First Official Day of lessons and other activities!

After surviving a night full of insects and things that crawled into our sleeping bags, we woke up bright and early in time for our Official Opening Ceremony where we were greeted by many important school officials and students of the secondary and primary school that we were conducting our lessons in. Felt a little bit like an exhibit in the zoo hahahaha.
After they sang the Cambodian National Anthem, we sang our National Anthem. There were several speeches made by the School Officials and our Teacher ICs and Student Representatives, ASHLEY AND YI FEI!.
After the opening ceremony, we toured the school and were able to meet some of the students, where we learnt some Khmer words and phrases. Most of the students were very shy when we met them, but many of them were interested in what we were doing and followed us around.
In the afternoon, we were all very nervous as we embarked on our activities. Our first day of Hygiene and English lessons gave us a perspective into the curriculum of the Cambodian students as well as first-hand experience in interacting with the local students. The teachers and translators were very helpful in facilitating our lessons, especially since there was a language barrier between us and the local students. While the people in the hygiene comm played games with the children, the English comm incorporated songs into their lessons to engage them.
Two teams went to different households to help build rainwater harvesting systems (Jumbo jars). There, they were able to interact with the engineers and technicians who instructed them on how to construct those jumbo jars. They were also able to interact with the families and households, where they were able to find out more about their history and current lifestyles,
The welfare comm, on the other hand, went to the town to do some food shopping, and made an scrumptious four-course meal for dinner.
In the middle of dinner, we realized that there were a lot, (Really, a lot) of flies and insects around the room. Thankfully, we implemented some measures to get rid of most of them.
We had a fruitful sharing session at night where we shared insights and experiences on the day’s activities, which would definitely help us in the days to come.
Done by Rachel and Michael :D