Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts

Wednesday, 12 February 2020

Bettering myself in Battambang

How are things? 

They're good...if you ignore that I got left in a bomb zone a couple days ago and the apparent apocalypse of Corona that is heading our way... I'm doing great! 
 
I'm still attempting to touch my toes and find mindfulness with yoga classes twice a week...still drinking 2L of water a day (sometimes even infused with cucumber, get me) still working on my Rubix cube solving times. It's a slow life, that I'm not quite ready for just yet- but it's nice.

School is good, although it can be challenging at times, also hella fun especially your kids are calling each other crazy, or that they stink of shit...or they're saying it to me and I get to tell them to shut up and that I understand (all in Khmer, the Cambodian language)..

My adult class is fun, although this is a challenge this week as we start our new topic of "Future Technology" when we're in a country where my housemate asks if my Grandma's hip replacement is "magic" because it sounds so futuristic conversations like this happen:

Chit (my housemate): My sister just told me a lady in my village is having a baby now, so she had to run and get the old lady for her.
 Me: Old Lady?????????
Chit: Yeah, the old lady who helps the baby come out
Me: ????????????? ....... the midwife?
Chit: What's that?? You just get the oldest lady in the village because she's had the most children and seen the most babies so she helps

another conversation we've been having in class about medical advances 


Me: Okay, so what would you have done if you broke your arm 100 years ago?
Class: ????? I don't know, the same as we did 20 years ago? The same as people do in the countryside now??? 
Classmate 1: You rub a baby chicken on it and plants and put it in bamboo? 
Classmate 2: No, it's not a dead baby chicken, I had fried leeches and plants and ginger and then bamboo? But now, I'd just go to the hospital.  

so trying to explain even Dolly the sheep is a little bit mind-blowing for some of my students (who are also Monks...). But hey- if it's not a challenge it's not exciting. Right??

They've been doing some work on excavating the river bank to do some beautification in my town and after the civil war here in the 70's they've been finding dozens of unexploded bombs and grenades. So I'm in class doing some homework and I finish a couple hours late, so I pass through reception and there's nobody there? I go outside and there are no cars?? But there is the Army and bomb disposal squad, so the whole road has been shut off and I'm there like lol what. So yeah, had a front-row view of the detonation.

Only a couple weeks left in this sleepy town now before I'm back to the Rong where I belong, and coming up with my plan B now as China is looking off the table.


Saturday, 18 January 2020

2020: The Future is Bright (Especially Now That I`m Teaching Them)

SPOILER ALERT:
The title is a bit of a giveaway...so I`m a teacher now! A bit of filling in on the past six weeks or so and how I`ve ended up here.

obviously im cultured, you dont know a country until you`ve tried their beer... and fell asleep with it....


Thailand December 

Thailand saw me spending a few days by myself on Koh Mak, an island just off the central west coast of Thailand. In 2018 I visited the neighbouring island of Koh Change (Elephant Island) and this time I wanted to style down to an island I could walk around, and happily camp on.






Here`s a little picture of my set up. I found a little space slightly off the path:
A few days, a few books, some swimming, sunbathing, bike rides.

I had been given the warning of snakes on the island, which I ignored...until someone mentions that a 10ft python had been found very recently...so that night I went to sleep expecting a full on Harry Potter Basilisk attack...when my real fear should`ve been the positioning of my hammock under two palm trees and the whole coconuts-kill-more-people-a-year-than-sharks...

Sri Lanka December 


After promising to visit my two friends from my cruise ship days, over two years later I finally made it! I ended up staying with my friend Stephan and his Mum just outside of Colombo. Sri Lanka saw me filling my body full of samosas, kotthu roti, curry and other short eats. I think it`s fair to say that the food was incredible!

The country is beautiful and the people are so friendly...some are maybe a little bit too friendly. Getting dryhumped on a rush hour train in the 35° heat aint my idea of a good time, and as for the butt grabbing? My sharp tongue was enough to put an end to that. After a month in SL I had a great time, but it didn`t have my heart like Cambodia does...so back I came.






Cambodia (again)January 



Good timing with flights saw a catch up with my friend Alliey from Tenerife at a Mitchlin star restaurant in Bangkok (that cost about a quid for a meal!). Then plans to return to Koh Rong have been temporarily put on hold as I take to the classroom to teach some English. 



Happy new year anyone who still reads this! Big plans for 2020 involving two wheels and over 10,000km so this should be getting more regular updates and a bit more exciting soon.