On Friday night Zhenia and I went to our friends’, Jui & Nick’s, housewarming party. On the way there we became a bit lost, at first because of the lack of street signs, and another time because two houses had the exact same address. We eventually found the correct apartment and had a great time. They have a spacious place with a big living room that opens onto a large terrace – perfect for hosting parties.
The next day (Saturday) I woke up and did some errands/housework. Walked to the bank, met Zhenia and went to a garage sale where I bought a road bicycle, two bungee cords, and a yoga mat all for $28 USD. You can find amazing deals here. I really wanted a bike so that I can learn to navigate my way around the city myself. Motos are faster, but the moto drivers take so many shortcuts and different routes that I lose track of the path we took to get somewhere.
In the afternoon I returned home to find a disgusting smell and mini flood in the bathroom connected to the kitchen. Our sink is a portable one it drains into the shower drain in the bathroom. We had been letting too much food down the drain and it got stuck. Managed to unclog it & clean it up… no we’re more careful about our solid food waste. After that, Zhenia and I met up at the National Museum. We saw a lot of ancient Hindu and Buddhist statues. Much more conservative than western statues – no nudes. Then we walked into the gardens and found some monks taking photos. They happily agreed to be in photos with us, and after that, they asked to take a picture with me. I’m sure they find my blue eyes and blonde hair as fascinating as I do their orange robes! Next we went grocery shopping at Lucky Supermarket, and then came back home to cook. We ended the day by watching Across the Universe on our new DVD player that we picked up from the garage sale.
On Sunday I got up at 5am to get ready for teaching English in a rural school, an opportunity that I found out about from my friend Chris, who went to university with the AIESEC Cambodia co-founders. The bus was about 35 min late, and it took us 3.5 hours to get to the school because of a flat tire, so we were 1.5 hours late. When the flat tire happened we all got out and walked part way until the bus caught up. It was exciting walking past the rural homes. The villagers were very friendly and eager to have their photos taken. When we arrived at the school all of the children (about 250 of them) were standing on field waiting for us, looking very eager. Each of us teachers (a number of Khmer teachers, a couple from the Czech Republic, and me) introduced ourselves. After that we went for lunch at a coordinator’s family’s home. It was a traditional Khmer farmhouse with lots of family and animals around. They fed us a yummy meal that consisted of rice, vegetables, and some other “sauce”. After taking a few bites one of the teachers commented “did you know we’re eating ants?” Sure enough, I looked at my plate and saw that the “sauce” was actually a type of fairly large, red ant. Mmmm…. the villagers said that they buy them from the village market. Extra protein, I suppose.
After lunch, we went back to the school. Each teacher was given their own class to teach for an hour before the students wrote an English placement exam. My class was very quiet/shy, but sweet. I tried to teach them how to say “th” - that didn’t work very well, but they thought it was hilarious when I tried to show them how to put their tongue on their two front teeth to form the sound. Then during the English assessment test almost EVERY student tried to cheat, even though the test was just to determine their level of English so they could be placed in the correct class. I kicked one boy out because he kept cheating, and then the others started to take it (and me) more seriously. After the exam, the students said goodbye to us and all of us teachers took the bus back to Phnom Penh. When I got back dinner was waiting for me (thanks to Zhenia!) The two of us watched Accidental Marriage and then I fell deeply asleep until 6am Monday morning for work.
Another fantastic weekend in Cambodia!
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