I arrived in Phnom Penh around 6:00 Wednesday evening. Checked into the OK guesthouse and went to the Volunteer house to pick up my bag which I had left there. I met all the new volunteers they seemed really cool. A younger crowd then my group, and more guys. It was weird, it still felt like my home, but it wasn’t.
On Thursday I had committed to help CWF asses the new students. The test is pretty easy, you ask the student a bunch of questions and decided what level would be best for them to study. There is about 20 questions, only the students with very high levels got asked all 20 questions. I was testing in the morning from 10:00-11:30 and in the evening from 4:00 to 6:00.
I must have tested about 50 students and it got kind of old after a while (How are you?, What is your name? etc.) but some of the students were so enthusiastic that they made it enjoyable. I noticed a huge difference between Cambodian students and American students. One of the questions was “If you were given $100 what would you buy?”, most of the students said they would use it for school or to buy books. Other students said they would give the money to their parents or poor people, very few said they would use it to buy new clothes or a new cell phone. Another one of the questions was “What is a social problem in Cambodia?” the students talked openly about the corruption, and the lack or education and how hard it is for people to break out of poverty. The final question was “If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go? Why?”. Some of the students said Australia, France and Japan but by far the most popular answer was America. I asked the students why most of them said because it is a great country without corruption and if you work hard you can become successful. I have no doubt that these students would be very successful if they were given the opportunity to study in America, they have a work ethic that is unlike American students.
After finishing my testing I met up with 4 of the new guy volunteers. I took them to Olympic stadium for a kickboxing match. It was the biggest sporting event in recent history to take place in Cambodia. It was the first international title fight to be held in Cambodia. They brought in belt holders from Germany in England (I later found out the belt holders were paid $10,000 to fight while the Cambodian challengers only got pain $500). We got pretty good seats for $5.00. There were 7 fights, most of the fights had a Cambodian against and international fighter. The first title match was awesome. The Cambodian was the underdog and the German was beating him around pretty hard the first 2 rounds. The final three rounds the Cambodian controlled the fight, the crowd of 15,000 went nuts. It was the first time a Cambodian fighter had won an international title. There was an intermission and we left, there were 3 more fights which we missed, including the main event. The main even was a British belt holder against a Cambodian challenger. The Cambodian won and from what I heard it wasn’t nearly as close as the fight we saw.
I took the guys back to the Volunteer house because there were new to town and I didn’t want them to get lost. Ian from Portland wanted to stop for a cocktail. We stopped at one of the several Karaoke hostess bars (not as sketchy as it sounds) near the volunteer house. In my 3 months living at Phnom Penh this was my first drink at one of these establishments (I pass about 5 of them on the 500 meter walk to Coffee Korner). There was an American and a Cambodian flag hanging above the stage. The owner was excited to have a bunch of foreigners in his bar. When I told his I was from the USA he sent over a complimentary order of Freedom Fries. We ordered Johnny Walker and Coke. They brought out an unopened bottle JW red, ice and 5 cans of Coke. Ian poured the drinks strong. Within a half an hour the bottle was gone. I suggested we order a second bottle, luckily the boys talked me out of it.
The next day (Friday) it was more testing at CWF. After I finished testing I went down to the riverside where the new volunteers were having a picnic with the CWF staff. We did the same thing when my group of volunteers first got here. The food was delicious, and the sunset was beautiful. Cambodia always has beautiful sunsets. I missed most of them when I was at CWF because I taught from 4:00-7:00pm. After dinner I told the guys I would show them some of the bars. They really wanted to go to a Lebanese Restaurant called Le Cedre, because they heard it had a Hookah. I’d never been there before, I have been meaning to because I love Lebanese food. I had also never tried a hookah, and thought I never would. It wasn’t half bad but I couldn’t see my self getting all excited about it like they did, or ever paying to do it.
The drink service at Le Cedre was terrible so as soon as the hookah was finished, we went down to street 240 which has a bunch of pretty decent bars. We ended up at Liquid. I didn’t bring much money with me that night because I had to do my long run in the morning. When my cash was finished I paid my bill and left. The moto drivers outside the bar asked me if I wanted a ride, I said no. One of them was persistent and told me he would give me a good price. I told him I didn’t have any money, he said he didn’t believe me so I emptied my pockets to prove it. He kept following me for another hundred meters or so talking to me. Then he said “I like you, get on, I will give you a free ride.”, it was the first free ride a moto taxi driver ever gave me. He was super cool, and if I ever see him again I will definitely use his services.
Saturday was pretty uneventful. I didn’t have any work to do at CWF. I had originally planned on going to the coast but I decided to stick around for the weekend so that I could go to the Hash on Sunday. I woke up did my long run on the tread mill at club power, the rest of the day I just rode my bike around town and used the internet. I went to Meta House, an art house I had been meaning to check out for a while. It was my first time there. There were showing a really cool documentary art film on Cambodia on their roof. I left Meta house and met up with the new volunteers at FCC. Then we went to Revolutions for drinks. It’s a good thing I am not a part of their group, I don’t think my liver could handle it. I saw Nebil who I’d met at the couch surfing dinner there and I chatted with him for a while. We all went back pretty early.
Sunday morning I got up and went to CCH an NGO I had done some work with when I came here with CSULB in 2006. Every Sunday morning they do a “Road Show”, where they visit slums in the provinces and perform shows for the local kids, then give them snacks and read stories to them. The whole village came out to see the show and it looked like they really enjoyed it. I got back to the city, rested a bit and went to the train station for the Hash at 2:45. It was the Hash Erection (Election) which is kind of a big deal I guess. They voted on all the new officers of the Hash. I think everybody, just kept their same role. The run itself was one of the wettest and muddiest so far. At one point we had to wade through water that was almost waist deep for about 100 meters.
After the run we went to one of the Hasher’s palace for the Erection and a BBQ/Pool Party. It was probably the biggest house I have ever visited. Right on the River (with a dock and boat, nice swimming pool (with bar seating), huge Garden, and outdoor bar with an insane sound system, a Porche and tons of over toys. I could believe only one family lived there. I got wet enough on the run so I didn’t go for a swim. The food for the BBQ was great. I’m hoping that I will be able to visit some of the other Hashes when I go through Malaysia and Indonesia.
After the hash I went back to the OKAY guest house to get some shut eye. I had to get up early in the morning and pack and get on the 7:20 bus to Kep.
