On route home....

At singapore airport just now so thought id do last blog entry. thanks to those who are following.....went out last night for dinner with 5 or 6 people, was lovely evening but very hard to accept was my last night there. went to night market after dinner and bought a few things and had a foot scrub and foot massage, 3dollars for 30mins, if only it cost that little at home!! went to island bar for last drink, really good and people over here remember everyone even if you have only been there a couple of times haha. packed up all my bags last night and had late night as was scared i would sleep in and not get up in time for tuk tuk driver picking me up at 8am. i managed though and was ready by 7am!!! very strange feeling this morning and did not feel right on way to airport leaving siem reap. funny as people say about many places you either like a place or hate it, well can honestly say i love siem reap and will be back and back to New Hope.
Got to airport about 8.30am and queued to put my case in etc.....bunch of french and dutch people and they were all pretty rude, barging in infront of us who had been waiting. didnt let it bother me as was only start of a very long journey haha......stayed calm and laid back like the locals would. eventually got bag in and managed to get that all the way through to aberdeen then i had to pay 25 dollar for leaving the country haha. you pay to get in and leave....boarded the flight and we went via pnomh penh - just to make the journey longer then onwards to singapore where i have been the last 6hours and still another 2 to go until i board flight to manchester, oh and did i forget to mention i go via munich.........wow been all over the place. hoping il manage to sleep on plane on way home otherwise going to be very long journey.
oh well guess i better go get last min things..see you all when i get home. x

Last day in Siem Reap :(:(:(:(

Sorry didnt update yesterday folks but internet has not been working. yesterday morning i went to the silk farm which was interesting and then went to the war museum which was also very good. guy that showed us around the war museum was growing up during the war and some parts of the museum he could not look at the pictures because some of his friends were the people in them that were injured, was very sad and he showed us he still has a small bit of shrapnel in his eye, he lost his fingers on one hand due to a land mine and also has bit of metal work in groin which causes him a lot of pain and he hopes one day to get an operation on his leg. he also said he does not get paid for working at museum but he likes to show tourists around and show them how happy he is now that no war in his country.
in the evening we went out for a meal as usual and then hit the night market and island bar. was some kind of entertainment going on tonight for new year and was quite dangerous at times but funny, stuff that happens here would never be allowed to happen back home. love how laid back it is here and will miss that loads when get back home.

Monday.....i leave here tomorrow morning, cannot believe it has been 4 and a half weeks already :( dont want to come home but guess it will be fun to catch up with family and friends. just dont feel ready to come home yet but never mind, il be back. went into town this morning and then went to pool for a wee while, never thought id be happy when sun wasnt really shining at a pool but loved it for a couple hours this afternoon. was quite cloudy so very nice cool swim. going out for dinner tonight with a few people and then going to get last min bits and pieces. have packed most of my bag and will do rest later. doubt i will sleep tonight because be too worried that i sleep in for flight home.....mind you maybe that wouldnt be such a bad thing. get stuck in siem reap for another few days/weeks or even months :) x

Saturday....2more full days until i leave siem reap :(:(

This morning got up and walked along to Wat Bo temple, lovely wee place. already been there but wanted to go again, very old and this wee old man comes along and opens place up so you can have a look around. put small amount of money in a wee box to feed the monks and they are all happy. Didnt feel so warm today but still roasting!! not so humid i didnt think. walked around town and had lunch then walked out to Prince D'Ángkor hotel and went for a swim. wasnt there very long but still a wee bit red :( not sore so thats bonus. This evening went into town and met some of the oz girls and one of them has their family over now aswel. went to temple bar and saw the apsara dancing again, quite facinating how they can bend their fingers back so far etc. two of the dancers got a fit of giggles whilst performing, was pretty funny. then the guys playing the music were in stitches too. came home earlyish as getting up in morning to go to silk far and war mueseum. should be good day xx

Friday....final day at New Hope :(

This morning i said goodbye to 3 of the girls from oz, strange really as you feel as if you have known some of the people you meet for a very long time. 3 of the oz girls are still in siem reap and went out with them this morning for a foot massage, was lovely and as usual was more than foot massage as they did shoulders and back at same time - 3dollars for half an hour and the girls were fab! will miss this life...in some ways.
went to new hope in afternoon, felt weird knowing it was my last time doing the journey there in tuk tuk. it was rice collection day today so lots of people in the school getting rice, sauces etc for the month. amount of rice and money etc they got varied on whether they were sponsored family, size of family etc. was very interesting and actually felt like kind of thing you would watch on tv for children in need etc. cannot imagine how it must feel to have to rely on this donations etc from people for basic necessity such as food. once again though. the people here are amazing and very very grateful for anything you can give them.
Boy with the burns was back in today and i redressed his wounds, really hope they dont get worse over khmer new year. told him if they do happen to get worse to go back to hospital and we can sort something out for him. however, he states that the hospital will do nothing. hoping that because i taught his sister how to do it yesterday she will do it and things will improve.
Left the project shortly before 5pm and very very strange walking out the gate for the last time :( you get really attached to the place and will miss every minute of it. great people here doing a fantastic job.......
went out for dinner this evening with a couple of girls from globalteers and then went for a few drinks and home to bed it is.....

