Three Wishes

We had story problems for math homework this week.  The problems were all worded about wishes and at the bottom of the page there was a bonus question that had nothing to do with the math.  It said, "If you were given 3 wishes, what would you wish for?"  I was quickly scanning the homework, but then I noticed some of the things they wrote about.  By the way, I'm impressed that everyone wrote something, because back home many of the kids would have left it blank because it was an extra question and not part of the math lesson.

There was the usual.  I wish I was rich, a bigger room, a big house, 100 Barbie dolls....  Then there were some interesting responses.  "I wish I had a nice teacher."  That was from one of the brightest boys in class, but also one who likes to orate at inappropriate times.  "I wish Necru Khana and Miss Carson would be my teachers again."  Ok, now I feel affirmed.  "I wish I could stay with God." Mmm.  "I wish I was a shiny boy." "I wish I was cool."  I think your cool, buddy.  Especially when you spike up your hair a smile till your eyes disappear. "I wish everybody believed in God and I became very smart."  Those are both my wishes too, little man.  "I wish for my friends red eyes to get better."  Yes, we all hope the pink eye will go away.  "I wish that I can have a gold wing."  Just one will do, apparently.  "I wish that I can go to heaven."  You will my dearest.

And then this one.

I have a boy in my class.  He's new to our school this year, whereas most of the kids have been together for a few years.  He's a sweet kid.  I think he seems a little young for his age.  There's a gentleness or sweetness about him that I can't quite put words to.  He reminds me of one of my nephews a bit.  Anyway, I've already got a tender spot for him, then his first wish, "I wish more clever."  Ah, he pulled my heart strings with that one.  We'll work on it together my friend, and you will do just fine.

Sihanoukville~ A Holiday at the Seaside

We had a mid-semester break around the Cambodian holiday of Pchum Ben.  We had the whole week off sandwiched between two weekends.  The roommates and I decided to do a bit of traveling.  So to Sihanoukville we went.  Sihanoukville (see-uh-nook-vill) is a touristy beach town about 4 or 5 hours away by bus.   We boarded the Giant Ibis, and bumped on down the road. 

One day we went to Sokha Resort and used their private beach.  It's much nicer and safer than the public beach.

 

Our second day in we were almost robbed.  In the bag they tried to steal was a bikini that Meredith just bought.  Because it's the rainy season, it's the low season for tourism.  That means cash flow is down in a tourist town, and some resort to a sinister means of earning cash.

 

 

Two fellows on a moto tried to rip a plastic bag out of Meredith's hand.  They didn't succeed and I earned myself some road rash in the scuffle.



The tuk tuk drivers were a little wily here.  They charge you a cheap price to go somewhere, but it's twice as much to get home.

Another day we tried to spend an entire day at Sokha, but for some reason they had closed it to outsiders.  So we went to the Independence Hotel instead.  It was 1/2 as much to use their pool, beach and towel and we stumbled upon a treasure.

 

 

This is the view from the pool looking down towards the beach.

See that little boardwalk hidden behind the trees?  We will visit that pretty scene later.

We had the pool almost to ourselves.  The temperature was perfect.  It wasn't salty and didn't feel chlorinated.  It felt like I was swimming in bottled water!

The girls, caught off guard.

This is the stuff vacations are made of: sun, water, books and of course a refreshing mango shake.

This picture was taken from a glass elevator that took us down to the beach.  Sea foam green is my new favorite color, can you guess why?  It was cloudy a lot but when the sun shone on the sea it was beautiful.

I body surfed and caught two waves on this beach!

There was a walkway all along one direction of the beach.  Every time we went around a corner it was another beautiful view. 

This is what happens when you let teachers out of the classroom!

 

 

We did a few other things around town.  We found ourselves a nice little spa to visit.  Extravagant you say?  Not at all!  I had a mani/pedi (yes both) for $8.  Perfect for a teacher budget.

 

Another afternoon we visited Top Cat, the only cinema in town.  We rented our own private air conditioned room and picked a movie to watch on a big flat screen.  Indulgent you say?  Not at all!  We paid $4 (not including our snacks).  Just right for a teacher budget.  

 

Another day we took the Island Hopper tour out to Bamboo Island.  Meredith loaned me some Dramamine so it was a fabulous day!

 

The girls on the boat

 

 

 

There was some beautiful snorkeling in these waters~ Not only where there beautiful fish, there were urchins and all manner of coral.

One of the boat fellas barbequed our lunch on the back of the boat.  There is some tasty marinated fish in those little packets.

Our trusty sea vessels

On the shores of Bamboo Island

 

 

Our tour boat was a converted fisher.  Definitely not her maiden voyage,  she's been around the currents a few times.

 

 We rented beach chairs for 2000 riel (that's 50 cents) and the boat crew put together a great little lunch.  On the island we snoozed, swam and snorkeled.  I saw and enormous eight-armed sea star under the water.  It was bigger than both my feet end to end.

Feeling salty, crusty, damp and utterly fabulous on the way home.

I like to call this picture mango and a mani~ 

 

Overall I give Sihanoukville 3 1/2 stars out of 5.  The beaches, pools, and snorkeling were great, but the crime put a damper on things.  It was a great, and much needed break from work.  Time to transition back to real life, but I'm taking my mango fetish with me...

Flooding

We are definitely into the rainy season.  We had some very heavy rain early this week and this was the result.  Please pray for the water to recede.  Over 100 have died to far, and I just read some sewers are bursting and mixing into the flood waters.  Lots of people are displaced.  These pictures are from our ride to and from school.  We hired a tuk tuk instead of biking through this.

 

 

 Take a look at Thouen (two-en) in the mirror!

Thouen is our best tuk tuk driver.

This is a recycle man and his cart.

The ride was bumpy, hence the blurry picture.  You can't see potholes under the water, so it's a rough ride.

 

This is the road in front of our school.

 

 

Road in front of school looking the other direction.

 

 

There's our school gate on the left.

 

 

Our librarian arrives at work.

Kids and staff arriving in a tuk tuk

 

The ride home