my typical day. I wake up in the morning feelin like p. diddy...

Ok just kidding. But here is a run through of an average day for me at APCA, if you are curious.

• I wake up usually around 6:30
• I eat bananas and peanut butter and crackers
• I go running for about 30 or 45 minutes. I run down the street and just turn around. It's started to get boring, but when I ran through some side streets through other villages, I got chased by about 12 really mean dogs and it just doesn't seem worth the risk to do that daily. Also, the entire time I run, I get stared at like I am some kind of strange creature that no one has ever seen before. And for some of them I guess I pretty much am.
• I come back, stretch and do some other exercises, take a shower and eat a small snack.
• Then I make sure I have everything ready for class, and maybe drink coffee or dawdle around for a while.
• At 9:00 I teach my first "small kid" class. This class has about 13 kids between ages 7 and maybe 14? Not exactly sure. Regardless of their ages, there is a BIG gap in learning levels so it is either wayyy too hard for some or wayyy too easy for some. This applies to all the classes here. I suppose it's like this in all classes everywhere, but I think probably it's worse here than in some situations because some of the kids might not have even gone to school before they started living here.
• At 10:00 I usually get on the internet and skype or email or whatever, maybe do some planning for the next day
• At 11:30 we eat lunch
• At 12 it is English story time with Molly. sometimes I go to this and play the guitar with kids, but sometimes I stay upstairs and rest, plan, or write
• At 1:15 I teach my other "small kid" class- I pretty much do the same thing as at 9, but these kids are a little bit less advanced and more rowdy
• Between 2:15 I either go to the market to get fruit, do some lesson planning, writing, take a nap, read, or listen to music
• At 4:30 I have my "middle kid" class. They are older than the first two classes but there is also a big learning gap, some of these kids are very good at English, some can't spell the word "pink"
• When that ends at 5:30 it is time to eat dinner. At first, Molly and I were eating with the kids, which meant we were mostly eating rice and fish and some random other vegetables or soup. And I couldn't bring myself to eat the fish. But once they found out I was a vegetarian and also there was a new development in how the funding was split(part is now for the volunteers) we eat from the other kitchen, the one inside the building not out in the hut. The food the cook makes us is very good so don't think I'm starving over here by any means.
• After dinner the kids usually have Khmer dancing class so I try to sit and talk to the kids who aren’t dancing/watch the ones who are practicing for a while, until anywhere between 7 and 8:30. Just depends how tired I am.
  -Then(or I just skip to this), I go write down what the classes did during the day and make sure I have a plan for the next day. Then I take a shower, eat another snack of some sort, maybe get on the computer again, and usually write in my journal. Then I watch an episode or two of a show on my computer, like Kenny vs. Spenny or Flight of the Conchords. Then maybe I'll read a little bit and go to sleep. Molly and I are usually in bed watching something by 8:30 or 9:30 and try to actually sleep around 10, though sometimes we can’t sleep right away. Especially if, for instance, there are 17 Korean volunteers at APCA who stay up late. Or, if I get an email from someone that makes me think too much.
  Other random information:
• I just recently moved out of Molly's room and into one of my own. The major upside to this is that I get a mattress. I had been sleeping on a bed, but it was just wood with a blanket over it. So needless to say, a mattress and some extra space to myself is pretty exciting.
  
• I almost never wear shoes unless I am going running or riding a bike to the market. Lately the main discomfort is the burning hot heat of the ground more than the rocks that I'm walking on.
• The mosquitoes have been out full force lately, and seem to concentrate on me more than other people. If go just an hour without being covered in bug spray I will probably have at least a few bites. Lately at the market, especially, I have been nearly eaten alive. But they aren't any bigger or much more concentrated than in say, Maryland in the summer.
• I'm not sure if I'm a good teacher, but I think I am better than I thought I would be. I'm not really very fun and I'm not great with kids (obviously) but I'm getting at least a little bit better.
• Time goes by fast. And I'm still pretty unsure of the rest of my plan in Asia when this ends. It would be nice if I had more money, but luckily I'm hardly spending any here. But I'll have to come back sometime, don't worry.

And so it begins

My head is so full of things to sort out that I have no idea where to begin. So, I suppose I’ll start at the beginning of yesterday, Monday, February 1.

I woke up at 7 am by myself instead of 8 am with my alarm, and realized that I was too excited and anxious to sleep-even on 4 ½ hours from the night before. I started trying to quietly pack some of my things.

Did some last minute things and went with Kristian to an Indian restaurant for breakfast where we got rice, naan bread, 2 dishes, water, and delicious fruit all for 2 dollars each. We went here the previous morning as well. On this day we had ants in our rice that had come from the bowl in the restaurant. New bowl, new rice, new plates and we were good to go. Still a delicious meal.

Finished packing my little bag, said goodbye to Kristian and took a tuk-tuk to the waterpark to meet Molly, the girl from America who has been at APCA (Assistance for Poor Children’s Association) for the past month who I am helping teach English. I was on time and I got in the van with Dara, the director of APCA, Molly, Dara’s wife, and another staff member. It took an hour to get from Phnom Penh to the village where APCA is located.

We got there around 11:30 and I was greeted by all the kids and took a look around. It was overwhelming but luckily Molly has prepared me a lot for what it’s like here. I don’t know what I would do without her. We ate a lunch of rice, some green beans and little fish. I gave my fish to the dog, Kiki. I don’t think I can do it. I must look into alternative sources of protein.

Later Molly and I went to the market down the street. It is about a 5 or 10 minute bike ride and it is much larger than I was expecting. I got a few necessities such as a towel, shampoo, hot sauce, a mosquito net, and a couple other things.

After we had been back for a while we taught an afternoon English class. Monks from a wat nearby attend one of the classes, and today they were the only ones present. We did introductions and things.

Our next class was a younger one where we focused on body parts, followed by a class for the staff of APCA, followed by dinner. Dinner was rice with green beans. The garlic chili sauce I bought earlier was a good call. So were the snacks I brought from Phnom Penh.
After dinner the kids usually have Khmer dancing but today they didn’t, so we did line dancing to popular R&B and rap songs. They especially love Akon!

I also brought out the super shitty guitar that I bought in Saigon for $18 including the case. The tuning is still horrible on it and I could hardly even remember any songs and I still got cheered by the kids. This will be good for my guitar skills, I think. And also my ego. I am leaving the guitar with them when I leave in 2 (or more) months. I think I will have to establish guitar rules for the kids in hopes that they don’t completely break it right away. Good thing it was 18 dollars.

At around 8 the kids started getting ready for bed and I went upstairs to use the internet and try to figure out what’s going on. I succeeded at uploading some photos on facebook (only a few of them from the last couple weeks), but failed at figuring out what’s going on.
When I figure it out, I’ll let you know.