Party day at new hope for khmer new year

Fab afternoon had by all I think. Had the decorations and everything up. Played loads of games with the kids and did some songs too. Kids got to eat curry and bread which they loved and were looking for more. Myself and the 6 ladies from oz all got a big thank you and a certificate from kerry and kemsour for our help. I got a few wee notes from some of the older kids which was lovely. Have promised them I will come back at some point and don't think it will be a problem keeping the problem. Bought ben 10 outfit for 1 of the wee boys and he had tears when i gave him it which nearly started me off but i managed not to cry :-) the girls from oz had made up a song for new hope and asked me to sing it with them which was nice and the kids loved it. Really going to miss these kids, they are ALL adorable. We did have some flour throwing etc but i was lucky enough to avoid it. haha. caught some of the girls out the back with few small bottles of wine! It happens everywhere i guess.
Spent some time in clinic helping re dress the young lads burns, real shame because its new year and the clinic closes for a week and tracey the nurse is on holidays for 2weeks so have had to show his sister how to clean the burns and dress them. hope they dont get worse over this time.
Also spent some time catching up with Kerry, she is a fab lady and very very busy! Spoke to her about the money I had and she was amazed. Think its decided that money i raised is going to go towards helping improve the classrooms/build a new one and also maybe help the medical clinic as they are moving round in to kerrys house and will need some new equipment.
After school, we went straight into pub street and had a few drinks and dinner at red piano and island bar and then i went to meet tracey at funky monkey for the pub quiz.

Another 2 days.....

Yesterday i got up in morning and met tracey the nurse from new hope to go and get some supplies for clinic dressing wise. very difficult to find ANYTHING here, they have very minimal choices haha. i got lots of bandages, vaseline dressings, tape, blood pressure machine, sutures and some other things. that is about the most you can get. has been impossible to find suture removers. Think tracey was happy with the supplies she got and hopefully they will help for a wee while....some of money i raised went towards this but not very much at all. went out to new hope after this and there was a meeting about the rice collection and party that will be happening this week at new hope. came back into guesthouse as had to collect the clothes i bought for the boy with the burns from house fire.
in the afternoon went back out to new hope and let our class have a fun day of arts and crafts and games. think they really enjoyed this. also helped out tracey in the clinic to remove 2 kids sutures and also re dress the burns that the 20year old boy sustained from house fire. busy day and very very hot. went out to one of the school girls house as one of volunteers here wishes to sponsor her so wanted to get idea of living conditions etc. this wee girl is gorgeous and when we explained why we were there all she said was "i dont need anything, all i would like is some rice to help my mum'' lovely girl and very intelligent. had a good day on the whole at school but not looking forward to leaving....amazing how attached you become to these kids.
in the evening we went to a 1dollar tapas place at soria moria.....really good food and well worth a dollar. it was started up for poor kids who wanted to work in hotel industry and as a training night...

This morning i got up and went to one of the local markets a wee bit further away from guesthouse, really big and lots of local things there....one good thing was they were not so pushy and persistent at saying 'buy something madam'' got a few things there and cheaper. also went back and bought some more bandages etc for clinic at new hope....just getting ready for party this afternoon now...should be fun but been warned i may come home covered in flour and water...haha

Monday and tuesday

Yesterday got up and went to red cross office, don't think they really understood what i wanted. just wanted to find out about what they do in cambodia with red cross etc. nice building etc they have there and from reading a leaflet sounds as if mainly female volunteers and they help in ways with kids etc here. also seen them diverting traffic 1day? who noz?
in the afternoon at new hope, i helped in the clinic again and did a couple of dressings. also searched town for stitch removers as two kids that had biopsies are due stitches out thursday. in the past they have just used scissors but stitches very close to skin in these 2girls. taught the kids in the class in afternoon and couple of kids would not let go of me as said they dont want me to leave this week. told them i would be back and their response was that every teacher says that but very rarely comes back - i will, just not sure when yet. wee boy ratana wanted me to go to the beach with them this weekend for a couple of days but i fly home tues morning and dont want to take chance of not getting back here in time to catch flight. would love to go to beach with them all though. haha. spent about an hour or two in the afternoon chatting to kerry at new hope and getting some ideas as to where to spend the money i raised. thinking i might use it towards improving the classroom or towards building a new classroom as they need an extra 1. kerry was saying it is easier to get donations for smaller things such as bikes etc but when comes to bigger projects its very difficult to get the money. will think about it for next few days and decide.
in the evening we went into town and had dinner as nick, volunteer co-ordinator at globalteers was leaving to go back to teaching. came home earlyish as head was pretty sore, didnt drink enough water yesterday and thats probably why. then at night when got off phone to mum i was a bit upset, haha don't know why because don't feel homesick and don't want to leave here.

Tuesday morning......got up early again this morning and set off before 9am, out to new hope to meet kerry. we got shown around the village. we went in new hope car and there was about 15 of us in total in 1 vehicle haha. good fun though. first of all we met a wee old granny who was desperate to show us her house, she looks after her grandchildren as their parents are dead and she wanted no windows in her house so locals could not see her grandaughter as if they did apparently they would want to marry her to get the land they live in. wee granny was lovely and the 6volunteers from oz kitted her out in new outfit. from there, we went on to visit the next family who turned out to be sylvia's sponsor family, when the translator explained to them who i was they mother ran up to me and gave huge hug and she would not let go. these people are sooooo lovely and sylv, they look like they are doing fab and have their house now. wee boy has artificial limb and is adorable. the story goes on, all these families we visited are fab people and literally have very minimal. real eye opener but yet they teach us all something as they are still happy the majority of them.
in the afternoon, went back out to new hope and was helping in clinic again. a 20year old guy came in with horrific burns, he was in a house fire 3 or 4 weeks ago...had burns on back, arms, leg and hands. with very minimal dressings etc we did the best we could and have asked him to come back on daily basis for us to see them. it was his house that went up on fire so he is now staying with his gran so we decided to take him home and see their set up. they have 2 wee huts which in total there are 13people staying there. they earn under 80,000 riel a month which is not even 20dollars. their huts are also in very very poor condition and will require work before the rainy season. he has no clothes as all his were burnt in fire so im going in to market tonight to get some tshirts, shorts etc for him. couldnt leave him with nothing and going to go and get some dressings, stronger painkillers etc with nurse tomorrow morning which i am also going to put some money towards from the money i raised.

