Before I leave Cambodia in a week, I wanted to make one last post about the end of service...

During our close of service conference in May, a returned Peace Corps volunteer played a game with us. It was simple enough, one volunteer had a ball and threw it to another volunteer, then picked a question out of a hat to ask the other volunteer. The questions, however, were commonly asked questions upon returning to the States. While some were ignorant in the true sense of the word ("Wow, Cambodia. How was it living in Africa?"), while others were simply offensive. One question that the group was rather upset about was "Are you ready for the real world?" I was asked a variation of this question before I left- "Oh, joining Peace Corps. Running away from the real world for two years?". I didn't go into detail then, and I won't upon returning to America, but here I would like to clear the air. Simply put, I joined Peace Corps to join the real world.

While studying as an undergrad at Seton Hall, one particular International Relations class that I took focused on development. One day in class, the teacher offhandedly mentioned that 80% of the world lives with 20% of the world's wealth, while the other 20% lives with 80% of the world's wealth. I was lucky enough to have been born into the minority with the majority of the world's money. This statistic was one of the driving factors that solidified my decision to join Peace Corps. So questions or comments about leaving or reentering the real world are ones that I just simply disagree with. I wanted to leave America and see how most of the world lives. And in two years, I was able to live like 80% of the world's population. I'm very proud of my service and the Peace Corps.

The things that I have learned range from very personal ones to universal themes. I have been able to grow professionally, as a teacher, person and woman. Some of the lessons are ones that I expected 100%. These lessons include:

- How to create a project in the developing world with very little resources and money

- Khmer culture ranging from religion, customs, traditions, relationships, education, etc

- How important personal relationships are

- Encourage the youth just a little and they can soar

-I can't change the world

These lessons are all very universal for Peace Corps volunteers. There is no way that one can transfer these lessons to another, rather the volunteer must learn these lessons for her or himself.

In addition to these lessons, there are some skills that I attained, that I am extremely proud of. These are skills that I think only Peace Corps volunteers can learn. Most volunteers in Cambodia live on their own, so they can avoid learning these skills. While they have been annoying to learn, I think that it sets us apart from other volunteers and has brought me closer to my family and community.

- How to wash my clothes by hand

- How to shower at a well outside and be properly clean

- The appropriate hand positioning of greeting children, peers, elders, monks and the king

- How to shower using a bucket and rain water

- How to eat rice three meals a day

- How to navigate the market and find the best fruit

- How to use a squatty potty (porcelain hole in the ground) and not pee all over my shoes (too much information?)

- How to use the bathroom without relying on toilet paper

- How to properly pray in a Buddhist pagoda

- How to cross the street on a bike without being hit by motos coming from every direction

- How to use chopsticks to pick up just about anything

- Khmer slang and swear words

- Read Khmer body language and pick up on when someone feels- sad, mad, confused, doesn't agree, uncomfortable, etc.

- How to sleep through funerals, weddings, rooster crowing sessions, dog fights, crying geckos, mice scurrying, cows mooing, babies crying and motos/cars/trucks honking. And I used to be a light sleeper....

Learning these lessons has taken a long time. While some have come naturally and others have been difficult to learn, I am happy that I have learned so much about Cambodia.

But where does this leave me now? Peace Corps has three main goals. First, the volunteer provides technical training to host country nationals. Second, the volunteer teaches his or her community about American culture to increase cross-cultural awareness. Lastly, the volunteer teaches Americans about his or her country of service to increase cross-cultural awareness. These lessons will not have been learned in vain, since I plan on coming home and finding a Khmer community to be a part of. I also plan to make presentations where ever possible and become a part of the teams to help recruit more volunteers. I wasn't able to express this properly to my community, but Cambodia will always be a part of me and I will continue to work for the development of the Cambodian people for the rest of my life.

I left my community yesterday. The week leading up to my departure was uncharacteristically sad and dreary. I had a lot of loose ends to tie up (cleaning, packing, various purchases) and a lot of goodbyes around town. It was a draining week. I didn't sleep that well on account of the stress and emotions. The last few days already seem like a blur between spending time at home and seeing all of my friends and students all over town. My host family had a party for me on my last night at home. I had been giving out gifts all week and I received some pretty incredible and touching gifts that will decorate my future home. My sisters cooked fried noodles and spring rolls and my host siblings and their families all came over. I supplied the wine and we had a low-key, but nonetheless fun party.

The following morning, my host siblings and three students came over to "see me off". We waited at my house from 8:00 until the us picked me up outside at around 9:20. My host mom avoided everyone else because she was crying all morning and I teared up a few times but kept it together to spend the last few minutes together on a happy note. Then the us came. The tears followed immediately. We all walked out to the bus and it felt more like a funeral procession. We loaded my bags then I said the final farewells to my incredible family and students. Crying so hard, I sat on the front of the bus to tell the driver when to stop at Darlene's. At Darlene's house, we did the same. Darlene and I cried all the way to the next big district. We were exhausted and devastated. I forgot how tiring it is to be that emotional about these things.

Although it's so hard to leave, I believe that it's a good sign that I am so torn up and the people who matter so much to me were also sad. If I didn't feel so sad, it would be a bad sign. One friend once told me that the most worthwhile things that we do are always the most difficult. And it's so true.

Thanks for your support over the two years. It has really meant a lot to me and kept me positive when often times it was easiest to be negative. I hope that you have enjoyed learning about my experience as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with you. I should be seeing you soon!

You have all been updated on my undertakings ofthe past two years and to be honest, these next two months aren’t going to havemany (if any) projects apart from finding scholarships and possibly anotherhealth workshop. Besides that, I amtying up lose ends and enjoying time with the people that I love here. I’ve found out that I the kind of person whoneeds to map things out for myself or else I cannot understand them. Having said that, I will organize mythoughts, fears and opinions in a manner that helps me sort out this mire ofemotion, which is a list.

