So, last Sunday (a week ago) I went to visit my sister-in-law's mother, and we had the last of the talks in the women's empowerment lecture series. That you already have read about and seen pictures of. Here are the updates for the following week!
Monday - Wednesday (Aug 3rd-5th):
I literally have no pictures of these three days and no special things written down in my planner, so nothing must have happened. I think I was busy working on the last chapter that I had to write for a non-dissertation related project. That took a lot of time, so there was little time for explorations and other fun things.
Thursday, Aug 6th:
We were supposed to have another group of girls going to Sovanna Phum to another puppet making workshop. Originally there were about 16 signed up for this Thursday and for the previous Friday (at the same time from 9am-12pm). However, by the night before there were only around 4 girls signed up. I wasn't sure what happened but tried to call the theater in the morning to let them know that not very many girls would be coming, but no one answered. Then, when it was time to leave, no one apparently was coming! It seems like a few of them thought it was for Friday morning (that was another trip, and I already had sent out a reminder email about all of these dates and times so there would not be any confusion!!). Others un-signed up because it cost money even though I said that I would be paying for it and that it was okay.
I still had to go to the theater in order to pick up a puppet that I ordered the week before and to let them know that no one was coming. I felt so badly since they were all set up!!!! It has been very frustrating to organize things here. I tend to be a very Type A person (shocker to those who know me!), and I like to get things done - done quickly, done correctly, and done on time. This is just a different culture here, and it has been a little hard for me to adjust to it. Also, I am starting to realize that some of this has been my fault as well, like the first time I tried to arrange a visit to the Bophana Center that had to be cancelled the day before because no one was coming. I learned from that problem to have sign-up sheets for everything, and I hoped that would fix everything for the puppet making workshop, but unfortauntely not. Oh, well... I am sure this will be a good learning experience for my time in Romania, so I guess it is good.
Friday, Aug 7th:
The big event for this day was a trip to the Bophana Center for Audiovisual Documentation. It is a really interesting place that was started a few years ago by a collaboration between some Cambodian and French film makers. The website is available in French, English, and Khmer, which is great. Here it is if you would like some more information: http://bophana.org/site/index.php?lang=en
We went from 10-12, and they had the tour perfectly orchestrated. First, we had a few minutes to look around at a photography exhibit they had on the first floor about Chinatowns in Southeast Asia. Then, we went in the auditorium for a brief intro to the center - its history and what they do. Then we went upstairs to look at some of the offices. Basically they are an archive for audiovisual (video!) footage of Cambodia, going back decades. They work on conservation of the film and work on training new Khmer filmmakers. They also have an area where visitors to access their database and look at any of the videos they have digitized. It is a pretty amazing project, and they have some really great resources available to them. I am impressed at how much they have been able to digitize! This is something that often gets pushed aside in U.S. organizations because of a lack of funds, so it is great to see that someone has given money especially for a project like this.
All of the girls watching the presentation:
This is Sopheap from the Bophana Center. He is the one who gave the tour and just graduate with a degree in history last year.
After the tour, we returned to the auditorium to watch a video about Bophana, the person whom the center is named is after. She was someone killed in Tuol Sleng during the Khmer Rouge. It was a fascinating and very sad story - amazing because there were many letters between her and her husband that somehow had been saved. It also was an interesting example of how a filmmaker could creatively use an archives like this to combine old film clips with modern footage to make a movie or documentary. I am very glad we were able to arrange this visit, and I think a number of the girls plan to return at some point to look through the archives more closely. I think a few are even thinking about using the material for research papers at school.
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