Crunch Time

As the year closes in, all of the work I have been doing is culminating and it has been satisfying to move past some considerable milestones. I've been spending a lot of time out in the provinces training midwives for one project and teachers for another. There is still so much to do over the next month, I can't help thinking of all the barriers that could rise up and make things dIfficult. Thankfully, at the moment we have been able to maneuver around any major obstacles and I feel cautiously optimistic. 

The mother-baby project (Cambodia Smile) that I'm working on is my main focus and so it was really amazing that I was able to get a scholarship to Melbourne to smash out a PhD on the topic. The advantage of doing a PhD is that it provides a legitimate vehicle to receive input from some well established public health/paediatric dentists so the program will be more robust. Also, with that comes a useful network and a solid base for potential corporate sponsors. In terms of how I spend my time as a result, I'll be split between Melbourne and Cambodia and I'll increase my time in Melbourne as I close in on 2017 to do the home stretch and final write up. 

What I'm really torn about though is: which folding bike should I purchase to brave Melbourne's well established cycle network? A Brumpton, a Dahon, or a Tern... At this stage I like the Tern P24h for the 20inch wheels but I'm not convinced about the folding time.... Such a dilemma...

Anyway, I'd like to finish by reflecting on how grateful I am for everything that has happened this year. When I first arrived I thought I had a job lined up at the university. I was initially disappointed when it fell through but the result was that I am now in a much better position to make a bigger impact with my time. I am grateful that things don't always go to plan... They go much better than I could ever try to plan. 

One of the things that is difficult about being here is that I miss out on doing 'life' with my dear friends, I miss out on baby cuddles and outrageous laughter and cycling together and chilling out together, and helping you paint your house or move your stuff and patting your dogs and forcing you to listen while I talk continuously (hehe) and... I just miss you guys. I am so grateful for all the messages and the likes on face book and the phone calls... You have sustained me. For me there is no back-up plan. I don't want to be anywhere else. This is it and I can't do it without you. Merry Christmas everyone and I look forward to seeing those of you in NZ during February! Tour dates TBA. 

Turtle Time

I'm back in Cambodia now and I think I'm ready. I have had a great time in Timor and have been emenesly blessed by spending time with old friends and new and in some way restored a little bit more balance to my life. My highlight was last weekend and the mountain bike challenge. There were two days of racing with the first being a cross country marathon and the second being a cross country Olympic format. The marathon was a mission and a half with a 1300m ascent up a re-entrant (The Camora River) over 28km and then mostly down for the following 30. The (female) field was made up with some international talent, some Timorese, and myself... I got to borrow a 'Giant Lust' which was pretty sweet on the down but didn't do much for me on the up! Apparently it's the motor that makes the difference and I had nothing compared to then feather lite Timorese girls who got the job done supremely! I weaselled my way to 5th after making gains on the down. The second day was kind of like a criterion race and my feather light friends got knocked out in the second round after they were 80% slower than the race leader (a lovely Portuguese girl). It was pretty technical in parts (like the steep side of Waitangi) and I fell off three times on the first lap when the hydrolics on my back break gave way. I went consideribally slower on the following three laps! It was an extreemly hot and humid day and so I made my way to 2nd curtosey of the Japanese girl who passed out! Across the two races I got an overall ranking of 3rd which was brilliant because I won enough prize money to cover my living costs for the month! I love riding my bike!

Now I am a excited and a little bit nervous about the next few months for my time in Cambodia. Now is the time that will comulnate all of the work I have been doing this year. I am helping with two programs which are starting (one for school-age children and another for pre-school children) and we're sweeping through with a few other projects. It's going to be crazy-busy but I have February in NZ to look forward to. Being in Timor has helped me have the oportunity to take a bit of a deep breath and regroup for the madness in the Wild West of the East: Cambodia. They say that a change is as good as a holiday and that works for me.

Duck Tales

Generally the 'development world' is dominated by females but this month has been funny because I have mostly been hanging out with dudes. Among which are a few army guys, the other dentists, the university staff, and the all male NGO staff. The NGO staff are funny wee guys, very eager to please but half of the time they have no idea what you want from them because they have never done it before. A number of times we have had to go out for shopping trips for which they accompany me to show me around and because they have nothing to do... I soon realised that I was actually able to navigate better using google intel and basic observational skills than to rely on them to find something, even in the local markets. So what ended up happening is that I would be moving around the mall or market at full Bethy pace and there would be three young guys trailing behind me. They kind of dawdle and get distracted so I would have to always keep eye so that I wouldn't loose them.  The other funny thing about them is that they have these cute little mo-hawks going on with curly hair on top and so when they get distracted or you have to repeat yourself five times they just kind of smile at you with their dark eyes and their Curley little tufts of hair... It's like trying to stay angry at a puppy... Or a duckling. I mentioned this to one of my good friends and so now we refer to them as Huey Duey and Leuey... Above are two of the trio making sure that I have my bike before I go home... I won't go on to describe goofy, Mickey Mouse and Scrouge!