Templed Out!

Set off at 8am this morning and off to the temples, went with two other volunteers. started of at angkor wat which took 2hours to get round and could probably have spent more time there. got to go up the top but the steps coming back down were horendous, pretty scary as very narrow and steep. good fun though and lovely lovely place. went from there to bayon, which is probably my favourite, temple with the faces. then went on to angkor thom and had a look around quite a few temples there including the elephant terrace and the 1 that is in tomb raider where all the tree roots are up through the temple, amazing really to see. went to a couple of smaller ones and then headed home. far too hot and after climbing lots and lots of steps and over rocks was very tired. spent the day at temples with LOTS of kids after our money again and trying to sell me more bracelets yet again. did buy some of their postcards though and a book about the temples as the history is a lot to take in and incredible. had a wee snooze in afternoon when i got back and then in evening went to a restraunt just round corner from guesthouse. had my 1st bad meal since ive been here, not bad really considering nearly been here a month and eaten out like every night. had sweet and sour chicken but the chicken was very hard so that put me off. came back to guesthouse and went upstairs with a few others and had couple of drinks and a chat. going to bed soon as back to work tomorrow. planning getting up in morning and going to red cross office, whether it happens or not is another story.

3rd April 2010

Got up and lazed about for a while this morning then headed into the town and went to bank. no tuk tuks about so was about to start walking when a guy came up on motobike so went in on back of that. wandered around town and got my travellers cheques changed then came back to guesthouse. went out about 4pm with so, one of the khmer teachers at new hope to a temple near the floating village, very old temple and lots and lots of steps to get up to it. had to wait til 5.30pm and we got to go up for free. other people were paying to get in, if only the knew they could get in free haha but we were told not to tell any of them. wandered around the wee village for a while before going up all the steps and saw lots of different things. went to see sunset at temple, was not a good sunset but really good scenery and nice temple all the same. saw some monks busy working away with a pile of sand, apparently they build a mountain with the sand infront of the pagoda for new year which is only a week away. gutted il miss the new year :( will be on my way home! went out for dinner at molly malones tonight and watched the chelsea v man utd game. home early because going round the temples tomorrow, angkor wat, thom etc so busy day ahead of me. off to bed soon xx

Back again, twice in one day!

Ok so today i went to swimming pool at hotel for an hour or so, wasnt very sunny though, in the shade most of time, just humid. also went to get some passport pics printed of some of the kids as they will all be getting id badges and not all of them could get pictures so kind soul i am, i took them haha joking! had a good day in school, was back to just 2teachers in the class today so really good fun. had a fun day with them colouring in and drawing. 2kids in the class had got new ben 10 outfits so the rest want them now! one wee boy, he stays with kerry drew two lovehearts and gave the picture to me to keep and was pointing at me and him, he is gorgeous 8year old boy and very very clever. also helped in the clinic as one of kerrys other wee girls who is 4years old (but looks about 2) cut her heel on the bike with the house mum so put a wee dressing on that to keep it clean. also spent some time playing rounders with some kids, well the bat was a cleaning brush and ball was plastic bottle - all good fun though.
this evening i went out for a meal with the 6 ozzie volunteers who are a great laugh and then met some others at molly malones for a couple of drinks. 2 of the morning volunteers are leaving so some people out for that including kenneth and kerry. managed to speak to kerry and she is going to take me and 1 other volunteer out around the village on tuesday morning. looking forward to that. x

Sorry mum, yes i did miss out yesterdays blog

Must try keep blog up to date as getting picked up on missing a day out haha.
Yesterday morning was up early again as was getting picked up at 8am to go out to the fish farm by a guy tony who is working on that side of the project. got picked up in air con car and it was fab!! Project is quite a bit away, i thought it was next to new hope but it's not. was very interesting morning, they are at present building two large fish ponds which they hope will be up and running in another few months and once they see how things go with the two ponds, if it is worthwhile etc they plan on doing a further two ponds. They have also trained a local guy next to where they are building and he is going to take care of the mushroom hut where they are growing two types of mushrooms. They have a large area with 1500 chickens and although they are in boxes, 2 in each box they look much healthier than the 1s you see on tv and they get quite a lot of eggs per day which in turn they sell to hotels and restraunts (75cents for 10eggs). they also apparently dry out the chicken poo and sell that. At the moment, they are building a house which one of the families will move into who work in the farm. Unsure of how much the house will cost to build but they are hoping to build a further 15houses. Once the fish and mushroom farm are up and running they hope to earn about 25,000 US Dollars a year and that if the amount left after paying all their workers, electricity costs etc. The workers get paid 3.5dollars a day which does not sound much but is pretty good compared to most jobs over here and they also get to stay in the houses and get electricity for free. They are moving some folk from area that new hope is in to this area slowly if they have the skills and are willing to work hard. I asked the question about where the money would go and tony said all money raised will go back to helping the people in area i working in at present. they eventually hope to build a school out at the fish farm area. will be interesting to find out how things are going when all up and running.

School in the afternoon, my class was much smaller today. today they had stories and the book we had to read them was a bit old for them so made up own story and let them do some drawings. Helped tracey the nurse do a couple of dressings on the kids that had biopsies done the other day in pnom penh. they are such brave children. they each had like 5 or 6 stitches in for a biopsy. fingers crossed that they can get some treatment, not sure how good it looks for them though :-( medical clinic is closed for a couple of days as they need to get a new licence so are able to do dressings etc but cannot give out any medications.

