Baby, it's Cold Outside

It rarely feels like December here in Cambodia, but today was a day full of nostalgia for snow days, sweaters and christmas cookies.

I woke up around 4am to what I thought was the pitter-patter of little mice feet, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was the pitter-patter of fresh, glorious rain.  We're entering the dry season, so it hasn't rained in almost a month, and yesterday was quite the scorcher.  I went back to sleep looking forward to a cool morning.

When my alarm went off at 6:20, it was still raining.  And anyone in Cambodia can tell you what rain during the day means:  a rain day!  It's a lot like a snow day, but with rain.  I called my co-teacher to double check, but I was pretty sure the rain meant no class this morning.

I had grand plans of sleeping in, but like any excited kid on a rain day, I was so excited about not having class that I stayed up and finished reading a book I'd been working on for a few days.  I taught one class mid-morning when it stopped raining for a bit, but then the rain returned and there was no school for the rest of the day.

Some of you might be thinking, "What, they can't just handle a little rain?", which was definitely my thought during my first "rain day".  But think about it.  Riding your bike in the rain when you don't have a rain coat, or a rainproof backpack, on a muddy road for half an hour just to get to school seems like enough reason not to go.  That and the fact that the school roof is made of tin, so even if you did make it to school, chances are you aren't going to be able to understand the teacher over the "ping!  ping! ping!" of the rain drops.  Not to mention the holes in the roof, leaking water all over the classroom.

Now the original purpose of this blog was just to tell everyone how cold it is!  Since the sun has yet to grace the day with its presence, it has been a cold one*.  I'm currently sitting here wearing socks, a thick skirt, an undershirt, dress shirt and sweatshirt.  And I'm not sweating!  It's truly a Christmas miracle!

Mirror selfie!  

So please excuse me while I make myself another cup of hot chocolate and look at things on pinterest while I listen to Michael Bublé's Christmas album.  Winter has come to Cambodia!

*Truth be told, I think it's only about 70 degrees, but it feels like at least 65!

A Field Trip Turned Philosophical

There are some things I never really pictured myself being able to do while I was in Peace Corps.  Taking my students to a nature reserve to learn about endangered bears, where they would be included in footage for an upcoming documentary, was definitely one of those things.  How random, right?

A few weeks ago I contacted a nature reserve fairly close to my site (it's about a 25 minute tuk-tuk ride away) because I heard they run an education program that is free for students.  As soon as any Peace Corps volunteer hears the word "free", we're all over it, so I was looking forward to hearing more from them.

Well, everything worked out and yesterday I took 25 students from my high school to Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center.  The program taught the students about sun bears and moon bears in Cambodia, and how these animals are endangered due to numerous factors, including deforestation and poaching.  My students got to make a few snacks for the bears and throw them into the enclosure, which both the students and bears enjoyed immensely.  They also were able to go around and see a few other treasures from the nature reserve.  

Learning about the endangered bears 

Spreading some jam inside the bear enclosure (the bears were being kept somewhere else while they cleaned their habitat) for the bears to eat

This bear is eating the jam I left for him!  

One of my students, excited to see the bears so close-up!  

Making another snack for the bears.  These balls were stuffed with bananas, vegetables and some honey

Watching this happen was so freaking adorable.  My heart almost exploded.

Elephants!  

Yes, Dad, that is an enormous python.  There were three of them in that cage. I was fine watching from a distance....

The other exciting part is that my students are going to be on TV!!!  A film crew happened to be at the nature reserve that day, and they were working on a documentary about endangered animals along the Mekong River.  My students will definitely be in a few shots, and it comes out in March, so I'm hoping to get my hands on a copy so they can all watch it!

My students being surprisingly calm and collected in front of the camera

I was extremely grateful to have this opportunity to share a completely new experience with my students.  The majority of them had never seen a bear before, or any of the other animals displayed at the nature reserve, for that matter.  However, they were just as amazed (if not more so) by the other foreigners at the nature reserve, and ran up to take pictures with a few surprised tourists (I'm apparently old news).

At the risk of making this a rather long blog post, I have to add an aside to this story.  This nature reserve is an extremely nice place.  The education center has a nice, flat-screen television, the walls are freshly painted, there are fans mounted on the wall, and there are soft benches to sit on.  The bears are fed several times a day, and given a variety of fresh-fruit snacks, kept fresh by a refrigerator which is powered by a solar panel.  As we were wandering around one of the bear habitats (a very nicely decorated area, created to make it seem as if you are in a bear-cave), one of my students came up to me and said, "Teacher Kelly, this place is fantastic!  That's a word I can use, right?  'Fantastic'?"  After assuring this student that was a great use of the word, he replied saying, "Yes, I wish I could live here forever."

Truth be told, I didn't think much of his statement, at first.  I just assumed the statement was uttered, as any excited kid would, at the close of a fantastic day in a new place.  But I have been to where this student actually lives.  He is one of my brightest students, and an extremely hard worker.  He also lives in a one-room house, made of wood, with tarps and straw lining the roof in an attempt to keep out the rain.  He cares for his blind mother, and teaches her English in his spare time (he must be a pretty good teacher since his mother was able to have a short conversation with me in English before we switched to Khmer).

It was one of those moments that completely broke my heart, as I realized this student probably really meant what he said, and the realization that these bears have a better quality of life than a good portion of my students.  

This is not a criticism on the nature reserve, or those who donate to care for animals.  Phnom Tamao Nature Reserve has many donors whose passion is in protecting and preserving the environment.  Phnom Tamao not only helps to preserve the environment, but educates young people on the importance of the ecosystem, provides them with a completely new experience, free of cost, and provides employment for many people in my area.  I truly believe this is a great organization.

But this is the issue with development.  It's easy to provide assistance and vastly improve the lives of a bunch of bears in a short amount of time.  You can just plop a bear in an nice enclosure and it will be completely content for the rest of it's little, bear life.  It's much harder dealing with people.  There are so many different barriers: religious barriers, cultural barriers, language barriers, socioeconomic barriers and simply, human barriers.  Even if you finally get through all these barriers, there are still so many things that can go wrong.  There are so many examples of development projects gone awry, and I can personally attest to numerous failures at projects I thought would be really great ideas.

So while improvement may not happen as quickly with humans as it does with bears, it's still completely worth a few more attempts, and a few more after that.

But for now, I'll simply reflect back on a great learning experience for my students.  Not only did they learn more about the ecosystem, but they got to see a lot of different careers in action.  Perhaps this will inspire one of them to work at a nature reserve, or on a camera-crew, or as a journalist.  I truly believe my students are capable of anything, and I'll do whatever I can to make them believe that, too.

One last note: The student I talked about earlier is in grade 12 and will be graduating near the top of his class at the end of this year.  I was able to put him in contact with an organization in town which will be able to help sponsor his studies at a university of his choice.  This student has truly been an inspiration to me, and I am confident he will reach his goal of becoming an English tour guide and helping to provide more for his family.