I was woken from a lovely dream with my big grandad in it this morning. Jennifer was measuring something to see if it would fit in a cupboard, and grandad came in with a Victoria sponge cake saying I bet you can fit this in, and it's expiry date was my birthday. Then Jennifer and I wanted to give him something in return so we looked in the cupboards for the packets of sweets we had and I found a little packet of liquorice all sorts. I was watching him try to open them with his bad fingers and just about to offer to help when he managed to open them up with a big smile! I feel like he's been to visit me here which is a lovely feeling. It almost feels like he's said happy birthday for earlier in the year too which is really weird.
Anyway after a difficult get up due to feeling under the weather we both had breakfast and headed over to go to class. We were late setting of as usual, but we have tended to make the class go over if we arrive late so it all works out. We did more on directions for an hour with the staff at the radio station. We got back to the bunong place afterwards ready to maybe help prepare lunch but were told a lot of people were visiting today so there wouldn't be enough food or space for us. We met a few of the people and said hello, one of them including a 3 year old boy who is one of bills 8 children that he sponsors due to various health and financial difficulties. One of the students, Sonu, who took us out over the weekend was around today due to it being the water festival and lessons not being on. This was news to us, which was a bit annoying considering we've paid to be here to TEACH and we've not been told students are off for a few days this week..... Anyway he offered to take us to the boarding school and show us around, with not having anything else to do we were happy to go with him and take a look. I think I've mentioned before that there are around 10 students to a dorm, well they use the word dorm very loosely I think. It's a bare room with a wooden platform on each side where students sleep. It's really basic and quite dirty. The girls dorms were slightly better as in tidier and cleaner but they're still really basic and I know I wouldn't want to be living there. They take care of themselves completely, their family sends money for food/clothes but its not quite enough for most students so they need to work part time as well as study. The dorms were practically empty, when we asked where everybody was we were told the majority of students had gone home for the festival and most wouldn't be back until Friday. Again, this was news to us and again, we were a little annoyed because after all, we have paid a small fortune to be here and aren't getting that much for our money even with all the students present!
After wandering around and chatting to the students for 45 mins or so we headed back for lunch. We had to buy our own lunch again today because bill had so many visitors so there wasnt enough for us. After that we went to the orphanage for class only for the orphanage to also be near empty. I'm not sure of the reasons behind this, the explanations wernt that clear...all we knew was there wernt any students for our class! Soooo we headed back into town and haang took it upon herself to take us out for a ride on the bikes for something to do. Thank god! We went to find her friend who also attends morning class so we know her, and went out 2 to a bike and explored to surrounding areas. It was kind of worth missing class for, the scenery is amazing. For me it's the sky that makes the most impact, the clouds are just beautiful...I don't know how they're any different to anywhere else but they just are. We drove for about 20 minutes before reaching a village which was so quiet and serene. There was a mixture of traditional bunong huts and slightly more modern wooden houses on stilts. Children were working on the farms with their parents and animals were wandering around, it was the kind of thing you see on films and really humbling to see them going about their lives in such an indigenous way. We spent a short time watching before moving on. By this time Liam had swapped round to being the driver and was having the time of his life on his bike. I was happy being a passenger and attempting broken conversations with the girl in front to let her practice her English. We drove for maybe another 15 minutes before reaching a second village, it was great! There was a house blasting cambodian music out on loud speakers with loads of people milling around. Most were children playing, some adults watching, others chatting to each other, the rest doing various bits of work. The villages have such a peaceful feel to them, it's like you're in the middle of a different time....and then you look across and some of them have satellite plates on their wooden houses, one of them has a car, some have motorbikes. Then from nowhere appears the villages elephant and you're taken right back to some time in the past again! We both love the villages, it's so different to anything we've ever seen and will ever see again I'm sure of it. It's so sad that these villages are slowly being dragged into modern day society by the rest of the world wanting more more more of everything right NOW, quickly! Apparently a film was made in this village a few years ago and haang took us to 2 houses which she says were purpose built for the film but now have families living in them.
After a while of looking around we set off again and got back back to the bunong place about half an hour later. After walking back to the hotel, showering and getting changed to longer clothes do rather evening we set off for the lesson at the boarding school feeling very unsure if it would be a complete waste of time or not! There were 5 students today, less than half of the normal amount. It was a good class because each one got to talk a bit more than usual but there will be even less tomorrow as some stated they will be leaving for their villages until Friday. Due to the festival we talked about their festivals and our ones...which oddly enough they seemed to remember more about them than we did. They certainly knew more about Christianity than we did!
We went to have dinner afterwards at a different place than usual which was slightly more expensive but the food was definitely better and you got a bit more of it too. Then we went to our usual watering hole for a cup of tea before going to the hotel. We're wondering what tomorrow will bring with so many people visiting bill at the bunong place due to it being a holiday and all the students seeming to be absent from the town...we're trying to keep an open mind and hoping for the best!
Tuesday
Woke up at our usual time of 7.30 and were out having breakfast by 8.15. We arrived at the bunong place ready for 9am class but haang had been sent out to do some shopping for all of bills visitors coming for lunch today. After half an hour of sitting around bored, waiting, we were told there would be no class today and that there was no room for us for lunch either so we'd see them later for 2pm class. Annoyed isn't the word. It does say on the programme that lessons may be cancelled with no notice, however for the money we have paid we would expect to be provided with something to do or at least transport to get to anywhere. This isn't the case.
Sooo we went to get some naughty food from the shop to try and make ourselves feel better and then went back to the hotel to try and sun bathe for a couple of hours on the steps outside our door. We are both feeling sick to the stomach thinking of how much money we have spent to be here and have been discussing our options but I think we've resigned to the fact that we've lost money in this venture. If we could get the money back for lost days we would leave tomorrow and cut our losses on the volunteering despite enjoying the classes ...but there are no refunds. NEVERMIND we have learned another lesson during our adventure and we will be thankful for what we have and are getting from this project and the "donation" going to a good cause in the long run.
We turned up for the 2 pm class a few hours later not holding our breath. But thankfully there were a total of 11 students at the orphanage which meant we old have a old lesson. Haang left straight away due to all the "visitors" and having to show them around still, but we had Sonu it's us who stayed to give us a lift back after. We taught greetings and introductions then played a game afterwards which went down really well. There's one girl in particular that Liam, and me, have taken to. She's 9 years old, tries really hard and is so cute! Due to her sticking out for us from the rest we only really remember her name which I'm sure the other students have also picked up on! After class we had a brief chat with bill about the rest of the week, pushing for answers about the classes. He admitted the likelihood of more cancellations was high...so we made it clear we wanted stuff to do, not another day like today sitting around doing nothing. I'm so shocked we wernt prewarned about any of this but hey ho, he has now said he will see what he can do. We shall see. So after another couple of hours of waiting around again due to everybody being busy, we headed off to 6pm class. Nobody was there! We were approached by a couple of students who said there would be no class today because there is nobody here due o it being a holiday.... Great! But just as we were about to leave 4 students arrived ready and willing for a class. Turned out to be a good one too, it was a lot more personal and everybody knows each other a bit better now so we can have a giggle too. We showed some pictures of Halloween and stuff like that before doing work on pronunciation. The evening class is always our favourite. On our way back into town on the bikes the lightning looked amazing. We get it most nights but it was spreading all over the sky, so impressive! After tea we did the usual of heading back to the hotel and settling down to animal planet and discovery channel in bed. I wonder what tomorrow will bring!
