Week Two

Well week two of volunteering is finished (no school tomorrow because of Coronation Day- whatever that is..)  annndd it was pretty much exactly like week one.   Learned another letter in the starter class- moved on from B to P and continued reading the same 10 page story in the “advanced class.”  I’m already correcting the teachers and talking over them to pronounce words or fix their vocabulary.  I wouldn’t be surprised if at the end of two months I’m teaching the class and the are chillin in the back.

Stacy and I started our “to do” list of Phnom Penh sights to see before we leave.  First, we went to Independence Monument, which is really just a big pointy temple type thing.  The most exciting part of it was trying to cross the city’s largest roundabout to get close enough for a good picture.  The roundabout seriously is huge but we made it successfully across AND back. We also went to the National Museum today (half day of school, again don’t know why) to see some Khmer artifacts.  Well, we walked through that museum in about 30 minutes butttt as we were wandering around afterwards we stumbled upon Anthony Bourdain (No Reservations on The Travel Channel)!  We both walked right past him and then did a double take and went back.  Shocking to see a celebrity all the way in Cambodia but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, I tend to find celebs everywhere I go…anyways we lurked a little bit and when they stopped filming took a picture with him.  I’ll try to post it.  He was very nice and the journalist that was with him told us about some good street food to check out. 

Tomorrow we are headed to the beach for the 3-day weekend. Sunday is Halloween which they call “Ghost’s Birthday.”  They love ghosts here and 100% believe in them. Every single one of them has a story to tell you about one time when they saw/heard/touched a ghost.  It’s hilarious. That’s all for week two. I’m going to include some pictures of the orphanage so you can visualize all of these stories I’m telling you.

The main area where the kids play and hangout- our room is in that building on the left.  The girls dorm is above us.

The volunteer eating area:  The red tables behind are where the kids eat.  At 11 and 5 everyday bowls like that are waiting on the table for us.  Rice goes into the white bowl and the food is in the green bowl.  We have to bring our own forks and spoons from our room.

Some of the students in my advanced class

The next few pictures are of the kids playing with the games my parents sent.  I left them on a shelf, went to dinner and came back to find the kids all over the table and floor outside with every single game out being played.  I don’t think they knew how to play any of them but they just made up their own rules I guess.  I even found some kids playing with the box like it was one of the games.

(sorry dont know how to rotate this..)

Finally a picture of the dried sting ray Stacy and I wanted a picture of but the lady made us buy it to take a picture.  We both "tasted" it but all I could manage was a tiny nibble.  Not good. (It really looked like a sting ray until the lady put it through a flattener type thing and it streched out to this.  We didn't know how to communicate that we wanted it in it's original form, maybe next time.)

A day in the life...

October 21, 2010

Well, we have been here for about 5 days now and so far so good.  Stacy and I are sharing large king sized mattress on the ground and another girl Annie is in the other bed.  The room is kind of tight for 3 people but Annie is moving next door once the other guy, Ben, leave for the month of November.  Annie and Ben are here working for EGBOK (everything’s gonna be ok) (Ben’s non-profit he started.)   They train the older students from different orphanages in hospitality and then prep them for interviews and help them get jobs. It’s a pretty cool organization that Ben started a little while ago and they are doing very well.

Anyways, a typical day here for us is: wake up around 8 (if we can sleep that late.)  The kids get up at 5 and do exercises right outside our room or dance upstairs.  Then they play from 5-7 screaming and yelling outside.  Today was the first day both of us slept until 8 am.  Everyone says to give it a week and we wont even notice the ridiculousness that goes on so early in the morning.  After we wake up we eat some cereal and warm soy milk juice boxes we bought because they don’t eat breakfast here.  We teach from 9-11.  I am in the intermediate class and we are currently working on verbs and some sort of literature.  The classes are so relaxed and they take breaks all the time.  Josh- you would love the amount of “breathers” the teachers give them.  I just sit with the kids that I like and feed them the answers so they can raise their hands and get the questions right.  Haha . The teacher all speak Khmer so they don’t speak English that well either, probably like a 5^th grade level so sometimes we teach them things and correct them.  We are basically in these classes to help with pronunciation and working individually with students that need help.  At 11 we go down and eat lunch.  The volunteers sit in a little swing table type thing that has been nailed down so it doesn’t move.  Every meal is a pot of white rice and then we each get a bowl of some sort of cooked vegetable with random seasoning and who knows what else.  I told them I am a vegetarian so I either just get fried eggs or the vegetables everyone else gets with eggs on top.  Not horrible.  The kids sit in a pavilion next to us and get white rice and some other random stuff to eat.  They do not get as nice of food as us so we can give them our leftovers. Oh also, the eggs I get are duck eggs (instead of chicken eggs) so they are BRIGHT yellow. So weird.  Then we have 2 hours to nap and chill (that is right now) and we go back to class from 2-4.  I am with younger kids then in the starter class so we are working on the alphabet and sounds.  Yesterday we learned B: ball, bell, cub, cab.  That was my homework.  Hard words to pronounce when you think about it!  From 4-5 we just play outside with the kids and dinner is at 5.  Then play some more (swing, run in circles, sing, play with tires- the usual) and go to sleep around 8! Tough life.  

The volunteers go out sometimes but we have yet to do that.  I think tonight we are going to have drinks at Terry’s apartment. He is one of the founders of Palm Tree.  He adopted his daughter from Cambodia 12 years ago and then came in contact with Palm Tree-which was going under and took over.  He is recently divorced (I think) and lives here with his 25 year old Cambodian girlfriend (I would say he is like 60!)…Phon my bff here just walked up and I just spent 10 minutes on the photo booth taking pictures with him.  I will post some.  He is 13 and was born in the same orphanage as Maddox (Jolie-Pitt for those who don’t know Maddox)! But then that orphanage closed and all the babies were adopted besides him and 3 others who were special needs so now they are here.  I have tried to ask him if he knows Maddox but he doesn’t remember.  He is so tiny we just carry him around and he climbs on things and is just so cute and funny.  Literally like a little monkey.

Hmmm not much else to report here yet. I attempted my first run yesterday down the dirt “street.” I had to avoid all of the motos, stray animals (chickens and dogs), people pushing their carts and the mushy water mud poop.  It was very eventful.  I got so many stares. I do not think they have ever seen someone run down the street in shorts and a t-shirt, or probably run at all.  Considering I was dripping sweat before I even left the orphanage I think I am only going to be able to handle it every other day.  After class today we are going to check out “The Place.”  Taylor recommended it- it is the gym for Asia’s elite.  I cannot wait. I hear it has good showers so I may attempt to wash my hair for the second time here ha.  Our shower is a handheld in our bathroom. We can only keep it on for 30 seconds and then have to turn it off for 10 seconds.  The pressure is bad and the water just goes right onto the bathroom floor so then when we use the toilet for hours after its wet. The wet hair is all over and I HATE wet hair.  That is the only thing that grosses me out here.  Probably the least bad thing but for me it is by far the only thing I hate. It is the weirdest thing but that’s how all showers are here.

Overall our first week here has been pretty good. Everything is so relaxed and no one cares what we really do, or what anyone does for that matter.  As Taylor said, “everyday is a Sunday!”   I love it.  Ok, Phon is back so I am going to play with him and go to class! Bye!

(ps- Daryl- listened to Summer O’ Fun the entire time I wrote this post. Phon loves it!)

just testing this thing out

so stacy and i are going to blog but no time to write right now. just want to see how this blog looks.  to hold you over until our first post here is a picture of the cutest little boy ever (hes actually 13 but hes tiny)