On Sunday our group woke up at 7:00 to be ready to depart our hotel in Shianoukville at 7:30. It was so tough leaving the group we were such a close group and we didn't want to leave one another. Of course we did and headed in the opposite direction of our friends. There was only five of us on the bus and our bus driver did not speak any English. He was a speedy driver. We went through the hills and mountains toward the Thai boarder and on a couple of occasions I nearly fell off my seat. We made it to the Thai boarder in a matter of hours and when we got there our bags were immediately taken by these two Khmer ladies and loaded into a metal cart. We went to the Cambodian immigration window to get our exit stamps and give our departure slip and then walked across the boarder to the Thai immigration window. To get across the boarder was interesting. You just walk through some gates on a paved road each side has barbed wire and to the left you see the ocean. We weren't sure whose side we were on as we walked the 100 meters to the Thai boarder. Once we got through Thai immigration, which took no time at all, we went in search of our bus driver with our two Khmer ladies following us. We walked around for a good 30 minutes and could not find our driver. So I had to call our Program director Rick to figure out what to do. I guess our driver had been there the whole time he was just parked off to the side and he wasn't waiting outside his van so we never saw him. So he pulls up a very nice van gets us all in and off we go. What was great about this van was it had a tv and dvd player so we watched movies on our way to Pattaya. Pattaya is beach town about a two hour drive out of Bangkok. It is a tourist city and is quite dirty. The beach is not too nice and not a lot of people visit it. The most famous thing here is "Walking Street" which is a street full of bars, ping pong shows, and girly bars. We finally made it to the LanguageCorps building at like 6:30pm we were given our rooms and told to meet with our teach Jam who explained what time we needed to be up in the morning, what we were expected to wear, and our schedule for the next two weeks. After that we went a couple of stores over and had some dinner. It was a pretty quiet dinner we were all just so exhausted and wanted to get to bed. We all turned in early so to be ready for our first day.
Pretty much our days here are all the same. We get up at the same time everyday to go to student teach and we go to Thai class at the same time everyday. I teach at a local church. It takes me two minutes to walk there everyday and I have had about the same five ladies the entire time I have taught. The ladies at the church are great . Everyday they make me coffee and feed me till I am stuffed. They want to learn and are such great students. The only thing is that I really need to be on my game. My class is 2 hours everyday so I have to plan to do a lot of stuff because we do go through a lot in one day. I work my butt off for this class. Everyday I am printing off more pictures and making three or four worksheets just so we have enough to do in a class. I think I am doing too much and I have heard others who have done a lot less but I just can't seem to not do all the work. I do really love the ladies at the church they just love to take care of me and I am truly grateful . My favorite part of the days have actually been my Thai lessons. Even though Thai is ridiculous I am enjoying trying to learn it. There is no way I will be able to read or write it but if I can get by conversationally I will be happy. The tones in the Thai language are what are tough they have one word with five different tones and it can mean five different things. If you pronounce a tone wrong on lets say the word for banana it could be a curse word. That is probably the hardest part of learning this language.
As for exploring Pattaya there really hasn't been any exploring. We are busy all day long and by the time we can go explore we are too exhausted. Pretty much we have just checked out restaurants and stores. I haven't really determined if I like Thailand I have not been able to see much of it. I am keeping positive my room is not all that great but it could be worse. We have been job searching so hopefully I will have some idea of where I am going. I know where I want to be and have found the ideal job in the city of Chiang Mai now all I need to do is get the interview and hopefully the job. I am worried that if I start working right away I won't have time to travel which I would hate but maybe after a few months I can get comfortable making weekend trips to places. I think if I was to live in a city like Chiang Mai there would be plenty to do on the weekends to keep me busy for a couple of months. If Chiang Mai doesn't work I can always go down South were it looks like the rest of my group is going. The only reason I don't want to go down South is that it is close to the beach and I have lived near the beach for 12 years I want to do something different while I am here.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Shianoukville Part 2
