Moving House!
on So Now It's Cambodia (Cambodia), 23/May/2011 06:23, 34 days ago
It's been a while since the last blog because we have been busy! We had a wondeful trip to Luang Prabang in Laos during the "New Year" with about a week in between before going to China to visit Matthew in Shanghai then (with Matt) to Chengdu to visit Ollie. We visited both their schools and sat in on lessons where their pupils asked us loads of questions. It was enormous fun and we were both very proud of how lively they were in the classroom and obviously very well liked by their students and other staff.We also enjoyed a range of lovely food on each of the trips  - I could just write a food blog!!!In between, we had a lot of problems with our internet which meant lots of things didn't get done (including blogging!). Firstly, the company said we hadn't paid - but we had and it turned out they'd confused us with someone else! It didn't help that they kept hanging up mid sentence when they couldn't find an answer to my questions!When we got back from China it wasn't working again  - this time they eventually sent someone round who replaced our broken router. Strangely, on return from China, my laptop won't work on the internet - probably a network card problem so I'm typing this in the Botoum Hotel cafe in Sisophon. We have a brilliant computer advisor working with Alison and he lives in our street so he'll have a look at it soon. I do have loads of lovely photos but they will have to wait until my computer's fixed or I can access Alison's for a long enough period of time.Many of you but maybe not all, will know that Alison has a new job as School Nurse at the International School of Phnom Penh (ISPP) which starts on 1st. August. She found it by chance when picking up a newspaper on a bus and saw the advert! It seemed too good an opportunity to miss but it does mean finishing VSO early. Volunteering had been a life long dream for Alison and she has really enjoyed it even though it hasn't been easy at times.It's been a remarkable and life changing experience for both of us and we can't imagine not knowing the people and places we have been fortunate enough to discover as part of this adventure. There are so many places that feel like "home" and so many people that seem like friends in the hotels and cafes we go to as well as the wonderful friends we have made with other volunteers. So it is with mixed feelings that Alison leaves her placement early and that we both leave the area we have lived in for the last one and a half years.However, we hope that the advantages of city life will help to make the transition easier! It's almost like going to England compared to where we are now - we will be surrounded by "international" cafes and restaurants and there is a superb and massive gym (with outdoor pool) just a walk up the road. We will be moving into the flat currently occupied by Alison's predecessor and her family. It's a good rent for the area and we get two floors.It is above a Cambodian family again but the house is more modern and solid with air conditioning! It even has glass windows! There is a kitchen and two rooms on the "ground floor" and stairs up to two more rooms. This means we can both have a study and my electric piano can go in the middle room and Alison will have an upstairs room as her study. Each bedroom and the middle room has an en suite bathroom complete with bath!! There's also a cloakroom off the kitchen which houses the washing machine - so that's three baths and four toilets!!!!! There's also a massive cooker which looks like (but isn't!) an Aga! There are even worktops and wall cupboards (we don't have these now!!!).The school is in Norodom (street/road) and the house is next to Gloria Jean's Cafe (like Starbucks!) - you can see these on the map if you open the link. Alison will be able to walk to the school and the cafe does excellent cappuccino!! There's always a tuk tuk outside which will make getting around easier though I will miss my cycle ride to the market!Strangely, someone we know tipped me off about a music teaching job with a new NGO also based in the same area. I have written to them today so, who knows, I may have a job again as well! It's hard to imagine that it's exactly two years since I took early retirement and went on the VSO training course in Birmingham to start a totally new phase in life!! Although I've done the occasional lesson in Music and English it would seem strange to have the responsibilities of a job again. I have enjoyed the flexibility of retirement and volunteering!Another activity that reduced my blogging was getting the opportunity to help in English classes at the University of Sisophon on two mornings a week. This has been very interesting - I have learnt a lot about grammar from the well informed teachers. I was mainly there to help with pronunciation and have taken whole lessons on description and life in England. The teachers are pretty good though I was alarmed one day when one wrote "teach" on the board and said (correctly) it was pronounced "teach" - then he wrote "taught" on the board and said it was pronounced "touch"!!!.........Here's the link for the map of where we will be living in Phnom Penh. The house is number 14 on Street 51 (next to Gloria Jean's) though we will have to sort out a new mailing address when we get there. We fly to England on 8th. July for two weeks so we hope to see some of you during that time - we return on 25th. and Alison starts on the 1st. August. I also have my 60th. birthday on 30th.of July but I'm not sure how to celebrate it yet! Maybe the whole trip to England can be an extended pre-birthday party!!!Best wishes to everyone.http://www.canbypublications.com/maps/phnompenhbkk1.htm