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Final Day at school

Posted on Saturday, Jan 2 2010

Friday 01st January 2010-01-02

A brand new day, a brand new year. We welcomed 2010 with a lazy morning in, the girls and I felt it was time to treat ourselves to a day of pampering and spent the morning in a massage and spa parlour. I met up with the boys and little Phy afterwards. When I saw him he had the most amazing grin on his face, Ive never seen him this happy before. You see, Phy is studying in my more advanced english class, and as he has missed out two weeks of school, he has been having a difficult time catching up and on top of that, his day to day life is not easy, with school, work and often a lack of shelter.

Turns out that after last nights discussion, the team and I had all chipped in to get him a bicycle so that at the very least he wouldnt have to walk 1.5 hours to and from school. He was so ecstatic! Already a wonderful start to 2010 for me.

At school today, it was fun-day Friday. Thomas and I played various word games with the kids in my class and Thomas was thorougly challenged as he struggled to find a word to hang them on in hang-man. In all the classes the children gave us various gifts, letters, trinkets and well wishes. I became very emotional after realising that this is the last time in a while before I will see them again. At that moment, the waterworks began and through all three classes I couldn't stop crying. I will miss my kids so dearly!

The final straw broke me when my last class decided that they wanted to sing songs for fun-day. They sang many but my favourite was 'take me to your heart'. I think I broke down in tears in front of them. Saying goodbye is never easy but this time.. It was probably the most difficult goodbye I have had to say in a while.

At dinner, we sat and chatted about how quickly this trip has finished up, we asked eachother how we could convey our feelings, experiences and knowledge that we have gained from this trip and concluded that there is no way to explain it to others. You have to be there, feel the enthusiasm, see the smiles, hear the laughter, taste the fight for day to day life that some of these people and kids go through and in the end, still see how they can love without hesitation.

This is a trip I will never forget.

Anna

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!

Beginning of the second week

Posted on Saturday, Jan 2 2010

The beginning of the second week began with a visit to Angkor Wat. Arriving there was an experience in itself. Before our tuk tuk even stopped we were chased by eager children wanting to sell us their goods. It was sad to see school aged children not studying but working to make a living. Later we were told children in these situations are often working in order to support themselves through school and often their families as well.
It seems desperate times can make even children lose their moral senses. In one particular occasion, having walked away from a kid offering their goods on the way in to the temple we found ourselves in a difficult situation attracting unwanted comments. Although, it was shocking and disappointing to hear these words from a child, we understood fully the game of survival

Experiences like this became a natural occurrence at the Angkor temples.

Christmas in Cambodia

Posted on Sunday, Dec 27 2009

Being six days into our adventure, we are now getting acclimatised to the Khmer way of life, their local customs, the weather and being bounced around in the back of a tuk tuk.

The longer I spend here, the more and more appealing the simple yet gratifying life of the Khmer people appears. Though lacking in the materialistic luxuries we westerners so dearly cling to, the Khmer people seem to find happiness and solitude in the more important things in life such as strong family bonds.

We all shared mixed emotions as we approached Christmas day. Being many miles

Why we are here

Posted on Saturday, Dec 26 2009

Cambodians have experienced immense torture and it's evident as you walk down the streets of Siem Reap. Mine victums with missing limbs, poor dirty starving kids, mums with malnourished babies and of coz the always eager tuk tuk drivers. For the last one and a half day, I've managed to ignored them which is so difficult to do as they are everywhere you turn. Self preservation mechanism. "Avoid eye-contact". "Don't give money to one as once you do, the rest will swarm you". "Walk-away".

All good advice from well-wishers and the experienced, however the kids WILL eventually get to you. The night started off with a beautiful dinner and a trip to the night market. Well.... we didn't even get to the entrance of the night market. On the way, we bumped into a student near a convenience store who was taught by the June'09 volunteer group. He was selling bangles and postcards on the streets to pay for his education.We stopped to chat and the boy was extremely embrassed but happy to s

First Day of School

Posted on Saturday, Dec 26 2009

Day 1: 21st December 2009

Adjective. Subject. Past continuous tense. Past simple tense.

What do these mean again??? How do I explain this to my students?

Even though my 1st language is English and I have been speaking it since young, teaching someone English feels alien and is out of my comfort zone. I am really glad that we all have been paired up with another volunteer to assist our assigned teacher. It really helps to bounce off ideas off one other and figure out together with the teachers the best way to approach a certain topic. It is also a great opportunity for the teachers to find out about how we have learnt English in school and to compare different teaching methods.

The Arrival

Posted on Thursday, Dec 24 2009

So the program begins, after I have been here for three days looking around it was arriving day for the rest of the group.

The meeting place was Blue Pumpkin on Hospital Street in the middle of Siem Reap at 3:30, Dilan my room mate and I arrived first followed by the Palmera Projects organisers Laura, Rhamya, and Narmatha, then the final 4 volunteers arrived, Caroline, Ada, Thomas and Anna.

The excitement was there to finally get everyone in the one spot a chance and for all of us to finally meet. After a quick debrief on the days ahead and plans for dinner that night everyone went for the standard Cambodian afternoon nap followed by a traditional Cambodian massage.

The Journey Begins

Posted on Monday, Dec 14 2009

Just a quick note before a few of us volunteers head to Cambodia for the adventure of a lifetime. With all of our flights booked, visas approved and a bit of money exchanged we are all gearing up to say goodbye to our family and friends in what will be our last couple of days in Australia for 2009.

So what does this journey that we are about to begin have in store for us.