Its a great great amazin week for me! Oh i lurve everyone on this trip. My wacky family. Im gonna so miss u guys. 7days together growing in love and falling sick, 6 nights staying up late and crapping.
The methodist sch where we are teachin, though small, but im sure beautiful in its coziness. Haha though me n my room mates havta put up wth tt aircon tt spurts out air but those stupid stuff we do alwys makes up for it. Thats why only 4 of us are willing to slp in tt room while 6 or 7 others cramp in a super cold room. Well first day nth happened much, the kids were still warming up to us n being shy. But in the afternoons, we went to visit the squatters where some of the kids live. Its like wow. They stay beside abandoned n working railway tracks. kids run around w/o shoes and the rubbish on the floor its like glass, metal, urine, faeces, and totally covered in rubbish. The utensils they use are like so worn out. with no bed but broken boards to slp on. their houses are on stilts so when the rain come, water will rise n flood their floor. And yeah the kids living there are the kids from the sch and tt really makes things all so real. They study in the day and help work to make money in the afternoons. its like they earn only $2 a day or nth at all. that money wld be used to support the family for the day. So tts how the first day was spent, teachin pr 4,5 ,6 ,visiting the squatters and going to a local market.
The 2nd day was teaching pr 1, 2 and 3. Nth much happened too coz its our first time seeing each other. But they were so cute!! they wld come n talk to u, giving utmost respect. tts something we really got to learn. There's a girl, sara, super duper cutie!! i took pics of her. Had a special programme for the kids. Its like chapel celebraton. Though their no. are just 230 ppl, they sing like i nv heard anybody so excited to praise the Lord so much before. The place nearly came down wth them singing at the top of their voices. It was an unrestrained worship for the Lord.We did mural painting on the afternoon and tt really shagged us out. some of our skins were so burnt by the thinner trying to get paint of our hands n brushes. But the final piece was so nice. We left a mark in tt wonderful place tt the kids will alwys remember. Peeps were startin to fall sick. Haha and we didnt go there for holiday camp or wat ok. The hrs were long and tiring, food- only rice and soup to survive on every meal, there's a communiction barrier where sometimes u feel so helpless nt being able to get what u want across ,the nights were so short, the water tasted funny. But so what? All of us are gearing up to comeback nxt year!!
The 3rd day was fantaztic! We really bonded wth the kids! For me its the pr 4 kids. I got really close to them. i even skip the pr6 class because they really wanted to do colouring and was begging for the animal cutouts i was holding. It was meant for them to keep, but they actually gave them back to me, coloured of course. Im going to keep them all. And got really close to these kids- sheang hai, pagna, riaksmey, kim an, tun bun roth and lastly sopier, my very special friend. By the end of the lesson we were tickling each other, laughing, and the cutouts just kept coming back. Sopier made a drawing of me and i was really touched. And also most of them were from the squatters. But they were so full of joy and laughter and didnt even realise it til late when i was talking to them and slowly remembered their faces. It was our last day together but fortunately pr3 and 4 had a telematch game in the afternoon so i got to see them again. hurray! It was during tt time when sheang hai,riaksmey, tun bun roth, seila and veasna were hangin around sch and holding a packet of sugarcane. Its like i think tts their lunch ok and know what? they went round offering us sugarcane each.they dun hv alot and by doing tt its like they will go hungry? But in Cambodia, we hv to learn to take. They were like earnesty going round 'Teacher, Teacher, eat." and when u accepted they wld go like 'Thank you teacher, Thank you teacher." Its a form of acceptance for them. You can see pics i took wth them. they were a crazy bunch of boys when a camera was whipped out. When i offered the squatter kids my milo packets, they shared it wth the others. They even offered some to us. twomilopackets being shared among so many, its really heartbreaking. When its about to be finish, they keep diluting it wth water to keep it going. They shared and it really painful to compare it wth singaporeans who take take take and keep for themselves.
Oh sopier's mum makes hammocks. the hammocks they made were beautiful. its the way of live in Cambodia. But u wld think it wld have been sold for at least 10bucks but no. Its like 1 US doller for TWO. I wld hv bought more but my luggage cant squeeze more than two. they were huge. Im going to hang it in my house! One is made of cloth in white and grey design tt looks super cool, and the other made of very soft material and in shades of purple, pink and blue- sweet. Its back-breaking work making them and earning so little. Oh and i made friends wth Olivia, the 7year old daughter of a Singaporean missonary at the sch. She's super cute!! All of us talk and talk and talk. She's kinda lonely there and has only a few friends coz she cant really speak Khmer-the Cambodian lauguage.
