Update from Cambodia!

After another 5 weeks in the Kingdom of Wonder, I need to update my blog.

As I’m getting used to the travelling between Phnom Penh, Battambang and Kampong Cham. Why not leaving again to Kampong Cham after 3 days being back from Battambang J

But the last two weeks were my last weeks of travelling. I’ll be in Phnom Penh now for a while. I like the travelling, because Battambang and Kampong Cham are really nice cities and it’s nice to follow up the Belgian students, but it will be lovely to be in one place for a while!  

Sokhany during the preparation inset training in Kampong Cham

In the beginning of March we had a good “preparation inset training” workshop in Kampong Cham. I also observed and evaluated some interesting lessons from the Belgian students (Nathan and Marieke). On Monday evening the 4the of March, we were invited by Sokhany’s family to have dinner. I never had such good food! There was an amazingly good fish curry and a very good chicken curry! I’m still salivating if I think about it.

Nathan doing the experiment

Waiting to see a 'spectacular experiment' from Nathan...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chanly, the best in buying refreshments for the workshop :)

 

Thanks for your hospitality Sokhany and ....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.... for the delicious food!

International Woman’s day! I’m in the right country because that’s a holiday over here J I Had a very lazy day of tanning and reading at the pool. In the weekend I went cycling with some friends. We took the ferry to the other side of the Mekong (Areyksat). There we had an easy cycle trip in the country side with some nice views. So different from Phnom Penh, but still so close!

Cycling trip to Areyksat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The week of the 11the of March almost all my colleagues went to Belgium for the seminar from VVOB. I have to admit.... I was jealous! It would be nice to be in Belgium for a week, see my family and friends! But ... we also enjoyed the quiet time in the office, and we had our own “Belgian party” ;)

Belgian party at the office ;)

 

 

 

The weekend when my colleagues came back was fantastic; they brought a big package from my family for me. The box was filled with delicacies from Belgium (Lots of chocolat, cheese, honey,  ... ) and lovely letters and cards! Thank you so much!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Côte d'Or :)

In between working, travelling, evaluating, ...  I also had some lovely nights out with my friends here in Phnom Penh.

See you next time!

You can see more pictures on my facebook album: Sab bay nas

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152039334877080.509136.778757079&type=3

PS: Happy Easter on Sunday!

 

Strengthening workshop in Battambang (18/19 and 21/22 Feb 2013)

Live from Battambang:

Strengthening workshop in RTTC Battambang.

Last Monday and Thuesday there was the Biology and Earth Science workshop.
During these two days there were 4 lesson try-outs for Biology and 4 for Earth Science.
Some lessons were better than others, but it was a very good moment for the teacher trainers to give feedback on each others lessons.
I saw some nice experiments and a lot of Student Centered Approach (SCA).

Thuesday evening was the last evening for the Biology and Earth Science teacher trainers, and I didn't know that before, but that group of teacher trainers is a "party group" ;)
We went to a karaoke and it was real fun, a lot of Khmer dancing and singing!
Luckely Wednesday there was no workshop, so we could work in the hotel, with a bit less stress.

Yesterday and today there was the Physics and Chemistry workshop.
It was nice to see some teacher trainers that I recognised from last year.
I learned a lot during the Chemistry lessons, it was an opportunity to refresh my Chemistry knowledge.
Concept cartoons, traffic cards, concept cards, 3-2-1 methode, ... it was nice to see that the teacher trainers tried to use all these methodes.

https://picasaweb.google.com/105102279593966504533/StrengtheningWorkshopBTB1819And2122Feb2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCJqOnqfZgtPFQw#

I think we can close this workshop with a good feeling. The teacher trainers got the opportunity to give the try out lessons and give feedback to each other. They can go home with some good tips for improvement. Hopefully they will apply the tips in there lessons.

On to the next RTTC: RTTC Kampong Cham.

After the strengthening workshops we have the preparation of the inset training on SCA and on experiments for Biology/ Earth Science / Physics and Chemistry.

                                          The SCA manuals

 

Last night of the Biology/ Earth Science workshop: Time for some karaoke!

 

And luckily there were some English songs too.

 

See you soon!

Cambodia the sequel...

