Monday 5th

I am feeling much better but I think it took till about Wednesday before I actually went down to the kitchen looking for food.  It has been a bit cooler lately as it has been raining at least twice a day which of course lowers the temperature but it gets as sticky after as at home.  It is funny watching the Cambodians with the rain, they hate being out it in and they are terrified of the lightning and thunder.  Guess because when it hits their huts it zaps them too.  We had a great storm last Friday evening and we had the Aussies standing on our balcony relishing the cool rain and the Cambodian staff right at the back of the classroom as far as they can get.

We made the most of our second weekend here, although we didn't do a great deal, everyone slept in except me, I got up and cooked myself egg & tomato and really enjoyed it, we wandered into one of the posh hotels and paid $5 to spend the afternoon in their swimming pool and spa, swimming up to the bar for a drink!!  Hard life.  We all went for a massage on Sunday before our lesson planning meeting, $10 for a full body massage with oil.  On Sunday evening, Annette and I had to go into the markets to have our feet massaged by fish, yes you put your feet into a tank of fish who start nibbling on your feet and supposedly take off all the loose skin.  Not sure if that really happens but is is really funny to watch people with very ticklish feet.

Sandra bought a plastic swimming pool during the first week we were here and although she had bribed, begged and tried to motivate everyone around her to help her either blow it up or take it down on the pushbike to the local service station to get it inflated it had sat around the house for over a week.  On Sunday I decided that to get some peace we had to blow the jolly thing up.  So, Sandra started puffing and I then helped her (plenty of hot air) we managed to fully inflate the thing, take it outside to the upstairs balcony and fill it with water.  The pool ended up being 1200 cm x 45 cm x 80 cm wide, we all  helped to cart the water to fill it 3/4 way up and then Sandra climbed in, quickly followed by myself.  We, neither Sandra or I are exactly trim, taught and terrific, so the end result was water splashing out of the pool, over the edge of the balcony and onto the ground below.  The lady standing on the road outside of our building selling cooked bananas thought the Westerners were killing each other, I then could not get out of the swimming pool as Sandra and I were stuck in it, so I had to be dragged out with the help of the other ladies.  Lot of fun and heaps of water everywhere.  We did try to tell Sandra that it was not a big pool when she bought it.  It is used quite often but not as a swimming pool but as a foot cooler down in between lessons.

It is not quite as bad in the classrooms,  I think we have adapted our clothing as well, I teach in a t-shirt. long light skirt and no shoes.  Most of the other ladies also now wear light clothing.

It has had to be a complete mind set change for me with the lesson planning and instruction.  For the past 30 years, I have been trying to introduce and maintain a variety in programming and challenging activities, never to do the same thing twice.  I am now faced with the same 20 faces arriving 5 days a week for one hour and in the cases of Beginner 1 & 2 their knowledge of English structure and grammatical words are way above anything we are taught in or primary schools.  Our primary concern is to correct their pronunciation, so we spend most of the hour with them practicing the vowels and speaking basic sentences.

With the teaching, I have introduced them to hangman, noughts & Crosses, using words to make sentences and if they are right giving them a cross etc, bingo, Kim's games and today for the beginner 0 we are introducing THRASS, as like everyone in the world the Cambodians are competitive by nature.

We have at last settled into a routine, we all got together yesterday afternoon (Sunday) and did our lesson plans as a team which made it much easier for the ones that are struggling. 

The school closes down Thursday and Friday for Pchum Ben which is the most culturally and religiously significant event of the year. This festival of souls concentrates on blessing the souls of ancestors, relatives, and friends who have passed away. All Buddhist temples, especially Wat Phnom, are the focal points for this festival and most Cambodians visit the temples to make traditional offerings and pray.

Five of us are going to Phnom Pen for the 4 days, we are hoping to catch a boat there and a bus back.  The only problem is that it is the same as in Vietnam for New Year, everyone goes away and things are closed, we will go anyway as it is on the sea and we can walk around, will be easier with less people.

Posting parcels, they do no have postal delivery to houses and according to Mel nothing arrives here from Australia.  I went to the Post Office the other day and spoke to the people at the front counter it seems that parcels can be sent C/o Seim Reap Post Office and there is a book there with your name in it when it comes and then I assume that you show your passport to collect it.  I have heard that the post office sells it back to you but not sure.  Although we can get most things here (some things are quite expensive) I would love some Nescafe coffee vanilla latte satchels and Annette is hanging out for some skinny Cappuccino's.  I have asked John to make me up an aid package.