Monthly Archives: August 2011

Ochheuteal beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia with the kids from FLO

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Hanging out . . . : )

Hi Everyone,

Here are some shots from the beach (and the streams that we stopped at en route and on the return–two different places).

Enjoy!

aloha,

sj
p.s. for those of you for whom it’s important to see these photos in chronological order, start from the bottom and work your way up . . . reckon this is an homage to susansbackwardsglob.com. : )

Hanging out enjoying the sounds of the stream . . .
The water was very refreshing!
Heading to our hang for several hours, we had lunch here as well as swam.
See what I see?
New friends from Honolulu, California, and Siem Reap.
One of my students, she just graduated from high school. We’ll celebrate her graduation (along with others’) on Sunday.
We had breakfast at the beach before heading out to return to FLO.
The light was so pretty, and I loved the kid’s yellow shirt!
Wednesday night we celebrated all the birthdays of July.
Those darling FLO kids with July birthdays.
My new friend, his birthday is July 28th.
The sunset was beautiful both nights.
Winners of some of the competitions.
Isn’t he adorable????
My new friend, he was practically the last out of the water each day.
Laughing at the silliness in the different competitions.
Slowly the bottles would be filled . . .
Some did a little better than others . . . but everyone had fun.
And they’re off!
This was one of the nicest beaches I visited during my stay in SE Asia thus far.
Lunch. This fish soup was really, really good; it had a nice flavor of fresh lime juice.
That’s Rob Hail with some of the kids; my new friend is on the right.
Cameraman Rick, yeah, he’s a cool guy. : )
The kids LOVE playing volleyball.
Just checking it out.
These two loved hanging out together.
It’s a very long sandy beach.
There are dogs everywhere; I thought this guy was especially cute.
Passed this as we all walked along the beach early in Wednesday morning.
All the kids.
Or at least almost all of them.
Look what I found!
Heading to this other beach around the bend.
Will you please take our picture Auntie?
Heading down the beach in the early a.m.
The kids gather in groups before we head anywhere; 220 kids are a lot to keep track of!
Moi and my new friend.
His eFoster parents (who live in California) gave him the Hawaii shirt.
Breakfast: noodles. All the food for the 2-days we hung out at this beach were prepared here. FLO rented this particular pavilion.
Most everyone stayed here. Some stayed at a smaller guest house.
Rob had the wonderful idea of inviting some blind kids from a neighboring school to come along on the trip. This particular fella was a good singer.
He’s a very good singer too!
The FLO students were very conscientious about taking care of their guests.
Two different times the kids went around and collected trash.
The restroom at our first stream stop, the pipe simply led out behind the shack . . . : (
Chansy (on right) works so hard preparing all our food! She’s an excellent cook.
The kids love having their pictures taken.
This little guy is so much fun. Thursday on the way back he wanted to get in the water and float down the stream with all the “bigger” kids, but he doesn’t know how to swim. So I just picked him up (with his permission, of course!) and carried him on my back. It was a bit of work being fresh water and him being so solidly built! But I figured it was an honor to be able to help out such a beautiful being.
Let’s pose for another picture!
The huts faced the water; here the stream was flowing too strongly for any thought of taking a dip.
My students . . . the gal on the left is the dancer you saw in another posting.
It was such a nice hang–literally!
Moi and cameraman Rick, he’s been working his butt of and missing his lovely wife and 2-year-old son back in Australia.
Our first place to stop and hang and have lunch.
There were four of this nice pink busses.
A little bit of the scenery . . .
This is a very famous lookout, I was told.
Jan (center) is one of the organizers of eGlobal; she’s with her eFoster daughter and friend.
They stopped to pick up a DVD of music videos–Bollywood Cambodian style.
Those are my flashcards for learning the kids’ names . . . I’m still working on it!
Ready to go!!!! : )
Pamela Young and new friends.
Breakfast baguette, there was some meat inside.
It was DUMPING rain right before it was time to leave.
The tarp-over-kids-conveyance-device®
Waiting for the rain to lessen.