In the evening i went to pub quiz again, we came 4th! improving slowly but quiz very difficult some of the questions i dont even understand haha never mind knowing the answers.

wed 31st

This morning i went out to the national mueseum, beautiful building and really big. unfortunately you are not allowed to take photos inside. Inside the museum there were a few different rooms you went into and you found out lots of information about religion and beliefs in cambodia, there was a room with loads of 1000 buddha images, inventors of famous temples etc and history behind them all. very interesting but alot of info to take in. after here i walked into town and had pizza for lunch, took half the pizza back for some of the locals that work at guesthouse, was like early xmas present for them! after that it was off to new hope i went for another day, 6new volunteers arrived at start of week so about 3 teachers in our class now, still fun though as you can spend more time with the kids on individual basis and those who are struggling. today we did the usual maths and english and rhymes - taught them 1,2,3,4,5 song, they loved it.older class were learning about travelling etc which was good fun and their english is fab really when you think about it and realise some of them have not even been learning english for a year. brilliant! they are getting id cards for the school and kids have been asked to take in 2passport photos (they didnt even know what a passport was) and their birth certificate which again some of them do not have. there was a couple of kids in my class who said they would not be able to get pics done so i took photos of them on camera and said i will get them developed for them.
really hot again today, hard to put up with the heat at times. one of the khmer teachers reckoned it was going to rain again tonight, hope it does as may clear the air for a day.
went out for dinner this evening as martin and lydia are leaving to go to thailand tomorow, had a lovely meal and its amazing the friendships you make in short time over here. x

Tuesday 30th March

Ok so hardly slept last night, felt really squeemish and horrible and still dont feel 100% today but carried on as usual and drank even more water. got up and went out to two of the other projects this morning at 9am...first of all went to green gecko, this is a project that has about 69kids varying from age of 18months-23years old. all of these kids live at green gecko during the week and some of them still have parents and go home to visit them at weekends, however a lot of them have no parents. a permenant volunteer showed us round here and gave us detail about the project. from the start you could see that the appearance of green gecko is much more advanced than new hope and they have their own footy/volleyball court (don't worry sylv, this has not made me want a tennis court at new hope!) they also all go to private school in the morning/afternoon and spend rest of day learning at green gecko. very nice to see the differences between these projects and new hope and now has become apparent why other volunteers say that new hope is probably poorest out of them all. after green gecko we went to grace house, they have about 118 pupils attending the school, half in morning and half in afternoon and again most of these kids go to public school aswell. another good project not far from where green gecko is but these kids do not live there...they go home to their parents/ family. grace house has just built another teaching room but it will be used to teach electrical stuff and has a wee room to practice wiring up a house etc.
after visiting the schools i went into town and had a quick bite for lunch and then headed back to guesthouse before going to new hope. arrived at new hope and had a good day. taught them all about shapes today - the shapes in the workbooks were a bit advanced so altered it a bit and did simple shapes like square, triangle etc bearing in mind some of the kids only 4years old. older kids that come at 4pm learnt about the planets today and ways to remember names of planets. very interesting and one of the new volunteers from oz took that class. the nurse at new hope has asked me to help out thurs afternoon to do dressings which i will do as she has broken her wrist so bit difficult for her to do some things at moment. had a few new students in my last class tonight, amazing they have never done english before but so willing to learn and they pick up things quite quick.
came home and just had dinner upstairs at guesthouse because tired and still feel bit sick. jus had small amount to eat and loads of water. going to bed shortly because planning going to national mueseum tomorrow morning before school.

Monday again.....

Got up early this morning, actually felt like slept well last night as bloomin dogs were not so loud. lydia and martin were leaving globalteers today and moving into a hotel for couple of nights before going back to england. went into town with them for breakfast and had a look round a couple of markets in the morning and the lucky mall. had lunch at guesthouse and then went out to new hope. another fun filled week hopefully, 6 new volunteers from oz arrived today and they all going to be based at new hope. they knew a friend who came last year. younger kids did quite well today and i made them all paper aeroplane at end of class and they couldnt wait to get out and play with them, majority of time they fairly well behaved in the class. we were teaching them about different shapes today and did some singing! haha yeah i know, me singing?!!?! my older kids wanted to learn about oz today so one of the new volunteers taught them. they are amazing kids.....hopefully they will go far one day. also brought over some mecano type things they had to build, but was metal and aeroplanes, cars etc and they loved that. in their english class we had quite lengthy conversations and they were able to follow most of it which was nice. a few volunteers dont like the worksheets etc that have been introduced recently but kenneth says its not about the word, ie igloo-yeah we all know they will not have a clue what an igloo is but its trying to get them to learn the different sounds ie o, oo. i can kind of see his reasoning now and he was very pleasant today. sat with one of the boys that works at new hope today, he is 20years old and got engaged in January - he had his photos in and they were gorgeous, for their engagement party they have like a full on wedding and wear 2outfits. he was telling me his fiance is only 15years old and they met at new hope but will not get married for another 3years because he has to pay her parents at least 5000 us dollars before can marry her. he did tell me that his fiance was his choice and not an arranged marriage which is quite nice. imagine getting engaged at 15 though!! wow. nice getting to know about culture etc out here though. very interesting. this evening went to red piano for dinner, had pasta (for a change haha) and then wandered to night market. away to bed now as up early in morning to go to other projects. x