After lunch one of the crew guys said he was going to show us a path to go to another beach on the other side of the island.We started walking through waist high grass down a little path towards the jungle. All we kept saying was "stay on the path there may still be mines out there." We made it to a tree line which ended up being a pretty dense jungle. There was bits of sunlight poking threw but it was very quiet and cool. We walked a good five to ten minutes before we made it to the other side of the island. Once we made it there we trekked through some very hot sand and there was the new beach. It was amazing. There was hardly any people on the beach, there was waves, and the beach was clean. We all dropped our stuff and hurried into the water. We had a great time playing in the water and lounging on the sand none of us wanted to leave. We wanted to live in one of the little huts on the island and live our days in paradise. Of course none of us stayed we went back through the jungle to our boat and headed off to the next and final island. It took about 45 minutes to get there and when we got there some other boats were already there. It was a fishing island so parts of the water was already roped off but there weren't too many people in the water. This is where we all decided to have fun jumping in. All of us did a little pose for the camera as we jumped in for the very last time. We also used our life jackets in a new interesting way. We put our legs through the arm hole and sat on the life jacket like a chair. Even though it sounds weird it worked really well. We all looked hilarious and felt like we had on a diaper, but we didn't care we were still floating without everyone seeing the ugly orange vest. We eventually had to say goodbye to the water and get back in the boat to head back to the main land. It was a wonderful day with great people. We had a lot of laughs got to spend time on a deserted beach, swim, snorkel, and have lunch made for us for only $15. Money well spent.We made it back to the hotel starving so some of us decided to head to the beach to eat at one of the beach restaurants and some decided to stay at the hotel.. I went to the beach and ate at a local restaurant while some of the others had massages or pedicures on the beach. I just sat back and watched them awaiting the sunset. None of us wanted to go out that night we were too wiped from our the days' activities to do anything. We all just hung around the hotel or went to grab something to eat. We just wanted to be around each other for our last night and most of us went to bed early because the next day was going to be long.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Shianoukville Part 1
ShianoukVille is a beach resort town on the coast of Cambodia half way between Thailand and Vietnam on the Bay of Thailand. It is a four hour drive from Phnom Penh. The ride was pretty tight because five of the people on the bus had to bring all of their luggage because we were heading off to Thailand while everyone else would head back to Phnom Penh. Our luggage took up about 3 seats at the front of the bus and on this trip we had more people going. It was a bittersweet journey because by the end of Sunday night 8 of our 18 person group would be gone (5 to Thailand, 3 to Vietnam). We all vowed we would have a great weekend since it was the last time we would all be together.
When we got closer to the city and were traveling through the mountains we could start to see the sea and there was a buzz on the bus. We couldn't wait to get to the hotel and change. We finally got to our hotel there was a lot of confusion with the rooms. They did get enough rooms so some people didn't have rooms or one person didn't have a room mate, it was all a mess. I didn't care too much because my room mate and I got one of the big rooms and as soon as we got in our room we were in our bathing suits and out the door in a matter of 5 minutes. The beach was a 5 minute walk, we were literally in the water 12 minutes after getting into our room, it was heavenly. The water felt amazing. There was hardly any people on the beach. We stayed near Victory Beach which is the calmer side of the city,hardly any tourists and a lot less restaurants. If we went to the other side of the city to Serendipity Beach there would be crowds of people, children hassling you as soon as you got to the beach, and trash. Serendipity Beach is good if you want to be around tourists and want to party but none of us wanted to. We spent as much time at Victory Beach before we had to head in for dinner.We were going to have dinner on the beach at some restaurant on Serendipity Beach. The one problem we had was we didn't get to the restaurant till 8:30 and then we were trying to figure out who was going on the boat the next day so we didn't sit down to eat until 9. Needless to say a lot of us were pretty cranky and just wanted to eat. We got a great table on the beach were people were shooting off fireworks on both sides of us. I even got to shoot one off thanks to one of our teachers, Steve, who really likes fireworks and bought fireworks for the table. Once we finished dinner we all went our own ways mainly we all went looking for dancing which surprisingly was hard to find. We were hassled the whole night by these children who would not leave you alone if you talked to them. They were incredibly rude and were not afraid to start a fight. I just ignored them, I said nothing I barely even looked at them and I was left alone which was nice. Some of the people in our group were not so lucky. One of the guys told a kid he didn't want a bracelet the kid put it on him anyway and walked away. The kid came back an hour