Mid-day disco on my birthday.
On the 24th October it was my birthday, which I spent out in the village with all the children. I had mentioned to some of the children that it was my birthday the previous week, and by the time the big day arrived news had spread like wildfire, and everyone knew. Everywhere I walked there would be children asking me about my birthday, and whether I was going to have a cake. Living with 250 children makes having a birthday party a bit tricky, especially on the cake front. I gave my trusty friend Pa Heng (one of the staff at the village) some money to go to the market to get some supplies for a bit of a party. Birthday parties in Cambodia are quite an unusual concept- most people don't celebrate their birthdays, and many people don't even know when they are, or how old they are. They generally use new year as a marker of being a year older. I plan to do no such thing, however. The party was held in one of the children's houses, and I was banned from entering while they set up. Once it was ready I was led in as they (about 40 of the children and some of the staff) sang happy birthday with a varying knowledge of the words. I had a brilliant cake with carved fruit adorning it, and a snazzy party hat to wear. After I blew out my candles there was silly string and sparklers and some good old Cambodian karaoke. Handing out the cake was interesting- all the staff and older children got a piece, and then I was handed a spoon, and proceeded to feed each child a spoonful of cake. Slightly unorthodox, but fair I suppose. Another Cambodian tradition is to smear the icing from the cake all over each others faces, and as the birthday girl I was a prime target. Some of the children and the staff had made me really sweet gifts which I have now pinned up to add a bit of decoration to my bare walls. All in all a pretty good birthday.
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