Sunday 28th March

Earlyish start this morning, off out to watch the kids footy before 9am.....its literally a field thats very dusty and the kids run about on this in bare feet and kick a ball in bare feet! some of them are pretty good players aswell. today was the end of the tournament and new hope came joint runners up - 2nd place. pretty good really. today they were just playing a friendly and they lost but it was all fun and they let the younger ones get a game too seen as it was a friendly. they still managed to score 2goals and they all thorougly enjoyed it which was main thing. i stood in the shade for most of the morning apart from when new hope were playing and i managed to catch a bit of the sun! its just sooo open the area and hot hot hot!! all the kids got a can of fizzy juice at the end and what decisions it was to be made over which drink they would take. they also got presented with a small trophy. was nice to see they had some footy strips on and they come in one size so some of the kids look like they had trousers on rather than shorts. place was sooo dusty as every time they kicked the ball a pile of dust came up.
after the footy we headed into town for a late breakfast, had banana pancakes which were lovely and then we went to pogoda (temple place in town) and we got directed round the back and taken into one of the monks house and went in, 4 of us and each of us got "blessed" he apparently said good words for us to wish us good health and happiness and luck in our lives and he put a red bit of string round our wrists which apparently we have to keep on until it falls off. interesting.....
went to the hotel pool for a while in the afternoon and had a swim...weekend has passed really quick and have not done too much but enjoyed it which is main thing. next weekend i am planning doing the temples. during the week hopefully go to mueseum, other projects and fish farm out at new hope..
went out to dinner this evening for one of volunteers leaving night, had pad thai i think it was caled, noodles and chicken with spices, very nice! home early because busy week ahead.....dont think i want to leave this place :-) xxx

Saturday....im behind a day

Had a long lie yesterday....blooming dogs barking all night, wish they would shut up! went into town in morning for a while and wandered about then came back to guesthouse and one of the khmer teachers at new hope came to guest house to make us a pudding. she was supposed to come at 2pm but arrived shortly after 3pm, guess this is good for khmer time. love how laid back they are though. we took her into town in afternoon and wandered around the market and went for a nice milkshake at a wee pub and had some caramel and coconut peanuts, sounds strange but lovely. we also went out in the evening for dinner to a place called anjali or something, was lovely meal but very filling. saw a big marque set up for a wedding in town although walked past several times and saw lots of guests but no sight of bride and groom, apparently the weddings last a good few days and always start at the brides house. was a lovely set up anyway. went for a foot scrub and massage after dinner, was lovely and very cheap. came home and watched the chelsea game on tv, first time ive actually watched the tv since i got here. good day!

Friday

forgot to update this yesterday evening......had a quiet morning yesterday and just went into town to bank and wandered around for a while. was no tuk tuks at guesthouse so we jamp on the back of a motorbike again. came back to guesthouse for lunch and chatted to a few people and off to new hope we went. another good day, class size seemed to be much smaller for the younger kids but apparently some of them start their weekend on a friday so do not come to school. was good though, we went through the alphabet which they can all reel off to you but when you ask them to write a particular letter they have no idea so working on that with them. its the same with numbers, they can count really well but when you ask them to write one number and mix the order up they are lost!! gave out balloons to the young ones in my class and i had every kid in the school coming to me after that haha wanting a baloon, even had two kids sneak in my class where we were watching cartoons because they wanted one! think most kids ended up with 1 in the end. played footy with the older kids for a wee while and they looked almost amazed when saw me doing keepy ups. going to watch their last game of the tournament on sunday which should be fun. my last 2 classes yesterday were also fun as they understood most things and were able to have conversations with you.

after we got back to guesthouse it was a quick shower and change and out for dinner as couple of volunteers last day yesterday. had a nice meal and then went to a bar place for drinks which were all cheap to start with but also buy one get one free....we then went out on to pub street where there was live music on the street...good laugh! on the way home i experienced my worst case of begging yet...bearing in mind it was midnight, i felt someone grabing my arm and when i looked down there was this young girl, about 6years old i would say and she was holding a baby which must have only been a month or two old and asking for money......i nearly gave in but every1 i was with persuaded me not to. she would not let go of my arm though......why do they always go for me??! there were other young kids out selling bracelets on pub street aswell but they were not hassling you for money etc and were just dancing with everyone but this wee girl had the tears and everything! you feel bad for not giving but you could not possibly give to them all.

Floating village

Another earlyish start this morning, went to the tonle sap - floating village. stopped at lotus field on way out. only took about 30mins to get there in tuk tuk. then we got shown to a boat and were on the boat for a good hour and a half, in that time we saw the floating village, amazing place really. at this time of year apparently water is just over a metre high and very dirty, in the wet season it can go up to 8metres. they have all sorts out there, floating supermarket, basketball court, cages with pigs, birds, schools etc. whilst we were stopped in the boat having a look around this wee boat pulled up beside us with a young boy and his mother. the young lad had a snake wrapped round him.....aggh! then we got taken to the fish farm. got off the boat and were shown a wee area with lots of crocodiles in it and then shown more snakes....was quite scary as snakes were huge and so were crocs obviously although apparently they get much bigger than that!! back to guest house for lunch, shower and then out to new hope. heat today was unbearable, its the humidity that kills you and you never feel clean for long haha. so our class were easier to manage today, they actually listened and understood most things. one of wee boys had been writing his numbers back to front but now after a lot of work and encouragement he can do them properly. he sooo delighted with himself and you feel good for helping him with such a simple task. with the older kids we spoke about scotland AGAIN and they want to know more tomorrow haha i felt like telling them scotland is a small place. went out for dinner this evening to red piano and it was lovely then went to quiz night. this week the money raised was for grace house, another project over here. off to bed now and to my room to put the air con on!! night folks xx

