Diary of my life in Cambodia 4

Day 19, 23rd October 2012 Tuesday

Last night I stayed up late googling & reading about Boracay (that's what I always do- googling on things I'm interested in, link here link there that's why always slp at 4/5am). Then, around 3am, I heard LOUD sounds coming from the room opp mine. Sounds that'll make ppl blush. Ok! Loud moans! Seriously? These angmohs. The last time I heard moaning in a hotel room was yrs ago when I was still doing photoshoots, in broad daylight too. I think they should be more considerate, it's such a small guesthouse, & it's 3am, & there's a sign saying 'Keep the volume down'. Then there's a loud commotion & I heard ppl arguing in Khmer. After 12am they will off all the lights, put chain locks on the property & the staff will slp on matresses in the supposedly "lobby". I guess the unabashed moaning woke them up. Didn't care so I went to slp. And then this morning when I came back from breakfast, I stayed downstairs to chat w Ramy the hotel staff. Found out he worked in the day & study uni at night. He was studying so I helped him out w the probs he have in eng. Then, a super tall, big-sized hiphop black person walked down the stairs (yes it has no lifts). Really like those kind we see in movies. Like an NBA bball player, worm-like hair under his beanie, intimidating demeanor. I can't help but wonder was it him last night in the room opp :x
Spent my whole afternoon doing artwork. I drew all the things I like on a colour paper & in the process I find myself really enjoying it! This was supposed to be an example cos I want the class to do this later. But I find myself seriously drawing, but it was so terrible I kept laughing at myself. For some reason it makes me feel v childlike. The colouring esp seems to bring me back to a time in my childhood cos I associate a large part of it to colouring. I can remember v vividly colouring w mum. In fact the colouring book is still at home :) I guess in this 'grown-up' world we're forced to face, in fast-paced SG w our work/responsibilities, there's no chance we'll experience this feeling. But here, in Cambodia, spending just another afternoon sitting here colouring-something I haven't done in ages- it touches me so much, the simplicity of it all. Initially I thought it'll be easy asking the kids draw what they like & then teaching them in eng. It'd be a good way to introduce them to verbs. But I was wrong! Not only do I have prob identifying what they're drawing, when asked "What is this?" they have prob answering me too!
Went to the supermarket to buy fruit juice cos I really really reallllllyyyy want to drink orange juice! Gosh it taste so good. I'm so sick of restraining myself & keeping to my budget. But today I just feel like eating what I want to eat. So I spent $5+, which can last me 2 proper meals. When I came back from the supermarket, I saw 2 women (Cambodian I supposed), dressed more skimpily than the normal Cambodian. They didn't take the keys on the counter, which means they must have it on them. Walking ahead of me, they knocked on room 105, the room beside mine! & kept knocking! WTF, are they call girls (is that what they're called?) Is this prostitution? Although it's only USD$13/night but I know this is a decent hotel & it says 'no sex tourism' (not sure what it means though). What the hell's going on these 2 days?




Look at my this! I think even if Daniel Wu's in my room I wouldn't even have the mood lor. Wait I take that back. No really this room really kills the mood how can ppl moan until like that -.-

Preparing the materials for my students & this is my work below. Can you make out what's that? My fav soft drink is coke, that's obvious. But there's also satay, chicken wings, sashimi, corn & potato. I know I draw terribly!









Day 20, 24th October 2012 Wednesday

Had roti prata for brunch today, been missing it ever since I had it on the 1st wk. Saw Vichea, Phalla & Vichtga when I reached the center. They went to the Royal Palace for some last day ceremony ytd, no wonder never come to class. They gave me some cakes they bought from Bayon bakery. How sweet of them! I was so surprised! Kept declining but they insisted. I feel kinda bad cos they're from poor families in the village & these must've costs around USD$1. Doesn't sound like alot to us but to them it's worth maybe 2 meals? Then I said I'll have the cake & they keep the rest, but they just said "No, no!" Sweet kids they are. We ended up sharing & I think they were quite happy to see me eat :) Continued w Time today from last wk, abit more in depth. Otw home, went to kfc to dabao. 3rd day in a row now. Met a Singaporean in the queue! He does business here & come every 2 mths. Owns a sound company & does sounds system for events in PP. He asked me to join them to eat but I already asked for takeaway. I don't see any Mac here. I miss mac icecream! I miss my family! Miss grandma. Miss bingo. Miss TMG. Miss crapping w Cheryl & star. But I bet I'll miss everything here when I go back. I'm so happy here. Even though my everyday is mundane. Morning wake up settle breakfast/lunch, go to center, come back, settle dinner, watch tv, read, write my diary, slp. Even though my room has a weird smell when I enter. Even though I have to wash my own clothes & settle my own meals. Even though there's nobody to take care of me when I'm sick. Even though I have to count & think before I buy a $1.40 box of biscuits. Even though I have to break a hershey's chocolate into 9 pieces so I can eat it 9 times. Even though I have to live out of a luggage. Even though I don't have pretty clothes & have to rotate between those few basics tees & pants. Even though I have to use the same disposable fork to eat my icecream & instant noodles, & wash it over & over again. Even though my room is small w spiderwebs at the corners. Even though I have to live on a budget. Even though I have one & only one pair of slippers- the same one I wear everywhere-to the center, on the rocky roads & on wet muddy paths in the slumps. But I come back feeling cozy everyday. Everyday is satisfying & fulfilling :)



