Saturday December 17

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Comfortable cracks in walls

Beauty in broken buildings 

Saying goodbye to it all

To the city that dint make us feel small

Once resented, becomes a canvas of 4

Where each muse is one, 

we may have feared before

How I fear to forget

When featured flying away

So much love

It’s insane

So many tears

A dehydrated brain 

To play with life is a wonderful game

A game to gain great fullness

Dear favourite foreign place we’ve been finessed 

And met a me that I like best 

Thankyou. 

Gemma

Friday December 16

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Well, hello again, lot to catch up on today. This morning was a bittersweet affair to say the least. This morning started very sweet with a lovely sleep in. Today we only had to get up 8 o clock instead of 6. I was very happy when I heard this news. Then the morning had a very emotional story. It was our last day in Kampot. This meant we had to say goodbye to not only Paris Café (where we have been eating the majority of our meals) and Apsara Guest House, but we also had to say goodbye to the amazing restaurants and culture of Kampot that we had been immersing ourselves in over the trip. When we said goodbye to the people that fed us and had kept a roof over our heads for the past 2 weeks, it was fair to say, we had a hard time. We left in the vans. We were all very tired from our adventure in Kampot - so everyone took advantage of the long trip ahead in the van.

Once we had left Kampot, news of a great tragedy entered the ears of the tired and weary teens on the ‘salt’ van. I will never forget where I was that day when our great and all mighty dictator Madams delivered the horrific news. I was half asleep in the back of the van singing cheesy songs when Mr Adams made and alarming cry. “I LEFT THE PASSPORTS IN THE SAFE.” Everyone in the van awoke from there slumber. Everyone was in shock and in deny of the traumatic news. Immediately Madams had to make some very confronting and embarrassing calls to alert the others of the news. We turned the van around, Madams at his rock bottom, tried to lighten the mood with some dad jokes. He would’ve gotten a better reaction from a brick wall then some of teens in the van. Eventually after a 15-minute drive back Madams made the walk of shame up the driveway to collect the passports. After the great Madams collapse, we restarted the drive to Phnom Penh.

On the way to Phnom Penh we made the trip to Choeng Ek, one of the ‘killing fields’ in Cambodia. Choeng Ek, has mass graves of victims, and is where the Khmer Rouge regime executed over one million people between 1975 and 1979. It was hard to comprehend. We took and audio tour around the site and heard about the tragic stories of the men, woman and children. People were taken 70 at a time by truck to the fields where they would be signed off and killed with farming equipment. On the tour we saw the fabric from the clothes of those who were killed as well as bones emerging from the soil. At the end of the tour, we entered a large memorial that was built to respect those who were killed at the fields. The building contained the skulls of those who were murdered, the skulls were labelled according to their gender and how they were killed. The building was 2 stories’ high and was filled to capacity. This was one of many around Cambodia, during the reign of the Khmer Rouge, 1 in 4 people were murdered.  I don’t think I will ever forget the stories I heard today at the fields. The horrific stories will be embedded into my mind for life.

Jed

Thursday 15th of December

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The last day with the kids... Must be weird to hear this from the same blogger that complained about stomach aches to be telling you what it’s like to lose a child. Today we had to say goodbye to CLS and do it through thick tears. After hours of practising for the big assembly today. Many of us became front and centre professional thespians with our singing and dancing. 

Parents, locals, Arthrisha laranye (stray hairless mangy dog), politicians, the governor and Mr T all came to the assembly. After dancing to traditional Khmer songs, we moved on to “I am a gummy bear”, “Strawberry” and “PUTA PUTA”. We then had a snack and heard a couple of speeches mostly in Khmer but the whole assembly was run by the students (like Minimbah & Penbank) in English. Merch was handed out and we got pretty pictures of ourselves, but then a surprise came along. MUSIC EVERYWHERE! Mosh pit of traditional Cambodian dancing then other rave like songs after it. Wild surprise…but then while mid song it switched to happy birthday and Mr T got a birthday cake and everyone heard his third speech. 

