Hello! This blog is late because we spent most of the weekend in Phnom Pe
nh, as it turns out, for no reason! We thought we were going to help out with the 5- year scholarships to UWC but, literally as we walked through the door into the office, we bumped into Sineng who told us that he just recieved an email saying the interviews have been postponed again. So we spent a fairly unproductive weekend in P.P. where we posted so many photos to the blog and Facebook that I had no time to write this! (Joss says I forgot but I know better) Go and have a look at our Facebook profiles, think about how slow the internet in the office is and see who you believe! This week we were teaching 'routines' and recapping 'time and date'. This was a pretty fun subject to teach as we had tasks, such as making individual paper clocks with split pins, which the kids really got into. We also learnt a few more unique Cambodian playground games. One of the favourites involves everybody standing in a circle around a big tree
holding hands while one person is blindfolded and spun around inside the circle. The blindfolded person has to grab somebody and, by feeling the person's face, decide who it is. It is of course very easy to figure out when you have grabbed the only person who's knees are at head height so I spent a lot of time blindfolded. Another great game is one where the kids sit in a circle as they would in duck-duck-spider except the person tapping heads has a dish cloth which they subtly hand to one of the people in the circle. The person who has been given the dish cloth is then entitled to whip the person sitting on their right until the victim has completed one lap around the circle and made it back to his or her seat. This game is at its best when the person delivering the dish cloth does so with the utmost discretion and everybody but the victim notices. Thankfully all the older children are very mature and keep these games light-hearted and they never seem to get out of hand! We also played a variation of cat and mouse in which a mouse, Tom, eluded a cat, Joss, much to the enjoyment of the crowd.
I was also bullied into participating in the elastic highjumps that you may have heard about. The kids were very impressed when I 
hurdled over the first few times. Unfortunately, we then started playing the version where you have to pull the rope down with one foot behind your head and flip over it. I wasn't quite as successfull with this.
Although it's unrelated to our gap year, I also found out this week that I have home-status at the University of Leeds which means I now have nothing to worry about except teaching! It also means the next 3 years of my life are planned out for me! Very strange!
It's a shame I don't have a lot to write about this week, but I happen to know a lot of interesting things will happen next week! (I can see the future) so Joss may have lots of interesting things to write about! Read her blog and find out more.
We also have a message for our frequent follower Denn: Joss is trying very hard to fix Tom and his poor grammar, but it's very hard, and agonizingly slow work! The only thing we can suggest until Joss has finished with her work is that you read alternate weeks so you don't have to suffer through Tom's writing! :)
On a more serious note, I would also like to post these links to information about the violent, forced eviction of Dey Krahom, one of the big slum areas in Phnom Penh - their land has been sold by the government to foreign property developers.
Multimedia show: http://ka-set.info/actualites/k7-media/cambodge-cambodia-dey-krohom-090124.html
More pictures on: http://johnvink.com/news/2009/01/24/thats-it/
Article (from Monday): http://cambodia.ka-set.info/
Khmer (also from Monday): http://khmer.ka-set.info/
Thats it for this week,
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