Baby, Baby, Baby

Today was awesome. It was la-awesome.

My co-teachers were busy today and had told me ahead of time (which is always appreciated) so I had some fun activities planned for my classes. My first hour was with one of my favorite classes, 10L. We began with a review of the days of the week and then months of the year. Yes, we sang the Barney song for days of the week but hey, it sticks in your head! We then followed with a fun game of hangman which was led by the students.  I usually do the first word and the students catch on quickly and so I let them “teach” the class.  I just give them the vocabulary words to guess.  They really enjoy it (especially when I called them “lok gruu” or “nek gruu” which is male teacher and female teacher).

After that was another favorite class of mine, 10J. This class is double blocked so I have them for 2 hours.  I had a meeting with the school director for the first 15 minutes, but I promised them a fun games and candy so they waited for me.  When I got back, the fun began.  I passed out handouts with the lyrics to the song “Baby” by Justin Bieber with a number of the words missing.  They students had to listen to the song to figure out the missing words.  Since this is a popular song they really liked, they REALLY paid close attention to the song.  They loved it! We listened to it twice and then I stopped it after each missing word so we could go over it together.

After this, the students were in a great mood and wanted to do more singing.  By this time, all the other classes had left and we were the only ones left in the entire school (grade 12 testing begins tomorrow so many students left early).  The students of 10J wanted to do a singing competition! Some of the students sang in Khmer (they have beautiful pre-pubescent voices) and a couple sang in English.  I gave all the singers candy.  It was great! Then we had a dance off.  I played Gangnam Style of course, and then a few One Direction songs.  The students were clapping along and cheering so I just started throwing out candy to everyone dancing.  Best. Class. Ever!

Srey Neang and Mey Mey singing “The Mouse So Love the Rice”

In the afternoon I took a killer nap.  Nothing beats a good solid nap in the Cambodian heat.

Followed by my English club.

I decided I would finally invest in a strap for the back of my bike so I can carry stuff on it.  Went to the market and ran into my favorite market family.  This is the place I always go for a nice meal and good company.  I love the little girls that ran all over this place.  I had my music playing and so the girls started dancing.  We had another little dance party to Swedish House Mafia right in the middle of the market.

My ro-ti guy drives by and I decide to by myself and the girls some.  It is delicious.  The best way I can describe it is a crepe with options of egg mixed in, mio (a chocolate powder), or condensed milk.  In Siem Reap, you can get many other options such as banana, nutella, and other fruits.

Definitely a favorite dessert of mine.

We are sitting enjoying our ro-ti when a truck full of monks stops at the market.  I get up and go talk to them and the nuns they are traveling with and we had a good 10 minute conversation in Khmer, asking about what I am doing here and so forth.  Of course, we then transitioned to English, as almost every monk I meet wants to practice their English.  This truck was traveling back to Bantaey Meanchay after a visit to Kampong Thom.  It was filled with at least 25 monks, ages ranging 10 to 30. I love these guys.

It was dark by then, so I hopped back on my bike, said “lia-howee” to my market family and the girls, and headed back home.

A nice dinner of rice and veggies tonight completed a great day in Cambodia.

p.s.-I have probably heard the song “Baby” at least 10x today. Cambodians love it. Especially when they have the words in front of them and can sing along.