To the tuk tuk

Today we split up into two teams to try to visit more schools. I was with Adam and Megan. We went back to the original school we found on our biking trip on Monday. We were welcomed into the director's office. He didn't speak English, but someone translated for him. He answered a few of our questions, but as soon as we asked to visit classrooms we were asked if we had gotten permission from the local Ministry of Education. We explained that we are in the process of getting our MOU, but they said we weren't allowed to observes teachers or students without written permission from the local department of education. Damn. We decided that we shouldn't go to the department until we have a letter of introduction from the national level, which is in progress right now (thanks, B-team!). Moving along....
We then headed (still with our trusty tuk tuk driver who took a wicked shortcut by the way- nice!) to the ONLY upper secondary (10-12th grade) in the entire province. The director was more than happy to talk to us and show us around. He spoke English and had another teacher sit in with us. They showed us their library and all the textbooks. They said they don't have nearly enough textbooks for all of their 1,200 students- in fact, they only had enough to give each class a few textbooks. That sucks. The textbooks are all made and distributed at the national level, so there's not anything we or the school can do about it. They showed us a few classes going on. The teacher's English was great- I assumed he was an English teacher, but he was a math teacher- I was very impressed by his understanding. He comes from Phnom Penh and chose Kep. Funny story, actually- I was like "Why'd you choose Kep?" He was like "Well, I'd never been here and it's called Kep City so I thought it'd be a city, like Phnom Penh." I was like "not quite the same, huh?" haha Kep is the farthest from a city I've seen. But the teacher said he likes it here because there are mountains and the ocean and it's easy to live he says. I kinda wanted to poach him for our school- he seems great and is young and good at English. The opportunity to mention it didn't arise though- maybe later! We're going back to that school again on Friday to show the B-team a school. I'll try to slip him a business card then :-)
After this visit, our tuk tuk stopped at this random market to fix his bike chain and we wandered around. I bought new flipflops (mine area almost worn through from loads of walking) and we got a coconut to drink. This random old guy was trying to speak French to us. Damn, my French is SAD now. I'm ashamed. I studied it for so many years for nothing apparently. I want to get it back- it's actually useful here with the older generation because they were taught French in school back when they were still a colony (up until 1953). Now the teachers want to teach French because they know it, but the kids want to learn English.
We met back up with Sia and talked over our school visits. We then headed to the crab market for lunch, then Megan and I went to visit King Sihanouk's palace. Sihanouk, the current King (but he's given his reign over to his son already) was in the process of building this palace when the Khmer Rouge took over. He never got to furnish it nor live in it. Now it's abadoned. People seem to be squatting there and have rigged running water through a pipe. It's a weird looking house overlooking the ocean- gorgeous views but the architect must have been on something because it's the most bizarre setup ever. Then again, the 70's aren't really known for their impressive architecture :-)
Now we're back at the hostel with internet for dinner and drinks. Tomorrow we're going to a beach nearby since there's not much else work-wise we are able to do without that letter of introduction from Phnom Penh, which should be arriving with the B-team on Friday. Supposedly there's a nice beach out a ways from the main Kep area that has actual sand! Pics to come! :-D

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