Busy busy busy

Debbies
Last week at Debbie's we had the interesting addition of Nika, a Khmer lady who is a blind  masseuse (and who also speaks fabulous English!) This was useful because she could translate between Debbies and Sothys brother, teaching him how to lead a dead-blind person as opposed to a blind person, the dangers to look out for while guiding etc.

English Lessons
I haven't really done an update about English Lessons in a while, because they haven't really been happening all too often. However recently this has all changed!! Ma Gwen and Ma Alison are out in force!! One of the caregivers also now comes to the middle English Class, this helps with discipline but also gives us a chance to bond with her since they speak no english and we speak little Khmer.
Gwen is going to work with this group while I work with the younger age group which is another challenge in itself! In most classes someone is crying because another child has scribbled on their work, or pushed them, or one loses interest and starts throwing things at the rest of the class. I'm hoping once they get more settled into the routine it'll become a lot less stressful.!.!


Swimming/Football
On Saturday the 15th March we went to the Olympic Swimming pool with 12 of the older children, Phearon (the GH manager) and it was a lot of fun!!! I'm unsure how clean the water actually was as it neither tasted of Chlorine or Salt but the day was enjoyed by all and after a lot of splashing, being pushed into the pool and pulling people out of the pool it was time to shower and get changed. After this we watched a football game which was taking place in the actual stadium, the match was between  two Phnom Penh teams and I didn't really have a clue what was going on but it was a nice atmosphere and we spent a bit of money on tasty Khmer treats and drinks throughout the match.

At Olympic Pool

GH kids taking over!

Park
Since the school schedule swaps what time the kids go to school it was time again for another trip to the park! They thoroughly enjoyed themselves, (although we brought our youngest and most crazy/uncontrollable child who escaped from the park, took someones sugar cane juice and ran back into the park with it, cue chasing him around the park trying to apologise to the drinks owner. But hey hey all in a days work!) When Phearon joined us he did some races and assault courses with the kids which was very amusing to watch, see picture!!
After the park we went to the front of the Royal Palace and they chased pigeons for a while then returned home.

My crazy monkey

Games and Races

 Gals Outing!
We tried to organise something for International Womans Day but didn't manage to get a speaker in the end. Still working on it though! Instead we took all the older girls for a treat to Lucky Burger where they devoured Chicken Thighs, bread, and who knows what else instead of their usual rice!

Phnom Penh hits Siem Reap!!!

So Friday the 7th of March brought the start of our first adventure out of Phnom Penh to the distant lands of Siem Reap. It also brought an 8 hour bus journey. The company offered wifi throughout the trip, which is theory is great. In practice not so much, yes it was connected to the bus's wifi but not to much more than that!

Quadbiking

After meeting up with the girls from Siem Reap we went for a 'Sunset Quadbiking Tour' which was simply amazing. We had to have a 'driving test' which consisted driving a few hundred metres down a track, completing a series of turns then voilaaaa! The tour brought us through the backroads of Siem Reap so we could take in the landscape, pass by horrendously skinny cattle and wave back at all the children who ran out of their homes to see the passing 'Barang'. Finally we stopped in a field where we and clients from what seemed to be a few other tour companies took in the beautiful Cambodian sunset!

It was definitely a fun experience and I would do it again without a quim!

We love Cambodia!!!!

We went out on the Sunday to watch the Wales v England match in the six nations. Much to Gwen's dismay England won the match however the English people sitting beside us were absolutely over the moon!!!!!  We then went out with the Siem Reap girls and bumping into a few rugby friends along the way heading back to the Mad Monkey at 1. Ready to rise at 4 for Angkor Wat!

Cinema

As a relaxing activity on Sunday afternoon we went to the cinema, Cambodian style. Where you chose a film and watch it in a private booth. Someone definitely needs to bring this idea back home!!!

