Back in Cambodia

I made it back to Cambodia on Sunday (Jan 3rd). I got on all my flights going from JFK to Zurich to Bangkok to Phnom Penh. I experienced some culture shock for about 5 minutesas I left the airport, remembering how dirty, poor and undeveloped everything is here compared to what I had just seen back home, but that soon wore off. I'm glad to be back. Ive started teaching at a new school here, Pannasastra or PUC. I know many people that work there and its a good school to work for. However this week I havent gotten a set schedule yet but hopefully by next week I will. The classes I have taught have been good, the students are around the ages of 17 - 20, although I also teach a high school class. On the first day or all my classes I did pretty much the same thing. Started by introducing myself and telling them about where i come from, my age, what I studied at university, why I think English is an important language to know, what job I wish to have in the future and my favorite movie (i said Harry Potter just so they would recognize it). We then went around the class, each student answering the same questions. Its funny/sad how most of them have the same answers. Job: "banker, manager, accountant, business man/women, although some unique ones: decorator, computer programmer". Why is English important to you: "get good job, its an international language, can speak with the foreigner, can travel abroad" Favorite movie: "harry potter, high school music, mr. bean, titanic", some unique ones: " Men In Black, Ice Age". I asked if they heard of Avatar and no students in any class had, except one student said he had seen it already, he had downloaded a bootleg on his computer. Interestingly he seemed like a very smart kid and spoke English better then most. After that we played a little game called 2 truths and 1 lie. I wrote 3 sentences on the board: 1. I am 188cm tall. 2. I am married. 3. I have jumped out of an airplane. The students had to guess which one was a lie, and of course many said 2. or 3. with the majority saying 3. After I let them debate for a minute over which was the lie I told them it was 2. I jokingly exclaimed "I'm only 22 years old, too young to be married!!!" They all would laugh everytime, and I told them how I jumped from a plane with a parachute. One student even yelled out "sky-diving". I was taken back that someone would even know that term here. We then went around the class and the students read their three sentences, most of which were not very creative, although some were and it was pretty funny. If there was more time left, we started working in the textbook. All my first day classes were lots of fun, I just will have to try to keep my classes for the rest of the term just as upbeat and fun although I cant be playing games all the time.

Today, (thursday Jan 7th) is a national holiday "Victory of Genocide" celebrating the fall of Khmer Rouge. They have so many holidays here, its a running joke. Also when i went back to continue teaching M,W,F nights at the school Ive been teaching at for a while yesterday to start teaching again, i pull up and the huge front courtyard/parking lot is filled with a wedding like ceremony going on. Tons of round tables with place settings, a stage, a stage for a band..... I was confused but I went in and found the other teachers and learned it was the inauguration/ribbon cutting for the school since its only been open for 3 months. No classes tonight. There were government officals and lots of important people there. Lots of speeches and picture taking from the school and government officials. Once dinner was served we got to go to a table and eat and drink, and watch some famous cambodian rapper perform while all the students rushed to the stage and danced. I was amazed at how extravagant it was, so much food, beer, a bottle of Remy Martin on every table... This school is supposedly sponsored by some very wealthy man and the wealthy here like to really go all out for special occasions. It was pretty interesting and quite a surprise. Wish i had my camera, but maybe i can get pictures from someone that did. oh, and I was the only white person there out of probably 1000 people (most other teachers are chinese/cambodian/and one african).
Since being home was such a great time and I got to do lots of awesome things I will post some pictures from that soon. I also post more pics from cambodia as I take them. If anyone wants me to take pictures of certain things such as the roads, markets, schools, etc.. just leave a comment.