Bai Moan - Chicken and Rice, all day, every day.

That's actually a lie - it's more like water-soup and rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And when I say water-soup, I literally mean some vegetables boiled to their deaths in water.

But if that's the worst thing about my week then I have nothing to complain about.

My first week here passed in a flurry of excitement and anxiety (I've been a little paranoid to sleep due to the copious amounts of cockroaches floating around the rooms). Mostly though, the week passed in contentment.

Ps. This is my prison-cell esque room. It's much brighter now that I have a pink mosquito net and my own sheets!








My schedule has settled into a pretty standard routine - my mornings are free to fundraise or work on SOLS' social media or marketing, and to get chores done like laundry or going to the market, and my afternoons are filled with class up until around 6:30pm every night.

The first couple of days were a little tougher because I was floating around trying to figure out where to go, but now that I have regular classes, everything is much easier.

I think the hardest part to adjust to has been the food and the bathroom situation. Not that I mind bucket baths at all, but I think it's the germaphobe in me that gets a little queazy.  Luckily, on my first day I given a quick bathroom debrief - this is the best sink to brush your teeth, the middle bathroom is the best to shower, etc., so I'm surviving okay! :)

The other volunteers here are awesome. We had a holiday last Thursday and a group of volunteers cooked fried rice for dinner, which was amazing because I could eat something substantial without worrying that there might be snails, pork blood or ants in my food, and it was fresh and nutritious. We've been watching movies some nights, too, which is pretty fun.

I really do love it here. My students are such fun and being here reminds me that it doesn't take much to be happy. Without most things I thought I needed to be comfortable, I find that I sleep better, feel healthier and mostly happier.

 Most of life here is focused on the students and classes. My 2pm-5pm class is a Level III class, which means they're fairly advanced. We mostly read short stories and discuss the difficult words in terms of meaning and pronunciation, and we write sentences with the difficult words to understand them better. The last hour is usually spent on word association games, which is amazing except that the kids always gang up on us teachers to make us dance or sing when we lose!

Practicing pronunciation.

My 5:30-6:30 is also Level III but they only recently moved up, so it's a little more basic. We usually go over conjunctions, verbs, conditionals, etc., which was a bit tough the first day... How do I explain what a suffix is to a student who barely knows what the word with the prefix is? (ie: how do you explain that un is the suffix in uncomfortable when they don't understand the word comfortable?) That being said, the SOLS/AHHA way of teaching is great. Most full time students are able to have basic conversations in English in 1-3 months which is fantastic.

We play hangman to learn new and difficult words.

Honestly, I think I've learned more from this week than I've taught. It has been a lesson in humility, confidence, cultural awareness and enthusiasm. Every student is so eager to learn, so eager to practice every chance they get. They're just clambering for the opportunity to get a word in, find out where you're from and to teach you their favourite games. Even better, they're so excited to be in class and rather than silence when I ask a question, I have to make them play rock,paper, scissor to figure out who can answer because they all want to!

The school does a great job of providing the students with activities to keep them busy through the whole day, too. Monday-Wednesday we have late classes till around 9, Thursdays is movie night, where we put up a movie on the projector in the main hall. Last week we watched The Avengers, which the students enjoy though they don't always understand what's going on. Friday nights is Social Night, where different classes sing, dance or perform a play. I had to MC last week with a hip-hop theme - you can only imagine how that turned out. I had to borrow a baseball cap to wear backwards and I wore the most oversized tshirt I had with jeans and shoes... we (me and Rotana, one of the Cambodian teachers who has become a good friend) must have looked BIZARRE. But what a fun night! After the performances, we all learned Khmer dances and ate peanut butter oreos - a true celebration. ;)

Chomreabsuor!

After so many long and painful journeys over the past couple of months, the trip to Phnom Penh was relatively easy. A quick, effortless layover in Bangkok made better by coffee and a bagel, followed by a 45 minute flight into Phnom Penh.

Landing at the airport felt a bit like deja vu. The friendly faces, humid weather and 120,000 Riel ($30) Visa On Arrival fee were more than just a little like Jakarta. The feeling only magnified as I got in my first Cambodian tuk-tuk - a weird, three-wheel mode of transport - and probably the most common in Phnom Penh. After 45 minutes of weaving through crowded streets, I arrived at The Pavilion Hotel, an oasis with true South East Asian charm and hospitality.

I had a private courtyard, super comfy bed and 2 gorgeous pools to be lazy and read. Also, can I mention that it was $50 a night! I wandered the streets while waiting for my room to be ready, ate a delicious, cold soup at a French Cafe, and wandered through downtown Phnom Penh.

My evening was a bit more eventful than the so-far peaceful day. I toured my way to the river quay, stopping at sights along the way, and settled in at a river view terrace for happy hour with my book. Two hours, two dollars and two drinks later (and based on the recommendation of a bald Australian with no chappals), I wandered down the banks of the Mekong to a Cambodian restaurant for dinner.



I met the sweetest, retired, Aussie couple there who decided to adopt me. They have a 25 year old daughter who is currently in Germany visiting her boyfriend, they think, so she only calls him Michele and hasn't really said that they're together. The man was a historian and history professor in Australian, but born in Den Haag and very familiar with Utrecht so we had a bit to talk about there!



I learned about Khmer history, the history of the region, what to do and where to go in Phnom Penh, etc. All going well until a waitress mysteriously collapsed and was rushed out to an ambulance, which I never heard coming. When I left 5 minutes later (I didn't really feel like hanging out after that) she was gone.

Overall, a super fun and exciting first day in Phnom Penh. Traveling alone really is a completely different experience than with someone. Definitely something I'd recommend to everyone.