later and said where is my money, the guy said "I didn't want to buy it you gave it to me." The kid proceeded to cut the bracelet off his wrist while he wasn't looking and chopped up the whole thing and threw it at his feet. When we started walking to find somewhere to dance the kid appeared again he started hassling our guy and then slapped a beer can out of his hand. We literally had to pull the guy away so not to cause a problem because we all know who would have gotten in trouble. It is really sad that these kids act like this. Its sad that they have to spend their days hustling people and will probably have no real childhood. We spent the rest of the evening trying to find a place to go dancing it took us a couple of hours but we finally found a place we stayed there for a bit. We were just too tired to stay out all night plus most of us had to be up at 7:30 the next morning for a boat trip to the islands.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
2nd week of school
The 2nd week of school was long. This week we spent anxiously awaiting our beach trip, getting our tests back, and going through the paperwork we would need to do on a daily basis as a teacher. The first day was rough we had gotten back from Siem Reap late and were super exhausted after the bus ride. We were expecting our test first thing in the morning, but we had to wait till our afternoon sessions to get our grades. Thankfully I passed both my tests I wasn't too worried about the Phonetics test but I was worried about the grammar test, I managed a "B." We spent classes this week learning how to make lesson plans, to make worksheets, and come up with games we can use to help the students learn. The best part as well as the most terrifying part of the week was our lessons on using drama in the classroom and chants/ songs in the classroom. We have some really great guys in our class that love to act out stuff. One of our classes we had to pick an item out of a bag and make an infomercial. It was terrifying for me because I couldn't think of anything to do, but I had such a great time watching everyone else come up with items I had tears in my eye. I did get up there and I think I did ok. I spoke loud and got tripped up right at the end. In that same class we had to come up with our favorite genre of movies or tv show. Groups were assigned the genre and as a group we had to act out a dialogue. Some of the groups were absolutely hilarious. We had a group do Bollywood, Erotica, Mexican TV, and Badly Dubbed Kung Fu movies. Some of the guys were absolutely hilarious with their accents and they really got into it. Probably one of the funnest classes we have had so far. The next day we had chants and songs. I don't like to sing in front of people so this class scared me the most. First up was chants we had to come up with a beat and then insert our dialogue into the beat. I had a beat, I used my old marching band beat, I just had trouble getting my words to match up with the beat. I had words like electronic center and escalator. Fortunately the whole class did not have to go so I lucked out, but that meant that I had to sing :(. Luckily we did it in pairs with the person who shared your same dialogue. My partner already had a song to put our dialogue to so I just got up there and sang. I think I did ok people had a little problem figuring out our song but once we told the class it was "We wish you a Merry Christmas" it clicked.
Wednesday night we all went down to the Riverside and hopped on a boat to take a ride down the river and see Phnom Penh at night. It was a lot of fun, it was a booze cruise. We had coolers with ice, beer, and liquor. There was dancing downstairs and conversations upstairs. It was a nice night to get out. A lot of people went out after we made it back to land I went back to the hotel to finish off some homework and pack all my belongings because the Thailand people had to leave from the beach to head to Thailand. Thursday night was our last night in town we had a LanguageCorp networking dinner/ karaoke at a local bar called the Pirate's Den. At this event we had good food and there were a lot of people. Karaoke was fun to watch I did not get up there but I had a good time with everybody. We all left about 10 and went in search of more bars with some of the old LanguageCorp people. We ended up going to a girly bar, a bar where Khmer women "socialize" with men. It was dead silent when my two friends (girls) and I walked in with this group of guys. The guys went off to find themselves some girls and we made friends with the "girls." We had an interesting time in the bar we talked with the girls and also with some of the LanguageCorps guys. We learned all about the "girls" lives like where they were from, how old they were, what was their name, etc.When the guys decided to move on to another bar a friend and I decided to moto it back to the hotel to finish up our packing because we were leaving early the next morning. The moto was probably one of the best things I did in Phnom Penh. It was a Khmer man driving a moto bike with my friend in the middle and me on the back. We made it to our hotel super fast and it felt so refreshing to ride with no pollution. I wish I had rode the moto more often. The next morning we said our goodbyes to the staff and our awesome Tuk Tuk drivers (Smitty). We were off to ShianoukVille for a weekend of relaxing on the beach.