Things I will miss-Khmer hospitality- there are ample cases of Cambodians, most of them people I know, but sometimes not, who look out for me. The most extreme example was while I was taking a tuk-tuk to my student’s house for a party with my friends who were visiting from New York, when my phone fell out of my pocket and two women on a moto caught up to us to tell me. I told the driver to turn around, and right as he did, a teenage boy pulled up on a moto with all of the pieces for me. Then took off in the OPPOSITE direction. More simply, there have been countless times where I ask someone where something is, and they send their son/daughter out to show me where it is. Ma- My host family has been amazing and as the matriarch, she has made my time here so comfortable and enjoyable. My Khmer isn’t stellar and she can only say “hello” and “thank you” in English, but we still have a good time. She asks me really funny questions and isn’t shy about teaching me about Cambodian- the good parts and bad. She is very frank with me about her time during the Khmer Rouge, not for sympathy, but as an ambassador for every mother who went through that awful time with small children. She had a four year old and baby that both survived, which is simply incredible and speaks to her character and gumption. The Chuns- Chun Lai and Chun Liap, as you well know, are my host niece and nephew who live at my house. I haven’t had the privilege of being an aunt just yet, but I have been given a sneak peak with those two. Coming home and them running to say hello and demanding to play. They each have their own personalities- Chun Lai is a little boss man who calls the shots, is adorable and knows it. He’s so charming and clever, I cannot wait to come back in a few years and see what a little heartbreaker he is with his teachers and fellow students. Chun Liap is the sweetest girl. Her family misinterprets her Down’s Syndrome for being slow, but while Lai is all about himself, she can read a room better than any adult in the family. She knows when someone is upset and will come over and be cute to try to cheer them up. I have been so fortunate to spend time with them. My students- Out of over 3,000 students at my school, I was able to make a close relationship with 11 of them. I was able to watch them grow from awkward, self-conscious juniors to confident, thoughtful seniors. Most students, much like myself when I was a student, go through the motions without much vigor. I just happened to find a few of them who were willing to go WAY above and beyond the call of duty of study more and learn. This means biking 5 miles on awful roads at my beck and call to volunteer and study. I wasn’t the greatest teacher to those students who were unmotivated but teaching these 11 was so much, it seemed unfair to other teachers. As a volunteer, I will never see the outcome of my work. Cambodia didn’t change because of what I did. But I am so positive in my faith that they will grow up and administer the changes that are needed here that I can leave a happy and satisfied volunteer. Battambang- I was so lucky to be placed in this site and enjoyed my time here. The people are really laid back and welcoming, but every volunteer says that about where they were placed. I got to know this city and it’s people. Moreover, I watched it grow in two years in ways that are amazing. In ten years from now, it won’t be recognizable. Peace Corps- Even though I get angry at the politics at times, I believe in its goals and aims more today than I did when I left. After seeing so many people and organizations interested in the selfishness of aid rather than development. I have a belief that development is a 50/50 agreement since the host country nationals are the ones that have to live with the development, and if they do not agree or aren’t interested, that isn’t development, that’s a waste. Learning the tricks of the trade can be so frustrating, but failing is a part of success and without it, I wouldn’t have learned how to help the developing world help itself. It isn’t easy, but it is the most effective (cost effective too to boot). Other volunteers- It is/was fun to meet up in a city and do American things with other Americans. It was such a breath of fresh air. Most of us are like-minded, but that doesn’t mean that we always agree. We always joke that you have to be a little crazy to join Peace Corps. Peace Corps, typically, attracts people who have the following characteristics- adventurous, idealistic, confident, active, etc. But sometimes we can be stubborn, hard-headed, overzealous, etc. These characteristics make for some fun and memorable times. I also feel a connection to them similar to those connections for friends from grade school, high school, college and teammates- that we went through something together that others may not get. I’m sure the readjustment period will include a lot of texts and stories to soften the blow of being thrown back into American life. Khmer prices- $4 for a cup of coffee? I pay 30 cents! $30 for a 4 hour bus ticket? I spent $4! $200 for a pair of jeans? I could pay for a year of university with that! I could go on for days, but going from paying $1 for a nice lunch to $12 is going to be tough. Lack of options- At first, it made me mad, but now, having more than a few options seems so stressful. For lunch do I want fried noodles or fried rice? Easy. Just imagine picking out cereal- there are so many options. Do I want a kiddie cereal? Chocolate? Fiber infused? Other volunteers have commented that this is one of the most difficult things to readjust to because it’s just so excessive. How many options do we need, really? Even at the one supermarket in Cambodia, I sometimes walk out with very little because there are too many options (I read a really interesting article about this in The Economist and it talked about how consumers tend to not buy any product if there are too many options instead of just a few, so imagine how I will handle this!)Lack of technology- When I came to Cambodia, the iPad was still a secret in a lab and we came here with alien technology and were way ahead of the game with technology in Cambodia. We were given very basic phones (think of the phone you got in 1998), but we didn’t need much more than that (it is a phone, after all, we don’t NEED to be able to send an email from it). I charge my phone once every few days, sometimes once a week, and the coolest “app” that it has a built in flashlight. Cambodian technology hasn’t really advanced much, but wifi is pretty easy to find and skype is easily accessible. But in America, that is clearly not the case. I finally saw an iPad when my family came to visit and still don’t really get it. Every time I read an article, I am floored at what phones and trinkets can do. I have no idea how to work any of these things and I wouldn’t be surprised if my house resembled the Jettson’s instead of the one that I left. The excuse “oh, I don’t know how”- This excuse, in Khmer is “at che” and can be used for anything. If my words fail me and I can’t describe what I want to, I say “at che”, which means I know what I want to say but I cannot say it and that usually is good enough. I’m good about trying to eat new food, but if I have tried it before and hate it “at che” is all I need. In America, it may not fly if someone asks me to try something and I say that I don’t know how to eat it, because that doesn’t really mean anything. My bike- I thought it was a drag at first to ride my bike all the time, but I know how to get around the city and in Phnom Penh, I am able to save money and see more of the city if I take out a bike instead of getting a tuk-tuk. I’ve never been a big bike rider before, but it’s nice to get out and exercise Using the same jokes to charm- Because not so many foreigners can speak Khmer, it is extremely easy to crack the same jokes time and time again to break the ice. For example, when someone tells me that I speak Khmer very clearly, I tell them that they do too. Gets a laugh every time. Lots of free time to read- I wasn’t a huge reader in America, but I have enjoyed having enough time to read a book per week. The Peace Corps library is ever expanding and I have been able to read a few books that I should have years ago in class, books that I have always wanted to read, recommendations from friends and in general a wide range of topics. I have also been able to read recycled Economist magazines after my friends finish with them. They are so dense that it takes about a week to read it (at least for me), but it has helped to keep me informed, even if I read the magazine a few months after the event has happened. I just finished the one that looked in depth at the uprising in Egypt and it came to press right after Mubarak stepped down. Regardless, it’s pretty timeless and their predictions are pretty spot on, so it’s still pretty current. When I come home, however, I probably will need to get my own subscription and not nearly the amount of free time, once I get a job. The “I’m a teacher” card- I have been known to play, in some cases overplay, the cards in my hand. While in college, I played the “I’m a D1 athlete” card more than I care to remember. In Cambodia, since teaching is a very respected profession, wearing a sampot (the traditional teachers skirt) automatically gives me a little creditability. Saying that I am a teacher while at the market, or really anytime that I think it will help me, can help me when I am bargaining or explaining while I live here. This card, however, expires once I step foot on that plane back to America.

I was contemplating making a list of things thatI won’t miss, but I realized that my list of things that I will miss is muchmore powerful than the things that I won’t, so no need to focus on thenegative. But, I will not miss theroosters crowing whenever they feel like it.

I am to the point, though, in my service that Iam really looking forward to coming home, but I just set the date for my lasthealth workshop, which will mean that Vida and Kimny (the two students who havedone the other two) will be in charge of the whole thing and I will be on theperiphery. I’m also working with Phanet,Darlene’s co-teacher who has become one of my closest friends here, and we willboth work towards getting those 10 students scholarships, but since theapplications cannot be completed until after their national exams in July,Phanet will pick up where I left off. It’s reassuring to know that the effort will continue on after I amgone.

Chun Lai and Chun Liap are still away, butshould be coming home soon. I cannotwait to see them!

Within the realm of Peace Corps Cambodia Volunteers, Aprilis known as the month we can have a break and take a vacation. Khmer New Year is always in the middle of themonth, but the date changes from year to year because the holiday (like mostBuddhist holidays) is celebrated according to the lunar calendar. This year, the holiday was from April 14-16,but school ended the last week in March and will resume next week. For much of April, people are allowed to goback to their “homeland” to celebrate Khmer New Year. Many of my students took two weeks to go backhome to be with their families. Lastyear, there wasn’t much to do and besides my trip to Vietnam, I didn’t do much. This year couldn’t have been more different(which is my excuse for not writing a blog post for some time…)

April 1-3- Siem Reap. Because I had been at site for 1.5 months, Idecided to take a trip to Siem Reap for the weekend as a refresher because Iknew that April would be a really busy and crazy month. I went with my friends Keiko and Lisa andit’s always great to be around friends in a western setting. There is nothing really to report, butbecause our friend Tyler has an apartment there, we were able to do reallyAmerican things there, which is a great change for us. We cooked fajitas, played wiffle ball, swamin the pool and swapped music. For us,that is a big deal, but it sounds like a typical weekend for an American.

April 5- After grade 12 students finishtheir first semester exams, they typically have a party with their friends tocelebrate their accomplishment. My grade12 students invited me to their party, along with Darlene (who couldn’t attendbecause she was in China)and Phanet, Darlene’s co-teacher (who also volunteers and is a counterpart formany of our projects). Phanet borrowedher dad’s car and we drove out to Kimny’s house, which is about 7k from thehigh school. I am always awed when I seejust how far my students travel, and the conditions of the roads that theytravel on multiple times per day. Wearrived to a feast of banchayou, which is probably my favorite food. I have described it before, but in case youforgot, it is first made from ground rice that makes a batter. The batter is spread on a wok and coveredwith a lid to cook. Next, a paste mix ofpork, carrots and some other ingredients are put in the middle, along with beansprouts then covered again to cook. Thebanchayou is then taken off the wok and folded on a banana leaf. My students must have made 50 of these. We all sat down (after drinking a coconut)and ate our meal. To eat banchayou,there are a few different ways. First,you can tear a part of the banchayou, wrap it in lettuce with some basil andcucumber, then dipped in a sauce, which is made from chopped peanuts, fish sauceand chili peppers. Or you can cut upyour banchayou in a bowl and add some vegetables and sauce and eat it like asalad. Either way yields the same greattaste.

The party was really fun because it had all the importantcomponents to a fun party- music (we played Khmer New Year music in preparationfor the holiday), great food and spectacular company. The students are always great to be around,and I really enjoy spending time with Phanet. She is a great role model for the students and they love to be aroundher. They are so respectful and reallyadmire her, so it is great for her to be around them too.

