tuk Tuks” was scripted with a different sense of humor—or dread, depending on your perspective—and came to its cinematic end when my nauseated stomach touched down in Siem Reap.

Andrea and Brandon gave me a wonderful welcome and thankfully I didn’t give them a car full of half-digested plane food on our way home from the airport.

My first two days have been a jumble of new people, interesting places and an overwhelming amount of Cambodian smiles. Coming from New York I was ill-equipped for this level of daily cheek strain, but Siem Reap is like Smile Boot Camp and Narla (pictured below) is the Commander in Chief. I’m getting the hang of it pretty quickly.

Recently Brook Wilkinson came and stay with us at Journeys Within. She was writing a story about “voluntourism” for Conde Nast Magazine and wanted to do some research. We had a wonderful time hosting Brook and also showing her the language schools and our other Journeys Within Our Community projects.  She wrote an incredible article about the recent trend of volunteering while traveling, and we are proud to share it with you.

Here is a section of the article by Brook: “…I left Cambodia without the weight of the world’s problems on my shoulders. For once I stayed at a first-class hotel in the developing world and didn’t feel some shame at my good fortune. As Journeys Within president Brandon Ross put it, “You may not be able to change the world, but you can change lives.” Just as important was the faith my visit gave me in JWOC. The ideal voluntourism program aims to both make use of travelers’ time and earn their future support. After watching the staff—Americans and Cambodians—work so diligently, I knew that whatever money I could give them would be well spent.”

Please go to http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/articles/detail?articleId=12200 to see the article in its entirety.

Below are a few pictures from Brook’s stay.

(Top: Brook volunteering at the language school. Bottom: a photo of Angkor Wat taken during her helicopter ride).

This is a letter Andrea sent to me regarding my upcoming trip. I found it very helpful and comforting. Although I am terribly excited for our trip, I must admit I have been a bit stressed about traveling with a two year old and fearful of not having our creature comforts readily available. Below is the letter.

Dear April,

From one mother to another: As you get ready for your big trip to Asia next month I wanted to send you some friendly advice mother to mother. For the last two weeks we have been in Vietnam and it has reminded me that traveling can be hard work and traveling with kids can be downright exhausting. Here are some helpful tips that have made this trip go smoother for us and that I wanted to pass on to you, they are in no particular order…

1. Start giving Gavin rice with at least one meal a day. My life and traveling with my kids has been made so much easier because they are always happy with rice. It fills them up and while it might not be the most nutritional food in the world, it is great when they are tired, cranky and just need something in their stomach. Rice is always available and can be at the table fast. If we’re running late for a meal I will often ask for the rice as soon as we sit down so the kids have something to snack on while we order.
2. Take something with you from home. This trip I brought a jar of Marmite with me because Callie will always eat crackers or toast if I put Marmite on it. Peanut Butter and Jelly would be another option. You can always get bread, and this means you can always make a comfort meal for him.
3. Don’t be afraid of room service. Kids can get wiped out traveling and some nights it is good to just stay in, eat dinner and have an early night.
4. Bring some treats with you. Callie gets gum on the plane and we have M&Ms in the car, it makes them look forward to the not-so-fun times.
5. Everyone is going to touch your baby, it can be tiring, but it is part of the culture. There are a few ways to handle it. When I have a kid asleep in the stroller one of us pushes and ones runs interference (walks next to the stroller and heads off would be cheek pinchers). I also have told Callie to just say, “Please don’t touch me”, at least it gives her a way to ask nicely and has cut down on the screaming. You can be firm, when my kids are tired or just not in the mood I have them walk next to me and just tell people no if they come in for the grab, people look at you like you’re crazy, but the kids get a break. When my kids are happy though they really like the attention and I will let them go and play with waitresses and security guards and other random strangers. I like to keep them in sight, but it’s nice to have a break.
6. Asia is grubby, bring hand sanitizer and wet wipes.
7. A portable DVD player can be a lifesaver. I travel with my computer so we watch a lot of movies on that, but having a way to watch DVDs in the car or on the plane, or when it’s bed time, it helps bring them down a notch. They are worth the money!
8. Fast food is not a sell-out! We ate KFC tonight and it was great. There are McDonalds in Thailand and trust me, you will have enough Thai food and Cambodian food to feel like you did your duty and a night of familiar food can be really good for them.
9. Take mental health breaks. I get up early in the morning with the kids and let Brandon rest and then later Brandon takes them to breakfast so I can have some time to myself, this way we both get our time.
10. Have fun and don’t stress the small stuffJ

Can’t wait to see you in Cambodia!

