Cambodia Update 2...
Since I'm like just home from a v v v filling dinner/supper @ Crystal Jade Holland Vill... I decided to just finish this bit up...
Day 6 to 11 in Cambodia... in another nutshell... hahax. Day 11's recollection is a really short one... I don't want to sit down and recall the painful memory of it much
Day 6
In the morning, Chamnan and Sophat brought Celeste, Arlene and myself to their hostel, which was not too far from our hotel, about 20 mins by tuk tuk. We realised it was rather near Russian Market. During the short tuk tuk ride, our dear Cambodian friends tried to find out from us if there was anywhere they could bring us to. Unfortunately, or fortunately for them, we had already visited the touristy places in Phnom Penh. I mean, it would have been Arene's and Celeste's 2nd visit to Toul Sleng and Cheun Ek. And for me, it would have been the FOURTH. So anyways, we visited their hostel, met some of the inmates and basically spent some time catching up with them. It was a good experience to see how hostels were like there. Up to 9 students stayed in each room... yah, double-decked beds. The short tour and chit-chat took up a couple of hours. We then tried to decide whether we should join the rest of the loveworks team @ PSE. That didn't take too long to decide though. I for one, have not been there, and was kinda looking forward to going there. Chamnan's friend, who graduated from PSE and is a hostelite got roped in to lead our tuk-tuk to the place. (PSE is a school made up of children 'from the dump fields' - more about this in the later entries, if i remember) Anyways, the concept of the school is very much like SHATEC tht we have in SG, except that there are many more types of courses available. So the idea was that since a certain group of pupils are learning to be chefs, they work at the restaurant within the school itself for experience. They also do the cooking for one of the 2 student canteens in PSE. Those learning hairdressing did haircuts and hairdressing for the pupils within the school. Well-meaning outsiders can choose to book a slot with the salon to get their hair done for a small fee. Our trip there ended up with a lunch at the restaurant. The food was good...! Typical french meal. Deceivingly small portions but v filling. By the time we ended our meal, we headed back to the hotel for further discussions abt our next 4 days. (So terrible, i know, but i was sooo sleepy that i just had to shut-eye for a part of the discussions. The shut-eye helped quite a bit though. Cuz i was much more afresh after that.)
Day 7 - 10
We spent 4 days at Wat Champa - Vietnamese Village. The team was split into 2 groups - a bigger group to run the kids prog and a smaller group to run the youth prog. First 2 days we were a bit tight on man-power. Much disciplining had to be done and it was really difficult trying to get the children to be quiet. Some of them were permanently trouble-makers and we had to threaten to take them out of activities if they were to continue misbehaving. Some things we did - introed a new song "Jesus Loves Me" and got them to sing "I Love You Jesus" - a song we taught them last year. We got them to make pencil holders, paper-bag pigs, colouring pages from "prodigal Son", got the kids to watch the play, disciplined them, got them to be more responsible for their environment. All in all it was a good experience. I lost my voice towards the end of the 2nd day. And at this moment - 20 July, i still haven't recovered! sheesh... There were some children who remembered some of us from last year. We were recognised immediately and they totally clung to us much of the time.
Day 11
Most of us met up for breakfast as always and we headed out to Russian Market... I hate this part. Esther and I were happily walking and all when someone approached me to inform me that my bag was open... !?!? WTH. Indeed... the short is that my wallet containing all my USD and riel for the trip was GONE... together with my W850i mobile and all the contacts in it! Survived my first 12 hours back in SG without my phone, and survived the entire week after on the limited contacts tht i recorded and/or remember... It wasn't so much the phone tht i miss... it was the contacts... of all my friends and students...!
Though Day 11 was totally uncalled for, i enjoyed this trip much better than last year's. It was somehow, more fruitful. Learnt a lot from the Spiritual Director who was with us in this trip. Many details missing here, but much of it still remains very clearly in my mind... Useful details...
Since I'm like just home from a v v v filling dinner/supper @ Crystal Jade Holland Vill... I decided to just finish this bit up...
Day 6 to 11 in Cambodia... in another nutshell... hahax. Day 11's recollection is a really short one... I don't want to sit down and recall the painful memory of it much
Day 6
In the morning, Chamnan and Sophat brought Celeste, Arlene and myself to their hostel, which was not too far from our hotel, about 20 mins by tuk tuk. We realised it was rather near Russian Market. During the short tuk tuk ride, our dear Cambodian friends tried to find out from us if there was anywhere they could bring us to. Unfortunately, or fortunately for them, we had already visited the touristy places in Phnom Penh. I mean, it would have been Arene's and Celeste's 2nd visit to Toul Sleng and Cheun Ek. And for me, it would have been the FOURTH. So anyways, we visited their hostel, met some of the inmates and basically spent some time catching up with them. It was a good experience to see how hostels were like there. Up to 9 students stayed in each room... yah, double-decked beds. The short tour and chit-chat took up a couple of hours. We then tried to decide whether we should join the rest of the loveworks team @ PSE. That didn't take too long to decide though. I for one, have not been there, and was kinda looking forward to going there. Chamnan's friend, who graduated from PSE and is a hostelite got roped in to lead our tuk-tuk to the place. (PSE is a school made up of children 'from the dump fields' - more about this in the later entries, if i remember) Anyways, the concept of the school is very much like SHATEC tht we have in SG, except that there are many more types of courses available. So the idea was that since a certain group of pupils are learning to be chefs, they work at the restaurant within the school itself for experience. They also do the cooking for one of the 2 student canteens in PSE. Those learning hairdressing did haircuts and hairdressing for the pupils within the school. Well-meaning outsiders can choose to book a slot with the salon to get their hair done for a small fee. Our trip there ended up with a lunch at the restaurant. The food was good...! Typical french meal. Deceivingly small portions but v filling. By the time we ended our meal, we headed back to the hotel for further discussions abt our next 4 days. (So terrible, i know, but i was sooo sleepy that i just had to shut-eye for a part of the discussions. The shut-eye helped quite a bit though. Cuz i was much more afresh after that.)
Day 7 - 10
We spent 4 days at Wat Champa - Vietnamese Village. The team was split into 2 groups - a bigger group to run the kids prog and a smaller group to run the youth prog. First 2 days we were a bit tight on man-power. Much disciplining had to be done and it was really difficult trying to get the children to be quiet. Some of them were permanently trouble-makers and we had to threaten to take them out of activities if they were to continue misbehaving. Some things we did - introed a new song "Jesus Loves Me" and got them to sing "I Love You Jesus" - a song we taught them last year. We got them to make pencil holders, paper-bag pigs, colouring pages from "prodigal Son", got the kids to watch the play, disciplined them, got them to be more responsible for their environment. All in all it was a good experience. I lost my voice towards the end of the 2nd day. And at this moment - 20 July, i still haven't recovered! sheesh... There were some children who remembered some of us from last year. We were recognised immediately and they totally clung to us much of the time.
Day 11
Most of us met up for breakfast as always and we headed out to Russian Market... I hate this part. Esther and I were happily walking and all when someone approached me to inform me that my bag was open... !?!? WTH. Indeed... the short is that my wallet containing all my USD and riel for the trip was GONE... together with my W850i mobile and all the contacts in it! Survived my first 12 hours back in SG without my phone, and survived the entire week after on the limited contacts tht i recorded and/or remember... It wasn't so much the phone tht i miss... it was the contacts... of all my friends and students...!
Though Day 11 was totally uncalled for, i enjoyed this trip much better than last year's. It was somehow, more fruitful. Learnt a lot from the Spiritual Director who was with us in this trip. Many details missing here, but much of it still remains very clearly in my mind... Useful details...
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