Hello,

I haven’t been updating the blog as often, because I’ve been very busy doing many things here in Siem Reap.

Every morning I arrive to many playful children at the Green Gecko project. We play with the kids for a couple hours, before classes begin. I teach a group of about 17 children in the “yellow room”. It is a difficult class. The kids are very different every day. I struggle when to discipline and when to leave them alone. I see many of these same children on the street selling of begging late into the night. We feed the children lunch.

I’ve been working with the Director of the School for poverty children. We got a nice donation box build for the school and decorated the box with pictures and a note. The box is set up at the school and visitors that come for a tour of the place are starting to leave donations to pay for operations. It’s been almost three weeks and we still can’t get a bank account. The Director needs an identity card. We have been told the card would be ready in three days… about four times now. We went to the bank the other day and convinced them to take a letter from the commune about his identify. Now we have to get the commune stamp on the letter, before we can open a simple bank account. Everything takes very long here. I hope we can get it set up this week.

I’ve been teaching two classes in the evenings to youth between the ages of around 6 years old to 15 years old. Some kids speak a few words of English and others speak full sentences. Some have books, some have no books. It’s very difficult to manage the class, but I’ve been able to get things done and have fun at the same time. I love my classes at this school and don’t want to leave. The children are so thankful. They call me “Teacher-gomplain (joker)” or “Teacher-saat (handsome)”or “Teacher-Lop Lop (crazy)”. They are wonderful. I am teaching them a few songs as well and the whole school know that we will be singing at one point in the class.

I usually leave those classes and grab something to eat. I can eat a stir fry dinner and have one beer for less than $2.00 US. I have a few friends here in Siem Reap. Sometimes I meet them foe some beer at night. We order a big picture of beer and appetizers for less than $2.00 US as well. Crazy.

I check my e-mails and respond to personal e-mails. I have been getting messages from many children and I try to write them all back right away. I plan my lesson for the next day. This often takes lots of time. It is difficult to get photocopies or even find lined paper here. I can’t get a three ring hole punch either. The pencils keep breaking and the pens work for about 5 minutes. It’s a challenge to pull together an interesting class and I often have to visit many places in order to get a simple lesson together. Right now, I want to borrow a CD player to teach a song I have here for the kids. I can’t find anyone that actually has one to lend me. The school definitely doesn’t have a cd player. They barely even have blank pieces of paper. It is a challenge, but exciting at the same time.

I usually walk around pub street and say hello to a few of the kids. I sometimes stop in at a favorite place of mine ans say hello to some friends. I take my motorbike home and sit under my fan to keep somewhat cool. I sleep and start over again the next day.

I have two more weeks before I return to Phnom Penh. I want to spend my last days working at the dump and with the CCH children. It is going to be the hardest way for me to leave, but also the most rewarding. I’m getting very sad about having to leave this place for a world that is so different back at home.

Love Gerry