April 7-9 Although the wedding didn’tstart until April 8th, the 7th consisted of a lot of lastminute preparations and setting up the tents for the wedding. The house was converted to a proper venue fora wedding, which basically means that everything at the front of the house wasmoved out or upstairs. All of the offeringswere wrapped and sorted. One interestingKhmer tradition is to use speakers to announce to everyone in the village thatthere is a wedding, which seems silly because they give everyone invitationsanyways, but regardless, the speakers started that night.

April 8th, the first day of the wedding, startedat 3:45 am when the hair and make-up workers set up shop in the kitchen, rightnext to my bedroom. My friend Lisa camefor the wedding, and we drifted in and out of sleep and watched thepreparations. The actual ceremonystarted at 8 when the guests arrived and walked the offerings down the streetthen back again. I was part of thewelcome crew at the entrance, with my host mother and sisters. I felt honored to be up there.

The ceremonies lasted basically all day. There are many different parts that I don’treally understand, but it takes longer because the bride changes clothes sofrequently. Over the two day affair, Icounted 12 different outfits. Thatincludes costume, shoes, jewelry and sometimes hair and make-up. So what could probably have been a few hourceremony took all day long. It’s prettyexhausting, but here are the pictures and hopefully a sufficient description.

April 9th started much the same, with a 4 amwake-up call. I made sure, though, thatI got my hair and make-up done because I didn’t the day before. There were too many people and I had noadvocates for me (usually my host sisters and mom look out for me in thesesituations where I feel weird, but they were clearly swamped with stuff to do),but I got it done for the second day. The first day is all ceremonies and not too many people come. It’s typically family, close friends and thegrandmothers (I believe that Cambodian pagodas would collapse withoutgrandmothers or “yays” as they are called here). The second day is more what we would categorizeas the reception, where many people come, eat, dance and drink. There was a small ceremony in the morning,but then people started to come for the “nyum kah” which means literally the“eating at a wedding”. Lisa, who waslent and eventually given a wedding outfit by my amazing host sister, and I satdown at a table with a bunch of yays and ate rice with women all over the ageof 60. Yays are the coolest and becauseolder people are so respected here, they can basically get away withanything. They say what is on their mindand it doesn’t matter. They are greatcompany.

Like all of the young people at the party, Lisa and Istarted drinking with my host family and soon enough were dragged onstage by myhost sister and couldn’t leave for an entire song. We rotated between drinking and dancing,mainly because everyone wanted to drink with the foreigners or dance with theforeigners. The concept of sipping orcasual drinking simply doesn’t exist here, so that concept combined witheveryone wanting to drink with the foreigners led to a lot of Angkorbeer for Lisa and I. It was really funand almost two years of experiences like this, we can hold our own and knowenough to continue to drink water and dance. The Cambodian way to drink is, much like everything else here,communal. Drinking happens as agroup. Everyone says “joll guy-you”,which means “enter glass” but cheers for us, then drinks. Sometimes they want to drink the wholeglass. I typically say, “oh no, I can’tdo that, I have to drink one by one”. One by one here means one at a time, but in Khmer it’s “muy muy” and“muy” means one. So when I said that Iwanted to drink “muy muy” that got twisted around to drinking one glass at atime, chugging the whole glass and led to a night long joke.

All said and done, it was a blast and I was really glad tobe a part of it. The weddings that Ihave gone to before are as follows:

- A math teacher at my high school invited me to hisdaughter’s wedding 3 months after I came to Cambodia and had never talked tothis teacher before-A man who works at the orphanage where I built the hygienestation (I knew him the best out of all of these weddings, besides my hostsister)-My initial host family when I came to visit Battambangduring training-The sister of the woman whose stand I buy soap anddetergent from

Having said that, going to the wedding of someone that Iknow and moreover being a part of the family and ceremony makes for much morefun and enjoyment than just being the token foreigner that everyone stares atthroughout the meal.

April 10-12Early the morning after the wedding ended, I got on a bus to Phnom Penh because myfriend from high school and her boyfriend came to visit. We spent two days in Phnom Penh. We did some sightseeing (the RoyalPalace and the National Museum),shopping and ate some really good food. Phnom Penh is enjoyablewhen you know how to get around and where to go. Phnom Penh as really grown on me and we had a lot offun.

April 12-14 Early on April 12th,we got an early taxi to Battambang. Wechecked into the hotel and went to my host family’s house, but Ma was the onlyone there. My host sister went to visither in-laws with her husband (who moved into our house after the wedding) andmy host brother went to visit his wife’s family for Khmer New Year in aprovince in the south.

I told her that we would be back for dinner that night thenwent to Kunthea’s house, who was my student at my high school and now is afirst year student at the university that I work at (and an English Clubmember). A lot of my former grade 12students came back from Phnom Penh for Khmer New Year and wanted to makebanchayou (see April 5th’s description of this food). It was so great to see the students from lastyear and Catte and Tucker were able to get to know some of my students. The food was so good and we had a lot of funhanging out and talking as a group. Itwas great to get updates from the students who are now in university. They are all doing really well, but I couldtell that they were happy to be home and have a break. Most of them live in dorms or rented roomsand it seems tough to live so far from home without anyone familiar. But they have grown and are moreconfident.

April 13th was a fun-filled busy day that startedwith seeing a fortune teller after breakfast. Phanet came as our translator and Tucker and Catte got their fortunestold. This is the same fortune tellerthat I went to one time before and he is a numerologist. Because he calculates one’s fortunes by theday that they were born on, the month and the year (year of the rabbit, not1987), I was able to get my brother’s fortune told. I won’t go into details, but he has a goodfortune. Tucker and Catte seemed to besatisfied with their fortunes. Overall,it was a really fun experience.

After the fortune teller, we rode the bamboo train, which isalways fun. Phanet had never gone andreally enjoyed it. It’s a great way tosee the countryside. We then ate lunchtogether and went back to the hotel for a nap. After our nap, we took a tuk tuk really far down the road next to theriver to my student Ranin’s house. Mycurrent grade 12 students (the ones who threw the first banchayou party onApril 5th) wanted to meet Catte and Tucker and invited us over forfruit and drinks. Ranin lives right onthe river and it’s so beautiful there. The students were able to practice English and take pictures. Ranin lives even further than Kimny, about15k out and a few of the students lived right near him. It is always incredible to see where mystudents come from and just how much time and energy they spend traveling.

On April 14th, the first day of Khmer New Year,we went to my host family’s house to go to the pagoda, but I found out that myhost mom wasn’t going until April 15th, so we decided to head toSiem Reap a few house early. When I cameback, my host mom apologized that everyone was so tired after the wedding toreally celebrate anything, which I totally understand.

April 14-16- When we got to Siem Reap,we checked into the hotel and swam in the pool and ate lunch. It was a very relaxing hotel and we weretaking on the temples the next day, so we wanted to enjoy some pool time.

April 15th- we went to the temples really early,but because of Khmer New Year, there were so many people there. Since it is considered a pilgrimage for manyCambodians, families typically save up their money all year and come with a lotof people. We were still able to walkaround and see a lot of the temples. After the temples, we were pretty tired and came back to the hotel andswam a bit more (they had a great pool).

The next morning, we took a flight to Phuket, an island onthe coast of Thailand.

April 16-20- We flew from Siem Reap toPhuket, but connected in Bangkok. Although the layover was short, I tookadvantage and got some Burger King for the first time in almost 2 years (I wishthey had a Wendy’s!). While in Phuket,we stayed in an incredible hotel, right on the water. Our days consisted of swimming in the oceanor the amazing pools (they were fresh water, a good relief from the intensewaves and salt). It was incrediblerelaxing and we spent our days reading, laying poolside and getting burnt. We went into town a few times for food andsnacks, but when the weather was bad (it rained a few times), Tucker and Iwatched baseball on his laptop and it was so nice to watch a game, regardlessof who was playing. April 20-22- On April 20th,we flew from Phuket to Bangkokand stayed at the Mandarin Oriental. Iwas happy to be in a more developed country. They had some things there that I hadn’t seen in almost two years- asubway, Starbucks, malls with real stores and so on. My interest wasn’t in seeing the Royal Palacesince we have one in Cambodia!Thai culture and Khmer culture don’t seem to be so different and I knew that Iwould rather spend $5 on a gift for my host niece and nephew and not on anentry fee to a museum that is really similar to something that we have inCambodians. My host family would beupset with me if they ever knew that I compared Thai culture to Khmer culture(since they don’t really like the Thai, like most Cambodians) but the last legof the trip was enjoyable, for me at least, because I felt like I wasn’t in adeveloping country. This trip was achance for me to refresh my spirits for my last few months here.