Temples
I was awoken at 3.45 to the sight of Gwen and the guy in the bunk below mine trying to turn over someone who was snoring - with varying levels of success. Eventually the snoring ceased and Gwen and I began to pack for the day ahead.
We had rented bicycles for $3 the day before intending to cycle round the temples rather than pay $15 for a tuktuk, as we left the hostel and headed towards the gate we bumped into two complete strangers, (fellow travellers) who couldn't sleep. One of whom decided to hop on the back of my back and come to Angkor Wat with us, the more the merrier!!)
The road soon turned pitch black, with Gwen leading the way we could hardly see what was in front of us until a Cambodian man riding a bike came behind us and we decided to follow him instead.
Upon arriving at the entrance we were asked for our tickets, which we hadn't purchased. This then turned into a $3 moto ride each to the ticket office - whoooops! Turned out we'd cycled down the wrong road which would have led us there on the way.

We arrived for sunrise, which wasn't that spectacular as it was cloudy in the morning which made it great weather for actually walking and exploring the temples. Our favourite temple was Bayon as there was so much to it and different places to explore. We then cycled along the 'long' route around the temples complex around 26 km in total. By this stage it was warm, very warm in fact and the wind was blowing against our direction of travel which didn't help. Many of the tuk-tuk drivers that were going past shouted encouraging messages of support in their best English applauding their efforts, others just laughed at the two red, sweaty white girls cycling through the country.

We were back at the hostel by 12 our check out time and spent most of the afternoon sleeping on the sofas upstairs or chatting with people!

Site of Meditation

Spot the Statue

Night Bus!

We had slight apprehensions about the night bus as we were due to arrive in PP at 6am and head straight back to Group Home for a day of work right after.  We desperately needed some sleep! And, to our surprise, sleep is most certainly what we got.  For a cross country bus, driving along cross country roads, our journey back was one of comfort and pleasure, to say the least.  We slept through 6 and a half hours and, to be frank, would happily have stayed on the comfy beds that made up the night bus a lot longer.

'Ma Blue Bum?'

First off, let me say that this working week hasn't at all been exciting. But every memory counts so here we go! :)

Activities
Group Home Movie NightOn the evening of Monday we put on a movie (Kung Foo Panda) for the Group Home Kids, it was Khmer so went down an absolute treat! We tried to make popcorn but sadly this did not turn out as planned and most of the kernels didn't pop! :( However the kids were very content with eating the un-popped kernels doused in sugar, so they were happy.

Yummy Popcorn...

Football at River
Since the Group Home got new footballs it has been a much loved source of entertainment, so on Wednesday morning Gwen and I with 7 children in tow headed down to the river to play a few games. It didn't turn out to be football, but just games with the ball. But thats all right.

We did play with it too!

Football turned photoshoot!

Debbies
On Thursday we went to Debbies, we now bring the child who's dead blind and his brother. This is so they can learn to communicate with each other because after Magna closes (which will happen eventually) what will happen to him. Deaf organisations will not take him because he's blind. Blind organisations will not take him because he's deaf. Solution???!!!?!?!?!

Pancakes (again)
We made more pancakes (again) because the kids liked them so much. Also because apparently we did pancake day 2 weeks earlier. Oppppppps. Oh well, more pancakes for us.


Like I said, no biggies this week, not much drama. Just chillllllin. Then we went to SIEM
REAP!!!!

One of my favourite photos :)

P.s 'Ma Blue Bum?' is a quote from one of our boys who thought Gwens bum was blue. Guess the primark leggings with a blue in the bum won't be making an appearance again!

Shout out to Anti Meg and DDD

First off to Anti Meg and DDD, caru chi. There's nothing more enjoyable than after a stressful hour of manic finger painting, retreating to our room opening emails downloaded and reading a delighting tale of the youth of DDD and taking note of the valuable life lessons that can be learned. This is a shout out to show our love, portray our enjoyment and say keep them coming. Always a highlight of a day.

Pancake Day
Our first GH cooking adventure was in the form of pancakes. Because it was pancake day and we didn't want to miss out!
This was eagerly anticipated by both of us and after a slightly stressful experience with the budget finally managed to grab hold of our requested $10. So off we popped to Lucky Supermarket with one of the older girls and Thea, the teacher of the younger kids. There was a surprising array of pancake mixes so we opted for one that we just had to add water too, less stress for everyone.
We got back and the pancake making got under way. It was fun and it was yummy!! (with surprisingly little drama occurring.)

Pancakes went down a treat!

