Following our “small vacation” to observe Khmer New Year, we were back for more teaching at Krou Yeung school in Phnom Penh, with a slightly fresh outlook, having spent some time enjoying the city we were living in.

Eye-Opening Experiences in Phnom Penh

Dennis had a literally fresh outlook, with vastly improved eyesight. He’d been needing cataract surgery on the right eye for some time (the left wasn’t nearly as bad), and finally was able to schedule it. He obtained glowing recommendations for Dr. Do Seiha through a Facebook group for Phnom Penh ex-pats (you see, Facebook really is good for something), and had the surgery performed, at very reasonable cost (less than he would have paid out of pocket in the U.S., even with insurance), on a day off, and immediately was able to see much better — he discovered that, for the first time in years, he could read a computer screen and most printed matter without even needing glasses! A new eye for a new year.

Spring School Days

Back at school, Kimberly was teaching yoga (even though her scheduled training for certification was still a few months away). In addition to being an English teacher, she somehow ended up being the P.E. teacher as well. And yoga was one of the activities she included. Some of the youngsters took to it quite well, displaying excellent flexibility.

She’s also, of course, still teaching Kindergarten and Elementary students, and has come up with some fun activities that they really enjoy. At one of the school supply stores we went to back in the United States, we picked up some hourglass-style timers of various time durations, and different colors of sand. The kids are endlessly fascinated by these, and seemingly could just sit and watch the sand trickle down pretty much all day, They don’t yet grasp that the trickling sand is a dire warning that time’s a-passing.

May Celebrations

In May, we celebrated our anniversary (34th, if you can believe it), and as it was on a Sunday, we had the whole day free. First we attended a yoga class, one that Kimberly had attended before. Then we went to dinner at a new (to us) vegan restaurant called Element, which was also recommended by the Facebook group.

Later in the month, Dennis had a birthday. And we decided to take that opportunity to have our End Of Quarter massage, this time of the Swedish variety. Earlier in the day, more than a month having passed since his eye surgery, he resumed his regimen of swimming twice a week at the Phnom Penh Sports Club, which was close to our apartment.

The school also had its own special occasions in May. First there was Mother’s’ Day, for which the students manufactured cards of appreciation for their moms. And then there was International Children’s Day, which actually was on June 1. But since that was on a Saturday, the school had a celebration of it on Friday May 31. At this ceremony, the students posed in a heart-shaped formation to make a cute photo for the school’s Instagram account.

Meanwhile, we gave the students their oral exams, the first component of their quarterly finals. And with that we’d reached the seventy-five percent mark of our year teaching.

April-May 2024