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Heading home-June 23rd!

And my 8 weeks in Cambodia have finally come to an end. I can't believe how fast this time has gone by, but I have truly had such a great experience. I spent my last week on the islands Koh Rong, and Koh Rong Samloem, and had such a fun and relaxing time! Katie and I headed down, and luckily we were able to meet up with two friends we had met the weekend before in Siem Reap! The weather was beautiful and being on the island was so relaxing. I could not have asked for a better way to spend my last week here! This trip has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I am so happy I had gotten the chance to learn while volunteering, explore a beautiful country, and gain amazing friendships that I will remember forever. I am so grateful to have come to Cambodia and I hope more people take the chance to explore this beautiful country!

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Last day at ANSA- June 16th

It is my last day here at ANSA and it has been such a great experience. I cannot believe how quickly these seven weeks have gone by but it has been truly such a learning experience for myself. For my last day, my director held a nice office pizza party for me which was lovely! I will miss my director and the accountant working there. They made my time very enjoyable and felt very welcome! While at ANSA, I helped develop a proposal for a grant to conduct a social audit with community members on the road conditions within certain areas of Cambodia. I have also helped develop a proposal to implement community learning centres within rural areas of Cambodia, where many children and adults are unable to access education. As well, by implementing learning centres, it provides a space for traditional language, skills and culture to be taught to community members, where in the formal education system, traditional culture is left out. These projects have helped me learn so much about Cambodia and the challenges that are still faced today since the Pol Pot regime. While there are many improvements, there is much room to grow as a country. As well, this placement has given me so much experience, on what it's like to work with a local NGO and how I am able to apply my knowledge in these situations. I am so lucky to have had this opportunity and I am so thankful that the global studies program at Laurier helped me get here! Although my placement is over, I have extended my trip one more week to do some exploring! I will be heading to the beaches of Koh Rong for the next few days before I leave on the 23rd!

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'Same, same, but different'

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June 14th!

Oh my! I can't believe my time here is coming up so soon! Sadly I only have two more days of my placement, then one more week for me to do some exploring in Cambodia. I am currently working on some more proposals at my placement, where hopefully I can finish them up before I end on Friday. Last weekend was another great weekend spent in Siem Reap! We had gone our very first weekend in Cambodia, but Katie and I decided to go back for the weekend to see the waterfall there! We took another night bus as arrived Saturday morning. We went to the market by the riverside to do some shopping, and had the most amazing dinner at this little restaurant! It was recommended to us, and it was so authentic and cheap as well, we probably would have just walked right by it! Then met some people at our hostel to make our way to pub street. We were planning on getting a TukTuk ride to the waterfall on Sunday, but it turns out they close the waterfall at 12, and we didn't have enough time to get there. So we decided to extend our trip one more day so we could go. On Monday we went at 7am to get a tour of the Buddha that was there and do go on a short hike to the waterfall. It was beautiful! Definitely worth extending our trip! Before the night bus home, we went to see the circus in Siem Reap(no animals, all acrobats!). The story was called 'same, same, but different'. Where it showed how tourists and locals will act differently in same situations. It was very interesting to see how truthful their interpretation was! One scene was of a restaurant of locals as well as tourists, and how tourists can be picky and needy compared to locals who are living their day to day life. It was all in good fun, but it puts into perspective how some people act in new situations! It was another great weekend, and it makes me sad to know I only have one more weekend left! Although I wish to stay longer I am excited to see everyone at home...also I'm sure my bank account will be happy as well!

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Weekend in Phuket!