Tuesday continues

Project in afternoon.....class rearranged again, now have 37kids in my first class ranging from age 4-14!! haha. was a blooming nightmare as some had then been seperated from their friends/family and they do not like this. we sang a new song, well tried! think they were still all so excited from their treats yesterday they probably could not understand why every thing was now back to normal. my older class, the extra class at 4pm - only 4turned up today and they wanted to learn about scotland and where i came from so i taught them and gave them all a flag to keep....kind of glad only 4 came as i only took 6flags out here so the other 2 are now hanging above the classroom whiteboard. they all want to come back to scotland with me now as they think it looks beautiful on the postcards i took over. for the last class we rearranged the tables so they are all facing the board and it went much better. going out to dinner this evening with a lady donna, she is the first person i met when i arrived here and is going back to oz tomorrow x

Mad...cycling in this heat

got up and set off for 9am this morning, went on a cycle into town with lydia and martin....wasnt too bad cycling in, however the bikes are old fashioned and in need of some WD40! The traffic was not as bad as i thought, you basically just go for it at a junction and hope you dont get hit! haha. Had a wander around the market, was disgusting....i hate the fish counter at tesco, this was unrealy though...loads of chickens, and the fish were still alive and two of them jamp out infront of me as i was walking along, nearly had a heart attack! we went for some breakfast and then we got back on our bikes and went to another temple, buildings really are lovely. the journey home was a bit scary, traffic extremely busy and again you put your life in danger haha. good fun though! will update later on tonight. x

Tuesday 23rd

Okay, so i stayed in last night and had dinner on rooftop of guesthouse....was too tired to go out and do anything and think i actually fell asleep about 9.30pm and had long lie this morning. wasnt feeling too great so thought i should just have lazy morning. went out to new hope in afternoon, was exciting day today - about 40 people from vietnam were visiting, they were on a team building conference and wished to visit new hope and see if they could support it and gave lots of things ie bikes, tv, dvd player, toys, school bags and they were teaching class, playing games and jigsaws and amazing the kids had a great time, they also got to do painting and then afterwards they were all given a big box from blue pumpkin, which is a nice bakery kind of place. the box contained lots of fruit and a cake, amazing to see that most of the kids took the box home to their parents rather than tuck into it at school. even my afternoon kids, the older 1s wanted to paint today so i let them because they dont get the chance to do this often. then we taught them some english again which was enjoyable. in the evening i went out for dinner to khmer temple place and it was really nice and saw some local dancing then went for a wee wander around the town and an ice cream from blue pumpkin - passion fruit flavour which was lovely!!! just got in and im heading to bed its 22.30hours and im getting up early tomorrow morning to go out on bike :-) should be fun in the mad traffic over here!! haha. see you x

Early start for sunrise at angkor wat

Ok so was up before 5am this morning haha, and off we set in our tuk tuk to see sunrise at angkor wat, we had to persuade security to let us past without paying. gave them the whole "we are out here volunteering and teaching the kids english"and it worked they let us past no bother. got out ther and waited a while and saw sunrise, apparently some people thought it was quite disapointing. i thought it was really nice to see. so headed back to guesthouse, quick shower and then out to new hope, was helping in the medical centre this morning. good experience and have to make do with very limited resources as dressings etc. a family came in desperate for formula milk, lady was only 23 and had 15month old kid and twins that apparently 3months old. felt realy sorry for them but as newhope do not have an endless supply of money they were unable to help them out this time as they had supposedly already had 3tubs of milk this month.....felt like buying them milk myself but not sure that would help as theyd then expect it every month. came back to guest house and had some lunch and a snooze haha....was shattered and the heat makes it ten times worse. afternoon, i went back out to new hope for teaching my kids english...loving it and they are also making me learn things....one girl i had to teach one to one today was also teaching me khmer, very hard language to learn! will definately attempt it though. met family again today, wife and two kids, their dad was shot on cambodia-thailand border and they were also wanting money, the wee boy is adorable could easy take him home....been a very long day but enjoyable. oh and my mossie bites are slowly improving.....as for sun burn it is quite itchy. :):)

Kulen Mountain

Kulen Mountain is approximately 50 kilometers from Siem Reap. It was one of the most important sites during the Angkor period. This is the place i went this morning, set off from guest house at 8am this morning on a mini bus with a few others. Took about an hour and a half to get to this place and a good 40mins of it was bumpy, steep hills haha. Arrived and was greeted by more kids begging for money etc...immediately realised it was a lovely sight seeing experience at this place. went up lots and lots of steps...and saw a buddha. we then moved on to see the waterfalls, had to walk across a wobbly bridge....most folk were scared, i thought it was great haha, u would just never get anything like this back home and this was just the start of it. we walked through lots of huts and then down loads more steps and had to climb over loads of rocks to get to the waterfalls, if you dont like heights i think you would struggle!! lovely place though and lots of people in the water. can swim in it, unfortunately i didnt take my swim stuff because i got burnt enough yesterday and didnt want to chance getting burnt any more. however, probably would have been fine because it was pretty sheltered. lots of photos taken though. came back to siem reap and went into town for a drink and wander.....went to get cream for mossie bites but pharmacy ran out so will try again later. x

Busy Saturday :)

Ok so its a week today i arrived here and time has just literally flown in....got up earlyish this morning and went to a lovely hotel pool, was literally lying in shade and swimming for about an hour and i am a shade or red/pink now, typical scottish pale skin (and yeah mum, i did have suncream on before you ask)

