Day 151 - Just Another Day in Paradise, aye Phil?

The hut, OK, mine's behind but it still counts

Day 151 - 21st November

So waking up with ocean rolling in just outside my room was a welcomed treat. I stepped out on my mini porch and just breathed in the ocean air. Not a bad start to the day.

I had breakfast in the New Hut restaurant and they told me I couldn't plug in my laptop to charge. That was going to be problem given I was planning to take a week out to do some writing. As all English people do, I just smiled, thanked them for at least indulging the idea before paying for my breakfast.

Haven't a clue who they are - they ruined my bloody shot!

I wrote for most of the day on my porch and bloody loved every second of it. It was so nice to be settled and enjoying what I loved most whilst the sun warmed my feet which were perched on the banister. Not a bad way to spend a day.

I went for a curry at the same place we went to a few days early and had a delicious Makkasan curry on recommendation for the owner. It was awesome with nuts and a creamy sauce on white rice. Not bad for three quid.

Love that Chang

Afterwards, I popped across to an Irish pub and had a Guinness, oh sweet Guinness. The barman offered me free pork scratchings with 119 Baht Changs in litre glasses. I had a few whilst I watched United vs Watford and enjoyed a little relaxation.

Who said travelling was boring - nobody, ever!

Day 93 - National holiday = a day off!

The view from The Sun. Not too shabby, aye?

Day 93 - 24th September

So a day off and it's nothing to do with the rain. Hurrah! (Cheers Charlie).

Need I say more?

I had a pretty awesome noodle soup for breakfast - a pleasant change to start the day - whilst I did a little blogging and worked on my latest book ideas. Always ticking along with something new.

Afterwards, I decided to do some exercise, taking to do lengths in the pool. No one else was in there so I took advantage. It was nice to just take a few hours to do something fun. To dry off, I laid in the sun and read my book. 

Pre-sunburn.

Stupidly, I forgot my sun cream so I ended up like a lobster on my chest and legs. That'll teach me!

I set off downtown in search of some food. As I cycled, I heard a repetitive, chugging sound coming from the front of my bike. It continue for ten minutes until I reached Pub Street. A quick check revealed that I had a flat tyre! Nuts.

After calling my coordinator, Rebecca, Mr Mut came out from Globalteer with a replacement for me (he's a good man). As a thanks, I gave him $5 for his phone credit. Not quite even but it was the least I could do for his troubles.

I headed to The Sun for a Cuba Libre and then had an awesome lamb burger with mint dressing and salad. You can't beat it!

Don from Project B swung by toward 5:30 pm and he had a couple of Mango Margaritas whilst I kept him company. I found out he had lived in Singapore for a few years before moving further North to Siem Reap, where he was volunteering at the project. It's only when you sit down with people, away from the hustle and bustle that you really get to know them.

I had to shoot off at 6:15pm to get to my weekly six-a-side game over at Samakee Market. We were playing a big side in Carlton Palmer F.C. The rain had fallen so the pitch was greasy, ready for slick passes.

I scored first to make it four in four before Charlie added two more long rangers and Alex scored an audacious header over a 6ft 2 keeper. We were cruising at four - nil, playing a high tempo, so it was only understandable that we relaxed and felt tired a bit more than usual. Carlton Palmer saw this and nicked two goals back but we held out for a great win. Colin's double goal line clearance in addition to Yanni's strong defending, Boreth's great goalkeeping and Nico's tricks made it all the more a satisifying win with well deserved beers afterwards.

GET IN THERE BIG WILLY F.C.

What a day, and I relaxed for a few hours before nodding off, ready for the eight sessions at Project D on Friday!

Day 86 - Wet lessons and cup games

After a huge run around. But I scored again!

Day 86 - 17th September

The rain came again, waking me up at 5:30am. So I put the early wake up to good use, working on the  admin tasks set for me and doing a little editing on my script.

I set off with DK for our project at 7:30am. My buddy gave me another one of those coconut cakes to enjoy along the way.

The kids are getting to know me now, which is good. They come up, yelling my name and high five me. What's not to love about this volunteering malarky?

