Phnom Penh, Cambodia - So much going on!
So far I love it here! My motorcycle taxi always offers some excitement both in the ride getting there as well as whether the driver actually knows where NFC is. We eventually find it... The kids are great as usual. I asked them to move a CD ROM from one PC to another and they figured it all out on there own. They are all over the computers, writing stuff and making pictures and I haven't even started teaching yet. I played basketball with them yesterday during a break. I've been eating what they eat, which is mostly rice and soups with vegetables and a little bit of chicken or fish. Today was special, we had barbequed pork for dinner (with rice, of course) and it was really delicious! Not that you have whole heaps of it or anything.
(For geeks...) I think I have most of the computer stuff done. I have four PCs working most of the time. They are networked and I have set up a student folder for each child on the teacher's PC and gotten the user ID permissions worked out. I plan to use Powerpoint to create the lesson plans as I go along. Some of the kids have three months of computer training and I'm hoping that they can help out some too. They seem to be very bright! I'm hoping one or two of them can continue on teaching basic computing skills while I am in the USA.
The embassador from the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok visited the orphanage today and asked what we needed. I got to personally deliver a small list to him at the 59th aniversary of Israels independance at the Intercontinental Hotel in Phnom Penh. The children performed traditional Khmer dancing at the anniversary. They had an excellent performance! I was backstage with them before the performance and they were having so much fun. The girls were doing the makeup on the guys, eyeliner, rouge and styling there hair different ways as well as doing their own makeup. They have fun, but are also very well behaved. They never seem to get really out of hand.
I took pictures and video of their performance and then started taking pictures of the kids. That may have been a slight mistake. I really can't count how many photos they asked me to take shortly after I started. It was all fun, though.
I also went to the bank with the director to see what options there are for getting funds from foreign countries, like Canada, the USA and Australia, to an NFC account in Cambodia for people that want to donate money either once or on an ongoing basis.
I'm thinking about buying a motorcycle helmet as a rider. It's hard to explain how insane the driving is here. The only saving grace is that generally nobody's going very fast. But they pay little attention to traffic lanes, including doing things like turning around to the opposing direction to traffic on a physically divided road if they miss a turn. To make a left turn you wait to amass enough vehicles to intimidate the straight ahead traffic and block them off when the slightest amount of space appears. In a 1-miles drive you play traffic "chicken" about 10-15 times!
So far the people have been great. The more I get to know the director of NFC the more I get to like him and the others on the staff, and of course, the kids.
I have a Cambodian cell phone number now, I just have to prepay for some air time. When I do that I'll send my number.
Last night I met a Malaysia guy who lived in Canada for 12-years and spoke perfect English. He is now working as a freelance photographer and doing programming on the side (his former profession) to help make ends meet as he develops his new career. It was fascinating talking to him. He said when he returned to Malaysia after ten years, he could hardly beleive. Many of the middle class parents had SUVs and drove there children to school because it was considered "lower class" to take the bus. The parents would also drive to school during recess and have their child sit with them in the A/C'd SUV so they didn't have suffer outside at recess with the heat. Eek! That's worse than the USA!
Well, back to my room before another day of Cambodian chaos!
So far I love it here! My motorcycle taxi always offers some excitement both in the ride getting there as well as whether the driver actually knows where NFC is. We eventually find it... The kids are great as usual. I asked them to move a CD ROM from one PC to another and they figured it all out on there own. They are all over the computers, writing stuff and making pictures and I haven't even started teaching yet. I played basketball with them yesterday during a break. I've been eating what they eat, which is mostly rice and soups with vegetables and a little bit of chicken or fish. Today was special, we had barbequed pork for dinner (with rice, of course) and it was really delicious! Not that you have whole heaps of it or anything.
(For geeks...) I think I have most of the computer stuff done. I have four PCs working most of the time. They are networked and I have set up a student folder for each child on the teacher's PC and gotten the user ID permissions worked out. I plan to use Powerpoint to create the lesson plans as I go along. Some of the kids have three months of computer training and I'm hoping that they can help out some too. They seem to be very bright! I'm hoping one or two of them can continue on teaching basic computing skills while I am in the USA.
The embassador from the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok visited the orphanage today and asked what we needed. I got to personally deliver a small list to him at the 59th aniversary of Israels independance at the Intercontinental Hotel in Phnom Penh. The children performed traditional Khmer dancing at the anniversary. They had an excellent performance! I was backstage with them before the performance and they were having so much fun. The girls were doing the makeup on the guys, eyeliner, rouge and styling there hair different ways as well as doing their own makeup. They have fun, but are also very well behaved. They never seem to get really out of hand.
I took pictures and video of their performance and then started taking pictures of the kids. That may have been a slight mistake. I really can't count how many photos they asked me to take shortly after I started. It was all fun, though.
I also went to the bank with the director to see what options there are for getting funds from foreign countries, like Canada, the USA and Australia, to an NFC account in Cambodia for people that want to donate money either once or on an ongoing basis.
I'm thinking about buying a motorcycle helmet as a rider. It's hard to explain how insane the driving is here. The only saving grace is that generally nobody's going very fast. But they pay little attention to traffic lanes, including doing things like turning around to the opposing direction to traffic on a physically divided road if they miss a turn. To make a left turn you wait to amass enough vehicles to intimidate the straight ahead traffic and block them off when the slightest amount of space appears. In a 1-miles drive you play traffic "chicken" about 10-15 times!
So far the people have been great. The more I get to know the director of NFC the more I get to like him and the others on the staff, and of course, the kids.
I have a Cambodian cell phone number now, I just have to prepay for some air time. When I do that I'll send my number.
Last night I met a Malaysia guy who lived in Canada for 12-years and spoke perfect English. He is now working as a freelance photographer and doing programming on the side (his former profession) to help make ends meet as he develops his new career. It was fascinating talking to him. He said when he returned to Malaysia after ten years, he could hardly beleive. Many of the middle class parents had SUVs and drove there children to school because it was considered "lower class" to take the bus. The parents would also drive to school during recess and have their child sit with them in the A/C'd SUV so they didn't have suffer outside at recess with the heat. Eek! That's worse than the USA!
Well, back to my room before another day of Cambodian chaos!
posted by Chris at 9:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home