After a long time of dancing everyone was so sweaty. We then had the most heart wrenching puffy eyed hug fest of goodbyes as we left the school for the last time.

Although I’m talking about it so casually, it really did hurt, and I wish I had done more. Yet again, all this trip was just a big weird obscure learning curve for many people. I miss the kids so much, but I’m so glad I got to experience it. 

Bot Bot and Heng (Mr T’s sons) stuck around till after dinner when we came back, and they cheered us up. They left with happy tears because we were all happy to have met. 

Writing this I dropped a single tear so consider this a really “bloody worth the money” kind of trip - stomach aches and all!

Al

Wednesday December 14

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Coming to Cambodia to be a teacher sounds cool. Obvs. But being a teacher, babysitter, climbing frame, soccer extraordinaire, comedic genius and fist pump god is actually epic. Very epic. Way more epic that I could ever have imagined.

Teaching in the Salt Fields with a little bean on your hip and two hanging of your legs has been the most hectic and beautiful thing ever. Every kid rushes to learn and I have been able to spend break times buried in notebooks and teaching mini tutor classes because they just want to know it all. I’ve never been so tired though. And its awesome. Every second there are more questions and high fives and piggy backs. Falling in love with the Salt Fields and every kid in the classroom has been an honour. An honour to teach them and an honour to love and cuddle them. But also, an inspiration.

Short intermission from the recount and emotions to document my new life plan so I don’t forget. 

Finish high school. Go to uni. Do a double degree in teaching and something. Have a gap in the middle to come straight back here. Finish my degree. Come straight back here. Never leave.

The End. 

Cambodia has been an explosion from the beginning. A giant firework. Where everything feels like it’s in bright colours and high definition. Everything we do is made important when you see a small human, copy you, doing something you do, mirroring your habits. A bright beautiful army of minions (that I really want to pack in my suitcase but apparently that won’t slide in Melbourne customs - smh) who have made the world richer and infinitely more exciting. 

Being here reminds me of what my mum says (hi mumington i miss you!!!!!!!!), that when you have kids, your heart expands. Well, I think I pretty much birthed 50 kids and my heart is going to explode, so she was right. 

Also, the people we came with don’t suck. I was surprised. 

Cambodia is epic. 10/10. Cool views, awesome humans, will do again.

Gemma

Tuesday the 13th of December.

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Wassup fam? Today I woke up and ate the usual, fried eggs and baguette from the Paris café. Eating the yoke on the baguette is always a highlight of my day and eating that meal with all the amazing people here with me for this once in a lifetime trip makes it taste even better! My life in Cambodia is very different to my life in Australia, no phones has definitely rocked a few of us. From the moment my phone had been taken away from me I have been digging through the songs in my head and singing them out loud. My fellow peers have been both enjoying and hating my constant rapping and singing. In Cambodia I have been working harder than I normally would be in the middle of December however I have really enjoyed the roles and responsibilities I have had on daily basis.

In the mornings I enjoy teaching English, the kids are very eager to learn - making it so much easier for the Woodleigh kids. I feel great pride when I help a kid learn as I know how happy it makes them. The people here are very kind, our drivers for the week have been thick and thin listening to us gossip, argue and sing on the ways to and from school. I wonder and worry how much they can understand. The teachers all have deep care and passion for their jobs and are always working hard to help not just the CLS kids but also the Woodleigh kids.  The teachers help us plan classes and help us with the kids. Each teacher knows their students and what helps them and what doesn’t, and the teachers will never refuse to help a student. Class is also so enjoyable as you are with other kids from Woodleigh too. Over this experience all of us have become inseparable, every meal or break in class we are all chatting together and laughing at or with one another. So, when we are in class it is always great to have people, you are close to help you out. 

