A Japanese Wedding

Nayoro, Hokkaido, Japan – Saturday evening 26 July 2008

Rob didn’t call it a wedding, since Nathan and Minori had already been married officially at city hall, but we recognized it as a Canadian wedding despite not understanding a word of the ceremony. So this is the wedding of Rob and Keiko Witmer’s son, Nathan, who owns the little Farmer’s Café where we’ve been eating in Nayoro.

We discovered today that the guest list and the party had been kept a  secret from Minori. We could so easily have spilled the beans yesterday when we had lunch at the restaurant! As far as she knew, there would be a small simple ceremony at the Dohoku Christian Centre with immediate family in attendance.

One Last Sleep

What a day we had today! Up at our usual weekday time, we were off again by 8:30 to tuktuk to Vannary’s for her daughter Marta’s engagement ceremony. From a distance, we recognized the canopy over the street in front of their house. And we thought those canopies were just for weddings and funerals! The ceremony was in progress but several dozen people were sitting out on the street waiting for breakfast! Vannary had suggested we arrive at 8:45, but we learned later that she probably thought the ceremony would be over by 9. 

Inside the living room, about 20 senior family members circled the long narrow room to observe the “conversation” between the bride-to-be’s parents and the groom-to-be’s parents, to listen to the clergyman’s intonation of commitment between the parents, long before there was any sign of Marta or Thearith. Thearith appeared first. Coming in from the back of the room, he knelt before his parents in his navy suit with long-sleeved shirt and tie, bowed many times to them and to Marta’s parents. Eventually, Marta appeared, coming in from the kitchen at the front of the room. She looked much older in make-up and a spectacular hairdo. She too bowed to her parents and his, usually in sets of three. 

Small Farewells

What a day we had today! Marcus will be quite some time at his diary this evening. We agree that this morning seems to have started two weeks ago. We rushed around arranging last minute details; had a meeting with Ratna to hand over some projects; moved some files from one computer to another. 

At noon we left to come home for lunch. hoping we might eat with Maly, but of course she’d have none of that. She made the most wonderful chicken curry soup with Khmer rice noodles and lots of fresh vegetables: chopped cucumber, sliced green onion, bean sprouts, and the usual mix of green leaves (basil, mint, and others unknown) to be piled on top. Dragonfruit for dessert. We gave instructions for Monday, indicating that we’d be packing some things to ship home on Saturday, and packing the rest into boxes on Sunday for LWF and her to pick up on Monday. She’ll come in on Monday to do one last laundry and then pack the sheets and towels into a box for Rachel’s arrival in September. We then presented our token of appreciation–which left her (and me) speechless for awhile.

Chum reap suor!

In our 11th month, the rains return to Cambodia. Now we easily identify the sudden burst of wind as a precursor to rain, whether hearing the canopy lift over the quad at the office or feeling it as we ride home in the tuk-tuk. When it comes, the rain is hard and fast, but barely any cooler than the air around it.

As we wrap up our work with LWF Cambodia, LWF Cambodia begins to unwrap its plans for the next six years with a Country Strategy 2009-2014. Planning, monitoring, and evaluating are constants here and all elements have been called into play this month-for the organization and for us.

Are They Leaving Us Before We Leave Them?

Dear Family and Friends

• A month or so ago, Vothana in the next office (so he walked through our office regularly) resigned to take up a more senior position in another NGO.
• Barbara Lund, our Asia Desk contact in the Evangelical Church in America (ELCA), resigned her position and has gone off to run a retreat centre (after years of travelling all over Asia). 
• As you know, David the Country Rep left about two and a half weeks ago on his annual leave and is probably fishing in Wisconsin at the moment. 
• About the same time, Socheat, the cheery receptionist, left to start her own business, so she’s no longer there to be teased by (and to tease back!) Marcus. 
• With Vannary’s brother here from France, she’s taking two weeks annual leave, so she’s not in the office these days.
• (And her Linda is off in Japan on a school trip at the moment.)

A Small Appetizer for an Amazing Meal

After a day in Dhaka, in central Bangladesh, we made the six-hour journey by van to Rangpur in the northwest. Here we find the North Bengal Institute, a training facility of RDRS-the localized rendition of LWF Bangladesh. With an 11-year history as a localized agency, RDRS has much to commend it.

Besides 2,500 staff and 2,000 volunteers, there’s the RDRS guesthouse in Dhaka where we were warmly welcomed and generously fed, and then there’s the North Bengal Institute where “warm welcome” is hardly adequate to describe our reception. There must be a secret to such sweet watermelon juice, but Aslam’s not telling. There’s nothing Aslam wouldn’t do to make our stay comfortable. A former chef, Aslam is better suited to the public life, but knows all the secrets of a good kitchen.

Heading Out to the Big City

Salam,

Our travels to Bangladesh have taken us through Malaysia. Yesterday we had 8 and a half hours between arrival and departure in Kuala Lumpur (KL). Rather than sit in the airport, we were determined to go into the city and Ruth had said it was an easy trip in to the “twin towers” —in 1997 (but since surpassed), the highest building in the world. The five other delegates from LWF Cambodia agreed to go with us. So with big tall Papa Duck at the fore, the five little ducklings lined up, Mother Duck counting regularly at the rear, and headed out into the big city.

It was easier than Ruth thought, since there’s an airport Ekspres train that took us into Sentral Station, where we changed to the LRT for five stops to the Petronas Towers. Getting on and off the trains was always an anxious time when there’s seven people involved, but we made it. No sooner did we arrive at the Towers than we found the food fare in the complex of four contiguous malls–not just KFC (we have one of those in Phnom Penh now), but Pizza Hut, A&W, Chili’s, Haagen Dazs, and Starbucks

Day 305 in Cambodia

Sua s’dei!

Ten months with LWF Cambodia. Incredibly, that leaves only one more month before our departure from the organization on 18 July. These days, we are much more conscious of time speeding by.

A month ago, we were showing Joanne and Glenn our world; this past Sunday (15 June) we were talking to them via Skype as they celebrated Mom and Dad Busch’s 60th wedding anniversary in Kelowna.

But back on 23 May-Royal Ploughing Day, Vannary’s youngest daughter, Linda, helped Joanne and Glenn and the two of us understand the display of royal pomp and the King’s cows’ predictions of a good rice harvest this coming year.

Another Workshop at the Cambodiana

Greetings!

We hadn’t planned on this and hadn’t been invited, but since we got a glimpse of the agenda and began to grasp the significance of the end of the LWF Cambodia Country Strategy 2003 to 2008, we thought we might join in.

Yesterday, we began our day by assembling a mock-up of Marcus’s History of LWF Cambodia. Mock-up in hand, we headed out to a recommended printing house. They needed time to think about it, so we left it with them and headed off to the Cambodiana Hotel–hotel of the infamous buffet lunches. 

Nearing Completion

Sua s’dei! Here we are. At this point, home is close enough to be able to reach out and tug a sleeve. (When will we get the house painted? A flag comes up on my computer to say an Edmonton client wants three months’ notice of my return.) At this point, what we have left to do for LWF Cambodia…what we had hoped to do before we left…seems much bigger than the time allotted.  

Seven years ago at this time, we looked back eight years before that to compare our Japanese and Mauritanian adventures. Recently, I happened to find the 9th month report from Mauritania on my computer and we’re amused to find the comparisons we made then.