Catte and Tucker left for New York early on April 22 and we said ourfarewells at the airport. I took a vanto the Thai border with Cambodiaand although I was so nervous about the crossing, there was no reason, becausethe only other people in my van were a woman and her son, who were Khmer. She spoke incredible English and works on theCambodians side of the border for the Catholic Church and told me that I couldbe in their taxi, since they were traveling on to Phnom Penh. So, they dropped me off, right at my house. I was home in record time and was so happy tosee my host family, even though Chun Lai and Chun Liap are still at theirgrandparents’ house far away.

Now it’s back to site life.

This trip reinforces something that I have really seen here-karma. Whatever you want to call it, Itruly believe in the idea that universe seeks balance and regulates the goodand bad. On the trip, when I was being grumpyor rude, something bad happened to me. But when I was friendly or positive, something good happened to me. It is such a simple message- treat otherspoorly and you will be treated poorly in return, but treat others well, and youwill be treated well in return. It maynot be as immediate as we’d like, but it always seems to balance out.

Another important aspect of this month has been goals #2 and#3 of Peace Corps, which are to increase the awareness of American on the partof Cambodians and vice versa. This is ajob I take every seriously, as you can see by this blog, but having visitors issuch a great way to work towards accomplishing this goal. My family has been able to come visit and nowtwo friends, which means that there are now 6 more people who know about Cambodiathat may never have. Likewise, mystudents and host family have very directly interacted with my family andfriends and now I am not the sole representation of America for those who have met myfamily and friends. There is apossibility of more visitors, which only increases the awareness andinteraction between people who would NEVER be able to meet each other. It’s incredible to be on this side ofit.

Sorry for the delay, but as you can see, it’s been a reallycrazy month. Things will probably notreally go back to normal because I have a lot of things coming up, but I willbe better about updates for these last 2.5 months, I promise. School starts again today and I’m not toosure when it will end officially and what is happening at the university, butEnglish Club for my grade 12 students will be happening, undoubtedly. I need to find things to fill my time, butnot wastes of time.

In other news, Chun Lai is starting school next month, so Iwill be taking plenty of pictures of him in his school uniform. I cannot wait to see how cute he willlook.

As of April 25th, 641 days in Cambodia, 78 days to go. I like to keep that in mind.

Because Peace Corps is now 50 years old, there is a worldwide initiative to inform more people about Peace Corps, maybe you have noticed. I had my project this week, and Darlene had hers last week.

Onepart of my Peace Corps service that I haven’t really gotten used to isthe inconsistency of business. March wasone of my busiest months out of my entire time here, but that is a really goodthing, especially because I feel the pressure of making sure that I amproductive with not much time left. Thefirst half of the month was crazy busy with planning for International Women’sDay and the actual workshop. Then thesecond half was busy planning for my kickball game. In between these two events was a lot ofteaching (about 6 hours every day), so needless to say, this month absolutelyflew by. April is just around thecorner, which is the time for us to take a break, have a vacation and enjoy Cambodiawithout the pressure of teaching English every day. Before I get into that, I want to tell youabout my kickball game.

You may or may not know that I was an athlete in America andsports have been a really big part of my life. Most of my close friends are former teammates or other athletes that Imet in college. I wanted to do anathletic event in Cambodia,but up until now, there has never really been the opportunity. There were times when I forced a project ontopeople and it didn’t go over well, because, quite frankly, I was the onlyinterested in the event. I was carefulnot to do this because I didn’t want to turn people off to sports. In Cambodia, there are sports teams, butthere are a few teachers at my school who are paid PE teachers and coaches, sothat meant that I couldn’t start a soccer, volleyball or basketball teambecause there were people assigned to doing that already. When Peace Corps sent us information aboutthe chance to create a community project to celebrate Peace Corps’ 50thanniversary, I thought about how much fun a sports activity would be. I had also just been introduced to an Ngoschool in Battambang, located at the train station. The train station hasn’t been used for manyyears, but there is a fairly large community of squatters living there. It was very clear initially that these arechildren that are extremely vulnerable to trafficking, gang activity (yes,there are gangs in Cambodia),substance and drug abuse, etc. Therearen’t too many employed villagers and there is always a group of men gamblingand drinking outside of the school. Theschool does a great job of creating education and youth development programs,but I thought that a community event day would be a really fun way to celebratethe 50th anniversary. Wecollected the children from the community and had two practices to teach themhow to play. I chose kickball for tworeasons- because a lot of kids can play and because sports are usually setaside for boys, so playing soccer may have made the girls feeluncomfortable. But, it was confusing forthem because kickball is basically soccer combined with baseball, and theydon’t know baseball. Thankfully I had my9 loyal youth leaders from my grade 12 English club to help coach and prepare. I also asked my former coach from Seton Hallsoftball, Coach Vander May, if he could donate t-shirts, which he sent about amonth before (thanks again Coach!) and Darlene got 20 UTexas t-shirts (she wasa dean at UTexas before joining Peace Corps). We taped numbers to the back and made the event UTexas vs. Seton Hall.

After all the arrangements, Peace Corps informed me that theEmbassy would be coming with a film crew to document the event which will beincluded in a piece for Khmer TV on Peace Corps Cambodia. This actually really helped me because Iasked one woman who has a store right near the school and center of the villageif she could tell everyone that CTN (the Khmer equivalent of NBC) would bethere to film. She must have done justthat because when we showed up at 7am, there were already some kids ready togo. We made teams and handed outt-shirts. Some students from Texas sent posters andmy grade 12 students made posters in Khmer, so we had a photo shoot before theEmbassy arrived. Once the Embassy came,we stretched, which is really funny and started to play. Because we had practiced, the game wasn’tnearly as rag-tag as I thought that it was going to be. We stationed one of my grade 12 students ateach base to help the children remember to run to the next base, so after achild kicked the ball, they ran to “sister Samphoa” who reminded them to run tosecond/ “brother Sophoe” and then to third or “sister Nara”. Darlene was all-time pitcher for Texas and I was all-timepitcher for Seton Hall. We playedpitcher’s hand, which means that if the pitcher has the ball before the kickergets to first, they are out. Seton Hallwas in the field first, and it was clear very quickly that Texas was STACKED! I divided the teams up based on age/ height,but I clearly didn’t do a good job, because Seton Hall had all the babies and Texas had all of theolder kids. The first inning wentsomething like this- Texasscored 5 runs and Seton Hall had one hit and didn’t score any runs. Texaswas clearly having more fun and my kids were a little bummed, but we turned itaround in the second inning and scored more runs. We rigged it a little so that Texas didn’t kill us toobadly and that helped, but we were able to turn the sadness around and it was alot of fun. Some kids were able to kickthe ball really far and we had a few home-runs. But every time a run was scored, everyone cheered and the kids werehaving a lot of fun. The end result was19 for Texasand 9 for Seton Hall. Although I amnaturally very competitive, the point was not the score; the kids had so muchfun that it really didn’t matter. Whenever we scored a run, we all high-fived each other, jumped up anddown and celebrated. It was a fairlyshort game, but it was a blast. Weplayed for probably 45 minutes then took pictures and drank some water.

While we were playing, my friend Meghan led the Bozo Bucketsection for the babies who were too little to play. I think Bozo Buckets may be only a Chicagothing, but we set up three buckets filled with candy and the children threw aball at a basket and if they made it, they got a piece of candy and if theymade all three, they got a cookie. Itkept them occupied and happy.

Many parents and older siblings came to watch the game,too. So at one time, we had about 50kids playing in the kickball game, 50 kids playing Bozo Buckets and about 20parents watching the game. The goal ofhaving a community event was a success because we had a lot of people there,and they all seemed to enjoy it. Theparents held the signs for a while and got into the game.

My description doesn’t do it justice and hopefully thepictures help, but I want to get the video to post, because it sounds reallyhaphazard, which it was, but it was really typical of Cambodian kids,especially homeless ones.

During the game I was pulled to the side and interviewed, inKhmer. I was really nervous about thisfor a week, and then the night before the big game, I reminded myself that Imake myself look like an idiot every single day. That’s not me being too hard on myself, it’sa fact. Every volunteer feels thatway. I mean, look at the situation- I’man American female that lives in Cambodia and tries my best to learn as much aspossible and help where I can, of course I am going to look dumb every now andthen. My interview wasn’t good, but Isaid the things that I meant- that I love Cambodia,playing with children, learning about Cambodia is important to me, so onand so forth. We will see how the videoturns out. We are having a party at theEmbassy where they play the video on May 18th, so I’ll let you knowthen….

