Finally internet that is working!

Hello everybody!
Finally after two weeks i have internet that is actually working! :D this is already my second internet café :P

Ok my last story was from Bangkok. So I have a lot of catching up to do!! here we go...

After Bangkok I took a flight to Phnom Penh. At the airport a tuctuc drive was waiting for me that i arranged through the hostel I was going to stay for the next three days.

I went to the killing fields and the S-21 museum. Before I arrived there I already finished my book "first they killed my father" it’s about a girl who lived in phnom penh during the Khmer rouge. It left quit a impression. For those who don’t know what the killing fields and the S-21 museum are... here the short Wikipedia version!

The Killing Fields were a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a museum in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng (Khmer [tul slae]) means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill".

Furthermore i made some friends there one from the US and one from South Africa!. together we went out in phnom penh and had some cocktails! :) at the end my bill was 7 dollars!! What a life!! :P I also drove a tuctuc for a few minutes and I tried to buy it for 1 dollar but the guy wouldn't sell it to me:P

Then on Sunday morning i had my bus from phnom penh to Siemreap. About 6 hours. For 2 dollars more I had a luxury bus WITH a toilet and aircon.
First the toilet... It was not what we are used to. So I didn’t dare to use it!! and the aircon.. Because of the aircon of that bus I had for a week the feeling I would get an ear infection again. So after a lot of ibuprofen it was better after a week. What a Luxury bus!

So I arrived in Siem reap at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. at 6 o’clock we had a meeting with Jan (the guy who is the head of the volunteering organization) and the other volunteers. So for the first week we would be with 5 volunteers! A lot!

My first and second week as a volunteer:

On Monday we first went to the local market to buy rice and fish for 3 families who are supported ban de organization and some rice and noodles en vegetables for the volunteers. We also went to the Angkor market to buy some western food like some cookies and milk and muesli. After that we went to our volunteers house. My first impression… It’s a tree house!! I feel like a child again haha. We have no flushing toilet or shower, no electricity and no internet! To shower we have a bucket of cold water you get from the water pump. Then you have something like a pan fill it with water from the bucket and just throw the water over you! For the toilet… throw your toilet paper in the bucket next to you and like you did with the shower, throw a pan of water into the toilet to flush it. And then at night you have a stretcher with a mosquito net. You need that mosquito net because there are a lot of flies and mosquito’s and bugs and you name it, it is there! So my first night was a bit panicking! Because I hate them!! But the second night was much better!! And the third night I had a big grasshopper in my mosquito net!! So I woke up Loam (one of the two orphans in the volunteering house, a girl of 17) to help me. She just grabbed the thing with her hands. We western people are so spoiled!

So now the teaching, in the morning from 8 to 9 I teach some monks at the pagoda. Then from 14:00 till 15:00 I have the funny class (crazy class). They are the youngest children. And then in the afternoon from 17:00 till 19:00 I help Chheng (also a teacher) with his lessons. And in between if I have time I go to the health care centre to help. So I’m quite busy with everything. Everyday I get up at 6 o’clock in the morning and we go to bed at 8 or 9 o’clock in the evening. At 6 o’clock in the evening it is so dark you won’t see the person standing in front of you. So after dinner you have nothing to do then sleep. This is what I was doing for the last two weeks. After 5 days of nothing you return to siemreap and finally you have a real bed and a real shower!! (Ok it is a shower not a great one..) So the first thing I did when we were back in siem reap was having a manicure and a pedicure and a massage of one hour. And all of that for only 15 dollars!! I love Cambodia:)

The second week looked like the first week I had the same classes only now I’m also giving computer lessons/ typing lessons to Von (one of the teachers). I do this from 12:30 till 13:30.

Ok there was some confusion on how long I will do my volunteering work here in siem reap. I’m volunteering here for 4 weeks. And I always can extend my stay there if I want to ;).

Cambodian people live day by day they don’t have time. So when a teacher shows up 20 minutes to late it is normal. But now at my lessons they show up on time! :) I got a bit angry with them ;p

And the children! They are so lovely!! I’m sure I’m going to miss them a lot! Also the teachers and the people here. I will try to upload some pictures today or tomorrow and otherwise next weekend.

For some more information about the organization check the website:
www.cambodia-dutch.org

I saw the organization and the work they do here, and I’m convinced that it is necessary! But they can’t do it alone; they are depending on gifts and donations. So that’s why I want to raise money for the organization and the people from this village. I’m going to do this by asking everyone I know for a donation to help. And this donation will be 100% for the people because I can choose were I want to spend the money on! A lot of children still don’t have school clothes or a water pump for decent drinking water. If you want to support me and the organization for a better living standard for the people in the village you can donate money. The account number is 1207.74.615 tnv. Jacqueline Jacobs

I think that’s it for now! I can go on and on but I think you would be bored with reading my stories.

What is the temperature in Holland now? Here it is about 30 degrees.. pfff

I’m looking forward to read your comments! :)

With a lot of love from Cambodia,

Jacqueline