Christmas comes but once a year, and believe it or not, it does come to Cambodia. Of course it is slightly disguised as a normal day but the weather is a chilly 80 degrees (the locals are wearing fur lined parkas to work - seriously). Many of our friends (well, 2 friends) have been asking for our address to send Christmas cards. The good news is we do have an address, the bad news is we have yet to see a postman, or even a bloke on a moto delivering mail. Therefore this is our Christmas card to all of you and we suggest any reciprocation comes via the Internet.
We had our school Christmas party the other day, at the Raffles no less. $24 per person and some pretty good food. If you like green curry, under done pork and lots of rice. The White Elephant where everyone brings different gifts was also very interesting. Pringles and gin as a package deal vied for the most traded with the mosquito kill packet (did you know that mosquito repellent comes in 14 different flavors - hope the mozzies appreciate it).
We are happy to say we have finished our Christmas shopping - see the picture of Simon at the "store". He was at our local "mall" the Russian market, and as you can see, the shoppers have not been deterred by the economic downturn. The motos and tuk-tuks are crammed full of holiday trinkets and dead pigs. The chickens that have escaped the first round of bird flu hang upside down from the motos but are still alive.
There is one place in town where you can buy Christmas gift wrapping. But at $3.00 a sheet (that is more than a good meal and a beer) we have decided to wrap our gifts in school art supplies. There are not too many holiday decorations as you might imagine, we struggled to get the picture by the tree (note the king, queen and royal son who by the way is a ballet dancer above the tree and us). We do see some strange Santa decorations on doors, they look suspiciously like Hello Kitty with a beard.
We did get the opportunity to attend a traditional pantomime (very big in England). It was very loosely based on Aladdin using Beatles music to new words (the copyright laws are like the drinking and driving laws in Cambodia - they just don't exist.) The song "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was sung as "We are Cambodia's only pantomime, we hope you will enjoy the show." Men dressed as women, booing and hissing the villain, and 3 year olds singing about figgy pudding and wandering off the stage. Just like home.
With Cambodia being in such the Christmas spirit, we are off to Hong Kong and Borneo with our family to find the real spirit of Christmas, which I am led to believe comes with lots of presents and lots of spirits.
That's about it, just wanted to let all you young people know that my 75 year old parents are going to be the first ones to use our spare room on the 5th floor of our Phnom Penh apartment. Of course it may be their last visit but God Bless them for being adventurous. Merry Christmas to all and the best of everything in 2009. Hope to see you here in Phnom Penh.
Marilu and Simon
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Yo--Merry Christmas from the Summerlin Striders! We were going to call ourselves the Summerlin Simon Sometimes Sober Striders (or, was it the Sometimes Sober Simon--can't recall which), but it wouldn't fit on our running shirts (well, it might have fit on George's). Have a great holiday, and keep up with the hands-on teaching methods you told me about.
Cheers--Don
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