I can't believe that I only have one more week to go! It's hard to explain what it has been like these last few weeks. To be honest it has been a little bit overwhelming and I've now come to the realisation that if we can't get the right things in place soon, then the most prudent thing would be to stop. Everything. I have never been on the cold face of something so wholly and systematically neglected. The students at this dental school are expected to turn up to class each day although their lecturers only turn up on Saturday, they are expected to learn all of their knowledge in one day per week although there isn't enough time to cram the knowledge in during a month of Saturdays! People have been trying to help in various ways and the result is patchy at best. It is not the fault of the students, they are eager to learn. The fault lies wholly with us, the educators. 

It has been a steep learning curve and I have been ultimately grateful to a veteran, a giant, in the world of community dentistry who has been able to guide my thinking and help me to process strategies for getting through. Being able to identify the thought processes and stage of learning that the students are at has helped me to consider the best way to get my message across. The reality here is that the students are learning in a very concrete way. They have missed out on so much during their school years that they have no ability to conceptualise or generalise the understanding from one problem to another. Even basic maths is a struggle. Basically, consider the way that you would present a lesson to your 10 year old and bingo you're getting somewhere. In the past week the biggest break through has come by setting and inforcing routine in the clinic. I'm sure that there must be many (many) layers to the psychology behind their way of thinking and I have not even begun to scratch the surface!

In the mean time, check out the scenary!

 

Who are you Timor Leste?

I have now been in Timor for 5 days, it's not my first time (I came for a mountain bike race in 2011) but it is the first time I have been here and left to my own devices. I am staying in suburban Dilli if that's what you can call it. The NGO house is nestled among tin shacks next to a flood water canal. The best thing I did was bring my bike because I am pretty sure that I would be going mad without it. Everything is so expensive here (compared to Cambodia) and there is no way I would handle waiting for the university driver to get me somewhere, I resent spending a fortune on Taxis and I'm pretty sure I'd end up on the wrong bus if I tried that.

Timor is a place that has long been in my consciousness since just a few months before I joined the army and Lennard Manning gave his life here. Following that, I watched a lot of my friends deploy here and all in the space of a decade it has gone from war zone to community development zone. I've always thought that you can tell a lot about a country by the traffic and moving around Dilli is just a little bit more aggressive than I remembered. There is some of the lawlessness of the east but with the speed and new cars of the west. There are motos but they are more powerful to get up those hills. I think that the identity of traffic in Timor Leste is being carved out in its multicoloured buses which vary from rasta type colours to bright pink with suggestive images of women to hard core football team colours. The horns range from deafening  truck horns that beep right when they are beside me to see if I will jump, to Nepal-style echoing horns that remind me of 14 hour bus rides, to the bus that came up behind me on my evening ride tonight that fair-dinkum sounded like a cow! 

I can't quite decide who (which country) Timor reminds me of the most. When I ride around surburban Dilli a type of electronica-Latino music is often blaring. There is a distinct feeling of South America, but when I look at the kids swimming naked on the beach launching themselves off boulders then I am reminded of Tonga... I don't really feel like I am in South East Asia until I go to the university and see how poorly equipped it is and the low level of knowledge in the students. I'm sure that Timor is very different to to what it was, even different to 3 years ago when I came. Timor is developing its own unique personality and I look forward to watching it grow up.

The undie-three-hundie

So... I managed a sneaky get away with Frank over the public holiday. He was pretty stoked because we haven't been spending quite so much quality time together lately. He performed well and enjoyed having his photo taken in front of dolphin infested waters, historic Wats and the odd mosque. Quite photogenic really!

As for me, I've dubbed this trip my 'undie-three-hundy' that's because I traveled just under 300km to get to Kratie, I took less 300 photos decent photos, I spent less than 300,000 real, and I probably released less than 300ml per day in pee riding in the 300 degree heat! Just incase you were wondering: there was no unneccsary burning of couches and no riots despite my sweet-sweet purple checkered cotton riding shirt that I insist on wearing to keep the sun off!

