A Day at the Zoo

A long time ago I wrote a blog about the animals in Cambodia. Since then I have had two pets, that have both died. But I have finally decided that if pets die so easily, I will not take the pain. So, my mom, Janaya and friends went to a Cambodian zoo, Phnom Tamao Zoo, where we saw lots of animals. We took a tuk-tuk 1 hour out of the city so the zoo was in the country. It was much a nicer than I expected. This zoo was started as a refuge center for animals hurt in accidents and illegally trapped. The animals were very healthy and had large cages, many of them right in the woods.

First, we went into a place where you could walk right amongst the animals. There were monkeys, deer and big birds (like herons and pelicans). Some very small deer and crocodiles were in their own separate cages. Another very large cage had some different birds. I really liked the otters and I got to feed them some fish. The zoo had a very large group of moon bears which had large cages with all sorts of climbing equipment.

For lunch, we sat and rested on a platform and in hammocks while a stir-fried chicken dish was prepared for us. Even though we had packed sandwiches and snacks, this is how the Cambodians would eat on a day at the zoo.

I liked the elephants the best because they were not in their cages and were taking a bath in the woods. We had to hike a short trail to see them, but then we were really close. The baby elephant had been hurt in a trap and had an artificial leg.

At the end of the day, we walked through the first exhibit again and saw all the animals being fed. The monkeys, the warthogs and the birds all ate their fish together. It was very interesting.

Acacia

Logos Bible Camp

A couple weeks ago I went to Bible camp with my school. All of Logos High School students are required to attend a week long camp 6 hours north of Phnom Penh. The camp was Jombak Hoas and we participated in low and high rope courses. We were split intogroups and participated in the activities in our groups. We repelled off of trees and swung on a gian swing, but also did activities that required teamwork to accomplish the goal. My favorite activity was the giant swing. I was nervous, but it was really fun. My favorite low ropes activity was called the dancing cable, where we relied on our teammates and trees to get across a long cable. We also did a compass walk through the jungle. My team came in fourth out of five teams after missing a trail and deciding to just go straight through the jungle. It was good that a camp leader was close behind us.

The camp was in the woods and much quieter than Phnom Penh, very refreshing. We slept in hammocks or bungalows. I chose a bungalow, which had many geckos, the large kind that we don't have at our house. Some girls were so afriad that they called guys in every night to scare them away. The bathrooms had many spiders.

One night the teachers had a special surprise for us. The freshmen were asked to perform their "tribal dance." Supposedly every grade does this. Not true. After performing our tribal dance we were told there was no such thing. Freshmen initiation.

We had devotions in the morning and evening, did activities duing the day and hung out the rest of the time. The theme of the camp was sacrificial service and the teachers led devotions on that theme. One day we went and built toilets for a local village.

All together it was a great week.

Teaching a new course at RUPP

Reflections on my first week of teaching

Last semester, I spent my time at the university earning trust amongst the staff, helping individual teachers with their laboratories and presentations, writing new experiments, teaching Infrared spectroscopy and incorporating it into the curriculum and starting my research. When I returned from my Christmas break, I was suddenly asked to teach a new laboratory course in Green Chemistry for the second semester. Three young teachers have left or are about to leave, to pursue master’s degrees in other countries. This left the chair in a bind, with a curriculum to teach, and not enough staff. So, all of the foreigners here (three in the department this semester) were asked to teach. I was asked to teach three sections of a new Green Chemistry laboratory course.

Now this is exactly in line with one thing I had hoped to do this year, as I have also wanted to teach such a course at Messiah College. But planning a new laboratory course with limited resources has been challenging. I was assigned a lab space that is ill-equipped, so I will be moving things around, and buying what I can at the local markets.

On Mondays and Wednesdays I teach a set of third year students that are called the “private class.” For many years, the university only accepted the best high school students, and they were allowed to attend the university without charge. More recently, the university has realized that there are more students who want to attend, and they are accepted as fee paying students, or the “private class.” A portion of these fees is all the money that a department receives from the university to run its programs.

I have yet to pin down my class list. This is given by the study office to the class monitor – as he or she is called. On the first week of the term, students do not know exactly which classes they have been assigned to so it has been more chaotic than I would prefer. But I’m going with the flow. Students do not choose any of their courses. Once they enter the university with a particular major, their courses are set by the department. No one changes majors either. I’ve asked them to sign in an English spelling of their name, alongside the Khmer one – but I may just go with numbers! At least for attendance and grading. It is hard enough for this old brain to learn 80 familiar English names.

Class began Monday with my students spending nearly 10 minutes cleaning the benches and sweeping the floor. This is automatic for them. There is no budget for any cleaning or garbage pick up. I do have an assistant in the class, who will learn the material with the students, and hopefully teach the course next year. Monday was a little rough. My assistant brought in copies of the notes for the day, but had not copied my schedule. Slowly, or so I thought, I talked through the schedule and my expectations. Since this is a lab course, I have planned weekly assignments, or reports. This is not something they are accustomed to I can tell. We also talked about academic honesty and plagiarism, things discussed at Messiah College, but even more important here.

My introduction to green chemistry involved a demo of traditional packing peanuts and the new starch ones, in a beaker of water. I don’t think the students had ever seen packing material before. They don’t buy things in boxes here, and they don’t get care packages in the mail! I encouraged them to talk about what they saw, in Khmer, and I think they got the idea of Green Chemistry. (Ironically, the old packing peanuts were green, and the starch ones were white!)

At the end, my assistant kindly told me that I had gone too fast. It was then that I realized I had used far too many big words. Before the end of the day I had typed a glossary of all these big words, and I will pass that out this next week.

