Pig Party

* Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

On Tuesday, we headed back to work after our weekend away.  Ame has mainly worked on the inner window this week.  I did some railing of the inner wall roof bit with Pek.  He seems to just fly up onto the upper wall without even trying.  If I did that, the house would probably fall down.

In the evening, Ame stayed in with the girls and watched a film and I went out with the lads and went to the Aussie BBQ!  All very stereotypical!

On Wednesday, we got the door hung and got a few more wall panels on.  The house is really starting to look wicked.  Soon there will only be the outer walls left to do which is where we started on Project 7.

On Wednesday night we had our group meeting and this time a fun night in with food and music.  I was brow beaten into doing the music for the evening as I had slagged off the love songs that was being played at the last evening in.  We then played cards all evening.  It was really good and one of the best nights we've had here.  There are a lot of previous volunteers here at the moment which is really cool.  The group is very well formed at the moment.  I even got to play on a guitar that evening which was fun.

On Thursday, the focus of the week suddenly turned to pigs.  Friday would be Aaron's last day and he wanted to do something to mark the occasion in the village.  So he decided that he would buy a pig, have the villagers cook it and we all have a bit of a party.  How quickly this idea snowballed!

So in the morning, to add to the confusion of all the party organising, Suko had arranged for us to stop in the village to buy food and water to help some of the locals out.  So we went dashing pass the big market to the small market.  Change is as good as a holiday and all that.

It was good to put a little bit of money directly in people's pockets.  The place where we bought the water is actually Project 2's house.  She's set up a little shop.

Next it was on to the house.  When we arrived, it was pig buying time.  We all went to have a good nose at the pigs.  Soon there was a massive procession of kids going to the pigs also.

After a little haggling, pointing and a few giggles, Aaron had picked his pig.

It was hilarious watching Aaron handing over $110 for a 60kg pig to a slightly crazy woman breast feeding a kid of which she then jokingly tried to sell!  We returned to work.  I did some brick laying for the steps.  I mixed cement and everything.  I'm a bricky now.

Suddenly you could hear pig screams coming from the forest.  I'm thinking, oh they are probably killing it, but no, they were transporting it over to the house to kill it.  So a big fat pig was carried over, tied to a stick.  Ame went for a walk to the over houses and played with the woman and children whilst the deed was done.  Me, Aaron and Bill watched the killing.  It was a interesting and sobering experience.  I'm glad I watched it. 

So then it was dead and the preparation began.  They scrubbed it's skin to take all hair and rough skin off.

Then they totally gutted it.  By lunch it had turned into what looked like a pig rug!  It was so efficient.  We had pig heart, liver and intestines with lunch.  You can't get fresher than that.

They then put it on a raised grill and began to roast it over hot charcoal.  Presumably, they cooked it all night.

So we packed up, went home.  That evening we went to a great restaurant run by an orphanage.  We totally overwhelmed the restaurant but they did a good job.

Friday came, and it was time for the party.  Suko had told us that the villagers had hired a sound system and that about 60 people were coming including the local head of police and the village elders.  Suun and Pek even brought some guests.  Suun had brought his whole family, wife, brother, daughter (7) and son (3 months).

Talk about build up!  On the way into the village we stopped at the local "offie" and picked up 15 cases of beer and 4 cases of soft drinks.  Suko came out in his flashy sports car containing a massive cooler full of ice.

We arrived at the project site and got on with the mornings work.   We got quite a bit done.  We finished the inner wall and nearly got those god damn windows done!  Then the boys from Project 9 (Grant, Wally, Christiane and Steve) came over about 12:00 looking for a party!  I thought the scene of 6 boys drinking beer whilst Ame was packing away the tools was particularly sexist (but a little funny!).

By 12:30 the massive sound system had arrived.  Aaron plugged in his playlist starting with Aerosmith "Sweet Emotion".  It was an incredible start and very bizarre.  The kids love a good dance!

We were all invited to hang around the pig.  The locals started ripping bit of the pig.  So we joined in also.  It was all very barbaric but the meat was fantastic!

Next all the guests sat down for dinner.  The others arrived just in time for 13:00 lunch.  The elders were there and the police chief as promised and we all had a lot of fun laughing with each other, shouting "cha moi" (cheers) at each other.  It was all so good natured and happy.

After lunch, we all moved just over the fence to the volleyball court for dancing and a few games.  The locals put on their own music after having endured our music for 2 hours!

Aaron also bought some clothes and sunglasses for the kids.  This little one who we call "Wassyourname", as that is pretty much all he says to us, looked particularly cute in his.  He's a great little confident fellow.

By this time we were all rocking and rolling and I started playing a few "write your name in the dirt" games with the kids.  Before you knew it, I was surrounded by the little buggers!

Just before we went we took a group photo in front of the house.

Maybel even entertained the kids with her guitar.

So like that, we left on Pek's tuk tuk.  Suun and Pek were absolute legends and didn't drink a drop so we felt super safe.  When we got back  Ame was a little worse for wear mainly because of the heat, noise and the sun, so she decided to stay in in the evening.  I went out and had a good time at the opening party of the COF (Cambodian Orphan Fund) cafe.  Also had played some pool and carried on the party til I couldn't go any longer and went to bed at 23:00!  It was an absolute once in a lifetime day and we enjoyed every minute of it.