First week at school....

So my first week is up, it is has been fun, exciting and most definitely a new experience. As I've said before, the journey out there takes you past some amazing sights from the temples of angkor to the paddy fields you end up in with buffalo walking past... the school itself has been operating for about three years I think. Built by Helping Hands in order to improve the education possibilities of the students in the village, providing English lessons plus lessons in heath and hygiene, as well as providing breakfast and uniforms etc. All the money to do this has been provided by donoations to Helping Hands, remarkable really.

This week I was assisting the afternoon teacher, Sopeap, in teaching two classes of students. The first are slightly younger, I think from about 9-12, and the second class are slightly older again, up to about 14 I think. They all look quite a bit younger than you would expect, which is either due to cultural differences or me getting the wrong end of the stick and they are actually younger!!

Each day Tia, the HH driver who has been taking me all week, and I arrive at about 3pm. Usually the school is locked up until Sopeap arrives so I sit there trying to talk to the kids who shyly smile at me and then laugh. They are really v cute, with a nice mixture of cheeky. There is also a kindergarten class taught by a nice lady called Soavanna, where they are learning their khmer ABC's, not english. so when you arrive it feels like there are hundreds of kids all running around all over the place. The little ones following the older ones, the girls holding hands and congregating near the door, the boys all chasing each other and getting water from the water pump (the lego looking thing pictured). These seem like very happy kids which is lovely to see.

When Sopeap arrives the kids pour into the classroom, the girls all then sweep the room of dust! They all have different jobs namely sweeping, getting water from the pump, watering the plants (the school growns vegetables to put into their breakfast programme), monitoring the library... it is nice to see kids who are all so dedicated and hardworking. they are still kids though, practically every day i have seen the boys chasing the girls around the room with some sort of insect they have found, making the girls scream, It makes me laugh to think how we are all the same really. I just hope one day it isn't a spider or I will be screaming too!

Sopeap is a very good teacher, even though he is young and still studying himself. He is from the village himself and in his own words from 'a very poor family' and has to support his family as much as he can, from his own salary (which by our standards is tiny). I am in awe of the hard work I have seen by so many people here, and the dedication they have to supporting their families and bettering their lives.

On tuesday Sopeap was late due to a family emergency (this was unheard of as he had never been late before!). Unsure what to do I dragged Tia, the driver, in to help me with the lesson. He is a really nice and funny guy, with pretty good English. All in all it was actually hilarious. Between the two of us we cobbled together a lesson about family members, at one point I asked all the kids to draw their families. They all looked blankly at us and Tia said they had never drawn before, but they seem to enjoy it when they got going, all chatting animatedly. Fortunately Sopeap eventually arrived which was good - I am definitely glad I am assisting!! Unlike scores of people I know I will not be changing careers to go into teaching fulltime anytime soon!

Still, I really enjoyed it. The heat was intense at points, one day I had completely soaked through my clothes and had sweat literally pouring off me (poor kids- must think these sweaty white poople so strange!) but as I discovered on my ride home on friday, the rainy season is here.... We got poured on as a huge storm erupted, the lightening here lighting up the red sky is quite phenomenal... and it seems to be raining every night since. But I am not complaining, I am English after all, and at least it has cooled down!!!