Hey all's still going well in Bang Melea. We've been out there for two weeks without coming back into the city so sleeping last night without being woken up by the noise of cows/pigs/babies crying/the monk's drum beating at 4am was quite nice!
All's still going well in the village. The farm is starting to take shape and the school has just got a curriculum, made specially for orphans in Cambodia, so teaching will be a lot easier now.
Last weekend we went to some of the temples near the village. One was 60km away and we went on the back of a motorbike. It's officially illegal for foreigners to rent motorbikes but we had no problem getting one - a policeman offered to drive one of the bikes to solve any problems! The temple was in ruins but impressive to see. The next day we went to the temple in the village, it was by far the prettiest we've seen. In the evening we had to look after the kids so we took them swimming in the temple, fully clothed obviously as it would be a scandal to wear a bikini!
On Friday we were invited a "party" on the farm. As there's no electricity the parties start around 5 so you can become before dark (8pm!). We had home-made rice wine which is just passed round the circle. It is apparently rude to decline! Then to eat we had cut vegetables to dip into a sauce made of fish paste and dead ants. After another man came along with a pig's head - the nicest meat I've ever tasted but I drew the line when they started offering round the eyeballs chopped up... Then we took the party back to our house as one of the girls has a sore ankle and was house bound. We have one light for the porch which is powered by electric and we put on some music. Next thing we know loads of neighbours had round to join us. It was such an amazing night.
Yesterday we took the kids out on an day trip. They have class 7 days a week so we reckoned they would enjoy a change. We took them to place which looks after endangered animals then some temples (we didn't go in..its free for Cambodians, pretty dear for tourists even if they are volunteers who are there to supervise the kids). After that we took them to the Baray near Angkor Wat to swim. They loved it - it's the closest thing to the seaside they'll see. They were given a dollar each to spend so they had a brilliant time treating themselves. Last on the itinerary was Angkor Wat. On the way back we were dropped into Siem Reap. The look on the kids faces was incredible. It was their first time in a city and they were fascinated by the street lights and big buildings.
Anyway that's all for now. Back to the village tomorrow for the last week of the project!
