Goodbye Siem Reap :(

Goodbye to Siem Reap!
Our last week at school went well, and we both really felt like we’d got in the swing of it. The change of topic, from the ridiculous religion one to a (slightly) more sensible one of ‘Past and Future’ helped, as we both felt we were teaching the kids things that they’d actually find useful! John completely blew his kids minds by using a piece of string to show the history of the universe, whilst Susie stuck to the slightly more straightforward ‘Tomorrow is...’, ‘Yesterday was...’, etc!
Our last lessons, on arts and crafts Thursday, were both lovely. Susie’s class finished making octopus mobiles, that look really great hanging up the classroom (even if they are completely unrelated to the topics in hand, and only happened because we studied shapes, and octopus is like octagon!). John’s class made birthday cards for Grace House, as the school celebrated its 2 year anniversary on our last day. The cards are so sweet, and some of the things that the kids wrote about the school make you want to cry!

One of Johns cards

Some of Susie's octopuses

Then Friday was birthday party day! It was a really nice thing to end on. The party started with an hour of free choice – there were computers, arts and crafts, football, board games, and Khmer party games on offer, and the kids just wandered round doing what they wanted to. Susie spent her time making origami and bracelets in the arts and crafts room, whilst John split his time between computers, football and Khmer games.

Making bracelets

John's football crew

It was then break time, where the kids all got a snack of an orange, a cake/bag of crisps, and a juice drink. After they’d eaten we all joined together where they were given a sparkler each, since the day coincided with Bonfire Night. Not a good idea as it turned out, since none of the kids knew what to do with sparklers, and a few of them got burnt. Oops! There was then a little treasure hunt, where all the kids got a little something, like a bouncy ball or a hair clip. There was then about 30minutes of mad Khmer dancing, for which it is apparently very important to have a ROUND table WITH FLOWERS. Then some songs you dance round the table, and some you dance next to it! Obviously we joined in, John more enthusiastically it has to be said, but we really came into our own during the macerena, being the only two people there who knew it perfectly!!
We then said our goodbyes to all the kids as they went home. It was really sad, but it’s good to know that we’ll be back to say hello in a few weeks, and we both like the volunteers who are teaching our classes for the next 8 weeks, so we feel like we’ve left them in safe hands. The kids were really sweet with their goodbyes, with all of them who spoke enough English telling us to come back soon, and with lots of them giving us drawings they’d done and bracelets they’d made. I don’t think either of us are going to forget the kids at Grace House in a hurry, and we definitely want to keep helping them out somehow, as and when we can. We’ve just got to work out how!

All the kids bundle into a photo!

Then on Friday evening, we went out, which we’ve already written about.

On Saturday we had a really nice last day with the volunteers that we’ve gotten to know best. We went for breakfast with Jenny, Flic, Natasha and Tamara, to Soria Moria, which is our favourite ‘treat yourself’ breakfast place. For just $3, you get all you can eat of various cooked breakfast bits, ranging from pancakes to poached eggs to noodles, as well as fruit and drinks. Yum! We stuffed ourselves, which helped ward off the hangover, and then went back and tackled the mountain of packing we had to do.

After a failed attempt (we actually just watched ‘Australia’!), we went swimming, which again we’ve already written about. Then during swimming, we all realised that although we had no right to be hungry, we actually all wanted a burger! First we had to go back and skype to our mothers, since we didn’t know when we’d be able to again, and then we met Natasha and Flic at Soria Moria once more for lunch. It was very yummy, and the four of us had a really nice chat over our burgers! Very full, we went back and packed more successfully, before heading out to Green Cafe for our last dinner. We were meeting all the staff from school for the adults birthday celebration, which was really nice. We tried a variety of different dishes, but we were both too full to do them the justice they deserved! We did both try frog though! After goodbyes to the staff, we went to meet Flic and Natasha for some goodbye drinks. We also bought some popcorn from Angkor Famous for our bus journey the day after, and said a fond farewell to Tombraider, our favourite tuk-tuk driver! When the four of us got back (with a pancake stop for Susie and Natasha, and an ice-cream stop for Flic that ended with Susie and Natasha losing John and Flic and everyone being confused), we bundled into our room, swapped photos and took some more stupid ones!

"Into the Pride" - Natasha's favourite show!

We’re going to miss Flic and Natasha, all the kids, and everyone else at Globalteer and Grace House, but we’re excited to be setting out on new adventures!