Our first lesson was uninterrupted and faultless, with DK leading on the main part of the lesson and me focusing on the warm up. Having the kids jump from cone to cone and laughing as they do so makes me laugh and feel happy about this opportunity in my life. Things seem so much simpler as a kid, which I know for some of these children is not the case, but they make it look so effortless and carefree.

Our second session brought rain, so we only managed my brief warm up before we were back in the classroom, teaching them about the importance of family. DK is really flourishing with his English and is vocabulary is building fast. I am a proud teacher!

After our morning sessions were complete, I headed back to Bou Savy for lunch.

Once digested, I went to the office for our weekly social impact lesson with Charlie, recapping on the week's progress and analysing the results. We had some different answers from one school and one orphanage for obvious reasons.

My awesome student, DK.

Following this lesson, I took DK for his English lesson. Again, his reading of English is developing well and I'll genuinely be sad when I have to leave. It's been great fun. But I still have five weeks left so I'm ecstatic about that!

I had to cancel my Khmer lesson that I'd been looking forward to all day to go to a local travel agent to sort out my visa. It expires Sunday so I've renewed, in the hope that a. They don't lose my passport and b. I don't get arrested in the next six days which is when they return it to me.

The evening rolled around quickly and I was soon at Samakee Market and the AstroTurf for Big Willy F.C.'s cup game. The team we faced up against was the team we had lost to on my debut so I had a personal score to settle. I'd scored in that game but it had only been a consolation at 4-1.

We went down 1-0 fairly early on, but they were lucky to get away with a handball in the build up. We were knocking on the door constantly, hitting the post and the keeper at any opportunity. Finally, we had a break through in the last couple of minutes remaining. I drove a low shot through a crowd of players to equalise. I was pretty pleased, displaying this to my team mates with a pump of the fist and some choice words.

Then the game went to penalties. We lost in sudden death. Always a cruel way to go out but we played really well so there are lots of positives to take away (and that's not code for we were shite!)

Back at Bou Savy, I did my laundry and Skype'd my brother, Lee and his wife, Siobhan.

What a day! 

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

Day 72 - Morning lessons, English teaching sessions and debut for Big Willy F.C

This is how I roll to my volunteer work these days - on a Tuk Tuk.

Day 72 - 03rd September

So I started my day off right with a banana pancake. I ate rapidly as I headed closer to my project and when we pulled up, the kids swamped us, trying to get the balls and cones. 

The new project was busy with children of all ages but soon DK and I had them all in lines, running our drills and having fun. Volleyball is actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

I'm finding that the kids are giving us a good range of child rights, with each NGO providing its own unique feedback to us. Whilst some opt for the mainstream rights like education, food, health etc, others are finding new answers like improvement to the community, respecting culture and gaining sponsorship for a better life. It's quite interesting to be a part of.

The unprepared shot.

L-R: Srey Mom, DK, Sitha and Vith.

After the morning sessions, we headed back to Globalteer where I took an afternoon English lesson with DK again to review his evening assignment. This time, we had new participants, in the form of Srey Mom, Sitha and Vith. I was happy to oblige. 

We went through connecting words and tenses. They all grasped the idea quickly and it was actually great fun to teach adults so English. DK's assignment was really good, a few grammatical errors as expected, but on the whole, he's on good form to learn the bits of English he will need to help him progress.

They even gave me my lucky number!

Later that night, I had my debut for Big Willy F.C. - my boss, Charlie's team. We lost narrowly 3-1, having had many chances but I did managed to get on the score sheet to add a consolation so it was a good start with my new team. A few more games together and I'm sure we'll be picking up points.

Well, what a day. Again, but I'm seriously loving Cambodia at the moment! I don't want it to end.

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

Day 63 - First day working at Globalteer

I'm a globalteerer!

Day 63 - 25th August

Early start. I'm used to getting up and jumping on a night bus at 4am but getting up to work again is a strange feeling.

I headed to the Globalteer office to meet my coach, DK. He is a 22 year old, joker of the pack. Perfect for me to learn from and assist with coaching sessions. 

