I would like to start with a couple of wonderful traffic-related things that we have witnessed since returning to Phnom Penh at the end of July.
- We were on our way to the gym (a critical part of the story), when I saw up ahead what looked like a father driving a motorbike with three, possibly four, children on the back. As we pulled up alongside them, I looked and saw that it was not four children, but actually SIX. There were three daughters, large, medium and small, who could be seen from the back, as well as a small baby squished between the dad and first daughter, a chubby toddler standing between the first and second daughters, and a young boy smushed in between the second and third daughters. When Jeff and I both turned and gave the father huge smiles of awe, he actually took his left hand off the bike and gave us a thumbs up. True story.
- On our way to town last week, there was a woman riding on a motorbike, sitting behind a male driver. She was wearing a light brown, long-sleeved zip-up. On the back were two words, written in glittery font and pretty hard to make out. Squinting, I pointed and said to Jeff "something girls?" He amended the guess to "typical girls." When we got closer, the actual words said, "Figfeet girls." Your guess is as good as mine.
- This afternoon, on our way back from town (the gym played a role, but if I'm being honest so did a phenomenal charcuterie board, some gnocchi and a lemon tart...), we saw a mid-sized car, possibly a CRV or RAV-4, in front of us. It was clearly full of people, but as we got closer, we saw two faces peering out at us from the enclosed trunk. Upon further inspection, we both realized...they were grandmothers. Tiny, shriveled old ladies, relegated to the back for the duration of the trip. My guess? They were being sassy.
- But, probably the best scope was a t-shirt, on the back of which declared: "Go to love! horse sweet."
I'll just leave that there.
Other than driving to and from Phnom Penh, since we've been back we have welcomed 35 new Junior students to Liger, aged 10-12. Our staff has almost doubled in size, with many new colleagues in both the Senior and Junior cohorts. The brand new Senior campus has been unveiled, and I am not kidding you when I say it looks like a five-star resort. All the hard work our students have put in the last four years truly earned them this amazing new environment to call their own. As per our Country Director's genius vision, cooking their own meals and managing their own house budgets will essentially be their first taste of running a small business.
With only two weeks behind us, it already feels like we never left. The kids' English is shaking off it's summer rust as they jump back into curriculum: math, literacy, Khmer, physics, biology and engineering in the mornings. Coding, robotics, podcasting, economics, current events and independent discoveries after lunch. And for Explorations, an eclectic mix of Khmer Rouge history, board game design, setting up the internal Liger economy, researching the prevalence of iron deficiencies in Cambodia, as well as solutions, and identifying and contacting global "change agents."
I am lucky enough to be working two hours a day with 12 Seniors (12-14 years old) on a project about the Khmer Rouge. One of our students spent three months in Siem Reap last year, on the set of the upcoming Netflix movie version of the renowned memoir, First They Killed My Father. With such a personal connection to the movie, of course we want to screen it for our kids. Therefore, we needed to grapple with the reality that they are now old enough, and mature enough, to begin to learn in-depth about the genocide that ravaged their country in the early 1970s. So, with a lot of help from many people, both at Liger and in Phnom Penh, I have outlined four different Explorations: the first is a look at the global factors that led to the KR taking power, including what Cambodia was like beforehand. The second installment, with a different 12 students, will focus on the time that the KR was in power. The third group of students will tackle the immediate aftermath, while the final group will work out the present-day implications of the genocide. How did the war shape Cambodia as we know it in 2016?
So far I have been amazed by the students' curiosity, questions, engagement level and knowledge. Our first trip was to the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an organization in Phnom Penh whose mission is to provide justice for the victims of the KR, and whose office is home to over one million photos, documents, documentaries, interviews and other primary sources from the KR period. In about two hours, we met with the Director (show below, white shirt, center), the legal department, the business office and the film/documentary/media wing, all while being hosted by the wonderful man in charge of national genocide education for high schoolers (standing, far right). I had goosebumps about twenty times, and was nearly moved to tears twice. Watching the students examine their own national identity, and ask major questions, all while expanding their understanding of the details of that time period has been an unparalleled teaching experience. In the photo below, you can see the many standing wall safes, filled with primary sources.
I will leave you with some of my favorite student quotes so far.
Reading a student's response to a chapter she had read in her guided reading book. She had written that the Mexican immigrants were focused on making money to "eat and feed their children." I highlighted the section and added a comment, saying, "The way this is written makes it sound like they want to EAT their children and FEED their children, haha."
The student's response? "Oh Caro, come on!"
Another student was writing about Bridge to Terabithia (so good!) and had written about Leslie's "funeral," when she meant wake. I highlighted the word funeral and commented: "really?" After a few days, I reminded her that she needed to make the proper edits. She went home that day, read my comment and responded, "Caro, you give me a headache. I don't get what you really mean."
And finally, one of my male Seniors came by my apartment to help me carry over new library books that we had purchased when we were back in the States. I had also purchased 50+ sports bras for the girls. Upon seeing the bags of sports bras:
Student: "What are those, bathing suits?"
Me: "...Sort of."
Student: "For who?"
Me: "The girls, don't worry about it."
His eyes got wide, he stepped back, looked me dead in the eye, shaking his head and said: "They are NOT going to want to wear those!"
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