In the afternoon we went to west barrai, one of the guys who is leaving organised it and we literally trucked it there haha, a truck with planks of wood as benches! as soon as we got off truck there were swarms of kids around us trying to sell bracelets, persistent kids saying "5 for 1dollar miss" gave in to two of them and now have 10bracelets i prob wont use haha. some of the others got some food that had been on bbq, chicken, literally like the whole chicken, fish etc and took it over to the island to eat. i opted to miss out on the food. got a boat over to the island, took about 10mins or bit less to get over to where yet again, as soon as we set feet off boat there were MORE kids saying the same thing "5 for 1dollar"' - we thought we had escaped them when got on the boat.....but nope, there were more awaiting us at the other side. by this stage i really did not want any more bracelets so did not give in to them, sounds cruel but there was literally 30 of them so if gave to one would have to give to all. so we walked around the island and then i sat in the shade....do not want to go any more red thanks! so had to give it a miss swimming in the water, think that might have been good thing though as looked manky! pictures are to follow as this place is hard to describe. was a few huts and lots of kids haha! we went to see sunset. was a fab afternoon though, really enjoyed it and although the kids were a bit of pain, they lovely kids. one wee boy literally followed me the WHOLE time i was there and he was about the only 1 that was not persistently asking you for "1 dollar"so in the end i gave him the riel i had which was not even a dollar and he was delighted. i guess we really dont know what conditions these kids live in and perhaps if they dont sell all their bracelets and make money, who noz what their family do to them.....on the way back on the boat, there were kids about 3 on each small boat, rowing their way back across themselves!!

Got back to guesthouse just before 7pm, had quickest shower ever and headed straight back out. went to a talk by dr beat richner who has a few hospitals in pnomh penh and siem reap, ther is one on way to new hope.....his talk sounded really good but it will be interesting on monday to speak to the nurse at new hope and find out if it really is as good and accessible to all as he made out. was a bit boring listening to his music but interesting to hear and see the video. then headed out for meal with lydia and martyn, couple of other volunteers.....had khmer noodles. all in all it has been a fab day and still loving it :) gets better and better each day i think :):):)

19th March

Ok maybe boring some of you by now but its a good way to keep a record.....got up earlyish this morning and had a talk from one of the guys at globalteer about lesson planning - most of it common sense i guess.

went into town to the supermarket and then to the bank, very posh bank and lots of fancy cars outside. had lunch at guesthouse before heading out to the project, the mornings seem to fly past. oh and ive been bitten all over by damn mosquitos - think it was at pub quiz last night. oh and forgot to say we were last in the quiz haha.

so today at the school, simon the other volunteer teacher in my class off today so it was me taking the class with the khmer teacher who are reluctant to help unless you really ask them. first class was a bit of nightmare as they had already completed workbooks they had been given for the week. they are very good at doing adding and subtracting but if you ask them to say the numbers ie 26 - twenty six they are unable to. also if you right out one rather than 1 they do not understand this. as ive said before, its very difficult as kids are all at such different ability levels in the one class. they got to watch a cartoon in the afternoon today though and they loved it - tom and jerry, mouse and cat as they said "teacher teacher, please mouse and cat now" whilst on 15min break in afternoon i got talking to a wee family who were in looking for money, was a baby there maybe about 9months, tiny but lovely. got to hold him and have to admit had tear in my eye when i heard their story. lady was trying to tell me but i only have few khmer words and she had no english so i got the khmer teacher to translate and she was showing me pictures of her hubby who was shot not long ago on the cambodia-thailand border? i think she was saying he was on a boat or something. very sad though as this looked a young lady with 2children who lost their husband/father :-( sad thing is many many more stories like this out here.

in the afternoon, my 4pm class wanted to continue learning about continents of world, yeah lets just say i am also learning as geography definately never been my strong point haha. the kids are so clever though, they asked me questions i could not answer but as long as you are honest with them and tell them you are not sure but will find out they are happy. one of the questions was about the year of a certain war etc...i didnt know anything about this. one of the boys, who lives with kerry from new hope is such an intelligent boy and his english is fab!!! nice to see them doing well and being so keen and eager to learn. english class at 5pm was interesting, we were going through new words they will be using in the new topic they are starting, its very difficult to explain some and especially when some words have two meanings.

out for a meal tonight, i had a nice lasagne haha. felt a bit squeemish in restraunt though so came home early. think it may be a combination of not drinking enough water today and it was soo hot, was a fan on but did not feel like it.

should be interesting weekend, plan to get up early in morning and go to a hotel pool for the morning, home around lunch time then at 2pm i am going to west barrai, apparently a little island for the afternoon with some other volunteers. might go to a doctors talk in the evening if im home in time. sunday i am up early again to go to a temple with waterfall with some of the other staff from new hope. will let you all know how it goes. away to my room to put air con on and read a book, great life! xxxxxx

18th March

Ok so got great sleep last night, another volunteer put my air con on with her remote and it was fab. wasnt feeling too bad at night with fan on but noticed big difference last night with the air con so have now got my own remote, little more extra cost but hey ho worth it! so had a longer lie, was up by 9am and showered but would be considered lazy by local folk apparently. whilst up in restraunt having breakfast heard some sirens so had a look out as have not heard any since i arrived. it was very old looking fire engine and when looked opposite direction i saw lots of smoke. however, i really hope it wasn't too bad a fire as the engine (which turned out to be police) took ages to get a very small distance and were travelling about 2mph, haha.

