NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011

Hello Everyone, 

I hope Christmas was a happy time for you all.  We had a really great day. About 35 people came for lunch: staff, Cambodian friends, European friends and we had some family which made it extra special, Andrew’s cousin and his family. Everyone mixed in really well.  We cooked a 5 kg turkey on the rotisserie and had a leg of ham. Late in the afternoon when the guests had left, the staff continued on partying into the evening and then we all went off to Kep to the Star Inn where a band was playing and continued dancing. Sothea and Kimsy sang karaoke with the band. We started cooking and setting up the area at 7.00am so by the time we got home that night it had been a long but enjoyable day.

Some guests	Sothea is hungry
Just starting to decorate the tree	Upper students

Staff

The last day of term we decorated the Christmas tree. All the students put a decoration on the tree.   We learnt the song “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” which they went off singing down the drive on the last day of school before the break

Sothea and Kimsy giving us a song at the Star Inn

Then we had the Water Festival, two days of boat racing and concerts at night. Our boat didn’t sink this year which was an improvement and then they won their last race. We beat the Governor’s boat and they were very proud about this. So the event ended on a good note for them. They received a plaque type flag. Last year it had number 4 on it which meant they didn’t win any races but this year the plaque had number 3 on it which meant they had won one race. So they are putting it up in the pagoda alongside last year’s and are aiming to get a higher number next year. Everyone from Kep Gardens went to Kep to cheer the boat on and stayed into the night each day for the concerts. A good time was had by all.

Official opening before the races started	Trying hard
The race we won - just. It was exciting!

So, the boat stays in the Kompong Tralach pagoda now until next year. They are farmers, not fishermen - anyone reading this know anything about rowing? They could do with a bit of skills training as the harder they try, the more they get out of synch and go a bit wobbly. Actually though, I am sure they enjoy it whether they win or lose as they camp along the water front with all the other boats for a few days and have lots of parties with old and new friends. The “manager” who is older never looks too healthy each morning so I’m not sure the rowers are at their peak of fitness! Still, all the rowers would be in the same boat I guess, except for the ones that really have a chance of taking it out, maybe they take it more seriously. It’s just a fun community event for the Kep Province and a social gathering. 

I had one week off over Christmas and New Year. We stayed in Kampot for 3 nights. We treated ourselves to a motel room with a hot shower and a comfortable bed and sleepins. I hate the early morning starts. The sleepin days go too quickly! Andrew spent every day at the boat working with the guys while I had a massage and wandered around the market looking for some clothes. Because I have lost so much weight I can fit into the clothes from the market so now have some pants that fit me properly! 

The school library has opened again. At the end of the school year our librarian went to Phnom Penh to continue studies as a teacher and it has taken us all this time to find someone else. He is an ex-student studying in Kampot. He was going to school 5 days a week but he couldn’t afford the petrol every day and he also had to buy his lunch. He has changed his study to part-time and goes only on the weekends. So he needed a job to pay for his petrol and food on the weekend. We had over 100 books donated by “Room to Read” and also Alan and Wendy brought over a lot of books donated by a book company. So we have many more books this time around. The real readers amongst the students had read all the books we had so they are enjoying ploughing through this lot. They are all in English so it will be a challenge for them and will improve their English greatly.

Borrowing or returning books

 The students had a great time with volunteers, Chris and Selina, doing lots of listening games not only in the classroom but out in the paddock. A great way to spend the last week of term having a fun time! Three other volunteers gave their time to Kep Gardens during this same week, one of which played a guitar so the students really had a varied and great week. Thanks to Bernie, Jez and David. Come back and see us again. Janna and Graham came back from Canada. Graham has been helping a school near Kampot while Janna went on training the cooks for the boat. Look forward to seeing them again in April when they return for a wedding.

Chris and Selina on Christmas Day

The boat has finally started work. A few weeks ago we brought it back to Kep from Kampot. We had a Kep Gardens family day so everyone that works or lives here came along. We got to Kampot on a wagon and a friend in Kampot made some food and took drinks on board. There was great excitement in the camp in the morning before we left. All the girls were scrubbing their feet with a scrubbing brush and detergent! Don’t understand why but it seemed important to them that their feet were clean. Since then we have had the usual delays with getting things finished and been getting very frustrated but I guess this is normal in Cambodia so we have to learn to accept the frustrations and not go crazy. Unfortunately we will have missed most of the tourist season which we were hoping to raise money from for the building of the new schoolhouse in the coming months. Not sure when we will start this project now as it depends on how much we get in from the small amount of time the boat will be running. 

Trying to show you the length and width of the boat from these pictures.

