New Year's Eve - PARTY TIME!!

Boy, did we party!!

Steph and I hit the ground running at 6am at the school... We took out all the desks from one of the classrooms and invited-in all the kids from Kimhey and Sala’s classes into the one classroom – we had about 60 kids...

We wrote the day and date on the board as we always do, and then added a line under the date telling the kids that tomorrow was going to be a new year – 2010... We wrote Happy New Year on the board and told the kids we were going to have a party!! Well, by now they were all VERY excited – firstly no desks... then 2 classes combined... sitting on the floor in a large circle... AND having a PARTY!! :)

We gave out balloons to every child – some which blew-up to be not the usual balloon shape and were a real hit... After the balloon excitement settled, we played ‘pass the parcel’... Steph spent 3 hours the night before wrapping-up the prizes in layers of newspapers we brought with us from Australia (newspapers in Cambodia are a smaller sheet, don’t have many pages and aren’t cheap...). The prizes were cookies, lollipops, pencils, pens and tooth-brushes (which Steph now has a knack of collecing from airlines and hotels... :)) – the grand prize was a pack of Oreo Cookies!!

Pass the parcel - at 6am... :)

And the winner is...

Balloon... always a facination... :))

We also played a version of pin-the-tail-on-the donkey... Volunteers came up to the board, were blind-folded, spun around 5 times and then pointed to the board and the other kids suggested what they should draw – we all had a real laugh!!

Spinning our next contestant...

Not a bad bicycle...

Playing 'celebrity heads'...

We repeated our ‘Party class’ at the orphanage later in the morning and then Steph and I came back to Siem Reap for lunch (we don’t eat rice and there’s little else in rural Cambodia). After lunch we returned to the orphanage to spend more time with the kids... They all put on their new clothes and I must say, looked a million bucks!!

Pass-the-parcel at the orphanage

Doesn't take much to get a smile...

Not sure what was being drawn there... :)

Getting ready for our 'shooting balloon' competition...

Let 'em rip...

Some of our balloons had to be retrieved from the ajoining land... :))

The kitchen at the orphanage now has running water - thanks to the Nili and Friends water tank!!  :)

The kids having lunch - rice and fish soup with veggies

My very first dress!!

Kruit's new outfit!!

Hey dudes!!

And another BIG thank you to NCJW for the money for the new clothes...

:)

Our New Year’s Eve party at the 5-6pm class was also a huge hit – this is the class with 60+ students, so you can imagine the excitement and noise level... Lots of laughter and smiles – which is what it’s all about!!

Standing-room-only at the doorway...

Passing-the-parcel with on-lookers from outside...

Cute bunny... :)

A treat for everyone and lots of smiles..

And as if we weren’t partied-out by now, we took Savong and his family and teachers to the Pyramid (entertainment complex) for dinner and karaoke... Well, it was New Year’s eve after all... That REALLY sealed the day for us – and was a real treat for Savong, Aneed, Vissa, Sunna (Savong’s wife and daughters), Seyha, Chom Rong (2 of the older orphans) and the teachers – Sapphir, Kimhey and Sala.

Dinner with Savong and the team

Some New Year's traditions are the same all over the world...

Savong and I getting stuck into Heal the World...

Chom Rong belting out a love song... Aneed and Sala lapping it up... :)

A picture says a thousand words... :))

Savong and Aneed finishing-off  the night  with a duette... They sure love their karaoke... :)))

New Year’s day was an early one for us – we took the bus to Phnom Penh – about a 5 hour bus ride... One of those you hear about or see on adventure shows... Speeds of over 100km/hr, sudden breaking, cows on the road... Figured we’ll forgo the $80 plane ride for the $10 bus ticket and be ‘locals’... It was a bumpy ride (some serious roadwork needed in rural Cambodia), but with the money we saved we’ll throw a ‘going-away party’ at the orphanage – with ‘catering’, music, local monks’ blessings – the full shebang... We’ve arranged that for January 13 – so stay tuned... :)

Mich and Jess are flying-in tomorrow morning, along with Sharon and Emma (Mich’s sister and niece) – and a surprise guest!! Since Steph is asleep in the bed next to me and is unlikely to check the blog ahead of us going to the airport – I can tell you that Alex, who was in Cambodia with us in August, is coming with Mich and Jess. She’s been DESPERATE to come and her parents gave her the surprise airline ticket as a Christmas present on Christmas day!! (You’re pretty cool Mary and Johhny:)). Steph and Alex have been face-booking, emailing and SMSing for weeks about how Alex REALLY wanted to come back with us – and Alex got her wish a week ago and has done a great job in keeping-up appearances with Steph, who has no idea Alex is on the plane as I’m writing this Post!!

Stay-tuned for the pics tomorrow!!

For the next week we will be touring Phnom Penh (the Capital) and Sihanoukville (beach-side resort), before returning to the school and orphanage for our last week...

Wishing you all a LOVING, HEALTHY AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!