10/1/2011
So this is my first full week of working. Monday was pretty rough and frustrating. Lauren and I only managed to keep the kids entertained until 9.30 as they have the attention span of goldfish and either don't understand or simply won't do half of what we tell/ask them (mostly the later). My connect the dots were a big hit but lasted all of 10mins. Essentially the two of us spent 2 hours sitting around doing nothing as all the children had run off, some of them preparing for a performance on Tuesday.
During my lunch break I called home and ranted about frustrations about the teaching, the orphanage and my moto driver. My driver is always late picking me up for lunch, regardless of what time I tell him he is 10-15mins late! And the orphanage didn't seem to be expecting us when we arrived and has nothing for us to do, although I hear this is the case for many of the other volunteers too. The afternoon session was far better though. There are fewer kids, who are more amiable and we only have them for one hour.
After work my wildly exciting life led me to the post office, whoop whoop (those select few may expect postcards in a week or so) and then back home to make more connect the dots while watching 'Sex in the City 2'.
11/1/2011
Hehe cool date. Anywho today has been far better than yesterday. We managed to keep the kids entertained until 10 today before we completely lost them all. We also managed to help with the food preparation for lunch but feel that this may be the only time as they do not like us 'working' for some reason, I think they see us as guests perhaps? The main event of the morning however was Lauren getting locked in the toilet. Having finally caved into using the facilities (we prefer to wait until we get home) she went upstairs to use the bathroom off the girls bedroom. Not having seen her for about 20 minutes I went to look for her. The handle of the door had been ripped out leaving only a hole where it used to be so I could see her face. She proceeded to tell me that she was stuck and couldn't get out. While the handle was missing the lock was still in place and had shut. We both tried to fiddle with what was there to no avail. I had to go and get her cellphone so that she could call Svenja as no one currently at the orphanage could speak English. Eventually the matron came back from work and one of the little boys ended up slicing at the lock with a meat cleaver until the door opened. Oh the drama!
During my lunch break I went and explored the mall instead of going home. I had lunch at a very western type McDonalds joint and bought a tonne of junk food at the supermarket as I am craving something unhealthy. The checkout operater thought I was very odd for buying $15 of crappy food ($15 will get you a ridiculous amount here) and a toothbrush. Note: I did not buy the toothbrush because I intend to rot my teeth with my oodles of junk, I just happened to remember I needed a new one. I also bought 5 books centered around the Khmer Rouge regime (all small and only $3.50 each so no need to worry Mum!) along with a couple more scarves, a pair of pants and some more stationary stuff for school.
The afternoon session ran smoothly, Lauren and I entertaining the kids with photos from our trip so far. Upon getting home I set off on a 15min walk to the ATM as I may head down to the beach this weekend with the other volunteers for a free concert. 15min in 35 degree heat, STUPID! Will now head home and... make more connect the dots. Boy am I exciting.
12/1/2011
Before I start on todays happenings let me tell you all about my incredible clumsy moment. Around 8.50 last night I went downstairs to grab a bottle of water from the fridge to help my throat (more on that later) because I couldn't sleep. When I got down there Mummy and Piseth were in the kitchen in the middle of something so I tried to be quick. On my way back up the stairs (which can be seen from the kitchen) I lost my footing, banged my elbow on the bannister and splashed water all over my face and the stairs. Not my proudest moment despite excellent multitasking.
Ok so nothing much actually happened today, just went in to work and played with the kids. We took in a map of the world and a Cambodian map which they loved along with a bag of balloons which entertained them for hours. So my main news is... I have a throat infection YAY!!! I'm pretty sure its due to the high dust levels here in the city, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. I am currently taking some sort of throat guard and antibiotic to try and fix it as quickly as possible. It isn't too bad, the worst part is that I have almost completely lost my voice, and I thought it was hard communicating before!
13/1/2011
With a new day my throat infection is nearly gone, hooray! Work at the orphanage was much of the same although I couldn't join in with the games outside as I have pulled a muscle in my foot and can barely walk, pretty sure sleep walking is the culprit as I don't remember hurting my foot and found the stuff in my room in weird places this morning. Lauren did join in though and was tackled to the ground earning her a gorgeous bruise on the knee. In the afternoon I helped a couple of kids read a book, coloured in pictures and learned a new way to play "Rock, Paper, Scissors". One of the older boys whom I helped read a book left early with a couple of adults and kissed Lauren and I on the cheek before he left, so sweet. When I got home from work I picked up my clothes from the laundry and they were beautiful. They felt clean and smelled soapy fresh. They were also ironed and all for less than 3USD, WOW.
After dinner I went to the Colonial Bar and Restaurant for VAC Trivia Night. I was part of Team Radical with Maddy, Robin, Astrid and Nick and together we came third (of four) as our collective Cambodian knowledge was not very extensive. All up I did not have a very good time as I was ultimately the outsider (as I don't live at the guest house) and was ignored for most of the night.
14/1/2011
A text from Mum saw me start the day with a tearful call home as I was upset from the night before and stuck in a weekend trip with the same people. Once calmed down I headed off for a normal day of work. One of the adults at the orphanage put on some Khmer music video DVDs which sounded awful but the kids loved. Othr than that the morning was mostly colouring and such. At lunch I called home again to have another talk, without the tears this time, before I headed out of the city for the weekend.
The afternoon session at the orphanage was both happy and sad. After finishing some colouring the kids told us that they were going to the Night Market that night and would get to see their parents. So we helped them write letters for their parents in English that went something like this:
Dear Mum and Dad. How are you? Thank you for the money which was used to buy food. I study English everyday with my teacher Raksmey and the volunteers Caitlin and Lauren. I love you everyday and miss you lots. Love...
It was so humbling, seeing how these kids are so strong away from their homes while I miss my parents terribly. So sad that they have to away from their families while happy that they can get an education and still see their parents sometimes.
After work I packed my bags and headed over to the guest house ready to catch a bus to Kep for the weekend. Kep is a coastal town near Vietnam (about 3-4 hours from PP depending on mode of transport) where a free music festival is being held on Saturday night. We had booked a minibus for 12 people so an 11 seater (including driver) shows up. We managed to get everyone in comfortably and then when the driver got in his frind also jumped in the back. To make matters worse 10 minutes later the driver got out and jumped in the back while someone new started off again. In the end we had 15 people squished into this van. We were all laughing at the irony of the situation (having rented a bus so we would have it to ourselves) thinking that we were in the worst possible place until we saw multiple trucks carrying people on the back, standing room only. They looked like people traffickers! After that we felt we were in 5-star transport mode.
10 people of our group stayed stayed at the Lida Khmer House (much nicer in person if you look it up) in four rooms, 8 girls in two and one guy in each of the others. I roomed with Rachel, Bethany and Robin. The room were nice and clean, and though simple all we needed for the weekend. We had to bring our own loo paper but for $3 a night each that was just fine until later (significance coming). The majority of the group went to the bar when we arrived at 9pm while 3 of us chose sleep.
