An Extraordinary Month

I've always kind of loved that word. Extraordinary. EXTRA ordinary. It's not just ordinary - there's something extra about it.

Last Saturday marked our 1st month anniversary (or as it should correctly be named, month-iversary) in Phnom Penh. A great triumph! Yet, exactly what IS the triumph of this, you may most justifiably ask. Alright, so we've survived living in another country for a full 30 days, but so what? Most of us have spent half our lives coping with moving to new countries and settling in. Alright, so we've maybe managed to keep ourselves comfortably alive for the duration, eating (mostly) well, sleeping (mostly) well...but after all, we are all (around) 18 years old and should be able to do these things with no effort.

In order to prove to you, oh so valiant reader, that we are actually making good use of our time here, I will provide a list of worthy accomplishments that we have so successfully managed.

1. Doing our own laundry (a good start I feel - cleanliness!)
2. Cooking for ourselves (and secondly, nourishment - see how the list builds!)
3. Washing up after ourselves (without complaining too much)
4. Managing to figure out the hot water in the showers
5. Getting the best deals for tuk-tuks aided by...
6. ...our new knowledge of the Khmer language
7. Crossing the rather scarily busy road that has the statistical potential to kill a great many of us
8. Ability to make our way to the gym without getting TOO frightened by the small dogs that run and bark at us (small, but scarily aggressive) 
9. Getting up every morning...at UWC hours
10. Surviving a bumpy tuk-tuk ride that sends dust in every direction
11. Arriving to teach with smiles on our faces
12. Being able to stand up in front of a class (with the knowledge that we have something to offer them)
13. Preempting that our lesson plans will always be either too long or too short for the intended lesson
14. Cementing the pronunciation of stomach to be "stuh-muck" and not "stoh-much"
15. Making the students understand that they have to do the writing before they get the colouring pencils
16. Spending a full five minutes encouraging students to participate (which seems to have paid off)
17. Teaching 8 idioms to a bunch of 18-22yr olds, which they now use in daily conversation
18. Explaining, to a class of kids that know approximately 10 words in English together, the concept of when the teacher asks a question, you actually answer the question, and don't just repeat what the teacher said. ("How old are you?" "How old ar-" "No no, I'm asking" "No no I'm -" "Yeah nevermind")
19. Baked a most extraordinarily good cake.

The Masters of Confectionary

And an ordinarily extra good cake it was indeed. Now, from the picture, it looks rather like a miniature igloo that Alex and I baked for a "science project" that would win best prize for yummy-ness, but not perhaps for relevance or value. However, dare you to slice into the delicious-ness within, you would find a carrot cake centre (with real carrot-flavoured pieces!), that looked like a bit like a giant muffin upon removal from the oven, with exactly the intended millimetres of burnt-ness at the base. If you were perhaps lucky enough to sample the flawless icing, which not only covered the entire top of the cake but additionally was smothered through the centre, you would be astounded by the perfection of the real lemon flavour and not at all question why a whole bag of icing sugar and a whole block of butter was required to create it.

Wow. I just wrote an entire paragraph dedicated to a cake.

I haven't been teaching for two days now, owing to the fact that I have lost my voice! A huge setback for a teacher, I have found. In place I have planned all Will's lessons for him, and feel extremely guilty at him having to teach alone. It's very dull being at home and I am dearly hoping to be able to teach again tomorrow. In the meantime, below are some photos from last week that I'd just like to share.

We taught colours the way you should - using colouring pencils blu-tacked to the board.

I love the way the students always share the colours between
them, and these three boys were a prime example.

Just a demonstration of how incredibly tiny the students are.
This girl is particularly small, but compensates with her overwhelming cuteness. 

Tomorrow night I will be flying back in Singapore for the weekend...a sudden but welcome break. Expect more blogging when I return!

Much love to my followers (even if you delete the notification email as soon as you get it) and any other readers (who arrived at this page by accident, decided initially that it might be worth reading before realising it was complete and utter dribble) and any other internet weirdos.

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