Keeping myself busy

I've been at my site for a total of five weeks straight. This is the longest I've been at my site since I started as a volunteer. Five weeks ago I told myself that I wanted to stay put at my site, save up on money, work on developing some projects and get to know my community a little better. Five weeks later and I'm so ready for ice-cream, pizza and friends.

I'm finally going to get to see some friendly and familiar faces in a few days in Phnom Penh for a peace corps training. Being at site for this long was definitely challenging. Fortunately, I've been able to bike up and meet with some fellow volunteers who live in close proximity. It may be a thirty minute ride to meet up in the district town but it's always worth it. Even though these visits always seem to be cut short it's nice to take a moment to sit down and talk about the frustrations and rewards that happen during village life. It's a good breather.

So to keep myself from not going completely mad or completely bored I try to fill my schedule up with English classes, clubs and projects.

For the past three weekends I've been consumed with the world map project. The art club has really out done themselves and have done an excellent job with the map. I promise, pictures coming soon. They only need one more day to finish.

My English class for adults have also been a lot more fun than what I was expecting it to be. I try to keep my class entertained and interested so I incorporate a lot of interacting teaching methods. I've been teaching them for about two months and they're still coming so I'll take that as a good sign.

I've also started working with a group of seventh grade girls. What's really great about these kids is that they approached me and told me that they really want to learn English. So during my library hours these students have been coming by. For two hours we'll do a combo of puzzles, reading and games. These are some of the things that they really don't get exposed to while learning in their public school classes. In cambodia, learning is not associated with fun or creativity. The lessons are taught and that's it. The other day, right before one of the girls left she told me that learning with me made her feel happy. My heart swelled with glee. This group of kids are a unique and clever bunch and I can't wait to try different teaching methods with them. This is definitely a good opportunity to expose them to art and games. I'm already looking forward in the upcoming months.