I am like Christmas Dinner for Mosquitoes. I am constantly plagued by Itchy Scratchy, though am slowly learning to outwit them with some extremely cheap long clothes from the market.
We have made numerous trips to the central market and lucky ice cream parlor as this week has been slightly boring. We were continuing with our Khmer course but had eight hours around them to fill. My haggling has become quite impressive due to my growing list of Khmer vocab, though according to Nim, the Khmer teacher, it is not growing quick enough.
We went to a club towards the end of the week, with all six volunteers this time. We had a lot of fun dancing and learnt a few moves from the prostitutes to their amusement. The music was a Cambodian twist of western club music which sounded quite strange to us.
On the last day of our Khmer course we were taken to a traditional Cambodian restaurant by Nim. There was no menu as the Cambodians that visit seem to know what to order, this makes it completely tourist free but it is clearly extremely popular with the locals. We ate barbecued beef and prawns with various dips. Mango salad, made from grated green savory mango and dried fish, with coriander lime, and various other herbs and spices I couldn't identify. Fried rice with tiny shrimps. A sweetcorn salad that is delicious but hard to describe other than off the cob and slightly dried with lots of herbs and dressing. We drank Cambodian iced tea, and a berry jelly drink neither of which I have any way of describing.
During the week Nim also took us to one of the many salons which are frequently visited by Cambodian women, I spent just 3 dollars on a Mani Pedi, and was entertained by a football game on the television between the government Ministers of Cambodia and Thailand!
Bethany my project partner and I were surprised to find that we were not going to our project until Monday leaving us with one day without the rest of the group. Bethany is a Christian so many of you will be pleased to hear we went to church in the morning.It was a good service though I was slightly disappointed by the quality of music, no one really knew the tunes. We were made to feel very welcome and we went to lunch with a Mexican and two polish expats.We enjoyed proper Indian food , no chicken Tikka masala, it was yummy.
Yesterday we arrived at our project. The orphanage is made up of two group homes. GH1- older smaller home, where half the children live. GH2-which has just been moved into, it is much bigger with a lovely garden. This is where Beth and I will live and teach most lessons.
However, it is infested with bed bugs so we are all squeezed into GH1 at the moment whilst a company clean the house. I was slightly shocked by our accommodation for the week, as we are in a classroom on an extremely thin mattress with a cushion each., luckily I brough a sheet from home, But then i found out that 25 of the children will be sleeping simply on a tiled floor whilst the others are squeezed onto a mattress, so now i feel lucky.
We have had a look around GH2 and our accommodation for the year, it's plush, we have an en-suite wet room! When we have give it a clean I'm sure it will quickly feel like home.
I'm sorry this post is late we have no internet at the group home, so I am having to visit an internet cafe.I am also struggling to upload pictures through my iPad but I will try and find a way.
Must get back, but I will fill you in on the work I am doing next week.
Niyeay peil krowee!
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