hello everybody im bacccck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D ok this is gonna be a long long looong update. cos i have had a crazy time n i wanna write everything down so i will never ever get to fortget abt e whole trip. =)

day one
had to wake up like super early, 5 plus to get to the airport. my maid sent me off. :) i met janice at the airport n we were both higgh and happy and super excited about the trip. we're going there to be facilitators - basically we're smth like the teachers assistants. and also the connection between the teachers n e students during the trip. and we took a photo before we boarded the plane. i dun have any photos with me now, will update them all when i get hold of them. but 3 words to decribe the state the both of us were in is, clean excited and lookinggood.

during the plane ride - there were just the 2 of us so we talked alot. about our lives and about the trip and about so so so many things. it was really quite nostagic to arrive in the phnoh penh airport - considering that i went there just 6 months ago, with another group of people. and then there were 2 students from the university to pick up, n he held placards! to welcome janice n caroline from temasek secondary school. SO COOL right. first time i got received in an airport with my name la. wow wow wow. =)

then e driver drove for like a good 3 hours to the site where the students were working. at the village of the hiv ppl, the john paul 2 life center. we had a fast lunch, rice with this sour soup thing. which was beef so i jsut drank the soup with rice. and joined the kids in their work.

there were 3 things going on there. 1stly, we had to teach the children living in the village. 2ndly to help build the kitchen, which was an extension of the school they were building for the kids. and lastly we had to help them clear the tall weeds in the mulberry plantation and dig like rows for them to grow more mulberry plants. the plants were used to bred silworms, which were den boiled when they are in their caccoon[sp?] stage to get silk, which was then used to make into silk cloth to be sold.

i helped out at the constructionsite, so we were kinda divided into 6 smaller groups and armed with changkols [hoes], we had to dig 6 rectangular holes. deep holes. for the foundation poles. it was tiring and it was a burning experience man. but the kids were impressive. though they din really know each otehr v well, they kept cheering each other to dig deep, dig faster. and i saw tt it helped. cos none of us gave up despite how our arms and backs were aching. but i think sam is right too, it would have been better if we had all put in the effort to oerfect the rectangular hole- rather den just leaving it as it is when we finally reached the size requirement n let the cambodians help us get the shape tt was needed. it was all about tt going the extra mile.

tat evening dinner was at the kccc[kamput catholic children center]. the kids had put up a show, a fashion parade show showing our cultural n ethnic costumes. and the cambodians wore their wedding costume. so many n so nice!!! it was a really interesting time. and dinner was a mixeed thing, each table sat a few sgaporeans n the cambodian ppl. i had a good time. the ppl were really interested in singapore stuff n the teacher whom i was sitting next to asked me alot. like in one seating, i was tlaking about singapore weddings to racial peace to festivals to deaths to funerals and dead body decomposigin. haha. he even asked if im going to get married soon! super nice nnight. tt night i slept with janice sharing a twin bunk. we were given a bed each but i was so afriad of the top deck cos it was too close the roof so i slept in at the bottom with her. quite cool eh. sleeping with someone i din noe very well, n in a foreign land. but i was so worn out i felt alseep v quickly and slept like a log!

debref main pt: to encourage the kids to do things with a smile the next day.

day 2
woke up n traveled to e life center n start work. i was at the mulberry famrs again n tt was a full day of work. i got so tired but high, so i kept shouting to the kids who were also working there tt e changkor was their spoon, the soil their ben n jerry cookie n cream ice cream and they were to digggg as much ice cream as they can! haha! i think those kids must really think im crazy now. n it was so frustrating! everyone was applying sun block like ts free but they got really burnt. and i was applying so much sun tan lotion but my skin was like still so fair. haiz.

tt night was a really special night cos it was ms lim's birthday the next day, so we wanted to surprise her when the clock striked 12! haha. but we were trying to think about how 2 end thngs early so e kids can sleep earlycos its gonan be a long day again the net day. n smart mr toh came up the plan to celebrate it sg time. cos sg is one hr ahead of cambodian time. so we had it at 11 cambodian time. with janice going down to miss lims bunk to tell her tt a student was shivering in cold, really csick. haha, n when they came to our bunks n we started singing happy bday she was so shocked!! n we made her wear shrek ears n gave her a gigantic card tt all wrote on. so sweet right!!