Cooking Pancakes on the Stove!

Desk Officer Visit
Friday the 21st of February was another much anticipated date our desk officer visit! Heloise watched us go about our daily activities in the home such as taking some of the kids to the park. Then we went for PIZZA. We stayed overnight at the Group Home then met Heloise at the Mad Monkey from where we took a trip to the Russian Market. Involving a loooooong walk, getting lost a few times, asking for directions, finding ourselves on a street where another smaller local (cheaper) market is and generally having a lovely long conversation!

Amok
After the Russian Market we made our way to Imma's house where we met her husband Charles, (who is the most knowledgable man i've ever met!). It was lovely being in a proper HOUSE, where you can see things like toasters, and kettles. MADNESS
The food was absolutely amazing! A mango salad to start with, then fish amok followed by pastries and tea. We felt like a noble guest at the kings banquet.!

I have to say in this project we always feel extremely looked after by the adults who are around us. Imma and Charles are just simply amazing, if we have anything that needs finding or need an answer for something Imma is on the case. e.g. we mentioned we'd like a kettle and all of a sudden we're being brought to an electric shop to look for one. Didn't find one that suited the bill then when we're in Browns saying bye to Heloise and Imma pops in what does she have for us A KETTLE! (Thats one example in a fair few I can think of). Debbie, who works with the child who is deaf blind remembered the passing conversation we had about nits then has someone go out and buy us nit shampoo, her husband made us toast, tea, gave us juice. Then just before we left they set us up with a tub of chocolate brownies. yes.... CHOCOLATE BROWNIES. Needless to say they were gone in about an hour.

Sorry it's been a short and not very informative update. Hopefully next week we're getting strict with English Lessons, i.e. attendance, homework. We'll see how that goes.

Cheerio

Ma Doc Da

HOSPITAL
So the week 3rd-7th Feb, Gwen wasn't feeling so tip-top. Then eventually on Friday (7th) Romain, Denisa and the Doctors at Magna (amazing people) diagnosed her with dehydration and we were sent to hospital where after a quick belly poke they put her on a drip.
The hospital was lovely and clean and I had the most AMAZING cheese baguette. That night the Dr and Imma both came to visit and we were feeling very loved!  Imma took me to Lucky's where she bought us Crackers and Water (Gwens strict diet instructions from the Dr who gave the drip) then we settled down to sleep. (I had a campbed in the corner).
After this brief stint in hospital Gwen was thankfully feeling a lot lot better so she was discharged and we carried on our weekend. :D

Feeling Good

which consisted of...

HOTEL 9/ SATURDAY
We arrived at Hotel 9 mid afternoon and had a quick wifi session then went to the Boulevard to do some shopping. I forgot to bring a bikini and this hotel had a SWIMMING POOL- something we've been craving since we have got here. We also found a beautiful little clothes shop where Gwen purchased a few items to cheer herself up - and we will definately be going back here.
We ate tea at Top Banana then headed round to Score! Sports Bar and Grill to watch the Ireland v Wales match (Alison v Gwen). Ireland won!!! Although I can't rub it in too much since I don't have the first notion about rugby.

We got back to the Hotel about midnight and then went for a swim! (Which was amazing) Then slepppppt.

Midnight Swim at Hotel 9

On Sunday we met Imma for Lunch and she brought us to a fabulous cafe called Blue Pumpkin. Here you sit on a bigbig sofa and put a little table over your legs which you eat off. Amazing.

ACTIVITIES AT GH

We tried finger painting again as most of the older children were in a meeting and there was only a few of the well(ish) behaved little ones and Vannak to supervise. This time it worked a treat! (Until Danith started tipping the paint pots upside down.)

We organised a trip to a park in Phnom Penh, the two of us and 14 kids. What can go wrong? Turns out nothing did and we all had a fabulous time! We did run out of water though, but luckily Phearun dropped by on his way to the GH and saved the day. We then brought them across to Watt Phnom and we had a walk round there.
In the end there was 14 sleepy children and two very sleepy volunteers in the tuktuk home.

