TO MARKET..... TO MARKET.....

On Saturday the girls and I visited the local market, THE ONLY place to buy fruits, vegetables, and meats in town! Going to the market is always an EXPERIENCE!! PE and Baby Girl held their noses due to the sour smells in the air. They just could not handle the raw meat and seafood smell that lingered in the air! We saw lots for sale! Live baby chicks, pig heads, various animal body parts and organs, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Personally I love going to the market, as each time I go it is truely a learning experience and very "eye opening" to see how the Khmer culture lives. All I can say is W O W !!

FROGS 4 SALE!!!

Two children came by the school the other day selling fresh fried FROGS!!!! The teachers were very excited and bought quite a few to eat for lunch! Baby Girl asked me to buy a frog for her and, like a good Mommy, I DID! She ate the frog and enjoyed it.......(she got the love for strange food from her Daddy)!!

FLAT TIRE

This morning we had a flat tire on the double jogger stroller ~~walked to school with a flat tire.....got it fixed. Now this afternoon a different tire is flat! That will be the task at hand Saturday morning!! (The tires are getting HOLES in them......?????!!!!!).

LOTS OF CHANGES

We will have a new bus (van) driver beginning next week! Also, this weekend, the walls between the two side by side classrooms will be knocked down to make a larger classroom. The "administrator" of the school promises it will only take two days and school will resume on Monday. Can you believe that?? NOT ME!!!! Will be interesting........

UPDATE!!!!! The wall was knocked down over the weekend and now we have a much larger classroom!!! WOW!! I never imagined the work could be done in two days!!!! YEAHHHH!!

HIRING NEW TEACHERS

Two teaching assistants were hired this week. They are Sue Singleton's former English students. One of the girls assisted me all week~~she was awesome!! Next week another teaching assistant will begin. The idea is to train them to be teachers!! The school is growing fast. When I was here in March (2011), there were about 35 students. Now there are about 70!!!!!! The school has been open for almost one year. Next week will be the last week of the school year. The new school year will begin September 12th.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE?????

Do you ever wonder if you are really making a difference? I was just thinking that yesterday, and it was as if someone read my mind! One of the teachers shared with me that my timing on this trip was perfect....that there are changes they are making in the school and they need my guidance and input. WOW! I felt revived! I am glad to be here and be able to share the gift I have been given....of EDUCATION!

The time I chose to come to Cambodia was the ONLY time this fall I could possibly come~~juggling plane fares and availability. Just arriving back from a three month holiday in the good ole USA, I only had TEN days to get over jet lag, unpack my FIFTEEN suitcases (filled with Christmas and birthday gifts for the girls~~and a year's supply of clothing, shoes, etc.....), and get on the plane AGAIN this time heading to Cambodia for a month with the girls. I knew it would be a difficult task, but I knew I could do it.....it really was God's timing. It wasn't MY timing. God's timing is not always convenient or comfortable. Sometimes it is not even what WE want......but He has a plan for all of us, and we have to trust in Him and know that we will be taken care of.

POT LUCK DINNER WITH TEACHERS

Last night I hosted a pot luck dinner with the teachers from the school. There are seven of us. We had vegetable soup, spicy (green) long beans, green beans, some kind of other greens ~~no one could tell me what it was in English!!, and RICE, RICE, RICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone had a great night of fellowship and it was lots of FUN!! I will host a pot luck dinner every Friday night while in Cambodia.

Baby Girl's New Friend

This is Issac! He and Baby Girl love playing together every afternoon at school!

MOST INTERESTING SIGHT IN WEEK 1

The most interesting sight in week 1 in Kampong Thom, Cambodia, was a man with a towel wrapped around his waist, sweeping his front yard with a broom! The front yard was pure dirt/sand~~no grass. He was sweeping the yard like he was sweeping a porch!

Our Cook, MON

Mon is our cook. She is an awesome cook!!! On Monday night we came home to steamed chicken, delicious green beans that had a "pickle" taste to them, and rice. We stopped on the side of the road to buy a small loaf of fresh french bread to go along with the dinner! MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmm, good!!!

On Tuesday night, Mon cooked tomatoes stuffed with pork!! How delicious!!! And of course, RICE!!!!

I can't wait till we get home at night to see what Mon has cooked!!!! It's always a surprise and it is always delicious!!!

More Changes in Class Size!!

I am now also teaching a class in the afternoon. These are the oldest students, ranging in ages 9-16!!!!!! It's a true one room school house and I am the teacher!! These students attend local school, and are only attending Clever Child International School for the "summer session". Their English is pretty good. WOW, what an easy group compared to my morning class!!!!!! This is like teaching first grade (only because they are just LEARNING English~~they are ALLLLL very smart students!). The first day I modeled writing for them~~I wrote about myself. Then I had the students draw a picture of themselves and then write about themselves, so I could learn more about them! We worked on spelling various words using letter blocks, and then played a game of identifying items that were "same" and "different". Later, I read them the story, Danny and the Dinosaur (An I Can Read book), which they loved!! They laughed at Danny riding on the dinosaur!! Today we will work on rhyming words!! I love teaching!!!!!!!

