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!