Having left Phnom Penh, the three of us clambered on a bus to head North to our projects. Leaving Chloe on the bus to Siem Reap. We found the orphanage we would be living in, and were directed to our room. As ours is a new project, there were some initial problems that needed sorting out, like bedding and classes etc, but now these have all been sorted we are both feeling like this is fast becoming home.

We were staggered by the order of the children's day. There are 116 children living here, all of whom wake up at -

4.00am everyday (yes, even on the weekends) and half of them cook rice for breakfast, while the other half clean their dorms.

5.30am they have lessons here at the orphanage for an hour, we were invited to go along to this 5.30 English class and for the first few days did, but after some deliberation it really knackered us out seeing as our final class is at 9pm.

7.00am they all trundle off to the high school, and Primary students stay at the orphanage for some time longer.

9.00am our first lesson of the day! Here we have a primary class much to our delight, which meant starting with the alphabet, more fun than you'd imagine. It's fair to say that our primary classes are pretty darn cute, and really are the best way to start the day. We've found ending our lessons with a game is always a crowd pleaser; the games range from Hangman to 'Esme says' and 'Charlotte says' a very original spin on Simon says.

We then do some lesson planning for our high school class at 12.00, whilst they're back for their lunch break, here we split and both teach our own classes. These are definitely our toughest classes, teaching quite intermediate English, but the students are very welcoming and enjoy our enthusiasm.

2.00 is our second primary lesson, much the same as the first.
We then have an art class at 7.00pm every night and English conversation at 8.00. The children here start their evening classes an hour after they get back from school, so they really do have busy days.

A particular favourite is the Hey Macarena which our students demand we all dance to at the end of lessons, we were even asked to come to the 5.30 am English class to teach it to a different class of children as it seems it's going viral! Although that particular morning we somewhat lacked some enthusiasm, turning up in our pyjamas and singing with croaky voices before stumbling back to bed.

Working and living at the same place can be quite tough, other project trust volunteers would normally go home at the end of the school day but we work till 9pm, with some breaks that we normally fill lesson planning, we love how busy we are though. Means the weekends can be fully appreciated by the poolside at a nearby hotel with copious amounts of Lime juice or in Siem Reap!

Due to the intensity of the children's days they only get 6 hours sleep a day. To us, this is alien, we can only function on 8hrs minimum!

It's so easy to forget how much these children have been through when they're all so smiley and cheerful, and were there complaining that we miss Prawn Cocktail Pringles (Charlotte's weakness) and toast with cheese. (Esme's)
There is a pair of young twin boys here, aged 2, who have got to be the most adorable kids imaginable. Honestly, you have no idea. Their mum sadly passed away when she gave birth to them, so have been here all their lives.

It feels like we should also do a shoutout to all the bugs and spiders here. Thanks for keeping us company on toilet guys, but your time here is up. Particularly saucy legs (4 inches the legs on this spider was, we measured) and the flying cockroach that chose to land on Esme.
However, we do have time for the little lizard in our room who eats the Mosquitos, you can stay.

We're quite beyond on our blogs so we'll post another very soon with details on Siem Reap and the wedding!

Esme and Charlotte,
Xxxx