Cambodia Travels

Settling In

2009-06-08T23:02:00.000-07:00

I've been home in Cambodia now for 2 weeks so I guess it's time for an update. I arrived safely home on May 26th. I had a stark realization of how much the economic crisis has started to affect this area when only 15 people boarded my flight from Seoul. While we all enjoyed being able to spread out for the 5 hour flight and snooze, a part of me felt very sad the entire time. This flight is normally packed full of travelers and business people. The hotels, restaurants, drivers, tour guides, and souvenir shops are all starting to feel the strain as less and less people have been traveling. Everyone is tightening their belts knowing it's going to be a year or more before things start picking up again. I hope it happens faster than that, but for once I'm not optimistic.

I spent the first week home just getting re-acclimated to life in a developing country after all the comforts of the States. I was jet lagged for a few days and would almost immediately fall asleep by 6:00 pm. Thankfully that cleared up after a bit and I was back to my old self. My trusty bike had 2 flat tires after 6 weeks of no use, but I walked her out and had her patched up so we are back in business! We've been zipping around town getting things for the house, buying groceries, going to the gym, hitting the market for fruit...old friends finally reunited! :) During my first week, I was also able to meet up with my host mom, sister, and baby sister. We had a fun reunion and I had a great time sharing the gifts I'd brought back for them. My favorite purchase was Oshkosh B'Gosh overalls for the baby. She looked so cute and knew they were for her right away. She'd forgotten me while I"d been gone but after about 10 minutes, she remembered and we had a great cuddle session. My host mom was excited so see me and immediately tried giving me food...something about mothers, they always need to feed you.

The next week, I headed to down to Phnom Penh to attend the wedding of fellow Peace Corps volunteer John and his Cambodian fiance (now wife) Muoy. I met up with Peace Corps staff and volunteers in Phnom Penh and we rented a small bus to take us all out to the wedding. The wedding was in one of the most rural villages I've ever been to. We spent about 3 hours on small bumpy muddy roads and also crossed the giant Mekong river on a ferry in the middle of a storm. When we finally arrived, all the boys were kicked off the bus which was transformed into a changing room. All of the American women stepped off the bus transformed into Khmer women as we donned our traditional garb. We got lots of good-natured laughs from the locals who appreciated our effort. John and Muoy have been my partners in the navigation of cross-cultural relationships and all the good and stressful times involved. I'm excited for them as they move to Phnom Penh and start a new life together.

Yesterday my friend Sam and I went out the school where we will begin teaching in July - Jay Pritzker Academy. I picked up all my curriculum and met with my future students on more time. I'm excited about getting started with my work and being busy again. In all honesty, I'm also terrified of those 25 soon-to-be 3rd graders! I've never taught elementary school before so perusing my teaching books caused a minor panic attack. I know it's going to be a fun learning experience but a challenging one as well. The kids are adorable and so eager to learn...I hope I meet their expectations!

I still have about 3 1/2 weeks until I start working. I'm having to create new projects to keep me busy. Mainly my day revolves around a couple hours at the gym and pool, an iced tea and internet at my favorite cafe, and then home watching episodes of either Lost, Brothers & Sisters, or 30 Rock. Not much excitement in my days, but I'm storing up relaxation for when my life gets busy again. I'll updated again after school starts and hopefully post some pictures of my school...it's one of the prettiest places here.

Home....for a bit!

2009-04-26T20:48:00.001-07:00

Once again I've been a complete slacker on blogging and have a lot to update in one! I did so well for the first few months/year and then as things became less new and exciting for me, I likewise thought they would be less new and exciting for those at home and slacked.

My last post was in January. Since then I have finished Peace Corps, toured Vietnam, and arrived safely "home" to Tennessee.

Finishing up Peace Corps was hard as there were many goodbyes to be said - not only to my host family and community members but also to fellow volunteers. It was an emotional time for me as I taught my final classes, went on a last outing with some students, attendwd weddings of friends, hugged my host family, and jumped on a bus. There are so many things that I left behind that I will never be able to experience in the same way again. My hammock is now hanging empty upstairs in my host family's house, my gecko friend Charlie is busy meeting new girls, and I'm sure the spiders have comfortably settled into my now vacant room. Even when I go back to visit, it will never be the same.

After final Peace Corps farewells in Phnom Penh, I headed to Vietnam with a few buddies. Along with the normal sightseeing, we indulged in things like movie theaters that we had been without for two years! We watched Marley and Me and Bride Wars (come on...beggars can't be choosers!) and snacked on fluffy, buttery popcorn. We spent a couple days at the beach, a night on a boat, crawled through some tunnels, had clothes tailored, and generally had an amazing time just being...anonymous

Now I find myself sitting at "home" missing my home. It's a strange feeling and one I'm growing to accept as a new constant in my life. One home is always going to miss some aspect of the other. Here is my family, there is a future one. There are my new friends, here are my old. One set of parents there, one set here. It's a mix that in a weird way, I love.

Big changes have taken place in the States while I've been on the other side of the world-both general and more personally within my family (like the joyful addition of my first nephew-Jack). I'm learning to adjust to those changes while preparing myself for my own set of new adventures. I'll be in the States through May 25th at which time I will be returning to Cambodia. When I closed my service with Peace Corps, I knew I wasn't done with Cambodia and she certainly wasn't done with me. I accepted a job as a 3rd grade teacher at an NGO-run school for Cambodian children. I'm excited about starting a new life in Siem Reap town and experiencing Cambodia in a way that's a bit different from my previous 2 years there.

I hope I'll have enough time to see all of you that wish to meet up while I'm here. Please e-mail me at sarahlnorton@gmail.com and I'll do my best to make my rounds!

Wrapping things up...

2009-01-11T21:26:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the absence of blogs recently. I've sat down to write a blog several times in the past couple of months but lacked inspiration...I still don't have anything profound to say, but I decided it was definitely time to do some updating!

Christmas this year was unexpectedly one of the best Christmases I've ever had. My fellow Siem Reap volunteer, Autumn, and I met with a missionary group in town and spent time celebrating with them. We went to a church of service on Christmas Eve (complete with a children's play!), watched Christmas movies all night, made a big breakfast the next morning, watched more movies all day and then made a big turkey dinner in the evening. I had a great time smiply being with people and sharing the holiday. This will definitely be a Christmas I will always remember.

This past weekend, we had our final Close of Service Conference in Phnom Penh. It was the last time all of my group of volunteers will be together at the same time but fortunately the mood was light through most of it. We spent a lot of time simply going over the final reports we have to write, medical exams we must go through and all the other things we have to finish before we can go home. Our official close of service date is April 4th but due to all the paperwork and medical exams, Peace Corps is spreading out our final dates over a month. We will be leaving in groups of 10 or so throughout the month of March. My closing date is March 13th. I plan to travel for around 10 days in Vietnam with a friend and should be home in mid-April...whether I will be staying home or not is still a question I have yet to answer! As soon as I know, i'll let you know! :)

The next 2 months are going to busy as I have a LOT to do before I'm ready to go. Last week I packed up and organized some things in my room but still have a loooong way to go. There are couple of projects at school to wrap up including a Cambodia map we are preparing to paint. The end of February I will be back in Phnom Penh where I am presenting a paper at a TESOL conference....and then it will be packing, goodbyes, and leaving. The goodbye part of my service has crept up a lot faster than I ever anticipated! There were many days when I thought my two years were never going to end, but now here I am!

Elections

2008-11-10T22:46:00.000-08:00

It was a great feeling to fill out my absentee ballot, knowing that it would get there, be counted, and help my voice be heard....even from Cambodia. Explaining to my host family and friends that I could actually vote via mail and no one would destroy my ballot or change it was interesting. Elections here went more smoothly this past July in the past, but there were still glitches with opposition party candidates being left of ballots, assisnations...."normal" stuff for here. There have been several editorials in the newspapers here comparing the relative ease of U.S. elections compared to here...interesting to read.

I was also surprised by how much some of my friends and coworkers actually knew about the U.S. elections. I was watching a debate at home (my host family got cable!) when a cousin came over and started telling me all about Obama's and McCain's policies and why he liked Obama better. My co teachers also had their opinions about it. If the election had been left to Cambodians, Obama would have won by a landslide....left up to Americans, he still did! Sophal was excited "his man" won and there were small celebrations all over town. It's one thing to hear about the international impact of the U.S. election and another thing entirely to see and talk to people in a developing country that are depending on change as much as Americans are.

I was proud to be an American that day.....proud to know that I was particiapting in something that so many people around the world can only dream of....speaking my voice, choosing a leader, and transitioning peacefully.

New School Year

2008-11-10T22:30:00.000-08:00

School has finally gotten started agin (although we are currently on a week-long holiday)! We've been in classes for 2 or 3 weeks now and I've already had several interesting experiences...

1. Our school is in the middle of a building frenzy. We currently have 3 buildings go up so the school is a buzz with pounding, yelling, trucks rolling through, cement mixing...it's a mess! Trying to keep the student's attenion is so hard! I have to constantly pull my eyes away from the construction going on too...very distracting. I took a few pictures the other day of the construction of our new two floor building. I love watching construction work here...notice the supports, lack of safety equipment, and style of tools...

2. My students are horrible about doing homework. It's usually not their fault, however, as they have responsiblites at home and a long commute to school. 2 hours of English a week is not really sufficient for them to learn...well....anything....so I'm trying to convince them that doing homework is good. So we started a little competition between the boys and girls to see who does more homework by April. We'll see if it works...I definitely saw a lot of faces in class light up...especially among the girls. I'm rooting for them!

3. I had an interesting conversation with one of my co teachers the other morning. He said that one of our office workers will be the new District Education Officer starting next year when the current one retires. I really like the man so I'm excited about him...he'll be a great working partner for the new volunteer that will come in October. Due to the corruption that prevades every part of government, including education, the teacher had to pay a $7,000 bribe to get the job. My co teacher explained that this is why the District Ed Officer then has to take bribes from teachers because he/she has to pay him/herself back for the bribe the paid....and the circle continues. I was also told that teachers did not receive their salaries last month because all the money went to support the military effort to protect a temple at the border of Thailand. I thought this was interesting and asked my friend in the next district...her teachers were paid. Makes me wonder what reeeeeally happened to the salaries for the teacehrs at my school....

4. Sometimes in class....I just have to laugh at myself. I'd just washed a black school skirt (I wash them as rarely as possible!) and was wearing it to teach one more morning. I erased the board and tossed the erarser (a small square pillow basically) on the floor in front of me. I stupidly didn't look before I tossed it and it landed in a pile of red chalk dust which this exploded in a little red cloud all around/over me....the skirt is in the wash again and my students got a chuckle. :) I have fianlly accepted my roll as village clown!

Tis the Season!

