We're both sleeping really well here, Liam in particular likes the bed. I think we still need to be getting to bed slightly earlier though because I always seem to be tired in the morning! After showering and packing a bag we set off for breakfast at 8am. After breakfast we headed over the the bunong place ready for our 9am teaching. As seems to be usual here we were about 15 minutes late setting off but we can get used to the relaxed timing its just a bit different to what we've been dealing with for the last couple of months! Off we went, us and haang on one bike to the community radio station. The staff there collect information, news and data about the local people and events in the area, record it all and also record their voices to send to Phnom Penh for radio. Theyre really happy to have volunteers teach them English. They've begun to feel they need to know English in order to progress professionally and ensure the culture of the local people is communicated to more people. The radio station is in the opposite direction to the school, again about 5 minutes by motorbike. It's set aside from the main road and had a big radio tower outside. A lot of them were out on a field visit today so we only had 3 staff plus haang. Its fairly informal, not a classroom setting like the school. We spent most of the lesson just having general chit chat to find out more about them and figure out their ability. They know certain words but can't string them into sentences particularly well, so after doing a short introductory lesson we agreed to begin proper lessons with them tomorrow which they were more than happy about.
After an hour there we drove to the orphanage which is opposite the boarding school. That is where we teach English in the afternoon. It's great! There are about 100 children living there, but there are 10 separate wooden houses on stilts, all painted green and new. 10 children live in each house along with a house mother in each house to over see them. They have their own computer room with 18 computers, a small library, a class room and a kitchen. As well as that they have a lot of land where they grow all sorts of fruit and vegetables. It's like a miniature village for children, they learn to look after themselves and be fairly self sufficient but also have the housemothers there to take care of them. They all go to school in the day, but school works different here where they have a few hours in the morning, a few hours off in the afternoon then a few more hours at school in the evening. So we got there around the time they were coming back from school and eating lunch. We said hello to a few of them...to which every single one said "bonjour" because they all assume anybody white is French!
We went up into one of the houses, they're kept so clean and tidy, there is a communal sleeping area on the floor where they lay mats, a big table to study at, snares to keep clothes and a balcony to eat on or whatever. Afterwards we went back to the bunong place just in time for lunch where we all sat together on the floor eating and sharing bits of food with munong the monkey. We had an hour and a half before class so we left to go have a drink and for me to catch up with the last couple of days blogs...And Liam to play his iPad games! It was nice because it was raining a bit outside but still warm so we were sat under the grass roof listening to the rain. It seems to get overcast around 1 or 2 for a few hours in the afternoon, before that its really sunny and hot. So at 2pm after giving memong something to eat, we hopped on the bike to the orphanage. The teaching area is so nice, it's an open building with a white board and a few desks and benches so you're more or less teaching outside. The weather had gone nice and sunny again so the atmosphere was good. We had 10 students ranging from age 10 to 13, and we went over things like family members, days of the week, the alphabet etc. they kind of know it but only when we go over it like we've reminded them of something they've learned before. So it was useful to go over things and see where we're at with them. We played a few games of hangman which they loved. Before we knew it our hour was over and we were leaving, looking forward to get stuck in tomorrow.
We went back to the hotel with a view to staying there until later and walking to the school, but we were both hungry so we decided to have an early dinner...which was good really because we want to get into a routine of having it before 6pm class which is kind of hard when we've been eating at past 7pm since leaving the uk. We got to the boarding school a little earlier than yesterday so we could play a game of volleyball with them before. They showed us around their dorms which they share with 10 other students, they have their own well, their communal areas to wash their clothes cook their meals, and eat. It's all very independent which is good to see because they're all young adults. We played volleyball for a while until it got dark then started class, more people turned up today we had around 20 or so. We got them to ask us lot sod questions because the purpose is for them to listen and understand more advanced English. After a while of this Liam told his "life story" and then got then to answer questions about it afterwards. We then went back with a couple of the students again, and settled down with animal planet in the tv.
