Day 106 - It's all about stamina on Wednesday and Don's birthday

Ah, the fun and games!

Day 106 - 07th October

Wednesday means all day at Project C. It's such a great place, an hour away from Siem Reap and I love going out to volunteer with these kids. Of course all the kids are great but this project has a real village vibe to it and I like that.

The morning consisted of only one session so by 10:30 we had a two and a half hour slot to feel. Of course I did some editing whilst DK learned some more English. You could say it's two guys working on their passions, or not! It depends how you think really.

My lunch and writing.

DK's fish was tasty.

DK and one of the teachers took a nap whilst I continued to walk and be badged by the local dogs. They saw my leg as a licking post which had me gently shooing them away before we did the whole act all of over again three minutes later.

Somewhere in there is a teacher!

The afternoon saw us really testing the older kids, having them keep the volleyball off the ground in every game. Any dropping was penalised with ten squats or push-ups. They don't tend to push up and down with their arms, instead opting to push their pelvises into the ground and back up again. It's quite comical to say the least.

On the hour's journey back, DK and I were sitting in silence, tired and worn out from a long day in the sun.

But night was just beginning. It was Don's birthday (Don being a volunteer from Project B). He'd kindly invited me along to his 50th at the Triangle Club and I met some old faces from Project B, a team mate of mine from Big Willy F.C and some new faces from Australia and The Netherlands.

We sat for a good five hours, enjoying beers, eating cake and helping Don celebrate in style. He bought all the beer and wine and everyone dinner so it was so cheap! Thanks Don.

We all gravitated to Pub Street and The Temple Club for dancing. By then, Don was done and dusted but he kept up the celebrations to the end. Top man.

I made my way back to Bou Savy, walking I might add, doing the fifteen minute journey with 15 or so beers inside me and crashed out.

Find out more about Globalteer Sports Project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlobalteerSportsProject

Day 105 - Fail does not appear in my vocabulary!

DK's on a roll!

Day 105 - 06th October

So day two in the week sees us go out to Project B for the day, only coming away from it for a few hours at lunch.

As always, this is a fun environment to be in and the kids always work hard and enjoy our games. I warmed them up with cone related games before DK and Srey Mom taught the lesson and recapped on the last five weeks.

Organising the teams.

The sun came out to play too and I chose to embrace it rather than complain about it. First time for everything aye? 

By lunchtime I was dripping with sweat but I enjoyed a chilled out noodle lunch before heading over to teach DK some more English. This time he was on the money again, ready to learn new vocabulary and pronunciations. I could tell he was nervous about his upcoming exam on Thursday I took to fixing his Skype for him so he didn't have something else to worry about.

He's going to do great, I know he will. He just needs to focus!

In the afternoon, we had a merged session and replayed the same games as we had before with the morning class. Once again, I was left panting and sweating but I never get sick of it.

By the evening, a friendly had been arranged with some Khmers at Samkee. It was a spiky affair, with a couple of the other team members putting in late tackles and elbows to our faces. Dave and I got a little riled and refused to back down but in the end we were narrowly defeated by some lucky deflected goals.

Ah, Big Willy F.C. - like the Tottenham of the Khmer league!

Find out more about Globalteer Sports Project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlobalteerSportsProject

Day 66 - Kids coaching coaches, afternoon raining madness and a night down pub street

New sports shirt for $4, official Adidas, it can't be sniffed at.

Day 66 - 28th August

So it was the last day of the working week and the kids were due to teach us their drills, applying what they had learned in the week. The groups took it one at a time and there were some fantastic drills. My particular favourite was showing awareness of pregnant women, whereby we had to stuff balls up our shirts in simulation then walk like pregnant women in and out of cones and team members. It brought a great sound of approval from the other kids and coaches alike and it was a fitting way to end a brilliant week with CAC and the other Cambodian coaches.

I was given another three hour break before DK and I went to project C and took four back to back lessons. The classes were much smaller than I was normally used to, this time averaging six kids per class. My other fellow volunteers who were teaching were there too and we had some banter with the kids whilst we taught them.

This actually has nothing to do with Cambodia but this picture is awesome so it's going in. Look at the photobomb from the dude behind us.

When the third lesson began, it started to rain as it does daily now - it's wet season of course. The lesson was played out beneath a canopy on concrete and then the final lesson was cancelled because the teacher didn't want the children outside. This didn't stop them.

They were jumping and swimming in puddles, trying to pull DK into the pools of rain eps steer and throwing buckets of water all over him. They also hid his flip flops and then brought me into the game, when a little girl ran up to me and said, 'Teacher, Teacher, do you like being wet?' My response of not being fussed and coming from England so I'm virtually always wet was met with a dousing from a bucket of water from two girls. How can you not laugh along with the kids when they do this?

I was then entertaining a four year old, who spoke better English than I did, by bouncing the ball really high and letting it smack me on the head. He thought it was hilarious and told me to do it again and again. After the twentieth attempt, I felt woozy.

I moved onto another kid, who had burned his foot badly on a fire earlier that week and couldn't walk. I gave him piggyback rides around the yard, from his class to the library, much to his delight. I love this project!

Come 5pm, it was time to leave and I was a little upset. It had been an awesome way to round off my first week as a Globalteer Sport volunteer. I'd taught a few lessons on my own, had great fun with the kids and DK and learned so much. Roll on the next eight weeks I say.

My minced pork baguette for dinner

Back at Chè Bou Savy, I met with Dan. We'd arranged to go out for dinner that evening, whilst Abigail went out with her volunteer colleague from Russia, Lena. We headed to the Red Piano, a quaint little spot on the end of pub street whilst they went to the Banana Leaf.

