This morning I listened to an excellent programme about journalism in India and the role of women in various parts of the world. I ended up on the side of women. It was organised by Lyse Ducette who is the chief foreign correspondent with the BBC. I'm going to name drop and say I know her - she stayed on the Bocock farm many years ago.
In India only one woman in 10 works in a newspaper office and they aren't allowed to cover tops that are too 'manly'. They are limited to the softer subjects such as recipes and beauty treatments. It's even worse in Iran where the media are totally controlled by men. They talked a lot about positive news. One story was about a man who couldn't find anyone to water his plants while he was away and so he devised a drip bottle system. People learned about it and within a day he had five hundred orders. Many years ago I heard a journalism debate in the USA and a lady asked why there was so little positive news. One journalist said, "You wouldn't read it. You don't want to know that all aeroplanes took off safely today; you want to read about the one that crashed." I prefer the Indian story.
I often feel as if I'm in the dark ages when it comes to language. When I left England in 1964, if I didn't hear someone speaking to me I'd say, "Pardon?" A couple of years later I went back and a brother was saying "Sorry?" I had no idea what he was talking about. During my time in Calgary I visited a couple and the wife would start every conversation with, "Well I mean like". I used to cringe waiting for it. When I lived in the cabin west of Cochrane two families had trailers on the property and they used them on weekends. One of them had been a member of Toastmasters International and he would give me heck if I said "You know" or I hummed and ah'ed. He said, "If you don't have something real to say, then keep your mouth shut." That bit of advice has stuck with me for 52 years.
I keep wondering where the word 'absolutely' has come from. It was said by one journalist this morning - not once but many times. I know what it means but I simply can't bring myself to use it the way it's used nowadays. When I listen to the CBC in Canada I hear people using the word a couple of times in the same breath. In my English class today I think I'm slowly getting through to Phearak and Srun that the 's' at the end of a word is super important in English. I know how they feel as I can't get my head around the sounds they make in Khmer.
I was called over to the other house for lunch today. The family was having a dish called Ta Krung. Vuth said, "If a family is away from Cambodia, this is the meal they miss the most." It's a very different kind of meal. There's a plate in the centre of the table piled high with lettuce, the stalks of lotus plants, young banana plants that has been grated into strings and the flower of the banana treated in the same way. There's an aquatic plant, that you can only get if you know someone with a pond, that's known as frogs' legs and the flower of the water hyacinth which is a lovely dark lilac colour. One takes a lettuce leaf and adds bits of all the other things and then there's a traditional steamed fish dish added to the mix. The whole thing is then popped into the waiting mouth. The steamed fish dish is a challenge as it's got a fermented dish added to it. All of this went with a plate of rice.
Grandmother had spent a long time making a "green" soya drink so I had to sample a glass. She makes it by blending a special grass into the drink. After that, I was given some Durian. I love it but it does talk to me for a long time after eating it and my fingers are stinky no matter how much I wash them.
The people coming with the dental group are discussing whether or not to have an elephant ride when they are here. One man is a photographer so he's wanting to know about sunrise. I've sent him my photograph of the sunrise and I've told him to keep it in case it's cloudy on the day he goes.
Diaries really are lovely things. At the moment I'm typing my notes from my time in Nigeria and it's fun reliving events and being reminded of so many things I'd forgotten about.