Wednesday night we all went down to the Riverside and hopped on a boat to take a ride down the river and see Phnom Penh at night. It was a lot of fun, it was a booze cruise. We had coolers with ice, beer, and liquor. There was dancing downstairs and conversations upstairs. It was a nice night to get out. A lot of people went out after we made it back to land I went back to the hotel to finish off some homework and pack all my belongings because the Thailand people had to leave from the beach to head to Thailand. Thursday night was our last night in town we had a LanguageCorp networking dinner/ karaoke at a local bar called the Pirate's Den. At this event we had good food and there were a lot of people. Karaoke was fun to watch I did not get up there but I had a good time with everybody. We all left about 10 and went in search of more bars with some of the old LanguageCorp people. We ended up going to a girly bar, a bar where Khmer women "socialize" with men. It was dead silent when my two friends (girls) and I walked in with this group of guys. The guys went off to find themselves some girls and we made friends with the "girls." We had an interesting time in the bar we talked with the girls and also with some of the LanguageCorps guys. We learned all about the "girls" lives like where they were from, how old they were, what was their name, etc.When the guys decided to move on to another bar a friend and I decided to moto it back to the hotel to finish up our packing because we were leaving early the next morning. The moto was probably one of the best things I did in Phnom Penh. It was a Khmer man driving a moto bike with my friend in the middle and me on the back. We made it to our hotel super fast and it felt so refreshing to ride with no pollution. I wish I had rode the moto more often. The next morning we said our goodbyes to the staff and our awesome Tuk Tuk drivers (Smitty). We were off to ShianoukVille for a weekend of relaxing on the beach.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Beng Mealea
Our Final temple for the weekend was Beng Mealea. It was suppose to
be Angkor Wat but the king decided he didn't like the location so scrapped the project and built Angkor Wat where it is today. The temple went into disarray so when we got there stones were in piles in front of the temple and throughout the temple. When we first walked up the security guard had us cross a plank over to a doorway that was boarded up, there was just enough room for us to crawl through and we entered a room full of stones piled up to the doorway. This is where the journey began. The security guard took us everywhere through darkened hallways, to other would be rooms, and into the inner yard of the temple. It was amazing to still see the intricate design on all the stones and walls even though work had stopped. It was almost like they carved the stones before placing them.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Siem Reap
We started our day with class at the hotel and for some reason it was incredibly boring. For the life of me I could not get comfortable in my chair. We had our grammar and phonetics test before we left on our trip and it sure took a long time to finish a 50 question test. It took me about 2 hours to complete. I hope I passed. We hopped on the bus at 1 for our 7 hour journey to Siem Reap. Of course the only thing we had on our mind was where can we get some ice, a cooler, and some beer. Thankfully Trea, our chaperon, took us to a store where we were able to buy 24 packs for $10 and ice for 50 cents. When we were all loaded back on the bus we had three 24 packs and a couple of bottles of whiskey. For how much alcohol was on the bus the only noticeable sign of consumption was the amount of times we had to stop to have people (the guys) relieve themselves. After numerous stops on the side of the road and a couple of tourist pit stops we finally made it to our hotel in Siem Reap 8 hours later. We were exhausted and cranky. The city of Siem Reap was completely different from Phnom Penh, it is a tourist city. There are hotels with neon lights everywhere, loads of stores, and brightly lit streets. We went out for a quick dinner to a local restaurant called Happy Pizza which was known for its "Happy" Pizza. We pretty much ate and went back to the hotel since we were all exhausted and had to wake up early the next day. We all did meet up at the pool for a bit to cool down before heading off to bed, but once my head hit that pillow I was out like a light until early the next morning.
The next morning we left our hotel at 9am to spend the day at the Angkor Temples. There are so many temples here that it would take days to weeks to visit them all so we only visited 4 of the most popular: Angkor Thom,One I forgot, Ta Prohm (Tomb Raider Temple), and Angkor Wat. Angkor Thom was the first temple and it was a great first one. It was a very popular temple people were everywhere they even had elephant rides around the temple. Once inside I couldn't believe the intricate stone work and the engineering of these temples. They did not use cement to keep these stones together they were just strategically placed and they have lasted for hundreds of years. One thing that was common in most of these temples was that the Buddha heads were taken off of a lot of statues and wall carvings. If I understood my tour guide correctly when one of the kings came into power he either did not believe in religion or was Hindu so he had all the Buddha heads removed. It was interesting to walk around the temples and see where the Buddha statue was etched out. Throughout most of the temples there was Buddha shrines where you could light an incense and pray. I am not sure what exactly I was suppose to do I was given an incense at one of the temples I knelled down in front of the statues and the woman running the shrine placed a bracelet on my wrist. I left some money and continued exploring. I kind of wish I knew what I needed to do so I could properly pay respect.
Once we finished with the first temple we moved on to a second temple which I can't remember the name. We pretty much go to the top take some pictures and come right back down. There stairs were quite imposing when you first walked up to the temple but instead of letting it get to me I just started climbing. I had to climb it almost like a ladder the stairs were very narrow and I didn't want to lose my footing while going to the top. I realized how out of shape I was because when I finally reached the top I was breathing heavy but at least I wasn't the only one. A good number of us were out of breath once we reached the top. There was a gorgeous view of the jungle and trees once we finally got to the top. I really couldn't see any other temples but it was quite peaceful at the top. After scaling myself down the temple we left to go to Ta Prohm the Tomb Raider Temple.
