(post written October 14)
I'm in my permanent site now, but I didn't get a chance to post this last post until now, and I haven't had enough time to write another legitimate post actually about my permanent site now that I'm here. I am safe and sound, though, and everything here seems like it's going pretty well. And for those of you hanging in suspense, I did get the rest of my speech written before the big swear-in day, and it went as smoothly as possible for someone who doesn't love love love giving speeches. They had some kind of cool fruit at the reception, too, whose name I can't remember now for the life of me but that looked kinda like a fig on the outside but then on the inside had lychee-textured white flesh. And the skin kinda left a latex-ey residue. Anyone know the name? At all?
Before coming to my permanent site, I went to Phnom Penh for one night, which was nice, since I got to spend time with the people I really like from my training village before we went our separate ways to different provinces and entered three-month provincial lock-down. I also ate mint chocolate chip gelato and pizza while there. Delicious.
Anyway, back at the ranch, my host family is warming up to me day by day, and they are even starting to understand my passion for vegetables. My host mom and friends from my training village still call pretty frequently, and I am starting to make new friends in this community. When you come visit (BECAUSE I KNOW YOU WILL), you can meet all of them.
After arriving here the 5th, I went with my school director the following day to our provincial town, where I bought a battery so that I can charge my phone, etc. here in my house (as my district does not have electricity). I didn't get to explore much, but it was nice to see it, even just for a little bit. I plan to go next weekend again so that I can pick up a package that I have waiting for me there (my address is going to be the same, it seems, for all time, and Peace Corps in Phnom Penh will ship stuff to our provincial capital about once a month. Send me mail! Send me packages! If you don't have my address here, you can email me, and I'll tell you!). It's apparently a really beautiful town, and there are a few Western restaurants, one of which serves apple pie. So I know where to go if I get any intense cravings.
Here in my permanent site I have come to realize the joys of living in a super tiny town, mainly legitimately being able to know basically everyone and having some of the most gorgeous scenery I've ever seen in my life--huge expanses of green rice fields dotted with palm trees and accented by stone mountains in the background. I'll take some pictures one of these days and post them so you can see what I'm talking about. I'll also take some of my living space, which is all decorated and organized, now that I bought some bamboo bookshelves last Sunday in the town of a fellow volunteer located about 14k from where I am. Woo! It is pretty homey now, which is nice.
Observation of classes at the high school here is going well, too; I sincerely think I am going to enjoy working with the English teachers here, and I think the administration seems very competent and effective. I look forward to actually setting up my schedule and getting started with teaching next month!
Ok, it's late here, and I'm going to get up at 4:30 tomorrow to bike early to a town 17k away that has internet, so I'm going to go on and stop this post now. Sorry I haven't posted in so long! I will make every effort to impose some sort of regularity on them from now on.
Friday, October 17, 2008
long-awaited wellness post (written oct 4)
Soooo, I'm better now, officially, as evidenced by my most recent blood test, which came out normal, despite it's having been taken the day after a night of birthday festivities. And now, for more fun and exciting things!
Since the last time I posted, a lot has gone on. I found out the location of my permanent site before I left Thailand; then, once I got back to Cambodia, I went on a shortened site visit because of being sick (4 hours to get there, 4 hours there having lunch and hanging out with my family, my future co-teacher, and the school director, and 4 hours to get back to Phnom Penh). I'm going to be living with a couple and their two small daughters in a small town in the southern part of Cambodia.
My future 'Bong Praw' (big brother) is about 35 or so and is an elementary school teacher, and his wife, my 'Bong Sarai' (big sister), is 25 and as far as I know currently is not working in order to spend more time with the kids, who are 7 and 1. They all live together on the first floor of my future home, and they are giving me the entire second floor (a closed room, a porch, and an inside common area) to have as my personal space. When I went to visit it seemed like a pretty sweet set-up, especially concerning the fact that it's way breezier there than in my training site.
My future co-teacher is a woman about 30 years old who has been teaching for about ten years. She speaks English quite well, and seems to be a friendly person in general. I look forward to working with her and getting to know her better...starting OCTOBER 5 WOOOO when I arrive there.
