in cambodia, i am!

soooo, i finally got access to the internet today, but it's apparently super flaky because of the rain, so i am going to try to be quick. right now i'm in a provincial town (i'm not supposed to divulge my exact location!) where we've been having training for about a week. yesterday (sunday) was election day, so they wanted to keep tabs on us until afterwards to make sure that things didn't get too crazy. everything was cool and calm, so we'll move in with our host families wednesday.

the language is really cool and really fun, and i'm having a good time with it. the people are friendly and happy to practice the language; they seem to be excited that it interests us. they smile a lot!

the climate here is hot and muggy, like utica mississippi in the summer, but with no air conditioning at all, not even in the dining hall. i'm glad my southern upbringing prepared me for it; some of the others in the group (there are 36 total) are from more northern climes and are struggling with the heat. the best part of the day, in my mind, (as in utica/memphis) is the delightful hour or so of rain followed by a less-humid, fresh moistness in the air. there have been lots of rainbows, and the days are filled with sunshine. i'll post some photos when i get the chance to take my laptop or my flash drive to an internet place.

today we went to the market, and i did my first little bit of bargaining in khmai, which was pretty fun. i got a sarong made (turns out this is the part of the world in which they call them sarongs) and taught one of our LCFs (language and cultural facilitators) how to tie them the way i always tie my pareo. cross-cultural exchange, booyeah!

i'm excited about my work! it should be challenging, but pleasantly so. apparently, there will be a time coming when i get frustrated with my community and host family, etc. but it has yet to come, so i'm just cruising along and enjoying myself.

wish me luck with the host family...apparently girls get locked in for the night at like 6 or 7 pm while boys head to karaoke bars to pick up prostitutes...




ps the food is tasty! i haven't had any lychees here yet, but let me tell you, the rambutans and dragonfruit here are DELICIOUS. and there's this really tasty garlicky stir-fry of morning glory greens that's also reallllllly good. i'll definitely take some pictures of that kind of stuff soon.

At Staging

It's late, I'm sleepy, and we have to get up early in the morning, so I'm not going to write much right now, but WOO! I'm in San Francisco at Staging, and so far (besides getting here late), everything is going really well. It was tough to leave Memphis in the end for a lot of reasons, but I'm excited for my new adventure with the Peace Corps to begin. I'll try to write more tomorrow; for now, I need to send an email out with contact info and stuff.