Two Tons of Fun!

January 1st, 2013
by Brooke Priddy

We started out the morning on a visit to Angkor Thom, the ancient capital city of Cambodia.  "Angkor" simply means city, and although Angkor Wat is the most famous ancient structure, there are dozens of ruins around the country. Inside the ancient city, we visited Bankong Temple and Baphuon Temple, both of which were built in the 12th century. The temples were beautiful with shrines, images of Buddha, and many carvings. As you walked through the shrines you were given incense and would say a prayer, and receive a braided bracelet. The most exciting part of the morning started when we were driving into the temple area. As we passed through the entrance we saw a sign advertising elephant rides. When the group saw the signs we freaked out, and begged for a chance to ride the elephants. We quickly toured the temple, and rushed over to the elephants. We paid our money and waited for enough elephants to return from earlier trips. As we prepared to go on the elephants we were so excited, and took so many pictures. The first group to go was Blake, Noah, and Matt. They climbed up to the platform and stepped into the chair on the elephant, and began their journey around the circumference of the temple. Rachel and CeMaia were next, and then Brigid and me.  Dana and Mr. Kosegarten followed and Dr. Romeyn and Mr. Riffee brought up the rear with the camera and video camera.  The elephant drivers would put their feet on the back of the elephant's ear to lead them in the right direction. As all the groups turned the last corner we were sorry that our time was up, but happy that we had got the experience to ride elephants. Matt had a chance to feed a pineapple to his elephant and we all touched the elephant's snout.  It was an amazing experience and all of were so excited that we rode them.   In keeping with the elephant theme, after we visited the famous elephant terrace and saw many depictions of elephants in the stone walls.  We learned that thousands of elephants were used in the construction of the temples, and they had to drag sandstone from a quarry many miles away.

Ringing in the New Year

by Dana Martin

January 1st, 2013

Last night for New Year’s Eve we ate at Soup Dragon. The restaurant had three different levels and our table was reserved on the top floor looking over Pub Street. Pub Street is the main, crowded street in Siem Reap. We ordered a variety of pizzas to share as a group. The table was casual with lounge-like benches and pillows. The restaurant next to us was prepping for the new years party and had balloons, a dance floor and loud music that we were singing along to during dinner.  The girls bought matching Cambodian outfits and wore them to dinner. The outfits consisted of light, patterned pants and a light, white, long sleeve top. After dinner we walked along Pub Street and headed over to the Night Market where we had also been the night before. Everyone was complimenting on our outfits and it seemed to limit the amount of intense bargaining we had experienced the night before. After the Night Market, we walked back to the hotel and watched television and played cards in the room I share with Brooke.  We went to the large, outdoor lobby to count down to midnight. As we did, the streets became very loud and there were fireworks. The fireworks were colorful and very loud and near. Some that stood out to us were a heart shaped one, a smiley face one, and a green one that shimmered. Soon after, we all turned in for the night. 

Off to School...and Work.

December 31^st (Happy New Year’s Eve!)

CeMaia Wise (with a few statistical details added by Dr. Romeyn)

Today we went to the Aranth School bright and early. We were met by Megan, CFC coordinator, and by Ya, a local student at University of Cambodia. We presented our donations of more than 1,000 toothbrushes and 500 tubes of toothpaste. Megan explained the value of the donation:  each elementary school student has his or her own toothbrush at the school, and the teachers supervise the students and encourage them to brush twice a day.  The brushes are replaced every six months, and with 4,000 students enrolled in CFC schools, the brushes will be put to good use.

Megan took us on the tour of the facilities, which include a primary school, a middle school, and a (nearly completed) high school.  The school currently goes until 9th grade, but next year those current 9th graders will be able to move to the brand-new high school.  Our donations have provided for key supplies for three of the classrooms in the high school.

W broke up into two groups to work on projects for the day. My group (Matt, Mr. Kosegarten, Noah, and Brigid) worked on mixing cement and building a four foot brick wall, which is already looking nice. The wall is part of a larger landscaping and gardening project, which will help to beautify the grounds of the school.

The other group worked on making bulletin boards for the Upper school buildings. Blake sanded frames for the bulletin boards and Rachel, Brooke and Dana nailed in the board. We used machetes to chop off the excess woven matts.  Dr. Romeyn helped to stretch the woven bamboo mats over the boards, which will then be spray painted bright colors and mounted on the classroom walls.

The school was clean, bright, and well-equiped. The students wore nice white uniforms and were happy. In the afternoon we switched projects.  It is a public school, but CFC sponsors the school in part which allows for the purchase of better equipment, supplies, and training for the teachers.

As we were leaving for lunch, we joined about a dozen children for a pickup game of soccer.  They had fast feet! We will be working at the school all week and it will be great to see the progress.

Everyone loves shopping!

Rachel Weinberger and Brigid McCaffery

Late afternoon/evening December 30^th

After a long trip from Phnom Penh, including several unsuccessful stops to attempt to repair the air-conditioning, we were all relieved to arrive in Siem Reap.  We enjoyed the pool and took much-needed showers before heading out to explore the town.  We had dinner at Khmer Kitchen, where many of the kids ordered chocolate shakes and French fries. We went a little American during this meal. We also met Megan from Caring For Cambodia, who has been here for almost two years. She is the one who will give us our tour tomorrow when we begin our work on the school’s construction and design. After dinner, we all went to the night market, which was decorated with a lot of lights for the New Year. All of the girls bought elephant pants and white shirts in an attempt to be submerged in the Cambodian culture. The boys purchased pajama-style pants, white blouses, and rice farmer hats that they wore proudly back to the hotel. There were so many different types of merchants and artisans selling their goods and services at the market. Around each corner, you could discover small paintings, Buddhas, clothing, massages, jewelry and bags. The girls of course, not mattering that it was Cambodian style, went crazy over the idea of shopping. We spent a couple hours shopping and bargaining for good prices, even though we didn’t know when we were getting ripped off or not. After several false turns and backtracking, we returned to our hotel and settled in for our first night in Siem Reap.