Cambodia - Marie

This is just going to be a quick one given that it's late and I still have to pack my big bag and I was up at 4.15am for sunrise this morning!

So, Cambodge...

You know that bit in Wallace&Gromit 'A Close Shave' where there are loads of sheep piled up on a motorbike??  Well, that could easily happen here and nobody would bat an eyelid...  There are motorbikes absolutely everywhere, and people transport the craziest stuff on them...  for example their whole family (which could be the parents plus 3 kids (yep on one bike), or several suitcases, or big planks of wood, or anything you can think of really!  The roads are mental - so much traffic and everything all mixed up together - bikes, motorbikes, tuk tuks (motorbike with carriage) lorries, coaches, cars, people pushing carts... chaos!  Yet somehow ordered chaos, there is a kind of system and it seems to work!  After almost 2 weeks here I've just about got the hang of crossing the road (just keep walking, let the bikes zig zag around you and pray lots!).

So if I had to sum up Cambodia I'd say lots of motorbikes, crazy roads, loads of dogs which are very noisy at nice, and a country of "mixture".  By this I mean that everywhere you look there are so many contrasts and things which don't seemingly go together and it's all like a big mixing pot (the traffic on the roads, the state of the roads (one minute you're on a nice smooth patch then you turn off and the side street is a dirt track), the buildings (a nice looking house next to a falling down shack) yet somehow everything does work together and the place has a real charm about it.

I  had the opportunity to do a bit of French teaching which was brilliant!  I went in to look around the international school where Naomi works one day and I was hoping to be able to observe some French lessons, but it just so happened that the French teacher was off school the following day so I was called upon to help out!  None of the other teachers speak French so I took the lessons and absolutely loved it!  I had two different GCSE classes and a year 7 class and it was a real case of "make it up as I go along" as I only had a couple of minutes to look at the lesson plans beforehand, but it all went well!  I think I'd like to become a French teacher!The students were extremely well behaved and enthusiastic and I was very impressed.  It was also interesting being in an international school environment for a couple of days and seeing how things work in that setting.

I said this one would be short and sweet - but basically it's been another really fascinating place to visit, and I've very much enjoyed the time spent relaxing and spending time with friends :)