After my mini-visit to my permanent site, everyone else came back from their normal 4-day site visits, and we all met up in Phnom Penh. We did a really fun scavenger hunt in teams by permanent site provinces that led us all around the city to find the places where we can buy all sorts of stuff that we might miss or need while in-country, and my provincial team won wooo! Currently, the Phnom Penh staff owes us one (1) pizza party redeemable whenever.
Once we did all that good stuff, it was back to our training villages for our last few weeks before moving to our permanent sites. During that time, I celebrated my birthday, the Cambodian holiday P'chum Ben, and Rosh Hashanah.
We did my birthday up big at my house, with like 5 extra people helping make num koum s'nol doung, these super delicious little dessert ball things that you make with fresh shredded coconut, sugar, and some roasted peanuts and sesame seeds encased inside sticky rice powder dough and folded into a pyramid shape into individual portions in banana leaves. I should have taken pictures, but I didn't. I'll try to get some num koum on camera at some point. I did receive birthday presents from a bunch of the Khmer people I invited, including two pairs of super sweet hawaiian pants/shorts. You can see them above if I can get the slow internet here to let me load the photos of them.
For P'chum Ben, I went to several different wats with my mom several different days, as we got time off from studying Khmer because our teachers had time off to go home to their families to celebrate it. At the wats, we did a number of things, from giving money to the monks and receiving a blessing to plopping spoonfuls of rice into special beautiful pots to listening to meditation to repeating the things the monks said to (this was a special honor) passing around the collection pot for everyone to give money to the wat. My host mom also gave me things to give to the other Yays (the women who are a little older and either live at the wat or go there every day--the more observant ones observe basically the same rules as the monks except the one about carrying money--I'll tell you all about those rules another time.), all of whom gave me lots of blessings. So my karma is in really good shape right now, hopefully--cayna hara.
For Rosh Hashanah, the celebrations were a little more low-key--I got some apples and asian pears and pomegranate from the market (my BFF fruit seller actually gifted them to me), and my mom hooked me up with some apparently super-pure honey bought from one of the Yays. It was more watery than the honey I'm used to, but I think it will bring everyone who had some a sweet year all the same.
While all the festivities were going on, a lot of people came into town to stay at my mom's house--some of her cousins' kids. They seemed pretty nice, and I went to visit the Boribo creek again with them. Having them in town made it easier to leave my mom all alone in the house, because at least she wasn't going to be alone right when I left. Even so, the morning of the 1st we both cried a bunch when she and the other family peeps dropped me off at the restaurant by the market where we were going to catch the taxi-van. It was intense. But it did result in an amazing photo in which you see both of our chromas (the multi-purpose checkered cloths that people use for everything from male loincloths to drying your hair). Check it out after I upload it! It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, but especially to my mom and to Sutjeeah. I will miss them a lot when I'm in Kampot having to build new relationships.
Right now I need to stop writing, because tomorrow we have our official swearing-in ceremony, and I still haven't finished writing the part of the speech that I have to give. Whoops.
Since the last time I posted, a lot has gone on. I found out the location of my permanent site before I left Thailand; then, once I got back to Cambodia, I went on a shortened site visit because of being sick (4 hours to get there, 4 hours there having lunch and hanging out with my family, my future co-teacher, and the school director, and 4 hours to get back to Phnom Penh). I'm going to be living with a couple and their two small daughters in a small town in the southern part of Cambodia.
My future 'Bong Praw' (big brother) is about 35 or so and is an elementary school teacher, and his wife, my 'Bong Sarai' (big sister), is 25 and as far as I know currently is not working in order to spend more time with the kids, who are 7 and 1. They all live together on the first floor of my future home, and they are giving me the entire second floor (a closed room, a porch, and an inside common area) to have as my personal space. When I went to visit it seemed like a pretty sweet set-up, especially concerning the fact that it's way breezier there than in my training site.