2008-11-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

While those of you in the states are busy baking pies, cooking turkeys and starting on Christmas prepartions, we in Cambodia are just drying out from rainy season! If you are an international news watcher, you probably saw there was a "tropical depression" sitting over Vietnam for about a week. They got heavy flooding in Hanoi....and we did too! It was definitly not as bad here, but rainy season lasted about 2 weeks longer than it should have. On some roads, it feels like I"m riding through layers of melted chocolate! It hasn't rained in the past 2 days so I'm hoping the rain is done and the roads will start to dry. The cool weather (high 70s to mid 80s) has finally arrived...it feels good to grab a jacket in the evenings!

This is also the season for weddings and special ceremonies. On any given day, I can see at least 2 weddings and 5 pagoda fundraisers (hence the confusion in the story below) in my village. My host mother told me they will go to 30 or more weddings this month! I went to my friend Duong's wedding early last week and had a great time spraying silly string and getting all dressed up!

After the big religious holiday, Pchum Ben, at the end of October, there is a special time of fundraiser ceremonies for the pagodas. Families will hold what is called a "Bon Kathen" at their house or a pagoda. People who are invited give gifts of $1-$3 along with incense and candles for the family to take to the pagoda. It's a way for Buddhists to gain blessings by assisting the works of the pagoda. The other night I was invited to a teacher's ceremony at her house. My co teacher drew a little map for me, I got dressed up and set off. I saw a ceremony on the road where I was supposed to go so stopped and went in, gave my money, sat down to eat.....and then realized I was at the wrong house!!! Probably one of my most embarrassing moments.....the family was so nice and new I was confused though no one said anything. I finished up, got on my bike and coninuted on to the correct ceremony....which was another 1/2 kilometer down an awful road....ankle deep mud awful. By the time I got home, I was tired, dirty, and royally embrrassed. My host mom was delighted to see me though....she had been scared the whole time that I would fall in the mud on my bike. I had a few close calls but made it home with only dirty feet and wounded pride. I called a friend to share my embarrassment and laugh it off.....his comment after a good laugh "hey....at least you got a double dose of good karma." :) And that's how I will forever remember that night....not an embrrassing mix up but "double karma night."

On a more serious note...

2008-08-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

I've let most of August pass me by without a post. The past few weeks have slipped by with easy living. I've been in town working at the People for Care and Learning center in Siem Reap town. I've had air conditiong, cable, and access to a kitchen...it's been a dream. I'm ready to wake up though. I've been missing my village, my cuddly baby sister, my mischevious little brother, curling up in a sweat puddle with a good book, and my students who tip their hats to me as they pass on their bikes. I find it strange that I'm homesick for my second home.

The point of the blog today, or rather the thing that prompted me to write, happened on my way back from lunch. I watched the Democratic National Convention this morning, cheered on Hillary, sat down in the cafe and caught up on some news and then started feeling really restless...it's the wanderer in me. I headed out for some cheap Indian food for lunch, stuffed myself, packed up the leftovers and headed home with my take-away box of dal and butter naa swinging as I skipped along. I was walking back to the cafe (where my housing is while I'm working in town) and passed by a small market area where there's a little barber stall...basically a shack with a chair and a mirror. In the chair was the skinniest, weakest, tinniest little boy with the largest malnourished swollen belly I have ever seen. Swollen bellies aren't uncommon here, but the size of this one was. Suddenly my scrumptious Indian lunch seemed shameful. The skip in my step became a slow lumber as I continued my walk back.

Sometimes here, I feel so useless. I'm teaching school to get a few kids into universities so they can get better jobs....that's great. I recognize the enormity of that endeavor alone as I've seen some of my students moving up and on. But for the most part, my students are nourished, clothed, and educated. They are the ones that have already made it up and out if only a little. But what about that little boy in the barber seat? What about him? What about all the kids in my village that are starving? I want to feed them all, hug them all, tell them it will all be okay....but who am I to say it will be? I could feed them a meal but where will the next one come from...and the next..?

Cambodia is developing so much. Already in the past year and a half it's changed by leaps and bounds....but there's still so far to go. Phnom Penh is booming. Siem Reap is in a building frenzy. But little of that actually reaches out to the villages where the sun and candles are the only providers of light, where rice fields are plowed by oxen and planted by hand, where kids drop out of school before the 7th grade (or never even go), and where little boys walk around looking 6 months pregnant. How long does it take a developing nation to develop? Too long.

I'm heading to bed now. I'm going to snuggle up with the world and hope it really will be okay.

Temples and Birthdays

2008-07-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

Things in Cambodia are cooling down with the arrival of rainy season downpours, but heating up politically as it gets closer to elections. Political rallies are more abundant, campaign posters are everywhere, and motos are driving around with recordings about different candidates playing on loudspeakers. Elections take place in one week and we are all ready for them to be over. The government is still predicting peaceful elections and not expecting any serious problems.

Right now, the attention has turned to a border dispute with Thailand. Recently, the United Nations declared a Cambodian temple, Prheah Vihear, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is a great achievement for Cambodians and will bring more tourists and money to the country. The temple, however, sits right along a disputed border area with Thailand who is claiming the temple is actually within their borders. It seems like a simple thing to negotiate and solve, which we hope they do, but right now tensions are building. Cambodia deployed 800 troops to the border and Thailand around 300. There have been protests on both sides and the border crossing has been closed affecting hundreds of Thais and Cambodians that cross the border for work and business. Peace Corps and all of us are watching the situation and hope it's resolved on Monday when the Thai and Cambodian Foreign Ministers meet. Hopefully if something does happen, it will stay contained to the disputed area.

On a lighter note, this Month Sophal and I both celebrated our Birthdays. 28 and 24 respectively. We spent the weekend relaxing at one of the nicest resorts in town and just spending some time together. It was a great Birthday weekend! This is my second and last Birthday in Cambodia which feels strange to think about. I've gotten older without knowing it! I know I know....I'm only 24 but still! Life is moving on!

July Already?

2008-06-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

Somehow June passed me by in a whirlwind. I'm sitting here thinking, "what should I write about?" and I just don't know. It's hard to put into words a life that is so full of living.

The end of May, I found myself tackling a project that I had long sworn I would never be able to do - the World Map project. Several volunteers had already completed murals of the world on their schools and I had vowed it was beyond my abilites to attempt it. I finally decided it was an exciting way to spruce up the school, gathered 18 of my students together, and over the span of a week, we were able to produce a map of the world. My school director even got in on the fun by adding Cambodia to the map and assisting with some other painting. We had plenty of obstacles along the way from vandals to misspellings to yellow paint that just wouldn't cover but we had plenty of fun too - painting faces, teasing, taking pictures, and playing games. It was fun week and my students were very proud of what they had accomplished.

June marked the end of my first (and really my only) full school year here. We finished up classes, played review games, and got ready for exams. Along with exams, cheating is in full swing too! My school has made an effort to thwart cheating by mixing up grade levels for exams but students are creative. I read an article in the Phnom Penh Post that had a picture of groups of students outside copy companies waiting for copies of final exams. It's everywhere and hard to stop without students rebeling. Teachers pad their income with bribes and are also less than willing to have a firm hand with the classes they are proctoring.

Elections are coming up this month and the political rallies have started. We are advised to stay as far away from rallies as possible and I've been following that advice. I was on the side of the highway the other day waiting for my taxi to head back to my village when about 10 huge trucks full of Cambodian People's Party (most popular and powerful political party here) plus tons of motos and private cars come flying down the highway. Flags, music, matching shirts and hats -the works! Hun Sen (the prime minister) has been making his rounds as well - giving out school buildings, computers, money...anything to get relected! He came to visit my district and gave our school 3 new buildings, 50 sewing machines, computers, a generator, 2 new roofs, a new front sign, printers, camera....Our school is a giant construction site right now! Elections take place on July 27th and are expected to be peaceful but Peace Corps is taking precautions. We are not allowed to travel about 10 days around election time and prepare ourselves to head to a safe place if needed.

Our new group of volunteers will be arriving on July 23rd. I, along with 3 other volunteers, was asked to help with orientation for the new group. I will be in Phnom Penh with them for about 10 days helping them with their immediate adjustment, answering questions, and getting them ready for training. I'm excited to meet them all and get some new people up in my province since there are only 2 of us right now. Things will change as we won't be the spoiled, priviliged little volunteers we have been for the last year and a half. It's like going from an only child to an eldest child. Less pampering but less focus on you too.

Well that's all for now. I'll be in and out of town a lot this summer as I will be working on a summer project with an NGO called People for Care and Learning in Siem Reap town during the school break. E-mail will be accessible so I'll be in better contact with you all. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work in a different environment with different people for awhile.

Until next time!!!

Rainy Season Take 2

2008-05-16T01:05:00.000-07:00

My second rainy season in Cambodia has arrived! I love falling asleep at night to the sound of rain pouring down, knowing I'll get a cool breeze for the night and my world will be a little greener in the morning. It's nice now to know the ropes of rainy season. I can feel it in my bones when it's about to rain and can grab my laundry in good time. :)

I wish I could say I have been busy working away at my school, but that would be a bit of a lie. I've been at school, but my students haven't. After Khmer New Year, motivation at school has continue to slide down a steep slope. The month of May is full of holidays so it's hard to keep students focused between breaks. We just finished a 3-day holiday in honor of the King's Birthday (picture is of me meeting the king) and next week will have holidays for both the Birthday of Buddha and the Royal Plowing Day.

During holidays, I've been lucky to be able to travel a bit. Last weekend all the volunteers went to Phnom Penh to join the wedding of two of our Cambodian staff members. It was the nicest wedding I've been to in Cambodia (maybe anywhere!) and had a great time celebrating with the happy couple. It was nice to be able to share it with all the staff and volunteers.

Mostly I've just been having fun hanging out with host family, playing with my bouncy baby sister, and climbing temple ruins wherever and whenever I can find them! It's like a giant playground!

Back in Business!

2008-04-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long lapse in blogging...

Sophal and I had an absolutely amazing trip to the States. It was exciting to be able to introduce him to my family and life on the other side of the world. We stayed very busy helping with my sister's wedding and trying to see as many things and people as possible while we were there. Sophal was able to travel on to Colorado and visit some of his family members that live there. We met up back in Cambodia a few weeks later.

Things have been a whirlwind since I arrived. When the plane landed, I knew immediately that hot season had come to Cambodia while I was enjoying winter weather in Tennessee. My plane landed at 10:00 pm and the capitain announced it was a blamy 88 degrees....again...at 10pm! It took a few to adjust back to the heat, but not as long as I thought it would be. The jet lag didn't last too long as I didn't have time to let it control me!

I arrived back in my village on a Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon I left again for 2 days of a friend's wedding. The sleeping at 10pm and waking up at 2am was a little killer, but my host sister and I had a great time there with teachers from my school and other friends.

