Settling In

It has sunk in now that we are here to work. The weeks have slid by and there is a comfortable routine at the Children's Surgical Centre (CSC). Lunches are spent in their staff canteen where brave Kieran and Sheila get stuck into Cambodian eels and fish paste dishes. A plate of vegetables is brought to Kathryn and I - we can't always crush unidentifiable meat strips into our squeamish cheeks. There are playful kittens at lunchtime too. The tiny black and white one was catching a cockroach between our feet today-it rolled under Kieran's foot. Antennnae tickling his sole.

We have a trainee at the CSC-Samnang. He's an opthamology nurse but will hopefully combine that role with his new job as a Speech and Language Therapy Advisor for Cleft Patients. His english is good and he's keen to learn. We saw a patient together today who was afraid. He had returned for a palate repair aged 16. He sat quietly, nose flaring when asked to speak. Samnang put his arm around our patient, saat shoulder to shoulder with him and chatted and patted him into speech.

Holidays are approaching. Afterwards, a new routine will be established as we start work at the Rabbit School and Nutrition Centre in earnest......