It’s a weird feeling because this may be the last bigproject that I do here. I want to findmy grade 12 students scholarships, but that is not really a project but rathera personal thing that I want to do. Iwill finish out my Life Skills Club (basically a class where I teach aboutskills such as goal-setting, professional skills, how to write a resume/ coverletter, etc), American Culture class, my formal classes and English Clubs, butto be honest, I shouldn’t be starting new projects. I have about 16 weeks left and that’s howlong it takes sometimes to start new projects, so I will see the projects thatI have started out and maybe do one more health workshop, but my time is almostover.

Having said that, I am really happy that an athleticactivity was one of my last because sports mean a lot to me. I’ve always thought that sports are not justabout how to hit a curveball or hitting a three pointer, but rather the deep rootedlessons. Those lessons are incrediblyimportant to these children who are literally fighting for their lives at theage of 5 and they have to look out for themselves, because no one elsewill. I saw two of the little kids whoplayed in the games at the market begging for money then later that same downbegging for money outside of a restaurant. Sports, on the other hand, require discipline and working with othersfor a common goal. I believe that manykids end up in a bad situation because they are trying to look out forthemselves (join a gang for protection and possibly business reasons), but howmany successful athletes do you know personally who are selfish? It doesn’t work that way- the teammates thatI had that looked out for themselves never reached their full potential. Another important lesson from sports isdedication- these kids can’t really go to school, so their schedules are reallyinconsistent. They are also really boredand have too much free time. Playing asport fills their time with something that is not harmful to them and promotesexercise, teamwork and hard work. Theyhave a lot of bad influences around them and around Battambang, these kids areknown as being the toughest crowd around. I plan on playing kickball with them when I can because there is alwaysa group of kids hanging around and positive activities are hard to come by inthat community.

Up next is my host sister’s wedding on April 8-9. I went to the market with my host mom to buyfabric for a new dress. I feel awfulbecause they were banking on me to invite all of my Peace Corps friends to thewedding, but all of them will be out of the country because April is our freemonth to travel because of Khmer New Year. I think I will be flying solo for that one. But the preparation is fun so far and reallysimilar to my real sister’s wedding. Iwill have a detailed report on that after the fact.

The day after her wedding ends, I will be taking the businto PP to meet one of my closest friends, Catte, and her boyfriend. We will be traveling around Cambodia for a week then going to Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand. I am really looking forward to showing them Cambodia because I think that I have insight,relationships and connections that most tourists don’t have and I’m reallyexcited to show off Cambodiato them. There is so much to learn and Iknow that they are both really interested in learning about the Cambodia thatyou can’t really get from a travel book or tour. Thailandwill be incredible because although I love Cambodia, I need a break. I have been in Cambodiafor a year now without leaving, which is actually a long time and I’m lookingforward to seeing Thailand. When I come back to Cambodia, itwill be the last week in April and phasing out will really start. It’s a strange feeling because my studentsand host family are already talking about me going home. The best to describe it is simply beingtorn. I am excited to see my family andfriends, but I am so incredibly san about leaving Cambodia. I am thankful for the last few months though,because I plan on spending them with my host family, students and friends.

Hope all is well back home!

Because I never miss a cute Chun Liap moment. I’m not a big crier. That’s not to say that I never cry; I do. It’s just not for the usual things- a commercial will make me tear up but not a sprained ankle. My teammates used to cry over a bad game,hitting slump, being embarrassed in front of the team, etc. I never used to cry at that stuff, I wouldjust get mad. Likewise, when somethingbad happens here, I don’t cry, I get PISSED. That may be a character flaw, but it is something that I have noticedabout myself. My friends here cry overmany things but I have cried a grand total of 6 times, which in Peace Corpsterms is a dry well. The first time waswhen I found out that my best friend’s mother passed away, then when I thought astudent had leprosy, when my parents were stuck in San Francisco on their wayto visit me and their trip was delayed by 3 days, when my host nephew died,when my friend Jessica went back to America and at my International Women’s Dayevent. Now, as you can see, I am arather emotional person when it comes to others. I don’t think that I am tough or anything, Ijust don’t cry when I am upset about my own situation, it is usually because Iam upset for someone else. This last onewas an eye-opener and to explain, I want to describe the entirety of myInternational Women’s Day program.

As you probably read before, I was faced with a littlesexism in class when my co-teacher made fun of one of my students for enteringher essay into the pool to be invited to the program. After he did that, I chose to bring all 13girls, even though we were only allowed 10. I didn’t care because there was clearly a need.

The way that I see it, before the program, I saw twoimportant victories for women’s rights in Cambodia. First, was when the university males cameforward and said that they want to be incorporated into the women’s day eventbecause women’s rights has an impact on their lives. The second was when I gave the invitations tothe 13 girls that I brought. Because Isaid that I would only be able to take 6 grade 10 students and 9 submittedessays, they were nervous. But when theyall received their invitations and showed them off to their friends andclassmates, I knew that they felt a little more confidence in themselves.

The weeks leading up to the event were crazy. Between getting all of the girls names,training the group leaders, creating and translating documents- we had ourhands full. But all the running aroundand countless hours of preparation were worth it when the girls arrived. Philip, another volunteer, was in charge ofthe boys. He was incredible andeverything ran so smoothly because he told them exactly what to do, with thefocus on the girls. When the studentsarrived, they went into their small groups (they were all divided on purpose tomeet girls from other schools and districts) and immediately made new friends. Everyone arrived on time and we dove rightin. We started off with a little storycalled “The World Upside Down” which told of a world where girls wereencouraged to stay in school and boys were taught to be shy and gentle. The boys were taught to be quiet and learnhow to cook, clean and care for women from their fathers. The women were the leaders of countries andwere the historians, scientists and leaders of the world. When a woman was pregnant, her family prayedfor a girl, and if the baby was a boy, they were happy, but secretly prayed forthe next to be a girl. Now, this storyis pretty whacky, but then Dave, another volunteer, addressed the girls andsaid that if we reverse the word boy with girl and vice versa, that seemspretty close to the world that we live in. We don’t wait either world, but keep this story in mind for the rest ofthe day. The next segment included me introducing an on-goingexercise called 2 Baskets. I told thegirls to imagine that they were moving from their old house into a new one andthey had two baskets- one was a pile of trash to burn or get rid of and one wasto bring to the new house. The exercisewas for the girls to write down ideas that they learned and wanted to take withthem and ideas that they believed before, but wanted to leave behind. We prearranged 2 volunteers to readtheirs. Many girls wrote down theirideas throughout the day and there were some awesome ones- girls can make theirown decisions, my gender will not determine my occupation, women’s rights don’tonly have an impact on women, etc.

After this, Phanet, Darlene’s fantastic co-teacher,presented on self-esteem. This is a hugeissue with girls in every country. Thedifference is that the girls are never really taught how to improve theirself-esteem. Phanet talked about howimportant it is to value yourself and love yourself. She told the girls how she studied biologyand wanted to teach future teachers about biology, everyone told her that noone would ever marry her and that she should teach high school instead. She refused and loves her life (and herteacher trainees are much better suited because of that). She talked about her insecurity with her skintone because she is dark (Cambodians, like many Asians, want to have light skinand often times put skin bleaching cream on their bodies), she touched on howfrequently people called her dark and how it wasn’t beautiful. She told the girls that her beauty came fromwithin herself, not from what others told her. The small groups had break out sessions about improving theirself-esteem and each group commented on how they need to love themselves firstand foremost.

Three of my students.

