Incoming, Impressions, Productivity, Sustenance.

Incoming
So I thought today might be a good time to post another post, as to comment on the experience thus far.

At the Boddhi Tree restaurant

Arriving was an extremely odd experience. It's difficult to explain how it is to come into a strange country you've never visited, knowing you won't be leaving it again for another 4 months. It's not just that we have this extremely new, pressure-filled position we're going to have to fulfill, but a strange type of independence, one where we have to really take responsibility in strange new ways. Silly-sounding aspects, from getting ourselves food and going shopping to making sure we have the correct amount of money when we leave the house. Being careless isn't really an option. Caution is advised, and generally required.

But this is all getting a bit serious too fast, a bit too fast too furious, isn't it? So let me offset that with some more lighthearted chit-chat.

Impressions
One of my best impressions upon entering Phnom Penh was achieved by our visit to the different teaching sites where we might be working. Wrote some notes in my blog on the way that might be of some interest:

• Tuk-tuk for 1hr! Painful!
• Smell of the city: mixture of bacon and egg.
• Congestion of motos.
• Smiley, happy people!

A tuk-tuk!

The first bulletpoint refers to the type of transport we used to get around, and generally what we use to get places. It is a revolutionary piece of transport technology - by the name of a "tuk-tuk." You can see an image of this to the right. I will probably speak of these often.

It's a great mode of transport, incredibly cheap and efficient. Yet on that particular day - without breakfast or water, a whole hour through the boiling heat, bump after bump - wasn't too lovely. Still, it was an experience.

The second is pretty self-explanatory. For some reason, maybe because it's just what it reminds me of, or maybe simply because it's what is available for one's morning breakfast, as soon as you open your nostrils to take in the surrounding air, you get this beautiful whiff of bacon and eggs.

The third could be compared to the first - as you can see, a tuk-tuk consists of a motorcycle pulled by a carriage. Another type of transport for the singular pedestrian out-and-about is simply a motorcycle alone, or as it is known: a MOTO. Though this is somewhat dangerous (at one point we did actually almost collide with a rather fast-driving one) it's also quite amusing to watch. Phnom Penh generally does not have an abundance of traffic lights, but at points where they are, it's great seeing all the motos lined up together with all the heads of driver and passenger poking out. Rather like watching a herd of sheep, in fact. 

The fourth is by far the most wonderful and important - the reaction of the Cambodian people to us, as the 8 western 18 year olds. Everywhere we go we get hoards of people and children staring. At first it was a little overwhelming but I noticed that as soon as I began to smile at them - they beamed widely back. Later, walking through a village on the outskirts of the city, we even got the kids waving and calling out "Hello!" and "Hi!", which we enthusiastically returned to great happiness from them. It's as if we're already a symbol of what our presence will (hopefully) bring in the next few months - of the knowledge we hope to bring to them to make their lives a little better.

Productivity

Just because we have not yet delved into the complex area of teaching does not insinuate that we have been doing nothing at all. In fact, we have been making a very good use of ourselves. For details, see the image below.

But I think it is important to say we have been having a lot of fun. As we would say in our conventional international-school talk, not gonna lie - the beginning was a little awkward and unsure - we don't know each other too well and it's going to take awhile for us to bond properly. But daily life have a habit of making us all talk, work and hang out together - a recipe destined to make us the best of frenemies. Sorry? Did I say that? I meant we're all going to hate- I mean love each other.

Sustenance

I could write a whole paragraph about our dinners-out, our attempts at cooking and our snacking on Oreos and Pop Tarts. But in my opinion, in general at least, our antics in the kitchen can be summed up by the following video clip. Hope you can watch it.

See you next time, my lovelies!

Juliet