Sour S'dei
I have finally felt settled in this week. Our schedule has been similar to last week with a few additions, including some administrative work at the hospital. We are transferring various test results e.g. white blood cell counts, cd4 counts, from big folders going back many years into a grid which magna is then going to be putting on a computor database. Its quite interesting work as although I dont know what many of the numbers mean I am able to see how much they change, I assume showing how much healthier the children are under Magna's care. Its also quite a nice break from the hectic orphanage, and the room we work in has air conditioning! However I did find it slightly mind boggling to start with as apparently I don't know the days of the year.
We have also gained a little furniture including two comfy chairs and two stacks of shelves so I thoroughly enjoyed turning our slightly bare classroom into a gorgeous homey flat, which I am very proud of. We could just do with some light bulbs now so that we can see our way around after 6pm in the evening.
Mid-week I decided I was brave enough to attempt to teach the kids how to play a card game called Uno, using the little Khmer I know and alot of miming. I am chuffed to say that I managed, Uno went down a storm. I think we may have beaten the world record for longest stint of play, and largest number of players, we were cramed around a table for 2hours! I was then greeted as I woke up, to little hands poking through my window demanding round two. I was very amused by their attitiude towards the game, it seems cambodians play games with alot more emotion, they slam cards and chess pieces at the table. One little boy seemed to enjoy slamming the card at the table so much that he didnt seem to mind which card he was throwing.
On Friday afternoon we took some of the older kids to a U21s football match between Cambodia and Thailand. Sadly Thailand won but it was alot of fun cheering Cambodia along and munching on snacks of fruit dipped in various sugar,salt and chilli combinations.5 people were strechered of the pitch! Seemed a bit unnecessary really.
This weekend, being our one month anniversary we stayed in a guest house on saturday night in Phnom Penh. We celebrated over an expensive ($6.50) dinner of greatly missed western food. Having settled in now at the orphanage I have been able to do some exploring of the local area and have discovered lots of tasty food. On the way to the hospital I often treat myself to something from the bakery, most reasantly a cocunut filled sweet dough which was delicious and cost just 25 cents, we have also found deep fried banana chips, rice and sesame seed sugary tablet stuff, lychees in a scary looking tentacled shell, tomato and shrimp stir fry, and iced milk coffies which are so yummy. They are made from condensed milk and coffee poured over crushed iced, and in very cambodian cafes cost just 2000 riel (40p ish).
Next week we start teaching which is exciting but a little scary, we have made some rather beautiful flash cards (well Bethany's are)this weekend in preparation.
Cambodia is suffering from the worst floods in eleven years at the moment, which is very worrying for those in the countryside as alot of people have died, have had to leave the homes and rice crops are being damaged, but Phnom Penh is high so I'm not really seeing the effects.
We have discovered that the postal service is much more effective than imagined which is good, Bethany has recieved lots of lovely parcels from her family taking under two weeks to get here. I haven't received anything from my family but I hope this will be rectified soon!
Lear hi
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