Day 5: First Day of School

I said goodbye to Nat and Korwin very early Monday morning, walking back to Seven Candles by myself. My hostel was just a few easy blocks away, but it was still very dark with little activity on the streets. Even though I felt fairly comfortable with Siem Reap after being there for 3-4 days, knowing that I was actually alone definitely heightened my awareness of the surroundings. Aka I was a bit scared, hahaha. I also freaked out when the hostel's gates were completely closed and I was locked outside, but a bit of frantic dialing did the trick. Good, I have self-preservation skills. I'm not a dodo bird! 

Remember how I was saying one of the purposes of this Cambodia trip was to try to experience what it was like being alone? Well, now I know that in the beginning it felt like someone suddenly took off my training wheels, and I was both free to fall and free to navigate my surroundings without constraints. Do you think that being alone is freeing? 

But I wasn't really alone the rest of the trip, because Monday was my first day of school. :) 

Like I mentioned before, PLF volunteers basically create their own curriculum with minimal direction from the school and foundation. There aren't many constraints for art classes because it's not like you're going to be teaching them nude charcoal sketches. The teachers should just use their best judgment on what's suitable for the children, and try to make their class as thoughtful and meaningful as possible!

Basically, the guidance I received was:

Teach two art classes each day.

Each class is one hour long, and has approximately 20 students.

The students are 4th and 5th graders.

You can use whatever materials are available in the supply room. Or buy your own in town.

Most of the things you teach may take a few classes, so you probably only need to prepare a few projects.

Have fun, bye! :D

P.S. Your tuk-tuk driver is your translator. And maybe the librarian if he is present. 

[Eek...... okay......]

I really really really wanted to do a good job. No, not just good... I wanted teach a supercalafragilisticexpialidocious class where the kids really came away with something special. A few Christmases ago, I took an element that I learned from elementary school and implemented it in part of my handcrafted cards. THAT sort of everlasting memory was the impression that I wanted to make. So I thought about what I wanted achieve for the children, and broke it down to the following criteria:

• Something completely novel. I want to add value by widening their understanding of the world.
• Something educational. I want to add value by opening up their mind and making them think.
• Something fun and interactive. I want to add value by adding color and excitement to their lives.
• Something they can be proud of. I want to add value by establishing self-confidence.

That's a lot of checkboxes to tick off.

Class #1: Pinwheels

I prepared a finished prototype of what we're making before each art class to help the students understand the project better. It took a lot of time to think about the best explanation, work through the appropriate steps, and organize all the materials every day.

For the first class, I decided to teach the children how to make pinwheels. Why pinwheels? Well, pinwheels are fun toys that give children immediate and tangible satisfaction from the fruits of their labor. They get to have some self-expression by drawing on the pieces of paper, and then learn a bit of mechanics too (the propellers capturing the wind, rotating around the pin). It's a easy lesson that will hopefully help Teacher Miffy earn some brownie points so they're extra good the rest of the week. :) 

I was also told that I had the option of providing food for the children before each class, a meal of bread and milk. Well, I decided to up that by adding fruit to their diet, so I requested my driver Pesete to pass by the market every morning and grab enough bananas for all the kids. Potassium is important!

On the way to school, with art supplies all loaded up in the boxes!

There is a lot of scooter traffic around the market area.

Here is Pesete with our treasure.
Bananas, baguettes, and condensed milk. I think it cost around $20 USD to provide lunch to 40 children each day.

Oh boy, what was I getting myself into? The drive took one hour, and by the time we puttered into the school's dusty driveway I had become genuinely nervous. There were children just hanging out in the schoolyard, and some of them smiled and waved to say "hello!" as we pulled up to the classroom. That made me smile... and you know what? I smiled a lot that day, and a lot more the rest of the week. :)

When the clock struck 11, the kids literally BOUNDED their way into the classroom. They were laughing, smiling, teasing each other, and staring at me unabashedly... who is this new teacher? PLF has sent many a foreigner to Knar Primary School, so these children were probably used to the rotating United Nations at their doorstep. But what would THIS one bring? Well students, I am Ms. Frizzle!

We first spent around 10-15 minutes distributing the food, and waiting them to eat and calm down a bit. They were extremely well-behaved, putting their hands together (as is Cambodian custom) looking you in the eyes while saying "thank you" (in English!!!) as you handed them lunch. Some children even remembered my name after I had introduced myself in the beginning, and said "thank you [Miffy]". Such angels. After finishing their meal, the students got up automatically to throw away their garbage and swept the floor of crumbs. I was very impressed, and this motivated me to do my best. They deserve it.

I explained to them the day's project in English just like how I would teach a classroom full of American students. It was surprisingly easy for them to quickly get the concept with body language and gestures, even if my tuk-tuk driver Pesete didn't manage to translate everything successfully. Smart kids... the only thing holding them back is their lack of exposure and resources.

Coloring their pinwheels.

Helping them staple the propellers securely and pin the stick in.

This sweet girl put quite a few decorative touches on her pinwheel.

It was pure joy watching the students run around playing with their new pinwheels! :)

Ta-da!

