Hello from Cambodia 4

So we have been in Cambodia for a month now and we are no closer to understanding this country and its people .In fact the longer we stay here the more confusing it becomes.

On the culinary front It seems that if it moves or grows you can eat it .We have now sampled curried frog, stewed eel and Jon has eaten a spiders leg, although he drew the line at munching into its body.Generally we are eating very well although the dominance of rice to the diet is reflected in the language, e.g. a restaurant is hang bai meaning a rice shop, A dinning room is bantop gnam bai, the room where you eat rice, and breakfast is gnam bai preuk, to eat rice in the morning. As you travel about the country , which we have being doing a lot recently, the vivid green of the rice paddy fields dominates the landscape. We were invited to lunch with the British ambassador at the residency which was extremely pleasant especially as the menu did not include rice, (or Ferrero Roche).

Our In Country Training has continued in PP.This has mainly involved the admin part of the job. The VSO project we are working on is funded by the World Bank and the EU but because corruption is rife here at all levels every dollar/ euro has to be accounted for.This requires a huge amount of form filling and report writing. I thought we had left the education system to get away from all that.

Last Sunday we at last left PP to visit our placements. The intrepid little family who are going to be based in Battambang Province are Jean (Mummy), Ally (baby), Onno (Dutch Uncle) and us 2 , the embarrassing country cousins. Onno, who is based in a district about 100 km away will be our nearest neighbour. It takes about 6 hours by bus to get from PP to Battambang town, which will become our haven for R and R and peanut butter. From there we travelled with Vantha, the boss of VSO Education, on to our placement in a 4x4 truck with no suspension in the back seats .As the most direct route is impassable at the moment the first part of the journey was on the main highway which links Siem Riep to the Thai border at Poipet. Considering this is the main tourist route into the country the road was truly appalling. As we were shaken from Pothole to pot hole the inertia in the seat belts ratcheted back until we pinned unable to move or breathe against the back seats.

And then we turned onto the dirt roads........... and in fact they were not too bad by comparison, if you avoid the wandering cows , dogs, chickens and children all of whom seem to have suicidal tendencies. Overall it took about 5 and a half hours from BB town, but it should be faster in the dry season.

So what about Phnom Preuk, our home for the next 2 years?
The area is very unlike any other we have seen in Cambodia so far, it has mountains. It reminds us a bit of the Puys of the Massif Central in France - well a little bit- or the valleys of the Alps. I found myself thinking "" I wonder what it is like here when it snows? Duh!!! It is however very beautiful scenery.

The town itself is like something out of a Western movie. A frontier town with a main street which is either dust or mud depending on the season. "The theme tune to "the Good , the Bad and the Ugly kept running through my head. Also it appears to be far more Western than other areas with less people wearing the traditional costumes and more tractors. The influence of Thailand.

Vantha was on a mission to find us a nice house. He was working on the principle that being as we were based in the back of beyond unless we were happy where we lived we wouldn't last 2 days let alone 2 years. We traipsed from site to site which varied from the top floor of a palace owned by the local army chief to a delapidated beach hut that overlooked the local rubbish tip. Running out of options, Vantha resorted to knocking on the doors of likely looking houses and asking the owners if they would move out so we could move in. This tactic proved successful as we found our dream home.

It is a concrete house rather than the traditional wood built on sticks, based on the outskirts of town with beautiful views of the mountains and the Wat (pagoda). 2 bed., 2 bath / shower, 2 reception, study, kitchen , balcony and roof terrace for $250 per month. Vantha negotiated an amazing deal which included beautiful carved wooden furniture, a fridge, cable TV and a cleaner. This voluntary life is tough you know! The landlord and his family live next door and they have a teenage daughter who is learning English. They are our new best friends.

We also visited the local Education Office to meet our new boss and work mates. The office is open plan, in so far as it doesn't have a front wall, and it closely resembles a barn. While we were there a group of bedraggled NQT teachers arrived for a training session. They all looked about 14 and one had been travelling for 3 days to get there! They were staying overnight sleeping in a wooden shack behind the office. NQTs don't you ever, ever, ever complain again about how hard it is becoming a teacher.

While we were there we heard several very loud explosions in the near distance which no one else seemed to react to. Turns out the de-mining units were detonating their daily find!

So we are reserving our judgement on the placement, Every time we mentioned to the Khmer staff in the BB education office that we were going to Phnom Preuk there were little squeaks of amused surprise and a jolly "Good Luck"" as we left. What do they know???
So its back to Kampon Chan for another 3 weeks of language training, oh joy ,oh bliss, then off to start our new lives in the Wild West. SCAREY>