Teaching

I think being a teacher in the states does provide me with some advantage over the others, but I still wasn't sure what to expect when we were given our teaching assignments.  The first placement I received on Monday was teaching at a orphanage, ages 10-16.  Quite a range I know.. The second group I would be teaching is the restaurant staff at our hotel.  (This was scary.. I've never taught above 2nd grade)  Besides an age range and rough language level we weren't really provided with very much guidance.  We were all overwhelmed, and a little freaked out!  After spending hours trying to lesson plan, I came up with something, crossed my fingers, and figured I'd make it work.

Well I survived the first day teaching, and was surprisingly pleased with how it went.  My class at the orphanage has five students.  I love the small class size!  They are on different levels, but all very sweet.  My biggest struggle was trying to figure out how to pronounce their names (except for Tim).  The classroom setting was also shocking, just an open room, some desks, and a whiteboard that was hard for me to reach.  Now I understand why they said we need to bring our own materials...At least my students weren't making fun of me for sweating too much (this happened to one of the other girls).  

The restaurant staff was an interesting class to teach.  I enjoyed working with them simply because I interact with them daily but never on a personal level.   This class was at our hotel so I was thankful to have air con again.  It was interesting working with adults, but I definitely miss working with kids!

  

I also had my second day of Chinese class... Don't expect to hear me speaking it anytime soon.  Our class is extremely fast paced.  Maybe one day I will remember more than just hello!  

Pictures from the Orphanage

 

Sihanoukville

The Sihanoukville trip marked our last weekend together as a whole group.  Our group of ten was becoming a group of five.  We left the hotel Friday morning, and the ride was much more pleasant, minus the bathroom situation.  We were told we would be stopping about halfway, and the bathroom were nice and clean.  Well we were highly misguided.  "Clean bathrooms" meant dark enclosed rooms with "squatters".  The floor was wet and muddy, and behind our hole was a huge tank of water you scoop from to "flush" the toilet... not my favorite experience!

We finally made it to the guest house, and were greeted with bugs, "coach" curtains, and a barbed wire fence.. All I kept thinking was at least we were walking distance to the beach.  Unfortunately the beach was so dirty with trash none of us even put our feet in the water.  We quickly learned that our location was not ideal, and decided to venture into town.

Immediately stepping out of our tuk tuk we were approached by Nicki (a ginger who got his name from Nicki Minaj), a local selling bracelets and hair wraps.  We probably were his biggest spenders of the evening.  Finally able to escape the begging, we walked along the beach and were stopped along the way to shotgun a beer with some Australians.  They worked at the bar, but instead of getting paid they were given accommodations and free food and drinks.. not a bad deal to live on the beach for free.  I learned a new game "lazy pong", which is basically just beer pong sitting in chairs on a shorter table.. I was surprisingly good.

The next day we woke up bright and early, crossed our fingers the rain would stop, and loaded onto a party boat.  After a rocky ride out to sea, we stopped near an island.  It was quite a struggle to get a snorkel, I've never been pushed out of the way by so many people.  Luckily I was able to hold my own, push back, and make it to the top of the deck ready to jump.  It felt like I was walking the plank, but I took the plunge and it was great!  The next stop was an island called Koh Rong.  We were finally in the paradise we had been waiting for!  A beach to ourselves, clear water and sunshine.  it was a relaxing time, until the downpour happened.  Luckily we still had about 2 hours on the beach!

We ended the day on a much more remote beach.  It was so nice to walk the beach with no beggars approaching us, and we had an awesome grilled BBQ dinner.  I even tried barracuda.

The day after getting back from the trip I received an email from the Embassy warning US citizens to be cautious of Sihanoukville... At least I didn't have any intentions of going back.

 

Siem Reap

After a busy first week of class (9-5:30 everyday)... we had our first weekend trip!  I was extremely excited to get out of Phnom Penh.. but didn't realize how terrible the drive would be.  We left the hotel around 1 after class, and after hours of bumpy roads and little villages, we made it around 10pm... Next time I would ask if I can fly!  I suppose it was good group bonding?  The best part of the drive was stopping at spider village.  As soon as we walked out of our van we were swarmed by children selling fruit and women carrying buckets of live tarantulas and bags of fried ones. I was hesitant, especially when she tried to put a live one on me, but figured I needed to try one.  Surprisingly not bad!  They were crispy and covered in garlic... I only tasted the legs though.. we were all too nervous to see what squirted out if you bit into the body!

Our "hotel" (I use that term was loosely now)... was ok..  but it was Fourth of July so we didn't stick around long before going out to celebrate.  Luckily my amazing 2nd grade team made sure I had some vital American gear.  We ventured out onto Pub Street, and had a blast.  It was the most "westerners" (white people) I'd seen since being in Cambodia.  It was a great time, and really cool meeting people from all over the world.  

The next morning was a little rough getting up, but it began our temple tour.  I was a little hesitant about going back.. (I did the same temples last summer), but it was still a great time besides the heat. While we were in Angkor Wat, a monk was motioning for us to come over to another temple, so we decided to check it out.  We all ended up getting blessed by the monk, and received different beads.  The awkward part was when he started asking for money.. Maybe we were being cheap but aren't monks supposed to be living the minimalistic life?  He was not impressed with our dollar donations.. maybe next time we will be better prepared!

That night we ventured to the night market and back out to pub street.  Attempted to try another bar.. the worst service ever.  I don't think Ive ever seen someone walk so slow to get a drink!  My friend ended up leaving before getting her change because it took that long.. Ended back at the same bar.. "Angkor What" and ended the night dancing in the street with the girl selling bracelets.

After a long weekend.. we assumed we could just sleep on the way back.  After about 3 hours of complaining about how hot we were the driver finally told us the AC needed coolant... Why he made us suffer for three hours.. wish I could tell you.

Pictures from the weekend :)

                                                  Angkor Wat and Angkor WHAT

I didn't buy fruit.. but I did pay them for this pic :) 

Party in the USA .. in Cambodia

Did I mention our room locked us out.. they latch closed from the inside.. These guys used a hanger and a rubber band to get us in.. 

Spiders.. and other creatures

Making the ride a bit more tolerable

Welcome to Cambodia

While blogging isn't normally my forte, I figured this would be a great way to stay in touch and remember my adventure!  I hope you enjoy it!  Please leave comments and ask questions!  I would love to hear what you think!


My first two weeks in Cambodia have been a crazy, busy roller coaster.  When I first arrived with my two 70 lb bags, I was a little nervous about fitting into a tuk tuk, but Dara (my driver) was able to make it work.  My first day exploring included going shooting (way overpriced.. a little sketchy.. who knew you didn't need glasses or a waiver to go shooting) and then we went to the killing fields.  Extremely sad, but a great look at Cambodian history.

I met the rest of the group that night, there were ten of us.  Of course no one else is going to Taiwan, but I now have some places to stay if I go visit Thailand or Vietnam.  After grabbing dinner as a group, a few of us sat out by the pool drinking wine.  The night turned into a few people that worked at the hotel jumping in and attempting to talk to us... which really was just a lot of grunting and multiple "cheers".

On Sunday we had a city tour.  We went to a temple, and then the King's Palace.  The palace was full of monks, and of course we all wanted pictures of them.  What we didn't expect was them to ask us for pictures.  At one point I was trying to walk back to the group and I was stopped because they weren't done taking pictures yet.  Cool experience.. Heres some pics from my first weekend!

Just some guns from the range.. 

My bags in the tuk tuk.. and Dara

Wet bathroom.... I was greeted by a huge dead bug upon arrival 

Home for the next month

first temple 

Picture inspiration