Anyway, here are a small selection of happy-snaps:

Problem cycling

Hello my name is Bethy and I'm a cycle-holic. Well... Maybe I'm not a cycle-holic but I do have binge cycling tendencies... Maybe I'm a problem cyclist. Sometimes my cycling interferes with my work... but only because I like to be picky about where I park! I find myself thinking about my bikes when I am at work and when I am at home. I like to spend my holidays and my spare time on my bicycle. I think I need to go in a binge *not a bender* soon! I'm getting the drys (need a nice new water bottle) and I'm feeling a little bit deflated (sand in my favourite pump and it lets all the air out), my hands are a bit shakey (silicone worn out in my 5-year-old cycling gloves) and I'm dropping dust everywhere I go (bike needs a good clean). Thankfully we have a public holiday coming up at the end of the week and I can indulge in a good spin, a good splat, a good whirl! I think I'll head up to Karatae and hang out there for a bit! Photos to follow!

*the cycling fleet being cleaned ready to meet their new baby brother; a 29in hard tail Mtb purchased for use in Timor!

Raindrops in pitcher flowers and whiskers on squirrels

On Monday morning at ohhh-dark-hundred I caught my plane back to Phnom Penh and back onto the battlefield against streptococcus mutans and his allies; sugar and other fermentable carbohydrates!

I had just returned from the combined South East Asian Dental Education and International Association of Dental Research and a climb up Mt Kinabalu. This little jaunt was the first time I have been out of Cambodia since I arrived and was a great shake-up. I got to enjoy a few of my favourite things.

At the conference it was great to see such an open expression of distinct regions and religions. At the dinner we had women in full headress up dancing like there was no tomorrow, professors and undergrads alike. It's not that in had the opinion that men and women in head dress and from different ethnic back grounds don't have fun it's just that it is a rare opportunity to be able to share that fun with them. It is such a privilige to become part of this South East Asian community of academics; they get it! And when we talk about children with three or five abscesses; they get it. And when we talk about the bombardment of sugar against a back drop of poverty; they get it. I am really looking forward to meeting these people again at upcoming conferences around the region. My favourite thing about them was a beautiful mix of reality and fearless optimism about implementing strategies that might just work.

The mountain was just what I needed. There are no mountains around and Cambodia and this particular mountain had Bell birds and pungas. I have to say it is the first time I have felt homesick since I left. I can't wait to see NZ native bush again! The other old-familiar-feeling was the burn of waking up a hill... It brought back memories of the first time I walked out of the Argo valley (AARC314) and tramping the Tarawera ranges and running up Flagstaff. My favourite things were seeing the little squirrels, the deep colours of the flower and the mindless pursuit of physical boundaries!

 My next ticket out will be the Mekong river congress in Bali!

  

Three month itch

For those who know me well, you know that I live by a set of semi-ironic dogma... With tongue in cheek I will state that (1) all those who are slightly outside the spectrum in terms of personality are clearly expressing signs of aspergous* (2) all things in life must stand then 3-month test including men, jobs, houses, countries, and (3) that in all things, where ever possible, bicycles should be involved. 

I have now been in Cambodia for more than three months... It is crazy and fun and challenging and terrifying and engaging and frustrating and rewarding and I couldn't imagine being anywhere else! In saying that I definitely suffered from a three month itch this month. Balance is hard to come by here and each week is dynamically and dramatically different. I am ememcly grateful to be here but I do not want to create the face book effect and report a a dream lifestyle full of selfies (on bicycles) in front of strange landmarks and drinks with friends. Even if my life struggles to grasp balance I want to be able to report in a balanced fashion within this blog. This week was a good week for a three month stock-check... We're good and we're going places... On bicycles... With a slightly obsessive and quirky personality that may or may not be consistent with a slight drop of aspergous!*

A summary of what I am juggling is as follows: Cambodia smile, the maternal child preventive program and my main purpose is about to go to ethical review; SEAL Cambodia, the initial findings if this fissure sealant program will be presented by yours truly next month at a conference in Malaysia; Happy clinic, the NGO clinic that I supervise is going ok although we're about to get a little smarter about it and keep track of our dental students a little better; Timor Leste, I am starting to become involved with the education of Timorese dental therapy students and coming up with a plan for an epidemiological survey and preventive program; miscellaneous research projects, so much more going on... 

