Cambodia, 2 Dec 2006 --

So at the end of week one, things have definitely gotten better here in Sihanouk Ville (that’s really how they spell it). I’ve done a few more field visits, but I only had two grueling 13 hour days before the program manager at CCBO gave me a reprieve, saying that I looked “very, very tired.”

I am very grateful that I had this opportunity, even though it has been pretty difficult so far and has put me outside of my comfort zone. Andris and I are always trying to “get off the beaten path” and to get to know the locals better, and I have definitely managed to be successful here on both counts. On Tuesday we took a very small boat to an island that is surrounded by a mangrove forest with only one small channel in and out. Only thirty families live there, and I got to meet their village chief and sit in on the class at the informal school CCBO and UNESCO pay for. I also have gotten to know the CCBO staffers (I even got asked out by one, which was awkward) and learned a tremendous amount about Cambodia and it’s many problems. CCBO does great work and I’m glad I’m able to contribute something to their organization.

Thanks to everyone for your great teaching suggestions! The most common suggestion was to teach them a song, which was brilliant, and on Friday I taught songs to the beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes I’ve been teaching. For the beginner class, I taught “10 little monkeys,” which I had ten of the smaller students reenact, “B-I-N-G-O”, and “Old MacDonald.” As it turns out, there is a Cambodian version of Old MacDonald but instead of Old MacDonald it is just “grandfather.” For the intermediate class, I brought in my MP3 player and some speakers I borrowed from a friend and we learned “All together now” by the Beatles. They loved this song, and by the end of class everyone (including me) was singing “One, Two, Three, Four, Can I have a little more…” There is one questionable line in this song (”Black, White, Green, Red, Can I take my friend to bed?”) that I just pretended was completely innocent and everyone seemed to believe that. For the last class I taught two songs: “Yellow Submarine” and “Don’t be Stupid (you know I love you)” by Shania Twain. Unfortunately, “Yellow Submarine” was too easy, and the Shania Twain song was too hard, which is evidence that I don’t quite know what I’m doing. Either way I had fun, despite the fact that I actually sang in front of people. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves as well, even though they didn’t so much sing as scream. “B!!! I!!!! N!!! G!!! O!!!!” Ha ha.

 

Categories Cambodia