The following Sunday, I left for Phnom Penh for a week for an HIV/AIDS conference and also our Peace Corps mid-service conference. The HIV conference was quite a big event and an exciting one for most of our Cambodian counterparts that attended. They learned a lot of new information and hopefully will be better equipped for work in the villages. Our mid-service conference took place at a nice resort for 3 days. We celebrated our achievements over the last year and also took the time to share our frustrations and difficulties with the people who understand the most - other volunteers. We also said goodbye to our Peace Corps director, Mr. Van Nelson, as he will be returning to the states at the end of this month and our new director arriving fresh from PC China! The most exciting event of our conference was a special audience with the King of Cambodia - King Sihamoni! Audiences with the king are rare and were all excited about that opportunity. We were each given a gold pin with the king's picture and a very nice book. That was a crazy day!

After the conference, another volunteer and I traveled to Rattinikiri province in the more rural NE of Cambodia. We spent a week exploring waterfalls, crater lakes, and tribal/minority people villages. We had a fun-filled but relaxing week full of adventures! Just getting there was a chore as it was a 12 hour bus ride down one of the most horrible roads you could ever imagine complete with a fallen tree we had to cut down and two blown tires. But we thankfully made it there and back in one piece. :)

This month has definitely become a month of reflection for me as it officially marks half of our service finished. I've been thinking a lot about the things I've accomplished, the things I want to do, and things that just haven't gone so well. I've learned a lot, done a little (it seems) and have a lot of hope for the coming year. Already myself and the other volunteers are beginning to feel the pressures of planning for life after Cambodia. The GRE is looming in front of me as are grad school decisions, travel plans and so many other unknowns. It's almost time to "grow up" and move on with my life....but I kind of like being stuck in limbo.

We've Passed the One Year Mark!

2008-02-17T06:07:00.000-08:00

Happy “Sweetheart’s” Day!

Life here has been chugging along! We celebrated our 1 year mark in Cambodia on the 1st of February. My friend Autumn and I celebrated with sparklers and ice cream and had fun recounting all the things that were once so “weird” and are now just everyday things. It has been a year of new experiences and challenges!

One thing that still makes me chuckle is how comfortable we have all had to become with sharing rather personal information with our host families and others. For example, we all have frequent bouts of diarrhea from mysterious parasites and constipation from too much rice (just can’t win). It has thus become no big deal to discuss with my host parents (and anyone else who happens to be in the house) how many times I have gone to the bathroom in a day or unfortunately sometimes in a week. Healthy living here can be challenging but I’ve learned what works for me. I’ve shed 40 some pounds, work out everyday with weights, pop my vitamins, and have created a wonderful Grape Nuts and coffee concoction to get more fiber. It’s something new to have to pay such close attention to my body and what it needs but it’s made me much more aware of my health.

Right now my life is revolving around school school school! I’ve included some pictures of my school in this blog so you can get a small idea of what it is like. We have 6 buildings and only 1 has electricity. Most of the buildings were built in the 60s and you can see the wear and tear on them. Mildew from flooding, cracks, spider webs, water stains, missing shingles, creaking teaching podiums, and black boards that are more than difficult to write on are what I face everyday. Teaching here is much different than what I imagined when I was studying TESOL while at university but has provided opportunities to learn and be creative with what I have! Often my students and co-teachers ask my how high school in America is different from high school in Cambodia. I honestly have trouble coming up with more similarities that I have with differences! Education here is still developing. During the 70s, the education system as well as almost everything else was wiped out by the Khmer Rouge, then there were civil wars….so education is just starting to get back on the right track. It still has a long way to go, however. (see pics)

One of my favorite little stories from school happened just the other day. I had just gotten a nice new shirt cut in a more Khmer style and wore it to school for the first time. My students all thought I was looking particularly pretty that day. Typically in class I give my students “two thumbs up” and say “Oh very good!!!” when they answer questions or something. Well, I walked into one of my Grade 11 classes and all my students started yelling “OH! Very good teacher!!!!!” and giving me thumbs up because they liked how I looked. It was funny and we all had a good laugh for awhile. J

We just finished celebrating Chinese New Year! While, yes, I’m in Cambodia, many Cambodians are ethnically Chinese or part Chinese. Chinese New Year, then, is a big celebration in some parts of the country. We had specials lunches with food offered to ancestors and the burning of “gold, money, and passports” (fake) to help bring prosperity. A few days were full of fireworks and music from various parties but unlike other areas, my school stayed open so there was not too much partying. (see pics)

In closing, I have begun a count down to my visit home for my little sister’s wedding! Three more weeks and I’ll be sitting on a plane! I’ll be home from March 9 – March 21 and will be busy busy busy but want to see as many of you as possible! So, shoot me an e-mail! Fortunately, the long plane ride will be made easier as I’ll have some company. My boyfriend of almost a year now will be joining me for the trek home! He’s ready to “experience America” so I hope some of you are up for the challenge of helping introduce him to our way of life! This will be my last blog until after my trip so hopefully I’ll be able to share more with some of you IN PERSON!

SEE YOU SOON!

It's a NEW YEAR!

2008-01-18T23:41:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! (a little late)

The New Year passed by rather uneventfully in my house. I went to sleep at 9pm and woke up the next morning and washed my clothes. I did spend a few minutes before falling asleep thinking about where I was last year around that time….just graduated from college, working at a bookstore, frantically making packing lists and trying to learn a few Khmer words. The ways my life has changed in the past year are far more drastic than any other year of my life! What a whirlwind of joy, struggle, love, homesickness, adventure, sadness, and discovery. In the past year I have gained another family, traveled to two new countries, learned a new language, fallen in love, become a decent English teacher, and so many other things that I can’t even begin to write down.

The big event of the end of the year here was the birth of my new baby sister (see pics above) whom I affectionately call “baby oun” or “baby darling.” “Darling” or “oun” is used to address children or girlfriends/wives or basically anyone younger than you. It is funny sometimes to hear my sister yell in Khmer “DARLING….GET IN HERE AND WASH THE DISHES!” to my younger brother. Baby oun, whose name is Sou Watana, was a Christmas Eve baby and has been a great delight to my whole family. She’s finally starting to get a little more interesting after almost a month has passed and is definitely stretching those vocal chords at night….she and my mum sleep under my room. Joy.

On January 7th, Cambodia celebrated its Victory Over Genocide Day. I never thought I would live in a place where that would be a holiday. Cambodia had many rough years but it’s great to be here now and seeing the changes that are taking place. In my village we had a big meeting in the morning to remember the past genocide and the victory over it and then a party that evening to celebrate. It was quite the happening place as all civil workers (teachers, nurses, police, and government staff) were invited to attend. Anytime free food and drinks are offered here, you’ll get a full house! We danced the night away (until 8pm) with many teachers trying to give me lessons in Khmer dancing. When I arrived at school the next day several of my students made it a point to say “Oh…last night…teacher dancing! Hahaha!” At least I amused someone. J

And that about wraps up my fairly uneventful month of January. I’m in Phnom Penh this weekend for another shot. One more next month and I’m officially finished with shots from Mother Linda our nurse. I can’t wait!

Until February….

Just the Other Day.....

2007-12-23T20:02:00.000-08:00

….it was Thanksgiving in Cambodia. All the volunteers got together in Phnom Penh for a catered Thanksgiving Day dinner with a turkey, mashed potatoes, and a sad try at stuffing. We were each asked to prepare something to bring and assigned one of many kitchens offered up for our use. So four other volunteers and I spent hours in the deputy ambassador’s gorgeous kitchen making apples pies and baked ziti….I don’t think there was a spot in her kitchen we didn’t joyfully messy up! Later at dinner, the boys decided it would be nice to get in the Cambodian spirit of it all by wearing Kromas to dinner. A Kroma is a checkered cloth worn around the waist by men on the head by women. Men usually wear them around the house…or even out on their motos sometimes around town. The boys decided they would expand easier than pants as they gorged themselves. After Thanksgiving, we celebrated Khmer Water Festival....got to see some great boat races and walk around town with the mass of people that swarm to Phnom Penh for the boat races! It made for a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

….it was December 1st and I walked into a hotel in Siem Reap. Suddenly I was struck by surprise, confusion, and homesickness all at the same time….what caused this? A giant Christmas tree in the lobby of the hotel. It seemed so out of place, just like me at times. Lavishly decorated in reds and greens with fake gifts under it, offering tourists, and people like me, a taste of home….or rather a reminder of what they are missing. I went home to my village the next day, still struck by what I had seen and the homesickness that didn’t leave me all weekend. So what did I do? I cranked up the Christmas music and started making Christmas cards….then I had my writing club make Christmas cards. I don’t think I’m ever going to get all the glitter out of my room or off my hands! Two weeks later, I met the other Siem Reap volunteer for coffee at a village between us. She brought me an extra string of Christmas lights her grandpa had sent her. My room is a cheery little Christmas paradise now. I still miss home at the moment…who wouldn’t at this time of the year? I just keep thinking “there are 7,000 other Peace Corps Volunteers missing home right now too.” We’re all in this together! Thankfully we are allowed a few days off for Christmas….that’s why I’m on internet now. I think I’m going to plan a trip around town to every hotel and look at all the Christmas trees this weekend.

….I was on the final of four laps around Angkor Wat to finish my 100k bike marathon. I was thinking to myself “never again, never again, never again.” I never knew my body could hurt in so many places before or that a bike seat could be so uncomfortable. By the time I finished however, I was pretty proud of myself…plus it was an excuse for ice cream and a $5 massage later that day.

….I went into the library at my school to do some work on the computer before my writing club students arrived. I plugged in the computer and powered it up….everything seemed to be working in fine order despite the cobwebs and dirt that I’m constantly having to wipe off. All of a sudden however, there was a loud “click clack click clack” coming from the computer tower. I watched it, wondering if somehow I had just destroyed one of the few computers we have, when something came shooting from the fan and the computer turned off. I picked the thing up…it was small, squishy….a bit disgusting actually. I tossed it out the window and tried to fire up the computer again, and that’s when I saw him....a poor, tailless little lizard crawling from the computer. The moral of this story: never take a nap inside a computer tower. The computer is working fine again.

….my family called me down for lunch. My host dad asked me if I knew how to eat “on dawlk.” I gave him a confused look and shook my head. I had no idea what “on dawlk” was. I sat down at the table just as a foot-long turtle was pulled out of the boiling pot and sat in the middle of the table. We picked through it and pulled out all the eggs which were surprisingly tasty. I stopped after the eggs and watched with amazement as my family proceeded to devour every single part of that turtle….every organ, every questionable part…even pulling off the head and picking out all the parts they could eat. My sister even stopped once and said “what’s this?” before eating it after no answer. By the end of lunch, all that was left was an empty shell. I’ve started a new game with a friend that’s called “Guess what Sarah had for lunch today.” Her family sticks to more “normal” fare like fish, shrimp, and chicken….although she gets the occasional pig stomach as well. I don’t think I will ever forget the word for turtle.

….I realized that Khmer has taken over my brain. My thoughts and speech have stopped being in English and converted into a weird sort of “Khmanglish.” For example, I could be sitting in the hammock and suddenly think to myself “Man I could really nyum some jaet right now.” Translation: “Man I could really eat some bananas right now.” Or…”Okay, today I need to go to the psaar, then bawl my kawl awl….oo….mum is cutting up an ailut.” Translation: “Okay, today I need to go to the market, then wash my clothes…oo…Mum is cutting up a watermelon!” I’m not sure when this started happening but it makes me laugh at myself on a regular basis.

