Yup, again. I love Singapore and I love my school. I love my friends here and I love the travel I’ve been doing throughout my time in Southeast Asia. More importantly, I love my department and I love the curriculum we’re developing. I am actually excited to develop this curriculum, which is something I never thought I’d say. We’ve made the decision (and been given permission) to completely redesign the MYP Individuals and Societies courses at school and we’re doing it through a lens of sustainable development with a focus on scientifically and morally based problem solving. And it’s really going to happen, which is the coolest part. I so wish I could be here to teach the ninth and tenth grade iterations of this curriculum next year. That would be such a wonderful experience, and I am so excited for all of my colleagues and for all of the students who are going to part of it. I would love to join them.
But I also love a really wonderful man and he’s in New York City. Because of his job, Mitch is likely to be in New York City for a very long time. Our rough estimate is a decade at the minimum before we can even entertain the thought of going elsewhere. For better or for worse, going through the rest of my life without Mitch isn’t an option I’m willing to consider, awesome curriculum or not.
So it’s time to go back.
I made this decision a few months ago and took the necessary HR steps back in December. Most of my colleagues know that I’m leaving, but I haven’t said anything to my students. I have a lot of unfinished business as far as they’re concerned (this curriculum, only developing the first of two years of DP Psych) and I’m not entirely comfortable letting go. I have no doubt that whoever takes my place will be more than qualified. I have no doubt that my very capable colleagues will do brilliant work with the curriculum and really change what we’re teaching and how we’re doing it. And there’s really no reason I can’t continue that reevaluation in my own classroom, wherever it happens to be.
I’ve been looking for jobs for over a month, which I know is not a very long time. I’ve applied to a lot of wonderful schools and even more less wonderful schools. I’m waiting to hear about my application to the NYC public school system. I’m waiting to hear from nearly everywhere I’ve applied. There’s only been one flat-out “no”, but I honestly prefer that to silence. It’s a competitive market, so I’m trying not to be too picky. I’m also trying to find a school that will let me teach and let me do it well.
One day, I’ll find myself back in a progressive school in which I’m allowed to teach what should be taught, not what has always been taught. That’s been the best part about teaching the MYP this year, and it’s only going to get better. We have so much freedom to do what’s right as long as we’re working towards the IB aims of responsible action and creating a peaceful world. And who doesn’t want to do that?
At the moment, I’m not ready for my time in Singapore or overseas to be over. I never really planned on reaching that point, but I haven’t planned on a lot of things. So here’s to the next five months – to making them count.
This week-long adventure was different from any I have ever experienced. This was my first time in Cambodia and my first traveling internationally with students. I visited Battambang with the entire grade 10 class of my school (about 90 students) along with the seven other teachers. Upon arrival, we joined JUMP!, a very wonderful experiential education social enterprise with which school is currently working to plan the annual field studies trips for all secondary school students. I am in awe of what JUMP! planned and how their plans came to fruition.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The focus of the grade 10 week in Battambang, Cambodia’s second largest city, was to get students thinking about community development, both as communities of advisories (groups of about 15 students that meet daily) and global communities. We spent the week learning from and working with different social enterprises that aim to make Cambodia a better place. All the restaurants where we ate were social enterprises, as well. As part of the program, we explored privilege, voluntourism, sustainable development, Cambodia’s history, and how to bring about positive social change. Throughout the week, I saw my students’ hearts and minds open up, not only to these ideas but also to each other as individuals and as friends. I can say without a doubt that every student returned to Singapore wiser, humbled, empowered, and with new friends.
This post will chronicle my week in Battambang as best as I can based on the photos that I can share. Most of my photos for the week were of and with students, and there are a variety of reasons (i.e. privacy, confidentiality, just plain propriety) why I won’t share them in an unprotected online space. Heartfelt thanks both to JUMP! for their incredible work and to John, the extraordinary JUMP! facilitator assigned to my advisory for the week.
To get oriented, here is a very helpful map from Lonely Planet:
We flew into Siem Reap on Saturday and drove the 3+ hours to Battambang the next morning
One of our first activities was a tuk tuk ride to visit Phnom Sampow. We took a difficult climb up a steep hill, pausing along the way to see Buddhist temples and learn about Cambodian agriculture from our guide. We could see farms for miles from various lookout points.
The temples were exquisite, as well. I have a few Buddhist students who stopped to pray along the way.
We also encountered a number of monkeys and actually had to alter our route at one point to get away from them. Monkeys are vicious and will grab any food item or even backpack in site. My favorite monkey was this one:
The highlight of this trip, though not photographed because I felt weird about that, was the killing caves, a site of Khmer Rouge slaughter. The caves contained a memorial to victims, including skulls of those who died there and a Buddha statue for those who wished to pay respects.
Probably my favorite morning of the trip started with a trip to a local market to pick up ingredients for the Cambodian lunch we would learn to prepare! The market was wonderful (and sold more than vegetables, though my photos might have you believe otherwise) and the cooking school was incredibly accommodating to my vegetarian needs. Even better: We received cookbooks to take home!
Another really transformative experience was our visit to COMPED, a social enterprise that collects organic material, turns it into compost, sells it to farmers for fertilizer, and uses the money to run enrichment programs for children. To learn about what they do, we visited a market, collected rotten produce, and shoveled it onto the compost pile at a local dump. While there, we also learned that the families who live on the dump are paid more than they would be in other jobs. Despite health risks from being around burning trash, they choose this life to feed their children.
