The Piano Shop

There is a new accountant at our school who is super nice and she had invited me out to join her at a concert.  Turns out this concert I thought I was going to was in fact two people playing Saxophone at a Gallery.  Although it was not my normal cup of tea it was an overall enjoyable night and I was happy to get out and get to know some new people!  The Gallery was really cool with amazing pictures all of which I would love to have as they perfectly captured the spirit of Cambodia and its people.  And there was a super cool bar upstairs above the Gallery that shows documentaries, something I might have to check out at a later date.  The actual Saxophone playing was interesting but definitely not my favourite kind of music... they played more artistic pieces with extremely loud screeches and odd pauses so there was no smooth jazz melody which is the type of saxophone I am used to hearing.  Maybe next time we can listen to guitar or piano, something easier on the ears.

The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center (Killing Fields)

  

 In Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 the Khmer Rouge, a name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, carried out a mass Genocide of one and a half to three milling people.  The Khmer Rouge regime was led by Pol Pot as he planned to create a form agrarian socialism founded on the ideals of Stalinism and Maoism (theories based on political leaders Joseph Staline and Mao Zedong from China).  The Khmer Rouge policies of forced relocation of the population from urban centres, torture, mass executions, use of forced labour, and malnutrition led to the deaths of an estimated 25 percent of the total population.  The Khmer Rouge goal of purifying the people is similar to the goals of Nazi Germany, in attempting to create a "master race", as one Khmer Rouge leader said, it was the "purification of the populace".  The genocide was ended following the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia.  Up to 20,000 mass graves, known as the Killing Fields, have been uncovered.
Seeing the fields was not easy as you can imagine from the above information.  Four of us had gone however we all soon drifted from one another as we reflected on what we saw.  We were given audio tours which recounted the events that occurred at different locations throughout the grounds.  Some of the recordings were even from past prisoners who were forced to do labour and who were brutally tortured and rapped.  One story in particular was of a man who had merely been 14 when captured by the Khmer Rouge.  He was about to be executed when an older gentleman, also a captive, took solace over him and begged the Khmer Rouge to let the boy go.  The elder gentleman was then executed in the boys place.  It is selfless acts such as these that make the world Beautiful even in such ugly times.

The Buddhist Stupa where over 5,000 human skulls can be seen

 The fencing around a mass grave where people have left prayer bracelets 

 Mass grave of 450 victims

 Chinese grave with bone and teeth fragments

 Fragments of clothes that have been recovered on the grounds of the killing fields from the victims.  Children's clothes can be seen

 This was the most disturbing of all as they recounted how the Khmer Rouge would grab children by the feet and swing them repeatedly against this tree as their mothers were forced to watch.  The mothers too were then tortured, rapped, and executed

 Bones and teeth

 The skulls within the Stupa

My thoughts and prayers go out to those who suffered then and now.  There is evil within the world but there is also so much good, so let the good shine on as the bad is remembered but not repeated. 

Expanding Our School

So since my Birthday one of the kindergarten classes from the other Learning Jungle Campus has moved over to my school to make room for another toddler class there.  They figured since my school has six classrooms and we were only using one of them they may as well fill a classroom with kindergarten to make the school look more occupied.  The addition of the kindergartens has completely changed the atmosphere at the school making it more lively and fun.  I really like the teacher of the kindergarten at my school (her name is Sophy but we call her Buffy), she's Cambodian and she also has her degree in education.  She has been teaching at the other campus for over a year and the other teachers had to answer to her there as she was head teacher therefore she has a lot of say of what goes on within the classroom dynamics.  By having her kindergartens close by we are now also able to coordinate what she should be teaching in order to prepare the kids for grade one.

Thats not the only change happening at our school though as my classroom has gone from 18 students to 26!  With the rapid expansion of my classroom we are now looking for another grade 1 teacher so that we can split my class and make room for more students.  And we are thinking that by August we will be able to open a grade 2 classroom.  Virak has asked me to be involved in the interviewing of the new teachers which is pretty cool to have that responsibility.

The first few months I am not going to lie have been the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  Between battling illness (oh did I mention after returning from Sihanoukville I got really sick again and it turned out I had Typhoid Fever?!! But I'm all clear now) and having to learn my students levels and abilities in order to adjust my lessons to better suit them, not to mention adjusting to the school and all the new students being added to my class as the school is building its way up the ranks it has all been rather draining but now I feel excited and prepared for the remainder of my time here.  I am looking forward to experiencing all the changes to come and to be able to watch the transformations of the school and be apart of it all!!