Teacher Retreat at Koh Kong

This is how much Logos loves us: they gave us a three-day all-expense-paid retreat at the lovely town of Koh Kong! This is what a bad blogger I am: it was nearly a month ago. But better late than never, right? It was my first trip outside Phnom Penh since I arrived three months ago, and a meaningful time for me in many ways.

Bathing suits are not big here: you wear your clothes in, or if you're little, you skinny-dip like the boy in the center. We didn't know this family, but they were tickled to be photographed.

One thing that it showed me is that the Logos administration is flexible. At first, they envisioned the retreat as a seminar for expatriate (foreign) teachers on handling stress. But some of the teachers approached them about including the Khmer (Cambodian) teachers and assistants as well. The administration extended the invitation to them, even though it meant exceeding their budget, and I was so glad. The time I spent with Khmer staff on the retreat left some of my most significant memories.

Chenda and Srey Roth were in my small group. They were so much fun at the waterfall, too!

We all crammed into three vans on a blazingly hot Wednesday afternoon. When we arrived, though, it was blessedly cool and damp – typical for this town on the Thai border. The chilly weather all three days was a welcome respite from the constant sweat of Phnom Penh, although by “chilly” I mean “I wished I had brought jeans.” It rained a good bit: enough to turn the dirt roads into mush, but not enough to stop us from hiking to a “waterfall” (aka stream). The hotel provided the only hot showers I’ve had since July, which are also the only ones I’ve wanted. They say PP will cool off soon – we’ll see.

The waterfall wasn't that impressive, but I loved the scenery around it!

The seminars included beautiful times of prayer and worship, talks by various staff, small-group discussions, and everyone performing skits on methods of stress relief. The latter were hilarious and a good exercise in cross-cultural communication. Most of the Khmer had never been in any kind of skit before, and were understandably scared about them. So when the first group (topic: saying “no” to commitments) talked about relieving stress by refusing to do the skit, it was perfect! My group had to discuss a long time to come to a consensus about our skit. Brainstorming and ruling out ideas are not emphasized in Khmer culture, so our Khmer members kind of felt stuck doing whatever the other American and I suggested, despite our urgings to the contrary. Other highlights included “Monsieur Grenouille” (Mr. Frog), explaining the French art of massage, and a big Italian guy role-playing as an elderly Khmer woman.

Gotta love the safety standards: a young boy unplugs a drain 3 stories above the pool

It was fun to get a glimpse of life in this sleepy town, and to hear about the provinces from Khmer staff. (Hardly any Cambodian today has always lived in Phnom Penh, given its recent history. And even those who have usually still have relatives in the provinces.) Passing hut after thatch-roofed hut on the trip, with vast open spaces in between, made me wonder if I'd ever live in the provinces, and how I'd like it. Honestly, I'm guessing that I will at some point - albeit maybe not in one of those little huts. All I know is that when I returned to Phnom Penh, I was glad to be back. It may be hot and crowded, but it's familiar, and it felt like I was coming home.

The view from the 4-hour car ride: lush scenery = my favorite stress relief