I struggle to put the amount of fun I have had into words. I have been having so much fun whilst I have been here! On the first night in Kampot, I had a nightmare that we were coming home because I had just had so much fun from day dot. 

My English teacher and my parents would be happy to know since I have had my phone taken away, I have been reading every night, I have already completed one book and started a second. I have also been writing a daily journal, explaining the events of the day. I am predicting that my journal will be put into a great museum somewhere for people to admire for years to come. The journal will also help me answer all the burning questions my family and friends have for me.

p.s Mum when I return from my travels may I please have pan fried eggs on white toast with bacon and hash browns.

Jed “Jeddy Betts” Smith

Monday 12th December 

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I woke up at 4am again because of the bloody roosters, cockadoodledoodling in gospel. Mrs Cian was greeted by my scowling face peering out from under an eye mask as I wondered how it was time to head to Paris Café for breakfast at 6.30. Every morning. It’s become a nice little tradition for all of us to sit down, eat together, and start the day. I opt for the fruit muesli with mango and dragon fruit, to instil me with some sort of strength for the rest of day. Prior to our arrival at Chumkriel today we were briefed about the assembly hosted by the senior students. Such events must be filmed of course. I took my Canon and began finding angles and the best lighting as the basketball court began to fill with children, the staff, and their parents. Lots of fresh faces! Rows of children and ‘Woodleighans’ sat on the court. With the parents propped on chairs the back, it appeared a sort of theatre. The town mayor gave an address in Khmer, in a sleek beige uniform. He spoke with the kind of vigour I wish I could summon throughout these hot afternoons. Luckily, holding a camera grants me special privileges. Like avoiding physical activity (just kidding!). I am official press. I hover, I float, I sneak and sleek around like the boogey man getting all the footage I need. People are almost always willing, if not enthusiastic, to be in a photo - something universally understood.  It was so refreshing to see the community getting their hands dirty to do something about the plastic problem. We all walked around the local community picking up and sorting rubbish. It’s in the water ways, it’s in the monasteries, it’s choking the otherwise pristine landscape. For lunch we hitched rides in salt and pepper. A black van and a white van. How creative. Switching between the vans is considered highly traitorous. #Pepper4lyfe. We have a running debate: there are no pigs in Cambodia, only pork. They are a myth. We have seen chickens and cows. NO PIGS. With a little time left on the clock I visited the souvenir shop I’ve been itching to go to. So far, we’re all tracking well for Chrissy presents. To finish the day, we devoured 2 packets of cookies on the roof. 

Ash won’t stop singing. This is an SOS.

Ruby

Sunday 11th December 

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Need I say more from what has previously been said?…yes. It’s officially over half-way in our cosmic trip we know as Cambodia. From what I assume you have gathered from Chloe in the previous message, we stayed at Kep for the weekend. And much like Chloe, I slept in and missed both days of the morning monkey walks. Yes, I know it would have been more interesting to experience monkeys in their natural habitat, climbing, running, stealing anything on one’s person – especially food, but I treasure my beauty sleep and nutritional intake of BREAKFAST! Crepes, toast, tea, and juice to be exact. After the wonderous breakfast, we ventured a whole 20 meters to the luscious garden where we dazed in the sun, wrote postcards and played volleyball. Around 10am, a small group of us took a walk to one of the local shops and got ice-cream, then looked in a café that sold hand-made arts and crafts such as cups, plates, jewellery, and clothing. On our walk back, Andre saw the tiniest baby mouse struggling on the hot road. Naturally, me being the selfless human I am, used one of my postcards to move it onto the other side of the road where there was shade. I handled it with complete professionalism (I cried a little). When we arrived back to the villa, we went back to the garden to repeat the same activities we did before. Moreover, as we were to be picked up at around 4pm, we packed our bags and relaxed until it was time to have lunch in which I had a lovely chicken burger and coke (very western I know). Then, we got into Salt + Pepper (our travel vans) which took us back to the beloved Apsara guest house. Overall, dinner was well worth it because the Mint Freeze (drink) we had was to die for, I’m going to try make it when I get home – or drink so many while I’m here that I won’t like it anymore. Bye! 

