Teeeeeacherrrr

Hello everyone! Greetings from the happiest, most relaxing place on earth, Cambodia! Well, sometimes Phnom Penh isn't so relaxing, but I'm relaxed and so is everyone else. I think it's impossible to be truly unhappy here!

Anyway, I'm officially a kindergarten teacher now! The first days of school and over and now it's time to get moving with lessons, songs, games and all that "fun" stuff! My kids are very... "sweet" haha! I have 24 kids, most of them Khmer and mostly boys. Some of the boys are troublemakers but they are all so cute and sweet in their own ways! It's always funny for them to hear me try to say their Khmer names but I'm slowly remembering how to pronounce them correctly. It's never how you'd think it would sound. So I just have to listen to "Teeeeacherrr, that's not how you say my name!" I'm looking forward to seeing them slowly grasp reading this year! That being said, it sure feels like it's going to be a looong year. I don't know yet if it's in a good way or a bad way!

This weekend was the first chance I've really had to sleep in and it's been marvelous. I finally feel like I'm over the jetlag and myself again! That being said it's killer to wake up so early for school. I haven't done that since high school, really and it's a brutal battle every morning. But, with a little coffee, I'm ready for the screaming and running and jumping at 7:45am.

I'm still trying to figure out the best tuk-tuk driver to take me to and from work each day. I thought I had someone I really liked, but he is kind of flaky so we'll see where it goes. I miss biking every where in Santa Barbara! (Although many people ride bicycles here, I'm not super interested in A) Working up a sweat before I get to work and B) Being hit by speeding SUVs on these crazy, law-less streets!) I do sometimes wish I lived a little closer to work, though, so that I could walk. That being said, it's always a great feeling to be riding in a tuk-tuk, the wind blowing dirt all over you, the blaring BEEPS from honking passerbys. It really is wonderful although it sounds like a sarcastic remark!

I love meeting so many new people everyday. I also really like all the people I work with. The teaching assistants and guards in front of the school are really nice, and all the other teachers at my building are super friendly! Oh, and speaking of guards, my apartment building has a guard in front which is really nice of course, but it's so funny because he has taken it upon himself to be super protective of me! He does not speak much English but he glares at anyone I'm with as if to say "Don't mess with her!" He also seems to get frustrated and worried if I come home too late! He gives me a look like, "Where have you been?!" He also often walks me across the street (I live on a busy street) even though I have become pretty adept at crossing. It's really sweet how much he seems to take his job seriously! I feel safer coming home though, so it's very nice.

Anyway, I'm just enjoying a lazy Sunday now and going to spend some time researching more games and songs to play with the kids. They just stare up at you waiting for you to entertain them, so I better be prepared!

Until next time! :)

Settling In

So tomorrow is officially my first day of work (other than the last week or so of observation and orientation). The kids will join me Thursday for the first day of kindergarten! I can't wait to meet the kids and start learning their long, complicated Khmer names...

Over the holiday, I was lucky enough to visit Sokha Resort in Sihanoukville with some new friends! It was gorgeous and relaxing and we ate sooooo much good seafood. It rained a lot because of a typhoon hitting Taiwan, but we still got to enjoy the pool one of the days we were there. Typhoons in Asia, hurricanes in the US... the world is going crazy, isn't it?! It sure feels like something's crazy... this city... this country... certainly me for moving here! It seems like everyday is an adventure.

Let's see... what else can I say? I really don't know. I'm just trying to figure out the price for... something... anything....

Off to work tomorrow, I'll report back with more details. Still having trouble putting it all into words. But... in a good way!

The Apartment

Hello everyone! I've been trying to get myself to update the blog more because there is indeed a lot to share, but I feel so at a loss for words, for once, and it makes it harder to write.

Anyway, I'm settling into my apartment nicely, but still haven't been able to clean it properly. The power went out on my floor for the whole day and night yesterday. That was not fun because that meant no fans the whole night... I didn't sleep much. I'm doing better than I expected in the heat, but that is relative. It's so so so so hot. And people are saying this is the coolest time of the year. And this year in particular is a cool one. I don't believe this satanic weather is possible! It couldn't be the cool season right now. I just hope I'll get more adjusted to it. And soon. Right now I just feel dirty, sweaty and swollen up the whole time. I'm really trying to increase my water intake, but that can be difficult during work and running around the city!

Anyhoo, summer school is over for the kids which meant the end of my little "training period" and on to a week holiday before the fall session. I've been able to visit a few of the cites in the city that I've been meaning to see, such as the National Museum and the Genocide Museum. The Genocide Museum is very moving. I can't say much on it because it is something you read about and talk about but being here and seeing the places of such horror is something entirely different. The National Museum was wonderful, but I should have given myself more time in between them; I raced through the artwork because my mind was elsewhere.

I've also had the chance to do a lot of shopping which is always fun. Prices here really vary and the bargaining can be tiresome. And all the sizes are so small! I swear you never know if something is for an adult or a child... but I am loving walking through the sticky, smelly isles of the Russian Market, which is really close to my apartment.

I feel like I will never have enough time to do all that I want to do! And I still have to really get ready for the first day of kindergarten next week! Lesson plans and decorating... so much to do... but for now, off to Sihanoukville for a beach weekend. Why not? :)

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.

Tonight

Off to Cambodia... tonight! See you there!

Cambodia

A week or so home from Greece and I'm preparing for my latest adventure, moving to Cambodia for a year. I'll be teaching English at Heritage International School in Phnom Phen, Cambodia's capital. I leave in just under 3 weeks!

I'm excited to get this show on the road, to get an apartment over there, to meet my 3 and 4 year olds who I'll be teaching for a year. I'm so excited and confident this is where I should be headed in my life.

Now, vaccinations... tetanus booster and typhoid capsules... fun times...

Conclusions!

This silly phone broke up my entries! Ah well, conclusions:

Hmm... Well I'm no expert, three weeks is hardly enough for me to make assertions about a place. That bring said, I think it's safe to say that Greeks think Greece and the Greeks are the best at, well, everything. And they are clinging to their laurels like I've never seen a culture do. They were the center of Europe, so much of the world, for so many years in ancient times. Today they are very small globally, among the poorest nations in the E.U. So it's easy to see why they think the past was so important. But the country is littered with deserted buildings, crumbling sidewalks, and as the news shows, there is much political unrest as the bailout moves forward. Or, more like, as the bailout remains stagnant, which seems to be a rather fitting albeit harsh description of Greece. To sum up our particular trip, I'd say... There were some really really annoying parts, but, overall, it's been a fun trip.