Arriving in Cambodia

It is time to write my first blog. I have officially been at my project for a week now so supposedly this is the right time to write a first blog but in all honesty I could have written one two, three days ago. The reason I didn’t was because the blog that I would have written would have been a biased and unreasonable blog. Landing in a completely alien country where everything is done almost completely differently to your home country and you have none of your friends or family with you to love and support you is probably the most overwhelming experience that I have ever been through. This overwhelmed feeling can easily cloud your ability to see the amazing and beautiful things about this new alien place. It can cause you to back away from new experiences, giving into paranoia and anxiety. Things that overwhelmed me for example were, people driving motorcycles at top speeds with no helmets, 5 chickens hanging from their handlebars a dog on the back and two babies sat on the drivers lap, thin looking cows walking along beaches, people creating fires on the side of the road, unimaginable amounts of rubbish left on the side of streets, in fields and outside people’s house, and the risk of getting ill being so high due to not having access to clean water coming out of a tap. All of this is overwhelming and can cause you to juxtapose the ways of life in the U.K. to the

ways of life in Cambodia. However, what I am proud to say is that my partner and I have made sure that we have not given into anxiety but pushed through it so we can enjoy all of the amazing and fun things about our project and Cambodia so far.

So after that little introduction I will start from the beginning - Phnom Penh.

Tom, Joe, Kaylen, Katie, Maryam and I (all of the Cambodia Volunteers) arrived in Phnom Penh at 20:45 after a surprisingly well rested journey. I did have preconceived ideas of what Phnom Penh would be like and believe me I was wrong. I went expecting it to be unbearably busy, humid, hot and dirty. What I was surprised to see was that yes just like any capital city it was like this but not to an unbearable extent it was a lively colourful city. On the first night we met our country rep, Martin, before heading out to get some street food for dinner. Watching prawns be cooked literally on the street gave me a little bit on anxiety after all, I really did not want to get ill on the first night of being in Cambodia but seeing as I was hungry and everyone else was eating them I did not have much choice. It turns out they were absolutely delicious and no one got ill. Then we headed off to bed. All the other girls seemed to drift off to the land of dreams straight away. I however only managed to get two hours of sleep that night, clearly still on British time.

The next day we spent looking around Phnom Penh. This entailed going into crazy and exciting inside mazes of which Camodian’s would call shopping markets. Colours everywhere, shoes piling up as high as the ceiling, fruit stalls under huge statues of Buddha’s - so many fun things to see. After that we sorted out getting a local sim card before travelling back to our youth hostel. From there we went to get dinner with Martin at a little place with extremely loud live music. Starving we all ate mountains of interesting delicacies that martin helped us pick out. We enjoyed eachothers companies and excitedly talked about our future projects. Just as I thought the day was over, Martin had another little surprise up his sleeve. We left the restaurant all satisfied and bustled along the street after him, completely oblivious of the horror that was yet to come! …. Bugs! Before I knew it I was standing in front of a stall filled with different types of bugs and being told to chose some to eat! WHAT! I couldn’t even name 2/3rds of them and now I was supposed to place them legs, eyes, wings and all in my mouth! But sure enough with a 3,2,1 I had consumed two grasshoppers. The boys had gone for tarantulas so I nibbled a leg. Then it was off to bed because the next day we were travelling to Kep.

The girls and I decided that we would travel on the bus and let the boys travel with Martin in his car. We were surprised to find that it was not cramped, hot and sticky, but spacious with aircon and curtains … basically luxury. Enjoying the scenery and dozing off here and there, the 2 hour journey went very quickly. Kep is a lovely little town right by the sea, filled with greenery. We met Martin and the boys for lunch before he took us to his house.

Words to describe Martin’s house: Big, luxurious, basically a 5 star hotel.

Maryam and I were staying at Martin’s for the night so we got to play in his swimming pool, sunbathe and take a shower in our identical but separate rooms the size of a small house. The boys stayed for a swim as well and we attempted volley ball. Then the boys left and the other girls came back. We helped cook dinner after enjoying a glass of wine on his roof. A perfect day.

The next day we visited the boys project and the girls project before getting in the car to Sihanoukville. The girls came for the ride which was nice. When we arrived at our project we said our sad goodbyes to them and Martin. We were first shown to our accommodation which is in the girls boarding area across the street from the school. To begin with it was a bit of a shock. I was not expecting luxury of course but the level of dirt and bugs in our room was bridging on unhealthy and being extremely tired made everything about our room feel so much worse than it probably was. BUT, not giving into anxiety we decided right then and there to jump on the next tuck tuck to the market where would buy a whole load of cleaning products. In 30 degree heat we got to work for the rest of the day, sweat dripping from every part of our bodies and arms aching until we had cleaned it as much as we could. Dinner was at 7:10pm so we had super-fast showers before heading into the office where all the staff ate. We were introduced to everyone before heading off to mass which is at 8pm. The boarding students all go to this. It starts off with a song or two, followed by a prayer and then a speech from one member of the community staff. While there we introduced ourselves to the students which was warmly welcomed by a round of applause and many curious eyes and smiles.

The rest of the week was pretty relaxed work wise, we hadn’t had our timetables made up yet so we just had time to clematis. I think that this was probably the main reason why my partner and I had a quite a few low moments because we had time to think and take things in. Homesickness struck as we realised we wouldn’t be able to go home for the next 8 months to see family and friends I also got a little ill. Nothing major I did not feel ill but my body just was not used to the different foods, bacteria and bugs. Being slightly ill away from home always makes you feel worse. On top of this another volunteer here is very pessimistic about Cambodia. He has nothing good to say about the country and constantly tells us bad and scary things.

However, as the week went on and we avoided the other volunteer we started to feel more settled. I got better within two days and we were given our time tables which meant we could start planning lessons. I have 10 different classes 8 technical class which are all boys and one secretary class which is all girls and one hotel class which i take combined with Maryam.. It is the perfect balance as it means I have to plan lessons to suit each class differently. I love my students they are all polite, friendly and active. They also learn new words quickly. The hardest thing about teaching them is pronunciation. It takes a lot of drilling but when they get it right the feeling of satisfaction is immense.

I was also asked to be the secretary for all the children in Phnom Penh Don Bosco School. This means I am responsible for keeping in contact with all the sponsors and sponsor coordinators for 800 students. I have to find out whether students have stopped coming to school and will therefore need to inform their sponsors and find a new student for them to sponsor. I will also help out with organising events between the Don Bosco School in Kep and our Don Bosco School here in Sihnoukville. It is a lot of responsibility but I am learning so much so I feel very lucky to have this job.

Things which I love about my Project and Cambodia so far

1. The people/students – being a teacher here is like being famous back in the U.K. - everywhere I walk I have students asking me how I am, saying good morning, smiling ect.

2. The weather. I love the sun and it is sunny almost every day.

3. Teaching! It is so rewarding.

4. The beaches. White and sandy with beautiful sunsets.

5. School traditions. Every month they throw a massive birthday party filled with food, singing, speeches and dancing.