You know when you walk through an airport and see sleeping bodies under blankets and think 'that doesn't look comfortable' I can now confirm that it's not! After a 7hour wait in Bangkok airport I got my flight to Siem Reap at 9am. I thought it was a one hour flight but turns out it was only 35mins, yet we still had breakfast (fruit, yoghurt, muffin and a peach pastry!); I don't think I've ever eaten so fast in my life let alone drunk my tea at such a temperature before! the safety video started off with a corny and hilarious pop video of the air hostesses. no idea what they were singing but it was pretty cringeworthy!! during the landing Cambodian music played, the land was so green and flat as a pancake, not what I expected at all. I don't know if I was extremely tired or just so excited at the thought of having culture back in my life but I felt rather choked up; leavings going to be interesting!
The airport was beautiful and tiny, hopefully i'll get a picture of it when I leave. this happy moment was short lived thanks to the stroppy man inside on visa control. luckily I got through quickly with a few more stamps in my passport, blates overtaken you now Gracie!
having not had much communication back from the organisation I assumed I would have to make my own way to the guest house but I was greeted by Mark, one of the Aussie volunteers, and Mr Kom, our Tuk Tuk driver. I think I grinned like a Cheshire cat the whole way to the guest house, feeling strangely content and at home!
My next nice surprise was finding out a had a room to myself, complete with 2 double beds, tv, fridge, air con, wardrobe, en-suite...and flush!
I had a few hours to settle in and catch up on sleep before the afternoons orientation round the town and meeting some of the other volunteers. I don't think any of us felt any the wiser having driven around town! myself, Katie (Australian), Grace and Jess (Cambridge) stayed in town and got some food. the menus were enormous and the pictures looked like they'd been googled or cut out if magazines. nonetheless it was really tasty, and cheap YAY!!
After wondering round the market we decided we'd all earnt a foot scrub and massage having travelled so far, and for $3 it was hard to say no! the results were amazing, getting there though a tad embarrassing! my lady was really put to work scrubbing the inches of thick skin off my heels, made a little awkward as she kept looking at me with one of those smiles that says 'you seriously expect me to get rid of all this?!' then she'd put her scrubber down and get her nails in. yummy!!

we got our Tuk Tuk back to the guest house at 6ish and retired to our rooms. I don't think any of us resurfaced til breakfast! everyone was having scrambled eggs for breakfast but I decided to go for the Khmer breakfast as we're here! I had beef and fried vegetables, mango and pineapple, and porridge. which was actually more like boiled rice still in the water which was actually weirdly tasty!
For our first morning we got Tuk tuks to the school, we met some of the staff and had a tour around. about 2years ago the school was relocated to where it is now. it was originally down in the village and extremely basic, we're being shown around there on Thursday. the new school is lovely, next to it is a training restaurant and the medical centre. across the lane is a new playground, a bicycle maintenance shop, a vegetable patch and parking for the students bikes.
we were then split off in to classrooms, school hours are 8am-10.30am then 2pm-6pm. Katie and I spent the morning with the kindergarten. I think they're about 3-6yrs and rather free range! very different to our schools: it's clear that the kids are pretty streetwise as they don't moan, grass people in to the teacher, are much better at tidying up after themselves and are quite happy to get from a to b by walking over the tables. it was abit like being in the jungle, complete with screeching!! the teaching style is how I imagine it used to be done: the class sit on a mat in front of the board which has words and pictures on. the teacher says the word (and bangs a stick on the board) and they repeat it for a good 20minutes before going to write it up in their workbooks. having taught this lesson 3 times in one day ill be amazed if I don't shout 'spider' and 'grasshopper' in my sleep! Claire, another volunteer from london, broke the word down for them, starting 'gr' she'd committed herself to saying 'ass' repeatedly, much to our amusement at the back of the class! saying that, I was very impressed with their reading and writing skills, especially in another language. I don't think I know many four year olds that can write and spell 'grasshopper' in the own language let alone someone else's!
At lunchtime we sat outside the restaurant and met the man that set the project up. all education and medical services are free thanks to the fundraising from further afield, it's provided for the children and families who live in Mondul3, where the old school is. we made use of the restaurant and had a delicious lunch. I also got to know Avril and Geoff, a lovely husband and wife from Wales.
After eating we returned back to the shade outside with the rest of our group; Chris, Sue-Ellen and Hannah are all doctors from Australia that had come here to work in the medical centre. Geoff was talking to Hannah about his chest infection, this seemed to have provided Sue-Ellen the opportunity to question what was on my arms, totes stole Geoff's lime light!
I told her the story and that in Australia a doctor told me it was impetigo, have me medicine and I now thought it looked much much better. apparently the the trainee eye it really isn't! after all having a good look, including the student doctors, and taking pictures I am now a living case study. oh. and it's SCABIES!!!! a rather eventful lunch time for me, I headed back to my classroom with a list of medicines to pick up on my way home.
in the afternoon we have another kindy class for two hours then two classes, one hour each, of children aged 17-24. they're all amazed that none of us are married and that we still live at home. I think they were more amazed that Avril was even alive which was some what sobering!
one of the students asked for 'help with his future plans' followed by the sentence 'I want to be a gay' after breaking down this language barrier without laughing or looking to confused we later worked out that he meant 'guide' priceless!
School finished at 6pm and we were given out bicycles, it was getting dark quickly and we had no lights and Geoff and I had to go via the pharmacy. negotiating the traffic is actually a fun challenge so long as you commit to where you're going! negotiating the potholes on the last track home was not so fun!
I spent the evening in with my ointments. I had to first shower for 5minutes with a 'scabibar' which smelt like Stilton!! I then had to slather myself in 'scabiderm' and sleep in it. it burnt like hell. I had to sleep like a starfish to stop myself from scratching. I washed it off in the morning and took my million pills, I was sooooooo itchy.
when I got to school that afternoon the doctors were asking me if I was really itchy. :-0 they all knew! and none of them warned me! b******s! apparently it's the mites dying. bleugh!

my classes words for the day were 'lizard' 'buffalo' 'bat, ball and bench'. at the end of the lesson I was reading the class a story. one of the children sat stroking my legs...I thought I'd get away with not shaving them for 2weeks out here!!!
we cycled a different way home last night, going through the edge of the village where the children live. it's more like the shanty town I was expecting to see. I wanted to stop and take pictures but it didn't feel appropriate. on Thursday however we are being shown around the old school and the village. Claire, who's been here a week already, says it will change my perception of the project. at the moment I don't feel as though I'm contributing much as they have a great learning environment and seem so happy, but then why shouldn't they be happy!

that evening we all went out for dinner and to watch the local dancing. the novelty wore off pretty swiftly, it's not the most exciting of shows! remembering it was shrove Tuesday we went in search of pancakes. banana and Nutella. yum!

this morning I had breakfast with Avril and Geoff. they asked more specifically where I was from, turns out their daughters boyfriend is from Cirencester! anyone know Dave Wallace?! they also know John and Jackie(?!) Hughes who are part-owners of the white hart in ashton!

Time for my next sweaty cycle ride to School, will put some pix up later.