Ta Prohm was also a very popular temple that was currently undergoing restoration. This temple had a lot more of the tree roots growing into the temple. There was two notable roots that looked like an elephant leg coming over the wall and one that looked like a chicken claw. The only problem with this temple was that it was a bit smaller and there was a lot of people so it was hard to see everything. When we were on our tour we were trying to follow the group but got separated and when I walked into the corridor that the group had gone in it was dead silent. There was two choices go left or right not knowing which direction to take we went to where we thought the group had gone and ended up on the outside of the temple in the yard near the wall and it was very serene. No one was back there you could look outside the wall and see only jungle. It was unreal how one minute you in are the chaos of the temple and the next in complete serenity just outside the wall.
We stopped for lunch before we headed to the temple everyone wants to see Angkor Wat. The moat alone is impressive with this place. When you fist walk up you think that you are coming up to the temple and realize that the imposing wall is just the gate and when you walk through it you see the temple of Angkor Wat. It is quite impressive I really did think it was going to be bigger. Angkor Wat was much like the other temples. It had wonderful architecture and it was obviously much bigger than the other temples. What was nice about this temple is it had "swimming" pools in the center. They were quite deep and even though they were empty they would have been quite inviting had they been filled with water. When we made it through the beginning of the temple we went to the courtyard where we climbed the stairs to the top 3 towers or the 3 towers in almost all the pictures of Angkor Wat. This was the only temple that was extremely strict with our attire. Women had to have their shoulders covered and knees could not be seen, of course the guys had no restrictions. I felt like I was going into a Catholic church except they did not offer items to cover yourself up with here. The view and breeze from the top of Angkor Wat was amazing. It really gave you an idea of how large this temple and its grounds are. Once I ventured around the entire top of Angkor Wat I went back to the courtyard and began exploring more of the grounds till I found some of my group just sitting off the ledge of the temple talking and relaxing. I decided to join them it was very nice and calm up there. We became a tourist attraction too. We had a couple of Thai and Korean girls come take pictures of us with their cellphones. We weren't sure if they wanted pictures of the boys or if they thought it was amusing that a group of us just sat with our feet dangling off the high structure. We eventually got up and headed back to the bus.
When we got to the hotel the first thing all of us did was jump in the pool for an hour before we headed down to Pub Street for dinner and dancing. Pub Street is a street of restaurants and bars that tourists frequent in Siem Reap. We all had a nice dinner and had fish pedicures which was a fun experience. There was about 10 of us sitting at the edge of a tank with our feet in the water having fish eat dead skin cells off our feet. We had a great time we had complimentary beer and toasted and drank to a great night in Siem Reap. The pedicure itself was weird at first it tickled a bit and every once in a while the fish would bite. Afterwards my feet felt so smooth I was glad that I did it. We finished up with our minor distraction and went in search of dancing which we found shortly after, we all danced until the wee hours of the morning. The problem we all had was each roommate had one key and we had all gotten separated. So some room mates hadn't made it back to the hotel and others had. It was a lot trying to figure out where people were going to sleep. We all got up early the next morning to head to the last temple and to head back to Phnom Penh. This was going to be one rough ride.
The next morning we left our hotel at 9am to spend the day at the Angkor Temples. There are so many temples here that it would take days to weeks to visit them all so we only visited 4 of the most popular: Angkor Thom,One I forgot, Ta Prohm (Tomb Raider Temple), and Angkor Wat. Angkor Thom was the first temple and it was a great first one. It was a very popular temple people were everywhere they even had elephant rides around the temple. Once inside I couldn't believe the intricate stone work and the engineering of these temples. They did not use cement to keep these stones together they were just strategically placed and they have lasted for hundreds of years. One thing that was common in most of these temples was that the Buddha heads were taken off of a lot of statues and wall carvings. If I understood my tour guide correctly when one of the kings came into power he either did not believe in religion or was Hindu so he had all the Buddha heads removed. It was interesting to walk around the temples and see where the Buddha statue was etched out. Throughout most of the temples there was Buddha shrines where you could light an incense and pray. I am not sure what exactly I was suppose to do I was given an incense at one of the temples I knelled down in front of the statues and the woman running the shrine placed a bracelet on my wrist. I left some money and continued exploring. I kind of wish I knew what I needed to do so I could properly pay respect.
Ta Prohm was also a very popular temple that was currently undergoing restoration. This temple had a lot more of the tree roots growing into the temple. There was two notable roots that looked like an elephant leg coming over the wall and one that looked like a chicken claw. The only problem with this temple was that it was a bit smaller and there was a lot of people so it was hard to see everything. When we were on our tour we were trying to follow the group but got separated and when I walked into the corridor that the group had gone in it was dead silent. There was two choices go left or right not knowing which direction to take we went to where we thought the group had gone and ended up on the outside of the temple in the yard near the wall and it was very serene. No one was back there you could look outside the wall and see only jungle. It was unreal how one minute you in are the chaos of the temple and the next in complete serenity just outside the wall.