Well, that’s all that’s been happening there. It’s hard to believe we are getting ready to celebrate month number 11 in country. It’s been nearly a year and the time is flying. I remember coming here just before hot season, swimming through rainy season and watching the rice being planted, shivering for a couple weeks of cold season, and now I’m watching the farmers busily harvesting rice as we inch closer to the hot season again. It’s rather picturesque watching the ox carts carrying around threshing machines and riding past piles of freshly cut rice. :) So....while I’m dancing around in rice dust, enjoy your snow! I saw on CNN, many parts of the states are getting lots of it! I’m dreaming of a white Christmas....although it’s not going to happen! :) Make a snowman for me. :)

Until next month….Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! And as my students say:

- I wish you lucky in your life
- I wish you happy in your work
- I wish you successful in your everything
- Good lucky to you!

I'm really busy!

2007-11-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

Well folks, the pace has picked up!!! Life in Cambodia has never been busier for me, but I'm loving every minute of it! Okay...maybe not every minute...the week I had a nasty rainy season cold was not so hot, but I made it through it. My mum brought me hot tea and milk and forbade me from going to school. It's nice to be cared for even at 23!

Just after the end of my cold, I and several other volunteers made our way to the south of the country where we celebrated the King's Birthday on a nice little island. We swam, hiked, loafed around on the beach and had a fabulous time! It was a nice getaway after the stress of getting the new school year off and going.

But the new school year has definitely started! My days are full of teaching, lesson planning, and biking back and forth to school. I didn't realize just what a shock to my system the new schedule would be after the lazy summer. It's been nice to get back in the classroom and I'm enjoying getting to know my students again. They all have English names and I get little laughs every time I call on "Samantha" or "Joseph" to read in class. It's been an adventure already.

The cool season has also arrived in Cambodia. I was laughing today (as I rode my bike 40 miles to use the internet) that exactly on the day rainy season ended, it stopped raining. It's been nothing but blue sunny skies since then with a nice cool, steady wind from the north. I have to sleep with a blanket and even wear a light sweater on my way to school in the morning. It's been wonderful compared to the stickiness of hot season and the dreariness of rainy season. All my Cambodian friends are complaining that's cold, and I'm relishing it!

Well, that's all for this month. I had lots of things I planned to write about, but don't have time to do so. Hope things are well back home and everyone is also enjoying the Fall weather!

Oh and an early Happy Thanksgiving!

Desserts, School, Holiday, and Rain

2007-10-12T00:22:00.000-07:00

Another month....another blog!!! The last few weeks have been busy and boring, exciting and dull, new and same o-same o. It's amazing how a Wednesday can drag....just sitting in the hammock with nothing to do and a Thursday can pass in a blink. Everyday is different...one never knows what to expect!!!

Something unexpected that happened to me the other day....I was standing at a buffet lunch in a nice hotel at a Peace Corps meetings (I was the only volunteer in my province available so i had to go impress some PC staff from visiting countries) trying to decide what I wanted to eat. Choosing the food was fine....the usual fair...rice, some stir fried veggies and a smattering of other things. When it came time to pick a dessert, however, I rather surprised myself. I skipped over the more American offerings and went for the pumpking with jellies in coconut milk with rice. It's funny that I now actively seak out Cambodian desserts....i've fallen in love with them. They aren't as sweet as American desserts and are always an experiment. The first picture above is one of my newly discovered favorites....a mixture of rice, peas, crused seeds of some kind, coconut, and sugar. You just dump it all in and grab a big mushy ball with your hands and enjoy! Perfectly delightful..... Other desserts can be peas and coconut milk, pumpkin, potatos with sugar from the palm trees, roasted purple potatoes, fruit with shaved ice and condensed milk... oh and of course the ultimate 'ansalm jaet' - banana inside a log of rice. AMAZING! It think I ate a hundred of them yesterday...but more about that later!

In other news, school has sort of started back. The first of October we officially opened the new school year which involved all 2000 students marching through town carrying signs, speeches from community leaders, and lots of 'let me introduce you to our American teacher' and me smiling sweetly. To my surprise, school didn't start then. For the week, all the students came to school but only to clean the classrooms and plant grass. On Monday of this past week we had our Teacher Apprciation ceremony where the students organized an big event - sang karaoke (a Cambodian favorite), performed skits and gave all the teachers gifts - fabric for shirts/skirts for teaching. But school didn't start then either....now we are on holiday for 5 days and will MAYBE start on Monday....but no students have books yet and the teachers might stroll in around Tuesday or Wednesday from their holiday travels.

This holiday has been quite an interesting one. The holiday is called Phum Bun and is a time to honor ancestors. Basically this is how I've understood what I've been told - if families did not provide food and things when their family member died, that person remains a spirit and cannot reincarnate to their next life. During this holiday, people bring rice and other things to the pagoda and also at their homes to give to the spirits so they can move on to their next life. One night, everyone in my house (which is now 14 people after 6 new boarders moved in) prepared balls of rice, peas, and seeds and put them on trays with candy, coconut, mango leaves, sugar cane and candles/incense.(see pictures above) At 3:30 the next morning, we all got up and walked from our house to the pagoda with our trays of rice. We sat while the monks chanted (see picture above) then walked around the pagoda placing the rice and inscense in different places for the spirits to find. Then yesterday, I went to a different pagoda with a large group of famly members - we took bowls of rice and spooned them into differen bowls in the pagoda to give to the spirits and also set up a table with food and drinks at the house. The pagoda was quite the happening place - absolutely full of people and snack stands and games....very crazy place.

Later that day we had a picnic at a big dam and enjoyed my favorite banana snacks together. The dam, now a popular swimming and fishing place (see picture above), was also full of Cambodians out for fun on the holiday. I had a great time there...it's one of my favorite places. I now have a new respect for the dam, however. In the car ride out there, my aunt and uncle were telling me how they lived there and carried dirt to build the original dam during the Khmer Rouge. It's amazing that they even wanted to go back there....especially to go for fun. These are strong people.

As you can tell, I've definitely been learning and experiencing a lot!! One more things I'm learning about is survival during the rainy season. It rains everyday.....and i'm not exaggerating...at least a couple hours every afternoon. I've learned to always keep my ears open for rain when I do laundry, that your clothes will smell if you try to dry them on a day with no sun, never leave home without my rain jacket, and for long bike rides....keep your eye to sky and race the clouds!!!!

This month we celebrated our 6 month point of serivce. That's right folks....6 full months of service finished!!! We are 1/4th of the way finished and it has flown by. The weeks are just melting away for all of us. I'm getting anxious for school to start and I know that once it does, things will go even faster. I got my teaching schedule this week and it's going to be a full year!!! I will be teaching 10 classes in grades 9-12 with some long 6 hour teaching days (nothing compared to American working schedule I know, but it's a lot for here!!!) . I'm sure I'll have lots to tell you about that next month!!!

Until November.....

Life is Great (even after 7 months!)

2007-09-09T06:26:00.000-07:00

Life in Cambodia continues to go well, and I think the last month has been one of the best! Sorry for the silence in note/blog-writing for awhile, but I've been so busy there just hasn't been time!!!

Just to recap my life over the last few months:

School finished the first week of July and I started teaching English club classes and teaching 2 days a week at an oprhange run by a Christian NGO in my village. Teaching was great and I got to know a lot of my students much better! Teaching at the orphanage was great too because I got to teach some younger kids for the first time. Beginning at the ABCs was a big change!
This summer I also stayed busy working at the Angkro Hospital for Children in Siem Reap town. Because of a Dengue epidemic, the hospital was over crowded and the staff overworked. I had a great time playing with kids and helping take their mind off the pain for a little while.

The last week of August started my long anticipated vacation! Sophal and I traveled with a group of Peace Corps volunteers to Kuala Lumpuer, Malaysia and Sophal and I also made a side trip to Singapore. We had a great time...spent 2 days in the jungle, celebrated Malaysia's Independence Day, and checked out Singpaore for a day. It was a lot of fun to travel with my friends and just RELAX!

I am currently in Phnom Penh for 2 weeks (one week down) for the last of our PC training...after this we will have officially finished all of our training! :) It's been a lot of fun hanging out in the city with everyone. Last week was spent mostly catching up with everyone, buying pirated movies, and vegging! Yesterday we all split up and went on field trips. Me being the person that I am, chose the zoo (I was the only girl) and had a blast! Today we had a wonderful afternoon pool party and buffet dinner courtesy of many PC volunteers' parents that pitched in to give us an afternoon of fun! (THANKS!) This morning 2 of my friends and I attended a small Epsicopal church and had a great time going to and ENGLISH church service again. Tomorrow it's back to meetings. :(

September 4th marked 5 months of PC service for all of us and 7 months in country. Time is moving swiftly. Some days it feels like it's flying. Some days it feels like it's dragging. I have a feeling, however, that 2 years are going to be over in a flash! Continue to pray for all of us and send e-mails and/or letters. Even though life is good, encouragement and news from home is always appreciated and needed!!!!

All for now! Going to call it an early night! Love you and all and miss you!

6 Months!

2007-08-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Siem Reap! Sorry for the long delay in a new post, but life has been busy and blogs have been last on the list of my "to-dos." :)

This week marks 6 months out of the country for me. At times it is hard to believe it has been so long already. Some days it feels like I came only yesterday....other days, however, I feel everyone of the approximately 180 days I have been here. As with life in general, there are good days and bad days. Thankfully, more good than bad.

Over school break, I have been keeping busy running an English club 4 days a week and also teaching English classes 2 days a week at a local orphanage. My students are always keeping me on my toes with their questions and I have been busy pouring over grammar books, songs, and English games to play with my kids.

I have also been staying busy on the weekends! Every Friday I travel into town to work at the Angkor Children's Hospital. I am working with a Cambodian woman who is the play therapist at the hospital. We do arts and crafts, play games, and bring toys around to all the kids at their beds. The hospital is free for all children and is completely full to overunning right now due to a dengue epidemic. This is a rewarding way to spend the weekend and I am loving it!

I wish there was more to post, but life has settled into a rather nice pace. I'm happy and loving my time here still. Next months entry promises to be more exciting as my trip to Malaysia is coming up very soon! I hope things at home are well for everyone! Miss and love you all!

Pics: Dress up night out in Siem Reap town

Still an Adventure!

2007-07-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

It has been 5 months now that I have lived in Cambodia, and every day still proves to be an adventure. I will try to sum up the last month or so as much and as quickly as possible so you can get the details!

1) Bad thing - I have been sick off and on for the last month. Last week it was finally bad enough that they dopped me up on antibiotics and brought me to Phnom Penh. Thankfully my tests for parasties all came back negative but our nurse thinks that is just because the antibiotics killed everything! :) Feeling much better now and hoping it stays that way!

