The end of my wonderful internship...

The last message... Sorry you didn't hear that much from me the last month but I wanted to enjoy every moment and I had a lot of work to do.

During the first week of May it was the NIE (National Institute of Education) workshop. Lies Devoldere and John Depoortere from Arteveldehogeschool came to Cambodia to give this workshop. During that week I was their assistant. The teachers were very enthusiastic and we were all satisfied at the end of the workshop.

The week from the 7the of May till the 11the of May was my last working week at the RTTC Kandal :(
Thursday the 10the was my last lesson Physics. I used the optical bench during my lesson about the flat and the concave mirror. The students were very interested in the optical bench and I hope they and their teachers will use my manual about the optical bench when they teach optics.

On friday I had my last lesson Biology about the muscles. Investigate a piece of meat, microscopic examination of a muscle fiber, explanation antagonistic activity of the muscles, ... every student worked very well during every part of the lesson.  At the end of my lessons we had some pictures together with all the students ... I really miss them!

For my last week in Cambodia I went on holiday to Koh Kong, Sihanoukville and Koh Ru island. I went there with some amazing friends that I miss very much! In Koh Kong we did an exciting but beautiful boat trip to some islands and between mangroves. The next day we went hiking in the jungle, sometimes it was difficult and exhausting but it was so fantastic!! After all the adventure in Koh Kong, we finished our trip in Sihanoukville and Koh Ru island where you can perfectly relax :)

Friday the 18the and Saturday the 19the I had my goodbye dinner and drinks with all my lovely colleagues and friends! I miss you all!! And I hope I can come back to Cambodia very soon! Thank you all for the wonderful, amazing, fantastic, educational, exciting, ...  time I've had!

Enjoy the pictures: pictures last weeks in Cambodia

Belgian Games Day :)

Cutting fruit with Sokhany and Chanly

Finally friday the 27the of April! A day I've looked forward for a while, but also a day that needed a lot of preparation. The main goal of the day was playing 'Belgian' games with my students, have Belgian snacks and show them a presentation of my life in Belgium. It sounds very easy to prepare but it was more work than I thought. But with all the help from my lovely colleagues and students I managed to get ready just on time.

At 2 pm all the students were expected in the meeting hall. First we had the ceremony for the first year teachers who won the teaching contest. After that we could start with the games!!!

Congratulations to Perun!

"Schipper mag ik overvaren" was the first game we played ... What an adventure to expain that game, but the students who understood were certainly amused!

"Schipper mag ik overvaren"

Rabbit jump to the other side :)

"Napoleon sta stille"

The next game was "Napoleon sta stille", easy to expain, easy to play and soooo much fun!! :) 

Yes! I was first!

Ninja

 The third game was again a bit more difficult to explain and maybe we were with to many students but still ... everybody was so happy (om het zoals mijn studenten te zeggen :)
So I tried to explain Ninja to 100 students :) after playing for a while, they understood it.

 Bay dop moy (3 - 1) was the last game we played and as you can read it wasn't a Belgian game, but a Khmer game. So everybody knew the game and enjoyed it very much!!

Finally snack time!!! Chocolate fondue! I don't think I need to say something about that part of the day :) the pictures will say enough!

I think they liked the chocolate fondue ;)

 For closing the day I made a presentation about my life in Belgium; my school, my friends, my family, my hobbies, the school system, ... And surprisely after all the games and food they were still listening very interested. 

Of course some fotoshoots at the end of this fantastic day!!!

Thanks to everybody for all the help and thanks to all the students to be so enthusiastic!

 

Birthday in Cambodia!!

On the 11the of April it was my 22th birthday and it was one of the best birthday's I've ever had!!
In the morning a little bit working at the RTTC :) and eating chocolates with the colleagues who where working at the RTTC that day.
Around 4pm we went to Phnom Penh office for the Khmer New Year party (and for me also a little bit my birthday party ;)
Everybody was there, there was very good food, good music and a very good atmosphere!
Even Elien and Karlien where there, and they gave me a lovely present! Thank you!!
I also got a nice present from the VVOB and they have sung for me!

Very good food!!

Chocolademousse!

Playing Ninja!!

It's so much fun to have your birthday in an other country! After the VVOB party we went out for some drinks and I also met my other friends! On thursday I had a "second birthday", because I went for dinner with my friends from Phnom Penh and it was again very nice and I've got some lovely presents!
Thank you all for such a wonderful birthday!

"Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes"

That was the main song that I teached my kids during my care internship in Battambang.
So last week I went to Battambang to do my care internship with CAD: Childern's Action for Development, it's an amazing ngo and I knew from Elien and Karlien that the director Racky would be glad with some help. I'll try to summarize my week:

On sunday evening after the exhausting but fun Mekong River swim and after a six hours bus drive, I arrived in Battambong. Quickly I found a nice hotel so I could go to bed!!

Monday moring I met Racky Thy, the head of CAD. He guided me around in the office and I've got a welcome song from the kids there: "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands, .... ". I have to admit; Elien and Karlien you did a good job last year :)
After visiting the office we went to the small class/ libary in the community where I will teach basic English to some lovely kids between 6 and 12 years old.
I had to teach in the morning from 8 am till 10 am and in the afternoon from 2 pm till 3:30 pm so in between I had some time to visit some nice places in Battambong. I visited for example: Wat Banan, Wat Phnom Sampeu, a crocodil farm, the bambootrain with Sophie!!, the killing caves, rice paper villages, a winery, the city, ... and everything was beautiful!

In my first lesson I teached the kids about the parts of the body and of course the song "head, shoulders ..." They loved it! On wednesday we learned about the farm, the animals on the farm, ...
Thursday it was time to learn how to brush our teeth and wash our hands. That was so much fun!! :)
Friday was already my last day of teaching... we repeated the lessons from last week and sang songs. And had some long breaks to play games together. During the week I learned the how to play ninga and they wanted to play it every time! So I think they loved it!

I had the time of my life with these kids. I miss them very much! You get so many love from them, it's amazing! Also for the people who bougth cookies before I left to Cambodia. I donated some of that money to CAD and bougth some school material for my kids. I'm sure Racky will spend the money well, and he will keep me posted about what is going on in CAD. (Website: http://www.cadcambodia.org/ )

I miss Battambong and my lovely kids!!