Our dimly lit pool table that was accompanied with a lady boy.

Later, we all met at the Yellow Submarine ( yes, a Beatles themed bar) for drinks and stories about our projects.

Finally, we headed back and retired to bed. Owe were getting up early (4:30am) for a sunrise visit to Angkor Wat - Jolie, eat your heart out baby!

Day 65 - Pancakes, coaching and cycling in the rain.

Looks like a waffle, tastes like a pancake. This is what I'll be eating for the next 62 days in Cambodia!

Day 65 - 27th August

Thursday and another morning of coaching the kids on the AstroTurf. This was the first breakfast at Bou Savy, I went for the banana pancakes - of course I did.

When we arrived at the AstroTurf, the kids were bouncing around and in great spirits. Hooch, Spring, DK and Srey Mom were harnessing the energy and putting the kids through their paces. Some of them were getting really involved and the news that they would be coaching a lesson themselves in groups tomorrow and would be assessed in a fun way to see how much they had learned and taken away from the week.

Half an hour from the end, they were given a time slot to plan their training session that would have to last 15 minutes or so. We had seven teams - Team Winner, Team Loser, FC FC, Team Cambodia, Team Angkor and a couple of others I've forgotten - sorry kids!

They really embraced the spirit of teamwork and the games that we had played that week, writing down their ideas, pointing out to the field as they plotted their drills and laughing as they did so.

On the way back, Charlie called DK to let him know there would be no afternoon sessions. Another free afternoon for me.

Love a lunchtime beer, here! (Except when working of course, but I had the afternoon off!)

I opted to cycle into the city centre in the pouring rain and send mine and Anne Banana's postcards from the main post office. Trying to get away with Vietnam stamps on them was like trying to walk into a temple with my shoes on. Tut tut, Dan! The cashier did not look impressed.

After, I grabbed some lunch at Viva, the Mexican restaurant on Hospital Street. The burrito was incredible and with an Angkor beer, I was extremely happy.

Viva Mexican, a cracking little spot.

My day went to its peak when I called my Nanna. The sound of her voice was amazing, I've missed her so much. She was genuinely pleased to hear from me, and was telling me about my postcards that she'd received. I'll definitely be calling more often now with my new Cambodian phone.

Look at those beauties!

I then called my sister, Mum and Dad to see how they were doing and then I ate my burrito, bought some new sports clothing and a pair of elephant print trousers. All for $14, so I was now David Dickinson, complete with a tan.

When I arrived back at the guesthouse, I was told we would be having a game that night with the women's team the coaches had put together. Hooch rushed down the vindaloo he'd bought in 15 minutes, telling me he'd be playing centre back tonight.

We were collected by Tuk Tuk and then it all went wrong. Spring forgot her boots, the rain fell from the sky like I've never seen before and we were waiting around in a strobe lighted Tuk Tuk for half an hour waiting for it to pass. It didn't.

The game was cancelled so Hooch and I came back and we went our separate ways for the rest of the evening. Jack and Jill was on Fox Movies and I realised that movies like this were ruining Adam Sandler's career - where are the days of the Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison calibre of films?

Another great day, filled with fun. Bring on the last day of the week!

Day 64 - Fitness, Khmer lessons and volunteer meet ups

A steal at $5.

Day 64 - 26th August

Another early start and I was on my Tuk Tuk heading to the AstroTurf again with DK, Seren and the older guy coach (damn, I wish I'd taken his name). The language barrier had been an issue.

My room is a sweet deal.

We had another great run out with the kids as I observed, ran around with them and tried my best to gather up bibs, balls and boys who were shooting at one of the end goals. The social messages flowed again, today was about domestic abuse and alcohol affects on the ability to play sports successfully. I was fascinated to see the kids engaging on these topic, but also saddened knowing that quite a few had been exposed to these at such a young age.

Following the end of another three hour session, I headed back to Bou Savy for lunch and was texted shortly after by DK to let me know that due to heavy rain, we wouldn't be having any afternoon sessions. This wet season is truly wet! 

Unfortunately though, I didn't see this text and headed out to the office, getting soaked in the two minutes it took me to run to it. I was told I'd have a Khmer language lesson with Vith at 4:30 with the other Dan and Abigail, another English volunteer working in a school. 

After a few hours writing sports articles and reading a little more Papillon, I went back to the office and learned number, basic expressions and a little more about Vith. He is quite an inspiring chap and he told me his dream was to be a tour guide one day, given his knowledge on past Kings of Cambodia. I'm sure a trip with him to Angkor Wat would be worth it's weight in gold.

So they have Batman Tuk Tuk's here. I'm very happy about this.

By 6pm, Dan, Abigail and I headed out into the city centre for dinner. We stopped at a restaurant, which I think was called the Khmer Restaurant (original, I know) that had red and white check table cloths. I had a rice dish with noodles, Dan has BBQ wings and rice (I was envious) and Abigail had an omelette (it looked pretty good).

A quick post dinner walk around the night market saw me haggling for Abigail to get some animal print trousers and another item. We got it down to $6 from $12 I think. 50% off is not to be sniffed at, my mum would be proud!

Before getting back to Bou Savy, we stopped for chocolate and banana pancakes (seriously, it's an addiction now) and I went to Angkor Market (a supermarket) for Oreos and Ritz crackers just to snack on. I pick up a few cans of Fanta, finding a red berry flavour for the first time. It wasn't too bad.

Another long day drew to a close and with WWE and The Taking Of Pelham 123 on Fox Movies, I passed out.