Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Christmas has past and so have my first seven classes, I’ve managed waking at 5AM and I am enjoying teaching, it’s a great experience and quite funny. I have a lot of banter with my students. My first classes were about introducing myself and I had words on the white board about myself and the students had to guess what the question was. The word that all my students struggled with was ‘Finlee’, my sister’s name. They were surprised that it was a girl’s name. More about the students, they are polite, hard-working and quick to laugh at each other. I was warned that the students will say what they see and not mean to offend you in anyway. The one comment I got from a student was “(tea)Cher, you so beautiful, cher, your nose is very sharp.” My response was “Well, thank you.”
For Christmas I was given an incredible gift from my mummy and daddy, it was a trip to Angkor Archaeological Park, the massive spiritual area that stretches over 400 km2 near a town called Siem Reap. I had to travel on a bus that was similar to a plane on the inside for 7 hours each way, it had movies, food and reclining seats. The few days that I was there I cycled 60km plus around the park. I visited Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm and Banteay Kpai . They are incredible temples and sites, words can’t justify how extraordinary it is. The brickwork is intensely detailed, when cycling to the sites it was so picturesque. My favourite site was Ta Prohm, the power of the tree’s growing on and around the fallen bricks and building, it was breath-taking. The roots and stance of the trees would make you feel weak. I just sat for a while, it was an experience I will never forget and look forward to doing again in March.
On actual Christmas Day I travelled back to the city, Phnom Penh on the bus, and then went for dinner and Skyped my family and my sweetheart, it was a very difficult day. It was different to any other Christmas I have ever had. It was the first one I have not been surrounded by a family, if it be mine or someone else’s family. It was such a lonely day, no gifts, no hugs and where Facebook was my worst friend and the reality of what Christmas really means hit me right in the face. Christmas for me is to just be surrounded by love and love is not a quality I feel in Cambodia. Not yet anyway.
Next it’s New Year and I have so much to look forward to in 2014, I’m sure I’ll be writing all about it.
Heaps of peace
Jay
