TBIT: Thank Buddha it's Thursday

It has been a long week, and I'm glad it is Thursday. Actually, yesterday was just a long day since I teach the most hours on Wednesdays, so when I make it to Thursday I can relax. The worst hour of my Tuesdays and Wednesdays is always the lower-level English class I teach. It is so frustrating because I can't do the more complicated and fun exercises and discussions I do with all my other, more advanced classes. Also, I have to ask them every week to stop speaking Khmer in class. Now I know how my foreign language teachers felt in high school. I guess in college they didn't really care, because at that point its your own damn fault if you fail.
Anyway, today I only have to teach my advanced students. I spent a little longer than I had hoped "reviewing" the phrase "used to" in my grammar class. It says in the book that they should be reviewing the grammar point, but as usual they were never really taught it in the first place. So I explained the difference between "I used to go to Angkor Wat" and "I have been to Angkor Wat". It is confusing because in Khmer there isn't really a differentiation between the two, grammatically at least. I think the students were starting to understand by the end of the hour though. So that is progress.
We played pictionary yesterday in my conversation club. The kids were getting tired of the more serious topics/assignments I've been giving so we lightened it up a little bit. They all told me that, "when we play games like this, English club is so happy!". Of course the kids on the losing team may not have felt the same way. Then they all decided they wanted to take pictures with me on their cell phones. I was not looking my best, but then again, when am I in Cambodia??? The I heart NY shirt Robin sent me is going to be infamous as it has been immortalized in hundreds of pictures with me and various students.
So far today is better than yesterday, starting off right with a nice big plate of rice and pork. I wish I had my camera at the market, because it was a quite pleasant looking spread. Just the right amount of pork, sliced cucumbers, and egg. Instead, I've included some pictures of the backyard decorations my landlord has been working on. She put in a trelice (spelling???) and put some beautiful orchids on it. I told her it looked quite sa'at (beautiful). Then she added some bright orange fake leaves.... and some fake grapes. I guess it is sa'at jee-ung now (more beautiful) in the Cambodian sense...