School Term Begins in Cambodia - Alexandra's 5 weeks in Siem Reap

I have always been an avid scholar, and have always felt a seemingly unusual affinity towards the prospect of learning new things and befriending new people. Instead of dreading attending school every day and coming home even more half-cast than leaving, I was always the one who came home bursting with stories no-one truly cared for (which I told everyone anyway). Now, with my position somewhat reversed - me being the teacher instead of the student, I still feel the same way. My initial fear of teaching a class of students who neither understand the majority of my language, or have little background knowledge of it has been replaced by excitement at the prospect of seeing all of my students again each morning.
With the school term now officially begun (on October 2nd), more and more students are attending the morning classes at SHCC, and the Sangkheum girls have finally started their proper lessons. Alana and Beckett have been kept busy (as usual) at Jay's school with the constant stream of developmental plans they were encouraged to work on. Along with the website they've been creating, the excessive flooding at the school, the extraordinary amount of cleaning they have had to do and the arrival of Jay only days away now, they've been working extremely hard over the last few weeks to get to where they are now. However, a variety of sicknesses and ailments have got everyone here dropping like flies - from infected cuts to dengue fever, someone's had it. I suppose it will all make for interesting stories in the long run though, and everyone seems to be taking it in their stride.
After over five weeks of being in Cambodia, I feel I haven't properly expressed the brilliance which this country is bursting with. Our weekend trips are constantly filled with everyone's child-like awe at the surrounding beauty of this wholly foreign and completely new country, along with the rich excitement which can only come from the exploration of new places and situations. From attending a pre-dawn Buddhist ceremony at 4am, to visiting the floating village and floating forest, to once again hopping on a multiple hour bus ride (made even longer by a burst tire along the way) to Phnom Penh, and then back to teaching in a small, poor village just outside Siem Reap, we are all really beginning to get a picture of Cambodia in it's entirety. The horrifying past of Cambodia only succeeds in making me realise how truly amazing this country is, and how exceptionally fortunate I am to be able to live in a country like Australia where our past has not been coloured by terrible genocides or extreme poverty.