It was very surreal getting packed up and clearing everything out of the house that we had lived in for about two years. It was still pretty hot out. We had been doing our best to teach the kids how to use email and our co-teachers so we could have a means to keep in touch. We went around town, telling our goodbyes to people we had met over the course of time. I think I went to buy a tube of
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So last June, I decided to break down and get my hair permanently straightened as many of the Cambodian girls do. I remember noticing when I first arrived in country how many of the girls had such long, beautiful straight, straight black shiny hair. Well, it turns out they get it permanently straightened.I asked around, and one of the teachers, whose hair I thought looked nice, recommended a
Is a Cambodian dish that is directly translated as “Cow Climb Mountain.”During our last few weeks at site we found ourselves being invited to dinner party after dinner party from friends we had made over time. Cow Climb Mountain, was the most popular dish that was served (partially because it’s a special dish and preparation takes a little extra work – and they save it for special occasions.)The
Hard to believe we’re here…awaiting our flight to Tokyo and then Minneapolis. Our two years is a wrap. I’ve got some catching up to do as usual… the last month or so…… ---time-lapse---Now I’m in Tokyo. Didn’t really get the chance to sit down and write like I thought I was going to be able to at the Manila airport. We stayed the night in the terminal and there was only one power outlet for me to
We had a PEACEFUL morning for the first time in 7 days! There was one wedding and two funerals within about a 300m radius of our house. Thus meaning music starting anywhere from 4:25AM and lasting until 10-11pm at night. And this is loud obnoxious music, I'd almost compare some of it to what a casino sounds like (continuous bells going nonstop). But thankfully we've got a day of peace without
Will is doing a 3 week course on playing chess for some students and will have a tournament at the end with prizes. He’s been teaching the main rules this last week. I just got a text message from him saying he had a great line from one of his students. “You eat queen me, I eat queen you.” Which 1) I love how direct translations of words in other languages come out in English…..like in Khmer,
We’re born. We die. We meet. We leave. My host mother was talking to me a little bit about Buddhism today during her lunch break, and how she follows the rules of the monks, to try to be a good person. She says there are a lot of people in this country who are not good, and therefore are not happy. She has been a mid-wife for 30 over years, and has seen a lot of things. She has been offered
WinstonI recently adopted a stray little kitten, named Winston. Will’s not thrilled. My host mom’s not thrilled. My host-brother is indifferent. But my host-dad and I both like cats, so we’ll just leave it at that. She’s not the prettiest lookin’ kitten out there. The scrawny little thing came walking round the corner looking very hungry and weak, missing most of her tail about a week ago. Calico
Well we bought our tickets home yesterday. It’s really hard to believe… but we’ll be back on American soil on August 8th, 2010. The string is slowly unraveling and the reality that we’re actually going back is starting to sink in. Two years is a long time when you consider going somewhere new; but it too is such a short time. It has gone so fast all of… ‘this’, and a lot of everything is going to
So I was thoroughly impressed, surprised and very proud of my students’ progress on the world map today. We arrived at the school around 1pm and I started instructing how to use the grid method to get the imagery onto the wall. By around 1:30 I had 16 students there who were all intently drawing each country, grid by grid, despite the hot sun pouring down on us. And to my surprise by 3:30pm they
So to round out the last two months at site, I’ve decided to do a world map project mural at our school. I’ve got about twenty interested students, so that should make the daunting task move along. We’ve got the background ocean blue already painted on. The map itself is 2.8 meters tall by 5.6 meters wide. Today we finished drawing the grid onto the wall (we’ll be using the grid-method to enlarge
So finally after being away a few weeks on and off due to Khmer New Year, PC meetings and a personal vacation to Ratanakiri (a slightly cooler temperature-wise province) we are back at site for a while. Some days are more disheartening than others. We had yet to get any rain once we arrived back from Ratanakiri and it was still hotter than the devil when we got back. The thing about this time of
Our Cambodian Grandmother or “Yay” (the Khmer word for Grandmother) passed away on Wednesday, May 12th, 2010. We were in Ratanakiri at the time, and she was actually no longer staying at our house and was staying at another one of her children’s places in Siem Reap. She was 90 years old….and what a life she has led through the years of this country’s existence. I’m really glad we had the
So let me take a step back and write a bit about our trip to Ratanakiri.So we used up our very last annual leave days to go and visit the very north-eastern province of Ratanakiri. “Ratana” means gem and “kiri” means mountain. And true to its name there are a few gem mines in the area with some semi-precious stones available. It borders both Laos and Vietnam and is slightly higher in elevation,
So the rains were a little late coming to the north part of the country. My last entry, I wrote about our happiness of the first rain of the year. Well…… that was in Phnom Penh about a 3 weeks ago. Our meetings in Phnom Penh were at the end of April, and until yesterday, (may 21) it was that we finally received a formidable shower. And MAN has it been hot. Just hot. – Hot as in, you have a wet
We woke up to some rain the other morning and was that a sound for sore ears. It was like the anticipation and excitement of small children awaiting the first snow flakes of the winter season. I'm not sure I can even put into words the feelings of contentment that we were experiencing as we watched the drops pour down from our 5th floor hotel room in Phnom Penh.At this latitude & this time of
And here we all are at our Close of Service Conference, 2nd group to ever serve in Cambodia. Disclaimer: the photo of all of us and the Peace Corps Vehicle was taken for photographic purposes only. Peace Corps never allows passengers to ride in the Peace Corps Vehicle without a safety belt. The vehicle was used only as a prop for this group photo to demonstrate how many Cambodians travel.
