Palmera Projects
New Years Eve in Cambodia
Posted on Saturday, Jan 2 2010
Thursday 31st December 2009
Today was NYE and we were determined to make the most of it, even though we were away from our usual batch of friends and family. We started the day in quite a sensible manner by visiting Sophea's village. Sophea is one of the teachers at V.D.C.A. and he was kind enough to give us the honour of visiting his home. His village was located in an adjacent province and it took around 1 hour for us to get there by car. When we arrived, Sophea showed us around his home, introduced us to his family and to top off the hospitality he even gave us a fresh coconut to drink. After we finished the coconut, he gave us a tour around the village and showed us his pond and land. After we had a good look around, we visited the pagoda in which Sophea lived whilst he was a monk for 8 years. We met his teacher and received a blessing for good luck from him.
After we arrived back in Siem Reap, We had some lunch and then went by Tuk Tuk to the school. The lesson today involved grammar, and this was a particularly difficult topic, both for the students and the teachers. By the end of the lesson however, the students did manage to have a good grasps of the concepts involved.
When school finished, we had a quick break then headed out to pub street for some well deserved drinks and food. There, we welcomed in the new year. Whilst we were celebrating, we met a young Cambodian lad by the name of Phy. He is a student that studies at V.D.C.A. but unfortunately due to money and family problems, he has been unable to attend school for the past two weeks. He has been passing his time by selling souveniers at Angkor Wat and sleeping on the streets. It gave me a great emotional high to be able to take part in treating this kid to a good meal and some ice cream. What a great way to start the new year for both Phy and myself!
Thomas