No English classes and the heat of the day was starting to pick up. Time to come up with ideas for how to entertain not only the kids but ourselves as well. Racking my brain for games, I started to resort to pinterest but soon realized that these games weren't feasible here in Cambodia since we lacked the items or the game was too difficult. So back to square one...

DAY 6
Saturday started off slow for everyone as a massive game of Mafia took place the night before. My tour guide skills were put to the test as a new family arrived that morning. Some of the other volunteers were putting together games for a kind of Olympic competition to be played on Sunday. 

​In the meantime, I decided to create my own fun by constructing a bowling set out of water bottles. I wish I had taken a photo, but the game was really short-lived as the kids were able to knock over the water bottles quite easily and we soon lost the volleyball. Instead they started playing a unique marble game, that I am unsure of the rules. ​

Wandering into the kitchen, I came across one of the older boys teaching a computer class. Now after watching for a bit, I asked him if he wanted to learn anything about computers since I have knowledge of Microsoft Office etc.. In between helping the students, we went over Excel functions such as SUM, MAX, MIN, COUNT, AVERAGE and VLOOKUP. I wished we had more time, or I had known before that he wanted to learn about Excel as I would have sat down everyday to go over it, but I wrote down examples for him to refer to. 

After dinner we started preparing for movie night. Various names of movies were tossed around, and we finally settled on watching the film Home. Now I love the movie and find it very cute, however in hindsight it isn't ideal for learning English. Of course Long and Dara were secretly playing clash of clans on my phone throughout the movie.

Do you remember how you learned English when you were younger?

The countless times we sang, played games and practiced at home - you would think I could remember these tricks, but sadly no. Coming up with ways to make learning English interactive is a feat in itself. 

Since there are so many kids in this village, their school is taught in shifts. So some students go in the morning, some in the afternoon. Thus, our teaching times vary depending on when the students are in class. Coming to learn English at CPOC is not mandatory, and is completely free for whomever would like to go.

DAY 5

The first class started at 9 am, and anxiously flipping through past volunteers notes in an attempt to gauge the level of the student's English was proving to be a bit difficult. Tonia and I decided to start with the basic, "Good Morning, my name is _____ and how are you?"

You quickly learn, that this is something the kids are well versed in, although some don't know how to read the individual lines. From teaching in Tanzania, I've learned that each child is at a different level, and sometimes it can be difficult to teach to those who are more advanced when you see others struggling.

After the introductions and having the kids practice we switched to teaching them body parts. Now I like to joke with Tonia that she is a terrible artist, and I would like to say that a master piece was drawn, but it wasn't. We added labels to our poorly drawn person and had the kids copy and recite the body parts. Scrambling to think of an interactive way to make it fun, we started the Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes song. This song was followed up by creating a circle, having a person go in the middle, close their eyes, spin and point to a person to whom they would ask to show them where a certain body part was. The final game was a make-shift Simon Says, really it was just us saying point to your "Nose" and whoever did it last, lost. 

The next class was at 1 pm, at first I was teaching alone with some of the volunteers watching. I found some posters of fruit, and decided that we were going to learn the different fruit today. This was a younger age group, and as to not complicate things we started with the basic fruit aka fruit that I can draw - Apple, Orange, Grapes, Pineapple, Dragon Fruit. Another volunteer, Flow, assisted by going to the volunteer shop and finding the fruit to show as I talked. The neighbour's son is a bit more advanced with English then others since he also lives around volunteers all the time and is extremely eager to learn. He was able to read all of the fruit and kind of led the way for the rest of the class. After what we determined was enough counting of the different fruits and trying to figure out the next fruit in the pattern, we came up with a version of Hot Potato, now called Hot Pineapple. Good thing there was enough volunteers to help out with the singing of our new song!
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The last class of the day at 5 pm, was with the older kids. These kids are definitely the most advanced, so Tonia and I started with action words such as walking, swimming, jumping. As well as answering any of their questions about English phrases they didn't understand. These young boys were more interested in playing football then an interactive game, so after 45 minutes we let them go play. 