We stopped for lunch before we headed to the temple everyone wants to see Angkor Wat. The moat alone is impressive with this place. When you fist walk up you think that you are coming up to the temple and realize that the imposing wall is just the gate and when you walk through it you see the temple of Angkor Wat. It is quite impressive I really did think it was going to be bigger. Angkor Wat was much like the other temples. It had wonderful architecture and it was obviously much bigger than the other temples. What was nice about this temple is it had "swimming" pools in the center. They were quite deep and even though they were empty they would have been quite inviting had they been filled with water. When we made it through the beginning of the temple we went to the courtyard where we climbed the stairs to the top 3 towers or the 3 towers in almost all the pictures of Angkor Wat. This was the only temple that was extremely strict with our attire. Women had to have their shoulders covered and knees could not be seen, of course the guys had no restrictions. I felt like I was going into a Catholic church except they did not offer items to cover yourself up with here. The view and breeze from the top of Angkor Wat was amazing. It really gave you an idea of how large this temple and its grounds are. Once I ventured around the entire top of Angkor Wat I went back to the courtyard and began exploring more of the grounds till I found some of my group just sitting off the ledge of the temple talking and relaxing. I decided to join them it was very nice and calm up there. We became a tourist attraction too. We had a couple of Thai and Korean girls come take pictures of us with their cellphones. We weren't sure if they wanted pictures of the boys or if they thought it was amusing that a group of us just sat with our feet dangling off the high structure. We eventually got up and headed back to the bus.
When we got to the hotel the first thing all of us did was jump in the pool for an hour before we headed down to Pub Street for dinner and dancing. Pub Street is a street of restaurants and bars that tourists frequent in Siem Reap. We all had a nice dinner and had fish pedicures which was a fun experience. There was about 10 of us sitting at the edge of a tank with our feet in the water having fish eat dead skin cells off our feet. We had a great time we had complimentary beer and toasted and drank to a great night in Siem Reap. The pedicure itself was weird at first it tickled a bit and every once in a while the fish would bite. Afterwards my feet felt so smooth I was glad that I did it. We finished up with our minor distraction and went in search of dancing which we found shortly after, we all danced until the wee hours of the morning. The problem we all had was each roommate had one key and we had all gotten separated. So some room mates hadn't made it back to the hotel and others had. It was a lot trying to figure out where people were going to sleep. We all got up early the next morning to head to the last temple and to head back to Phnom Penh. This was going to be one rough ride.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
1st week of school
So my first week of school is almost over and the one word to describe this week would be long. I start my days at 6am using that time to catch up on the computer and the last of my homework before heading down for breakfasts at about 7:15. We leave every morning at 8:15 and take a 30 to 45 minute Tuk Tuk ride to school. We never have the same route depending on the exact time we leave our hotel and our driver we take a different route each time. Our days start at 9 and ends at 5:30 so needless to say the days are so long and sometimes boring. It is so hard after being out of the classroom for about 4 years to sit through an hour and half lecture.
I really like all the people I am doing this program with. There is 18 of us 9 guys and 9 girls and we have a blast together. I laugh so much during class, on our breaks, or when wandering around the city. There is really no defined cliques or groups amongst us we all get along so well we can hang out with one another with no problem at all. Of course we do break off into our own little pairs and groups but we are not afraid to mix it up. I think had it not been for the group I am with here in Cambodia I am not sure I would have not acclimated to Cambodia so quickly.
Day 1:
It was a normal first day. We had orientation first where we learned exactly what we would be doing in the course and each student learned about our respective countries. It was so exciting to hear about Thailand the other girls and I who will go there were super excited afterwards. We learned ways to teach dialogues to students and also how to start to get your class engaged from the very beginning by learning about some activities that have been proven to work. Of course whenever you start something new you have uncertainties if you will be able to do it. Of course my hesitation is with the lesson planning. Will I know what to teach? Will I teach the right thing? Will I make my lesson plan long enough? All basic fears that I always get when I start something new and once I start doing it I am fine. The afternoon session was spent learning how to do a resume for Southeast Asia. It is a little bit different from the U.S. Where in the U.S we do not put our picture, gender, date of birth, hobbies, and special interests but in Southeast Asia we do. It was odd writing a resume that I had done numerous times before but make it completely different. It wasn't what I had know so it made me pause but in the end it was pretty much the same thing I wrote back in the U.S. just with some added information. I think I want to teach kids in the age range of 7 to 18 years old. I think college kids might be too advanced for me especially with the grammar knowledge and I know kindergarten will probably kill me. so that middle age is the age I feel that I can most relate to. Finally day 1 is done and I am exhausted. It get back to the hotel go in search of food, do my homework and pass out the earliest I have been to bed in months. Who knew school could be so draining.