My future co-teacher is a woman about 30 years old who has been teaching for about ten years. She speaks English quite well, and seems to be a friendly person in general. I look forward to working with her and getting to know her better...starting OCTOBER 5 WOOOO when I arrive there.
After my mini-visit to my permanent site, everyone else came back from their normal 4-day site visits, and we all met up in Phnom Penh. We did a really fun scavenger hunt in teams by permanent site provinces that led us all around the city to find the places where we can buy all sorts of stuff that we might miss or need while in-country, and my provincial team won wooo! Currently, the Phnom Penh staff owes us one (1) pizza party redeemable whenever.
Once we did all that good stuff, it was back to our training villages for our last few weeks before moving to our permanent sites. During that time, I celebrated my birthday, the Cambodian holiday P'chum Ben, and Rosh Hashanah.
We did my birthday up big at my house, with like 5 extra people helping make num koum s'nol doung, these super delicious little dessert ball things that you make with fresh shredded coconut, sugar, and some roasted peanuts and sesame seeds encased inside sticky rice powder dough and folded into a pyramid shape into individual portions in banana leaves. I should have taken pictures, but I didn't. I'll try to get some num koum on camera at some point. I did receive birthday presents from a bunch of the Khmer people I invited, including two pairs of super sweet hawaiian pants/shorts. You can see them above if I can get the slow internet here to let me load the photos of them.
For P'chum Ben, I went to several different wats with my mom several different days, as we got time off from studying Khmer because our teachers had time off to go home to their families to celebrate it. At the wats, we did a number of things, from giving money to the monks and receiving a blessing to plopping spoonfuls of rice into special beautiful pots to listening to meditation to repeating the things the monks said to (this was a special honor) passing around the collection pot for everyone to give money to the wat. My host mom also gave me things to give to the other Yays (the women who are a little older and either live at the wat or go there every day--the more observant ones observe basically the same rules as the monks except the one about carrying money--I'll tell you all about those rules another time.), all of whom gave me lots of blessings. So my karma is in really good shape right now, hopefully--cayna hara.
For Rosh Hashanah, the celebrations were a little more low-key--I got some apples and asian pears and pomegranate from the market (my BFF fruit seller actually gifted them to me), and my mom hooked me up with some apparently super-pure honey bought from one of the Yays. It was more watery than the honey I'm used to, but I think it will bring everyone who had some a sweet year all the same.
While all the festivities were going on, a lot of people came into town to stay at my mom's house--some of her cousins' kids. They seemed pretty nice, and I went to visit the Boribo creek again with them. Having them in town made it easier to leave my mom all alone in the house, because at least she wasn't going to be alone right when I left. Even so, the morning of the 1st we both cried a bunch when she and the other family peeps dropped me off at the restaurant by the market where we were going to catch the taxi-van. It was intense. But it did result in an amazing photo in which you see both of our chromas (the multi-purpose checkered cloths that people use for everything from male loincloths to drying your hair). Check it out after I upload it! It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, but especially to my mom and to Sutjeeah. I will miss them a lot when I'm in Kampot having to build new relationships.
Right now I need to stop writing, because tomorrow we have our official swearing-in ceremony, and I still haven't finished writing the part of the speech that I have to give. Whoops.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
my life with dengue, or, BLEEDING PRECAUTION
Sooooo, I have dengue. Some of you may already know this, but for those of you who don't, I just want to update you now that I'm getting better so that you can be less worried...and so you can learn about the oh-so-many wonders of this delightful disease!
Day 1--> 28 Aug. 2008-Thursday
So, I came down with dengue at about 5:30 pm, when I thought I had a migraine and was just really tired. This was right after I had been over at Sutjeeah's house visiting with people, and I thought I had just gotten worn out. I took an excedrin migraine and texted Linda, the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO) to let her know. Then I ate a little dinner, after which I started feeling worse and worse. At that point I just went to bed. Linda called back at about 9 or so, and I took my temp then. It was 103.something, so she told me to take tylenol every four hours and that she would call in the morning.
