Holiday in Thailand

The Beach

We arrived at the beach just in time for supper at the Juniper Tree. The suppers at the guesthouse were all western and the lunches were all Thai. Some meals we had included Mac and Cheese, Thai soup, and Shepherds pie. The guesthouse included a pool (on New Years Eve we stayed up to 12 in the pool), family houses, and two buildings with rooms.

The beach had a very awkward tide system. At low tide it revealed a sandbar, which at full moon was very big. While at high tide a boat that was before the sandbar was at a water level up to my neck. The crabs at the beach came out of their holes and made very small or small sand balls. This beach was a very shelly beach. Some shells had living organisms in them, while others didn’t.

By: Austin Sachs

Edited by: Computer and Mom

More on the Beach...

One morning we took a ride on a fishing boat to Monkey Island. Monkey Island was fun. When we got there, there were no monkeys on the island. Then our boat driver made a weird monkey sound and they came down from the hills. The driver brought some bananas and we fed them to the monkeys. When the bananas were finished, we skipped rocks for a while, and Dad and I walked along the rocks on the shore. On the ride back home we saw some jumping fish.

On another day, Dad and I went on a kayaking trip. Mommy said that we should go along the shore, but Daddy wanted to go to another island next to Monkey Island. It was a very hard and tiring trip. When we got to the island, we sat in the boat and rested and drank some water. Then we paddled back.

by Acacia

Bangkok

You’ve heard a lot about the beach, but not much about Bangkok. Austin and Acacia’s favorite parts were probably all the western food that we got to eat. But we saw a lot of other stuff too. We took the sky train to many places.

On our first day we went and got tickets for the water taxi. Then we ran, and just caught the boat as it nearly left the dock. We rode it for a while and finally got off at a stop to see an old fort. Right behind the fort was a park. We walked through it and then went to get fruit shakes and iced coffee – yummy! Next we went to a market entirely of fruits and veggies. I’ve never seen sooo much pineapple. There was suppose to be the largest flower market nearby there as well – but we never found it. We stopped at a temple with the world’s largest reclining Buddha and then called it a day. Pizza Hut for supper.

My favorite part of Bangkok was the weekend market, Chatachuk. It was huge. We did some souvenir shopping. They sold tons of stuff there. Plenty of variety, everything from souvenirs to produce to homemade popsicles – which we tried.

We also went and saw a Thai stick puppet show. The puppets are controlled by three people – one has a stick for one arm and hand. Another person has a stick for the other arm and hand, and the head. Another person moves the feet. The people are dressed all in black. They did a few numbers on stage, and then ended up walking around the audience. One really surprised me by grabbing my neck from behind.

The next day we went to the snake farm. It was like a zoo and Acacia enjoyed it. I enjoyed the ride on the long boat in the canals to get there. Then it was time to go back to Phnom Pehn. We caught our flight back and next thing we know we are back in Cambodia.

by Janaya

Teaching English

Teaching English

When we first interviewed with Mennonite Central Committee and they suggested I teach English, both Roseann and I laughed. Being a native speaker of English does not mean one can pass on much if any of what is used. When you take your first foreign language you realize how little you know about language in general. My first foreign language was Koine Greek, a dead or unspoken language. It is a very sophisticated language, but thankfully unspoken. Read, write, translate, were the tasks of the class.

Fast-forward to Cambodia. Now I need only to listen and speak, no reading or writing. Speaking a foreign language is a whole different task. Thankfully I was doing this before I started teaching English. I now share a common frustration with my students, to hear a foreign language and speak it. I never realized how fast native speakers talk.

Teaching began long before I was ready or even understood the enormity of the task before me. So what do you do when you know nothing? Get to know your students and let them get to know you. I was given two partnership assignments. One was with the Council on Agriculture and Rural Development. The other was with the Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia's drop in center called Bright Spark in Toul Kork. My work at EFC is more regular and in a setting I am familiar with, youth outreach. It is probably most telling of the state of things in Cambodia.

Public school students in Cambodia attend classes for only half a day, for all grades. I think this is mostly due to lack of funds being used for Education. In parts of the rural provinces there are no High Schools so students who want to continue most move to a city to finish their education. When I went to work at the drop in center I assumed I would be teaching neighborhood kids. With a lack of schools the neighborhoods this drop in center services is all Cambodia. We did introductions and most students were from provinces I had not heard of. I also thought my students would be high school age. Most if not all attend a University or Technical school. They have come to Phnom Penh to get a good education and find a good job.

Most families understand the importance of education in securing a good job. The majority of Cambodia is still rural and agricultural. So, while international trade is not a huge sector of Cambodia's economy, many businesses want employees who are fluent in English, the language of international trade.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia seeks to have an outreach with youth who are working to improve their lives. Most of the students in my class want to work in business and are working hard on learning English. One student wants to be a doctor and I can tell by his fluency he has spent much time studying already. Another student would like to be a translator. She will have many years of study yet to take. One student told me he would like to teach English and laughed. I suggested he teach Khmer to English speakers.

