Mekong Pirates, Kampong Cham Workshops and Nice EU people

Jayus you take your eye off the ball for what seems like a brief moment and the next thing you realise that a month has gone by. I have been getting more and more into work and I am really enjoying working with  CITA and Mr. Rung Chunn. No week is every the same and there is always some problems to be solved and things to learn. Last time I mentioned boat-training, the highlights for the following week were the CITAworkshop in Kampong Cham, a meeting with EU Delegation Education team and the Mekong Pirates at the FCC. 

On Tuesday 9^th it was Independence Day and CITA  held a workshop in Kampong Cham where I did my language training.  The meeting was held in home of one of the members and over 25 teachers turned up. Unfortunately may Khmer was only good enough to catch maybe 10% of everything , but I answered questions about the Irish education system and role of teachers unions at home and introduced myself in Khmer. It was really good to get to meet CITA members and to hear first hand about the issues they face and this has both motivated me and helped in writing up campaign policies. 

On Thursday 11^th I was provided with the opportunity to meet the EU Delegation Education team. This was very useful for me as it gave me an chance to hear from a third source what they felt were the main issues in Cambodian Education. We also discussed different budget lines that would be suitable of  CITAto apply to in the future. The value of this meeting was immense in just discussing how to improve CITAs future project proposals and having a frank discussion about the issues that I am likely to face. I was very grateful for these very busy people to give me some of their time, knowledge and experience. 

Check out Mekong Pirates at  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8civ7ebg6Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBvj_10pKl0

On the social side the highlight was the Mekong Pirates who played the FCC. and it was my first time in the FCC.  which is fantastic building with great views if just a tad pricey (in future I’ll be there once a month). Anyway the gig was free and few of us went along and half of France seemed to be there to as the band have big French following. After a couple of drinks we got into the swing of things and started dancing away. The band are 14 piece, with great singers and brass, the music style in mix of French, Cajun, khmer kinda jazz I don’t really know but it was amazing. I think the fact that the band were having fun ensuring we  had fun to.So in week two ended with good balance between work and fun and my sprits are still on a high. 

I am starting to enjoy this blog business nice you to reflect on what as actually happened, hope your enjoying it too.