P.S miss you fam xoxo

Ayah 

Saturday 10th December

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I got to sleep in today. Today was our first day in the coastal town of Kep, and the first day of relaxation since our departure. As much as the smiling faces of our beloved students were missed, I deeply appreciated the much-needed rest that our little holiday provided. However, ‘The Nature Song’ sadly hovered over us like a dark cloud… haunting us. While some of our group rose early to seize the day and go for a 7-kilometre walk, others, like me, chose to sleep in after a hard week’s work. Several members of the group decided to explore the monkey forest. I heard it was great, but couldn’t make it, because of brekky. I got an omelette. We spent the rest of the morning lazying around. I took advantage of our spare time to read, and am nearly finished my book. We ventured out of the hotel during lunch, where we admired the coastline of Kep and the locals carrying out their daily life. Following our stroll along the beach, we broke off into small groups to locate a lunch spot. After taking the scenic route home, we spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out. We then meandered down to dinner at ‘The Seagull’ where we shared an array of seafood dishes like grilled ‘squib’ and fish fried rice. Additionally, we indulged in some desserts after dinner; I had a mochi ball, which was unique. 

Hi family xoxo

Chloe

Friday December 9

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MY BABIES!!!! Each day cuddlier and more loveable. Their big magical eyes melt your soul and their smiles are contagious. All of them have few belongings but hearts bigger than anyone I’ve ever met. I am trying to remember all their names and so far there’s: Cheata, Pov, Nite, Bopha, Pha, Ratnha, Vyya, Serypich, Det, Rayut and Sovanpandha. On Thursday I introduced the kids to “duck, duck, goose” and oh my days they were obsessed, they even missed break to continue playing. Teaching the kids has changed my English to Kindergarten level and the use of many hand signals; not the best for year 12 next year! All of them explode with personality, each filling my day with excitement. It’s taken me a good 50 plus minutes to write this stupid paragraph because I’m too busy watching the soccer Brazil vs Croatia. Very intense but no goals have been scored. It would be more entertaining if Matildas or Richmond where playing. The mozzies are killers when they get you so I’m wearing PJ pants, a nightie, and a robe from the resort to stop them from biting me. Tonight, for dinner we had an awesome BBQ with freshly grilled fish (bones, eyes, the lot), chicken and veggie kebabs, stir fry and salad, it was delicious. The fish tasted like chicken, and I added some Kampot pepper spices to it, so it tasted yummy. One night during the week we did a fruit tasting and for the first time I had rambutans. They had a weird texture but were really refreshing, sweet and out of this world. No doubt, I will eat many more. 

Update on the soccer, Ms Strouts and I were the last ones up watching the soccer and boy am I glad I did! It went into after time with Brazil scoring a goal in the last seconds of the first half of aftertime and then the game changing moment was when Croatia scored in the last 5 mins of after time. Croatia had a better chance going into penalty shootouts because their goalie was warmed up more and had higher odds. In the end Croatia came through with the win and Brazil was knocked out. Tonight, I am looking forward to the Portugal vs Morocco match.

Ash

Thursday 8th December 

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You never could have guessed it, yep another day, even bigger than yesterday. After a 6:00 am start, most of us spent the morning at CLS (with a few going to the salt fields). This morning Charlotte and I made a plan for the assembly and I went out with Ms Strouts to get some paper and laminating sheets and she said NO to that plastic bag! And then in the afternoon I had my CLS class where we were painting the hungry caterpillar on the concrete and then doing lots of singing of the “Reduce Reuse Recycle” song and “Where are the Animals?”. They really are catchy and are stuck in our heads so we are still singing them! Tonight, some of us took the opportunity to also teach at night school. Here there was a range of ages and abilities from age 6 to adults and Monks too, it was a very diverse class. We were separated into small groups of about 8 students to one ‘teacher’ where we were instructed to chat for an hour. Not only meeting new people but also with a language barrier made it quite a difficult task! But the time flew and I found out that everyone in my group likes porridge for breakfast! It is always a bit concerning when everyone quickly starts talking Khmer to each other, looking at you and laughing. I really want to know what they are saying! After another dinner of noodles, rice and curry we are now going to bed and packing our bags in preparation for traveling to Kep tomorrow. Overall, another big but rewarding day.