Feeling blessed to be in a position to do something meaningful... Now I've just got to come up with a cunning plan so that I can stay next year as well! Remember, for anyone who is interested I'm refining my city tour of Phnom Penh every week so by the time you get here it will be pretty mint... If a little random... +/- bicycles... 

*I do not mean to trivialise the condition of aspergous syndrome and I trust that no offence has been taken by this blog which is meant in jest

Grunting

Life is starting to pick up to a canter and I have booked myself in for Khmer lessons once per week... It is the first time that I have ever purposefully tried to learn another language and it kind of makes me feel like one of the recruits I had to train. The story goes that there was one not-so-sunny day in waiouru and we were doing a patrol through a close country environment, one section was up ahead and the platoon sergeant was leading that section. The ground was quite step and every time you turned around there were just trees in your face. The platoon sergent asked the lead scout to go ahead and find the best route... The lead scout goes away and comes back and the platoon sergent asks him 'what is it like to the east' recruit says 'steep and lots of trees' so the platoon sergent says 'how about the of to the west' recruit replies 'steep and yeah it still has a lot of trees', 'well which way is better!?', 'I don't know', 'what do you mean you don't know!?, I need you to scout out the best route for us', 'but sarge it's all the same!?'

And that is exactly how I feel when I am trying to speak Khmer... If I say 'name' without a breathiness at the end it means small cat, if I say 'hot' (as in hot coffee) without elongating the vowel it is slang for penis and if I say 'help' with the vowels too short it means I am asking someone for sex! Holy moly! I can't see the wood for the trees!

And to compound the matter I am trying to learn to write as well, there are 33 consonants (divided into two groups) and 23 vowels, but don't worry because if the vowels sound different depending on which consonant group it is attached to! I've now taken to spending my mornings and spare time between patients trying to grunt and groan the sounds associated with each symbol... I'm sure I must be a worry to the neighbours! Can I blame it on the yoga?

Singing in the rain

The rain is starting to hit and for the last few days the streets have become massive puddles with about 10cm worth of water, turning Phnom Penh into to a network of waterways. I have discovered that if I go slowly on my bike, and don't stop, I can keep the waves and splash down low enough that I don't get too wet... It's actually quite fun! I've discovered that this is a great analogy for working here in Cambodia.

This week I have had a bit of disappointment in that I had been told by the university on Monday that I could start work and so began to lecture, tutor and plan lecture and course outlines... Just when everything seemed to be getting going it started 'raining'. On Friday night they told me that some of the management were still opposing the employment of this foreigner and that I had to stop. Thankfully I like riding in the rain here and I think that if I just gently push through it will all work out... I have gentle momentum in place from my private work and my research, I've got to keep spinning just fast enough to keep moving, slow enough that I don't make to much of a splash, and with enough foresight that I don't have to stop too suddenly and plant my foot in the river that is the road! Although my first reaction was to eat chocolate (Hershey's cookies and cream) after some time I was able to mediate on what was happening. I (still) feel inherently grateful to be here and so far I feel like I have been able to make the most of every day. Therefore I am determined to go on seizing every opportunity, strong in the conviction that the best is yet to come! No one said it was going to be easy.

Fuel Efficiency

This week I broke out and took myself on a 5 day cycle tour through a heat wave *heat wave echoed in high pitch* and it is probably one of the most epic *epic* journeys I have taken so far... It was well off the beaten track, I saw 5 foreigners on day 3 at a world heritage site and all of them lived in Cambodia!  I ate a lot of chicken and rice because I haven't quite mastered the words for beef and pork just yet... Also I lost my internet connection for a few days and the rudimentary map I had didn't provide much help and so I ended up relying heavily on locals to navigate around back country roads... An irony was that I navigated away from 6th century ruins that were still standing using telephone poles carrying lines that weren't working (surely they go towards the main road). So many times I was deeply gratified by the propensity of the human spirit to connect... Some of them cracked up laughing... Some of them searched my bike for a motor... Some of them clearly thought I was just crazy.... And perhaps I was! *am!* 

Physically, it is one of the most challenging 5 days that I have put myself through. I hadn't intended it that way but because I was by myself I couldn't take the risk of getting somewhere without a guest house. Maybe one in 3 townships that I stayed at were in my photocopied lonely planet guide; therefore, my 80-120km/day goal ended up being 120-160km per day through the heat! *heat wave*. I had to re-learn a few old lessons from cycle tours gone past such as always wear long sleeves, always eat a second breakfast, and always get water when you can. I carried about 3.5 litres at a time and went through about 6 litres per day of water. Still... I think that between the four meals and 6 litres of water per day I am still a lot more efficient than a motorised vehicle. That is to say $8-10/day for food and water divided 130km/day = around 8c/km of totally renewable energy usage!