The astonishing part of teaching to these kids, is their willingness and eagerness to learn English. These kids aren't graded or receive any reward for learning, but they all show up day after day and really try to understand. They are way better students at their age then I am when trying to learn Spanish now! They all have true dedication and determination to better their lives, and unfortunately the only way to go further in education in Cambodia is to know English as the university is taught in English. 

The kids are gone, there isn't any English classes today, what is there to do?

I often remind myself that you only get back what you put in, and sometimes it can be difficult to find something that you feel is worth while to contribute. Day 4 proved to be a bit challenging...

DAY 4

More volunteers had arrived the night before, and having raved about how much fun we had at the water festival, the other volunteers wanted to take the remaining kids to the water festival that day. So the question came down to, what do we do? Some volunteers opted to go help at the new land, Tonia and I opted to "keep shop" just in case some students did arrive for English lessons. Keeping shop involved sweeping, cleaning up from the night before and selling items to locals and the kids. It wasn't proving to be a very strenuous job and had me thinking of that line I once read, "You only get out what you put in." So with that in mind, I started designing "Go Fish" cards to play with the kids once they returned, and other games to help with their English. 

"Go Fish" sure became a popular game the rest of the time, once I taught a few of them how to play. A special thanks to Bianca for colouring in my terribly drawn animals, and fruit.

​At first the day seemed a bit slow, but obviously once the kids returned, it definitely was back to having fun.

The Water Festival or Bon Om Touk is a three day holiday that marks the reversal of the Tonle Sap River which includes boat races, music and rides. 

Who knew that we would become one of the attractions at the water festival. It all began with me climbing on the back of the motorbike with the two French volunteers. Sorry, Mom if you are reading this! While Olivera was a seasoned motorbike driver, he had never driven manual or with two people on the back. So the adventure began...

DAY 3

Decision time, "How are we all going to get to the Water Festival?"
With three kids, six volunteers and two motorbikes we started off with creative ideas of how to get everyone there. First idea was to bike with some of the kids, but not all of the bikes worked. Second idea was to have someone on the bicycle hold onto the motorbike - probably not the best idea! Finally, the third idea was to ask to borrow another motorbike - this is what we did. 

Motorbike 1: Olivera & his wife, myself
Motorbike 2: Antonin, Tonia & Virak
Motorbike 3: Vid, Long and Bianca

Surprisingly, the most experienced motorbike driver is probably Vid, at just twelve years old he seemed to be the most confident as he weaved along the muddy, bumpy dirt road. He told us that he has been driving since he was eight years old!

After about a 10-15 minute nerve-racking ride, we parked our motorbikes and headed into the festival. The first stop was the boat races. Of course in true Cambodian fashion, one of the people in the boat was designated as the person to empty the boat of water as they paddled the river. By the end of the race every member of the team was soaked in both sweat and water. 

Of course kids being kids, they wanted to go on the rides. The first one is a bit deceiving when you first look at it - more or less looks like a carousel - but once it gets going, it definitely isn't a carousel! The horses whip around and can get to new heights! Let's just say this ride wouldn't be allowed in Canada. 

As we watched the boys on the ride, we noticed that we started to obtain a following. A wall of onlookers formed to just look at us, mainly children. We felt a bit like celebrities but without the screaming and touching, more just looking and staring at us. In particular, they really liked Antonin because of his height. 

Next up, the boys found a bouncy slide that they wanted to play on. So after snapping some pictures of them, we left to roam around while they played. Purchasing jack fruit as a snack while we watched the boat races.

After returning to four smiling faces, we lead the boys to the speed boats. After a loop and a 360 degree turn the ride was over, but definitely worth their surprised faces.

The last ride of the day was a shaky unsafe ferris wheel, and a weird dance party that was happening below it. Some things are just too hard to describe, and that dance party was something else completely. 

