What happened

I forgot to mention that Jarrah and Sonna were out walking in the garden looking for baby frogs.  They were looking for baby frogs to feed to the little injured snake (a Bronzeback which the dogs bit).  Amelie was in the house minding the snake.  Bambi just came up and started going at Jarrah and wouldn't stop.  Sonna called out to Amelie and Amelie came down and managed to manhandle Bambi long enough to let Sonna take Jarrah to the house.  Amelie was quite the hero!

Jarrah and Bambi

Jarrah and Bambi have been good friends. 

Baby Bambi and Baby Jarrah

Bambi however has been growing up.  And growing horns.  Last year when we came home from Australia, Amelie ran in the gate and Bambi quickly butted her.. she got a few scratches on her calf.  We locked him up in a pen for a while but he seemed fine after a while and we let him out again.  We were home for a long time and he got used to us again. 

Well, since the beginning of April, we have been going here and there.  We went to Phnom Penh for dentist appointments and for picking up stuff for Jombok Hoas.  We were home for 2 nights  and then went to Siem Reap to meet a group of volunteers from the Bowral Church Youth Group.  Had a fun few days exploring the temples and shopping in Siem Reap.  We then headed home.  We were busy going every day to Jombok Hoas.  Sonna, our guard’s daughter who used to watch the girls was home (she had been away in another province working for another family), and so I asked her to watch them for a day so they could rest up a bit at home.  I was out with the group on the way to a village program for kids that the group was running.  It was going to be a far away village.  We were about 40km from home and I get a frantic phone call from Amelie.  “Jarrah was hurt by Bambi, come quick.” I hung the phone up.  Stopped the van.  Rang Amelie again since I didn’t get the full story.  Jarrah was gored by Bambi in the side (I heard).  I hung up again.  Called Ben.  All a bit scatterbrained with what to do.  I did manage to stop the van.  Call the first van to come back.  Have everyone in the first van get out and squeeze into one van so I could take the other van back (the van I was in had a big generator in it).  We rushed back to Jombok Haos where Ben met me at the gate and we rushed home.  Sonna was cradling Jarrah when I got home, and had carried her to the steps.  I couldn’t see the wound but she said it was in her thigh.  I was much, much relieved.  We took her to the Health Centre.  Also we had the van bring one of the volunteers from Jombok Hoas, Willem Knopper, who is an ICU nurse, come to check on her.  It was a nasty wound, about 8cm (3 inches) in diameter and very deep.. but it wasn’t in her side or stomach or anywhere too sensitive and she wasn’t bleeding much.  Relief.  They squirted some Betedine into the wound, covered it up, gave her a penicillin shot and a pain killer and she stopped fussing.

So we decided to take her to Phnom Penh.   Throughout the 5.5 hour trip she was happy as if there was nothing wrong.  She was telling us stories.  She had a nap.  The main issue was that she wasn’t allowed to eat anything.  All quite normal.  We went to the surgery where Ben got his bunion operated on and the same doctor was working.  We were a bit worried that there wouldn’t be anywhere open as it was the tail end of the big Khmer New Year holiday.  But he had been working all holiday.  We had to wait a while as he was in surgery cleaning out someone’s infected appendix.  Finally at 8pm she went into surgery.  She needed to be under a general – it would have been pretty hard to stitch her all up otherwise.  He managed to cut away all the torn up skin and bring it all together in neat under-the-skin stitches.  There were two sites. One pretty small and the other the big one.  The horns had reached down to the muscle but didn’t tear the muscle.  So that was good.  She got all bandaged up we slept one night in the hospital and was let out the next day.  We had pizza for breakfast and left just before midday for the long trip home. 

Waiting for the Doctor

So thankfully, everything turned out okay.  It could have been so much worse.  Bambi has been locked up with the monkey.  Jarrah is walking around .. hobbling actually but quickly getting better.  Her wound site looks pretty neat.. I cleaned it on Sunday and it looked like it was healing well.  I have pictures of that.  Not of the original injury – I was wanting to take one!  But I didn’t see it again after we first put the dressings on it at the Health Centre.  Oh well.  It wasn’t pretty anyway. 

After Surgery

The Wound (with Betadine on it!)

Learning Part 2 and other bits and pieces

I wrote last time that we just started with Jarrah’s “school.”  It has been 10 days now and she has finished her first workbook.  Every day she is pleading “can I i pleeeeaaaase do school.” Every day.  Even on days off!   Quite a different attitude to before.  She is so happy learning her letters and the hunger pains of the mornings have pretty much stopped as she is busy!  So now she knows her f, k, m, r, b, t and just started on p.  She still isn’t totally confident in them but the interest is there and that is what I need!

