Is it April already?

I want to start by saying that I have exponential thoughts in my head and feelings in my heart related to the bombings in Boston, and while I typically express these things through writing, I do not feel that this is the appropriate platform to do so. All I want to note for now is that hearing the news about our city while half a world away was shocking, sickening and deeply saddening; it made us feel isolated and helpless, missing our families, our friends and our home more than ever before. It will be a very happy day when we land back in Boston, and thankfully that day is just over two months away.

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The last time I posted was January 30th. I sat down to write many times since then, but it didn't feel like I had much to say. The months of February and March were speckled with weekend getaways (Jeff's birthday beach weekend in Sihanoukville) and fun nights out, but for the most part consisted of the necessary meat and potatoes of every teacher's year. Those long, uninterrupted weeks after Christmas and before spring turns to summer when you begin to hit your stride with curriculum. The time when you look at your kids and say, "Okay guys, it's time to get down to business." And in our case, after requiring six months just to get our feet under us, it was time to dig into everything we needed and wanted to teach our students. Anyway, below are some pertinent updates related to Liger specifically, as well our general life from the past two months.

Liger News:

-Robert, our school director, and the person who interviewed and hired us in Boston, announced shortly before Christmas that he will not be returning next year. While it was initially a shock, especially because it was not yet public knowledge (parents, students, other staff members), I have come to see it as a positive move both for the school and for Robert and his family. The majority of Robert's previous experience has been in much larger school settings. He anticipated that his position with Liger would involve recruiting staff and students in Cambodia, before moving on to do the same at the next Liger Learning Center. At this point, the location of and timeframe for LLC #2 has been put on pause while we look for other possible investors; therefore, Robert does not have a second school to jumpstart. He has decided to take a job in Singapore next year, which means he will still be close enough to visit.

-Along with Robert, we will also be losing two teachers and one intern next year. Nica, our best friend here, is returning to the states to take a teaching job in the D.C. Public Schools. She has serious aspirations to affect change in educational public policy, and sees this location as being the most beneficial to her career; having grown up in Virginia, it will also allow her to be closer to family and friends (Jeff and I acted as both family and friends for her this year -- she was our Little Baby Nica. Ha, Nica, I hope you're reading this.)

-Telling the students about the upcoming departure of a third of our teaching staff, a third of our intern staff and Robert was not easy. The relationships that these students develop are so intense and trusting that it felt like we were somehow betraying them. It was hard to remember their strength and resiliency based on their challenging life experiences. In the end there were a lot of tears (adults and kids both), but we handled it as best we could, ensuring that the news was delivered entirely in Khmer before people began speaking personally in English to avoid any sort of information lapse between our more proficient English speakers and those who still struggle.

-The day after we delivered the sad news, the students participated in their second football (soccer) game against two other schools. It was the first game ever for our girl's team, and apparently the first girl's football games ever played among the international schools in PP. It was such an amazing event, covering three fields, with our entire staff present to cheer them on. And we actually scored a lot of goals! Additionally, Trevor, Agnieszka, and Joanna were visiting, which only compounded the excitement and overall celebratory atmosphere.

-Liger has hired a Head Teacher named Jeff. He has an exemplary resume and comes, most recently, from Robert's last school -- the Western Academy of Beijing. His job will be half administrative and half teaching. He arrived in PP the first week of April to begin looking for an apartment, etc. and will start full-time after the holiday. I am beyond excited to begin next year with new leadership, especially in the areas of curriculum development, assessment, consistency and connection across subject areas and accountability.

-Trevor has invited all the returning staff to his home in San Guistino, Italy for a beginning of the year staff retreat/planning session. This means that when we leave the U.S. at the end of our visit, we are only facing an 8-hour flight to Italy instead of a 24-hour one to Cambodia. Woo! We will only be there for three or four days before flying back to Phnom Penh as a staff and it is going to add some travel, but should be great.

-The Friday before our holiday, Liger hosted almost 150 family members for its inaugural Family Day. It turned out to be an absolutely amazing day, beginning with a student-led assembly and ending with student performances, including original songs played on the guitar, a hip-hop dance, a gymnastics routine and an authentic Khmer dance routine. The morning and afternoon sessions allowed each teacher to speak to the parents about their subject area before turning it over to the students to show their families what they have learned. There were so many high points to the day, but the best part for me was sitting in our huge, domed sports court first thing in the morning and watching each family arrive and walk down the path toward us. As soon as they got close enough for their faces to be discerned, the child whose family it was shot up, dashed down the length of the court, slipped through the door and bounded down the path to meet their family. It is not common for Cambodian parents and children to embrace, but rather bow with palms pressed together, but the love, pride and excitement was palpable. And when it came to younger brothers and sisters -- forget it -- the embraces were long and bouncy and amazing to watch. In the moment I likened it to watching kids win the lottery...

Dalin with her mother, brother (behind her), cousin (middle) and half-sister.

Sreyleap and Thiny before the morning assembly.

Vornsar and her little sister, who made herself the star of the show whenever there was a crowd.

Sreynith and her little sister. Can you tell?

Families waiting on the sports court.

Other news:

-In March, Jeff and I went to the Sofitel, one of the two five-star hotels in PP, for a five course meal prepared by a visiting Michelin star Italian chef. We had never been to the hotel itself, and it was like stepping into another world, very opulent, cold, clean, etc. The Swiss restaurant manager/hotel sommelier took care of us as the place was mostly empty and we ended up exchanging info to meet up at some point for drinks as he has only been here two months and doesn't really know anyone. Not a bad friend to have...

-I trick myself into thinking that I miss the cold weather and the snow (days) when I see it all over everyone's Facebook, but the reality is that its such a pain and lasts so long, I really don't. Although to counter what you all have experienced, we are in the belly of hell, a la "hot season," which is really a joke because it's been hot season for us ever since we arrived. Recently, however, we are talking about consistent temps right around 100. At one point I wasn't feeling well (circa 8:30pm), and when I took the thermometer out to take my temperature it registered the temp of the room. Yes, it was so hot in my apartment that the thermometer thought it was in my mouth....

-I am writing from our hotel in Tokyo on our penultimate day here. We flew into Tokyo (along with Nica) and spent two nights before taking the train to Kyoto for four nights; from there we trained to the Mount Fuji area where we stayed in a traditional Japanese Ryokan hotel for two nights. This morning we returned to Tokyo. We have one more full day here tomorrow before heading back to PP. More about the trip to come. And this time it won't take two months, I promise.