Wednesday class went much better. By then the class monitor had passed out my schedule and the first notes to all the students. (They in turn pay him for the copying costs.) I could tell that many students had read my notes – things were underlined and highlighted. At least on the pages of the students sitting in the front row... (One never knows about the students sitting at the back.) I tried to bring laughs to the classroom, and tie the ideas of green chemistry to issues relevant to Cambodia. It went well.

On Fridays, I teach the scholarship class. These should be the brightest kids. Class today was broken into two periods, as there was a presentation from a Korean University in the middle of the morning that I was asked to accommodate. But the students were here, and waiting when I got here. They didn’t seem too excited when I told them we would have class from 8:00 – 8:45, the presentation was from 9:00 – 11:00 AND then we would meet again until 12:00. But as my American students know, there is no time to be wasted when learning chemistry!

To my surprise, they then proceeded to ask me if we could switch class to another day. This is common place here. Another one of their Friday classes had been cancelled (odd subject, no teacher) and they wanted the whole day off. No Registrar’s office setting a schedule here. But, not a bad idea. If my children have a long weekend, maybe we can head out early to the beach!

Every week will be a learning experience. I’ll keep you posted.

Roseann

Another Lena!

Lena’s (Lynat's) house church.

Not by plan, I ended up going to three different church services Sunday January 24^th. How this came about is a long story. I guess it is all connected to teaching English. Free English classes at the drop in center, Bright Spark, has allowed me the opportunity to get to know Cambodians better. I learn things first hand from my students that statistics might verify, but are more indelible in people.

Because this is a Christian drop in center and my lessons are free I see a very narrow group of students. They definitely want to learn but are limited in their means for yet one more educational expense. My students mostly come to school by bicycle, with a few motorbikes in the lot.

Religious faith seldom comes up in class as I have all I can handle communicating simple English. A student will often ask me what I do. I tell them in English “I am a youth pastor.” I am pretty sure they don't know what that means as they have few here. At Christmas I was given the opportunity to give a message at the Bright Spark Christmas party. Seeing me speaking up front with a Bible in my hands finally helped some understand what I do back in the US.

An older adult student, a parent who came with her daughter, saw this as an answer to her prayers. Lynat (sounds like Lena) is my oldest student and a faithful attendee. After we returned from Christmas vacation she enthusiastically invited me to “sponsor her house church which has 20 to 30 percent children attending.” After a couple conversations I understood she needed a Bible teacher for the adults and older children, sometimes twenty to thirty people attend. Final syllables often get dropped in regular conversation. Thus I always call her Lena because she never pronounces the t. While her English is a work in progress, her faith is fluent.

At my Friday class I try to confirm my intent to visit her house church. I don't think we communicate. She has my business card and phone number but I don't know how to contact her. I know she attends the 7:00 AM service at New Life Church, which we have been meaning to visit.

To no surprise, no one in our family accepts my invitation to 7:00 AM worship. I head out on my motorbike with a general idea of where to go. Finding any business is challenging because house numbers aren't always sequential. Low and behold I turn onto the right street (I can't find a street sign) and easily find the church.

I arrive on time but no Lena to be found. At 7:30 she arrives sitting in the same row about ten seats down. We are still singing so she comes over to greet me, bringing her older daughter who speaks better English. I get her phone number and a promise to send someone to the drop in center to escort me to her house. The church she attends is charismatic and the largest Khmer church in town. Quite different than the expat church I attend. This is my first service of the day.

I get home in time to catch the tuk-tuk to ICA, International Christian Assembly. It is probably the most diverse church in town. They attract few Khmer as it is all English with no translation available. Having been to the Mennonite church, which has no English translation, I understand the frustration. This is my second service of the day.

At 3:30 PM I wait outside Bright Spark for my escort. As we drive to Lynat’s house, I gain new respect for her effort to learn English. She takes about a 5 kilometer bike ride to get to class. After a couple dirt roads I pull up to a short gate to her tiny lot, chickens fleeing for cover. She lives in what could be a two room wood house. I realize I am at the edge of town as her security is minimal and her house is one story wood. In Phnom Penh most houses have high concrete walls and steel gates. They surround two and three story post and beam brick houses.

Lynat's yard is full of kids and everyone is happy to see me. She introduces me to her husband. He gives me a little information on his life. He survived Pol Pot and the Vietnam rule in a refugee camp on Thai border. He got funding for some medical education from his church. He is able to support his family and give his children a good education. That does not mean he has a lot of extra money, but they are focused on helping their children, and the neighborhood children as well.

A Logos preschool teacher is my translator for the Bible study. She is Cambodian, but fluent in English. She smiles many times as I tell the story. I think she has some Bible education but does not want to be the teacher here. I teach from the book of Matthew as that is where they have been studying. The lesson is about who really keeps God's laws, the Pharisees or Jesus' disciples who do not practice ceremonial washing before meals. I do my best to explain the historical context of the conflict in the story. After the Bible study we have a prayer time. After everyone shares their prayer requests, we all pray at the same time. I like this style of prayer time. No one is trying to impress anyone with the content of their prayers.

After the prayers Lynat has snacks for everyone, incredible hospitality for such simple people. It is beans and rice with some sugar sprinkled on top. It is good but I feel guilty being treated so well. In addition to being given a snack, she sends a mango home with me. She is “so happy” to have a Bible teacher for her house church.

I recently read someone commenting about how the North American church spends an inordinate amount of money serving and teaching those who know so much, and comparatively so little on those who are new to the Christian faith. I attended three services this Sunday, but Lena's was the church that blessed me. For knowing so little, her life speaks volumes to her neighbors about a loving(generous) God.