Day 2--> 29 Aug. 2008-Friday
I woke up still feeling crappy--now with joint pain and muscle aches, talked to Linda, and then proceeded to chill out in the upstairs hammock for a couple of hours, at which point a PC staff member showed up to help me get a taxi from the taxi stand in town to get to the Hub Site. Once I made it through the hour-long bumpy, loudly-musicked trip to the Hub Site, I got in a rental car with two more PC staff members who were headed to Phnom Penh and took me along for the ride. At this point I still have a headache and body ache. Once I arrived, the Medical Assistant took my vital signs and some blood and let me lie down in the medical office. He also tried to get me to eat a little, after which I threw up in a trash can. Eventually, he dropped me off at a hotel, and I went to sleep for hours. At night, Michael and Emily went out to eat and brought me back some soup, which was really nice of them since I was in no shape to move around.
Day 3--> 30 Aug. 2008-Saturday
I basically slept all day and continued to be in pain. It made it hard for me to sleep sometimes because my legs hurt so much. This was apparently the bonebreak fever portion of my dengue fever. Linda informed me that my test had come back negative for dengue, which made it a super secret super painful mystery tropical fever. Luckily, it turned out that was just because the blood sample was just taken really early on in the course of the disease. I also still had like zero desire to eat anything.
Day 4--> 31 Aug. 2008-Sunday
I felt a lot better Sunday afternoon, enough to walk around a little bit, watch a weird movie with Emily and Michael in Michael's room, and actually venture out with them to go out to eat dinner. However, after eating my huge banana pancake, I felt super nauseous at night.
Day 5--> 1 Sept. 2008-Monday
In the morning, more blood was taken from me, and then it turned out that it wasn't enough blood to do the new dengue test, so I had to go to the Medical Office to get more blood taken. I felt really, really bad and nauseous again. My platelets came back really low, so I went with Linda and Katie (who was also sick) to the hospital in PP to be checked in there. It was a pretty sweet facility. They gave us shampoo that smelled really good.
Day 6--> 2 Sept. 2008-Tuesday
In the morning, my platelets were down even more, so they decided to send me to the hospital in Thailand. John, the Cambodia PC Country Director, went with me there, which was really nice, because I didn't have to negotiate things like taxi fare, etc. We had to wait a really long time in the waiting area in the hospital in Bangkok, but I made it in the hotel, and he peaced out and went back to Cambodia. They put a sign up behind my bed in all caps on 8.5 x 11 computer paper that just says: BLEEDING PRECAUTION. Awesome. They also put a catheter in my arm.
Day 7--> 1 Sept. 2008-Wednesday
My platelets continued to go down to an all-time low of 43,000 (normal is 150,000-450,000), but I did get wireless internet in the hospital, which is why I am able to write you right now! Also, a nice current PCV in China (who was also medically evacuated) came by and chatted with me for a while, which was really nice.
Day 8--> 1 Sept. 2008-Thursday
My platelets started to go back up (54,000), but I got all rashy and was super tired with a headache all day. At least they gave me an antihistamine to help the itchiness! I finally convinced them to let me take the catheter out, since they weren't using it for anything, and my platelets were on the up and up.
Day 9--> 1 Sept. 2008-Friday
My platelets were up enough this morning (108,000) that I get to go back to Cambodia! I'm leaving the hospital at 2:00 and leaving Thailand at 5:30! I still have pain behind my eyes, fatigue, headache, a rash, etc., but it's apparently part of the recovery process. I should be as good as new in a few weeks!
Day 1--> 28 Aug. 2008-Thursday
So, I came down with dengue at about 5:30 pm, when I thought I had a migraine and was just really tired. This was right after I had been over at Sutjeeah's house visiting with people, and I thought I had just gotten worn out. I took an excedrin migraine and texted Linda, the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO) to let her know. Then I ate a little dinner, after which I started feeling worse and worse. At that point I just went to bed. Linda called back at about 9 or so, and I took my temp then. It was 103.something, so she told me to take tylenol every four hours and that she would call in the morning.
