This week was the most emotionally draining of the term thus far, in terms of our academic and historical focus. Nearly every lecturer in Cambodia refers to the horrific three years, eight months, and 20 days (April 17, 1975 to January 7, 1979) of the Khmer Rouge regime, and this…
Although this week is mostly about the Khmer Rouge — with multiple field trips and lectures — we’ll hold off on posting a Khmer Rouge blog until tomorrow. For tonight (morning in Goshen), this is just a brief blog about other activities this week. Women’s Night Out was Sunday evening,…
Although this week is mostly focused on the Khmer Rouge period, we began the week Monday with a presentation on Buddhist meditative practices, led by the Venerable Yos Hut Khemacaro, one of the leading monks in Cambodia. Monk Khemacaro spoke with the group for about an hour and led us…
The Graber Millers had a rather remarkable Saturday afternoon, with a neighborhood fire taking 10 homes and/or businesses and threatening many others. We watched the fire unfold from our fourth-floor apartment balcony, accompanied by Sarah L-R, who happened to be here at the time. The fire was four adjoining structures…
This week was full, as always, with a number of lectures, field trips, and transitions. Thursday afternoon we visited Cambodia’s National Museum, which houses artifacts from the last 15 centuries of Cambodian history. Many of the museum’s holdings pre-date the Angkor period, going back to the 6th century or earlier,…
The following post was written by SSTer Sara K and published in this morning’s Record back on campus. We are posting it here as well so family and friends can have easy access to her words, which she shared with the group last evening: By Sara K After…
Last evening (Wednesday evening) was the first P’teah Goshen gathering. Ann cooked up two batches of homemade chili (one a vegetarian version, one with meat), and that was supplemented with hard-to-find tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, salsa, crackers, bananas, and ice cream. Students gathered at the Graber Miller apartment (P’teah Goshen)…
Classes began Monday morning at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, with Vice-Rector Ponn Chhay welcoming us to campus. Immediately following our welcome ceremony, students broke up into two classes with Khmer language teachers Touch Phara, Prum Sisaphantha, Thea Sok Meng, and Teacher Chorry. In one of the…
Breakfast at the Frangipani The last 24 hours have been exceedingly full for the Cambodian SSTers, with ongoing recovery from jet lag (switching their nights and days, with a 12-hour time difference from Goshen), a whirlwind orientation at the Hotel Frangipani, going home with their host families,…
Students arrived safely in Phnom Penh this evening, a bit bedraggled after the 29-hour journey but awfully chipper, nonetheless. After receiving their welcome packets and taking a look over the city from the rooftop view, they’re now resting in a downtown hotel. Tomorrow morning we’ll have a lovely buffet breakfast…