Andrea

Here are some photos from Song kran festival. At first we weren’t planning on playing in the water, but two of our friends were visiting and have never gone to a Song kran festival so we made sure to do our best to make our friends enjoy Thailand more… so into the water we went! Joel said “I’ve never been so wet like this…all my life” You can see the photos before and after and see just how wet we got! Every time when someone would throw the water at him, Joel would scream…very loud…which only made it more enjoyable/tempting for people to throw more water…and so we got even more wet! We tried to stay away from him :) but he kept running to us to stay close to the group. Anyways, we really had a good time and I enjoyed this weekend very much. I love Song kran festival. Everyone there is very happy and you are surrounded by smiling faces…

see you next year!!

Waew. 

The big night is almost here! On Sunday, May 4, we will be throwing a benefit concert, ROCK for JWOC, to raise money for Journeys Within Our Community (www.journeyswithinourcommunity.org) and their new projects in Laos.

The event will be at the Highline Ballroom in New York City at 7:00 p.m. Advance tickets are $10 and can be purchased through the Highline Web site (www.highlineballroom.com). Tickets purchased the day of the show will be $15 at the door.

The fundraiser will feature local rock bands, an improv comedy set, a raffle with prizes donated by local businesses and a DJ set to finish off the night. 

Nicole and I will be celebrating our imminent departure for Southeast Asia and raising money for a great cause.

If you’re in the NYC area come join the fun on May 4! If not, please pass this link on and tell your friends about this wonderful event. Hope to see you there! 

This past February, Dr. Laurette Poulos Simmons volunteered to lead a week long ESL Workshop for the Journeys Within Our Community Language School Teachers.  All 12 language school teachers attended, learning how to create dynamic powerpoint presentations and engage their students in many activities.  “I was so interested in her teaching technique and how she explained the lessons to us.  All the lessons were simple and easy to understand for the second language learners”, said Chorm Ley, one of Wat Thmei’s English teachers. 

One of JWOC’s newest language school teachers, Sann Tola also said, “She had given us the experience that is very important for our job as English Teachers and that also we had lacked before.  I am most interested in her methods of how to get the students’ attention in the lesson.” 

With the generous sponsorship from Laurette, Chamm Sela, a teacher at Wat Chork, will be attending the annual Cambodia TESOL Conference in Phnom Penh in 2009.  Laurette is excited for Sela to attend. 

posted by Melissa 4/21/2008

To get a more intimate glimpse into the lives of each of my students, I gave them a self portrait assignment.  For each photo, I asked them to explain why they took it to the class the following week.  Most interesting is the wide variety of photographs I have received thus far:

Biv Brom:  One of the monks that live at Wat Chork reveals his comic side by taking photographs of what he sees is humorous.

Sreilin tells us about the beautiful sunrise she wakes up to:  “I get up early every morning.  I took this picture because I love all the colors when the sun rises:  Red, Pink, Yellow, Orange and Blue.” 

Sara chose to photograph her family, focusing on her siblings in particular.  Her little brother stands next to the many water buffalo of Cambodia. 

Lai Rathmana, another monk that lives at Wat Chork, was the only student to take a series of photographs at night, having fun with the vibrant lights of carnival rides. 

posted by Melissa 4/21/2008

So you may have noticed that almost every post says “posted by aprilcole” - then you may have noticed that at in the body of the post there is a note saying “posted by Waew or Kristina or Jeab”… well,  you are very observant!

:)

I just wanted to let you know that while we are starting out this blog I will be posting blogs for people, reading your comments (which I am very excited to do!) and forwarding on comments for specific JW staff members. Our entire staff is equally involved in writing their own blog posts and sharing their personal stories and pictures - I’m simply going to be the one entering their stories onto on the blog for them for now.

I just felt I had to share this with you because it’s kinda different and you might have been curious.