Day 2:
Today started out about the same as the previous day but of course a lot of us where on edge because today our homework was due and it was teaching dialogue to the class. So after a morning session of acting out dialogues with my classmates we came back from break to do peer teaching evaluations. I think I did really well I was a little nervous not too many critiques but I did use an improper hand gesture so I have to watch that when I am teaching but other than that it was really good. We had lunch at this local guest house and it was really nice. It was outdoor living in a sense there was no front door the dinning area was covered with what looks like a bamboo roof and the kitchen is in the corner. They had really delicious food for a good price. I spent $2.25 for some spring rolls and a bottle of water. Once we got back from lunch it was GRAMMAR and rough doesn't even begin to describe it. I never liked it when I was in elementary school and I still don't like it now. I am just not as quick as some people are with describing clauses, prepositions, adverbials, etc. Finally that hour and half was over and we finished out our day and went home where we found that one of the dogs that lives at our hotel (lucky or lady many names go around the hotel) had puppies that morning. It was the first time I had seen day old puppies it was very cute. She had five but sadly two passed away. Once we were finished being distracted by the puppies we went in search of dinner which ended up being this restaurant off the beat and track where no one spoke any English and there was no English menu. It was quite an adventure we pretty much got to a section that was fish pointed to an item and moved to another section. Surprisingly we picked good things and had a wonderful feast. In the end it cost us $4 to have dinner.
Day 3:
It started rough today our second class on Grammar was this morning and it didn't get any easier. When I finally made it through that mess I was first up for my second day of dialogues which I think I hit it out of the park. I had a few fumbles but I was really proud of myself. I wasn't nervous doing it but once I sat at my desk I was shaking. I think I am going to like the teaching and getting up in front of the class I just need to know what to present and I will be fine. We went to lunch at the great little guest house again and I accidentally ate some kind of chili which was probably the hottest thing I have ever eaten. My mouth was burning for a good 5 minutes and I was sweating. That night I had awful heart burn but I guess that is understandable. The rest of the day was pretty chill and when we got out of school we decided to go down to the Riverside (tourist area) and walk around before going to the hotel. We stopped at nice little place that had 2 for 1 drafts for a dollar. We had a nice time talking about our lives and what we thought of school and where we wanted to go. It was a nice break from school work. That meal was a little more pricey $5 for some Pad Thai and a beer is a little excessive. We are already getting spoiled here spending more than a dollar or two on food is expensive for us. When I come back to the states I am going to have such a culture shock. Got back from the Riverside pretty early finished my homework and passed out.
Day 4:
This was probably the funnest day I have so far. We did phonetics which I found really interesting and fun. We also talked about our trip for Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. We all were so excited talking about adventures that we didn't even realize class time was over. I had another presentation on reading activities which I think I did really well. I got high marks for praising my students which is something I do when I am nervous so I think it is a good thing I do it. For lunch we went to another guest house that had a beautiful courtyard where we had lunch. It was shady and cool probably the most ideal place to eat in Cambodia it was a bit pricey but I think it was worth it. Now the afternoon sessions were the best especially our last session we had to learn about using drama to teach. So our first activity was grab an item out of a bag and make an infomercial. Some of the ideas people came up with were hilarious. I had tears in my eyes for at least 3 or 4 of the presentations. We then did group acting film genres with dialogue. For example, read a script with four people talking about a robbery but make it a badly edited Kung Fu movie. Some of the guys in my class were so funny and seemed to really enjoy themselves. I had so much to do get ready for Siem Reap that I went out to grab some fruit and street vendor food by the hotel and stayed in the rest of the night finishing up everything.
I really like all the people I am doing this program with. There is 18 of us 9 guys and 9 girls and we have a blast together. I laugh so much during class, on our breaks, or when wandering around the city. There is really no defined cliques or groups amongst us we all get along so well we can hang out with one another with no problem at all. Of course we do break off into our own little pairs and groups but we are not afraid to mix it up. I think had it not been for the group I am with here in Cambodia I am not sure I would have not acclimated to Cambodia so quickly.