Very hot again today, went out to new hope in afternoon. was going to give it a go at cycling but i think the heat would possibly kill me and would be sweating even more so, if thats possible, the whole afternoon whilst teaching. its already unbearable. so the kids were going over sums, adding and subtracting which they were very good at doing but when we asked them to say the answers out in english they were unable to do so. spent some time going over this and most of them have managed. one wee boy in class, wee cutie who sits next to a girl i think may be his sister and he really struggles. can count 1-10 but when you right the numbers out and ask him to copy he does the numbers all back to front as if he is maybe dyslexic because i was unsure if he maybe just did not understand me but i got khmer teacher to explain to him aswell and he did not seem to think he was doing it wrong. bless him though, he was happy copying these numbers down repeatedly in jotter. these younger kids LOVE singing all the nursery rhymes etc and they remember all the words! amazing really considering im lucky if i have picked up 3or4 khmer words so far! will improve though. class i teach from 4-5pm are lovely kids, from about 12years old to 20year olds and only 8 in class but they really interested in learning. started teaching them about the continents of world today and they just want to know more and more. im sure my general knowledge will have improved greatly by time i get back as my geography etc is rubbish just now but learning so i can teach them.

went out this evening to the funky munky for quiz night which is on every week and each week the money goes to a different project ie new hope, anjeli, green gecko......this evening the money was going towards the football league they started for these projects a short time ago. raised 170 dollars which they said is a good amount considering the turn out was quite poor tonight.

17th March

So another day gone past, got feeling that this month is going to fly in and il want to come back. had quiet morning really....planning to do a few things at weekend so should be good. Just went to project today and i met kerry. spoke to kenneth and he said unless i could commit to every morning then basically not to help out at clinic but then tonight he said he wants me to go in on a monday morning? so i will go and hopefully itl be good to give me a better idea of all the other things that happen at new hope and give me some ideas. today went quite well, was 1 of the other volunteers last day so the kids enjoyed getting their pics taken etc. they are such cute kids, got to play with lego bricks today and their faces were sooooo sooo happy with a couple of bricks each to build things. kids at home wldnt appreciate a few! anthony did some more teaching on the earth and solar system etc, some of the questions the kids asked were interesting. very clever! so yeah, went out this evening to molly malones for a while, irish bar for st paddys day...they had green beer! came home earlyish because really tired today for some reason. just heading off to bed shortly. x

16th March updated

Hi again,

Went out to project this afternoon and lady from globalteers came out to speak to the man and i am now getting to do teaching, have said i dont mind coming in a couple of mornings a week (its very busy and well used - they saw 120 ppl in total yesterday) but dont want to commit to all day every day. too much! so went into class that i am going to be teaching with another guy and the younger kids r lovely, love all the nursery rhymes etc and love singing. they were learning today about counting and doing sums..some very clever kids and some others who find it very difficult to even count 1-5. quite a hard group to teach i guess tho coz ages range from about 4-11year olds. surprisingly the ability does not go on the age. the older group which goes up to kids about 20year old were a nightmare yesterday but seemed better today. we had a smaller class in between the 2 which had about 5students in it and they are all very very clever and want to learn so much, today the were learning about the solar system.

went out for dinner tonight to a place which was called green star and is a place that raises money for another project over here called the green gecko...some of the kids from project work in the place. very nice khmer veg curry :) then we ventured on to the night market which looks lovely and im sure il be back to buy gifts.

this is latest night ive had since got here....its 00:10 haha been in bed by 2130 other nights. just uploaded a few pics to facebook jusnw, mainly boring and of airport etc will get more of the kids etc though....plenty time xx

Tuesday 16th March

Oh well electricity kept switching off this morning so was up quite early as could not sleep with the heat. im getting used to these early starts now :-) had breakfast at guesthouse, good old beans on toast (heinz beans may i add)! Went out to new hope as was supposed to have a medical meeting but person didnt turn up so bit of a wasted journey. Saw a little girl in the medical clinic who had horrendous looking burn to her ankle and it looked black, turns out this is "local medicine"that the parents put on. tracey, another girl who is a nurse from oz and working out here put a nice dressing on. whether it stays on is another question!! It was fun on the way back from project though- caught a lift on the back of a motobike, was 3 of us on it although it has to be said it was a much smoother journey than in the back of a tuk tuk! Went for lunch with donna and the motorbike guy who is a young khmer lad who works at new hope and also attends english lesson there in the afternoon. Very interesting lad - oh and he remembers you sylvia! He remembered you were a nurse and from scotland and wants your email add. haha. Just back from having lunch and out for coffee - wel milkshake in my case. Heading back out to new hope this afternoon. Hopefully get something sorted out and get into a classroom as seems to be little confusion as to what i am there for. Guess could gain great experience from both but i fancy a wee change from nursing stuff.
Anyway i shall update later xx

Hi everyone, so been here since Saturday now....what a heat!! Now i know what sylv meant by a sticky heat. hahap. So arrived on saturday afternoon, had a fairly quiet 1. A scary dog chased me up lane at side of guesthouse :( Met a lady on Sunday at Golden village, turned out to be Kerrys sis in law donna so spent most of day with her and her friend.

Today, i arrived at globalteers guest house and was shown around the town of siem reap and then in afternoon taken out to New Hope Project where i will be volunteering. What a welcome i got, two wee girls ran straight to me and gave me huge hug, they really are adorable. Spent most of afternoon in clinic with another girl from oz (tracey) who is a nurse and has been volunteering there for 3months so far and has done a lot of good work i think. Got to go into the last class of the day and observe. Hoping i will get to teach as thats what i really wanted to do and maybe do a little work at the clinic. Was out for a meal tonight, had macaroni haha not khmer food although i did have a khmer curry yesterday and it was fab!! Heading off to bed shortly and its only 9.30pm here, have been in bed early since i arrived, think it must be the heat.