Hello all. It has been such a LONG time since I wrote you. (Lesley here.) Dean's picked up the slack for the last few entries, so you're a little up to date, but there is still so much to tell you, so many "cambodia" moments: I'll try now to get it all out in the shortest form possible.
I've wanted to write since about 6 weeks ago, when I accompanied Julia and the gr. 6 class on an overnight field trip out to the province. With their geography class learning about land formations and culture, they headed off to a Khmer homestay, where they would live like in a traditional village. Parent/teacher volunteer, I went.
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Julia out in the province with her grade 6 class
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Such a great time. If any of you want to come to visit us, we can head out there. It was just Western enough to be comfortable (flush toilets, a battery operated fan in the "hut," and safe food) but, it gave us an idea of what it was like to do some traditional Khmer things, like sleep in the house on stilts, drive around in ox carts (of which the kids got to actually drive!) and do some cultural dancing. The Gr. 6's are an awesome group and had a blast, but here's the "cambodian" side to the story.
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| Accommodations for the Grade 6s |
It's been hot season for a couple months now, so there is little to no rain, then the rain will start up again in May. That night, as we were settling in to get to bed, I thought--was that thunder I heard off in the distance? Within minutes, the lightening started. Sure enough, within literally minutes, this MASSIVE, and very unexpected thunderstorm rolled in. Now picture this: There's all these KIDS in HUTS (which are basically thatched roof tree houses) and in comes an ELECTRICAL storm the likes that is unmatched in North America. The rain pelted us so hard, that it was misting in through the windows on our bed, through our mosquito net! I love storms, and was trying to settle Julia and Evelyn down (my roommates) because it was SO loud, then I realized that hey, I was basically sleeping in a tree during a lightening storm! Nice. So, we prayed, of course, and it did blow over, but boy, did it do a number on the land around us. There was a sign torn down just down the road, and in the morning, everything sure had a good soaking.
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| Cambodian transportation. Julia loves it. |
Well, since we'd all survived that, now all we had to do was get our enormous bus out the gate and down the single lane mud road, that had been deluged with the rain, in order to go back to P later that day. It was a tiny, trecherous little road on the way in, and that was when it was dry. Well, we did our next day's activities by rented van cuz the bus wasn't even going to attempt getting out until things dried up a bit. Sure enough, later that morning when the poor driver attemped the exit, he slid a huge 30 passenger bus off the small road into the ditch. We figured we were there for another night. While we lunched, apparently a whole bunch of pastors from all around used the typical Cambodian ingenuity (which included ropes, motos and trucks) to dislodge our bus, and sure enough, we were home on time. It was amazing, really, that everything worked out, and all those guys got a free lunch out of the deal! You'd be amazed what a perk that is out here!
Interestingly, one of the geographical things we were going to see on the trip, was a dam built during the khmer rouge, and wouldn't you know it, the bus driver said this was where he was "relocated" and sent to work during the war. We saw it, and miles and miles of a wide ditch to catch the dammed water was dug in the 70's entirely by forced manual labour, not a single machine, and that poor driver was one of the many. It was hot. We were all overheated just walking around, seeing everything, and we tried to imagine LABOURING in that heat, with limited water resources and food, being forced to work for long hours. Our bus driver lived to tell about it. The human endurance and will to live is amazing.
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| Trying to hold up the dam? |
So, that was a few weeks before Khmer New year. The kids have just been enduring very hot rooms at school for second half of the year since we moved to the new building and have had the energy issues. Sweating all the time, we get home and just shower and sit in air con to regain our cool after a full day of very little reprise. IT's tough on the students especially, as they're still expected to keep up with their studies, tests, etc and stay focused. They had to write SAT tests (standardized tests) during that time and it really stressed Julia out cuz she hates them. Steph was fine. Anyways, fast forward to right now and I tell you, our kids are tired of school. They have worked VERY hard this year. Homework every night and they have done exceptionally well with the difficult circumstances at the school. They really have done so good, Maya reading now everything she can get her hands on. We bless them, and hope May can be a great finishing month. Steph will have one high school exam as she's been in an accelerated, Gr. 9 math course for this semester, and it's sure challenged her, so hope she can do well on the exam. If not, she has next year to catch up on the same course if needed.