2) I was able to see several friends from the States! Three girls were here from Lee completing their internship, Dr. Cuellar came to visit them, Dr. Doolittle brought another group from Lee, and I reconnected with some missionaries in Siem Reap town that I had met 2 years ago. It was very nice to be able to see people from home! The girls came and stayed a couple nights with me in the village which was quite an adventure.

3) The last week of June, I biked to visit Autumn, the volunteer in the next district over and the only other volunteer in my entire province. It was about a 20 mile bike ride there so I left early....about 6:30 am, stayed a night, and returned the next morning. It took me about an hour and a half to get there....I was not tired but boy did I have a sore bum! :) It was a wonderful ride though and definitely released a lot of stress! I felt very proud that I was able to do it. While at Lee, I too lazy to bike the 3 blocks to school in the mornings....now I'm riding 20 miles and barely feeling it!

4) This past week I have been in Phnom Penh for 4th of July festivites. I arrived on the 1st of July and will go home tomorrow on the 8th. The actual 4th of July passed rather uneventfully....most of the volunteers that were in town, including myself, kind of forgot about the fact that it was the 4th until we saw fireworks coming from the Embassy! On the 5th, a few of us helped run an all day English Camp for high school students from around the country. We had 85 students at the embassy and played games, sang songs, and basically had a blast (see picture above....singing "Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes." Our real 4th of July festivities will take place tonight at the embassy....big part with hot dogs and hamburgers...we are looking forward to it! Phnom Penh has been a lot of fun....I have seen many things including the palace, a genocide museum, a big temple, and the national museum. Been great to be in the city! Last night Peace Corps rented a river boat for us and provided pizza, soda, and dancing...great fun! I am looking forward to heading back to the village tomorrow however!

5) We are officially allowed to travel out of our provinces now so I am excited to go visit other volunteers starting this month and seeing a little more of Cambodia. First on the list is Battambang town! :) Can't wait!

6) My school year has finally finished. I will be teaching some English clubs a few times a week, but other than that, the next few months should prove to be rather relaxing...if not boring at times! I've got some great books, however, and plan to continue chugging through the classics and working on my Khmer! I have finally started to become a little more literate in Khmer and have successfully read a few words on my own. It's fun when the squiggles and dots finally start to mean something!

Other than those few things, life is an adventure but is becoming more..."normal." Many people ask me about the exciting things that I have done...and while many things may seem to be exciting to all of you, they are just life for me now. It is a happy feeling to finally feel a bit settled and like I am just living my life. It is especially important to start feeling that way when I still have 21 months left! While 5 months have flown by fast, there are some days when looking ahead at 21 more seems rather daunting! But life is good and I am continuing to enjoy it! I have realized daily how it's the little things that get you through the day... like squirt gun fights with my brother, bike trips on the highway, crowded buses, May bringing me coffee home from the market, playing in rain storms, and holding babies.

Update to Previous Blog

2007-06-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

After a surprise trip to town, I decided I should update and let you all know what turned out with the accident. ....

All three boys were taken to the hospital and released with no major injuries or even broken bones...mircale of all miracles. They were also rewarded $3,000 by the insurance company to pay for their moto....which in reality can now buy them each one! :)

And on a random note....I thought I would share 2 rather funny tidbits about American history that I have gotten in arguements with my students over. Whoever wrote the history books for Cambodian high school curriculum decided that America has 52 states and that Abraham Lincoln was our first president. While funny....imagine standing infront of a class and announcing there are 50 states in the US only to have your students errupt in laughter and say "no teacher....there are 52!!!" Then you stand there wondering if there are 50 or 52. So frustrating. I had to confirm with another volunteer that there actually are only 50 states! haha Apparently everyone is having the same problem!

Okay....all for now!

One of those days....

2007-06-11T02:18:00.000-07:00

"i ain't gonna preach...i ain't gonna baptize. i'm gonna work in the fiel's, in the green fiel's, an' i'm gonna be near to folks. i ain't gonna try to teach em nothin. i'm gonna try to learn. gonna learn why the folks walks in the grass, gonna hear em talk, gonna hear em sing. gonna listen to kids eatin mush. gonna hear husban an wife a-poundin the mattress in the night. gonna eat with em an learn. gonna lay in the grass, open an honest with anybody that'll have me. gonna cuss an swear an hear the poetry of folks talkin. all that's holy, all that's what i didn' understan'. all them things is the good things."

- jim casey, the grapes of wrath

However "unorthodox" that quote may seem, it defines my life right now. That's all there is to this....just learning. Yes, I'm teaching English and "helping" people, but I am learning so much!

Sometimes I feel like superwoman....hence the picture....other days...like today....I feel helpess. Have a chuckle at the picture because that is the only laugh for this blog post as it is not so lighthearted. I did not plan to blog today....but sometimes....some things....they just need to be shared.

Today I was faced with a reality of life in Cambodia. One that thankfully until today I had been able to avoid. Today, I clearly understood the reasons why we are forbidden to ride motos....

The day started off just fine. Today my fellow Siem Reap volunteer, Autumn, and I were picked up by a Peace Corps car with our PC director and one of the Khmer drivers to travel to Kampang Cham province for a meeting....about 4 hours away. We originally were told to take a bus but it just so happened he had a meeting in our province so we could hitch a ride.

We were 30 minutes down the road and had just crossed into the next province when a moto sped onto the highway and right in front of our car. I knew what would happen before it did. Our driver laid on the horn and also the brakes but there just wasn't time. I wish I had closed my eyes, but I didn't. We smashed right into the back of the moto carrying three 20-something boys with no helmets. Their bodies whipped back and forth once before they flew off the moto, skidding along the road, and eventually tumbling down the dike next to us and into a pool of water.

Immediately there was a swarm of people crowding around the car and looking at the Americans that had just creamed these kids. Fortunately our driver took care of everything while we sat in the car and watched.....my breakfast in my throat. All the people saw it was the moto's fault...but of course that did not make us feel much better. The police came and measured skid marks and wrote reports and then made us go to the police station....only letting us leave after the Peace Corps in Phnom Penh called the provincial police who called the station and told them to let us leave. Thankfully the boys walked....or rather hobbled away....only to be put on another moto to go to the health clinic. If they had died....well...let's not think about that...because they didn't.

After leaving the police station we ended up on this "short cut" to Kampang Cham that led us down a horrible road full of pot holes and flooded roads. It was beautiful though....all rubber plantations. The beauty of what we saw around us was somewhat marred, however, by the horror of what had just happened. We were all releaved to see pavement and the city again several hours away.

Just another day in Cambodia I guess....moto accidents, detours, and bumpy roads. I hope this day is not repeated again soon.

Four Months and Counting!

2007-05-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

The past month has been full of experiences, both challenging and rewarding. I will try to highlight most of the “big” events/experiences as best I can. I’ve subtitled this entry…not to make it look extremely formal, but rather to make it easier to read and organize! This is a rather long blog, skim as you would like, but trust me, some things you don’t want to miss! J

Your Prayers are Paying Off!

There have been several times this past month where I have stopped and thought, “hmm…well someone was praying!” For all of those that have been keeping me in your regular prayers, here are some of the results:
- 1st answered prayer - Continued health that has seen me through the hottest month of the year and also the following list of illnesses experienced by my fellow volunteers. Do not stop praying, however, as we are just entering Dengue season which is expected to be at a peak this year. Dengue is known as the “bone crusher disease” because of the intense pain in your bones….this has been verified by the 2 volunteers that have already been laid up for weeks with the mosquito-born illness.
o Dengue-2
o Parasites- 7
o Other diarrhea illnesses – 20
o Serious skin infections – 2 (I am included in this number, but it wasn’t so serious…a trip to the doctor and a nice cream with some antibiotics cleared it right up)
o Insect bite skin injuries – 4
o Sports injury – 1
o Fever greater than104 for unexplained reasons – 8
o Respiratory tract infections - 1
- 2nd answered prayer - A church! While sitting in the kitchen with my host mother and sister, my mother suddenly said “jai, scowal Yesu at?” or “sister (my host family has started calling me “jai” now…a termed used for female family members or close friends), do you know Jesus?” I answered that yes, I did, and she proceeded to tell me that there is a small church here in my village. I never expected to be so lucky! Well a month passed before I was actually able to attend, but Sunday, May 6th, I finally went. I must be honest and say that it also took me awhile to decide if I even wanted to go. Because my position here is such a unique one, it is difficult to balance the way the Christians at the church will expect me to live, the spirituality I have developed for myself and the ceremonies and other Buddhist events I am expected to participate in. I finally decided I would give it a go and see how things work out. The church service was very nice with Khmer music, participation by the congregation of about 30, and a very cute performance by the children. I enjoyed it and hope to attend on a regular basis as my community commitments allow. It was nice to be with a group of people that share some of the same beliefs as I do.
- 3rd answered prayer – Books! My high school has put me in charge of our library, a job which I was secretly lobbying for. While this is an incredible opportunity, my first look at the library left me more than dismayed. Only a few tables, no students ever in the library, doors usually locked, and bookshelves full of books my English students could never read, like Harry Potter. Most of my kids, that is the ones that can actually read, are on a kindergarten – 2nd grade reading level…not quite Harry Potter yet! Well one day while I was teaching, I was called to the office and was surprised to find 6 big boxes of books and two Cambodian men with big grins on their faces. They were from the Asia Foundation and were going to each Peace Corps volunteer and delivering English books from America….I just happened to be the first one. The other volunteers will be visited within the next few months/year. J The books were perfect, easy to read children’s books and even a box of CDs with simple English songs and activity books. The new books gave my school administrators the initiative they needed to get the library in order. They helped me move shelves and clean up a bit. They also gave me a desk so I could have my office of sorts here as well as a computer to use with my students. I am allowed to use it for personal things as well…such as typing these blogs early (as I’m doing now) to save precious internet time later!

