I took my little shadow on the back of my bike to school yesterday. I’ve learnt her name is Sopia. She absolutely love it, and made very good friends with the little neighbour girl that loves to prance around the orphanage. Together, they giggled and tried to steal our cameras, ate lots of lolly pops and she was very chuffed about the whole thing…I think her mum was chuffed I was willing to take her off her hands for 2 hours

I bought my Polaroid to class today but the kids didn’t understand the notion “don’t take pictures like a normal camera, this film is expensive”. So I had each and every child running up to me saying “Cher, photo me want!” And all wanting to keep them at the end. I managed to convince them that I needed some to show people in Australia but pinned half of them up at the orphanage.

Borin and I (the director!)

The kids and their crazy chilli candy

Pictured is the girls room, in the upstairs part of the complex. There are 9 girls and 1 bunk bed, so this is where most of them sleep and on these poor excuses for mattresses. Another thing to mention is that all the boys have their own bunk bed, and mosquito net and downstairs is a heck of a lot cooler. Part of the reason why they sleep on the floor is apparently its cooler, granted their room is like a sauna, but I still don’t believe it to be a valid enough excuse to not split the bunks equally. So frank and I went halves in purchasing 4 double bed mattresses so firstly they can sleep in comfort, and secondly 3 aren’t squishing onto one bed. A big thank you from some very excited girls!

The kids and their very first Tim Tam’s, two king size packets went down a treat. You should have seen their reactions next Australian taste sensation… Vegemite, which was up next!

And there you have it, lunch is served. Accompanied with big bowls of rice, and chilli, garlic dipping sauce for the meat, we sat on the floor (at their dinner table) and there was silence….for once, for a very long time. The meal went down an absolute treat, but something to point out is Cambodia’s are extremely generous (this morning I was delivered mushroom, noodle soup by Socheat that her mum had cooked me cause she knew how much I loved the strange mushrooms here) they will give you everything they possibly can give up, chairs are pulled out and put directly under fans whenever you have to wait, and today we were served up the biggest meals of anyone. It’s seen as offensive to not finish what they serve to you here (no wonder I’m getting a “Buddha belly”) of course because the don’t want to waste any food as it’s scarce for a lot. But I literally could not have eaten it all if my life depended on it, and still I had fruit pushed into my hands afterwards. This week has been so special just seeing every ounce of appreciation across all the kids and Borin and her husbands face, for the simplest of actions. Today everyone learnt the word FEAST!

I thought I was just chopping, but nope, I was a cook too. Pictured we have the huge bowl which was to feed all 17 children, and 3 adults and the still ginormous bowl, and realitivitally, to fee 2 of us it was HUGE! Mixed the vegetables with garlic, ginger, oyster sauce and some fresh chilli! (They don’t seem to use much salt or pepper here)