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| The beach off of an island in Kom Pong Sam |
Well, Dean's told you all about Khmer New years, our "spring break" where we enjoyed a week at the beach. What a rest, I tell you, it totally energized me to carry on for these last two weeks, where I've finished up two concerts with the elementary, but i'll tell you more about that in a minute. Towards the end of our holiday week, in the morning, I got a message on my phone that registered a long distance number, and my suspicions were confirmed when I went to check the e-mail, and found out my Grampa Papson had passed away. Just such a long story, for a time if you're interested, but suffice it to say that after a long battle with just old age, he succumbed peacefully, the day after his 90th birthday. Mom said it was like he was just waiting to see everyone again, tasted some icing from his birthday cake that they put to his lip and went the next day.
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| Last summer visit with Gramma and Grampa Papson. Last chance to see Grampa alive. |
I was the only Grandchild that was not able to be there for the family memorial that was held in his honor the following week Sunday. This was very hard for me, but also a blessing, as I was able to write a letter to celebrate him and the memories I have of him, and it was read as a eulogy, to eveyone's enjoyment. The fire truck was driven onto the property for his service, and it was a beautiful time for the family. I received alot of nice e-mails, information and pictures! Sure missed everybody, but it was great to be kept in the details. Grandma is doing well, and she has lots of help there with 3 daughters close by. I was also able to share some of my writings with our staff, as a morning devotional, which for me was a healing thing to do. They were very gracious to share in my grief, and it just helped to close things a bit for me. Amazing how God can pull things together for us, in ways we just don't think it ever possible. Closure all the way over in Cambodia?? Pretty generous of Him.
The last two weeks have been a wonderful whirlwind of work, activity and preparation for the year end, elementary concerts, which will wrap up the second half of the year with performances. We were able to get, at Logos, 12 new Orff instruments (barred, pitched percussion instruments, like xylophones) this year, so we got to perform on those for the concert. It is a very different mode of concert than a typical choir performance, or like our big Christmas drama/musical extravaganza. Plus, it was going to be hosted in our new, top floor auditorium, where there is carpet and AIR CON.
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| Lesley directing the elementary concerts at Logos |
Well, this past Thursday was the first of 2 concerts, with the Gr. 1-3. We had had many rehearsals together during the weeks, and were ready to perform. The kids were excited like electric! IT was so fun, parents were taking pictures like the paparazzi, and the evening went as well as could be expected. The audience out here in Cambodia, culturally, is very different than a North American audience; there's alot going on while you're trying to perform--People talk on telephones, children run around and pick up instruments on the floor, parents talk non stop right through everything, and the host for the evening was very hard to hear over the noise and some technical difficulties. Even through all this, it was still fun and the kids actually did a great job, really rose to the occasion.
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| Enjoying the concert |
Ok, but during the performance, another "Cambodian" storm came in. No problem, the rain was not as noisy on the roof as it would have been in a gym or some other outdoor facility. The power stayed on and the between the air con noise, the audience talking, and our music, the rain was barely audible. I finished conducting the last song, made a few announcements and headed out the doors of the auditorium to find that the school was leaking! Like, buckets of water was pouring out through the roof, right at the entry door, and one teacher's classroom had water pouring down the walls, dripping out the ceiling aircon, AND the roof was BOWING where water was running through it. While parents and kids were leaving, we were emptying this classroom of all it's valuable to keep them dry, including the computer and all the desks! It was amazing. Dean was up on the roof with other workers, trying to figure out why everything was leaking into the school.
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| Trying to stop the flooding. |
Sure enough, there was one drain up there that we later found out was just clogged with construction debry, so it wasn't taking the water away. The water just pooled in one connecting area, where it had no where else to go but INTO the SCHOOL! Dean immediately sent one of the guards to go to the bottom of the drain pipe and CUT IT with a saw, and when they did, the water pressure just sent spews of water flying everywhere. Needless to say, Dean ended the concert a soaking wet rat, the stuff from the teacher's classroom was everywhere in the hall and the cafeteria, drying out or being protected from more water, the carpet into the auditorium was soaking wet. Yikes!