Day 2--> 29 Aug. 2008-Friday
I woke up still feeling crappy--now with joint pain and muscle aches, talked to Linda, and then proceeded to chill out in the upstairs hammock for a couple of hours, at which point a PC staff member showed up to help me get a taxi from the taxi stand in town to get to the Hub Site. Once I made it through the hour-long bumpy, loudly-musicked trip to the Hub Site, I got in a rental car with two more PC staff members who were headed to Phnom Penh and took me along for the ride. At this point I still have a headache and body ache. Once I arrived, the Medical Assistant took my vital signs and some blood and let me lie down in the medical office. He also tried to get me to eat a little, after which I threw up in a trash can. Eventually, he dropped me off at a hotel, and I went to sleep for hours. At night, Michael and Emily went out to eat and brought me back some soup, which was really nice of them since I was in no shape to move around.
Day 3--> 30 Aug. 2008-Saturday
I basically slept all day and continued to be in pain. It made it hard for me to sleep sometimes because my legs hurt so much. This was apparently the bonebreak fever portion of my dengue fever. Linda informed me that my test had come back negative for dengue, which made it a super secret super painful mystery tropical fever. Luckily, it turned out that was just because the blood sample was just taken really early on in the course of the disease. I also still had like zero desire to eat anything.
Day 4--> 31 Aug. 2008-Sunday
I felt a lot better Sunday afternoon, enough to walk around a little bit, watch a weird movie with Emily and Michael in Michael's room, and actually venture out with them to go out to eat dinner. However, after eating my huge banana pancake, I felt super nauseous at night.
Day 5--> 1 Sept. 2008-Monday
In the morning, more blood was taken from me, and then it turned out that it wasn't enough blood to do the new dengue test, so I had to go to the Medical Office to get more blood taken. I felt really, really bad and nauseous again. My platelets came back really low, so I went with Linda and Katie (who was also sick) to the hospital in PP to be checked in there. It was a pretty sweet facility. They gave us shampoo that smelled really good.
Day 6--> 2 Sept. 2008-Tuesday
In the morning, my platelets were down even more, so they decided to send me to the hospital in Thailand. John, the Cambodia PC Country Director, went with me there, which was really nice, because I didn't have to negotiate things like taxi fare, etc. We had to wait a really long time in the waiting area in the hospital in Bangkok, but I made it in the hotel, and he peaced out and went back to Cambodia. They put a sign up behind my bed in all caps on 8.5 x 11 computer paper that just says: BLEEDING PRECAUTION. Awesome. They also put a catheter in my arm.
Day 7--> 1 Sept. 2008-Wednesday
My platelets continued to go down to an all-time low of 43,000 (normal is 150,000-450,000), but I did get wireless internet in the hospital, which is why I am able to write you right now! Also, a nice current PCV in China (who was also medically evacuated) came by and chatted with me for a while, which was really nice.
Day 8--> 1 Sept. 2008-Thursday
My platelets started to go back up (54,000), but I got all rashy and was super tired with a headache all day. At least they gave me an antihistamine to help the itchiness! I finally convinced them to let me take the catheter out, since they weren't using it for anything, and my platelets were on the up and up.
Day 9--> 1 Sept. 2008-Friday
My platelets were up enough this morning (108,000) that I get to go back to Cambodia! I'm leaving the hospital at 2:00 and leaving Thailand at 5:30! I still have pain behind my eyes, fatigue, headache, a rash, etc., but it's apparently part of the recovery process. I should be as good as new in a few weeks!
basic everyday life in cambodia
My house!
My bike--random Merida brand and all
My backyard--these are all fruit or vegetable plants...mmm
The outside cooking area where all the magic happens
The table/bed where we sit to eat, as well as the inside-cooking area where things are stored when we're not home or asleep
The under-the-house hammock area for afternoon naps
My washing machine!
My dryer!
Some of our basins that catch rainwater for all our water needs
The stairs to the upstairs part of the house
Right when you get up to the upstairs, we have another hammock on the porch
The little side-porch area
My mom's room (left) and the curtain into my room (right). We can talk to each other from our beds!