Here I am, back in Cambodia. I’ll start my first blog message from the beginning: The trip from Brussels to Phnom Penh …

Brussels → Abu Dhabi → Bangkok → Aranyprathet border crossing (Thailand- Cambodia) → Poipet → Battambang → Finally Phnom Penh

The first part of my trip was luckily with the plane. But from Bangkok to Phnom Penh everything was by bus.

So on Friday the 25the of January I left Brussels two hours late to Abu Dhabi. There I had a perfect connection to Bangkok. The students from Arteveldehogeschool were waiting for me in Bangkok. Meanwhile it was already Saturday evening. We spent the night in a hotel in Bangkok and on Sunday morning at 7am we had a ‘bus’ to Phnom Penh…. What an adventure….

After an hour of driving around in a minivan, we finally left Bangkok. Around lunch time we had a break for 40 minutes where we had to fill in the visa forms. Around 1pm we arrived in Aranyprathet where we slowly ;) crossed the border of Thailand with Cambodia. Around 3:30pm we were dropped in some sort of bus station in Poipet (Cambodia). There we had to wait for 2 hours before we had a bus to Phnom Penh. So at 5:30 pm we had a bus to Phnom Penh (who was stopping everywhere) and we finally arrived in our guest house at 3 o’clock in the morning….!! WHAT A TRIP.

 

Luckily on Monday we could sleep long, Stefaan rescheduled the program for us. In the afternoon we went to RTTC Kandal. It was so good to see the VVOB team back! Unfortunately some lovely colleagues are not working there anymore.

 

Tuesday was the second introduction day. I have the feeling that the students from Arteveldehogeschool are having a good time and they are very enthusiastic about their internship at VVOB.

On Wednesday they had to say goodbye to each other. Simon and Michiel are going to Battambang and Marieke and Nathan to Kampong Cham. Sokhany and I went together with Simon and Michiel to Battambang.

Thursday we had a meeting with the very friendly director of the RTTC in Battambang. Michiel and Simon were introduced to the teacher trainers and to their group of students that they have to follow up during the practicum.

In our free time we visited some nice places in Battambang, we saw millions of bats coming out of a cave, we went on the bambootrain, ... we were real tourists :)

After the meeting with the students, discovering the city, ... Simon and Michiel were even more enthusiastic to start their internship! So Sokhany and I could go back to Phnom Penh on Friday morning with a good feeling.  

You can see some pictures in this album: https://picasaweb.google.com/117599487615681139672/FirstWeekInternshipArteveldestudents# 

Weekend time!

My lovely friends from last year arranged a weekend to the seaside of Cambodia.

Friday evening I arrived in Kep where I met my friends. For dinner we had the amazingly good grilled crab with kampot pepper! On Saturday we went with the motorbikes to Otris beach. Oh and before that I was ‘acting’ for the TV show Loy9! In March I’ll be on Khmer television, Yay! That was a really nice and funny experience, thanks to Julian for that!

 

After a safe motorbike trip (to bad we had a flat tire, but that was fixed fast) we arrived at the wonderful Otris beach. We had a swim in the sea, watched the stars, had some fish BBQ, … LOVELY!

Sunday was a lazy but beautiful beach day.

After a nice morning swim in the sea on Monday, we were fully equipped for the motorbike trip back to Phnom Penh. 

 

My first week back in Phnom Penh was very busy and with a lot of traveling but it is fantastic to be back! And I think I’m very lucky to have a first weekend like this in the Kingdom of Wonder!

 

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152017324282080.507182.778757079&type=1

 

New experience

Hello!

It's been a while... But here I am again.

In exactly 2 weeks and 7 hourse I'm on a plane to Cambodia!
After my amazing internship, I'm going back to work as a volunteer for VVOB (Flemish Association for Development Cooperation and Technical Assistance).
I'll be working for VVOB from the end of january 2013 till the beginning of june 2013.

After my work I'm planning to travel around a bit in South- East Asia, till the 10the of july, coz my parents and my sister are coming to visit Cambodia for two weeks!! Normally I'm going back home with them at the end of july.  

I'll try to keep you posted of all my experiences and adventures through my blog.

I also want to thank the people who came to the "Benefiet Cambodja". Through you I was able to collect a lot of money with whish I can buy useful materials, for one of more development organisations in Cambodia. If I find an organisation I'll put it on my blog, so you can see and read what I'll do with the money.  

I hope you will enjoy my blog!

Love,
Griet

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!