As we got outof Sinn's van we were greeted by all the children with hugs and smiles, even more than Tuesday and Wednesday as we had been at the building project the day before and hadn't seen them. Like everyday there were a few faces I didn't recognise who hadn't been in on previous days. Although they have a register, school in Cambodia still isn't as strict, many of the children walk in and outof the lessons. On our last day, there were also many children who didn't attend the school sitting or standing by the doorway watching the lessons. During the week we have asked many different people and I think we finally understand the school system here in Cambodia. They have primary school till grade 6, then secondary school till grade 9 and on to high school till grade 12, where their education finishes unless they carry on till university. It is legally compulsory to go to school however this is different in reality, many children do not attend school for reasons such as: there isn't a school close enough, the family can't afford to pay for books or our tour guide informed us that many children don't go to high school as they need to work to earn money for their family at age 15.

We stood in the playground for a while waiting for all the teachers to arrive and for the school day to start. All the children surrounding us and jumping on us, until one of them started singing gangnam style and the rest joined in. We started filming them which sent them into even more of a frenzy, they would move closer and closer until they were almost standing on our feet and it was virtually impossible to film them. However they did respond when we asked them not to move forward before I certain point so it was possible for us to film them as they performed more song such as 'ABC' and 'head, shoulders knees and toes' at rapid speed. I then tried to teach them 'I'm a spring chicken' which I'm sure North Ealing lot will remember clearly, some of them picked bits up but I think it was a bit advanced. After I bit more time outside the children got called to line up to brush their teeth and start the day at school. As it had been Alex's last day the day before another volunteer was teaching the English lesson. To finish the normal lesson, Vicky read them a book, a twist on a Disney princess story. The rest of the teachers set up mats on the floor with books and other toys while the children were distracted with the story, just as they had done on other days. When the story was over they all covered the mats finding different books and toys, handing me books about butterflies and ants and lizards. While I was trying to read as many books as I could to the children, mum was chopping fruit with Dara, one of the teachers. Who is at university studying English literature, reading Oliver Twist and Cry Freedom.

When the fruit was cut the children lined up to wash their hands and eat their snack. After finishing, they went across the playground to Visal's house to watch Toy Story. In the whole week I'd never seen the children so concentrated, or in fact I've never seen any four and five year olds so concentrated! They all sat staring at the TV and even though it was in English they sat up so intrigued by the film. Every now and then they would laugh, and the laughs went on for a while when Buzz lit the rocket and him and Woody soared down the road trying to catch up with the rest of the toys to eventually land in Andys car. Even Repal, who usually walks out of the class and can't sit 5 minutes in a lesson without getting up to wonder around, sat fascinated by the film. Although every now and again he to would laugh, he also seemed to add his own comments to the film, shouting out in Khmer that seemed to make the others laugh to.

When the film finished, they all took their chairs back to the main nursery building to finish the day with a singing lesson. After singing some of the usual songs, they asked us if we had anymore songs to teach them. I tried teaching them 'I'm a spring chicken' again but it proved too difficult so we resorted to 'Humpty Dumpty', that they seemed to like. During singing Srey Hon one of the smallest and youngest in the class fell asleep sitting up. The teacher picked her up and lay her on the table to sleep for 10 minutes till the end of the day. They then lined up to go home, one of the girls lead the usual routine finishing with "bow three times". Before letting them home, the teachers told the children it had been our last day and we were going home. They all said thank you and good luck for the rest of our lives. On their way out the door all but a few charged at us, almost knocking me over. Hugging all of them goodbye and a couple kissing me on the cheek was very sad I didn't want to leave. I miss all the children tons and hope I can go back in the future to help out for a longer period of time. I watched all the children walk home together, Srey Hom walking with her older sister, who had her arm around her taking care of her. A group of them walked down the middle of the sandy road, saying bye to each other as they dropped each other off when they reached their houses. We were left waiting for Dad, James and Sinn. Left only with Sing Lee, who's mum is a teacher, the teachers and Visal, who lives on the school site. The teachers slowly left and we sat playing with Visal, he sang us 'once I caught a fish alive' and we joined in. Mum then decided to show him that she also wore glasses as he is the only one in the school who wears them and the only Cambodian I saw wearing them. He liked that she had them to and found it funny, as he was eating his apple with a big grin. PJ, one the teachers, came back and six students who attended the school in the afternoon and were a lot older also turned up. They all squeezed in the back of a tuktuk and set off to the golf course, for a fundraiser for the school, we found out later they raised $500! The boys arrived not too long after and we said goodbye to Visal before sadly leaving the school for the last time. I strongly recommend volunteering at Que Rice it was an amazing experience, I miss it and all the children already. I'm definitely planning on going back in my gap year or when in older.