We went yesterday to the local bakery.  ADRA has a project with Sanitarium helping to set up fresh noodle makers and a bread maker, both using fortified flour.  The Sanitarium guy was visiting the bakery to give them ideas for expanding their product line.  He taught them how to make pizza.  And it was really good pizza.  I hope we can order that in the future.  We came home with some buns, some fresh spaghetti noodles (I have run out of dried spaghetti at the moment) and tummies full of pizza!  Not bad for Rovieng eh?

The markets have been full of fresh veges at the moment.  I always love it when I see ladies sitting on the ground with basins full of fresh stuff.  Lately we have been getting in fresh cauliflowers.  They are so lovely and fresh (sometimes with a couple of worms – live worms are good actually since it means that there hasn’t been so much pesticide used on the vegetable.  They are really tasty.  Jarrah has been complaining because I have been putting them in everything that she is not used to seeing it in.  I’m convinced I need to keep giving her different stuff to eat, despite her complaints!

Fresh Cauliflowers ready for cooking

Pretty Lemongrass - had to take a picture since they look so cool

Our baby peacock success was short lived.  The first nest of 4 eggs had 3 babies hatch successfully.  We put them in our holding pen where the deer are not supposed to be able to get to them (our deer are a rare carnivorous kind!)  Well the chicken mother found her way out of the pen and of course the babies followed her.  After lunch on Day 1, we only had 1 baby left.  He is thriving now, in a beefed up pen.  That first batch also had another egg that had not yet hatched.  Ben thought it was rotten so he cracked it. It wasn’t rotten.  It had just been put in the nest a few days later than the first.  Sad.  The second nest of eggs doesn’t seem to want to hatch.  There is one very tame chicken sitting on 6 eggs, 2 eggs were supposed to hatch last Friday and none did.  Two were supposed to hatch today and there is no sign of any movement.  And maybe 2 more next week.  The poor chicken will be sitting on them for a very long time if they don’t hatch today.  The peahen is still laying fertile eggs and we have a chicken who has been sitting on eggs in my office, so we have added 2 peacock eggs to her own 3 eggs.  Hopefully these will work.

This is the first one who hatched.  Not sure if he is the one that survived or not.  

Adored

You may notice that a significant number of photos that Jarrah is in has her in no clothes.  Sorry about this.  The temperatures each day average about 35 deg C (maybe 100 deg F).  And with the high humidity it is pretty hot.  So I don’t make her wear clothes.  It also makes my life easier with less clothes to wash.  Amelie begrudgingly puts clothes on (as do I!)

It is Friday.  Need to tidy the house again.  Need to get started on school again.  Should be doing some work work!  Happy Sabbath.

Learning

We don't let the kids have too much screen time. I was in Phnom Penh with them a month or so ago and was in a workshop so out of necessity allowed them unrestricted time on the computer for two days! They watched movies and played on Scratch. Scratch is a kids programming program allowing them to make up little moving pictures with sound etc. Amelie learned how to use this during her few months at the computer class at the local primary school.

Well Jarrah is always begging to be allowed to play on the computer. She usually wants to play Scratch. At home I prefer just to say no, so she knows it is not an option. It is just much simpler, as usually, when it comes time to end, or she gets frustrated - we end up in tears.

She still hasn't got it in her head that it is not an option. The latest ploy has been, "I just want to show you the picture that we did last time!" We had had a productive morning and the afternoon was spent making a kite and a wall chart for letters for Jarrah (sewing!). She was begging again. I said, "Scratch is too hard for you, you don't know how to use the program." She replied, "Well that is how I learn, I need to use it!" Good point. She is a good arguer. So, I gave in. 10 minutes. It always ends up with Jarrah asking Amelie something, "How do I get the background" or something like that. Amelie hops on and works on the project for the rest of the time. Time is up. Jarrah cries, "Amelie used up all my time!!" Today was no different.

Yesterday we started in on Jarrah's school. I think she has been feeling a little neglected with me spending a lot of time teaching Amelie and leaving her to play by herself. Her attention getter is "I'm hungry" every 20 minutes or less. So I got out some workbooks I have been keeping for her and asked her if she wanted to start school.

I had tried this a month earlier with another book - 100 easy lessons to reading or something. She wasn't impressed at all and not at all interested. But this latest workbook seems to have got her motivated. She was even asking to do more lessons this evening at 5:30pm. We'll see how long this keeps up for. Not trying to push her as i don't see any need for her to really start school, but mostly I want her to feel included and to have something constructive to do - if that is what she wants. It is quite cute seeing her sitting there, all excited about her book, asking for more!

Amelie's experiment for the day was kite making. I got home from my run (/walk!!) at 6:30 am and she was outside trying to cut up bamboo to make the frame for her kite. She had actually gotten dressed already (an aside - the other morning I slept in and when I woke up at 6.30am, she told me she had already been to the ball field by our place - in her night attire still (panties only! it is really hot right now)). So very surprising to see her dressed already! Anyway, this afternoon I got my sewing machine out and sewed up a kite. Tried to. Assembled it, and the two went to the ball field (both dressed this time, also something for Jarrah who has been spending her hot days in panties!) No luck with the kite flying. It is not windy season. But I should go out with them tomorrow to try again.