We then put on a skit of a doctor and a farmer. Both are men. The farmer goes to the doctor and the doctor asks the farmer somequestions about his family. He asks thefarmer about his wife, and if she has a job. The farmer says, no, she doesn’t, she stays at home. When the doctor asks the farmer to describehis wife’s typical day, the farmer talks for about 7 minutes about her dailytasks involving, but not restricted to, waking up at 4 am, cooking breakfast,getting water from the well, seeing the children off to school, cleaning thehouse, working in the fields, selling food in the market, making clothes, doingthe laundry, cooking lunch, etc, you get the point. After this long spiel about her never busyday, the doctor asks the man, “wait, I thought that you said your wife doesn’twork?” to which the farmer says, “yeah, that’s right, she stays at home…” This was a segway into Navy, our Peace Corpsdoctor’s presentation. She told thegirls about her upbringing, which is just so inspiring. She told them how her family was torn aboutwhen she was 13 and they were relocated to a different province. They lost their land and many family membersdied. She knew before the Cambodiangenocide (Khmer Rouge) that she wanted to be a doctor, and that nothing wouldstop her. She had to walk miles to getto school, and then she finally got a bike. She used to sell vegetables in the market for literally pennies to tryto support her studies. Her teacherswere lenient with her because she worked so hard (she often times didn’t havethe money to pay the teachers, even when rice and food were accepted aspayment). She never formally studiedEnglish but studied on her own. Shebought books and had conversations with herself to practice. Her mom told her that she was going crazy,but that didn’t stop her. She continuedto study, work and persue her dreams. She got choked up at one point and many of the girls were crying aswell; you could hear a pin drop in there. She told them about how we must dream and come up with a plan for thatdream; dreaming simply isn’t enough. Taking care of our obligations on the road to our dreams is how we cansucceed as women. Her children thentalked about their dreams. Her daughter,Merica, talked about how she wanted to be a model, singer, but now her dream isto be the first female Prime Minister of Cambodia. Her son talked about how he wants to play inthe NBA, or if that fails, play soccer, and also become a doctor. He was cute, because he told the girls (keepin mind, he is 13 and is just starting to feel awkward in these situations)that he encourages them to dream, because they can accomplish it, if they dreamand work. Navy’s husband, who is also adoctor and from Battambang province talked about being married to such a strongwomen and how decisions were made at home, how they communicate and each hasinput into decisions. We did acombination break out session and question and answer session- the girls drewtheir dreams while others asked questions. And that brought us to lunch. Navy

Sony as a lawyer

We had every lunch order prearranged, so delivering the foodto the small groups as a piece of cake. I attribute that to the summer that I spent working for a cateringcompany. We had the fish/ chicken thingarranged beforehand, so it was all worked out for us. That’s how it was at our event. Lunch didn’t take too long, which was good,because we just dove back into the event. Cambodians have a break from school and work from 11-1 and spend atlease 30 minutes of that napping, so we knew that we had a small window to getthem back on their feet before they got too tired. We got the girls back into their small groupsand did the human knot, which is where each girl crosses her hands and grabsthe hand of another girl, creating a confusing mix of hands in the middle andthe group has to work together to become a circle again. They really enjoyed it and I was in one ofthe groups and it was a blast. They wereall laughing and it boosted their energy, which was exactly what weneeded. We then had the health speakermake her presentation. She mainly worksat the Catholic Church doing workshops on women’s health, so she was perfectfor this. Because Cambodians never havesex ed in school, she was able to talk to the girls about those awkward thingsthat they have perhaps encountered, but are too scared or shy to ask anyone,even mothers and sisters. We kicked all of the males out of the room to givethe girls their privacy, which turned out to be very beneficial since the girlsasked some very personal questions that they wouldn’t ever had if there wereboys in the room. She was a straight-shooter, which is what is needed to makean impact. She told the girls straightwhat they needed to know about their bodies and how to care forthemselves. She also talked aboutreproductive health, which is crucial since these young women are just aboutmarrying age, if they aren’t already. There was a health advocacy skit, which demonstrated the wrong way toaddress a doctor. She then offered suggestionswhen you go to the doctor. Theary had toleave right after to go back to Phnom Penh (we brought her out of maternity leave) and Navytook over for the break out session, which were 8 hypothetical questions. The girls answered as a group, and I was soproud when all 4 of my grade students stood up to answer questions (my grade 10students were a little more shy). Aftercompleting that portion, we asked the girls to complete a questionnaire and gavethem their prize, a notebook and took pictures. I was talking to my girls when I was suddenly so overcome with emotionthat I started to cry. I brought 13students that day- 9 grade 10 students who I don’t know so well and 4 grade 12students who I have been teaching since day one, so I know them very well. They were in my formal class last year, aswell as two years of English Club. I wastelling them how proud of them I am, when I just started crying, obviouslytears of joy. When I first met them, they were meek girls, but put that asidefor 5 minutes to ask me to teach them extra. Since then, I have had thepleasure of teaching them during my free time, focusing on critical thinking. Watching them over the course of almost twoyears, I have seen not only their English skills improve tenfold, but theirconfidence improve, to the point where there was such a heated discussionbetween a few of them, so heated that students made comments like “well, Ithink that you are wrong” and “I really disagree”. In Cambodian terms, that’s the equivalent ofcalling someone dumb and their argument even dumber. The girls just made me so proud because Iknow how big of a sacrifice they make to come to this stuff and how it’s so againsttheir nature not to stand up and speak their mind. There aren’t too man chances for a PeaceCorps volunteer to see the fruits of his or her labor (if at all), so seeingthem there was just overwhelming. Theyalso just reminded me how much I am really going to miss Cambodia. There are a few people that really mean a lotto me and it’s going to be really hard to say goodbye, but I take solace in thewomen that they have grown to be. Itbecomes clear very quickly while working in the developing world that progressis hard to make and it takes so long. Itjust hit me then and there.

Human Knot

Theary University Students

NYHS students

Bringing it back to my softball days, I gave myself 4 bigprojects to do in my last 4 months- International Women’s Day, my kickballtournament, my health workshop and finding my grade 12 studentsscholarships. One down, three to go. IWD was very successful and to be honest,really enjoyable. Last year it was acrazy day and was so stressful, this year, with a year and a half of experienceunder our belts, we were able to do it right and enjoy the day. Next is the kickball tournament. We had our first practice today. The tournament will take place behind theabandoned train station. There is acommunity of squatter families and children that will probably be evictedsoon. The school nearby is trying tooffer the children an option to stay out of trouble, so I thought that akickball tournament would be a good option on their only day off of school,which is Sunday. I was nervous that kidswouldn’t show up, but that wasn’t an issue. Each team had about 20 kids that could play, not including their babybrother or sister that their parents made take with them. Many of the parents came to watch as well. We will have another practice next Sunday andthen the big game is on Sunday, March 27th, and I am confident thatattendance will be sky-high by then. My coach from Seton Hall donated 20 t-shirtsand Darlene asked University of Texas to donated 20t-shirts, so the game will be UT vs. SHU. It should be really fun. Therules are very rudimentary but the reason for the game is to have a communityactivity, not to find Battambang’s deadliest kickball player. I chose kickball because all you need is aball and a bunch of little kids. We willhave a kickball game and other options for younger children (maybe Bozobuckets?) My grade 12 students were thecoaches and they had a blast and got into it. They are such great role models and these children are so vulnerablethat it sends a great message to the community that there are people who stillcare about their children’s wellbeing.

After the kickball tournament, we will most likely start ourhealth workshop. Maybe we can play alittle kickball then learn about hand washing. The health workshop will be in the same community, because they reallyneed it. These families are living inthe vacant box cars, offices and really anywhere providing any shelter. The children are very dirty because theyspend most of their time outside and are really susceptible to diarrhea andother potentially dangerous ailments. Again,my grade 12 students will be leading this. This will be great for their resumes and also leads into the lastproject. This school offersscholarships, so a few of my students will be able to get scholarships. I told them that in order to apply for thescholarships, my students must volunteer two hours per week for two months(this is not the case, but I believe that they should give something to this communityin exchange). They are also reallyenjoying these projects.

These 3 remaining projects are ones that I am reallyinterested in for obvious reasons- I miss playing sports, the children needinstruction in regards to basic hygiene and I want my students to go on touniversity. All Peace Corps volunteers agreethat they cannot change the country, the change must come from within thecountry. We don’t have the means to changethe higher ups, but rather the youth that may one day be in that position. The impact is really small that we actuallyend up making, but that doesn’t make it any less important. I am just figuring this out, and right ontime, too.

With the approaching International Women’s Day project, I have been thinking alot recently about how innate female strength is. As Americans, we see it all the time in manyforms, most notably in famous females, such as Oprah Winfrey, Aung San Suu Kyi,Condoleeza Rice (even though I disagree with her politics) and the list goes onand on. But the ones that are mostimpressive are the women who demonstrate these qualities everyday, but neverreceive an award, recognition or even a thanks sometimes. I was raised around strong women- my mother,my grandmother, sisters, aunts, friends, teammates, cousins, teachers,etc. But looking back on my life, thereare so many others that get overlooked. A single mother who studies at night to earn a degree. Women who defy the odds and take on jobs thatare male-dominated, even though they face sexism. An immigrant who works two jobs and can’tspeak English just to give her kids a better life than she had.

Cambodia is a place, like manydeveloping countries, where females do not have the same opportunities, buttheir strength shines through. The topstudents in my classes are girls- they are the hardest working and moreover thebravest, which speaks to their character, since girls are taught to be“sopheap” which manes gentle. I seewomen wake up at the crack of dawn and start cooking their food and load uptheir carts to lug all over town, in the hopes of making a few bucks for workingfrom sunrise to sunset.