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| Water pouring from the ceiling during a heavy rain. |
But think of it this way--what if we had decided not to have the concert that night??? Thank God that people were there, and we all witnessed the water coming in and were all able to help evacuate the room. Later, even the lights were flickering, so we were able to shut all the power down and let things dry up overnight. Imagine if no one had been there that night and we all showed up to the disaster the next morning? At least the cutting of the drain pipe at the bottom of the building caused the water to at least start draining away, and the leaking slowed down and stopped after that. Wow
Never a dull moment. I gets to school the next morning to find out the rest of the news. One of the Gr. 2 kids who was in the furthest back row from me, who came to the concert even though he had a "stomach ache" (You can see what's coming, can't you?) , actually threw up right in the middle of the very last song!!! And I didn't even KNOW!!! Talk about being spared! Apparently, other teachers rushed to his aid, and helped get him out of the hall and cleaned up the carpet. I KNOW I was being protected, by not having to see that in the middle of conducting the last song! haha. The fact that he was at the furthest back row, is God's doing, I'm serious! What if he was in the front?? Could you imagine? What if it had been earlier?? Could you imagine that? Things can always be worse! Poor guy. Needless to say, he was not at school the next day, but I sure heard the story over and over again from the kids who were there! haha
So, Friday, 2 nights ago, was the last concert, Grades 4-6. But, seeing that we had had this huge storm the night before (that flooded the upstairs) and rain in the morning, we got to school and there was no power to start the day. No power= no aircon and no keyboard! (I need piano accompaniment for choir!) Ok, the power is out in the area, nobody knows why, but the guys are coming to look at it at 11, we should have it back by maybe 1??? That's the morning word.
Well, I have power related things to do, but by 1;15 and there was still no power, I was really in a quandry. Do I run a dress rehearsal with no power, 80+ kids in a room with no air flow? Do I push back the practice? Do we postpone the whole concert? So, decided to run the practice, and just opened all the windows, and PRAYED, literally, for the power to resume. Then thanked God that we even had the option of rescheduling until next week, but the kids were all ready for the night, so it sure wasn't a preference. About 1:30 the LIGHTS go on, everyone cheers, and we had power for the rest of the day, night, and had an excellent concert. The audience was a little better behaved, things ran alot more like I hoped and parents enjoyed. So, I was all done! Friday night, it sure felt good to have it all done and fairly successful!
Yes, finished all my stressful things just in time, for Saturday morning. At 6:00 am, Lilly, our landlord's dog (who is also sort of ours!) started giving birth to puppies!
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| Lilly has puppies |
Do you remember the story of Rosy being killed, because Lilly was in heat, and all the pack of male dogs were after her, and ended up biting Rosy and killing her? It's a terrible story to remember, but Lilly did get impregnated then, and we weren't sure at all until after we came back from Khmer New Year break, and you could tell she was much fatter, and lactating like crazy! Ok, we were in for puppies and everyone was looking forward to it.
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| 7 puppies total |
It sure couldn't have been timed better! We waited all last week, thinking it might happen any time, and nothing. Then, the girls had a soccer tournament Saturday, so we were planning to be up early. I had heard Lilly sort of crying early in the morning, thought it might be time, but Steph came into our room early with the news that Lilly was having the puppies and 2 were born already. We all ran outside to watch the next 3 being born! What an amazing first for me, and for the girls! It was so amazing how Lilly is just programmed to clean the puppies and care for them! And they were so adorable. Oh, words will not describe, so we will have pictures up no doubt.
ANyways, she appeared to be finished. 5 puppies, some spotted, and a bunch more brown like Lilly. They were squeeling and crawling. So cute. Then we saw--she wasn't finished! One, then 2 more! 7 puppies!!! Unbelievable! They are all seemingly doing well still, and are feeding and staying warm and close to mommy. Every single chance we get to go out and watch them, we just do (especially Steph and Jubes). They've been out there with Mony at every chance. What a nice gift, to have the puppies on the weekend, so we could be around! It was really such perfect timing! Couldn't have been better. What a real miracle to see them being born!