Peeping into my room
A closer view of my room
The view from my window
My sarongs, all laid out on my bed
The basin from which we get water to rinse off after using the bathroom
Squatty-potty!
The basin from which we get water for showering (it comes from rain through a pipe from the roof)
Little mirror area!
The view from my window
My sarongs, all laid out on my bed
The basin from which we get water to rinse off after using the bathroom
Squatty-potty!
The basin from which we get water for showering (it comes from rain through a pipe from the roof)
Little mirror area!A Practicum, a Picnic, and a Package
In my town, things are going well. I like my host mom more and more every day, I've been making more friends in the community, and the 'Practicum' we did went quite well. What is a 'Practicum,' you ask? Well, it is one of the many words, like 'competency' [used to mean lesson], that Peace Corps likes to throw around, like Columbia (aka 'Hispanic Studies' instead of 'Spanish'), to make things, in my opinion, sound fancy.
Anyway, our Practicum was a series of practice-teaching days. For the first week, we taught alone for 45 minutes, in addition to watching two of our peers teach in the same room to the same students. We exchanged feedback, and we also got feedback from either one of the staff members who observed or from one of the Volunteers from the first group of PC people in Cambodia (They are K1; we are K2. Peace Corps super loves acronyms.) Total we taught alone for 5 days, Monday through Friday. Then we had a week off from teaching. Then we taught for two days, this time jointly with a Cambodian teacher from the town. The teacher with whom the people in my classroom taught was really awesome and flexible, so it was really nice to work with him.
Tuesday, after the kids had completed all 7 days of their learning-with-Americans, we presented them with snazzy Peace Corps certificates. Here is a photo from that ceremony:
Richard, Janice, the Cambodian teacher, and I passing out certificates to the kids and shaking their hands!
Other than that, we've been working on techniques to train other teachers at the schools where we will be working, etc.
When we go on bike rides, the views are gooooorgeous.
It's about an hour-long ride, but the water there is cool and nice, even with the tons and tons of kids there splashing you and hanging out. As I was leaving to go back to town with Greg (I wanted to go to the Wat with my mom to meditate, and he had promised some kids he would teach them English for a little bit.), some of Robert's older aunts started dancing with him, so that was pretty interesting, too...And the food was, of course, tasty.
Robert with Socheata, one of the language instructors.
Oh! And I got a really sweet package from Mimi last week, and all my friends in the community thought the drawing of her dreaming about seeing me on the side was just utterly hilarious. I wish I had a picture of it to show you, but that same night I came down with dengue and was shipped off, so I never got a chance to take a picture of it. (For more on dengue, see my next post.) I also let a bunch of my friends try a little of the peanut butter; they were all pretty intrigued.
One last thing! I know to which province I'm going to be going now for the next two years, although I don't know the town or anything yet because I'm still in Thailand. I'm not going to post it on this blog, but if you want to know which province, just ask me via email!
Thanks for reading! I'll try to be better about taking more pictures!!!
Anyway, our Practicum was a series of practice-teaching days. For the first week, we taught alone for 45 minutes, in addition to watching two of our peers teach in the same room to the same students. We exchanged feedback, and we also got feedback from either one of the staff members who observed or from one of the Volunteers from the first group of PC people in Cambodia (They are K1; we are K2. Peace Corps super loves acronyms.) Total we taught alone for 5 days, Monday through Friday. Then we had a week off from teaching. Then we taught for two days, this time jointly with a Cambodian teacher from the town. The teacher with whom the people in my classroom taught was really awesome and flexible, so it was really nice to work with him.
Tuesday, after the kids had completed all 7 days of their learning-with-Americans, we presented them with snazzy Peace Corps certificates. Here is a photo from that ceremony:
Richard, Janice, the Cambodian teacher, and I passing out certificates to the kids and shaking their hands!
Other than that, we've been working on techniques to train other teachers at the schools where we will be working, etc.
