Teaching English to the Locals
Pursat, 11th to 13th
June 2002 (Part 2)
On my first afternoon in Pursat, I went to a small restaurant for a
bite to eat. They didn't have an English menu, showing that
foreigners really were rare here. Luckily they did have an English
speaking waitress, so I managed to order some dinner. Unfortunately,
even though I picked the simple fried vegetables and rice which I
thought couldn't go wrong, it did go wrong. I was served a plate of
fried vegetable absolutely swimming in fat. Now, I don't mind fried
foods, as long as the fat stays in the pan and doesn't get served up
on my plate. In the end, I was forced to roll my vegetables around
on tissues, much to the amusement of the staff, to get rid of some
of the grease. Yuck!
On my back to my hotel, I took a walk through the main market, a
concrete building packed with stalls. Of course, I had the
obligatory stares and I could hear the word 'barang' (foreigner)
being muttered. I was delighted to find a big bag of coconut candy
(yummy) for only 1300r ($0.30), then decided to move on after the
strong smell, always found at these markets, started to make me
queasy.
About one block from my hotel, I walked past a school, actually, a
single outdoor classroom, full of young Khmer people. Interested, I
wandered a bit closer and discovered that they were being taught
English! The teacher noticed me out of the corner of his eye, and
seeing as I was a barang, he invited me over. After a short chat, he
was delighted to find out that I'm a native Englishman and he asked
if I wanted to help with the class. Of course! So I spent the rest
of the afternoon helping the students (18-24 year olds) with their
English. It was really good fun, they all just wanted to chat, to
practice their phrases and hear my pronunciation. Some of them spoke
very good English and could translate my, sometimes complex, answers
to their classmates. I had a great time and everyone was so friendly
to me, they couldn't get enough of me! The one hour lesson flew by,
and I was made to promise that I'd return tomorrow afternoon for
another lessons. Of course I was more than happy to come back. Just
as I went to leave, I got about half-a-dozen offers of motor-bike
rides around town or to be taken to dinner, when eventually, one guy
who spoke better English than the others managed to push me towards
his motorbike.
We took a short ride around town, and the guy happily chatted away
to me, practising his English and telling me almost everything about
his life! After a while, he asked if I'd eaten yet, which I had, so
he suggested that we grab dessert. We turned a corner and stopped at
a small Cambodian food stall. He then suggested a few dishes, before
we both got a traditional Khmer desert of tropical fruit, ice and
sweet, condensed milk. It was actually very nice, and after we'd
finished, he paid for both of us (I tried, but he insisted that he
wanted to) before we drove around a bit more.
The rest of the evening passed quickly, and before I knew it, I was
back at my hotel.
The next day, I had a relaxed start, no reason to rush around today.
I wandered over to the restaurant next door to buy breakfast. Just
as I was sitting down, I noticed that the Khmer policeman at the
next table looked strangely familiar. Maybe I'd met his brother
somewhere. After a few moments of looking at each other, he sensed
my confusion and said that he was the teacher from the school
yesterday. That was it! He invited me over to his table, so I joined
him for breakfast.
We chatted for a while, and I learned that he has to work as both a
policeman & teacher because neither job pays well enough to live on.
I've come to realise that, the police especially, are paid pittance
out here, and many have to find other ways to earn enough money.
Most turn to bribes, backhanders and 'unofficial fines'. But some do
turn to more honest methods, which unfortunately require almost
constant working. Still, the guy was extremely happy & friendly, not
showing any resentment at all.
We spent breakfast chatting about our lives and looking at nuances
of the English language. The teacher was obviously eager to ask a
native English speaker some burning questions about confusing areas
of the language. However, I found him asking me some really tough
questions, a bit embarrassing that I had to think hard about my
native language. Sometimes it difficult to think about the reasons &
rules when you've learned to just go by what 'sounds right'.
The teacher/policeman soon had to leave for work, then shortly after
I headed to the market to find a motorbike taxi. The main reason I'd
come to Pursat, was to visit the village of Kompong Luang. This is a
small village, mainly consisting of Vietnamese people, that floats
on the edge of the Tonle Sap river. Throughout the year, as the
monsoon season comes and goes, the water level (and so the village)
goes up and down considerably, but life goes on as normal. Depending
on what time of year it is, the distance of the village from the
main road can change by up to 7km!
The first hurdle though, was finding a moto-driver who could
understand either my English or my broken Khmer. I approached a
group of moto-drivers who just looked at me blankly, before waving
over one of their friends who could understand English. I told him
where I wanted to go, and he took me over to a mini-bus that was
packed with locals, with more of them being crammed into every
available space. I explained that I wanted to hire a moto driver for
the day, so that he could take me there then bring me back. He
understood, then turned to his moto-driver friends, then suddenly I
was surrounded by dozens of drivers all wanting to take me on this
long (and therefore well paid) journey. I quickly picked a guy who
had just appeared and could speak good English. After agreeing on a
price, US$6 for the return journey, we headed off.
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