Advertisement
Dining Room at Mea Culpa
This is the dining room at Mea Culpa Hotel in Kampot.We finally found an internet cafe with good computers (although having a tough time uploading photos-sorry!).
We decided to spend Wednesday of bikes. Ugh. Rough roads but even rougher bikes! We biked out to a restaurant called The Rusty Keyhole-literally in the middle of fields. To out surprise as we rode up we were greeted by a very friendly Labrador named Tung-Tung. He is afraid of chickens and kills lizards. Guess it is good it is not the other way around. The owners, Kristian from the UK and his lovely wife Come were really nice. They have a little 7 month old baby girl named Kanika. So cute! Her mom let me hold her. We biked back to town and I am pretty much done with the bicycle riding. Steven runs errands on the bike and that is great.
The Fantastic Four showed up and we had a really nice dinner at our guesthouse. Pizza, I believe, is the international food. The next morning we went out to the school so the FF could see it. The boys-Ash, Shivam, and Chirag, played a World Cup Soccer Match with the kids-Kenya vs. Cambodia. I believe both sides won. Komal and
The Fantastic Four in Kampot
The FF came to visit us in Kampot to volunteer for a day at school. They read books and played soccer with the kids. Grand time had by all. I stayed in the learning center reading to the kids, drawing, coloring, and laughing. Two of the students were true artists and sketched Komal-beautifully done. The Khmer student were quite shy with them-I was surprised since they've been anything but that with me! It was a few hours well spent and we sent the FF off in a tuk-tuk and they are onto the rest of their two month adventure.
We stayed at the hotel and had pizza as it was raining and we were feeling lazy. When I got home from school we went out for a bit and found the best deal in Cambodia (next to the massages we got from the Blind Massage School-blind adults trained as masseuses-5$ an hour). We found the Ice Cream Cowboy! He is a Khmer man who wears a white cowboy hat and sells coconut ice cream. I bought two cones from him (actually think I scared him-big white woman running up to the ice cream truck) and it was 500 riel. That is 25 cents. WOO-HOO!
School. Wednesday night went much better! I taught most of the class by myself, asking the Khmer teacher for translations when I was
Chumkriel Language School
The students before class buying shaved ice. met with blank stares after something I said. The kids were really good! I am adjusting to the different style of classroom. I did confiscate a slingshot from the student who likes to jump out of the window. He wasn't going to give it up until I said " I am going to count to 3. 1..." and he handed it over. I am giving it back to him tonight along with a treat because he has been excellent in class. And he REALLY wants his slingshot back. Now when I am in the tuk-tuk turning onto the dirt road to the school the kids see me and all grab and hang onto the tuk-tuk. It has been such a great experience. The classroom has a teacher's desk, two chairs, old (and I mean old) wooden desks that can fit two students each, and one whiteboard. The teacher's carry their own markers. The windows have shutters that we open to try to catch a bit of breeze. I was teaching last night and looked out the window. A woman was burning trash; a man was walking his cow; a few children were walking along a dirt path with only shorts
Chumkriel Language School
Intense marble action before class. on; the heat overwhelming. Absolutely incredible. Something funny happened in class. I was trying to explain vocabulary (that is part of my lesson with the second class who is more advanced) and I was struggling explaining "on holiday". Just then the power cut out (frequent happening in Cambodia) and I said "The lights are on holiday". They got it and laughed. Love those moments.
We rented a motorbike today-Steven is doing well with it. It is a Honda Wave City Fashion Mover 100cc that is really beat up. The head lights and turn signals and break lights are on holiday. No clutch. and we need fuel every 15 or so kilometers. We went to Utopia-this cool little guest house on the river-hammocks, canoe rentals-it looked a lot like Gilligan's Island! I was shot at by a young Khmer boy armed with a toy gun and a pink toy blowdryer-a true gunslinger. He had a pet chicken.
Off to buy some school supplies as a treat for my students.
We leave Kampot tomorrow for Sihoukaville.
We have, so far, found our favorite place here in Kampot.
Suzie and Steven
Advertisement
Tot: 0.11s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 54; dbt: 0.046s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
