Day 4 - Guest post Charlotte

On yesterday's agenda we had;
- our very first day at La Valla
- an experience with the Russian Markets
- and a cultural dining experience at Romdeng Restaurant

Our morning departure was as standard a procedure as ever and we embarked on our first working adventure at La Valla. My tuk tuk company was comprised of Sarah Lancaster, Meg Hayes, Alex Connolly and myself, and we offered free entertainment for the passersby with our excellent karaoke playlist. Upon arrival we were given an excellent private mass hosted by Father Kevin and a peek inside the Brother's bookshelf (which is very impressive, if I do say so myself). And so began the working day. I was personally allotted the task of preparing and painting one of the classrooms. This involved scrubbing the walls clean, scraping off paint, sanding back the walls, taping and of course actually painting. It really is quite comforting being able to take a step back at the end of some hard work and see some noticeable improvement, although we have quite the ways to go before we can call it quits in the classroom. After spending the half an hour break with the children the majority of us were given a class to teach, mine was PE. We played duck duck goose and stuck in the mud with the kids and it's the most amazing thing to witness the independence of some of these children despite their impairments and obstacles.

Lunch break is the finest time to really get to know the kids. A lot of their English is very impressive although the language barrier between some is something we are all yet to get used to. I did get the pleasure of meeting a young boy of 9 that had taught himself to speak English by watching the cartoon network, he was a remarkable young man and even commented that he was attempting to teach his own mother English. After lunch I was assigned three separate classes, one in which I was expected to teach my prepared lesson of Australian song and dance, one to teach English (although I'm not sure I was much help in that department as they could all speak so much of what I was teaching them anyway), and one where I got in the pool with a class. The most rewarding part of this was absolutely being in the pool with the kids and helping those that could not usually walk on land, walk through the water with some support from myself and others.

Unfortunately after that lesson had finished it was time to wrap up our first working day at the school. After a quick bite of some traditional Khmer dessert (which was delicious) it was time to leave and head for the Russian markets - a favourite of Ivan's ;)

Bartering is something I personally enjoy so my experience at the Russian markets was a cheap and rewarding one! The bargains and quality of the goods is something you don't get in Australia, that's for sure. Although maneuvering the skinny alleys that form the markets is not an easy task. After some quick shopping we all sampled some traditional Khmer iced coffee at Cafe Yeij before heading back to the hotel to dress in our best market bought dress.

Finally we had dinner at Romdeng where I think we all got to try something new, be it; tarantula, silk worms, crickets, buffalo jerkey or other. And so another great day in Phnom Penh was brought to a close.