Week 1 in Phnom Penh.

AT THE HOUSE:

Well I have been here , in Phnom Penh, for over one week now and I have settled into the house well. I have my own room (left), and HOT water (to shower in and wash my hair)!!!! We live behind bars, locked gates and a security guard. Most houses are behind bars. No grass or front yards here. All cement and bars. There are some pot plants scattered here and there though for a bit of greenery. (The first night i dreamed I was in a pink prison).
All the staff are lovely and welcoming. There are 16 girls living in the house at the moment., aged between 3 - 15 years. They share three bedrooms between them, separated into age groups. Everything seems to work very well. They run a pretty tight ship and all the girls contribute to the upkeep of the house, cooking and washing up, and go to school. My roll in the house is being defined as I go along, I think. We have a daily shedule to follow, and it involves a lot of supervision of the different age groups doing their different things. Last Saturday I gave a cooking lesson!!! Don't get too excited. As I didn't know it was happening until I read the schedule that morning, I could only cook from any ingredients that were in the cupboard. We ended up with fried chocolate chip muffins (the oven didn't work- so they went in the frying pan) and pancakes out of a packet mix. They girls enjoyed them..
The girls are also programmed extra activities also. The other day, I accompanied them to the park for ''sports &' games'. Which ended up a quick game of badmitton (? spelling) then a walk, and buying pippies, and boiled (not roasted) peanuts from a local street vendor, and having a feast. Apparently their trips to the park are more about eating, than exercise. But then the eldest are 15, and that's pretty normal for that age. The younger ones just follow suit.

IN THE CAFE:

This is the equivalent of $ 1.10 c in reil, I used to pay for a drink in a cafe yesterday....... I thought it was interesting enough to pass on just for a sticky beak..!!!

I thought I was pretty clever countung it all up to have the right money when I paid, but as it turned out I was 400 reil, 10 cents, short. I'm not as clever as I though I was eh???
I'm getting better though.



FROM THE TUK TUK:
And below is a scene in one of the main streets that I travel to & fro at times. It shows yet another side of the living standards in this city. It's a little blurred as I took it on the spur of the moment in passing. Next time I will zoom in so you can get more detail.

AT THE CHURCH:

This is a sewing class I attended.........















An Australian lady was going to teach, whoever was interested, to make fabric sholder bags. They can be made to sell at the market. So I went along, to learn so I could teach the girls at our house, and also the girls/ladies in Kampong Cham when I return. They are always looking for income creating ideas. I helped teach, as there turned out to be about 15 in the class. And give tips on economizing on fabric and embellishing with pockets etc. (couldn't help myself) Everyone loved the class and some of the bags were lovely.

This is the New Life Centre.......... where they hold church and everything else. They also own (so I have been told) the building accross the road where they hold the Joy Club each Thursday afternoon. Thats like a kids club. Apparently, a lot of the kids that attend are orphans from the streets. We picked up some kids known to us and took them along also. It wasn't my favourite time. It was all in khmer, VERY loud , very hot, and although they had it under control, too much like organized chaos for me. They hold it on the third floor, in an open area. Workplace safety would have a fit!!!!










The picture of me in the tuk tuk is on our way to church last Sunday. These are NOT our girls. We picked up some other kids and took them along.
As you can see I have a white top on. The instant our tuk tuk stopped in front of these kids they were climbing all over me like little monkeys. As these kids come from some of the poorest of families, they were pretty dirty, and the concept of white, careful, or clean is unheard of. So guess who won't wear white on that run again!!!!!

I did take two of our older girls to the church last week to have an English Lesson, but there was no teacher. So I ended up being the substitute teacher for a large class of varying levels. It was fun, I enjoyed it feeling useful at least. English is something I do know well, and I find teaching easy.

I am going to publish this now and see how it looks. Hope it gives you a good idea of what it is like here. For security reasons, I can't put any photos of our girls on here.