Ellie in Cambodia

Hello my beautiful people! WE FINISHED THE WALL! Sorry, just had to get that out of my system. After 5 weeks of sweat, blood and tears, we completed the Great Wall of Krobie Riel! Let’s start from Sunday though… On Sunday we had a delicious buffet breakfast, for $5! We were sneaky, and decided to take some extra baguettes for lunch, YUM. After a satisfying breakfast, we jumped into an air conditioned, spacious van – the most comfortable mode of transport we have been in so far! The trip was comfortable, and we arrived at a temple (who’s name I cannot remember) which was my favourite! It was really massive, and is one of the only temples that has not had any reconstruction since the Khmer Rouge. It had beautiful big blocks of stones that were ... read more

Sue’sdai everyone! (In case you’re wondering, that means “hi” in Khmer). I hope everyone is well and happy! It is 8:22pm on a Tuesday night, and I’m missing you all like crazy…. Only 14 days to go! Continuing on from my last blog, where I was curled up into bed watching Lord of the Rings….! That night flew by, and after the most comfortable sleep of my life, we woke up and had breakfast at the Green Gecko Café – I had breakfast quesadillas (consisting of cheese, egg, beans and salsa… an interesting combination!). After breakfast we went to the hotel, where Sophie and I indulged one more movie – ICE AGE! When Ice Age ended, we left to visit the local markets – an experience in itself. The overpowering, poignant odour of rotting animal flesh ... read more

Hey all. Well this is depressing... I literally just spent about 40 minutes typing up this awesome blog entry for you, and then the computer suddenly restarted itself, and deleted 1200 words. I'm really sorry, but I'm tired and bothered, so this is going to be way more brief. Monday - Woke up feeling horrible once again. I stayed home from the work site as I felt so weak and useless. You know that book I told you about? I finished it, all 550 pages in that one day - IT WAS A TERRIBLE BOOK! Very cliched and simple. After spending all day in bed feeling sorry for myself and drinking water, the girls finally came home. They told me they'd had an easy day on the worksite, which made me feel a bit better about ... read more

Hello! I know it has been three days since I last blogged, but I am so tired and exhausted! By the way, hump day = Wednesday... today was the hardest day, hopefully it will be easier on Thursday and Friday!The last few days have been on the worksite, non-stop in the heat (today was 43 degrees). Here is a brief description of what we have achieved on the project so far: - Created the metal foundations by bending metal, cutting metal, creating smaller triangles to go on the foundations and twisting the triangles onto the metal with small wire. - Carting about 3000 bricks ( a pile 1.5m high by 5m) around a 200m obstacle course, dodging children, cows, rubbish, rocks, burning piles of rubbish and motorbikes. - Spending hours at a time digging and hoeing ... read more

I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT BLOGGING SOONER! A lot has been going on, and time has been so scarce! I have no idea where to start, these last few days have been absolutely crazy. We bought brand new bikes ($50!!) which have baskets and lights for our ride to the village. I am absolutely in love with them, they look like they belong in a French romance movie! Our schedule for weekdays is as follows: 6am - Wake up, have breakfast and get changed into work gear (long pants, heavy duty boots, tshirts, caps and sunglasses) 7am - Start the 7.5 km ride to the school, passing lots of Cambodians who yell out "helloooooo whatisyourname?" (Exactly like I've written it!) 8am - Arrive at school. Park our bikes and start the labour. At the moment ... read more