Fried (or grilled?) bananas, first time trying street food in PP. I thought it'll taste like our gori pisang but no, I dunno what the skin is made of but it taste salty.





Day 21, 25th October 2012 Thursday

Crossed the road to Nike's pizza house for a tuna sandwich as breakfast. Chatted w the owner for awhile before walking up the next street. I don't really dare to walk far after the phone snatching incident. So this shop had been around for 17yrs. The owner/cook learnt his culinary skills from the westerners. I was the only customer then, but he still played some slow songs which made eating more of a pleasure. Vichtga handed me a small gift today, it's a lil figurine & a small photo of her. It was adorable really but I rather she show more interest in learning. My class have kids ranging from 6-18 so it's really hard to pace everyone. Vichtga is 15 but she's a slower learner than 8-yr-old Vichea. I'm a really impatient person but I can say I've shown enormous patience cos I know I'm dealing w underprivileged children. But today I really... almost lost my cool. Gave them a test 2 by 2 today. I can understand if they can't remember how to read 'up/down', 'hot/cold', or all the Cs 'cow', 'cloud', 'comb' etc. But I've been teaching 1-20 for wks already, with lotsa practice. I've also told Vichtga to study cos I'm gonna give a test. She said ok & wanted to go first. I wasn't sure cos I know her standard & think she need more time to study. If she did I wouldn't be so angry, but no! She wanted to go 1st & got zero! Sigh! I've been teaching her how to pronounce 15 (her age) for wks but she still get stuck whenever I asked. Sreytai too. She can read 1-10 but when I randomly point on 8, she have to start from the top again. She can read six, but not sixteen. Dead memorising is not the way I teach! I think my teaching is quite easy. At least from 1-100 it's understandable & they would've felt that they leanrt something. But I dunno why everybody can but not her. Probably gotta give sreytai some extra attention.
Had hor fun for dinner near the center. A taste of home. I'm quite sian of going to the same places for food. It's always around my area or the center or places I've been before. There's sososo many eateries/restaurants in PP, I just don't dare to try those random ones. Searched tripadvisor & reading about the food makes me salivate, literally! Lotsa french restaurants in PP, lotsa world class international cuisine, like REALLY good food at a fraction of the price of developed countries like UK/SG etc. Cos we're in Cambodia! I really feel like splurging on food, which is what I mostly spend on. There's so many restaurants I want to try, I feel like it'll be a pity if I only go to those 3-4 eateries during my 30+ days stay.





Day 22, 26th October 2012 Friday

Nat Geo was showing Megastructures: Gardens by the Bay last night, how it was built, challenges they faced till the end of the project. I haven't been to Gardens before. Ironic eh... having to learn about it in a foreign country. Do you know it takes USD 800mil to build it? I was shocked at that astronomical figure!
Stopped by Total petrol station otw to the center today, hoping I can get a hot dog bun. Luckily they have it! Comfort food :) Taught 'family tree' today, which was quite fun for me actually cos I drew those cute faces :) Recapped 'Numbers' w Sreytai by writing 7, 17 & 70, then explaining how to write them in words. Did it again w 6, 16, 60 and 8, 18, 80. Even until 9, 19, 90 she still couldn't do it without guidance. I didn't even erase the previous answer. I don't get it :(
Had mango sticky rice @ Tom yam Kung restaurant on the street opp. I love mango sticky rice!! Tried making it at home w the instant version but the result looked more like mango porridge instead haha. Tango-ed w BFF when I got back to my room. 1st time talking to her since I got here. Was great chatting w her w the usual sarcasm & joker manner! Last night, there were some weird scratching noises in the room opp. I heard it through the wall which is strange cos the room on the left is supposedly far away. It really scared me for the 1st time.




