Motorbike Sir?

The annual Water Festival hit Phnom Penh this past weekend. If I am living here next year, I will be sure and head down to the beach and avoid the whole scene. The festival was interesting, but the hordes of people made getting around a huge pain in the ass.
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Well it’s official, I have given up life on the road for a steady job. I had my first day of work today and it went surprisingly well. I haven’t taught English for a good 6 months (then again, I haven’t had a job for 6 months either) and was pretty nervous walking into the classroom. I even woke up in the morning having dreamt that I was teaching.

The school I am now working for, Regent School of Business, often does contract teaching jobs. I am being sent to an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) called Concern For Cambodia to teach a seminar on writing reports. CFC is apart of an international NGO that helps rural communities worldwide find ways of using their enviroment without destroying it. I will teach six hours a day over three days to a group of Khmer workers in the NGO.

I was hired last Wednesday and given a few binders full of old course material and let loose, it was expected by my boss that I could put together the seminar. I was pretty stressed out while going through the material, lesson planning was never a strong point of mine, much less trying to plan an entire course. So far the seminar is going well – there is only so much I can hope to achieve in three days.

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The city is gearing up for the upcoming Water Festival. I am still not sure exactly what the celebration is about – something to do with thanking Mekong River for providing water for the fields. All I know is that people pour in from the provinces into Phnom Penh for three days of festivities. The highlight is supposed to be the boat races along the Tonle Sap river. This is a big holiday for Cambodians, and my students are probably not too thrilled about sitting in a classroom for six hours a day when they could be finishing up work before the holiday.

I will take some photos of the Water Festival and let you know what the excitement is all about. Until then, enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday.

Neil

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