Arriving in Cambodia
Once I arrived in Phnom Penh, I was greeted by a friendly Projects Abroad staff member who was very helpful and assisted me straight away in buying a sim card so I could contact my family. We then went back to the hotel where we all stayed for the majority of the next two weeks.
The Hang Neak Hotel had everything we needed for our short stay. It had a comfortable bed with the all-too important air conditioning and a great hot and cold shower. Every morning, we would have a lovely meal on the rooftop restaurant where we had a great view of Phnom Penh. The staff were very friendly and it was a lovely hotel to come back to at the end of a tiring day at the placement.
My placement
Whilst in Cambodia we spent most of the time at our lovely placement. Our placement was a preschool with about 30 kids from the ages of 3-6 years old, located about 40 minutes outside Phnom Penh. They had two main teachers that were there every day, who were extremely friendly and welcoming to us.
At the placement, we taught kids basic English such as numbers, built a fence for the outside of the preschool, and decorated the walls with English words and images. It was extremely fulfilling and exciting to get to know the kids despite the language barrier, which I thought would be a bigger issue than it was. We also assisted the teachers with making and serving the kids’ lunch and teaching them basic listening skills.
I loved spending time at the placement and it was great to get to know the teachers and all the students. Also, to see the impact we had on them over the two weeks with their English improving and the childcare centre looking a lot more decorated.
Overall, I had an amazing and life changing experience in Cambodia. I got to meet people from all over the world and discovered the amazing culture and people that live in Cambodia. I couldn’t be more grateful to Projects Abroad who made me feel so comfortable being so far away from home and for making the trip run so smoothly.