My 2 smartest students Sila & Thida





That's Darlin in green, Sreytai & Vichea




Haha I dunno why my "Father" looks like a baby. I wanted to draw him balding




Back in SG, there'll always be an "ah beng" student who's too cool for school. This boy is one of them. But for some reason I wish to convert him to want to learn willingly, so I was disappointed when he turned up one day & not the next. But I'm glad he came on the 3rd day. His name is Piakdai & reminds me so much of a friend. That's Phalla & Sila guiding him how to write self-introduction cos he miss class the previous day.






So happy to see her stupid face




Day 23, 27th October 2012 Saturday

Dreamt that I went to Taiwan on holiday w my family & there's this huge water fountain in the center of a shopping mall. Kids in our tour started swimming in it & suddenly there's monsters surfacing. I remember saying "reptiles". End. Hahaha.
Walked to the supermarket to buy some chocolates & a donut. Now whenever I need to go anywhere, I'll just put cash & keys in my pocket. This way I don't need to be afraid of my bag being snatched & I'll feel safer, & bolder. When I reached the center today, the kids covered my eye & led me to the back, where I was presented with a bdae cake w candles! Thing is it's not even my bdae. Seth say they just wanna thank me. Whenever they do such stuff the 1st thing that comes to my mind is never surprise, it's always how much it costs & their family condition. My mind automatically flash back to the slumps. Monday is a ph & Sila asked if I'll be teaching. They seem disappointed when I said no, but I do need a rest too. Some things happened at the center today. Firstly, Sreytai came w her sis & dalin. They talked to Seth in khmer w the other students surrounding. Only I wasn't in the situation cos I couldn't understand! But from the sad look on Sreytai's face I could somehow guess she wanted to quit. Probably cos it's too hard. Did I force her too much? :( And if she quits, dalin quits too cos they're like siamese twins. It's such a pity! In the end Seth managed to convince her to continue. About 1hr later, dalin's grandmother came. Seth went out & there's nobody to help me translate! She started crying while talking & I asked the kids "???" with a palm up sign & confused face. They could only say, along w hand gestures 'dog bite', 'no father', 'yes mother'. Then, Seth came back at this time. Thank goodness! Turns out dalin's grandma was saying she got bitten by a dog severely when she's young, that's why brain abit slow, to which I was shocked! I shook my head & disagreed vehemently saying she's v clever! & the man we saw when we went into the village to look for dalin is her stepfather, not blood father. Dalin's a really obedient girl. Sometimes after afternoon class end at 4pm, she'll go home to wash dishes, do household chores & come at 5pm again for my lesson. So sensible! Even I'm inferior to her. Quite a long lesson today cos I started earlier. But I'm glad we advanced to verbs & construct sentences now. Played hangman towards the end of class & gave out more clothes, of cos they have to get the answers correct first. My style :) I always make sure each & every one learnt something from that evening's class before giving them a sweet. It makes them rem & it's more fun too!
And I've decided! Since it's my last wk here I really want to just eat what I want. Starting from today. No more $1.80 congee & spending 40min eating half a bowl cos the time's spent picking out ginger & onions. Went to Laughing Fatman on st 172. Had a USD$5.50 stuffed chicken which was so-so, not as great as the reviews said. When I got back, chatted w Ramy, the hotel staff who'd become my friend now. He's currently in his 4th yr in Bachelor in Eng & would like to know more about the organisation I'm volunteering w cos he wants to teach after graduation. Now he earns less than USD$100/mth. I think it'll be good if he can teach cos Ravy & Julie earns USD$200 which is above average. Tango-ed w mum after bathing. She told me she bought an iPad & changed sis' phone cos she dropped it in the toilet bowl. Cost $700+ without line cos 16GB is OOS & sis don't wanna wait so she got the 32GB. All in all, they spent $2000+ today. I hear already totally didn't know what to say so I just went silent. Speechless. Here I am scrimping & saving.. want drink a $2.50 fruit juice also don't bear.. & there they are splurging. I'm not angry about the iPad it's not cannot buy. But why must get a 32GB iphone5? Cannot go other outlets check for 16GB? Sigh. And here I feel guilty for spending USD$11 today cos this amt can use for 3 days if I scrimped.