debrief pt : to do things with love the next day.

day 3
it was just another hard day at work. the lunches n dinners were always my favourite sessions cos the time was spend with the kids, especially the boys talking alot of rubbish. hah. now we got so many inside joke like surrendering somthing and the 3 holes thing. n many many many many more jokes n stuff about life tt we talk about.

tt night was farewell with the high school students. it was fun- dancing n playing games n getting so high. they look like they are at some clubs - minus the alcohol only. haha. tt night i hear mingfong talk abt his frens. the way to hear a student talk about his frens was special n different. and he made me realise how special tt group of people was. how unique and mature they were. n im really glad to have juniors like this. so so proud of them. :)

janice felt sick tt night. high fever of like 38.5 deg. walau i was so scared, thank god for miss lim. she gave her like 6 prunes. while i fed her with alot of water n panadol. she receovered the net day, thankfully. during this trip i was like partial medic la, taking temperature n giving ppl cream n oilment n especially tiget balm. lol. to the exntent of getting tiger blam overdose when i used too much of it.

tt night we moved to sleep at the high school. so it was a change of sleeping enviroment. this time i shared the teachers room with janice n miss lim. haha. the bed was a queen bed so i offered to sleep on the ground, after all n im the youngest there n i dun really wanna sleep with miss lim on the same bed. sharing e same room with the home ec teahcer whom i got into alot of toruble with in sec 1 was scary enuff. bt tt night i was realli kiasu n i wore socks n covered as much skin as possible, cos e kids said tt there were like millions of bugs there n it was bad enuff tt i slept without mosquito net. haha but i survived.

debrief pt : to do things with the big pcture in mind the next day

day 4
it was the last day of work at phnoh voah. today i helped with the construction. basically there were like some really heavy stones / rocks/ boulders at an area like 10 meters from the building area so we had to carry them over. so the big picture i painted for them was tt we were moving mountains! haha. yuansong was really strong man. he like carried so many super duper heavy rocks. n he kept pushing his limits. den they had a human chain to carry the smaller rocks, den i brought a bottle of water n walked down the line to fed them water otherwise we'll probably dehydrate in the hot sun man. but im proud of these ppl for not giving up!

ater tt we brought the kids n the village ppl to the beach. it was seriously jsut a stretch of sand. but it made me miss ecp alot. e smell of the sea n the sandy beach. i wanna go ecp man. n miss lim warned the guys v strictly the night b4 not to touch the water, im glad everyone resisted the temptations really well. haha.

that evening we had a closing ceremony at the village itself. we performed for the ppl and they sang songs for us. it was a bitter sweet thing. the villagers have seem to have really enjoyed our company, and we have influenced them in a large way i guess. they even called mr toh a doctor for bandaging their wounds, n called our students teacehrs during the lessons. they fed us well with the little they could afford, and were such great help in showing us what needed to be done. in return, we brought hope to these ppl again. ppl whosefamily n frens have abandoned them. ppl who have proobably lose hope in the world. i really hope tt our presence during tt few shorrt days have given them enuff motivation n encouragement tt hope is still around n that people do care. =)

day 5
finally e labourous part of the journey is over n donw with. we were left with the touring of the cambodia. we went to the killing fields n then to the tou sleng s21 museum, my 2nd time there. the most impactful scene was the 17 storey thing filled with countless skulls. there were so many. and some of the skulls showed evidence of how they were killed. skulls had cracked areas at the back , meaning tt they were hit with a hoe in the head. some had bad cracks all over, showing tt they were brutally hit on the head. the killing fields was very "original", not much was done to presevrve the place so there were clothings of the ppl who died there all over the flood, cos it was mass graves n the soil gets blow away sometimes. so we can see small pieces of bones when we walk. quite a scary experience. the images n the things we saw were still shocking even though ive seen them b4. its still unbelievable how cruel ppl can become, for the few greeds that we have. n the fact tt it was cambodians themselves attacking their fellow countryman, tt was the fact i ouldnt come to terms with.