Delicacies sampled since my last blog

In Cambodia, dinner is always a surprise. I thought I would share some of the special treats I’ve had and my reactions, both good and bad, to their tastes, consistencies, and overall edibility! And yes, I have eaten all of these since my last blog.
- Ants, ant larvae, and another mysterious bug, fried together and served with cooked fish eggs: My initial response was “do they really expect me to eat this or are they just playing some cruel joke where they laugh later when I was the only one that ate the bugs?” Well, that was proven wrong when my sister dived in and started chowing down. My first bite left me with a strange feeling….not because of the bad taste, but because of the relatively good one. I stopped and thought to myself “Sarah Norton…who are you? Are you actually ENJOYING eating these bugs??” Another thought crossed my mind while munching…it was a strange sense of revenge…of getting back at the ants for all the times they’ve bitten me and/or invaded my belongings. If you are ever in Cambodia and offered ants….give it a go…very yummy and psychologically gratifying!
- Chicken blood, stir fried with vegetables and chicken intestines: Okay…honesty is a virtue right? This one was hard. Actually the chicken blood did not taste so bad while I thought it was mushrooms (yes, the blood looks like mushrooms after it is prepared). My sister asked me if I knew what I was eating and I said “Mushrooms…I love mushrooms.” She just laughed and said “At day, chiium muon” or “No, chicken blood.” I was aghast and immediately started picking around that. Something about eating the blood of an animal did not quite seem like something our Peace Corps nurse would approve of.
- Cow intestines: All I have to say about this one was that it was slightly chewy with little to no taste. I was not overly impressed or disgusted.
- Brahock or Khmer Cheese: They call it cheese….my friends, it is not cheese. Brahock is made from ground up fish and some other flavorings including lime and a lot of salt. It is typically eaten with raw vegetables…we also ate it with the cow intestines. The taste is quite overwhelming at first…very….fishy. My family decided to mix some up around 8:00 one night and forced me to stay up and try some. I ate my bowl of it….each bit varying in taste according to what the ratio was between brahock and vegetable. Before going to bed my sister said “Don’t forget to brush your teeth tonight!!!” I don’t think I could have forgotten…not quite a taste I wanted to keep in my mouth all night.
- May Pleeung: This is a kind of large insect that only comes out after it rains. These insects, which one of the Peace Corps staff told us are actually large flying termites, swarm in the hundreds around any light that you leave on. I hate them….they always end up down my shirt and in my food. Well in the middle of a particularly large infestation, my family got out bowls of water and flashlights, turned out all the lights in the house, and attracted the bugs into the bowls. I thought it was an excellent way of ridding the house of them. Little did I know, they were catching them to fry for a late night snack. My host mother and another boarder swept the bugs that were already on the ground (their wings fall off while they fly around like crazy) into a huge pile and began scooping those into the bowls as well. We fried them and munched away that night. They were actually very tasty. I highly recommend “may pleeung.”
- Fried Crickets: These were definitely not difficult to eat as I experienced them while in Thailand two years ago. The ones we eat here, however, are HUGE…very meaty and very yummy. Apparently it is the season for them and all the houses have these giant contraptions set up with fluorescent lights to catch them at night. Seems like everyone is munching on these right now. I’m not sure how long the “season” lasts for them but we’ll see. The mangoes are almost all finished so maybe the crickets will become my new favorite. ;)

Transportation Woes

There have been several times that my colleagues and friends have asked my why I don’t buy a moto or why I don’t ride a moto. The easy answer is “Peace Corps says no because they are dangerous.” While I completely understand the reasons behind this rule, especially after seeing several moto accidents on the side of the road, it makes transportation to and from Siem Reap town….interesting….to say the least. I decided to share a text message my fellow Siem Reaper sent me after an interesting ride on a truck back to her village from my house. Just as an aside, we send very long text messages to each other…too expensive to call from our cell phones, so these are the kinds of messages I get on a regular basis. And I quote
- “So the promised funny story- they ended up putting 6 adults and 6 children in the cab of the truck (plus at least 10 more on top!) I was squished and quickly lost all feeling in my left leg. It took an hour to get there and I made friends with the people in the truck. When I got out I literally fell down, only saving myself by grabbing the truck bed. I gripped that while they untied my bike and then still when I walked it was like I couldn’t bend my knee! I am sure they all thought I was crippled. After they drive away I wait a moment till I am sure I can ride the bike and only then realize that all of this was a great show for the market vendors. Haha Fun times in taxis!”

We’re here already?

I recently went on a bike ride with my sister to try and hunt down some people that make the bamboo mats that everyone has in their homes to sit on. We rode back to a place we went on my first full day here in April. Before we left for the ride, all I could think about was the fact that I nearly died from exhaustion the first time we made the trip and I was not looking forward to such a long ride again…even though it was totally my idea. We set off about 3:00 in the afternoon and 30 minutes later arrived at the village. I was shocked….I wasn’t tired, my legs weren’t hurting, and I had hardly broken a sweat even in my blue jeans. The ride back was equally enjoyable and passed very quickly. It was a sure sign of the fact that I am in much better shape now. A month ago, an hour long bike ride would have left me moaning in bed for the night….now it’s a mere stretch of the legs. I was also happy to find that the t-shirts my mom sent from home were far from being the snug fit they were when I left. It’s nice to see formerly tight shirts now just a tad baggy. It’s definitely all the bike riding….combined with the 5,000 mangoes I eat every day and the 3.5 million bottles of water I drink.

To Drink a Glass of Water

Drinking water is hard to come by here. For all of you that can simply turn on the tap and enjoy a nice cold beverage with ice, check out the process I have to go through just to get a drink…let alone a cold one!
Step One: Carry large pot down to kitchen, wash, and fill with water.
Step Two: Boil water then set aside to cool for a few hours.
Step Three: Carry large, heavy pot of water up precariously steep steps to my room.
Step Four: Carefully dump water into water filter for second step of purification.
Step Five: Ride into town and buy one large piece of ice for about 25 cents.
Step Six: Ride home with piece of ice in my bicycle basket, clean, and place in cooler.
Step Seven: Fill up water bottles (which must be washed on a least a monthly basis) and place in cooler….will be ready to drink in a couple of hours.

The entire process can take all day from time of boiling to point when it is ready to drink. Word to the wise…never let yourself run completely out of water!

A Day in the Life Of Sarah

Many people have asked “what is your typical day like?” I’ve outlined it here just to give you a rough idea. My schedule changes at least every month when I flip from morning teaching to afternoon teaching….for all of May, however, this is what it has been/will be.
- 5:30 am – Roll out of bed and dump a bucket of water or two on my head
- 6:30 am – Leave for school
- 7:00 am – 11:00 am – Teaching and working in the library
- 11:00 am – 11:30 am – Ride home and eat lunch
- 11:30 am – 2:00 pm – Reading/Nap time with the occasional trip to town to buy ice
- 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Work on lesson plans and prepare lessons for 2 classes with my cousins and co-teachers in the evening.
- 4:30 pm – Bath number 2
- 5:00 pm – First class with 3 middle school students (brother and 2 cousins)
- 6:00 pm – Second class with my sister, cousin, and 3 teachers from my school
- 7:00 pm – Eat dinner
- 8:00 pm – Reading and journaling
- 9:00 pm – 10:00 pm – Going to bed

I do believe this blog is long enough for this month! Things here are going well, as I hope you can tell from above. I am happy, healthy, and having a fantastic time still. The other night I had a revelation when I realized I have now been away from home longer than I ever have before. It was encouraging to me as I also realized I am doing just fine with that. While there are times when I miss home a lot, like when I had to miss my big sister’s wedding last month, I know I am where I need to be and doing exactly what makes me happy and fulfilled! I hope each of you can also find that thing that makes you do your happy dance.

See you next month!

Still Alive!

2007-04-17T00:44:00.000-07:00

Hello from Siem Reap Province!!

Happily, I made it to the internet a bit sooner than I imagined I would. School begins on the 23rd so we decided to book it to the big city before we were tied down to business!

On April 4th was our big swearing-in as official Peace Corps volunteers. This was a big event with the amabassador and director of peace corps world (see pic above) who gladly stopped for pics with all of us. We had a great time at the ceremony (and got some new PC paraphanalia...see pic above with PC hat) but unfortunately were not able to enjoy it too much as we all left for our sites immediately after stuffing some food in our mouths and changing into traveling clothes. After a 5 hour bus ride, I finally arrived in Siem Reap Province.

Things here are going well but have been extremely busy. My first week was full of funeral celebrations for various family members. Khmer religious culture holds celebrations after someone dies one week, 100 days, and 3 years after a person's death....that means constant ceremonies. The ceremonies are always different and always fun....one involved a late night of cards, kids games, dancing, and men getting drunk....interesting for a funeral! :)

Most of my time here has been spent on my bicycle! In the 10 days I have been here, I have been on several 20k+ bike rides on very bad dirt roads (this means I have constantly had a sore bum!). The day after I arrived we took a ride to one of the many pagodas in my district where the family was offerring food and prayers up to their ancestors. This trip also involved a stop at a local swinging bridge (see pic above...my friend Luck and my host brother). Another day we rode to visit some family friends in another village and to buy some mangoes. Little did I know these friends of the family were also crocodile farmers so I had a nice tour of the farm and crocs. :) Another bike ride just 2 days ago took a few hours and brought us to a beautiful lake district for some fresh water swimming, lunch and a long coulpe of hours hitting several jack fruit farms to find the best ones (see pic above....tying the fruits onto the back of our bicycles...my hot sister is the yellow sweater and host brother in red and gray shirt in the front right side). Jack fruit has quickly become one of my favorite fruits!

Highlights of some events:
- Screaming and running away from a mouse that entertained my host family.
- Chasing a chicken out of my 2nd story bedroom
- Mopping out of my room after an unseasonal rainstorm
- Watching the neighbors waist deep in mud pulling fish out of their pond they drained
- Visiting some family whose baby stared at me so long she started drooling
- Having a conversation with my district education director about how I can get enough skills to work in a hotel and stay in Cambodia after Peace Corps (his idea...not mine)
- Playing Khmer traditional games all night that left bruises on my knees
- Finally getting to chill in Siem Reap town at the Blue Pumpkin (mentioning the name because I know Krystal, Priscilla, and Christa will recognize it!)

Non-Translatable Khmer word for this update: Dal Laang
- This phrase, literally translated means "walk for fun." However, the phrase can mean, "let's hang out, let's go for a walk, let's go visit someone's house, let's go shopping...." So when some asks "neak chong toe dal lang?" or "do you want to go walk for fun?" it can mean many different things....always ask for details before agreeing!!!

Temperature of the day: a balmy 95 degrees (cool wave). The hot season is definitely here....all we do is lay around with fans in a pool of sweat! Trust me....not enjoyable.

Sorry for the bullet points but time is limited as my fellow volunteer and I are sharing a computer and have already been at this cafe for several hours! My love to all!! Keep the e-mails coming....when I do get to e-mail, it's nice to hear from home!!!!

Leighie Howie!!!

Farewell to Tbong Khmum!

2007-03-30T18:17:00.000-07:00

The countdown to leaving Tbong Khmum has begun! We have 2 more full days left (including today) in this town before we all spread out to our new locations. You can almost reach out and grabthe energy that's floating amongst all of us as we are packing and preparing to leave. While most of us will be sad to say goodbye to our families, looking ahead only brings excitement and nervousness. Last night I spent a couple of hours (full of interruptions from neighborhood kids who wanted to pull out everything I put in my box) sorting through everything I now own....things I need to leave with my family, things i need to ship to Siem Reap, things I need for the next few days.....it was a long and grueling process. Peace Corps is coming today and loading up all of our bikes, lock boxes, and any luggage we won't need for the next 2 days and will take it to our permanent sites where it will be waiting for us on the 4th. My room is going to look so empty here....!

