The last week has been a week of celebration, that is one thing for sure. We've had Chinese New Year being celebrated across Cambodia, it was my birthday during the week (I admit I'm a big fan of my own birthday) and then also just celebrating the end of what's been an absolute highlight of my life; volunteering at SCAO for the last two months.
So what exactly have we done? What haven't we done?! The week started off heavy in my heart, knowing you are leaving behind some of the most wonderful children in the world is a daunting thing. Having Chinese New Year this week meant we had Thursday and Friday free from lessons which actually left me finishing up earlier than I had expected. I had to tell the children on Tuesday that my last day was on Wednesday and I was dreading it. But the funny thing is, the feckers weren't sad at all but were so excited about getting a new teacher. Maybe this speaks volumes about their true feelings for me, but it helped lift the sadness I was feeling knowing the kids are happy and that the new volunteers are just as eager as I am to continue with their progress and that's all that matters. SCAO and SCOOP are really doing a great job in Cambodia.
Wednesday morning myself and the bold Sophie went with the man of the house, Sovanred, to the market. I really have to admire him. He gets up at 6 every morning to cycle 5 kilometers to the market to pick up food him and his wife will cook for the volunteers. It took us 45 minutes to get there in total. Sophie asked Sovanred if he can do it in less time, he said 'Yes, I can do it twenty' - but he was going slowly for us. Sweet. The market is a very interesting place at 7 in the morning. Firstly, it's crawling with people. At one point I couldn't move but a moto was trying to drive into me. Secondly, it's full of fantasticly weird and wonderful food you won't see at home. There's snake meat, pigs heads, leeches, insects and lots more. It was a bit overwhelming to be honest but amazing to be among Khmer people in such a central part of their lives, cliche as that sounds.
The below pic is of snake meat. Couldn't confirm if it was from one snake...
The other big thing we did this week was join our student monks on a day trip. We had organized to meet them in Phnom Penh at 10 in the morning. They didn't make an appearance till 12, Cambodian style of course. They wouldn't tell us what their plan was but about 1 or so they hired two tuktuks to take us 40km out the other side of Phnom Penh to a national Buddhist centre. It was amazing. Set among the most beautiful farmland were some incredible Pagodas and woods. We were so busy taking pictures here, there and everywhere that one of the other girls playfully slapped a monk on the arm. She felt so bad, being a woman you aren't allowed to touch a monk. He had to reach into the lake to wash himself 'clean' again. We stayed a little bit too long in the Buddhist centre because at around 4 we felt we needed to leave to get back to the village. This didn't go down too well with our monks. They had planned to take us to their 'home' Pagoda which was close by. In the end we went with them and I'm glad we did because we got to see another side to their life. We saw where they entered the 'monk' life and how they acted with their leader, not to mention the fact they fed us some yummy mangos from their mango tree. We left at around 5.30 and a few of the girls cried knowing just how much effort they had put into the day and that we wouldn't see them again. Absolute sweethearts.
Other stuff we got up to:
- slept on the roof of the school. Woke up at 5 freezing. Now understand more easily how people are dying of exposure in the village.
- our resident two year old hid the moto key of a volunteer in the water pump.
- Sophie went with one of Khmer teachers to his rice fields. I couldn't go as I was far too busy being sick.
- watched Lethal Weapon Tuesday night. Watched Bad Grandpa Wednesday night.
- a Dutch lady came to volunteer at the school. I finally got to practice some Dutch.
- my birthday was Thursday. One of the German volunteers made some typical German food and we had a drink on the roof to celebrate. A birthday I am sure to never forget.
And then team bonding with the other volunteers just got way out of hand. I did think that I'd settle and have a laugh with the others in the school but nothing could have prepared me for just how close we all became. Every meal was a laugh a minute and we ended up spending close to every evening in the village huddled together in the downstairs classroom, preparing our lessons, watching movies or just talking while swatting thousands of Mosquitos off us. We were all very much open and honest with each other (or tried to be) and managed to laugh when times got tense even when the boys evaded some essential bathroom cleaning.
So, here's to the other volunteers at SCAO School 2, Emilly, Cecile, Nik, Vikram, Khai, Soph, and most importantly the bold Anne-Sophie, because without you guys it just wouldn't have been the same.
So what's next on the cards? I've got a couple weeks free now until my friend, Katie Finn, arrives for some Indonesian fun. For now I'm going to wind down in Cambodia and see some more of this beautiful country I've fallen head over heels in love with.
Till then,
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