I'm tellin ya, no one needs an SUV, PickUp Truck, trailer or car for that matter. Just strap it onto the back of your motorbike.
There's nothing quite like the experience of biking on the hot, busy, moto-weaving-traffic-filled streets of phnom penh. You definitely have to be alert and on the ball; but really it's quite exhilarating.
The water tank project has been completed and here are a few pics of the staff standing proudly in front of it! The second photo is of my host-mother (a midwife) me and my counterpart that helped make this project work. A special thanks to those stateside who contributed: Brian & Evi, Nancy & Scott, Cole & Melissa, Tom & Lita and Annie & Dan. The staff there are forever grateful.
So, as I was bathing tonight, after the first douse of water over my body; I was ready to soap up, when one large-winged-insect flew out of my bath sponge just prior to using it. Scared the crap out of me. For the most part I’m used to interacting with the many insects that are very much a part of my daily life here, but, ha…. I guess I look forward to the day when there will be less interacting
So I was at sewing today, and I’m working on a pair of dark colored pants for Will. Well, my machine isn’t near the window and after 4pm it gets really quite difficult to see. These machines are pedal-powered, so needless to say, there is not a light I can switch on near the needle. My cell phone does have a flashlight feature, which I use from time to time, but unless I put it in my mouth, it’s
Dear Dave & Lynn, I apologize for this post not being put up sooner, but I’ll go ahead and refer you to the post about it being too hot to use the computer lately. But finally, I’ve gotten some time to sit down and write. I hope you enjoy! Good news too, now as opposed to it being 6 months till we get home (from the last time we saw you) we’re closing in on just over 3! – All for now, With love
So, have I mentioned it’s hot out? If you want to know more detailed about the drops of sweat trickling down my neck and stomach as I type, go ahead and give me a call or email. I can elaborate on how hot this hot season is feeling, but I don’t want to come across as though I’m complaining on this blog. We are lucky enough to have electricity and fans blowing on us. Some volunteers are not so
So I made my first successful batch of Peanut Butter Cookies today. That was pretty exciting – they turned out pretty good and I was pretty happy. I made them from an oven I self constructed made from some sand, tin foil, a large pot and three aluminum cans that had been sawed in half. Go ahead, eat that Martha Stewart. Maybe next on the list will be some banana bread.
In this country, on any given Saturday, you can find a large group of men in the local coffee shop or restaurant, shouting and cheering while watching a boxing match and probably betting on the thing. Our host dad enjoys watching his boxing matches on the tube (he usually stays home to watch the events). But apparently boxing/kick boxing is a pretty popular ‘sport’ here.Well not too long ago, I
So the other night Will was playing a game similar to charades with the neighbor kids we teach on the week nights. And at one point during the game one of them was to ‘stand on their hands’. The four of the kids looked at each other with somewhat puzzled looks, and then Napet whispered something in Khmer to the other kids and they kind of giggled. Then after a few moments of discussion, Napet
I would like to extend a special thanks to Brian & Evi, Nancy & Scott, Cole & Melissa and Tom & Lita for your donations towards the water-tank project at our local health center. I also want to apologize for a misunderstanding on my part. I thought your names would be posted on the Appropriates Project website under my project, but apparently that's only if the entire project is adopted by a
Dear Friends and Family,I hope this finds you well! I’m in the last few months of service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cambodia; it’s hard to believe how fast the time has gone and an experience it has been to say the least.I’m writing to tell you about an opportunity I have, to work with an organization called Water Charity www.watercharity.org . They are helping Peace Corps Volunteers
It’s funny how and when things occur to you. When I think back to my first year in college as a music major and was deep into studying musical intervals and aural theory, I just couldn’t stop hearing the music all around me. I used to analyze the pitches and background music to commercials on TV for gosh sakes. As my father said, well it’s just a heightened sense of awareness; it’s what you’ve
I did a small poster and writing contest in my classrooms. Here are some of the writings (taken verbatim) and posters that my girls came up with. Thought I'd share!And for essays:Sai Seitha Grade 10HMarch 8th International Women’s Day Like for women in Cambodia is very difficult, especially, and women’s the roles do for artisan director philosopher. Sometimes have become a personality or
So at our spaghetti dinner tonight, we learned from my co-teacher that our mid-wife of a host mom, Ming (as we call her), always requires the husband to be in the delivery room when she is delivering babies. He told me that she always has the husband join the process. Apparently she feels it's very important for the husband to understand the pain & suffering that women endure during childbirth.