I have between twenty-five and thirty students in my class each day. They come with good attitudes but are very hesitant to speak English in front of their peers. Making mistakes in class is not what they are comfortable with. This greatly inhibits the amount of learning that can take place. To master the lesson one needs to practice verbally. While I point this out every time I ask for volunteers, they all seem happy just to listen.

My class is very popular for a couple of reasons. One is that it is taught by a native English speaker. I know correct pronunciation and intonation. Where their Khmer teachers can explain meanings better because they know Khmer. I speak clear, correct English, at least to their ears. They have begun to pick up that I am not good at spelling. The other big draw is that the class is free. Classes at the University or technical school are expensive and large. Through a grant from Global Family we are able to provide text books as well.

One program sponsored by MCC called IVEP brings Cambodian youth to the USA to learn English by immersion. In such an environment they have to use the language daily. I mentioned this program to my class and they were all interested. Such opportunities for them are extremely rare.

Our textbooks are British and I don't know how they were chosen. Sometimes it takes me several readings to understand the instructions, and I am a native speaker. I teach parts of speech through actual settings students might encounter. This allows for lots of pictures and forming a context for when such language will be used.

By design I speak only English in class. This forces students to realize that to truly understand the language, they have to use it. They have to ask their questions for me in English. This is probably the main reason my class is so quiet. They don't yet have the words to ask the the questions they have. If my Khmer teacher used only Khmer I would have been extremely frustrated, but I started my Khmer class with no language study. My students have all had previous language study. For them to understand me I often write what I am saying on the board. This forces me to slow down and helps the students see the correlation between what they heard and what it looks like in writing. Class goes very slow and we cover very little in one class period but without comprehension nothing is really learned.

After a couple months teaching we are using every seat in the classroom. While this should be encouraging, it makes class more difficult. I have far less time to interact with students one to one. Practice is the foundation of learning. My next task is to equip the classroom. I plan to visit some other english teaching schools to see what is available.

Christmas in Cambodia - 2009

Christmas in Cambodia - 2009

I'm trying to get my kids to blog about our holiday time in Thailand, but they are slow, so I’ll write about our Christmas celebration first. Christmas is not a holiday in this Buddhist country, so while MCC gave us the day off, most people here were working on December 25.

I worked until noon on Christmas Eve – I couldn’t bear doing more than that with the kids home, and the holiday upon us. We spent most of the afternoon and evening playing card games together - something we do often these days. We also went to Ron’s work place – a youth drop in center run by Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia – Kingdom Equipped Youth. They threw a Christmas party for any youth who wanted to drop by. There was a band, several soloists and Ron gave a sermon through an interpreter about the tradition of the Christmas tree and what it means to Christians. Everyone got a number when they arrived, and door prizes were given. My challenge was to hold all five of our numbers and be able to recognize them in Khmer should they be called. (I guess I’m the best with my Khmer numbers…) Well – we didn’t win any prizes – or I didn’t recognize our numbers if they were called! That evening we enjoyed more cards, and managed to put together a plate of three kinds of cookies: no bakes, snickerdoodles and Russian teacakes. No match for Ron’s Mom, but it was a start.

Christmas morning did not see us up bright and early – nothing new there. After breakfast we celebrated our Christmas. Austin accompanied us to the singing of Christmas carols – one chosen by each person (a Kroeker tradition – although it lasts much longer in that context). Ron read the Christmas story and then we opened gifts. Our tree was a live plant, decorated with white LED lights, and cheap stars that we found here. Unable to easily find wrapping paper, Ron put a Cambodian twist on the stocking tradition and basted together Kramas as gift bags. Most everything was in these bags. Acacia received some colored paper, balloons, two play animals and a fish bag from my family (our shopping). Janaya received a fish bag and a silk purse from my family. Austin plans to golf for his gift. Janaya found in her bag a can of Pringos, some Thai candy, a package of Oreo cookies, a gift card for some personal ice cream and had a case of pop / soda under the tree. Austin found in his bag a can of Pringos, some Thai candy, a package of Oreos… Acacia found in her bag a can of Pringos, some Thai candy… You get the picture. Pretty easy Christmas for us. Really, there wasn’t much here that the kids wanted, so this worked out fine. Janaya also got a new set of ear buds, Austin got more pencil lead and pencils, Acacia got a DS game - things they asked for. I got a can of smoked almonds. Ron a jar of blueberry jam. Simple pleasures.

From there we went to our church for a Christmas service. This was the only service on Christmas day in town so many people were there. We came home from church and prepared our Christmas dinner: duck (the New Year’s tradition from the Sachs family – although these were really small ducks), fresh green beans in garlic and mashed potatoes. We also had pumpkin pie and more cookies! First Christmas meal we have eaten together in shorts and bare feet – every one of us. Later that afternoon Ron through a Christmas party for his English class – since it was a normal day for most of them.

We did have a good Christmas together. Later, we skyped with both some of my family, and Ron’s parents – we missed seeing them in person this year. But we didn’t miss the snowy cross-country drive. A different, and simple Christmas this year – celebrating our Lord’s birth.