[Monday June 10]
Day 1 is going, going, GONE. It rocked. It was definitely exhausting but so rewarding. We woke up and guess what, homesickness=gone! Sure I still miss everyone back home, but it's easier to deal with when you're busy.
We woke up and got ready for the day then headed down to the lobby to wait for Sokhom's daughter *I cannot remember her name for the life of me* and Selah to come pick us up. They came and got us and we headed to the ATM where we got money out to pay for our hotel room and then we headed to the grocery store.
Traffic is just as insane *if not worse* during the day.
But luckily Selah is an experienced Phnom Penh driver.
The grocery store had a lot of things that appeal to westerners as well as Khmer things. It also listed the price in Riel as well as US dollar which is a wonderful thing! Sarah and I bought peanut butter, bread, apples, eggs, and cheese to keep in our room. It all cost like $7. Love it.
After the grocery store we went to an open market to buy some meat for lunch. The market was just like the movies. Loud, smelly, busy, and full of color and life. It's kinda of gross to know where the meat that you're eating comes from... but I haven't gotten sick yet, so I guess that's a good sign.
After the market we headed back to the school and watched while our hostess prepared lunch. She worked with 2 other women and a little girl. We soon learned that the older woman is Sokhom's sister and is "shy" when it comes to speaking to us. The younger woman is her daughter which makes her Sokhom's niece and his daughter's cousin. The little girl is 9 years old and is Sokhom's niece's daughter which makes her his sister's granddaughter.
Phew.
So we sat on mats and attempted to speak with them as they peeled mango and onions. We shared English words and Khmer words with them as they cooked. Then we all ate lunch and then Sarah and split up to begin teaching.
My class is full of boys that don't understand English. There is one boy that can kind of understand what I'm saying but that's it. Even though we can't understand each other we have so much fun! They are constantly making me laugh and they make fun of the way I excitedly I say "good job!" They know a lot of words but they struggle with the pronunciation of the words. "Th" and "ch" are especially hard. How are you supposed to explain why church has a "ch" sound but stomach makes a "k" sound? Yeah I don't know either. But it's okay! We just went over a TON of words. I think I may have stressed them out, but they did so well! I won't do as many tomorrow.
After English we decided to go on a walk while dinner was being prepared and Sarah and I were waiting on the children t o get out of school. We had 4 wonderful tour guides that wanted to take us to see the Mekong. So we set off and walked down the main road and then turned off into a neighborhood type of thing. There were a lot of tarps and shacks and things and people stopped and stared at us as we passed. I assume we looked pretty funny: two extremely white girls with 4 Cambodian boys. Oh well. We stumbled across a temple nestled in the neighborhood and saw real life wild monkeys. Then the rain came and took a break under an awning in the temple. There was a group of men playing a type of hacky sack there and they were hilarious. The rain stopped and we continued on our walk. A man from the temple joined us on the rest of our journey and we made it to the river. We stood and looked across the river at Phnom Penh. It was breathtaking. One of the boys asked what feelings we had as we looked across. It was incredibly humbling.
Then a student came and picked all of us up in a tuk tuk, thank goodness because it began to rain again. And when I say rain, I mean DOWNPOUR. We all laughed the whole ride back to the school. We were all soaking wet but we didn't mind.
We got back to the school and there were 4 kids waiting to begin their English lesson. Their regular teacher came and helped us get started. He stayed because he wanted help with his English as well. Soon the rain stopped and 10 more kids came in to join us. They are SO smart! We finished the lesson at 6:30 and then ate dinner. During dinner we could hardly speak we were so exhausted. After dinner we were driven back to the hotel and we immediately showered and were in bed before 9:30.
It was a really good day and I think we both learned a lot. Tomorrow we will do it all again except we will teach a morning session of English as well. Once we establish a routine, it will be easier.
Until then?
Here's to going to bed before 10 every night.
Goodnight to all and to all a goodnight.
Cassie and Sara
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