Rachel Weinberger
Last night we had dinner at Haven
Restaurant with Megan, our CFC representative.
She has helped us with all of the logistics throughout the week and has patiently answered our questions and helped us to understand the significance of the Caring for Cambodia schools. Unsurprisingly, as we reviewed the menu, all of the students leaned towards our American heritage and
approached dinner with a western taste. Soon french fries, chicken fingers, Cesar
salads and hamburgers with cokes crowded the tables. Our adventurous chaperones
enjoyed Beef Luk Lak, spicy Khmer curry, and a chicken-cashew dish (cashews are
a major crop in Cambodia). After dinner,
we stopped at a street vendor selling crepes. We all gathered around as the
vendor stretched the crepe from a small ball of dough into a giant, flat dough
pan-cake. We picked our fillings from a choice of bananas, nutella, and
chocolate syrup. They were just 75 cents
each. They were so good! Yum! After
that, we all headed to the hotel for bed with high hopes for the next and final
day of work at the Aranh School.
We all developed unexpected
relationships with the staff and children there alike. The children frequently helped us with the work we were doing. This morning, our task was to
paint vibrant colors on the stairs and the large cement planters that we had created
a few days earlier. A little girl named Pen consistently helped us from day one
with the work that was planned for us. Along the way we picked up more friends
like Simai, Trimite and Benji. Soon enough, they all earned a spot in our
hearts. Pen would grab water bottles for the girls and me. She grew accustomed to
the millions of pictures we all took of her and our new found friends in hopes
of capturing their dirty, little, smiling faces to bring back and share with
those back home. I did not know it was possible to have such a connection with
someone who lived half a world from you, and with such a different culture and
language. Yet, our communication with the staff and kids was like that of our
conversations at home.
At the end of our work day, we played one last
game of soccer together with the children. Next came the worst part: the goodbye. We hugged each other; our eyes
glistening with unshed tears. This was the last time we would see our little
friends again. As we waved one last goodbye and got into the van, we looked
back in surprise to see them pedaling their bikes behind us. They tried to go
faster and faster, pedaling with all of their strength, but as soon as we made
the turn, we could no longer see them. Everyone agreed it was better to have
met them and said goodbye then have come to Cambodia without the gift of
meeting such wonderful people. With that in our minds, our hearts lifted and we
headed back to the hotel.
Late in the afternoon, we jumped
into the van to go to a silkworm farm. There, we saw the little worms that
feast on mulberry leaves and then form cocoons of silk. After the silkworms' cocoons
were complete, the worms themselves were fried into edible delights for the
workers. We were offered samples, and Matt, Brooke, CeMaia, Brigid, and Noah decided to
partake. Just looking at the faces of
those brave contenders made me feel sure that choosing NOT to eat the little thing
was a good idea. On a happier and less disturbing note, when we were travelling
through the factory we watched ladies work complex-looking looms at
lightening fast speed. Their designs were absolutely beautiful and breathtaking,
and it takes several days to make a yard of cloth. The gorgeous handmade silk
scarves in the gift shop were many times more expensive than the bargain
souvenirs from the night market. Overall, it was a pretty solid day! Now off to
dinner! Yay! J
[ Editor Romeyn notes: we have completed our work at the school, and Megan remarked that we accomplished more than CFC had planned and noted that we arrived every day with a great attitude lots of energy. Tomorrow will bring a visit to the land mine museum, time to pack up our bags, and perhaps an afternoon movie to keep cool. We have a Khmer cooking class at 5 pm. We head to the airport at 9 pm Sunday and after three flights totaling 20 hours, will land at Reagan National at 1:30 pm]
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| Crepes from the street vendor |
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| Megan from CFC; Brooke and CeMaia sample the crepes |
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| Rachel paints a planter a bright yellow |
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| Dr. Romeyn goes for a spin on Ya's motorbike |
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| Checking out a job well done |
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| Blake has perfected the "squat and paint." |
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| This combination whiteboard/storage unit is in the Middle School; we have sponsored the purchase of three such units for the Upper School. They were in the process of installing the units this week. |
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| Happy Aranh School students |
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| The "Happy Group" plus Megan from CFC in front of the new Upper School |
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| Mulberry leaves |
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| Trays of cocoons, drying in the sun |
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| Boiling the cocoons to remove the worms |
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| Adventurous Brooke and Brigid enjoy a fried silkworm |
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| Colorful raw silk |
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| Women spin the silk onto spindles |
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| Bring your daughter to work |
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| Beautiful and laborious craftwork |
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| working the loom |
