an epic excursion to the province!

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So after getting to know everyone in the volunteer house, there is not one person i could say a bad word about! i am so lucky! the guy that was here before was saying that the previous group divided into team america and team austrailia! instead this year it is just team britain!!

during our orientation week, we took a trip to the CRDT project in streung treng which is about 7hours drive from phnom penh!
*note* i am volunteering with a school called CWF (conversations with foreigners) and they help people who want to improve their language skills after school or work. it is quite cheap for the three months, but all the money left over from supplying the school is sent to the various CRDT (cambodian rural development) projects, run by the same people. these projects help build toilet facilities, schools and convservation ideas. they are also training local poeple to be tour guides in that area. so we are going up to the project on an island near steung treng, to see where some of our money and all of our hardwork is helping to achieve!
it was a quick journey up there because the driver was a maniac!!!! we made it to our guesthouse in about 5hours! stoppig briefly for a toilet break in kratie! i sat next to Bill who is an austrialian celebrating his 60th birthday in a few weeks. he is so lovely and we share alot of class levels so we were bouncing ideas off each other!

Me and steph (my awesome aussie oomate) manage to secure the VIP room in the guesthouse before we head to the island. it is so so nice to have a hot shower again. also turn on the tv and see the breaking news about the sri lankan cricket team; it brings us back to the real world as we realsie how much of a bubble we are living in. the whole group (15in total) go out to a local restaurant for food, see the sunset over the mekong and then a few of us head back to the VIP room where we have been chilling some beers in the fridge!

up early for our boat ride to the island...what a ride!! we squeeze all of our luggage and all 15 of us into two tiny boats with a little motor attatched to the back! it is hilarious, the locals all point at how many westerners you can fit in!! about 30mins into the ride the other boat flags us down and says that they haev a leak! anna jumps over into our boat and all the luggage is passed between us! it is now very cosy on our boat as the sinking ship speeds off, with someone chucking water out over the side!! amazingly we arrive at the island 2 and a half hours later, clambour out of the boat, giggle at everyone's sunburn from the boat (silly people who didn't cover up...i had learnt form my burning in vietnam!! was taking no risks!!) and the we walked to the village. it was beautiful. we dump our bags and have lunch. lunch consisted of rice, meat and egg!

after lunch we walk to the school and see lots of buffalo on the side of the road. we sing head shoulders knees and toes standing on benches, listen to 250 kids sing their antional song, chase balloons across a field when the wind took them away and then gave all 250 kids a book, pen and pencil each. it was a rewarding experience to know that we had bought them the materials. after warrds to cool off we all went for a swim in the mekong!!!!!!! 😊 the water was so warm!!!!! and swimming in a saraong is a really fun experience!!! after playing with the locals in the river we head back to the village for dinner...of rice, meat and egg! then we are shown to where we will sleep!!!!!!

It is three to a room, so me, steph and cindy walk across a bridge to the furthest house. we dump our bags without really looking round and get ushered by the family back to the school. here they have set up lights and a sound system with huge speakers! i forgot to metnion that the island doesnt have electtricity so everything is being powered by a huge generator! i think every house must have brought their own to create such a huge amount of power! sorya (my new cambodian friend) teaches me apsara dacing and i in turn teach the school kids the macarana and the cheesiest 60s dance moves!!! after dancing for ages with the kids we stroll back home along the pitch black path. my torch picks out a scorpian on the ground scuttling towards our house...i dont mention it to cindy who got freaked out earlier!!

me steph and cindy clean our teeth in the garden, take it in turns to hold the door on the shed aka toilet and then climb into our mosquito netted bed 😊 the kind lady who is letting us sleep in her house scares the life out of me when she pulls my leg trying to give us an extra pillow!! apparently one of us should have slept in a ifferent room on the floor, but sticking together and squishing into bed seemed the best option! especially as a cat jumped on me (i was on the end) and the disappeared through a hole! it was hilarious! but having a gheko in our room wasn't funny!!!! it kept crying...literally every hour "GHEKO, GHEKO, GHEKO!!!!) hehe cindy scremed at it a few times, but it didn't make any difference; i made it into a game of how many times it would cry before it shut up! omg it was loud! especially when everywhere else is deathly silent! i woke up and sat up at about 2.00am. it was so peaceful just to listen to nothing (the ghecko had shut up for a bit!) and then cindy needed the toilet so we shuffled down into the garden with my torch (thank you louise for the wind up torch, it went very well with the head torch...cindy and steph were the well equpiied travellers who hadn't thought of bringing a torch 😊 hehe!!!!)

we headed for breakfast (of rice, eggs and meat) in the morning, not feeling very refreshed! but soon woke up when we headed to the school again to give a eye tests and inspect teeth (sara a lady from the volunteer house was in the medical profession and looked at teeth in india! we were all surprised at how good their teeth and eyes were!!) then we talked to the kids, steph and john and cindy entertained them with a HUGE game of volleyball!!!!!! i saat at the side making banana leaf birds with sorya!!!

our day continued with a trip to the 'large rock'to see dolphins...there were no dolphins and the rock was just as the guide said..."keep your expectations low and you wont be disappointed!!" we then got paraded through a village of elders who looked at us and waved, it was a very odd experience and when we got back to the village (had lunch of rice, eggs and meat), me and jacob made the kids have bicycle races! they were so fast and i challenged one fo the locals and soon regretted my decision as i was eating his dust while i peddled with no peddles and tried to break when there was no break!! it was so fun!!! the boat back was one hour...it was fast...we got very wet, but we did however arrive in time for dinner (of noodles, not rice) and then headed back to drink in the hotel room (the kind members of staff had already put them in to chill for us!! haha!!) Had another gorgeous hot shower and to save money, me steph and cindy cuddled again in a king size bed with pillows and AC and laaura was in the single bed in the same room!! i'm not complaining at only $4 for a luxury hotel room!!!!

the bus back to phnom penh was 8, yes 8 hours long!!!!! we stopped at every village, every town, every service station! after we got back i rushed to find some new flip flops as mine had broken (two pairs of fllip flops in 2months travelling!! i'm not doing that much walking in them!!)

so now let me bring you to where i am now!!! i have smuggled a beer into the internet cafe after my first week of teaching! it ahs been a very up and down week! monday was haphazard getting to know students...and i was so tired as steph had come in at 2.30 and woke me up needing change for the moto driver! i thought i was late and apparently my face was priceless! she felt so so bad!!!! 😊 i ddint mind, except i had a really stressful day, i forgot everything i had religiously prepared for and tuesday was not much better! steph took me for a beer on tuesday night and it cheered me up so much! she's such a good influence!!! wednesday went ebtter and we went to a local bar! thursday was a bit better too (i got one of my classes to dance!! hehe we were doing cinderella and acting out the dance scene!) after this first week i have already earnt so much...not to fit so much into lessons, speak slower and jsut to relax. monday and tuesday i stressed myself out so much and throughout the week i haven't slept because i've just been worrying about each class! every day is a challenge but it will get easier! i dont think i will teach as a career but it is such a good experience! i lvoe the volunteers, i lvoe the staff (we are going to karaoke tomorrow night with everyone) and i love the students. one week has felt like one month! but i know it will fly by. i really want to savour every second and not worry half as much as i have been!!!

it is getting so much hotter, it reached 35 degrees the other night and the classrooms get so hot with only two fans in a really badly ventialted room!!!! ooh coming up on the agenda is a khmer wedding next sunday, khmer new year for my brirthday (and it is another laura's birthday on the 14th so we are not sure what to do!!! and of course karaoke tomorrow night!!! and some planning for lessons, but not too much 😊

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