Susaday (Hello) families! For only being in Cambodia for a week we’ve already had a lot of new, eye-opening experiences. Our week started out in Battambang, volunteering at the Ptea Teuk Dong organization and then ended in Siem Reap, exploring ancient ruins.
We volunteered at an organization called Ptea Teuk Dong'(PTD) which in Khmer means ‘House of Coconut Water’. This is a non-profit organization that previously worked with sexually trafficked women and street children. Now it focuses on educating children in Battambang villages near the organization. We arrived at PTD on Nov. 6 expecting to do therapeutic work with sexually trafficked women and children. Instead, we did an assortment of things like assist the PTD teachers in teaching English, playing games with the children, painting a mural, and constructing a sink. In the the morning, after a 7:30 breakfast we split up and either helped with the mural or played games with the children. During this time we learned that Cambodian children play some strange games … for instance, their favorite game was duck-duck-goose but with a whip… Some kids took it way too far (cough cough Parker). We did this till lunch at 12:00 and then at 2:00 we split up into three different groups to teach English. There were 3 levels of English speakers in their school, but the age varied. The level 1 class consisted of 24 kids who were starting the alphabet and the body parts. Level 2 had 8 children and was learning greetings/introductions. Level 3 had 7 children and was the advanced class where they learned about fruits and months. We taught and played games with these three classes until they went home at 5:00. Although some of us would rather play with puppies than children, we all really enjoyed the time spent with the children and helping the community.
Along with volunteering we were also able to explore and immerse ourselves in Battambang’s culture. Examples of this were when we visited a home where we learned how to make scarves and rice paper which are used for spring rolls. We took a bamboo train ride and saw Battamang’s stunning greenery. We also had the opportunity to witness an absurd amount of bats leaving their cave at sundown in a single file line. On our last night at PTD, Brett and Alisha decided to surprise us with a trip to the Battambang circus. Going into it, we didn’t know what to expect. We’ve learned that when you do expect something, it ends up being entirely different from what it actually is. They had jugglers, fire twirlers, and a lot of backflips. It ended up being a very exciting and entertaining show. It was really nice to be able to see a small slice of Cambodia’s culture this week.
After our week at PTD, we were all excited to explore somewhere new. We packed our bags and jumped on a bus to Siem Reap, home to the largest religious monument in the world. Our first full day was spent touring this temple complex. After a few minutes of arguing, we were able to agree on a reasonable price with our 3 tuktuk drivers and started our day. Thanks to our group’s ability to be late we were only able to go to 4 temples. One of which was the famous ‘Tomb-Raider’ temple who’s real name is Ta Prohm. Here we saw beautiful tree roots growing around the aging temple and Kat AKA. Lara Kroft running around trying to find a famous tree. We ended our tour with Angkor Wat, the largest of the temples. Walking through the massive temple walls left us stunned. To finish an exciting cultural experience we had the opportunity to watch the sunset from the highest point of Angkor Wat. We were able to watch the last rays of sun shine on the vast temple complex.
For our last night in Siem Reap we had a unique opportunity to visit a local organization called EGBOK which stands for Everything’s Gonna Be OK. It’s a program for underprivileged kids living in the city ages 16-22. EGBOK trains them in hotel service like cooking, cleaning, management, and bar-tending. After 12 months of training they try and find a job in the hotel business. A lot of us were impressed at how well structured the program was and how caring and selfless the faculty are. This year they had about 40 students in the program who got to meet. We only spent the day and evening there but the students took this little time to teach us a lot about Cambodian culture. We made spring rolls, fried bananas, and flower decorations. We also had a taste test consisting of fruits and for the brave souls, bugs. After dinner, we had a dance party where we jammed to some of the students’ Cambodian music and a little American pop music as well. It was such a unique experience to be able to connect with people our age who have completely different pasts. We left with many new friendships and flowers.
Now we’re off to Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital!
Xoxo,
Charlie and Maura