Changes in Class Size!!

After observing a full day at school, the teachers and I all agreed that
"Classroom 1" needed to be divided!! There were 18 two, three, and four year olds in a room that was about ten feet by ten feet. I could not even move around the tables to get around in the classroom!!! SOOOOOOOOO.....I will teach half of the class!! That will be my morning class. I am teaching the ABC's, numbers, colors, shapes, and counting. We sing songs and move around. THESE LITTLE ONES HAVE SOOO MUCH ENERGY!!! It's just like having 9 Ellis' around!!!! They pop up and down, run out the door, constantly are into my teaching material, have to go potty, need a drink, and anything else you could imagine!!! I am totally WORN OUT at 11:00 when class is over!!!! The children are learning English, so they speak to me Khmer all the time and I just nod my head or say "OK"......I have no idea what they are telling me....and they don't really know what I am saying!!! One thing I know is that when hug one of these beautiful Cambodian children,and give him a smile, I have made his day!! And when he smiles back at me, he has made MY day!!

DAY 2- School

The school hours are 8:00-11:00 for the first session, then 2:00-5:00 for the second session. The walk to school was very short~~about 6 minutes. All of the teachers greeted us and welcomed us back for another visit. The children were precious!! This is Baby Girl's first school experience!! She had a good day, but did a lot of scribbling, and the other children did a great job of coloring in the lines!! She also learned to write the letter "D". She did okay with that, but then scribbled all over her paper! Guess that was more fun!! I will save her work to note how much progress she makes while we are here.

We walk "home" for the lunch break, then walk back to school for the second session, then back "home" at the end of the day.......to rest, relax, shower, and get ready for the next school day!! Tomorrow morning I will start teaching a set group of children. Excited!! Gotta get busy planning!!!!

DAY 1 - Shelter of Love

Today we went to church at Shelter of Love (you can google to find out more information), and had a great time. Of course the service was in Khmer so I didn't understand it!! Ha, ha!!! The girls had a great time playing with old and new friends.

After dinner, I took the girls on a stroller ride around the town. You would not believe the STARES I got! First of all, we were WHITE. Second of all, THE STROLLER!! To see causasians walking around town in this area is not so common, and the people in this area do not own strollers! Many people stopped to "talk" with us and take a look at the girls! We even had little girls and boys riding bikes follow us almost all the back to where we are staying!

It's amazing how deeply you can communicate with someone by just eye contact and a smile! I love Cambodian people!!

After our stroller ride adventure, we took showers, and were IN BED by 7:30!!!! Sooooo tired!! I think the heat played a part in our lack of energy, since it was 110degrees yesterday!!!!! It is really hot. My body is constantly wet. It is not such a great feeling!

We flew into Phenom Penn, and our driver took me to a grocery store to stock up!!! There is no grocery store in Kampong Thom. This province is about a three hour drive from Phenom Penn. So it is waaaaaayyyyyyy out in the countryside. The local market has fruits, vegetables, and meats for sale. The market is quite an eye opening experience........it's not easy for me to shop there. Sometimes it is difficult to even find TOILET PAPER! WHY??? This is a third world country in Asia! It's amazing that as Americans we don't realize what "luxuries" we have that we take for granted!! In America, we really do HAVE IT ALL!!

We have a cook that will cook our dinners for us while in Cambodia, for $25 a week~~you can't beat that!!

MISSION TRIP

My girls and I will live in Kampong Thom, Cambodia for ONE MONTH!! This is a dream come true for me....to live the life of the Khmer people and imerse myself in their culuture. I will be working at a school every day teaching and training teachers. My top priority on this visit is to implement a science curriculum. PE and Baby Girl will attend school where I am teaching. I brought my wonderful baby jogger double stroller with me so I could push the girls to school to and from school. This makes life a little easier, as I don't have to worry about them walking along the busy streets, dodging orange clay mudholes (it's rainy season here~~so lots of standing water).

I have been sweating uncontrollably since we arrived 2 days ago!! There is no air at the school, or at Shelter of Love (a center for children who either have no parents or parents who can not take care of them). My face is literally dripping and it feels as if someone is pouring water down my back.........EEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!! I bet I smell good too~~ha, ha!!!

NEW SCHOOL YEAR, 2011-2012!!

PE started school on August 15, 2011. She is going to the same school where she was last year, EtonHouse International School. PE is in FIRST GRADE!!!!! I can hardly believe it!!!! She has an awesome teacher this year from South Africa. She is excited about this school year, and has already made new friends!

HELLO AGAIN!!!!!

Sorry EVERYONE for not keeping up with my blog!!!! I have not blogged in almost TWO YEARS!!!!! I got really busy in Singapore with various organizations and activities and made AWESOME friends, so that left me no time for blogging!!! I will try now to keep things updated. It makes it so much easier for me to do it this way rather than sending lots of different emails to everyone!!!! So, as of today, Monday, August 22, I will try to blog on a regular basis!!!