Thursday the 13th was spent doing valentines related activities. The children got a talk from Phearum about it while we were at the hospital in the morning then we did a craft with them in the afternoon.
We wanted there to be hearts so we came up with the idea of each child decorating a heart, putting it on string then hanging them all from a coat hanger so they'd all be together and be a decoration from the home. We sought out glue, stickers, feathers, pom-poms, pens, pencils - basically anything crafty and trouble free we could find. (e.g. no scissors). Had all the templates and string cut out before hand being ultra organised and heyheyhey another successful craft.

Today (friday the 14th) one of the girls brought us snake hunting. Gwen had her hiking boots and cap on in preparation for the trip, but lo and behold we went down the lane next to the house and peered in their garden to a shed where apparently there was a snake ( we never saw it.)

We also went down to the river this afternoon to witness a chinese celebration where men turned into monkeys and cut their toungues off. We missed it (by two hours) so we still don't quite grasp the concept. However we did have a lovely afternoon with the children and Phearum sitting by the river drinking cool icey drinks.

This week we found out that Doc Da means 'watch cartoons'. We have watched Despicable Me 3 times this week already.

Last Two Weeks

Wooooooahhhhhh, two weeks seems to FLY by here!!

Phnom Penh.

On the weekend 24th to 26th January we stayed in Phnom Penh. The Friday night was spent in the 'Blue Dog Guesthouse', the mattresses here were so thin that every spring could be felt through it however I strangely liked it as it felt like the mattress I had in summer up at the cottage. The second night was spent in the "Little Banana"in a cute little dorm room. It had 7 mattresses on the floor a bathroom and not much else, but for $4 a night what else would you expect? We really liked this place so will definitely be going back in the future. On the Friday night we had our usual pizza treat, eating at the Top Banana and here we met Tyler from Canada. The next morning we ate breakfast with Alice from England then all spent the day at the market and in a cafe together. Then at Little Banana we met Tim from Germany and Dennis from Russia, and it was these two we went to a rooftop party with in celebration of the Chinese new year. The party was good, the music a bit odd. It was a mix between cambodian remixes then suddenly changed to meditation music... but the view from the rooftop was pretty good. After we hung out with some Khmer people who Tim and Dennis knew, and very nearly got brought to a karaoke place (luckily it was full).

Playing Pool at the Little Banana

Gwen the Professional Pool Player

I also won quite a few cans of orange soda, here we are celebrating.

We also went to The National Museum with Antoine, who is interning with Magna. It was quite interesting, if you like statues of Buddas. Because there were a lot of statues of Buddas! Or Budda-like objects. The gardens were nice and there was a monk casually sitting beside the pond.  This is becoming normal for us now (gradually). Here we got our palms read for one dollar each. I was a bit apprehensive because i'm not sure about anything like that but after watching Gwen and Antoine (and seeing what a load of rubbish it is perhaps due to difficulties in communication) gave it a go. Basically, I might travel somewhere foreign (who knew!), I need not worry about money and in order for happiness I need to get married soon.

Front of the National Museum

Gwen, Antoine, Me

Big Budda. (Notice monk left hand side)

Going into Phnom Penh is definitely a good way to meet people and it's exciting to hear about other people's travels and where is good for us to go.




Swimming.

For the last few years, the Magna volunteers have been bringing Sothy, who is deaf-blind to a place called Hotel 252 to swim. This gives him the rare opportunity of getting out of the Group Home. We rang up the manager to try and get this started up again, however she informed us that two summer volunteers (not from Project Trust) had brought children but not Sothy, they had made quite a bit of noise, left balls lying around and generally made a racket - resulting in complaints from the residents of the hotel. They wrote to Magna but got no reply, we asked about but no-one seems to know of anything. We are currently looking for somewhere else to take us and have sent e-mails out, but so far no replies.

Debbie
We finally got to meet up with Debbie this past thursday, who works with Sothy on using sign language so he is able to communicate with his peers. We arrived just as breakfast was finishing and I got to eat TOAST with JAM and drink APPLE JUICE. Toast has never tasted so good.!
The first session was just mainly playing, next lesson more work to be done. I enjoyed going to Debbie's as it's a relaxing chance to get away, but also nice seeing Sothy being able to play without his toys being scrambled for by the other children.

