Lives Touched

My first week of teaching is officially over.   Despite apprehensions, it all went better than I could have expected.  I have a classroom of about 10 first graders for an hour every day.  They are perhaps the smartest, most adorable first graders ever.  In the past five days, we’ve covered everything from days of the weeks to classroom objects to possessive pronouns!  Oh and they love to sing, which is fortunate since I do as well.  Every day we start by singing a little tune, which just sets up the rest of the time for success.  Next week they’ll be learning about different professions and about family – I can’t wait!

The other amazing opportunity I had this week was tutoring a Khmer tuk-tuk driver.  In order to receive our certification, we are required to give a free 60-minute English lesson to a local.  For the past few weeks I’ve frequented the Happy Guesthouse and Restaurant and made good friends with the people there.  One of my new friends is this tuk-tuk driver named Ouk Thearea.  We met both Wednesday and Thursday evening and I helped him with pronunciation and a few key grammar points.  He is so kind and a fast learner.  I also learned that when he was 9 years old, he was a victim of the Pol Pot regime.  His story is really a tragic one, like so many Cambodians over the age of 35.  He told me how he wished he could have gone to school when he was younger, but there were no schools in Cambodia.  This is why he puts almost all of the money he makes driving towards his two children’s education.   On Sunday, he is taking me to the Killing Fields just outside of Phnom Penh to tell me his stories of what happened to him and his country.  It’s people like Thearea who really make me excited about my time in Asia. 

I can only hope that every life I touch here, whether it be my little first graders or tuk-tuk drivers like Thearea, will be changed for the better in some way.  I know my life has been. 

My new friend, Thearea, and I - the peace signs were his idea ;)