PIO’s a great organization. They’re not perfect, of course, but they’ve got a lot of really great things that makes them stand out from other orphanages and private schools in Phnom Penh. One of my favorites is how they bribe families to let kids come to school by offering rice at wholesale prices (in addition to giving the kids lunch).

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Happy new year! Construction on PIO’s new school building is almost complete, and so the kids are taking time out of their lessons to clean and re-paint their desks, one grade at a time, and help move things from the old school to the new. That means a fair amount of extra hustle and bustle, but it also means it’s almost too late to show you the building where I worked for three months. So…here’s another walkthrough video!

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Merry Christmas, everyone! On Friday, PIO had a Christmas party, and in the middle of all the kids dancing to club music and modern Khmer music, the special-occasion food, and the teachers kicking back during the lunch break, I got a strong sense of belonging. I’m already sad thinking about leaving everyone—students, staff, and teachers—in two months.

This week I’m going to post the second half of my “progress report” describing the classes I’ve taught. The first half talked about my time with Grade 4 and my ongoing semi-formal class with the teachers; this time I’ll talk about my secondary school class and my “real” class, Grade 6.

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