P.S Happy birthday mum, love you lots (Loch, Dad and Jaz don’t forget this is my reminder to you!)

Milly

Wednesday December 7th

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Today was another full day at Chumkriel Language School, and it was another day full of activities and spending time all together in the school. I started my day by teaching our bilingual book, which focuses on the importance of recycling and clearing rubbish off the streets. We made this book with pictures and simple sentences to help the children understand the effect of plastic on the environment. We all got to join in and sing our song (written by Mr Eddy) called the Recycling Song, with actions and instruments (both guitar and flute!) and the voices of us all being a joy to take part in. We later went out walking for lunch, and found the most amazing little store that had trinkets of all kinds, expressing the beauty of Cambodia. My afternoon class started with teaching English, which involved lots of reading and repeating, with the kids learning about their outside world. The connections we have been making in our classes are the best part. Everyone is so smiley and it is always so much fun to play at lunch, altogether. At the end of our school day, we also got to visit the night school, where people of all ages come to learn about things of all kinds. We also got the privilege of entering a monastery, and it was fascinating to listen and learn about their religion and their practices. We then ate a spread of food for dinner including noodles, fried rice, chicken curry and more, all while chatting and laughing lots. All in all, it was another good day! 

P.S happy birthday mum, love you! xx 

Lily 

Tuesday December 6th

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Today was our first full day of teaching at CLS (Chumkriel Language School) and it felt a bit like being thrown into the deep end. I first taught at the salt fields, a much smaller school mostly for younger kids and we quickly found ourselves managing, large groups and teaching classes with language barriers. After that we had lunch at Espresso café (next door to Dorsu – the business that makes our Homestead t-shirts and gives a % of their profits to CLS). In the afternoon my group went on a tour of the local area, with a class teaching them English words for the things we saw, mostly focusing on rubbish. The area has a massive rubbish problem - it’s everywhere, from the roads to people’s houses. There is no rubbish collection so it just piles up. People have taken to burning the rubbish which releases toxic smoke. In the second afternoon class we were in the library reading ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, which I think I have now read and listened to enough to recite from memory! After school we came back to our guest house. We had 15 minutes before our meeting and dinner which is challenging when you really need a shower. We had a banquet style dinner at the Paris Café next door, with lots of local dishes. After dinner we discussed our plans for the next day and planned classes. To round off the day, we went to the night market to buy an ice-cream, it was small and set up like a fairground with stalls and rides. 

Finn  

Monday December 5

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Today was our first day at the Chumkriel Language School. We had an early start at 6:00 and then headed down to Paris Café. The vans were ready for us to jump in at 7:50 and we were off to school. After being shown around the main school by Mr Thy we headed out to the salt fields where we saw the small classroom there. We were lucky enough to play a fun game of soccer with the students. By 12:00 we were back at the hotel heading out for lunch and enjoying the daily life of Kampot. At 2:00 we were back at the school and straight into teaching. Some students were at the school teaching the students English and others were out walking around the local community teaching them about plastic. During the 10 -minute break we had another intense game of soccer where Jed thought he was in The World Cup and scored a total of 7 goals (he told me to put that in my ‘report’). We then headed back to classes until 5:00. For dinner we shared a banquet full of stir-fry noodles, fried rice and curry and had heaps of amazing goss spilled. 

Charlotte