This past week has been busy but farily uneventful. I think the most exciting thing was a new monkey that was brought to one of the wats here in town....she's an old monkey that apparently got in a bad scuffel at another wat so they brought her here. She's so friendly and has interuppted our language class on more than one occassion. The other day she crawled up onto our benches at the table and decided to take a nap. Later, one of my friends held hands with her while they both ate bananas. Apparently her comfortableness with humans is rubbing off on the other monkeys as one of them climbed our whiteboard yesterday and almost smashed himself when it fell over. They are definitely entertaining.

Last night my little sisters were all hanging out in my room while I was packing...they kept telling me how much they would miss me and that they love me....well then they started saying that they wouldn't love me and if another American came, they would miss her more...This was a fun game as I definitely made the most obnocious pretend crying noises I could muster until they said they loved me. We went back and forth with this game for a long time....it's amazing what can entertain little kids! :) Needless to say, however, I know I am going to be missed here and it makes me feel good. :) Maybe they will just miss my fancy shoes and makeup that they enjoy wearing. I was pretty proud of those shoes (the gold...shiney ones)...I have a beautiful Khmer skirt I had made here but did not have shoes to go with it. The ladies at the market had a great time helping me find shoes....since I have such small feet, they had a lot of options. My friend, however, was told her feet were too big and they did not have shoes for her. In the states, it's just the opposite! :)

Well, it's time to close this as i have more things to do on the internet before i head home to load up my luggage. This will be my last blog entry for awhile as I will not have internet in my village in Siem Reap. I am planning on going to Siem Reap town once a month for internet but will likely not get there more than that. My next blog will probably be sometime late in April or mid-May. I am going to try and load the rest/most of my pictures to my photobucket today so you be able to see all of them.

So long for awhile!

The Case of the Missing Students

2007-03-26T18:44:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 6:15 am today and scrambled to the shower where I quickly dumped a few cold buckets of water over my head to wake myself up. After a quick scrub down I hustled back to my room and donned my "teaching clothes" - a long blue skirt with a light blue collared shirt, neatly tucked in. After some quick primping and stuffing of books into my school bag, I hopped on my bike and sped off to the high school....about a 5 minute bike ride from my house.

Immediately as I started heading towards the school, I noticed something was different. Strange looks were coming my way....and little chuckles whith the questions of "hey...neak toe na?" or "hey....where are you going?" I just yelled back that i was going to the school and again more chuckles. When I arrived at the school, I knew what was so funny....aside from a small cluster of teachers, there was no one...an eerie site for a school of 3,000 plus students. Yesterday there were not many students, but enough for at least one class in the morning. Today, no such luck....none...zippo....not even one lonely student wandering around.

I waited around as more of my volunteer friends began showing up to teach their 7:00 classes like me and sat around and laughed at the fact that everyone decideded school would be over from now on. Khmer New Year starts mid-April and everyone is taking an early break. We just laughed, and hopped back on our bikes to hit our favorite (and only) coffee shop. Kwan, the store owner, knows us and what we want....we walk in and he says: Oh! Hello! Coffee....boun? or Four Coffees? he makes a mean cup of coffee. So we are all making plans to enjoy our unexpected week off from teaching before heading to our permanent sites next week. I'm hoping to spend some more time camped out here at the internet place to finish uploading all my pics before Internet access becomes a thing of the past! :) i will try and blog at least one more time before I leave.

Leighe Howie for now!!

Monkey Fighting and the Rains of Hot Season 2007

2007-03-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

Well this week has definitely been a busy one!!!!

Sunday we held our community events (pic above), and my group decided to do a basketball game for the high schoolers. It was a great hit with many kids attending and a basketball given as the prize. :) We had a great time, even in the heat, and enjoyed bonding with all our students! Also on Sunday the girls all spent time with one of our language teachers learning to make doughnuts! (Pic above) She used to be a chef at the US Embassy so knows all kinds of great recipes! We had fun and all enjoyed the doughnuts together later that afternoon.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were interesting days to say the least as we unexpectedly had some great rain storms here. During the hot season it is quite unexpected to have rain....and it poured. I remember waking up around 2:00 am Tuesday morning thinking "ahhh....refreshing rain" and then immediately changing my thoughts to "oh no! The roads!!!" Well my concern was realized the next morning when I slipped and slid on the now muddy roads to school. The roads were so bad that nearly all the students stayed home as even the motos and cars were having a hard time. It made me very thankful that my permanent site home lies on the national highway as well as the school! No muddy roads during rainy season!!! :)

This week also brought a call from some missionary friends in Siem Reap. I e-mailed them earlier this week and was so excited to get a call from them! It's nice to hear a familiar voice that is so close to me! I will be about an hour away from them and already have offers to stay in their home when I come into town for internet/church. :) I'm very excited about seeing them and other people I know from the States VERY soon! :)

Yesterday, language class even had it's own bit of excitement. When we arrived at the wat for class, the four of us found our teacher sitting about 20 feet away from our normal class place....all alone in a chair looking completely frightened. We soon found the source of her fright as a large monkey began cackling from the tree above our whiteboard. Not quite as intrigued by the monkeys as foreigner, Samart chose to stay FAR away....but we pulled our mangos, our breakfast of choice, and began feeding her. The monkey was very friendly and took the mango right from our hands. Well when it was time to start class, the monkey would not leave and Samart would not come over to the whiteboard. Finally fed up with the predicament I took a large, empty water bottled and started screaming like a crazy person and chasing the monkey away. I looked like a complete fool, but it worked!!! I never imagined myself chasing around monkeys before.....but you've gotta do what you've gotta do! :) The monkeys were in a strange mood that day anyway.....the whole family was swinging all over the place and screeching.....at least they were having some fun!

Besides strange monkey antics, things here are still going well! Yesterday in the afternoon we had an "emotional health" session with our Peace Corps nurse which was an uplifter for everyone.....especially because she brought brownies and milk! :) We all did yoga, stretched, meditated....it was a great time to just relax and vent a little.

Well I'm off.....time to get some coffee and find a taxi to head to the provincial town for some shopping and relaxation on our day off! :)

My love to all!

The Season of Flower Diareha!

2007-03-17T01:26:00.000-07:00

(I hope the pics above loaded....I can't see them on this computer today so I'm hoping you can. They are of a big bug I found in my house, the bedroom at my permanent site, me and 2 of my little sisters, and the high school at my permanent site where I will be teaching)

Hello friends!!

I hope all is going well at home! Things here are good but oh so hot! :) Unfortunately I stupidley forgot to e-mail everyone and let you know I updated my blog last week so if you are reading this and didn't check last week, the one below this is new as well! Read it first! :)

This week has been a busy one here in Tbong Khmum. We've started our practicum teaching so I'm at the high school in the morning and language class in the evenings and doing lesson plans during my free time. I'm definitely getting a taste of what my life will be like for the next 2 years although I'll have a lot of free time since I won't be in language class there. I'm already collecing more books to keep me busy during my down time at permanent site!

Speaking of language class, I'm sure you are wondering about the title of my entry. Well the title comes from a rather unfortunate miss-speak I did in class the other day when I accidently announced to my language group that it was the "season of flower diareha" instead of "the season of flower blooming" which is their word for spring. Oops....The word for diareha "rie=ick" and the world for bloom "rick" are too close for comfort....and we've all been using the workd "rie-ick" a lot lately as it's something we've all been plagued with on a regular basis. Khmer has many similar works like "nom" - urine and "num" - snack that are horrible to mix up. Definitely makes you may more attention to what you are saying! I did learn how to write my name in Khmer though.....I'll try and take a picture of it and post it next week....I'm rather proud!

Some people have asked some questions about my permanent site so here's a little more info. The school has 2,00 students, but my village is not that large. The way high schools are set up here is that were is 1 high school for every district, which is a pretty large area. Many students must travel quite a ways to go to school and other come to places where there are high schools and live with family members or board at the Buddhist temples. The size of schools make our towns seem large, but they are not that big. I have everything I need in my village though....it's about the right size. Unfortunately the one thing I will not have is internet. I will have to go to Siem Reap town to use the internet which may be only on a monthly basis. This will definitely put a damper on communication, but hey....I'll have more e-mails to read when I am able to check it! :)

Well folks that's all for now! I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful spring weather! Oh and Happpy St. Paddy's Day!!!

Back from Permanent Site!

2007-03-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Just got back to my training village after a long week of traveling! I was able to visit the high school I will be teaching in, my new family, and my new village for a few days and thoroughly enjoyed myself! Although worn out from so much travel....bus, bikes, vans, on foot, tuk tuks.....you name it, we rode it...I happy with the past week and how well things turned out!

The village I will be living in is beautiful! There is a large market, a beautiful river with benches and water lillies, beautiful schools and a lovely temple. My high school is large...2,000 students...but well taken care of. My classes will run about 40-50 students each and will definitely be a challenge. I was warmly welcomed at the school with a school assembly and faculty meetings to introduce me to everyone. When my family took me around the market the next day, everyone was saying "neak kru, neak kru!" which means "teacher" in Khmer. It was nice to see how quickly everyone knew who I was and that I was not just a tourist walking around their city....we call it "coconut wireless" here...news travels very fast!

The family I will be living with is very kind and excited to have me. I have a high school aged sister who showed me all around town and already loves spending time with me. I also have a 12 year old brother who has a great sense of humor and is alawys entertainng. My father there is a dentist but also has a chicken farm.....there are chickens, roosters, and some other crazy kind of bird that run all over the back yard....it made me think about my own Dad and how he always wanted a chicken farm. :) The yard also has lots of fruit trees....bananas, oranges, mangos....it's great! There's a lovely hammock in the backyard that i love! :) Another teacher boards there and we basically have the entire upstairs to ourselves....I have a large room with two windows that look out into the backyard and a nice double bed. I know I'm going to be very happy there and can't wait to get settled in! :)

Well that's all for now.....I'm still rather exhausted from the week's events as we did not get much rest at all (my own fault actually) so I'm going to head home for some lunch and then a nice long nap! :)

Permanent Site Information!

2007-02-26T22:59:00.000-08:00

Well everyone....I FINALLY know where I will be spending the next 2 years of my life! I have been assigned to a small village in Siem Reap province. I am about an hour away from Siem Reap city, home of Angkor Wat, missionary friends, and students coming from Lee for internships! I am very excited about that as the city will offer many opportunities for get aways....including internet use since my village will definitely not have that!

I will be living with a small family of a mother, father, and 12 year old son. The house is made of brick and wood and the father runs his dental office out of the first floor. The family has a small farm with trees and a pond and also have 2 other teachers boarding in their house. I'm really excited to meet them and get settled down. For a small village though, my school runs about 2,000 students from grades 10-12! wow! Next week I will travel there to see the house and make a list of things I will need, meet my family, meet the teachers I will be working with and get a general feel for the village. I'm really quite stoked about this as it is what I've wanted since I knew I would be coming here! Also, it definitely gives all my friends back home a little more incentive to come visit.....Angkor Wat is just a hop skip and a jump away!

