Sihanoukville, Cambodia

I've made it to Sihanoukville Cambodia. Pictures will come when I feel the energy to go through them and figure out which ones I want to put up. I don't know how hot it is but I do know that I am dehydrated and pissy right now.

It's nice to be back with a project and to have a home base again. I traveled on my own from Saigon to Phnom Penh and then to Sihanoukville. All of it by bus. I saw nothing other than my tuk-tuk ride to and from the bus station in PP. I will be back in just a little over a month to really see it. Big cities and being on my own is still something I don't like doing by myself. I didn't mind doing the border crossing alone - I was on a chartered bus and for an extra 5 dollars they did everything for me.

In Sihanoukville I was greeted by Jo one of the coordinators. Right from the start I could tell that this would be a better experience than teaching in Vietnam. I'm working at the CCPP (Cambodian Children's Painting Project) (check under the links section of my blog to see its site). This job is less teaching and more childcare which is tiring but a nice change. The heat here is just killing me. I thought I was aclimated but trying to do anything in the sun makes my brain melt and it's hard trying to think of different ways to keep the kids engaged. The kids here are very cute but dirty little things. We have 60 kids 3-16yrs old - I've only had 48 at one time is the most I have seen. Most of the girls have lice. [This is just like starting my daycare job in Seattle - I arrived and learned that there was a lice outbreak... but in Seattle we acutally did things to prevent kids from re-getting it... here we just hope the shampoo works and can't even get the nit combs!]

Overall I like the project. It's a little more than I bargined for - 7 hours a day and from the heat I stop thinking after lunch... I have taken the afternoon off. I think it is time for a dip in the ocean. Afterwards a nice cold shower and then my book.