Overall the kids had smiles all day and so did us volunteers. I highly recommend experiencing the Water Festival with locals.

Travelling is more about fulfilling a personal need to experience another way of life, it becomes less about what you can do for others. At this point in our travel, we wanted to make it more about impacting the lives of others. After viewing positive reviews of CPOC Foundation on WorkAway.com and their Facebook page, we contacted Mr. Kim.

DAY 1
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Mr. Kim arranged for our pick up from Mondial Center (an area where a lot of weddings take place). The journey was quite lengthy as the minivan picked up other passengers, but we managed to make it to the drop off point and paid our $5 USD each. Next up was climbing on the back of a motorbike for a 10 or so minute ride to CPOC. The $2 USD ride was a bit nerve racking as the driver tried to balance my backpack between his legs, as well as try to talk to me in Khmer and navigate the bumpy roads.
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Upon arrival we were greeted by volunteers, Kim and Antonin. Dropping our bags at the volunteer shop, we were whisked away on a tour of the house, farm animals, school and finally back to the shop. 

​As a class was already in progress, we watched as Antonin taught Vid (a boy living at the foundation) how to use the tools to help build a washing machine. For those of you back home, a washing machine is a luxury you miss as you travel, and the amount of clothes the children wash everyday, it can definitely improve their lives to wash in bulk. 

The volunteer shop is run by the volunteers and all proceeds go back into the orphanage. The ultimate goal is to make the shop profitable enough as to fund volunteer projects at the orphanage (for example, building a washing machine) and not rely on outside donations.

​Around 7 pm we were called for dinner by the girls. The girls at the orphanage are the ones who cook everyone lunch and dinner. Typically, it consists of some sort of vegetable with/without meat and rice. The rest of the night was spent chilling in the shop with the other volunteers, as the children go to bed at 9 pm. 

​Dara: "Do you have any games on your phone?" 
Me: "Yes, I have puzzles."
Dara & Long: "Do you have clash of clans?"
Me: "No, what is that?"

​That is how it all began... 

DAY 2
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Cooking is not a skill I possess, nor one I am interested in obtaining, but we offered to make the breakfast for the volunteers. With limited ingredients available - duck eggs, tomato, cucumber, onion and garlic - what initially was going to be an omelette quickly turned into scrambled eggs as there definitely wasn't enough for everyone. Devouring our small portions of breakfast, we ventured over to the neighbouring shop for what is a cross between bread and a doughnut - very delicious.

One of the cool things about volunteering at CPOC is you can basically do whatever you want with regards to helping out, essentially choosing which skills you want to use to teach others. (For instance, gardening, building, teaching, etc...) As the prime native English speakers at the orphanage during the time we were there, naturally we decided teaching English was a skill we could share. With that said, out of the days we were there, three of them the students were on holidays for the water festival.

As our second day was a holiday, there wasn't an English class scheduled and not much for us to do. But not to fret! Throwing on the Disney movie Robin Hood, we took what was a lazy holiday for the kids, as they were lounging around and made it into a teaching moment by going over what they watched in the movie. Capturing things such as the moral of the movie, the types of animals, the colours of clothing, and the actions the characters were doing. We really wanted to make sure the kids understood what they were watching and to reinforce the English words they already knew.

As the day progressed, I obtained two new friends, Dara and Long, who made sure it was Facebook official. These two best friends are definitely smooth talkers and little hellians when together. Winning me over, I agreed to download Clash of Clans on my phone, which to some might have become a bit annoying when they ask to play it all the time, but to me it was endearing. Honestly, it worked to my advantage as I could get them to do anything and it was a great laugh. They did offer to teach me how to play, but I kindly declined.

We started the day mentally preparing for the day excursion to the infamous Killing Fields. We bargained with the tuk tuk driver to take us for a total of $10 USD there and back and opting out of going to S21.

