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Travel Blog: Our Journeys Within

Laurette's Volunteer Experience at Wat Chork

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This past February, Dr. Laurette Poulos Simmons volunteered to lead a week long ESL Workshop for the Journeys Within Our Community Language School Teachers. All 12 language school teachers attended, learning how to create dynamic powerpoint presentations and engage their students in many activities. “I was so interested in her teaching technique and how she explained the lessons to us. All the lessons were simple and easy to understand for the second language learners”, said Chorm Ley, one of Wat Thmei’s English teachers.

One of JWOC’s newest language school teachers, Sann Tola also said, “She had given us the experience that is very important for our job as English Teachers and that also we had … Read more »

Through Their Eyes – Cambodian Photo Workshop

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To get a more intimate glimpse into the lives of each of my students, I gave them a self portrait assignment. For each photo, I asked them to explain why they took it to the class the following week. Most interesting is the wide variety of photographs I have received thus far:

Biv Brom: One of the monks that live at Wat Chork reveals his comic side by taking photographs of what he sees is humorous.

Sreilin tells us about the beautiful sunrise she wakes up to: “I get up early every morning. I took this picture because I love all the colors when the sun rises: Red, Pink, Yellow, Orange and Blue.”

Sara chose to photograph her family, focusing on her siblings in particular. Her little brother stands next to the many water buffalo… Read more »

Ouch!

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Today Chris, Gavin and I went to get a Typhoid vaccine before we go on our trip. Although I’m a grown woman who has endured the pain of childbirth (well, let’s be honest I got the drugs) I still fear the doctor. In the back of my mind I kept saying, “Do I really need to go and get this shot?” And then I heard myself over and over telling guests we do recommend being up to date on your Typhoid vaccine – so the little voice in the back of my brain said ” You need to follow your own advice – silly!” So off to the doctor we went….

When I stepped inside the Travel Medicine office I was pleasantly surprised. It was as if I had walked into Andrea and Brandon’s home or the Journeys

… Read more »

Posted by?

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So you may have noticed that almost every post says “posted by aprilcole” – then you may have noticed that at in the body of the post there is a note saying “posted by Waew or Kristina or Jeab”… well,  you are very observant!

🙂

I just wanted to let you know that while we are starting out this blog I will be posting blogs for people, reading your comments (which I am very excited to do!) and forwarding on comments for specific JW staff members. Our entire staff is equally involved in writing their own blog posts and sharing their personal stories and pictures – I’m simply going to be the one entering their stories onto on the blog for them for now.

I just felt I … Read more »

Great Expectations

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I was born with an overactive planning gland. That, coupled with my acute case of perfectionism, can be a diagnosis for disaster. Especially when it comes to organizing a last-minute benefit concert in the midst of the spring album-release-avalanche/tour craze.

It all started when my roommate, Nicole, and I found out we were moving to Southeast Asia. We decided our going away party should be a fundraiser (“Rock for JWOC”), and what started as an excuse to get all of our friends together and raise money for a good cause, has evolved into something far more complicated.

We got Highline Ballroom—a music venue in Manhattan that can hold 700 people—donated for our event (thanks to Nicole’s boss). However,… Read more »