In my new home...

Hello everyone!

Okay, so I owe you all some major updating. So much has happened in the last few days and I know I will not be able to put it all down. But I think now is the time to try. Get back into this whole blog writing business.

I am currently sitting on my new bed. I don't mean it's new, I just mean it's new to me. If I think about the fact that it's previous occupants moved out just two days ago, I might barf a little. This apartment is wonderful, but it is dirtyyyyyyy. So much cleaning to do and so much accepting that the standard of cleanliness I enjoy in America is no longer worth dreaming about. But I can deal, it will just take a little while. But that's not what you want to hear about! What can I say though, really, to sum up the last few days. Well, I know it feels like I've been hear a month, maybe longer. Not that I know anything, just that I don't remember anything else. I have so much to do here and it's so hot.

Does this make any sense? I'm reading what I just wrote back and even I'm confused. Am I still jet-lagged? I think so.

I've begun work (Heritage International School) but only just training and observation of other teachers. I will get my class for the fall term starting September 1st. I am so excited to meet my kindergarteners! They are so sweet... or at least they appear that way right now! They will all have had a small amount of English exposure but it will be my job next year to push them to English literacy! Yay!

Heritage has four different buildings, all very close and in the residential part of Phnom Penh. My building is a bit smaller, but all the buildings are tight communities and everyone I've met who is connected to the school has pretty much been wonderful! There is even a pool at my building so the kids get to go swimming twice a week. Some of the kids are from very wealthy families, some are upper-middle to middle-class. I am interested to see where my interactions with parents and families take me, as it will be very different than traditional "parent-teacher conferences" in America. Not too much to say about work except I have so much of it before school starts! So many lesson plans to write for these little guys...

Tomorrow, I will spend time with my "brother" the monk and go shopping some more for supplies and decorations for my apartment. The walls are really dull so I need to spice things up a bit in here!

That's where I'll leave off for now, on the couch in this comfy-couch of a city. Get it?... you sink in and don't really want to ever get up.