The time for telematch came. Those imps- Seila, Veasna, Riaksmey did nt hv the attire so they cant play. But they used the time to draw. Yeah im gonna cherished those pics they drew of me. Either alone, or together wth them in the picture holding hands. Sheang hai did a coloured one, very nice. Nearly cried. Its like the 5ththing they gave me tt day. First was the drawing, then sugarcane, then bubblegum, then a ballon hat, then the drawing. Veasna being pr3 so small and cute sat on my lap to watch. They are so under nourished. Tun bun roth is 14! the age of Kleo and lavina but he looks like a pr4. we were shocked to hear it. When the time for them to go home came i hanged around til they got on the sch van.(the van sends them back to the squatters area) Veasna opened the window and popped out to give me a big hug. Sigh i thought i cld still see them tmr so i was still assuring myself tt there wld still be thursday to see them. Was like shaking their hands and hugging them. When asked why they gv me all tt , they kept quiet for awhile then said 'love teacher' . ahh these kids really appreciates what we are doing for them.
But anyway i realised that tt was the last time im going to see them. Thurs and fri were public hols. we were leaving on friday morning. Anyway we went to visit the Genocide museum on thurs afternoon. It was horrible. The torture methods, sadness, horrid living conditions and cruelty tt the prisoners had to go through was too sick for most of us to bear. There were very graphic pictures of what happened. I dun want to talk about it, i dun think anyone tt went wld. Its too cruel. I didnt take much pictures. i dun want those stuff in my camera. We went to a market aftwards. It rained and was really dark inside. But the stuff there were fantastic. Bought quite alot of stuff. Its damn cheap compared to shopping centres. Haha i think we all fell in love wth flea markets then.
So then we left on friday. Leaving alot of notes to the kids we just got to love but had to leave so soon, praying tt they wld write. Part of our hearts were left in Cambodia, at the Methodist sch. Cambodia though having so little, gave more than it cld. I think all of our lives were changed aft this trip. So much we can learn frm them.
Viet was kinda boring. Haha we requested to go to the central market. Nice man. I bought alot of necklaces there! Really cool ones. I got this really soft and big doggie softtoy. Me, moon, kleo, lav and mr chin. all bought one! Its like this kinda material and size wld hv cost 20bucks in sg but there its like 4.40 for mine and 12 for moon's super super big one. I lurve it!! The colour is unique. Dun like ordinary doggie colours. Its so common. Kleo bought a grey and Orange one. Nice! but the fur nt tt soft. My colour is weirder. Blue and brown! Grinz. Lotsa diff reactions frm ppl. But everyone says its unique. But the super soft fur makes up for it. Bought wallet at the Airpot. But i really regretted nt buying a silk wallet at Cambodia. Very very nice. But US 7.50! anyway its a great shopping experience at the flea markets. we bargained like hell. Went on the Saigon boat for dinner where we eat and it goes around the saigon river. Me,moon, kleo made new french friends!!! Haha we were talkin and laughin tryin to understand each other. Took picture wth them! But alas, we had to part when the boat stop. They went their separate ways. They told us chi ppl had eyes tt go up. And saigon and cambodians had eyes tt went down. Cool haha, interesting observations. Anyway the food sucks there. Aft tt we went back to the hotel but wanted to shop some more since some shop around the area are still open. Thats when we bought super cheap shirts wth viet stuff on them. US 2 doller for one. Haha i bought 4 tees. Nice prints some more. The hotel was cool, we hanged out at kleo's room because we were on a mission to stop sth disgusting happening. Took us a gd two hours trying to get rid of the irritant. And alot of strong hinting to our accomplice, Kenny, to FINALLY get the idea of what we are trying to do since the irritants were right in front of us and were very suspicious. Anyway we did alot of stupid stuff just trying to appear nonchalent to wats happening and planning to get rid of them. Everytime they reach a very irritating point i wld shout i want water and freak them out. Aft the two hours i needed toilet badly. tts how many times they irritate me.
Anyway viet is communist country wth policemen wearing horribly green communist uniforms everywhere. And propaganda posters. But its a really pretty place, ho chi minh city. parks everywhere and really nice cottage designed houses. Then ok we fly off. Reached sg at 1325pm. Wth big bursting bags and holdin our doggies in our hands. Saying reluctant gdbyes....