Day 108 - End of week and then vacation time!

Time to teach again!

Day 108 - 09th October

So the final day of the working week before the Pchum Ben festival begins.

The day was hot but I was looking forward to teaching our last day of volleyball. We headed to Project D and set up our first few lessons with lots of free playing, games and just good fun. The kids were tired by the end so we knew we were doing something right.

Huok (sounds like Hulk), one of the teachers was talking to me about the differences in Cambodia compared to England. He was curious to know what we do, how we study at university (hadn't a clue, I've never been) and how we live our social lives. One thing I have learned here in Cambodia and that's that the people are very family orientated. Everything they do is for the good of their parents and siblings, which is always great to see. Sometimes though it makes me feel a little sympathy because so many don't dare to dream or try something for their own good. I totally respect what they do for family but it makes me wonder how unfulfilled they might be deep down.

Anyway, as things were going well, we taught our final two lessons of the morning in the same fashion as the previous two. They kids whacked volleyballs about and whacked each other if they did something wrong in the group (in a playful way of course).

At lunch, I tucked into a noodle soup before heading back to the office for pick up to go to our four afternoon sessions. And then it happened, again. Everytime DK and I get together in the afternoons, it rains! Without fail!

So the rest of the afternoon was spent teaching on and off and mostly standing beneath a shelter talking to Huok. Again we covered ground on social differences between our countries, his plans for Pchum Ben and teaching techniques (don't ask why he asked me, he must have thought I knew what I was doing).

By the evening, I'd settled in with a curry and Meet the Fockers on Fox Movies. To be honest, I was knackered after the day so didn't want anything heavy.

By the time it finished, I was face down in a pillow, gone to the world! I am getting old.

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!

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Day 69 - first official Monday teaching

Look at that baby go!

Day 69 - 31st August

So after a great weekend, I was ready to begin again with Globalteer.

I changed up my breakfast habit with a fruit salad, complete with Apple, Banana and Pineapple. I'll openly admit I missed the pancake.

I met with DK and Charlie for our morning sports meeting. Srey Mom was on leave for the week so we discussed how I was going to do the 15 minute warm ups with the kids which would then be followed by DK's child rights session, the object being to ask the kids what they think their rights are as a child whilst infusing it with sport - the next five weeks being volleyball.

Told you.

I was introduced to my new Tuk Tuk driver of the week, Vimol. Quiet but a nice guy. He filled up on petrol on the way out at a ready made gas station - kids come out with glass bottles of petrol to fill up the tanks. It's astounding.

We headed to school D for afternoon sessions, an hour drive from Bou Savy. 

School D is very remote, a long way out of the city, in the heart of the countryside. The kids here were so much fun, some of the younger ones are incredibly adorable and innocent in their ways, trying to get involved whilst the bigger kids either let them or just take control. 

All the kids are fantastic and it just makes it so easy to work with them.

I set up drills, whereby each team split into two and one went to one end of the yard, the other to the far end. One by one, they had to push the ball above their heads, making their way across the yard until they reached a team mate. This would continue, back and forth until everyone had been. Some were really good, others not so much but the main thing was they had fun.

I then asked them to do it in pairs, then threes and then finally as a group. They loved it, screaming excitedly and laughing as they did so. DK and I joined in with them and it was a great first real warm up for me.

When we finished, we had another class, but as per usual, the rain came down, and I mean came down. It was almost hail, so we retreated to one of the classrooms where a spelling contest was unfolding. The kids involved, six of them, knew there could only be three winners and all their classmates were getting behind them. It was great fun to watch!

On the way back, Vimol became stuck in the rain and mud so DK and I had to push him out of it.

Finally, we made our way back to Bou Savy. I met up with Dan and Abigail and we went for dinner at a small restaurant, just off of pub street. The noodles were incredible.

Afterwards, we went to Angkor What?, a backpackers bar and had beers and cocktails. And then the madness began...

I went to Angkor supermarket, picked up two packets of Cream-O cookies and went to town. Within five minutes, the first packet was gone (I did share though). By the time I went to sleep, the second was almost gone. I've got to stop buying them because they are so addictive.

After a long day of puddle jumping, Tuk Tuk pushing and cookie scoffing, I passed out.

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

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.