Looking more like a home now :)



Hahaha they dunno how to spell my name. People here their birth certificate/student pass are all in Khmer. So when they grow up, they tell the teachers their name & they will tell them how to spell & the children will stick to it. But not exactly accurate. For e.g Seth need to do a visa when he was a student & told the authorities his name, & they just spelled it as "Sit", if he wants to change it it requires alot of money so till now it's still the wrong spelling.






I know I know my drawing is very amateur. My banana doesn't even look like one :(















That's me apologising to them becos as you can see strawberry has a 'w' but when they guessed 'w', I added a stroke to hangman. Hahaha this lesson was fun!




Day 24, 28th October 2012 Sunday

Sunny Sunday! Woke up at 10am & went to a cafe on st 278 for breakfast. Had fresh fruit w yoghurt which was surprisingly yummy! Healthy eh? This is the kinda lifestyle I crave. I'm kind of a split when it comes to my personality. I can be the homely, simple me... Or the shallow bimbo party animal me. Yes I like partying. But sometimes waking up early to a healthy Sunday can be more rewarding than sleeping in after a crazy party sat night. Saw pics of Halloween/flugtag from fb & twitter & honestly... I don't feel a thing. Sure I miss having fun w the girls. But I don't feel like "Oh shacks I missed out on the fun!" When I planned to come here I already know I'll be missing halloween & other parties. & I wasn't for a moment wavered or deterred. These days, I'm used to just putting on a 3-in-1 tinted mosturiser & off I leave home. So easy to remove! Dunno isit becos I'm here for too long? I'm kinda used to this simple routined life. But of cos I miss dolling up too.
Cafe Soleil's a v relaxing place w warm orange tones, which makes ppl feel comfortable. Just 2min walk from my place. After breakfast, rested for awhile & off I go to the National Museum. Was deciding between this & Royal Palace cos I wanted to visit the tourist attractions. Guess I'll leave the palace to next time, maybe when I come back w Cass & Justin ;) I love visiting museums! Love reading & knowing about the exhibits, no matter what they are. But not many of my friends do. I think none of them like sight-seeing, they all just like shopping shopping shopping. Entrance is USD$3 for foreigners & 500riels (USD$0.25) for locals. But this museum is quite small, I feel. Unlike the British Museum in London which is freaking huge. Unfortunately we only spent 1hr there, which was so rush to me. I was running up & down trying to take in as much as possible. Esp the Money Creation & evolution it was so intriguing! The national museum of Cambodia, in contrast, doesn't have much. I intended to allocate 3hr for it but was done in an hr 1/2. They just show the artifacts & the yr, without much descriptions. There're alot of tours though, most in french. Up till now there's still a portion of Cambodian who can speak fluent french cos Cambodia used to be ruled under the French colony before gaining independence thanks to King Norodom Sihanouk (who recently passed on). Hehheh know abit from reading the newspapers at Spinelli during morning breakfasts ;) Had a nice dinner at Ocean on st 288. Expensive for PP. The owner is a German. Halfway thru my meal a cambodian lady arrived w 2 adorable boys. That's his wife & kids. I ordered a seafood platter (USD$13) cos I really really REALLY want to eat bbq squid & prawns, & a carafe of Sauvignon blanc from Chile (USD$4.50). It filled about 3 glasses. Even for 1 glass it's still cheap! Where can you get wine for SGD$6 in sg? I got a complimentary starter: tomato something on toast. It's the 1st time I eat tomato. Not surprising.. ppl who know me know I'm a carnivore. I don't dare to eat vegs (except for some) :/ Everything was delicious!!! Except the portion is a lil small... for me :x After finishing my food, I chatted w the owner for awhile & practised my 1/2 bucket German. He offered complimentary desserts but I refused. Found out he has 3 restaurants! Opening a French restaurant is one of my dreams. This encounter made me want to start in PP :)


 





This mother carrying a child was at the entrance & was still there when I came out, begging for money from tourists. Sometimes I will give but not this time. I think the ppl here have problems w priorities? They got money let their child dye hair, why not save the money for food? It's so common around here. Even in the villages there are alot of children with their hair dyed. So becos of this reason, no matter how pitiful they appear to be, I don't think ppl will donate.










Descriptions are in Khmer, French & English




The King of Cambodia in the nineteeth century.


This grp of french tour came over which I was resting on the bench. Then the tour guide, a cambodian lady started speaking animatedly in fluent french. I like listening to them cos I could pick up some words, perhaps 2-3 words in a sentence. I think it's interesting! Not enough to understand of cos.




A woman doing cross-stich on top & people praying their respects to King Norodom Sihanouk below.






Not sure its real marriage or a television show.