Days 1-3

Lola's Diary: Thursday, June 20, 2013

After a very long day of travelling on Sunday I arrived at the volunteer house that will be my home for the next two months. I currently do not have a roomy, but there are some fabulous people living in the house. I have met a lovely lady by the name of Susan who has never travelled outside Australia before and left behind her two children and husband to volunteer at a local school for two weeks. Despite the poverty and sometimes unsavoury conditions, the local people seem to be very happy.

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I'm loving this country

Charlene's Diary: Thursday, June 20, 2013

Wow, I am having the absolute time of my life here! Besides the fact that we have hardly had running water since we arrived (so going to the bathroom is such a chore) and we always feel dirty with soot, this place is amazing. This past weekend, me and several volunteers went to a club that was so incredible..we danced all night and bonded with the local people, it was truly the most fun I've had in so long. We also went shopping in the market nearby, bought lots of cool souvenirs and I got a beautiful skirt (I bet no one is surprised by the fact I had to buy clothes lol).

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3 Days until Lift off

Octavia's Diary: Wednesday, June 19, 2013

It is currently 3 a.m. and I can not seem turn my body into shut off mode. What else can keep me up this late but the ongoing thoughts of the adventure I am preparing to embark on in t-minus three days. I am very excited to be leaving for Costa Rica this Saturday but also nervous because I am unsure what exactly awaits me. I can only hope the extensive researching I’ve done about this program will help prepare me but I know that my experience will be unique and only what I make of it.

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Second Day-Greet the kids I will be working with

Dana's Diary: Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Today Miguel walked me to where I will be working. Not a pleasant walk crossing two highways and a rotary but that's ok. Evidence of yesterday's voluminous street flooding had disappeared. The place I went to could be called an orphanage - there are only 9 kids, all boys - but most have parents. Parents who are not able to parent - I don't have any details beyond that.

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北京!

Georgia's Diary: Wednesday, June 19, 2013

I’ve been desperate to go to Beijing for most of my time here, and was hoping to meet up with some of the other volunteers from my organisation and all go together. Unfortunately, with volunteers coming and going, often staying for shorter lengths of time than me, this never worked out. So I decided instead to brave it alone, so here is a diary of my little Beijing adventure…
NB should be read with the theme tune of ‘We’re going on a bear hunt…’

Day One

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Day 4 - Orientation Part 2

Ashleigh's Diary: Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Rose early once again for breakfast at the CVF house. Was so exhausted after yesterday that apparently I snored!

9am we started the Orientation and learned some cultural does and donts, played cherades and had to guess what each one was. Interactive as well as educational. Definitely helped breakup the lecture style presrntation.

Jodie took us through what we can expect at the orphanage placements in general, as well as some teaching tips, lesson plan ideas and classroom etiquette.

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Forever wet

Kimberley's Diary: Tuesday, June 18, 2013

I arrived in Ubud on Sunday in the early evening, just in time for dinner. The place where I'm staying is a guesthouse which is surrounded by the homes of the owners and their family members. As it is custom to take your shoes off at home, upon arriving to my guesthouse I left my allstars on the steps to our porch. I share my house with 5 other girls: three from Hong Kong, one from Boston and one from Fujian.

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First day

Dana's Diary: Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Luckily I have traveled places in my life, but never before to Mexico. Since this is my first full day here and without responsibilities yet and since all is so new, I want to detail my first 21 hours. I may not be able to do this again for a while.

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Last day at placement

Stacey's Diary: Monday, June 17, 2013

I had my last day at placement today. The children sang me some songs which was really cute, I had absolutely no idea what any of them were saying so even cuter!!They presented me with some cards and lots of flowers and it was very humbling. Tomorrow they are going on an excursion to a national park as it is a public holiday for the Queens Birthday (the actual Queen of Cambodia that is) I was able to make a small donation to hopefully allow the Sister's to spoil the children a little on their day out. It was a shame I could not go along but I think they planned it last minute due to finances.

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