Twovery personal examples are right in my family. The first is my host aunt. She is called “ma yay” which means that sheis the oldest of the grandmothers (in America we typically only refer to ourparents’ parents as grandma and grandpa, but here, grandma and grandpa’s siblingsare all considered grandma and grandpa too). She is very well respected because she is the oldest, but I respect herfor so much more. When I first met her,I noticed that she had a face full of history. Some people wear their emotions right on their face, but I could tellimmediately that she had a tough history. I soon found out that she lost all 5 of her children and her husbandduring the Khmer Rouge. Everyone. It’s very common (90% of all people over theage of 30 lost an immediate family member) but that doesn’t make it anyeasier. Because so many people wentthrough such an awful time, who is there to talk about it with? Cambodians typically keep their burdens onthemselves, much of the reason is because of Buddhist practices and acceptingone’s fate as karma. Regardless,although I don’t know the details of their deaths, losing one’s entire familyis simply devastating, very few people can understand. What gives me so much inspiration is thatalthough she has this weight that, she has defied the odds and lived her ownlife, which is incredibly difficult as an uneducated woman after the countrywas torn apart for 4 years by genocide. Without any infrastructure, her younger brother’s family accepted herinto the home and she loved her nieces and nephews as her own. She always seems to be looking out for me(they live in the center of town and I frequently see them and she alwayschecks up on what I’m doing and where I’m going). This year she turned 79 and keeps pluggingon. She’s very active, I often see herwalking too and from the market. Shelives life to the fullest and has a great sense of humor. She won’t get any awards for her life, but Iwill never forget her because when I think that times are tough and can’t getthrough, I’ll remember her and know that I can. Ma Yay with my host mom at my host mom's birthdayMa yay at her 79

Theother woman who has shown her strength is my oldest host sister, SoKaeng. Last week, her son passed away. He was 7 and severely disabled. He couldn’t walk or speak and her devotion tohim was incredible. He had the mobilityof a baby and needed constant supervision. She runs a business near the market that funds her daughter’seducation. Li Ching, her daughter, is 16and lives in Phnom Penh. I came home from school last week and Hun (myhost brother formerly known as Huck, more on that later) told me that Chran wasin the hospital. He passed away thatnight. Cambodians typically mourn for 7days (3 of those days are ceremonies and a funeral), but either because he wasso little or because of his disability, we spent the next day at the pagoda. I couldn’t help but notice the similaritiesin his funeral and the ones that I had been to. My host mom, host sister and her husband spent the night at the pagodawith Chran’s body after he passed away, which is what my dad and uncles didafter my aunt passed away. During theceremony at the pagoda, his little body was dressed in his favorite clothes,blessed with incense and water and put into a casket. He was buried, as the Chinese do, and thefamily threw dirt onto his grave. Theprocession to the gravesite felt the same as the others that I had beenin. There are differences, but everyoneseemed to take comfort in the ceremony. What stood out to me was how incredibly strong my host sister is. She was taking care of her nieces and nephewswhen they cried or needed something. I’mkind of embarrassed to say this, but she was looking out for me as well, as shealways does. At weddings and parties shealways seems to pick up on the fact that I feel weird and will give me food(sometimes the good food is on the opposite side of the table and I can’treally move in my wedding clothes). Ifound out later that this was her 4th child that passed away andonly one daughter is alive. The threeother children that I didn’t know all had disabilities and some died very youngand some survived a few years. Shealways seems to put everyone before herself, which is what a mom always does,but even to people who aren’t her children- me topping that list. Her strength comes from helping people andmaking them comfortable, which is what some people see as a weakness. She has really taught me above being selflessfor the sake of others. I count myselfvery lucky to be one of those people that she looks out for.

My host sister and her son

Asfor the program, planning is coming along very well but the countdown ison. As I write this, we have 8 daysuntil the program. We’re solidifying thecontent of the program this weekend and giving it to our counterpart at theuniversity to be translated. Then comesthe tedious stuff- lunch orders, groups, preparing the group leaders, water,room set up- but those things always seem to come together. It’s been tough because we all have differentobligations so coordination is coming down to the wire now. But I had an experience that reaffirmsexactly why we need to be doing this.

Ibelieve in signs- whether they are divine or not, I believe that they appearand we have to look out for them or else we will miss them. Some are blaring, some are subtle. This one was blaring. Here’s what happened:Eachvolunteer can bring 10 high school girls to our event. I asked my grade 12 English Club girls tocome and told my two grade 10 classes that I would chose 6 girls total (3 fromeach class) based on an essay contest. Iannounced it in class and the boys were all incredibly jealous (this is thefirst time in their lives where they have to take a back seat). Knowing my students, I had a feeling aboutwho would submit and who wouldn’t, but there were some surprises. I was so proud of a few timid ones whoclearly had worked up the courage to write AND submit the essays. It may not seem like a big deal to Americans,but it is a really big step for them. Intotal, I got 9 essays from both classes which doesn’t seem like a lot, butthere are only 30 kids coming to class these days and very few are girls. Well, this incident happened yesterday duringclass. We were finishing up class buthad about 10 minutes before the bell and one girl handed a piece of paper to myco-teacher (my students are all really scared of me because I’m strict andreally tall to them). I walked over to take it because I assumed that it wasfor my essay contest but the problem is that I can’t read Khmer and I told thegirls that they could write in Khmer to feel more comfortable, and I would havemy English Club girls read and translate them, so they would double asjudges. I put my hand out and he saidthat he was confused about something and I asked if it was for my essay contestand he said that it wasn’t. So, then Iwas embarrassed and sat down. Remember,there are a lot of things that happen in my classroom that I don’t know about,not do I want to. Teachers hold privateclasses, sometimes accept money for tests or bribes and other things that Ihave no power against and my hands are tied, so it’s better not even toknow. He assigned them an essay a fewweeks ago, so I assumed that it was another stupid essay that he assigned. The girl was saying, “No teacher, don’t” andthe other kids, especially the boys, were urging him to read it. So he starts reading and the girl isMORTIFIED and the students, especially the boys, are laughing and hooting. Then he reads the line “women are the same asmen” and I knew that he lied and that she was submitting it for myproject. I was so angry that I walkedover to him, grabbed it out of his hands and walked out of the room, sayingthat class was over. I probably lookedlike the meanest person in the world, but I could not believe that was happeningin a classroom. First, that I would runthis program and ask for his help to help the girls of his country andprovince, and he clearly doesn’t support it. Second, that this girl would workup the courage to write her essay and put herself out there, then for a TEACHER(who should be encouraging education and programs such as this) to humiliate astudent like this in front of the other students. I understand why the students were into it-the boys felt slighted that they weren’t invited (that’s the point, it’s aspecial day only for girls) and the other girls are girls. I was a high school girl myself and gotcaught up in things like that. But he isin a position of power. I decided on thespot that this would be the best women’s day event Cambodia, no, the world, has everseen. I went home and came up with somereally great ideas and also decided that I’m not turning away any of the girlsthat submitted an essay- the last thing that they need is to put themselves outthere only to vet rejected. I’ll pay theextra money myself. So, I will bebringing 13 girls, as of now. If moregirls submit, they will be invited too.

Myinitial reaction was to not teach the next day and yell at him. But then I realized that this isreaffirmation that this is what needs to be done. These are the things that are happening in myown classroom, in front of other people and a foreigner. What’s happening behind closed doors? It’s easy to be negative and angry. It’s harder to turn it positive and takeaction. I chose the harder route andwent to school this morning and took control of the class and taught my sectionwith a smile on my face and really enjoyed the lesson for the first time in awhile (teaching has taken it’s toll on me). The only exchange between my co-teacher and myself was when I told himto teach the grammar section. Afterclass, I went back home and did a little more work on the program.

Iwant to be clear on something though- I don’t hate my co-teacher; I’m not evenmad at him. He’s just a representationof gender problems in the developing world. He is a product of a flawed system and his mindset is one that is verypopular all over the world, even in our country. I know that I vilified him in this blog, butit’s not him, it’s just his backward ideas about gender. How many Americansfeel superior to people from other countries? I know because he has tried to make me feel inferior a few times, but Ihaven’t let it bother me. But Cambodiangirls are raised in it, I wasn’t. I hopeto do my part in reversing that, because it’s clear that there is a pressingneed for it.