Things here continue to go well. Please keep our group in your prayers, however, as many are starting to get sick. The tropics are beginning to wear on us as it gets hotter and hotter.....many are being taken to Phnom Penh for some intense meds and rest.....fevers, diareha, and heat problems are the most common ailments....even my stomach is starting to be disagreeable now. We are all taking turns being a bit under the weather but so far nothing too serious.

Well that's all for now.....I'm for a study session with some friends. We just started learning the Khmer alphabet and writing system today so we are going to try and review some of our new info. We though speaking Khmer was hard.....now we are learning the writing it is even harder! :)

Leighie Howie! (see you later)

Back from my Trip!

2007-02-25T00:51:00.000-08:00

Well I made it back from my less than exciting trip to Krakor, Cambodia. We had a long bus ride on Saturday that started at 6:45 am and finally arrived in Krakor. The city itself was only one street but thankfully did have a guest house to stay in. We mucked around in the marketfor a few hours, played some cards games, went to bed and headed back today. From what I've heard from others, there trips were likewise uneventful. :) We had some pretty scenery driving there and back though and also met some very nice people. I was also able to use my growing Khmer vocabulary to successfully purchase bus tickets, get a room at the guest house, order some food and make some purchases at the market....so it wasn't a completely pointless trip.

Tomorrow is a big day as we are heading back to the provincial city of Kampang Cham for an all day seminar where we will find out our permanent sites. I've very excited but extremely nervous at the same time. :) I know whatever site I get will be both wonderful and difficult at the same time, but actually recieving my site will make this a lot more real!

The pictures I posted above are of my language "classroom," my bedroom, my little sisters, and me with 2 other volunteers enjoying a surprise of skittles from one of the Peace Corps staff members. It's amazing how wonderful the simple things can be! :)

Well I'm off to enjoy one of the wonderful simple things called my evening bath! Knyom toe moi tek! I'm going to go take a bath! :) Time for bath, dinner, unpacking, and some relaxation with my lovely little family.

Love you all!

More News From Tbong Khmum!

2007-02-20T21:20:00.000-08:00

Wow is today ever a hot one!!! We are all feeling the move from "cold season" when we arrived to "hot season" which is quickly approaching. Every day we compare how sweaty we are with the day before and can feel the heat moving in! I love that around noon the whole town shuts down while everyone takes their mid-afternoon baths and siestas. It's really the ony thing to do here in the middle of the day as it is the hottest from noon to two.

Today we had a wonderful surprise....actually 2! :) We met at one of the local Buddhist temples for a meeting about safety and to get some more shots. The temples are wonderful meeting places as the grounds are huge and open to the public....we bring mats and sprawl under the trees. This morning our country director came which doesn't normally happen and brought us all the most amazing chocolate chip cookies ever! They were soooo good, but now we are all on sugar highs since we have had little to zero amounts of sugar since we arrived. Surprise number 2 came in the form of a lovely little family of monkeys that wandered out to the trees where we were meeting. One of the monks brought some bananas out to get them to come down and a few climbed down to get them. The little babies were soo cute and all of us were very excited! :) Our first Cambodian monkeys (sat sva in Khmer).

This afternoon we will have individual interviews about our permanent sites. I am very excited and should know as soon as Monday about where I will be going for my full two year. On March 4th we will spend a week traveling to our sites, visiting our families, meeting the teachers, and having a couple days of fun in Phnom Penh. We are all nervously looking forward to it! This weekend we are getting a chance to be away for one night on a 'self experiene' or as Mom called it, the Peace Corps version of Amazing Race. They gave us a location and are sending us out in pairs to practice our Khmer, buy bus tickets, rent rooms etc. I will defintely be a experience, but I'm looking forward to it.....we are all going to many different place throughout Cambodia!

Well that's all for now.....I have to head back into town for my site placement interview! yay!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-17T01:04:00.000-08:00

NOTE: I tried to upload some pics but the system is running slow today. I will try again soon!

Well friends, Valentine's Day passed rather uneventfully as most of us even forgot what day it was until we got text message from Peace Corps staff saying random Happy Valentine's Day things. :) Fun times.

Things here are still going well. I haven't been sick, no injuries, and so far the rats have stayed away from me and my things.....unfortunately my friend Fel had a rather unfortunate experience with 2 rats fighting over a banana she mistakenly left out in her room. We learned later that rats especially love bananas....yikes.

Today begins the Chinese New Year and Tbong Khmum is all full of family visiting from the cities, fire crackers exploding, and some carnvial rides set up in the market. I have a feeling there will be little sleep tonight and the next 2 days as this is a 3 day event. Yippee! :) Cambodians love to party! :) Every night I have music to sleep....or not sleep...by. :)

This afternoon we had a fun language class and played games with all 12 of us living in my town at one of the local temples. We had a great time and quickly attracted a crowd of children that laughed at our poor use of Khmer. It was a good time which we finished with some "tuk Ampel" or sugarcane juice....which is always a good way to end any afternoon! :)

Tomorrow a group from my village is heading to the city for some American food and fun away from all the stares. :) I'm looking forward to a day away, but that is only after a morning of some serious laundry again. They gave us some awesome mosquitoe nets that actually kill bugs when they land on it which is great...minus the dead bugs that somehow get all over my sheets. Yuck. Wash day....*sigh* What a chore sometimes. Those of you with washing machines, say a little THANK YOU to God for them this week! :)

This next week also brings our midterm oral exam on the language, a wedding of one of our language instructors, new language groups, and a loevely trip away to the area of Lake Tonle Sap. Actually everyone is going to different places in pairs for a "self-experience" to try out our language skills and such. It should be a lot of fun....I'm looking forward to it.

Well it's time to head home to meet a friend and then wander back to the market to check out some New Year's Happenings. :) I hope things are going well on the homefront! Remember, e-mails are always enjoyed! :0 )

Before I go....a quick FYI. If you leave a comment on my blog and later find it deleted, there are reasons. Because of the cultural sensitivity required of volunteers and our positions in our communities, we have to be extra careful about what we say in our blogs and the comments that are left. I love funny and honest comments and will enjoy reading them, I just might have to delete it later. Pelase do not be offended....it's just one of those things. :)

Finally some pics!

2007-02-11T02:38:00.000-08:00

Well here are some much awaited pictures! :) And yes....that's the spider I ate! :)

Things are still going well since I posted on Friday. :) Today was a really good day since it was our day off. We still stayed busy with a soccer game (or football as they call it) with our language teachers and some local children that joined in then a ncie dip in the pool this afternoon! :) Unfortunately the dip in the pool ended up with a call for a "Peace Corps ambulance" as one of our guys might have a cracked a rib when a kid pushed him off a part of the pool....not a good end to the day.

We also got our bicylces yesterday so everyone is very happy! We've been walking everywhere since we got here so the bikes are great.....minus the sore hinies from long rides! We had our first bicycle accident today too as one of the guys flew over his handle bars while trying to dodge a chicken!

Because of the many comments about the toilet paper, i feel the need to explain. The septic systems here are not elaborate so using toilet paper would severly clog them. People do use tp when it's allowed but in most homes, it is not the norm. You can use it, but you have to keep it all in a bag and burn it later as they do with all their trash. I just opted for not using it instead of carrying around a bag of poopie paper! :) It's really okay though....people here wonder why American use dry paper to clean the dirtiest part of their bodies instead of soap and water....it's a rather efficient way to clean yourself! :)

Well that's all for today unfortunately....we are all starvig after our swim and ready to eat some dinner!!

My love to all!!!

Hello From Sunny Cambodia!

2007-02-08T23:08:00.000-08:00

Well I FINALLY made it to Cambodia! It was an extremely long trek with 21 hours of flying in one day, an 18 hour layover in Bangkok (complete with a 5 start hotel stay courtesy of the PC), and then another hour long flight to Phnom Penh. After a short weekend in a resort in Phnom Penh, we were packed up and shipped out to our host families. Along the way, we stopped for a nice meal complete with fried spiders (ping ping) which were surpisingly tasty! Yum!

Overall things are going very well. I am staying in the Kampang Cham province about 2 hours from phnom penh with a very nice little family. i have 3 little sisters now and love them dearly! :) Time is flying as my daily schedule involves getting up at 5 am, going to language class for 4 hours, eating lunch, then off to more meetings for another 4 to 5 hours, dinner, and bed by 8:00 pm....and throw in about 3 showers a day as well which seems to be the norm because of the heat. yuck

So far there has been nothing overly shocking although it has been an adjustment to shower from a bucket, eat rice for 3 meals a day, almost always wear a skirt, and never use toilet paper...yes....I mean never. Our schedule is rather rigourous but we are learning a lot. I already feel like I've leanred more Khmer in 4 days than I did Spanish in 2 years! :)

For those of you waiting for letters.....I'm not sure when they will come. I had letters written and ready to post today before they told us at our group meetings that we should only post the from Phnom Penh that is now 2 hours away.....so....it may be awhile. I will probably get to the internet more than letters will get to you!

Well I should go.....we are in another city for meeting and it's about time to head home for dinner and bed! :) Take care and keep in touch!

San Francisco Training

2007-01-29T21:09:00.000-08:00

Hey friends!

Just wanted to let everyone know I made it safely to San Francisco with all my luggage! All fears of lost bags are now gone! Training has been great so far....we've all been able to openly confess our secret fears of evil disease-carrying mosquitoes and inability to effectively use "squatie potties." Being able to laugh at our fears and anxieties have made them much easier to cope with already!

Everyone on the team is great so far. There are 30 of us, all well-traveled, experienced, and excited about eating bugs, riding bikes, and learning Khmer! Today we have been bombarded with information including how to use our new debit cards, not to pull out both of our passports at the same time, general facts about the Peace Corps, and other tid bits of information thrown in.....plus of course the "well I heard this" coming from every new volunteer. :)

We fly out on our way to Cambodia on Wednesday morning and do not arrive until some time on Friday due to a lovely 18 hour layover in Bangkok. Remember us in your prayers as we will all need an extra ounce of energy to make it through the long trip.

Well it's far past time to turn in as we have an early date with more meetings tomorrow. This will probably be my last post for awhile as I only jumped on to print some forms and thought I would update.

I love you all! And thanks to everyone that has already sent loving e-mails and kind words!

Ready to Go!

2007-01-27T22:29:00.000-08:00

All my bags are packed, and all that's left to do is say goodbye....something I hate, but something that must be done! I spent the day in the mountains, soaking up the sunshine and beautiful views. The day ended with a wonderful service at Emmanuel where I was officialy sent out as the first "missionary" from our new little church. Although the Peace Corps is strictly non-religious, there is still an aspect of missions as we are called to do much more than simply bring the word of Christ. Too often we forget about the works.

When the goodbyes are finished, I can finally focus on the excitement of leaving and the adventures ahead of me. My mind is still foggy as I'm having trouble comprehending the fact that I am actually leaving and my dreams of travel, volunteering, and learning are finally coming true. Maybe my mind is only foggy because I can't sleep from excitement, nerves, and anxiety!

Pray for safe travel and the quick buidling of relationship between me and the 29 other volunteers heading to Cambodia!