An ominous feeling overwhelms you as you enter the gate as you are about to walk on the grounds of where major atrocities took place. Proceeding to pay our $6 USD for entry and the audio guide, which was included with the price and was extremely helpful, the sadness began. Listening to the stories and how they killed the people who came there was devastating. Walking along the mass graves and seeing the uncovered bones appearing as rain washes away the earth was unsettling.The skulls in the Memorial Stupa show the evils of mankind as countless lives were lost for absolutely no reason. ​

One Big Bus - yeah right! We purchased our tickets the night before for 240,000 kip which included the boat back to Naka Song. The man assured us that we would be riding in "one" big bus the whole time but that is definitely not what happened!

So let me tell you how our 15 hour, three different buses trip went...

GUY: "Make sure you are at the ferry dock for 7:50 am & you will be going on one big bus."
ME: "Are you sure it's a big bus and we don't change?"
GUY: "Yes."

Shuffling down to the ferry dock at 7:50 am, we proceeded to join the queue that was going at a snails pace. The queue was to get a new ticket for some odd reason. The loading into the ferry boat was a slow process as they want to fit the max amount of people into a boat and there are a lot of tourists. 
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After about a 7 minute or so boat ride, we arrived at the boating dock and disembarked by jumping into another boat to get to the shore.

At this point it was around 9 am, and we read on the ticket that the bus leaves at 9:30 am, so with our heads down we marched over to the bus stop instead of getting snacks. First mistake! Once we arrived at the bus stop, a man had everyone line up, show him their bus ticket and then he handed out forms to be completed for the border. This man was an "Agent" and kept saying that it doesn't cost us anything to fill out the form but we needed to hand it back to him - Lie #1. It will cost you $40 USD for him to complete the visa on your behalf, or you can just do it yourself like we did for $35 USD. He will say it is faster - Lie #2, it is the same for everyone since we wait for other people to arrive from different buses before leaving the border. He will say that you need to fill out the forms Lie #3 - yes, technically these forms do need to be filled out, but you can get them at the border all the same.

​Remember, you are on Asia time, meaning it won't be on time. The bus didn't arrive until around 10 am, and there was only one big bus that was only taking those with a pink ticket aka not going to Siem Reap or Phnom Pehn. Ushering us into the small mini bus, that fit around 12 people we took off for the border with hot air conditioning and all. 

For more facts on the border crossing, please take a look at my blog post titled No Mans Land. 

After kicking us out of the small mini bus to walk across No Mans Land, I quickened my pace between the Laos and Cambodian border as to "beat" the rush - my competitive nature coming out! - but there is "no rush" in Asia (I should know better). As I approached the Cambodian border, I watched as the foreigners were ushered to get their "health check" but I also saw a few get a yellow piece of paper without paying, so naturally I followed those people. Basically, all I had to say was my passport was with that guy aka the "Agent" and I didn't have to pay the $2 USD for the bogus health check. Note to other travellers, just say you gave your passport to that guy since they have no idea. The "Ebola" test toy is still pointed at you and this time at my neck - didn't know that your neck temperature determined if you have Ebola or not (eye roll).

Getting the visa is a boring process since they only ever have two people working a booth with an unequal division of tasks for some reason. The government officer ended up being too slow, so the "Agent" started writing on the visa stickers for everyone. Clearly it's a hard job. 

After obtaining the visa comes the guess which bus you are on, game. Asking several bus drivers which one is our bus and getting conflicting answers, we all decide to stand next to the second big bus that arrived. Yes, a big bus!! You might think that once everyone has their visa we can get going, but nope, we have to wait for others to fill up the bus. We didn't leave until 1 pm and by that time the air conditioning fluid was leaking onto some of the seats. 

Smooth road ahead...bump bump... actually I take that back. Although the road leading out of the border is paved, they have issues with "speed bumps" aka shitty roads. Our bus drivers inform us that in an hour we will be switching buses because ours is broken. Personally, I think they just said that because we were all told we would be on a big bus the whole way, but that wasn't going to be the case.