Oh my, last Thursday was a Holiday in Cambodia (Children's Day) so Katie and I decided to go on holiday to Phuket, Thailand!! We arrived Thursday morning and had such a great time. We laid by the beach, tanned, and swam in the ocean. The next day we did an island tour of Phi Phi islands. It was overcast for most of the day but it was good since we were pretty sunburnt from the day before. We went to three different islands where we could swim, snorkel, and explore. Snorkelling was definitely a highlight from our trip. There were so many fish and the water was so clear. The next day we went ATVing! It was so cool, we drove through some of the jungle and saw some amazing views. At the end of our tour we were able to drive around for 10 minutes on our own, so I was the driver and Katie was my passenger and we decided to go down a path. There was a ditch and we didn't realize how big it was, so we decided to go through it. We ended up flipping the ATV and having to jump off lol. We were totally fine and laughing about it, the ATV on the other hand was donezo. Luckily we didn't have to pay for anything and they let us drive around on another one for a bit longer! That night we went for dinner and made our way to Patong for some drinks. It was super fun and there was music and people everywhere, for sure had a good night! The next day we went for breakfast and then made our way to Katta beach to do some shopping and go for a swim. The beach there was sadly covered in garbage and there was so much trash floating in the water. We didn't swim for long, but it was sad to see so much plastic and dead fish there was. It really makes you think about how garbage effects the ocean when you can see it first hand. Later that evening we went to a lady-boy show called Simons Cabaret! It was amazing, they were all such good performers and looked amazing! I for sure recommend this for anyone! On our last day, we signed up to go white water rafting, to see a waterfall and go zip lining! It rained all day, sadly they ended up closing the waterfall, that was a bummer. But white water rafting was quite and experience. There was 6 of us in the raft including the 2 guides. Near the end of the river our boat ended up on a rock and we tipped over, and I ended up floating down the river for quite a ways until i was able to hold onto a rock and get to the edge of the river. My legs were pretty cut up and so were the others, but even though it was scary it was still a great time! Our guide was amazing and super helpful, so I would probably still do it again haha! After we went zip-lining which was cool and then back to our hotel. Sadly we had to leave that night and catch our flight back to Phnom Penh. Overall, it was such a great weekend and I must go back and explore Thailand!!! Something I would take-away from my trip to Phuket though, as well as a concern for anyone travelling anywhere in Asia, animal tourism is a very big problem and I would strongly encourage people not to participate in elephant rides, dolphin shows, circus's or anything of the sort! There are sustainable and animal friendly options where you can visit sanctuaries and watch the animals in their natural habitat. But elephants and other animals that are used for tourism are uncared for and live their lives in pens, cages, and tied to trees until they are taken out for people to ride them. As fun as it may be to interact with some of these animals, the lack of care they are given and the harm that they experience from carrying around hundreds of tourists is visible and should be taken into consideration before signing up for any tour. Again there are very good options to be able to go and see the animals because they are beautiful and should be loved!! Just before you plan on doing anything animal related, please please do you research so you know the care the animals are given!! This week at work has been pretty nuts. Sadly the other volunteer I've been working/exploring/living with, Monishka, has ended her program and has gone back home. I definitely miss her but I know we'll keep in touch! We have a new volunteer and she's great! We're currently finishing a proposal thats due on Friday, that aims to help citizens become more involved with the communes decision making and strengthening their voice as their concerns are often neglected. We still have a lot of work to do for it but it's all starting to come together and we're very excited! More info to come, sadly I only have one week left of my placement, and then one more week left in Cambodia until I'm home!! It's been such an amazing experience I'm not ready for it to end!

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May 30th!

This weekend we had a great time in Kampot! It was such a beautiful and relaxing time! On Saturday we did a tour of the countryside seeing the salt fields (sadly there was no salt because of the rain) the pepper plantation, secret lake, a hidden cave, and then a drive down to Kep to see the crab market and the beach! Unfortunately we did not have too much time in Kep, but hopefully I can find some time at the end of my trip to explore a little more! Sunday we did another tour of Bokor national park. Here we got to see the Kings abandoned summer house, an abandoned church, the old casino, as well as have lunch by the waterfall! The buildings were beautiful to see as they were built close to the edge of the cliffs. Later that evening we went for a sunset boat tour where we cruised down the river and relaxed. The river was so beautiful and calming, once it got dark we were able to see we the fireflies along the edge of the river. Before we had to catch our bus back to Phnom Penh on Monday, I made a trip over to Arcadia hostel, which was right on the river! They had a 'water park' filled with Tarzan ropes, a Russian swing, a huge slide, inner tubes and hammocks on a pontoon! It was such a great time, I was even able to go for a boat ride with people I met there and I tried knee boarding for the first time! It was a great way to end the weekend! We're back to work for the week preparing some more proposals for grants, as well as editing existing proposals before they get sent off! Should be a great week!

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May 24th!

Well it’s been a quiet week in Phnom Penh! We had finished our proposal for a grant to conduct the social audit, so we’re waiting for feedback from our director! It’s been such a great learning experience so far. I never knew much about how to apply for grants at this capacity, how social audits work, and how important these steps are for NGOs to be as impactful for the communities. It is definitely a lot of work but it’s great to see where this can be improving areas within Cambodia! Last weekend we stayed in Phnom Penh and just relaxed which was lovely! We did a boat tour along the river where we went to silk island which was not too far away! We got to see the silk worms and how silk is woven into scarves and such. It was so cool to see how much work was put in for each pattern and design! Yesterday we went for lunch at a place called daughters of Cambodia. They’re a great initiative where they take people out of the human trafficking industry and provide them training and job opportunities among other support services to allow them a new start. It was such a great thing to see in the heart of the city, as well the food was amazing!! Later we went to the riverside night market for some shopping! Today we went to the mall here for sushi and then bowling. It was a really good time! Tomorrow’s back to work! Hope everyone’s having a great summer!

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