New organic material on the right, four months into the composting process in the center.
This child lives at the dump and wandered over to the sifter just as I was taking a picture
Like many social enterprises, COMPED receives support from another foundation, this time in Germany. This partnership is because COMPED’s founder used to be a waste management engineer in Germany before returning to his home in Cambodia.
Dump site
Another social enterprise, Coconut Water Foundation, also runs after school and summer enrichment programs for students. We joined them at a school for about an hour one morning to play games with some of the students. Rather than sharing pictures of children, here are a few artsy shots:
Our last full day found my group on a bike ride with Soksabike, a social enterprise that pays families to produce traditional products, therefore putting money into the economy, and brings tourists to see these products. Soksabike’s tour guides are local university students who are working to enhance their English skills as they do their jobs.
Among other things, we learned how rice paper is made . . .
. . . and sampled some delicious dried and fried bananas.
The final stop on the tour was a very moving memorial to another killing fields site across the street from a Buddhist temple that the Khmer Rouge turned into a prison and interrogation facility. I didn’t have the heart to take pictures of the memorial, mostly because it broke my heart. The 1970s weren’t that long ago, and the Khmer Rouge existed in Battambang until 1991. 25 years ago is not very many years. The detachment with which Cambodians speak about the Khmer Rouge genocide is painful to witness.
I don’t have photos to share, but other social enterprises that we visited and worked with were Phare, FEDA, and Cambodian Children’s Trust. All of these organizations work with and for community development, specifically targeted at children. CCT was the most moving for me because they taught us about orphanages and orphanage tourism. We learned that 80% of children in Cambodian orphanages have living family and are in orphanages (and often exploited and abused as a result) because their families were tricked into thinking their children would have better lives and a better chance at education.
It was a week of growth, that’s for sure. I’ll be back in Cambodia in March to spend a weekend in Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to travel with my students to Battambang to learn how real Cambodians live. The trip we took and experiences we had would not have been possible for me to orchestrate. JUMP!, thank you for opening my eyes to this beautiful country and its proud, hopeful citizens.
This past week was our first week of school and it was fantastic! I loved meeting the kids, learning about where they’re from (one of my students told me Singapore is his seventh country!), teaching social studies again, getting to know my colleagues better, and starting to feel like I actually have a purpose here.
So far, teaching in Singapore is what I hoped teaching abroad would be when I first moved to Malaysia nearly a year ago. (A lot has happened in a year, eh?) I’m beginning to understand some of the frustrations that returning teachers have with school, and they’re really not a surprise. However, we have books and supplies and materials and technology and a resource budget, so I really can’t complain. Compared to the year I just had, literally anything is better. Furthermore, it’s been so much fun to talk about the relevance of history and the importance of understanding culture in a room full of students from all over the world. In a class of 16, 14 countries were represented. I just can’t get over how darn cool that is, and how exciting it is to hear everything these kids have experienced. They’re so worldly that it’s a little bit scary. And so diverse, from every perspective expect socio-economic; homogeneity there is going to make for some interesting conversations, I suspect.
Equally importantly, I’m feeling very comfortable in Singapore. I think I’ve figured out the least stressful/most productive way to do my grocery shopping, which is a big step toward being a local. It seems more economical to get as much as possible at the very close, very large FairPrice, which is a local supermarket chain, drop everything off at home, and then head to the largest Cold Storage, a grocery store catering to expats of all nationalities. When possible, I’ll pick up my paper goods (toilet paper, tissues, paper towels) at one of the many Chinese shops at the MRT station closest to my apartment; it’s much cheaper that way.
Socially, I’m happy! Of course, I miss Mitch terribly; it’s hard for us to talk on a regular basis because we both start the day early and his has been ending very late. It doesn’t help that I turn my phone off at work, either, so texting during my morning/his evening doesn’t work. Other than the huge element of missing Mitch, though, things are great. Being at such a large school means that I already have multiple social groups with whom to do different things. I’ve learned that meeting at the hawker center closest to school for food and cheap beer is a regular feature of Friday nights, so it’s a lot of fun to see people who I met over orientation but have never seen at school since. Otherwise, I haven’t done a whole lot yet, but it’s been good. Saturday was spent doing some work in a coffee shop with a friend and then having dinner in Little India with a group that she organized – can’t go wrong with garlic naan and aloo gobi!
The real question now, is when will we start to travel?! I’ll bring that up after we get paid. That’s definitely a prerequisite. I’m thinking mid-September might be a good time for a weekend away. Bali, perhaps?
As it’s the beginning of a new school year in a new country and all the students and teachers have returned from the various countries where they all spent their summer break, it should be no surprise that I’m sick. I woke up with a tickle in my throat last Monday that turned into a really terrible cold. I even took sinus medicine! For the first time ever! I felt much better when I woke up on Saturday, and then I got a phone call from Dad and realized that my voice sounded like a squeaky toy. That didn’t stop me from socializing, but waking up this morning with hardly a voice at all did. It was disappointing to turn down kaya toast and pedicures in favor of being a recluse, but it was probably better. At least I didn’t make my lack of voice any worse!
I’m currently drinking (yet another cup of) tea with honey and hoping my voice magically comes back in the morning. I’ll just leave you with a very typical example of a Hindu temple. We passed this one when we were walking in Little India last night:
Photos, travels, musings, and ideas on education by someone trying to make the world a better and more peaceful place
By Rebecca Michelle 