English Classes
We are making slow but steady progress with English Classes. The first week went well, then the school timetable changed and its hard to know who's coming and who's going. The kids here only go to school for half the day and each month that swaps. So if you went in the morning you not go in the afternoon etc. But some of them changed and some of them didn't, slightly disrupting our carefully made timetable of who should be in class when....
Also, sometimes a few of the kids seem to nap when they should be in classes, so we may have to make it a later class.  We'll see how things turn out...

Teacher Gwen

Blue Lemons

Chinese New Year Party
On Thursday the 26th February we celebrated the Chinese New Year (Year of the Horse) at the Group Home with a partyyyyyy! First we watched cartoons for a while, then played games - blind mans bluff etc, then was a traditional dance show from the older Magna Kids and they were really good! We had a BBQ for tea then spicy curry and baguettes. Then was the time to give everyone a present.
Since we wern't here for Christmas they kids didn't have it but Magna had bought each child a teddy bear, our job was to create a big heap of them on the floor then each clid came up and picked one. And it went rather well :)  The children were so excited and it was so warming to watch the gratitude spread right across their faces! Then A LOT of dancing. There kids love to dance.  And Khmer dancing at that.  Which involves a lot of animal like movements and twirling of the hands...

Teddies for Everyone

Chinese New Year Celebrations in Takhmao

After seeing the dragon. We were all so excited there was no time for shoes!

MA!

This week was fairly quiet at the GH.

English
We've been running a few English Lessons this week for the eager ones who want to start early. All in all it's been a pretty pleasant experience. We found that most of the younger ones can't read english and their only grasp of the alphabet is singing the song. Ask them to draw an 'L' on the board they can't. So we might have to get back to basics with them. Every evening we have been giving the older (advanced) group a lesson. We covered sentences such as "I am very/ I am not very... hungry/full/happy/sad etcetc. Also looked at Nouns/adjectives and Verbs and did reading with them. I'd like to look into getting proper reading books. i.e. 9 copies of the same book they can read then we look over in class, but the budget may not stretch that far.


Activities

Artistic

We brought 5 of the children for a walk to the river/park. Or rather 2 of them took us, and we took the other 3. I think we'd like to do this more often as the kids seem to enjoy getting out of the GH for something other than school.
We also tried finger painting with about 10 of the kids, all started well then chaos. A lot of paints got mixed, the patio has a bit of paint on it, so do my jeans. Maybe stick to pencils and crayons for a while longer.

At the Park

Food
Food this week hasn't been to awful. The Ma's have taken to making us something different than the kids, not sure why as sometimes theirs looks muchhhh nicer than ours.
Gwen also tried a coconut, and the juice is pretty nice! We ate a lot more deep fried bananas. Tried our first proper Khmer Street Coffee (2000 riel). Had a weird cold desert which I can only compare to the inside of a pavlova.  Got given a wooden stick where you peel back the bark and inside is sweet rice and coconut. Sweet rice balls with coconut on the outside in thick creamy coconut milk. (yum). Also a ... burger..., apparently their Chinese and consist of a doughy bread (if you can call it that) and the weirdest meat inside, and inside that meat is egg. Odd. Can't say we ate those as eagerly as the kids.

The 'burger'

Hospital
This week we were meant to start going to the CCH hospital which isn't far from the GH. We got brought for a 10 minute tour on Monday, then went on Tuesday - only to be told that there was nothing for us to do but we come along to the adolescent group counselling on Thursday Morning where they were going to learn about weening babies to porridge made from their mothers milk. So we went along. Watched some Mr Bean and then it got started. The whole thing was in Khmer, but we got the jist of it. In the 2 hour sessions there was 2 snack breaks, one for the rice/coconut balls the second for the burger, thing. Oh there was also crackers to eat at the start of the session. I swear these people don't stop eating.!
I think we go next week every morning to do activities with the children who are waiting for their appointments.

Bathroom Update
We started cleaning it, then some of the kids thought it looked an interesting activity and decided to join in. We gave the camera to one boy which resulted in loadddddsssss of pictures of the bathroom being cleaned. But now it's clean. :)

Lastly, the other night we also found a HUGE spider in our room. Gwen swiftly captured it and released it into its natural habitat.