Massages, DVD Players and Pizza Company!

Well I made to the weekend. My first two days of teaching were chaos. My students are almost all Khmer with a few Koreans. They all have the cutest names...Yuki, Sovith, Chantara, Vireak...LONG. And his twin brother Leng is in the other grade 1 class and they are OFF THE WALL. Not too sure how I'm gonna handle him all year. We've already done some science experiments with water and floating. Read lots of books..they love Dr. Seuss. They all can't say my name so they just call me "Teacha" and show me every little thing they draw or color.
I am still feeling very overwhelmed and anxious about it all but each day gets easier and more enjoyable.
Our nights in Cambodia have been rough. I've had anxiety attacks and nightmares although praise the Lord Kim hasn't had any night terrors or sleep walking incidents..yet. The neighborhood dogs seriously bark all night. Earplugs are not really drowning them out so we're getting used to going to bed around 8 so that when we are awoken at 3 am we have already had almost enough hours of sleep to sustain us thru the next day.
We had a super fun weekend. Friday night we went to The Tamarind for supper. Its this gorgeous Meditteranean restuarant with a rooftop patio. We had delicious samosas and chwarmas and hummus. On Saturday we walked to In-Style Spa and got glorious one hour full body massages for $10. Then we tuktuked it over to Sorea Mall and had lunch at Pizza Company.
We even found a DVD player and an awesome DVD/CD store....6 for $10. We decided to have a girls night and we ate left over cold pizza and watched Made of Honor on my great big king size bed. Just for a moment...we may have forgotten we were in Cambodia. Then we would hear the dogs bark...an angry shout in Khmer...the sound of a moto drive by below and it all would be real again. Sometimes I find it hard to believe I'm here again. SOOOOO many things remind me of my last time here with Brittany and Kristie. It makes me miss them and the fun memories we made here. Its good though...it helps me remember and relive and I like that.
Sometimes I wish I was seeing it all through fresh eyes. The excitement of it all for the first time. But theres a comfort in familiarity and the longer I'm here...it all comes flooding back.