Friday, May 8, 2009

Calamity Central

Greetings from the oh-so-hot other side of the planet!!! (otherwise known as Cambodia!)

Oh how fun it has been...
So we arrived at Pearson on time, but nowhere else. It seemed to be the status quo that our flights would get bumped. We got delayed so much we actually missed our final transfer and had to get routed through Vietnam. We made our final leg on a little propeller plane (actually kinda fun), and only ended up being 8 or 10 hours late, arriving sometime Wednesday morning southern Ontario time.

but of course that isn't all the fun... we've also had:
-one team member's bag get lost (read LOST, as in the airlines have no idea where it is)
-one severe case of nausea (it's gone now)
-an intern lose his voice (it's back now)
-and some severe jet-lag (granted, we expected that one)

Don't get me wrong, everyone is having a blast. We're enjoying the local fruits a lot, despite not knowing their names (we affectionately dub them things like "ugly fruit" "smelly fruit" "red fuzzy's" and "brown spikey"... or at least some of us do)

We also managed to start work today. We've divided into three teams to work at different schools, one in a slum, and two in the garbage dump (as in the piles of garbage are right outside the doors). The kids are great, and their enthusiasm for learning really brings joy to everyone on the team. It's really fun working with them, but their English textbooks, for those that have them, are a little outdated (read: last edition published in 1965) which leads to some very interesting situations (read: politically incorrect). But hey, the teachers seem fine with it!

Anyways, as much as I could go on and on about this, it's about dinner time and I'm really looking forward to eating and a shower (my first in five days, including two in country... with 30ish degree heat and ridiculous humidity, BO is getting to be an issue :S)

Happy travels!!
Adam

2 comments:

Louise said...

Adam and Team - It is so great to hear that you have arrived safely (despite the normal joys of air travel) and are busy at work. I cannot tell you how proud we are here to have you wonderful young people out there representing Canada with such generosity and hard work.

Bless all of you and I will subscribe to updates to enjoy this journey with you!

Louise

BrittanyH said...

Hey Adam :) I really wish I could have come with you guys to Cambodia, sounds really fun! Scott wishes you happy travels, and we'll see you when you get back - can't wait :D