In terms of personally, everything is still going well. On my last free day, Robert, Bri, Greg, and I went to 'Sand Mountain' to attend a picnic party held by Robert's mom. We biked there---all the locals rode motos or random motorized cart things packed to the brim. Here are some photos of the road there/our trip there:
Yup. This is just typical side-of-the-road fare.
Yup. This is just typical side-of-the-road fare.
When we go on bike rides, the views are gooooorgeous.
Robert and Greg (from L to R) posing for the camera with their chroma bat-wing sun protection outfits. 
Bri, camera-shy, getting some stuff (probably sunscreen) out of her bag.
The road back to town behind us!
The road back to town behind us!
The road in front of us to the swimming hole!
It's about an hour-long ride, but the water there is cool and nice, even with the tons and tons of kids there splashing you and hanging out. As I was leaving to go back to town with Greg (I wanted to go to the Wat with my mom to meditate, and he had promised some kids he would teach them English for a little bit.), some of Robert's older aunts started dancing with him, so that was pretty interesting, too...And the food was, of course, tasty.
Bri and I during the picnic portion of the afternoon.
Greg picnicking with his Khmer 'older brother' and 'older sister.' He told us he didn't smile in anticipation of their not smiling. They have the CUTEST little girl. But she's too afraid of me to talk to me.
Robert with Socheata, one of the language instructors.Oh! And I got a really sweet package from Mimi last week, and all my friends in the community thought the drawing of her dreaming about seeing me on the side was just utterly hilarious. I wish I had a picture of it to show you, but that same night I came down with dengue and was shipped off, so I never got a chance to take a picture of it. (For more on dengue, see my next post.) I also let a bunch of my friends try a little of the peanut butter; they were all pretty intrigued.
One last thing! I know to which province I'm going to be going now for the next two years, although I don't know the town or anything yet because I'm still in Thailand. I'm not going to post it on this blog, but if you want to know which province, just ask me via email!
Thanks for reading! I'll try to be better about taking more pictures!!!
Monday, August 18, 2008
a free day's pleasures
Life in Cambodia is good. We’ve been in the training village for over a week since my last post; during that time I taught English for 45 minutes for 5 days (with my own lesson plans) to students in the community, and continued building relationships in the community. Today is Sunday (I’m going to the Hub Site main town tomorrow and will get internet then.), so we didn’t have language class or any work or anything at all. I still got up at 5 AM, though! (Yes, if you know me well, you can insert your surprise here.)
I got up so early because I wanted to wash a buuuuunch of clothes before going to breakfast (I got these ‘khmer cakes’ which are actually basically waffles made with a waffle iron over an open fire with a batter made of coconut milk and flour and peppered with seeds that look like black sesame seeds but don’t taste like them at all.) and playing soccer with a few of the other Peace Corps Trainees (we’re not ‘Volunteers’ until after swear-in), several of our Language and Cultural Facilitators, and a bunch of the kids we’ve been teaching English. After that, I got water, went home, had lunch, did a little more laundry, and then went on a bike ride to a swimming hole with a bunch of trainees (There were kids from our English classes there, too.). After that, I went to my friend Sutjeeah’s house and then to her sister (who is incidentally one of the other trainees’ host parent)’s house to have a bite to eat. Then I came home, took my clothes off the clothesline, and had my actual dinner. It was a loooong day, but a good one.
Sutjeeah lives close to me and is really nice. She likes to talk a lot, and she is friendly and pleasant. She has a daughter who’s 17 named Chantrea; this upcoming week after I get back from the Hub Site I’m planning on teaching her and a few other kids English for a few days.
Both Sutjeeah and her sister work in the market here; Sutjeeah sells vegetables, and her sister sells coconuts. I always make sure to visit Sutjeeah when I go to the market and fill her in on stuff/at least say hi.