Last learning for the day. I have been doing this fairly intensive grammar program with Amelie. She gets it all and seems to be having no problems at all. It is kind of coming back for me too, although I don't think there is too much more that I know than what she is being taught right now. While teaching this, I am constantly wondering why, why, why do I need to teach grammar. Why did I choose to teach grammar. I am way too easily persuaded. I read one book and say, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Then I read another (contradictory) book and also agree. I talk to people who also easily persuade me this way or that. Grammar is one of those topics. This program was a recommendation from someone I talked to, once. Anyway, other things I have read is that kids don't need grammar if they are native English speakers and are exposed to good books and lots of reading.
Well, today, I learned something! There are three types of pronouns! Subject, Object and Possessive pronouns. Possessive is obvious. But it is important that the subject and object pronouns are used correctly! For example..

Me and Amelie went shopping today. (obviously wrong)
Amelie and I went shopping.

"I" being the object pronoun and "me" being a subject pronoun.

This is what has never really been clear to me - or I have never really thought about it, nor understood. Maybe I regularly make mistakes in my speech and writing, who knows!

Ben took a picture of me and Amelie.
Ben took a picture of Amelie and I.

I guess the latter really doesn't sound right. But now I know why!
And.. should it be "...me and Amelie" or "Amelie and me" ????

Well that is my learning for the day. I guess we'll keep on the grammar for this year and see how much more we need to do!
Signing off..

Poy (1998- ? )

We have a chicken who we call Poy.  We call her Poy because she was given to us by our friend Ming Poy when we first moved to our house in 2002.  When we got her, she was about 4 years old.  That puts her to the grand old age of 15.  I think that is pretty old for a chicken.  She was always a very good mother and looked after her chicks very well.  She’d take in other chicks whose mothers were not so good.  She is still alive and kind of wanders around under the house.  She is blind and so can’t see to peck very well so every day she gets placed in the rice barrel so she can eat as much as she can.  Also has to be placed right next to the water to be able to drink.  I came home from the market this morning to find her in the middle of the driveway.  Had to stop the car and move her.  She has the most horrid feet, rivalling Ben’s (by the way, Ben keeps telling me how nice his feet are compared to the villagers he is working with every day).  We have for these 11 years been calling her Poy when actually her owner’s name is “Bpo-ey.”  Subtle but definite difference in Khmer.  Ben called Ming Bpoey “Poy” the other day and everyone laughed. 

So just wanted to remember this faithful chicken here in case anything happens to her in the next little while. 

Another exciting event with our poultry has been the hatching of 3 baby peacocks.  Actually I’m counting my eggs before they hatch.. I mean one.  One was piercing the egg this morning and hopefully the last will come soon.  We have a number of pecock eggs of various vintages under a number of hens.  Hopefully they will all survive.  We also have some non-fertile peahens laying eggs which is a shame since we only have one male and are worried he will do something bad to the other peahens if they are put together.  Ben just eats those eggs!   

Ben's Forest Project

Hi family, anyone out there reading this!  Obviously I haven't been keeping this updated.  I will try, maybe.  However in the meantime this little project over here has been keeping us busy and I have been trying to document the process.

again.. www.bensforestproject.blogspot.com

The Golden Age

It has always been a chore to get Amelie to do her writing assignments for me.  Well, I've been reading a new book on the classical model for education that says that from 1st to 4th Grade, creative writing IS difficult and that the process of formulating thoughts and getting them down on paper is separate, and something that only comes with time.  So, they stress that in the early grades, you can use the narration technique to teach kids how to think through what they want to say and the parent copies that out for them.

Well, I did that the other day, with this result.

I asked Amelie to read a chapter in her history book and summarise it, for me to write out.  This is the result.  Not bad in my opinion!

After the battle which the Persians and Greeks had made, that time was the most wonderful time in the history of Greece, perhaps Europe.  That time was called the Golden Age, from 480 to 430 BC.  The city of Athens had been burned down by Xerxes, king of Persia.  But the Athenians went back and built the city again, this time much more beautiful than the old one had been.  They built a temple in houour to the goddess Athenia.  In the middle of the temple there was a statue of the goddess Athenia made out of pure gold.  But a man named Phidiaz carved a picture of himself and one of his friends on the statue of Athenia.  When the Athenians found it, they were so mad that he had drawn a picture of a human being on a goddess, that they put him in prison, and there he died.

Pericles wrote the first history of the world; about faraway lands such as in Egypt and other lands in Africa.  There was a disease called a plague that killed people like poisoned flies.  That disease came upon Athens and the Athenians died by the thousands.  Pericles nursed the sick.  But he soon caught the plague and died. 

This happened at the end of the Golden Age, which has been called in honour of the greatest man, the Age of Pericles.