I can't tell you HOW relieved I was when we were done for the day -- I can teach! :) Whew.

We ended class at 1pm and headed back to town for lunch. Pesete took me to this food stall on the way back to Siem Reap, which sold fish paste coconut curry noodles. It was delicious!!! And only 5,000 riels (appoximately $1.25 USD).

Doesn't look like much, but this is good stuff.

Cambodian curry is not spicy at all. You can add this mouthwatering chili garlic sauce that really hits the spot.

You would think that the day is over and now I have lots of free time to do vacationy stuff, but nope -- tomorrow is another class day and I have to think of another awesome project for the kids! Now this second class was giving me a bit of a headache since it was going to be Christmas Day. I wanted to take advantage of this holiday and teach them something related to Christmas, but what could we do? Korwin had suggested cutting out snowflakes, but I vetoed it because 1) would they know about snow, and 2) surely they've never examined a snowflake under a microscope, so how would they know that the unique patterns they were cutting out was supposed to be snow? See... it's not easy to come up with a good curriculum! After lots of brainstorming, I came up with a better idea... a fantastic one, if I may say myself. SNOW GLOBES. 

Why snow globes? These children have never seen snow in their life, so I'm going to bring "snow" straight to them! But, how was I going to find the material to make snow globes? o_o My friends at Seven Candles pointed me towards the Old Market. Pesete... helpppppp meeeeeeeee....

Markets are pretty much the same all around the world. Just mounds and mounts of STUFF.

I was able to source everything I needed to make 40 snow globes at the Old Market. Plastic jars, Santa ornaments, green tinsel, and glitter (at the beauty store pictured above). I used a guilt-trip bargaining method with the vendors, "It's for the children!!! DO IT FOR THE KIDS!!!"

After purchasing all the supplies, I had to now make the first prototype. This all made sense in my head, but it is very important to give it a whirl yourself because you'll end up discovering a lot of problems that would have been pretty awkward had you not troubleshooted it first. Like how "Santa" actually floats so you have to glue him to the lid sideways. I had poked lots of holes into this one Santa ornament to let the air out (unsuccessfully). When that didn't work, I squeezed his body like one of those bath toys. Santa ended up looking like was gunned down by a AK-47 and then run over by a dump truck, hahahaha. :p

Glub, glub, glub?
Prepping for the snow globes took A LOT of time. I had to prepare all the Santas so they didn't look like floating dead bodies, cut all the tinsels to the right length, make the snow globe prototype. Basically working right through dinnertime.

All right, dinner! Where to go, where to go... surely I'll find sustenance near Pub Street! So off I went armed with my trusty map, and found myself a Vietnamese restaurant where I ordered a hearty pho and delicious avocado shake. I went back again for that avocado shake a few days later.

Siem Reap's Pub Street.

It's pretty much the same deal in every South East Asian city.

Cambodian shadow puppet show.

I passed a free shadow puppet show while walking back home. It was very entertaining, and the perfect day to end a very long and eventful day.

Day 1: Khmer Recalibration

Once Upon a Time, there was a girl who traveled the world searching for treasure. This is her Cambodia story arc.

I spent a magical 10 days in Siem Reap, Cambodia... In sum, it was the best holiday of my life (at least so far ^_~), I learned something EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.... whether it was about the rich political history of the region, social and cultural dynamics, ancient architectural planning, religious beliefs and values... but most importantly I learned a lot about me myself and I. 

This was the first time where I spent time in a foreign country by myself. It was also the first time where I spent a major holiday alone. I wanted to do this to see how I'd feel about being put in a potentially difficult and lonely situation, and how I would deal with it. Would I embrace it? Would I totally freak out? Then I would understand more about my preferences and limitations. I'm weird, I know... but I think it's important to discover these things about yourself. If not now, then when??? :p

I took precautions to make this experience as safe as possible by staying in a family-run hostel Seven Candles where someone would keep tabs on me everyday. The owner of Seven Candles, Ponheary Ly, was named as a CNN Hero in 2010 for her work in promoting education for young children in Cambodia. I had the honor of both meeting Ponheary (and her terrific family), as well as volunteering in the Ponheary Ly Foundation (PLF) teaching 4th and 5th graders art and crafts classes in Knar Primary School. 

My first day at PLF was spent tagging along with the Lauter Family, whom I was taking over at Knar Primary School. It was a good idea to figure out the ropes because when I officially started teaching it was basically just me and my tuk-tuk driver as translator!!! 

The Lauter Family were a tough act to follow, you can see how much the kids loved interacting with them. :)

The video below perfectly encapsulates my experience with PLF... you can see exactly where I taught, and some of these faces were ones that I became very familiar with during this time. I highly highly highly encourage everyone to consider donating resources (whether it be your time, experience, or some money) to PLF's cause. These are beautiful children, and you would feel deeply fulfilled just watching their faces light up when you bring something new into their lives. They are easy to please, and very grateful. 

I will write more about teaching in later posts. :)

======================

So, I think the best way to go about recounting this trip is by chronological order. 