For those fellow distance junkies here is a map of where I went:

For those who like pictures:

Taking opportunities as they present themselves

Things are ticking over ok and I have gained some good traction with my research project; however, the work situation still isn't flash... There are some great people over here guiding me and keeping me in-line. One of which reminded me about the principle of taking opportunities as they present themselves! So here's how it works: At the moment the receptionist at the private practice is putting one patient per day in my book yet I have to stay there for the whole day and so I take the opportunity to enjoy the airconditioned environment and free lunch to work comfortably on research proposals, The university has asked me to provide two sample lectures for assessing my teaching ability and so I lecture on topics that the students have fallen behind in (because the university won't hire a lecturer), there are three public holidays next week and so I decided to go on a week long cycle tour, I got myself on the wrong side of the Mekong today and so I took the opportunity to go on the new bridge, I got a bit hot and flustered after 140km and so I took the opportunity to hitch a ride in the slip stream of a local tractor (a cruzy 25km/hr), I ended up at an overpriced resort and so I took the opportunity to cool down in their aircon and ask the waiters about a cheap guest house... Pretty much life is good.... High on endorphins and amping for tomorrow's ride... Maybe I should start a cycle touring business!!

Papa

This last week I have been reflecting on the experiences of 'fatherhood'. I've often wondered and tried to get my head around what it means for a man to be a father from an emotional point of view. It sounds crazy but sometimes I struggle to imagine what the point of having children is for a man? In contrast, I have always felt that I can relate to the feelings that a mother might have towards a child. This feeling of a father towards his child has kind of been a bit of a fundamental mystery to me.

Earlier this week I got talking to the parking attendant outside my gym. The shop beside the gym is a fancy motorbike shop and we were watching a shipment of fancy motorbikes being unpacked and put on display. They were white and orange, fast, and had no capacity for carrying passengers. That's incredibly indulgent for a motorbike in Cambodia. He was looking on in disgust trying to get his head around why anyone would buy a motor bike like that when you could get a car for the same amount of money and have far more use for it! I was tempted to tell him about the merits of Frank Snr but instead this lead onto discussion about his deep resentment of the current government and how all of the money was going to the upper echelons of Cambodia while the wages for the lower class were not being raised. He was acutely aware of the fact that while the economy was thriving while he was still on less than $4 per day. He cannot afford to keep his family in town and he supports his wife and 2-year-old in the province. He told me about how when he goes home his baby puts his arms out and says papa... The look on his face, the way his chest puffed out, was really *deep swallow* touching. 

Other daddy encounters this week have been; a father who has been able to adopt when he never thought it might be possible to have a child in his life... His baby holds out his arms and says 'papa'; others of my friends have welcomed a new baby into the family and they dream of him being a super hero (I have no doubt he will be a supper hero by the way Mr and Mrs R); the deep anticipation of the arrival of a new child (damn it, why are all my friends having kids!?); and my own fathers desire to participate in the lives of his daughters.

The way that a father actually feels towards his children is not something that I think I will ever fully comprehend but this week I have been able to get a taste of that emotion that he might feel, and the way that it shapes his being, his work, and his purpose in life. When I put this in the frame of the struggles that exist when the long slog comes, when you are too tired to change a nappy, when the sound of a child pierces the inner chambers of your ear canal, when you search for the answers, and when you explore the process of trial and error that defines life, it all comes into context when that child puts out its hands and says 'papa'.

The Island

Well, I think I have gotten over the second week blues and starting to feel a little more at home... It is such a funny feeling to just arrive somewhere and start living... Incredibly different to arriving somewhere to simply explore... That second week was quite spaced out because most of the country was on leave and there was hardly anyone in Phnom Penh so I really did feel like I was my own island! I still don't have the work situation fully sorted but there is no need to panic just yet. I have plenty to be thankful for such as a nice apartment, a great local market close by, I'm starting to meet one or two people to hang out with, I'm starting to learn how to cook the local food (recent tofu convert), and my gym is awesome. Now there are a few more ammeities and people on my island it feels a little more real... Wanna visit anyone!?

Here are a few pictures from my island: