Friday - January 23rd
It's been a busy week for me as I've started meeting with all of the Leadership Academy students to learn more about them and their English language needs. I've been able to meet with 19 of the 34 so far and their skills range from extremely basic - Hello, How are you? to excellent conversations about their families, education and life goals. By next Sunday, I'll have met with all of them and will be ready to start some English classes for them. The following week, I plan to get those ready connected with Conversation Partners in the USA - and to work with the Conversation Partners on the best ways to use Skype and promote learning over the internet.
Additionally, I have met with several different agencies here and begin networking. I've had followed up contact with the Peace Corp - SSI is working with a school in the Aural district to request a PC education volunteer as well as with the medical clinic located there to request a medical volunteer. I've also been able to visit Don Bosco Vocational Institute which is located about 1/2 mile from the Leadership Academy to gather information on admission criteria - some of the students who are in the LA have had difficulty passing the 12th grade examination which is required to enter the university settings. SSI wants to be able to guide the students into appropriate vocational training institutes in addition to the university. Don Bosco offers associate degrees in Automotive, Electronic, Welding, Computer, Electrical, - and also training in Printing. It was very interesting visiting their campus and we were warmly welcome. Their mission is to help the very poor - which all of our students are - and I hope that soon, we;ll be able to have more students from the Aural district be able to be trained in some of these fields.
I've also visited several free English classes that the LA students take and one new English school that just opened down the street. I really want to know what is available to the students already so that we can create the English Zone as a school that will fill in some of the gaps in their English education.
The boys and I attended the annual school carnival last Saturday at LOGOS - reminded me of home! Jonathan's class was running the bowling game - which he helped at for about an hour and Brian's class had a Haunted House (a classroom). Both had a great time and I was able to meet some of their new friends as well as some parents and other administrators. I've connected with the special education coordinator and plan on going to their sister school - Asian Hope - on Monday to observe 4 children who need speech therapy services. Hopefully, I'll be able to work out a few mornings a week to go and work with them and their teachers. Who knows! Maybe when I get back to OSU, we will be doing Skype speech therapy with Asian Hope as part of the clinic. They do not have many SLP services her in Cambodia it seems....
Both boys have told me at separate times how much they like their new school and the new friends they are making. That is wonderful because if they were unhappy, it would be a lot harder to be here.
Neither of the boys are very adventurous eaters. Last week, we tried jack fruit and dragon fruit. Yes on dragon fruit, No on jack fruit (I liked both). Jonathan has tried an curry potato pastry served at school and is beginning to develop a taste for that (India) -Brian wasn't too sure about that. At school, they alternate days between Asian food and "american" - some they are eating and some they are not. Brian will just eat a giant bowl of rice if he doesn't like the menu that day. Jonathan said one day he only ate a piece of bread. I figure when they get hungry enough, they'll try more.
I will posted more pictures on the link - of the carnival, the local market, and street noise....
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Things continue to go smoothly here. On Sunday, we ate dinner with the Leadership Academy students. They had made Lok Lak - I didn't take a picture and wish I had. It was stir-fried beef on a plate containing lettuce, boiled eggs, tomatoes and cucumbers. It was served with rice and several different sauces - I like the peppery one better than the spicy. The boys enjoyed it also. After dinner, they taught us several group games that only involved our hands. I hope to teach these to the cubscouts when we get home! It was a lot of fun and really seemed to loosen the students up. Some of them are pretty shy. After playing games for about 30 minutes, each student introduced themselves to me. Phearith, the Cambodian staff who coordinates the Leadership Academy students, was impressed that all of them spoke English and were able to say their name, age, grade level and if in the university - what they are studying.
Monday, Jonathan and I traveled on motorcycle with Phearith to the English class that he teaches for the students in the community. One of the classes was for beginners and the other was "conversation". Jon and I joined in on the recitation of words and were "partners" for the scripted dialogue in the second class. The students enjoyed asking Jonathan read the script with them.
Tuesday night, we ate again with the students to celebrate Paul Chuk's birthday. it was also an opportunity for the students to tell him how much they appreciate him and how much they will miss him as he is retiring from SSI soon. It was another excellent meal and a very touching experience to watch the students thank their mentor. Paul will be missed by all - me too as he's been the one helping me figure out how to shop and get around town! He's only a phone call away he says..hope he doesn't regret that.
Wednesday, I went to Logos for their Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meeting. It was very similar to Will Rogers PTA meetings. The president was thrilled to have about 25 parents show up and needed volunteers for several things. I volunteered to help with the school Carnival this Saturday and to help come up with ideas for Teacher Appreciation Week. Being that the world is really a small place, another of the parents there knows Suzanne Hermanski - a fellow Hunter, Oklahoma citizen who now runs a Kayaking business in the northeast province of Cambodia. I had just e-mailed Suzanne to say Hello and she had told me about her friend who had two children at Logos - where the boys go. So of course, that afternoon, her friend is sitting two chairs away from me. I hope to continue to meet more parents at Logos as many of them work for NGOs and other organizations here in Phnom Penh. Networking for resources for Sustainable Schools and the Leadership Academy is one of my goals here!
I also met with another parent on Thursday who works for Asian Hope (which runs Logos) and World Team. She is an educator fluent in Khmer who leads professional development courses for Cambodian teachers and administrators through Asian Hope/World Team. They are looking to start offering training to teachers in the rural communities and searching for organizations within the communities that have ties to the schools and village leaders. This may turn out to be a good opportunity for improving the teacher's education at the 7 rural schools that SSI works with. Even if it does not, she also is an adoptive mom with a 9 year old son from Cambodia - and we had a long discussion about being adoptive parents.
Today, my bike tire was still holding air, so I took off on my own little adventure after walking the boys to school. I made it safely to the open air market about a mile and 1/2 away. I've been there several times now with Paul and some of the students, so I just went back to the stalls we had shopped at. The vendors recognize me and I know what the prices should be - being that I stand out a bit, I didn't want anyone to charge me double! I was able to purchase more bedding so we would have extra when what we are using is being washed and air dried. I also bought some excellent looking broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, green beans, and pineapple for less than $4.00. I also bought some jack fruit - which I have never had. It tastes good, but is not a familiar taste. We'll see if the boys will like it. We are also going to try dragonfruit soon.
I've been posting more pictures on the drive.google link. Check them out!
Monday, Jonathan and I traveled on motorcycle with Phearith to the English class that he teaches for the students in the community. One of the classes was for beginners and the other was "conversation". Jon and I joined in on the recitation of words and were "partners" for the scripted dialogue in the second class. The students enjoyed asking Jonathan read the script with them.
Tuesday night, we ate again with the students to celebrate Paul Chuk's birthday. it was also an opportunity for the students to tell him how much they appreciate him and how much they will miss him as he is retiring from SSI soon. It was another excellent meal and a very touching experience to watch the students thank their mentor. Paul will be missed by all - me too as he's been the one helping me figure out how to shop and get around town! He's only a phone call away he says..hope he doesn't regret that.
Wednesday, I went to Logos for their Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meeting. It was very similar to Will Rogers PTA meetings. The president was thrilled to have about 25 parents show up and needed volunteers for several things. I volunteered to help with the school Carnival this Saturday and to help come up with ideas for Teacher Appreciation Week. Being that the world is really a small place, another of the parents there knows Suzanne Hermanski - a fellow Hunter, Oklahoma citizen who now runs a Kayaking business in the northeast province of Cambodia. I had just e-mailed Suzanne to say Hello and she had told me about her friend who had two children at Logos - where the boys go. So of course, that afternoon, her friend is sitting two chairs away from me. I hope to continue to meet more parents at Logos as many of them work for NGOs and other organizations here in Phnom Penh. Networking for resources for Sustainable Schools and the Leadership Academy is one of my goals here!
I also met with another parent on Thursday who works for Asian Hope (which runs Logos) and World Team. She is an educator fluent in Khmer who leads professional development courses for Cambodian teachers and administrators through Asian Hope/World Team. They are looking to start offering training to teachers in the rural communities and searching for organizations within the communities that have ties to the schools and village leaders. This may turn out to be a good opportunity for improving the teacher's education at the 7 rural schools that SSI works with. Even if it does not, she also is an adoptive mom with a 9 year old son from Cambodia - and we had a long discussion about being adoptive parents.
Today, my bike tire was still holding air, so I took off on my own little adventure after walking the boys to school. I made it safely to the open air market about a mile and 1/2 away. I've been there several times now with Paul and some of the students, so I just went back to the stalls we had shopped at. The vendors recognize me and I know what the prices should be - being that I stand out a bit, I didn't want anyone to charge me double! I was able to purchase more bedding so we would have extra when what we are using is being washed and air dried. I also bought some excellent looking broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, green beans, and pineapple for less than $4.00. I also bought some jack fruit - which I have never had. It tastes good, but is not a familiar taste. We'll see if the boys will like it. We are also going to try dragonfruit soon.
I've been posting more pictures on the drive.google link. Check them out!
Friday, January 9, 2015
Saturday morning. We woke up at 6 to crowing of roosters and barking of dogs. The boys just seem to want to hang out in the apartment until we go shopping this afternoon for a helmet. Yes the mom who swore she never allow her children on a motorcycle is going to allow them on a motorcycle to come home from school. It's one of the the only ways to get around here because we are not in a main area. It's walking, motorcycle, bike, or tuk tuk. You can't go too fast on the motorcycle where we are because the roads are so rough so the only way you're going to get hurt is if you fall off at a slow speed or someone hits you at an intersection. The way home from school is down side streets and slow traffic so I think it should be fairly safe. They're both really excited about it.
Jonathan has made a couple new friends here with two small boys that live downstairs. They can't speak each other's languages but they know how to play soccer and pretend guns with scraps of wood and Styrofoam. He's also had a couple good days at school and thinks he's the fastest runner in the class. Brian's also enjoying his new school and appears to be making friends. I was told to not ask him so many questions at the end of school. Hmm...teens!
I've spent a lot of time a lot of time cleaning . It seems that other people's dirt is harder to live in than your own dirt. Also, any crumbs are quickly ant magnets. I've also been to the market a couple times trying to figure out what I can cook over that open flame stove. The boys didn't like my burnt brocolli offering the other night. I was able to get them to eat eggs and noodles last night. No fast food in this area. the closest Kentucky Fried Chicken is about 15 minutes away by motorcycle 30 by bicycle.
Tonight, if we can stay up we'll watch a movie with the leadership academy students up in the open 3rd floor on the wall. It is supposed to be a "Hollywood"movie in English, I was told.I'm hoping next week to start observing the English classes they are already taking to see what they know and what they need. Also, I want to spend some time with each of the 34 students to get a better idea of their goals.
hopefully soon my brain will start to not feel as tired...
Jonathan has made a couple new friends here with two small boys that live downstairs. They can't speak each other's languages but they know how to play soccer and pretend guns with scraps of wood and Styrofoam. He's also had a couple good days at school and thinks he's the fastest runner in the class. Brian's also enjoying his new school and appears to be making friends. I was told to not ask him so many questions at the end of school. Hmm...teens!
I've spent a lot of time a lot of time cleaning . It seems that other people's dirt is harder to live in than your own dirt. Also, any crumbs are quickly ant magnets. I've also been to the market a couple times trying to figure out what I can cook over that open flame stove. The boys didn't like my burnt brocolli offering the other night. I was able to get them to eat eggs and noodles last night. No fast food in this area. the closest Kentucky Fried Chicken is about 15 minutes away by motorcycle 30 by bicycle.
Tonight, if we can stay up we'll watch a movie with the leadership academy students up in the open 3rd floor on the wall. It is supposed to be a "Hollywood"movie in English, I was told.I'm hoping next week to start observing the English classes they are already taking to see what they know and what they need. Also, I want to spend some time with each of the 34 students to get a better idea of their goals.
hopefully soon my brain will start to not feel as tired...
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_LWGul2UlSaUDZhaWlqcGUtN1U&usp=sharing
Hopefully this link works as my last one didn't seem to....
Hopefully this link works as my last one didn't seem to....
It's Tuesday everning here and the boys have just finished their second day of school. We slept through the night finally last night and both are full of energy. After that first full day of shopping, we spent most of the next couple days in our new rooms - me cleaning and arranging and the boys on their electronics. On Sunday, we took a walk to the boy's school - it takes about 10 minutes - and figured out the best way to get there.
I've taken some pictures of the apartments we are living in as well as the surrounding neighborhood that we see on the way to the boys school, Logos International. I seem to be unable to post them directly into the blog, but you can get to them by following this link. Hopefully, it works. My plan is to post pictures as I take them, so I'll put the link in the blog when I get new shots.
Cambodian Pictures
What is amazing to me in our neighborhood are the very nice, fancy homes built right next to wooden shacks. That and the mounds of trash in the streets and empty lots. And also the heavy, heavy traffic on the main roads. I've shopped for groceries both at the "Lucky" store where you can get practically anything you can get in the states if you are willing to pay enough for it (Cereal - $ 4 - 8 dollars a box); and at the local market where you can get beautiful vegetables and fruits - eggs and freshly slaughtered meats (they aren't so beautiful since there is no refrigeration and plenty of flies). Some of the pictures are of the produce I bought and the meal made from them.
The boys are liking the school so far. Both have a couple of kids that they are becoming friends with. After a moment of panic on Brian's part about the pre-algebra on Monday, today he was telling me how great it is and how much he thinks he'll learn. I've met several of the teachers and they have given me their names and e-mails so I can ask them questions (like where to get haircuts and where is a good doctor).
I've had limited contact with the Leadership Academy students so far. They were mostly all out of town until Sunday since school was out. We were going to eat with them on Sunday evening, but the boys were too tired. Several of the students have very good English vocabulary and two have volunteered to walk/take the boys to and from school. Over the next week, I hope to be able to meet each of the 34 individually (with Phearith the coordinator who is fluent in both languages) and get to know them better - as well as figure out more my role with them and how to start shaping the open space into the English Zone.
I've taken some pictures of the apartments we are living in as well as the surrounding neighborhood that we see on the way to the boys school, Logos International. I seem to be unable to post them directly into the blog, but you can get to them by following this link. Hopefully, it works. My plan is to post pictures as I take them, so I'll put the link in the blog when I get new shots.
Cambodian Pictures
What is amazing to me in our neighborhood are the very nice, fancy homes built right next to wooden shacks. That and the mounds of trash in the streets and empty lots. And also the heavy, heavy traffic on the main roads. I've shopped for groceries both at the "Lucky" store where you can get practically anything you can get in the states if you are willing to pay enough for it (Cereal - $ 4 - 8 dollars a box); and at the local market where you can get beautiful vegetables and fruits - eggs and freshly slaughtered meats (they aren't so beautiful since there is no refrigeration and plenty of flies). Some of the pictures are of the produce I bought and the meal made from them.
The boys are liking the school so far. Both have a couple of kids that they are becoming friends with. After a moment of panic on Brian's part about the pre-algebra on Monday, today he was telling me how great it is and how much he thinks he'll learn. I've met several of the teachers and they have given me their names and e-mails so I can ask them questions (like where to get haircuts and where is a good doctor).
I've had limited contact with the Leadership Academy students so far. They were mostly all out of town until Sunday since school was out. We were going to eat with them on Sunday evening, but the boys were too tired. Several of the students have very good English vocabulary and two have volunteered to walk/take the boys to and from school. Over the next week, I hope to be able to meet each of the 34 individually (with Phearith the coordinator who is fluent in both languages) and get to know them better - as well as figure out more my role with them and how to start shaping the open space into the English Zone.
Friday, January 2, 2015
We arrived safely in Phnom Penh last night around midnight. From leaving the hotel in OKC to getting to the Leadership Academy building took over 30 hours. The boys were excellent travel companions - what a pleasant surprise - They both slept a long time on the three hour flight to LAX. We had to walk from one terminal in LAX to another and get our tickets re-issued again. I think having two children with you makes people want to help you more. On the long 13 hour flight, Jonathan was super jazzed at having his own private tv screen and he watched 5 movies as well as taking a good nap. Brian was thrilled that the planes have outlets to charge laptaps, etc as well as USB charging ports. He stayed awake almost the entire time and watched 7 movies while simultaneously playing either on his laptop or phone.
Jonathan started feeling air sickness towards the end of the 13 hour flight, so I gave him a Dramamine and prayed he wouldn't barf. He's been known to feel car sick for 4 - 5 hours even after we've stopped. We landed at Seoul - went through security for the third time - and got a great 30 minute walk in as I took us to gate 16 instead of gate 38...Luckily the flight was delayed 20 minutes, so we got to catch our breaths. Jonathan was feeling much better by that point - I think the exercise helped the medicine work faster.
I didn't feel any real nervousness until we were close to PP and then I started worrying about getting the 15 HP tablets through customs since sometimes people have been hassled. We got a real cranky customs agent - and I think we were actually lucky because he was hissing at me about not having all the paperwork in each separate passport and trying to tell me to place "four finger" on the fingerprint machine and ended up not even looking at my custom declaration paperwork. When we collected the bags, the one with Brian's saxophone and 5 HP tablets was missing its TSA lock (which we later found inside a separate bag). After a moment of panic, I checked the bag and nothing was missing. We had a bit of difficulty getting the 4 large suitcases, 3 carryon bags and 3 backpacks organized - so when we had to go through the second custom check, the guy just took our papers and let us slowly move through.
Paul Chuk was waiting for us with a van and we traveled about 20 minutes. We are in two rooms next to each other. We decided to use one room as the bedroom and the other for the kitchen. Around 1:00 am, we went to bed - Brian slept on the floor. I think we all slept until the rooster next door started crowing. I heard it off and on in my dreams and thought that killing it was a great idea.
Around 6:30 Jonathan woke me up and the day started.
After unpacking, Paul took us shopping. We bought a small table and chairs and a second cook stove for our Kitchen room and a twin pad for Brian so he didn't have to sleep on the floor and we'd all be in the same room. We ate "American" food at the boy's request - Nike's Pizza House. Then we went grocery shopping. By the time we slowly drove through town - rush hour - it was already 5:00. I got the see the "finished" third floor - which is just a large room now - and the computer room which will used for the Conversation Partners.
It's now 7:30 and we'll all exhausted. I think we'll all sleep well and hopefully all night. "Hear that, Mr. Rooster?"
Jonathan started feeling air sickness towards the end of the 13 hour flight, so I gave him a Dramamine and prayed he wouldn't barf. He's been known to feel car sick for 4 - 5 hours even after we've stopped. We landed at Seoul - went through security for the third time - and got a great 30 minute walk in as I took us to gate 16 instead of gate 38...Luckily the flight was delayed 20 minutes, so we got to catch our breaths. Jonathan was feeling much better by that point - I think the exercise helped the medicine work faster.
I didn't feel any real nervousness until we were close to PP and then I started worrying about getting the 15 HP tablets through customs since sometimes people have been hassled. We got a real cranky customs agent - and I think we were actually lucky because he was hissing at me about not having all the paperwork in each separate passport and trying to tell me to place "four finger" on the fingerprint machine and ended up not even looking at my custom declaration paperwork. When we collected the bags, the one with Brian's saxophone and 5 HP tablets was missing its TSA lock (which we later found inside a separate bag). After a moment of panic, I checked the bag and nothing was missing. We had a bit of difficulty getting the 4 large suitcases, 3 carryon bags and 3 backpacks organized - so when we had to go through the second custom check, the guy just took our papers and let us slowly move through.
Paul Chuk was waiting for us with a van and we traveled about 20 minutes. We are in two rooms next to each other. We decided to use one room as the bedroom and the other for the kitchen. Around 1:00 am, we went to bed - Brian slept on the floor. I think we all slept until the rooster next door started crowing. I heard it off and on in my dreams and thought that killing it was a great idea.
Around 6:30 Jonathan woke me up and the day started.
After unpacking, Paul took us shopping. We bought a small table and chairs and a second cook stove for our Kitchen room and a twin pad for Brian so he didn't have to sleep on the floor and we'd all be in the same room. We ate "American" food at the boy's request - Nike's Pizza House. Then we went grocery shopping. By the time we slowly drove through town - rush hour - it was already 5:00. I got the see the "finished" third floor - which is just a large room now - and the computer room which will used for the Conversation Partners.
It's now 7:30 and we'll all exhausted. I think we'll all sleep well and hopefully all night. "Hear that, Mr. Rooster?"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)