I left Shanghai for Siem Reap on December 19th, during the tail-end of a work situation that required several days of close follow-up even though I was technically on vacation. I don't even want to know how high my cell phone bills are, muahahaha! :p But it was fine, since the stuff I had to help out were actually important in many ways. And I don't have to pay for the phone bills. :)

People often ask whether I get annoyed or pissed off when I'm obliged to work on "days off" (what does that mean to an entrepreneur anyway?), especially because since I've never gotten full radio silence since working in Shanghai. My answer is No, I honestly do not mind, all things considered. "All things considered" being that the task is so critical and time-urgent that it requires me to reprioritize. I do give a fair assessment of the situation, because there is no way that I will drop the ball. However, I am a practicioner of the "work smart, not work hard" school of thought... there's just so many things that I want to with my life that I get genuinely angry when my schedule is monopolized by ineffective tasks may not be added-value. I really do try to live my life to the fullest, from the moment I wake up to the moment I sleep. Sometimes it's micro steps, sometimes leaps and bounds, but never ceasing to move forward in some way... I know I must sound crazy or even neurotic. That's probably why I'm not really a creature of habit, there's just too much to experience and not enough time to do it all. ;)

[edit: Just came back from a work meeting on a Saturday afternoon, but I was more than happy to do so because I learned something important and we made progress on a project. See! Hahaha.]

Anyways, even on vacation I find myself always thinking several steps ahead to make the best arrangements. I'm flexible, but rarely unprepared... meaning if something doesn't work out I'm usually fine with it, but I'll know what the alternatives are already, haha. However, this time I was so busy leading up to Cambodia that I literally shoved a bunch of crumpled clothes into the luggage just an hour before leaving for the airport. It was a good thing that Natalie did some prep work, otherwise we would have scrambled for a temple tour during peak season... and that would have been awfully stressful. Thanks Nat! :)

To get to Siem Reap, I had to fly north to Korea and then down to Cambodia. Flying Korean Air was the cheapest and the fastest way from Shanghai, around $650 USD round trip. When I got to Siem Reap, it was already 1am December 20th... and I felt like a xiaolongbao (小籠包) in my puffy down jacket. O_O I remember being super excited stepping off the plane... YAY FINALLY A REAL HOLIDAYYY~~~~!!! The trip kicked off smoothly, with someone from Seven Candles picking me up (poor guy had to stay up so late), and I checked in with no trouble. For $20 USD a night, I had my own room with a queen-sized bed, and free wi-fi. It checked off all my boxes, I am a simple gal.

The first day was spent familiarizing myself with my new environment (like reading the info pamphlet that said DO NOT BRUSH YOUR TEETH WITH TAP WATER after I had already thoroughly gargled... instantly visualizing protozoa with cilia and flagella partying it up in my mouth, yechhh). I reported to Travis, PLF's Volunteer Coordinator, and he gave me the lowdown on how the teaching program would work. It was daunting that PLF would be giving me plenty of freedom on how to figure out what to do with the children 2 hours each day, and that I would be wholly responsible for the content and curriculum during that time. But I kinda kicked ass in Art when I was 9 years old, so that gave me the confidence that I could totally nail this. Okay no I was very nervous. O_O And I wanted to do a good job.

Natalie and Korwin would be arriving in Siem Reap afternoon of Dec 20th, so I had about half a day of free time. I really did not know what to do with myself at first, or where to start. Unsure of myself, I paced around the room to "organize" and then berated myself for procrastinating. Then I scoured the map and points of interest for an hour to plan out a detailed route -- OKAY NOW WE CAN GIVE IT A GO. Hahaha. :p

First I went next door to get a scalp-tingling hairwash for $2 USD, then ventured over across the creek to try "the best iced coffee in town", also stopping by a convenience store for travel-sized toiletries. Before meeting with my friends at their hotel though, I pampered myself with a well-deserved oil massage. :)

At the spa.

They fold lotus flowers like gift bows here, so beautiful! :)

While walking around I noticed that I was getting a lot of really obvious stares, like guys on scooters performing Exorcist Great Horned Owl head-turns... it was actually quite uncomfortable (like really, you're looking at ME?!??), and rather unsafe for traffic. :( I was wearing a loose tank top and shorts that were not very short, but I guess even with plenty of skin-baring tourists in Siem Reap, I don't get the White Person Pass. After that afternoon, I did not venture out alone in town in a tank top or shorts anymore.

Natalie and Korwin lived at La Residence Hotel, just a stone's throw away from Seven Candles but veryyyyy nice. Now, even though none of us had done much planning prior to our trip, there was ONE THING that was on Korwin's "must-do" list (no, not even Angkor Wat took precedence). This, my friends, is something called "happy pizza".

Just look at how giddy Korwin is. You're totally shameless!

Did we get happy off this pizza? I don't know how many pies you gotta eat to get happy...

Then we got some REAL FOOD at Touiche Restaurant, which was down a dark alley along "boom-boom road". It was a rough and dusty tuk-tuk ride, but man I will never forget that red snapper dish.... diiiivine!!!

Concluded by many late-night rounds of Monopoly Deal, where our padawan Natalie learned how to outmaneuver the Jedi Masters! Doh.

(to be continued...)