Oh, speaking of the market slash Sutjeeah, since I last posted I have been invited to eat meals at three houses other than my home: my Poo (uncle) Lai’s house with his family [We had frog as one of the options. It was pretty darn delicious.], a neighbor’s house with my mom [There were like 50 bazillion people there, and it was only lunchtime.] and Sutjeeah’s house [I went there for the special dinner they had Friday night for a Chinese holiday in honor of dead ancestors. I brought my Shabbos stuff with me and did the prayers there.] It’s really nice to be invited to other people’s houses because of the visiting/making connections factor, as deliiiiiicious as my food is at home [My host mom always makes tooonnns of vegetables for me.]
My back and neck are sore from all the exercise I did today, so I don’t want to write that much more. But I will definitely make sure I get to post more pictures when I post.
Ooh hey! In case you don’t know this and have been trying to call me, I never have my American phone with me during the day, and when people do call it only shows up as having received a call from either ‘007’ ‘008’ or something like ‘7017’. So, instead of calling my American phone, try texting me on it, and then I’ll tell you my Cambodian cell number and you can call that one if you really want to talk. (I think it’s cheaper for both of us that way, too,)
I got up so early because I wanted to wash a buuuuunch of clothes before going to breakfast (I got these ‘khmer cakes’ which are actually basically waffles made with a waffle iron over an open fire with a batter made of coconut milk and flour and peppered with seeds that look like black sesame seeds but don’t taste like them at all.) and playing soccer with a few of the other Peace Corps Trainees (we’re not ‘Volunteers’ until after swear-in), several of our Language and Cultural Facilitators, and a bunch of the kids we’ve been teaching English. After that, I got water, went home, had lunch, did a little more laundry, and then went on a bike ride to a swimming hole with a bunch of trainees (There were kids from our English classes there, too.). After that, I went to my friend Sutjeeah’s house and then to her sister (who is incidentally one of the other trainees’ host parent)’s house to have a bite to eat. Then I came home, took my clothes off the clothesline, and had my actual dinner. It was a loooong day, but a good one.
Sutjeeah lives close to me and is really nice. She likes to talk a lot, and she is friendly and pleasant. She has a daughter who’s 17 named Chantrea; this upcoming week after I get back from the Hub Site I’m planning on teaching her and a few other kids English for a few days.
Both Sutjeeah and her sister work in the market here; Sutjeeah sells vegetables, and her sister sells coconuts. I always make sure to visit Sutjeeah when I go to the market and fill her in on stuff/at least say hi.
Oh, speaking of the market slash Sutjeeah, since I last posted I have been invited to eat meals at three houses other than my home: my Poo (uncle) Lai’s house with his family [We had frog as one of the options. It was pretty darn delicious.], a neighbor’s house with my mom [There were like 50 bazillion people there, and it was only lunchtime.] and Sutjeeah’s house [I went there for the special dinner they had Friday night for a Chinese holiday in honor of dead ancestors. I brought my Shabbos stuff with me and did the prayers there.] It’s really nice to be invited to other people’s houses because of the visiting/making connections factor, as deliiiiiicious as my food is at home [My host mom always makes tooonnns of vegetables for me.]
My back and neck are sore from all the exercise I did today, so I don’t want to write that much more. But I will definitely make sure I get to post more pictures when I post.
Ooh hey! In case you don’t know this and have been trying to call me, I never have my American phone with me during the day, and when people do call it only shows up as having received a call from either ‘007’ ‘008’ or something like ‘7017’. So, instead of calling my American phone, try texting me on it, and then I’ll tell you my Cambodian cell number and you can call that one if you really want to talk. (I think it’s cheaper for both of us that way, too,)
more photos!
This is a photo of me with some of the students I teach from when we were swimming at the water hole!
Some water buffalo. There are a TON of them in my town.
I tried to get into a photo with a baby water buffalo, but she was totally freaked out. I'm still kindaaaa in the photo with her!
This is from one of our language lessons. These are some of the feet of some of the other trainees.
Another picture from the water hole!
This is my house. It turns out the only people in it are my mom and I; the 'aunt' and her grandson are actually from Phnom Penh, and they went back last week!
This is from my district town---there's a crazy restaurant here with crocodiles in the back where you can go look at them. But then you have to pay them half a quarter.
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