So, we carted off after seeing #7 born, to the soccer tournament, which, thankfully, it didn't rain for. It was just plain hot instead. I don't know how those girls run and play in that heat--4 games! They won the first, second and third, to put them in the final, and they WON. Julia scored the only goal to win 1-0. That is apparently the first and only time the middle school Logos girls have won a tournament, and their record last year was I think all losses, no wins! so, it was fun. They were hot and tired after all that, but anxious to get home to check up on the puppies, which are already, by the way, getting named and "chosen" as favorite! Steph played awesome defence, she's a good strong defender, and Julia switched around forward and middle, scoring a total of 3 goals all tournament. I know, it sounds like bragging, but it was just plain fun to watch (in the shade!) and see both our girls on the same team, just loving it and putting in a great effort to play well. A real treat.
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| Most of the middle school Soccer team. |
We actually ended up having a few friends over for Pizza, then in the evening, went to the Annual Logos Talent show, which is just a fun night of kids putting together some performances of many kinds. Julia put together a skit with a few friends, of the smurf song "You're a pink toothbrush, I'm a blue toothbrush..." and she acted it out in quite hilarious fashion. What a hoot. I taped the whole thing on my camera, and hope you can get to see it either here, or on Youtube. Chip off the old block, that kid. (ANyone reading this remember Dean in his Gr. 9 skit, "The Gambler?" Julia is same, same, but different, if you get what I mean!) We all enjoyed the evening and had a ton of laughs.
Well, does that actually wrap up our last few weeks? Can't believe we're into our last month of school! and for me, with the concerts done, I'm looking forward to just wrapping up some last review and testing, and getting the library all organized for the end of the year. Fun stuff, so I'm doing great! Steph's birthday is coming up next week on May 10, and still not sure just how to celebrate it (the options are somewhat limited out here) but will find a way to say "Happy 14th" to our lovely young lady!
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| Steph getting ready to scuba dive. |
So, I shall sign off, saying one last comment about summer plans. As you all make your plans for the summer months, I'll let you all know that we'll be arriving into Vancouver on the morning of June 24th, directly after our time in Australia. We'll be spending those next few weeks in the Abbotsford area, staying at Tim and Sylvia Smith's place, much like what we did last summer (however, they have moved to a new house, so it'll be a new location for us.) After that (sometime early to mid-July) we will head to Alberta to see our new niece Mia, in Edmonton and hopefully to Calgary, if possible, to see my sister Jennifer, family and new HOUSE.
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| Sunset from a boat off the beach in Cambodia |
Dean has to fly out of Vancouver on July 23, (Julia's 12th birthday, by the way!) to get back to PP in time for new teachers to start on July 26. However, the girls and I don't have to be back that early, so we're seriously considering staying on longer, so the kids have more time to visit. This could also include getting to Winnipeg, but we need some creative help or ideas. If we're in Alberta, Dean can drive the van back to the Lower Mainland, and we could come out to manitoba. The airfare from Winnipeg to PP is only $100 more expensive than departing out of Vancouver, but we need a way to get from Alberta to Winnipeg. Anyone planning on coming out to meet us half way and driving us back?? ANy other ideas out there? Keep in mind it's 4 of us, plus probably alot of luggage, as we'll have to check in all our baggage out of WInnipeg airport. See, the problem is, we have the time (an extra week, the girls and I don't have to leave until Aug 3, just after the August long weekend) and then we could be in Manioba to see loved ones for a good week. But, we'll need some help, ideas, suggestions on how to get there. Airfares are expensive, but not totally out of the question yet.
Anyways, those are our thoughts and plans for the summer so far. The kids are very anxious to get to Canada, as being there at the end of June means we can go to school for awards day, stuff like that and most friends will be around. So, please send us an e-mail or drop a message off on the blog. The kids also really want to see (and stay at) Rebecca and Justin's in St. Lorette, so hey, if you guys are reading this, we'll have to make plans! haha
So, take care all. Thanks for the e-mails and staying in touch. Lots of love to supporters, to whom we are so grateful. This experience for us, is still such a huge blessing. Lots of ideas for teaching next year, including advancing the band program with more instruments, so keep that in mind if you have anything to donate!
Ok, I really have to go. Love you all and talk with you soon. Enjoy the pictures (when they get here!)
L
:)