The bus drivers take us to a bus depot, or a place with a lot of mini buses. We all disembark and then we watch as those waiting climb into our "broken" bus to head back to Laos. I guess honesty isn't a thing here. While waiting for the next bus, we grab some unappetizing sandwiches for around $2 USD. However unappealing the sandwich was, it was the best decision I made on the trip as you will find out. I paid for the sandwich in USD as I exchanged all my kip at the first bus station, also I didn't know at the time you could pay USD for things in Cambodia so it actually worked out.

Logistically, it makes sense as to why we were put into a small mini bus that fit 15 people because only half the group was heading to Phnom Penh and the other half to Siem Reap. However, I would have much rather a big bus, then being sandwiched in the back seat of basically a mini van with my feet on my backpack and probably someone else's.

Welcome to my first published blog post! Since this is fresh in my mind, I will start with a bit more factual post of the Laos to Cambodia border crossing and I'll discuss the actual 15 hour adventure in the next post.

So here it goes...
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There are no ATMs at the border, make sure you have USD, or enough Laos Kip to be converted into USD. Best bet, have American dollars!

You do not need to use the services of an agent to obtain your visa. While waiting for the bus, a man aka an "Agent" will start passing out border crossing forms and telling you to fill them out. So fill them out, but keep them DO NOT give them back to the "Agent" as he is going to charge you $40 USD to do the whole thing for you instead of the $35 USD. This "Agent" was not honest in telling people of what he his role was. Basically, like lemmings, foreigner after foreigner passed over their passport to him. He does no extra service, other then giving the officer your passport and say it will be quicker. However, everyone is on the same bus and leaves at the same time so it will NOT be any faster. Luckily I read about this prior, so we did the visa process ourselves.

The bus will drop you off at the Laos border, here is where you will obtain your exit stamp. Technically, there is no fee to stamp you out, but it's Laos, so you will be required to pay $2 USD for the stamp. Note: You might get lucky and not have to pay what essentially is a bribe.

Once the ridiculous stamp is obtained you are required to walk through "No Mans Land," basically the area which is neither Laos nor Cambodia. P.S. You will be carrying all of your possessions, but don't worry they don't check anything!

As you approach the Cambodian border you are directed to get an "Ebola" test. What I like to call a waste of $2 USD and a fun game of where are they going to point this toy. Again, this is another way to make you pay for something unnecessary BUT you can skip paying the $2 USD by saying your passport is with the guy, and just point ahead of you. (We did this since they think that the Agent is doing the visa for you). You will receive this yellow piece of paper, which is your "evidence" that you do not have Ebola.

There are two huts that you will need to go to. The first one, on your right is the hut where you receive the stamp for after you obtain the visa. The hut that is further back is where you obtain your visa. Yes, the order doesn't make much sense, but again why would it?

They will hand you a form that is the same as the one the Agent made us fill out. (So if you still have that form then you can use it.) Fill out that form and hand it back to the side window with your passport photo and $35 USD. The price for the visa, for every country is $35 USD not $30 as what most read or paid for at the Cambodian Embassy. The extra $5 USD is for the "unnecessary stamp," regardless, even if you already have the visa. If you don't have a passport photo you can pay $2 USD and they will take one for you.

The other officer in the hut will start filling out the sticker, placing it in your passport and then adding 3 more stamps to it. After which, you will proceed back to the first hut to fill out a second form, again if you have the form from before you can just use that. Here is where you receive your exit stamp, and a form stapled into your passport wherever they feel fit - in my case attached to my Vietnam visa.

As you walk across the border, another officer will walk over to see your stamp and visa. The officer will do it again once you are on the bus.

Overall, you can do the border crossing without the use of an "Agent." It takes the same amount of time, since you all wait for everyone anyways. For us it took around 3 hours, so remember the whole process takes time!

Note: They don't really read the forms, so you can be creative with your occupation, perhaps Cat Owner, or Batman.
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