tt night we checked into asia hotel. the same hotel tt we lived in when we went the previous time! haha, such coincidence man. it was heaven to feel aircon n see a nice clean toilet. haha. i finally shitted! and janice n i laid out all our smelly n wet clothes on the floor to dry, like some kiasu ppl like tt. i think miss lim must have tot we were v cute. haha. tt night debrief was good. alot of learning pts from the kids, especially when the question we posed to e studetns was if they would join the khmer rouge as a soldier, n help in the regime. more of the to kill or be killed question. n the insights they shared really showed tt they were thinking young adults.

day 6
we went to the rubbish dump early in the morning. the place was seriously huge n full of rotting rubbish n houseflies. the piles of rubbish were like mountains and you could see little children digging through it, it was heart wrenching. And the smell was so overwhelming we smelt it on the bus from miles away n some of the students puked. And there was dirty brown sludge all over the place, like mud or watery shit. stained our shoes badly. We left quickly cos it was quote pollutive n bad for our health n went to the place where the people we collected rubbish stayed. There we saw the little children playing and learning and we entertained them by twisting them balloons, performing for them the dance and song again. the sight og the children with the balloons was truly amazing cos they were so colourful n happy. after tt we left to check into the hotel to clean up.

shopping at the russian mkt n sorya market tt whole afternoon was HEAVEN. n i tell u e guys can shop. haha. they damm good at it n it was super fun shopping with them. especially tt yuan song. super funny, cos he is really a good boy so we v scare he will get cheated so we stuck close to him. but i saw how he stood up for himself when he was given beef by mistake n i think it shows how he has grown up. =)

tt night debrief was one of the longest i ever had. everyone was falling asleep at some pt of time, incuding myself. but it was good to hear the speeches tt was made, especially for sina, a guy who was v clsoe to the students n helped alot. i could see tt he was really proud of the teamsekians too!

tt night was a long long night cos sam n i had to write postcards for our grp ppl. i kept faling alseep n i wrote rubbish la, like about fishballs n dogs n cats. haha. thank god he was really understadning n nice.

day 7
it was flying home day! janice n i went to the central market after the students left the hotel. they were flying home earlier den us so we woke up in time to jsut wave bye bye. so sad, but i bought more stuff at the mkt n we cabbed to the airport. we took photos again! this time we were tired brown but still happy =) the plance ride i din eat, cos i slept for so long. haha. was seriously so tired i just knocked out.

when we came out, guess wad! cheryl ming yee n anghong came to fetch me!! so touching right!! i was seriously v touched by their presence. espcially ah, since ming said tt she din even had to convince him to go. haha. best fren eh. haha. n i felt so crazy i ran n hugged all of them, n first question for them was did they miss me! haha. so we went to macs to sit down n chit chat. must have been really weird for ming n ah cos later on, qh boon n jt came! these guys so sweet, i tot they were surely busy n totally did not expect to see them la. after tt it was only left with cheryl boon n jt n qh they pushed cheryl n i all over the airport racing around n crashing into walls n taking like a million photos. simply so much fun. thanks guys i love u loads =)

at close to 6 i met up with norman andrew n yuansong. haha. these were some students from the ocip trip. i was realy touched they came to eat dinner tgt man. n had alot of fun just chatting. omg i miss them so much!!!!!!!!! felt like a wild mad 15 yr old n i could do anything i wanted, without being judged. haha i wanna organise an outing to go out sooon soon soon!!!

ok im tired, this long entry took me hours n i feel like sleeping again. despite the fact tt i slept since 10pm on tues night till 7pm on wed.

but i would like to thank my frens around me who gave me their support encouragement n showed their love for me b4 the trip n even smsing me updates abt school n life when i was in cambodia. u guys probably wun noe how touching it is to receve msges from u ppl while i was there man. n for being the first faces i saw n first few bodies i hugged when i reached sg soil, thank you so so much. n i would also like to thank the 32 individuals, for being great ppl on the whole trip. i feel really proud of u guys n i hope we'll still be frens in contact! n the teachers n volunteers, mrtoh misslim mrwang sam n janice, for enduring all my nonsense n taking so much care of me. especially janice, the one who gave me so many learning pts throughtout the trip. of cos i would also wanna thank mrjaredoh, for asking me to go for the trip n stuff. i really miss this man man, gotta book him someday for a meal! n of cos my parents for giving the consent n moral suport when i wanted to go, especially my dad for not stopping me even though he knew the risks of the trip, cos he knows me too well.

ok im off to bed!
happy holidays my dear friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!