For my first week, our normal itinerary was changed because Coaches Across Continents (CAC) was in town for the week - CAC are a program based in the U.S. who coach different groups of people around the world, including children.

Turner (nicknamed Hooch) and his co-coach, Spring were soccer coaches from North Carolina and St Louis respectively. They were coaching the kids and the Cambodian coaches who were learning new techniques to engage with youth trainers and to ensure children taking sports classes received a social message that affects everyday Cambodian life. Specific topics included health and wellbeing, safe sex and HIV, drugs and alcohol, and domestic violence. Powerful stuff but the way in which the coaches approached these issues was great.

We conducted a few drills in a circle before we opened up into heading and passing games. The kids were great, laughing and running around without a worry on their mind. It was amazing to be a part of. I also met another coach I'd be working with - Srey Mom. She was joking around and laughing so I knew we'd be having a giggle at some point in the future.

By the time the three hour session, running from 8 to 11 had finished, I was told by DK I'd have a break until 2:15pm, when we would head out to our afternoon lessons. It was a strange concept to me, taking a break during the middle of a working day but honestly, given the heat, I was glad to get out of the sun!

I headed back to Bou Savy, grabbed some spinach with rice and pork and relaxed for a while. I began my book, Papillon - a true story of Henrì Charriere and his time in French Guiana (if you get a chance, read it or watch the film with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, you won't be disappointed) - and let the hours drift away.

When I headed back out, DK, Srey Mom and I visited two places - we'll called them site A and site B. At site A, the kids were introduced to me as a teacher and I observed as DK took our half of the 30 or so class. Srey Mom took the others to another part of the yard. 

We played the circle games again, asking kids to do funny warm ups and name their favourite kinds of fruits, countries, best friends names etc. once the first fifteen minutes had passed, we set up three teams of 6 and they faced off against each other on their concrete yard complete with goals and basketball hoops. 

Before I knew it, 60 minutes had passed and we were packing up to leave. That was my first real lesson done. A memory I shall never forget.

We headed to site B, a slightly bigger school with a sand volleyball court. Srey Mom wasn't feeling too good so DK introduced me to the class, and they asked me questions - my name, age, birth place, if I had a girlfriend (that was strange from a group of 5 - 16 year olds) - and then DK asked me to take one half of the class, applying the things I'd learned from earlier in the day whilst he took the other.

I was a little nervous but before I knew it, I had all the boys playing football, 6 on 6 in four separate teams. It was good to see them getting a little competitive. DK took the girls to play volleyball on the sand pitch. We tried to get them to mix but they were adamant they wanted to play the sports they had chosen. A challenge we'll have to tackle in the coming weeks.

As I refereed the game, I realised how great kids could be - they were well behaved, letting each team take their turn without interference, even if they were bored and when one kid fell down, another would pick him up and pat him on the back before they continued.

By the time an hour was up, I was wishing for another hour. They boys had been awesome and it just reaffirmed my good decision to take up this project. *Haggling for likes alert* - Check out the Globalteer Sports Page on Facebook and like it. It is such a great and worthy cause, making hundreds of underprivileged kids happy in Cambodia and it could use a bit more exposure! Thanks. 

FOLLOW HERE - https://www.facebook.com/GlobalteerSportsProject

When I returned to Bou Savy, I was told that there was a football game on at an AstroTurf across town. It was my Sport Manager Charlie's team, who wanted to play against Hooch, Spring, me and the other coaches. I've missed competitive football so much so I jumped at the chance.

By 6:30, I was in a Tuk Tuk, suited in my new United shirt and Adidas trainers and headed to the pitch. By 7:15, we were on and Charlie's team gave us a lesson - the score was 11-3 (they play together regularly so our mixed together team did pretty well considering). We were unlucky too and I carry a large share of the blame after missing six or seven great chances - the bloody thing just wouldn't go in, hitting the post, bar, keeper, a gecko on the line and anything else ridiculous you can think of. Next time!!!

Back at Bou Savy, I had a quick dinner then showered and headed to bed. I was finished for the day. 

My first day on the project was successful and if the standard was anything to go by, I knew I was in for a treat!