Hi All,

Yesterday, as I walked back to my apartment from talking to my Mikey online, I often shorten the length of my walk by passing through a nearby Wat. (A Wat is a temple where Buddhist monks live.) It's nice to pass through there anyway, and smile at friendly people and look at the interesting architecture. I was almost all the way back out, and a monk started talking to me and asked if I would teach English to them. I thought it sounded like a lot of fun, so I said yes and came back at 7:00pm that night.

Here I am, and I've never taught anything since I was a tutor for younger students in Junior High School, and they were treating me with such respect and honor almost. They called me "teacher", and greeted me so warmly that it made me happy. They had a small dry erase board and some really dim lights and the room was brightly colored with murals of Buddha all over. There were about 10 of them all dressed in bright saffron colored robes, and we talked and laughed and I gave them words to study like colors and numbers and how to tell time in English. I found that they already knew a lot of that, so I am going to go more into conversation which is where they have trouble. They often know a lot of words, but have difficulty putting them together in the right order. Khmer often say things like "My friend me so-and-so...(a name)" because that is how they say it in Khmer. I have to teach them how in English we say things in a different order. They also have a lot of trouble with pronunciation. They find it almost impossible to say words like "wish"or "with." There just isn't any reason for them to make that sound in their language so they have never learned, and over and over they say, "vit." :) I correct them, but they can only say it with great difficulty. So, here's this whole room full of monks saying "vit, vit, wit, vit..." and me saying "no, wishhhhhhhh..."

So, I give another lesson tonight, and this time I have a list of common words all planned out and know what I will teach. It's all a lot of fun, and even though they say they will pay me, I am not that concerned about the money. If I get some experience doing this, it'll be worth it. I'll get some pictures of "my class" sometime soon and post them online.

Oh, one funny thing happened. It is very important for a woman to never touch a monk. When one of them was handing me a bottle of water in a very formal manner (using both hands-- which is kind of respectful, I think) I accidently brushed his finger with mine. He didn't say anything and neither did I, but I was kicking myself for not being more careful. They always give me a wide area to walk in when I am in the room, and it is kind of strange, but I understand. I don't think they know that I know about the custom though... :) It's just kind of funny.

I'm sure I'll have many more funny things to say about this bunch of guys. They are all very light-hearted and like to laugh. It's going to be fun trying to teach them English and I am looking forward to it every day.