Day 1:
It was a normal first day. We had orientation first where we learned exactly what we would be doing in the course and each student learned about our respective countries. It was so exciting to hear about Thailand the other girls and I who will go there were super excited afterwards. We learned ways to teach dialogues to students and also how to start to get your class engaged from the very beginning by learning about some activities that have been proven to work. Of course whenever you start something new you have uncertainties if you will be able to do it. Of course my hesitation is with the lesson planning. Will I know what to teach? Will I teach the right thing? Will I make my lesson plan long enough? All basic fears that I always get when I start something new and once I start doing it I am fine. The afternoon session was spent learning how to do a resume for Southeast Asia. It is a little bit different from the U.S. Where in the U.S we do not put our picture, gender, date of birth, hobbies, and special interests but in Southeast Asia we do. It was odd writing a resume that I had done numerous times before but make it completely different. It wasn't what I had know so it made me pause but in the end it was pretty much the same thing I wrote back in the U.S. just with some added information. I think I want to teach kids in the age range of 7 to 18 years old. I think college kids might be too advanced for me especially with the grammar knowledge and I know kindergarten will probably kill me. so that middle age is the age I feel that I can most relate to. Finally day 1 is done and I am exhausted. It get back to the hotel go in search of food, do my homework and pass out the earliest I have been to bed in months. Who knew school could be so draining.
Day 2:
Today started out about the same as the previous day but of course a lot of us where on edge because today our homework was due and it was teaching dialogue to the class. So after a morning session of acting out dialogues with my classmates we came back from break to do peer teaching evaluations. I think I did really well I was a little nervous not too many critiques but I did use an improper hand gesture so I have to watch that when I am teaching but other than that it was really good. We had lunch at this local guest house and it was really nice. It was outdoor living in a sense there was no front door the dinning area was covered with what looks like a bamboo roof and the kitchen is in the corner. They had really delicious food for a good price. I spent $2.25 for some spring rolls and a bottle of water. Once we got back from lunch it was GRAMMAR and rough doesn't even begin to describe it. I never liked it when I was in elementary school and I still don't like it now. I am just not as quick as some people are with describing clauses, prepositions, adverbials, etc. Finally that hour and half was over and we finished out our day and went home where we found that one of the dogs that lives at our hotel (lucky or lady many names go around the hotel) had puppies that morning. It was the first time I had seen day old puppies it was very cute. She had five but sadly two passed away. Once we were finished being distracted by the puppies we went in search of dinner which ended up being this restaurant off the beat and track where no one spoke any English and there was no English menu. It was quite an adventure we pretty much got to a section that was fish pointed to an item and moved to another section. Surprisingly we picked good things and had a wonderful feast. In the end it cost us $4 to have dinner.
Day 3:
It started rough today our second class on Grammar was this morning and it didn't get any easier. When I finally made it through that mess I was first up for my second day of dialogues which I think I hit it out of the park. I had a few fumbles but I was really proud of myself. I wasn't nervous doing it but once I sat at my desk I was shaking. I think I am going to like the teaching and getting up in front of the class I just need to know what to present and I will be fine. We went to lunch at the great little guest house again and I accidentally ate some kind of chili which was probably the hottest thing I have ever eaten. My mouth was burning for a good 5 minutes and I was sweating. That night I had awful heart burn but I guess that is understandable. The rest of the day was pretty chill and when we got out of school we decided to go down to the Riverside (tourist area) and walk around before going to the hotel. We stopped at nice little place that had 2 for 1 drafts for a dollar. We had a nice time talking about our lives and what we thought of school and where we wanted to go. It was a nice break from school work. That meal was a little more pricey $5 for some Pad Thai and a beer is a little excessive. We are already getting spoiled here spending more than a dollar or two on food is expensive for us. When I come back to the states I am going to have such a culture shock. Got back from the Riverside pretty early finished my homework and passed out.
Day 4:
This was probably the funnest day I have so far. We did phonetics which I found really interesting and fun. We also talked about our trip for Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. We all were so excited talking about adventures that we didn't even realize class time was over. I had another presentation on reading activities which I think I did really well. I got high marks for praising my students which is something I do when I am nervous so I think it is a good thing I do it. For lunch we went to another guest house that had a beautiful courtyard where we had lunch. It was shady and cool probably the most ideal place to eat in Cambodia it was a bit pricey but I think it was worth it. Now the afternoon sessions were the best especially our last session we had to learn about using drama to teach. So our first activity was grab an item out of a bag and make an infomercial. Some of the ideas people came up with were hilarious. I had tears in my eyes for at least 3 or 4 of the presentations. We then did group acting film genres with dialogue. For example, read a script with four people talking about a robbery but make it a badly edited Kung Fu movie. Some of the guys in my class were so funny and seemed to really enjoy themselves. I had so much to do get ready for Siem Reap that I went out to grab some fruit and street vendor food by the hotel and stayed in the rest of the night finishing up everything.
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