The dinner cruise buffet.	Canadian guests

We had an afternoon cruise on Saturday with snack foods. It was our first time out with no practice (no time) but it went well, the passengers were great, friendly, went swimming off the boat near one of the islands and as they left in the small boat to head back to shore, all waved and shouted goodbye and said they had really enjoyed it. The evening cruise with the dinner had a smaller number and unfortunately the wind sprang up so it wasn’t as comfortable. But we had drinks back on shore with the passengers afterwards and they all were enthusiastic about their trip. So we got some good feedback but it was also a great learning curve. I have a list as long as your arm of things we need to improve on and organize better. We do it all again this coming weekend. The tourist numbers are going down now so unless we get a lot of bookings we won’t run during the week. A group of guys from Kampot have booked the boat for a fishing cruise for 2 days the week after next. And, of course, there is Khmer New Year in April and hopefully we will be busy for that week. So we may be lucky and get a bit of income in for the short time left. 

Kittens	Rascal
Fido

 We have decided to increase our stock of different animals so that when we eventually get the bungalows built we can advertise as a “Village Farm Holiday” to encourage Cambodians from Phnom Penh to bring their children to stay for weekends or short holidays. It will also be something for tourists who stay to look at and enjoy. We are trying to think of something different as most of the places in Kep cater to adults only. We can hopefully cater to a different sector of the community. Our chicken stock is increasing and we have a broody hen sitting on 8 eggs. We have geese to act as watchdogs and to keep snakes away. We have some rabbits, we will be getting some ducks and guinea fowl. All these things can also be sold for food or eggs to help with finances. We will also get a couple of pigs and a couple of cows and a small horse to offer pony rides to visiting children. Maybe we can set up an animal nursery like they have at the Royal Show. Work in progress this one.

Our teenage geese. Going to get a couple more white ones.	Our broody hen. Most of our chickens are still young

Our composting programme is about to start in earnest. The winds are blowing onshore at the moment so a lot of seaweed is being washed ashore. Andrew happened to be down Kep way and saw them cleaning it up. So he asked them to deliver 5 truck loads of it. They only dump it into landfill. Now that they know where they can sell it, I am sure we will always have a plentiful supply for our compost although it is only seasonal, depending on the way the wind is blowing. 

Our small community where 8 people live, kitchen for the boat, library, school room and shed.	Part of the orchard and veggie garden.

We have been to a few village ceremonies lately; a birthday party, blessing of the rice for next year’s crop (we had to take some of our rice to get blessed), a government meeting which went on for hours and which I didn’t understand one word and a couple of pagoda ceremonies. The reasons for them escape me as I can’t keep up with all the ceremonies at this time of year. But we like to be involved in the goings on in the village so always attend if we get invited. We also attended the opening of a new guest house which was a big affair. I haven’t been out so much for months!! 

Kimsy’s father died recently. She is one of our hospitality students that went to Siem Reap. Called around that night and sat around for a couple of hours. People do that here, sit around praying with the monks, sitting in the room with the corpse and talking or playing cards to pass the time. A way of offering support to the family I think and they also offer some money to help with the funeral costs. Then the next day we trekked into the jungle to bury him. I have been to a cremation and a burial now in the village. Very interesting both of them and very different to our way of doing things. I didn’t take these photos as I didn’t fancy running around with a camera but the family wanted some so one of the other students took them on our camera. Kimsy wasn’t available to work on the boat on the weekend as it was the 7^th day memorial service. They have one at day 7, one at day 100 and one 3 years later. Day 6 was getting ready for the next day but also she needed time with her family.

Walking over rice fields to the jungle to bury him.	The monks doing their final part of the ceremony

Another one of the hospitality students is getting married in 2 weeks. Only known the girl for 2 months but the parents want this to happen so happen it will. Another party! Bring on the rainy season when it all stops and we can have a rest!!

The school is going well. The numbers have settled down to 137 split over the various groups. We have exams coming up in the next week or so. I was going to delay the mid year exam as we are so busy with the boat and all it entails but the Upper class keeps asking when they will be so I have no choice but to do something about it immediately. Fancy wanting an exam!!!! This class is quite serious about their studies so I imagine they want to see how they are going and what they need to work on or ask more questions about. So I am under pressure to perform!! It gladdens my heart really to have confirmation that what we are doing is worthwhile. 

The young class is still all over the place. They come here early and play and love the library, changing books every day, letting me know the clock has reached number 3 and we should start but they are so enthusiastic about the worksheets or workbooks with pictures in to colour that they forget to listen. 

Of course, the monks are very serious about all forms of learning so I enjoy having them in the class as they ask lots of questions which in turn helps out their classmates as well. 

Some of the Intermediate morning class. I really like this photo so had to include it

We hope you are all well and happy and hope that all the disasters that happened in Australia earlier in the year did not seriously affect any of you.

Cheers,

Andrew and Janine

An industrious farm worker Scally asked for a picture of Andrew working. Nearest thing I could get to it Scally!!