So we just had my co-teacher, his wife and three children over for a spaghetti dinner. I don't remember if I've written about my previous Khmer/American cultural food exchanges in regards to spaghetti; but tonight was a SUCCESS! They ALL liked it (including the two-year old), they all asked for seconds AND no one put soy sauce on top of it, used chop-sticks OR asked for rice. I was so pleased,
I love that KFC in Cambodia plays country music for diners.
OK, I know, I know I haven't written in a while. I've got some catching up to do. I still haven't written about our trip to Bangkok; AND Will's parents just left last week after an eventful visit to this country - and that too needs to be written about. Hopefully I'll put up a few updates within the next week or so.Something worthy taking note of and sharing is about our experience this morning
Will's parents are here -- I know I haven't written a while, but will have some stories soon I'm sure. I've just posted some more photos from our time in the north of the country; and tomorrow we're headed south to the beach, so it should be good!All for now; more later.
There's just something about the 5 o'clock bell, when the thousands of students in their uniforms of white shirts and navy bottoms, race to their bicycles and filter out of the school to file out onto the main road pouring out into the sunset, all very happy to have yet another day done. It's an image I won't forget.
so, apparently speedwalking is a high school sport here. who knew? (this photo was taken at the new stadium in Siem Reap)
The English Language has far too many words in it we've decided. And who got to decide that English is to be the 'international language' anyway?Anyhow - it amazes us how many vocabulary words that we come across, when directly translated, I have to pause and ask my co-teacher, "Really? There isn't another word or way of saying that?" He says, "No. It can mean the same thing, like synonym, right?
Dec 20, 2009So today I was craving some ice cream and thought I’d splurge and get a cone at the silk farm tourist attraction that is near our high-school. It’s a place we don’t frequent often; because those treats are priced at tourist prices (i.e. one ice-cream cone is $1.50, which will buy you a complete meal and drink at the most expensive khmer restaurant in our town). But once in a blue moon
Lately our after dinner evening entertainment has involved us watching the toads compete for bugs on our patio for their dinner. As night settles in (which is just around 6:00pm lately) the toads seem to like congregate on our patio to scope out the best spot to grab their dinner, which consists of other insects.As simple as that may sound, it actually is somewhat entertaining. We just had some
Holla! We're moving up in the world. Our bank just finished construction of its new building. AND there's an ATM. 24/7. Visa. all in its own little room WITH AIR CONDITIONING. When I went into it for the first time, I felt so big city and had to ask myself, "Where Am i!?" This concerns Will a little bit as now it's easier than ever for me to get money. But he'll just have to learn to deal. :)
A funny lady she is. She’s pretty with it, at age 90. She still weeds in the garden every morning and she still does her own laundry by hand. While I don’t understand much of what she says…….. every once in a while I try and make some sort of conversation with her. She thinks it’s great I take sewing classes. One day, I asked her if she’d like me to make her a shirt. Her response: “A shirt!? To
Are so unpredictable. It’s apparently their time of year right now, and well they like hangin’ out in the bathroom. You just never know when or where they’re going to jump next while you’re bathing. I mean seriously, I like to be able to bathe without having to worry about dodging the next unpredictable move of the grasshopper. sigh. this too shall pass. ;-)
“Whoa, your yay (grandma) is 90? That’s like 120 in Khmer years”. – Quoted by our friend Anthony, after meeting our yay. True fact: the average life expectancy for Cambodian people is 58 years old.
So we’re in the midst of the second school year. Things seem to be going well. We’re both teaching grade 10 this year. Will has an environmental club going and soon the basketball season will start. I’ve got a health club “future Cambodian healthcare workers” going as well as a writing club. Starting up the clubs is usually an interesting task. For my health club I held a meeting of interest, and
So prior to setting up the tents in the front yard for this big festival our family was having, I remember walking past our host dad and his brother-in-law having a heated debate about something. I didn’t know what it was they were talking about, nor did I bother asking. As I was walking past to our door, they stopped for a moment and acknowledged my presence; but after I walked past, their
So our host grandmother decided that this was the year that she was going to throw a “Bon Catin”. Apparently it’s maybe the most important festival that one or a family will throw in a generation in the Buddhist religion. It’s a large festival/party that a family throws in order to raise money to donate as well as give offerings to the pagoda and purchase gifts (new robes, dishes, soap,
October 1, 2009So about a week after we got back from our vacation, we started to have some really heavy rains. We had heard about the floods in the Philippines on the radio and sure enough a few days later strong winds came through Cambodia. Kampong Thom province had some really strong winds and I guess several houses blew over and 9 people died. While no houses blew over in our area that we
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