That’s all for now . . . or, enjoy the photos!

The gifts just keep coming!

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Okay, I know that I wrote that the next entry was going to be about day-to-day life at FLO (I even started writing it on the bus today en route to the beach), but a news-breaking story has risen up saying, “Write about me! Write about me!”
And so I shall.
This morning around 5:45 a.m. we all gathered in the courtyard area at FLO to board the busses to the beach. But before we could get on the bus, a monsoon level rain began to fall. We waited it out and in their practical way, they managed to move a few groups of students from the “dance” area to a bus by simply having 4-young men tightly hold a tarp at the four corners over the Ss heads. This group carefully moved from point A to point B in a spontaneously choreographed dance.
The rain lessened, the breakfast baguettes were passed out, and we were on our way. Four fully packed busses with 220 ebullient and euphoric children (and a healthy dose of adults—the teachers, administrators, and volunteers) made their way to Ochheuteal beach, a beach that reminded me of Waimanalo some.
We made a stop at a park area where in years past the children were able to go swimming. Today that was not to be; the river was simply flowing too swiftly for any chance for a dip. It didn’t seem to dampen their mood at all. We lounged under the raised covered cabanas (complete with hammocks), walked out onto the flat table-top-rock adjacent to the stream, took picture after picture of this and that (the Ss LOVE having their picture taken), and generally just had a fun, festive time.
Afterwards, the drive continued for about another 2-hours. On bus number 2 (aka “the party bus” !) the microphone came out of hiding and several Ss came to the front (where I luckily was sitting) for an impromptu singing performance. I recorded some video of one lovely lass (yes, one of my Ss : ), and I’ll see if I can’t post it for you. I did capture some photos, but I’m just a little too tired at the moment to do the necessary this and that to post them with this entry. They’ll follow when the time is right . . .
We arrived at our hotel, changed into our suits (albeit covered with t-shirts and shorts, they’re quite concerned that the Ss not be exposed to bare shoulders and legs, a protocol which has worked well for them apparently), and headed off for the beach (via the bus) which was only minutes away. After a debriefing, the Ss were set loose to go swimming, play ball, do whatever it is that kids like to do at the beach.
And that’s when I received yet another precious gift on this most magical afternoon.
“Auntie! Auntie!” called out one of my many Ss. “Auntie! Auntie!”
I trudged over to him in the water; he grabbed both of my hands and started jumping up and down. So what does a person do? Start jumping up and down with him!
This little guy is absolutely adorable. For the next 2-hours (or so, I wasn’t wearing a watch, all I know is that we were literally in the water non-stop for the entire time allotted to the students) we jumped over waves, dove under waves, hopped onto passing inter-tubes, climbed onto shoulders (him, not me : ) and the only shoulders climbed upon were mine : ), flipped back into the water, climbed up onto inter-tubes, jumped off with a big splash, and laughed, and laughed and laughed. I don’t know when I last had that much fun in the water.
He never let me out of his sight, and neither did I (lose sight of him, I even watched the bubbles rise when he was under for what seemed like a little too long).
Ends up this was his FIRST time ever in the ocean! Wow, I feel so fortunate to have been the person he chose to be with him and PLAY with him during his first ocean experience (ever!). He yelled out at least 5-times, “I’m so happy!!!!!”, “I’m so happy!!!!!”, “I’m so happy!!!!!”, and simply, “Happy!!!!! Happy!!!! Happy!!!!” I don’t think I’ve ever heard an American kid do the same (or a European one, for that matter).
What an absolute gift.
And he was in pure bliss, living completely and utterly in the moment.
Hmm . . . so many things to take away from this . . . I know what mine are; what are yours?
And here’s a shot of him . . .
Yeah, what a cutie!
Peace, love to you all,
sj