Infamily news- my host sister is engaged. I came home yesterday and she was engaged. She wasn’t when I left for school, but herfiancé came over and they had a short ceremony. They went to the fortune teller and the date has been set- April 9. Which could potentially be the hottest day ofthe year. April is the hottest month andweddings are so miserable then. It’smiserable to do just about anything- leave the house, do laundry. Classes aren’t in session because it’s toohot to teach and learn. People shower 4times a day at least then and then immediately start sweating again. No one is ever dry in April. Because of this, most volunteers leave Cambodia. So those two tables that my family was hopingto fill with my volunteer buddies will be sadly vacant; everyone will be inanother country, except for me, sweating bullets in a Khmer dress with make-upcaked on. It should be fun though.

Myhost brother went to the fortune teller (he goes two times a day to gettraditional medical practices for his arthritis) and she told him that he mayhave more power if he changes his name. And she suggested changing his name from Huck, the nickname his fathergave him after the Chinese word for a small mountain, to Hun, after the PrimeMinister, Hun Sen. It was confusing atfirst and everyone kept slipping up and calling him Huck, especially the littlekids. But now everyone has made thechange, but I feel weird because his new name is the same as the American petname, hon (short for honey). So I feellike a creep every time I come home and greet my host brother as “Hi Hun, howare you?” almost like we are a married couple. They have no idea, but I am getting used to it. I know that when I am married, Hun will NOTbe a pet name used in the relationship.

Hope all is well back home. Weare quickly approaching the “4 months until I come home” mark, which isexciting. March is choc-full of programsand teaching. But after my sister getsmarried, there will be very little happening besides trying to findscholarships for my grade 12 students.

To my fan base:

Since Chinese New Year, not much has happened. It was a pretty lazy two weeks. Classes were canceled for Chinese New YearFebruary 2- 4, then last week were semester one exams. My coteacher wanted me to monitor this test,aka play the bad guy and stop them from cheating. I refused to do this for a few reasons. First, every test that we have, he never doesanything while I try to find the offenders and has never once marked a paper oreven told me that someone was in fact cheating. Second, he made the test. I haveno problem monitoring my own test because I know that we have covered literallyeverything on that test 3 times and that the students are capable of doing verywell. But when I looked at his test, itwas way to hard for them and some of the answers didn’t make sense. I was stuck between a rock and a hard placebecause it’s incredibly insulting for me to tell him that the test isn’t goodor is too tough, so I had to tell him that Peace Corps doesn’t allow me to sitin for the semester exams, which isn’t the case, but when in doubt, blame aPeace Corps policy. The next reason isthat I don’t know what he is doing behind the scenes- did he give the test tothe students already? This isn’t mebeing paranoid because both of my co-teachers did that for every test lastyear. The last reason is because thesemester tests are really important to the students’ grades. If I come down really hard on them in myclass, while every other grade 10 student is cheating and copying, it’s reallynot fair to my students. I want them tolearn the material on a monthly basis, but these tests determine which classthey will be placed in for grade 11. So,because of all of these reasons, I opted out of the tests. My co-teacher seemed to be satisfied with myreasoning. If I have learned anythinghere, it’s that some battles aren’t meant to be fought, and that was one. Blaming Peace Corps is a fool-proof excusebecause not many people are familiar with the intricate policies and protocol,including most Peace Corps volunteers, so it’s usually a safe bet. But it’s not a card to be played all thetime; it’s a special occasion card.

As always seems to happen here, a two week lull usuallyleads up to a month of endless projects. This weekend really saw the start of my busy streak that will take myright into April. It’s crunch time forour International Women’s Day because some of the volunteers have to spend timein Phnom Penhfor training, so this week will be really crucial to making sure that we get itdone. The last minute running aroundstuff is old hat now, so that isn’t even stressful. But on Saturday, a group of us cranked outthe budget and schedule, which will make for a very informative event. The theme for the year is “Strong Women,Strong Cambodia: Balancing Education, Family, Health and Tradition”. Kind of long, but it basically nails it. We will have three guest speakers- the firstis (hopefully!) Darlene’s co-teacher Phanet (the woman who takes us to thefortune tellers). She will be talkingabout self-esteem and how to gain confidence. She’s an incredible teacher and friend, she supports her family andbalances the roles very well. The secondspeaker is our doctor for Peace Corps. She survived Pol Pot and studied in Vietnamand America. She’s going to talk to the girls about howshe really values all aspects of her life and how she created the balancebetween doctor/wife/mother/daughter. She’ll be really great for the girls because she is from the countrysideand her family was very poor and she is really a self-made woman. The last speaker has yet to be solidified,but if all goes according to plan, she will make a presentation about femininehealth and hygiene and reproductive health. There are many misconceptions about feminine health because girls areusually too scared or shy to ask about something because they don’t want toseem different or weird. And it may seemlike the girls are too young for reproductive health, but in a country where 25is considered past marrying age, juniors and seniors in high school are theperfect audience. We will also put on askit about health advocacy. Many people,men and women alike, do not ask enough questions when they go to the healthcenter or a hospital. This skit will demonstrate how typically people justaccept what the doctors say and have no idea what it even means. Then we will show them a woman who asks manyquestions and leave more informed and in better control of her health or thatof her family. We are all really lookingforward to it, but this week will be filled with invitations, meetings,translations and seeking out funding (any ideas are more than welcome!)

I’m starting my Life Plans Club, but I want to change thename to Life Skills. I met with mycontact at the university and expressed that I don’t want to lecture or dosomething that can only apply to a few students (I have less than 5 months leftnow!). So the solution was Life SKILLSClub, which will be a weekly workshop, held in 6 different sessions, which willprobably have around 200 participants overall, and we will focus on one skillevery week. The first lesson is on goalsetting, how to set them and how to achieve them. Seems simple, but this lesson usually goesuntaught because there aren’t many sports teams and classrooms are muchdifferent here. The other lessons willinclude: resume writing, resume building, cover letter writing, interviewingand professional skills, basic nutrition and one other topic that I haven’tthought of yet (any suggestions are more than welcome!)

I am also planning an event for the 50thanniversary of Peace Corps, but I don’t want to jinx my project proposal, so Iwill fill you in on that once it’s approved, but it’s good….

Every Peace Corps volunteer has a very different experience,but also seems to learn the same important goals. One of the best examples I can think of todemonstrate this is the group of students that I work with who went to America. They are in the beginning stages of launchingtheir Green Club, of which I will be their first member. They learned the skills to create and carryout a project, and I have the opportunity to not lead them, but rather followthem. They have an awesome plan and Iwill be there whenever they need help, but I think that my role will be more ofa trainee, which is very humorous to all of us.

The other thing that I have been able to be a part of is theopposite of a cross cultural exchange. Iam always making an effort to represent Americaand engage in discussions about Cambodiaand America. It’s one of the most important jobs as avolunteer, I think. I write in this blog to inform my friends and family aboutthis incredible country that I am in. When I come home, I will continue to spread what I have learned here,but with this blog, I am able to share my stories and insight into Cambodia on a larger scale (I have a fan base inIndia, Germany and South Korea, who knew!) But since they have gone to America, I am able to see their interpretationof America as a Cambodia. It’s incredibly fascinating to hear theminform others about America. I was sitting in their presentation this weekend whenReaksemey, a totally pistol, made a few comments that really stuck withme. The first was that Americans allappreciate honesty. I have heard themsay this before, but then it hit me, we say the exact same thing aboutCambodians. Every single Peace CorpsVolunteer has been called fat during her time here. As an American, this is one of the mosthonest things that anyone has said to me. But these students were talking about how Americans want a straightanswer, especially when asked about oneself, for example: “why did you dothat?” In Cambodia,you would never ask anyone that because they put their reputation on the line. Maybe that is the case in America, butit’s a saving grace if someone can admit to what they did, but here that is aloss of face. It’s funny to me how oneword can mean something so different to two different countries. It also puts me in check about making grossgeneralizations about other countries when a student says “American kids can doanything that they want” or that “Americans don’t respect old people”. If they stayed with my family during myupbringing, they would probably be singing a much different tune.

The next thing that she said was that during some events,there were things that happened that they didn’t understand. For me, this happened when I first came hereand the bathroom was a hole in the ground and a big water basin. For them, it was going to the universitybathroom and not understanding the automatic sinks, soap dispensers and handdriers. The difference is clearlysuperficial, but if there is or isn’t technology, how universal is thatembarrassing feeling that you have absolutely no idea what the hell is goingon. Raya, the group leader, told me thatthe first time, he thought that he had to place his feet in a certain way andspent about 5 minutes understanding what was happening.

The last comment was one that I will never forget. Reaksemey is wise beyond her years andincredibly mature for her young age of 19 and continues to prove a commonperception, that teachers can learn a lot from their students. Her dad, who had incredible English, askedthe group to explain the main cultural differences between America and Cambodia. There were two fathers there who spokeEnglish, but the other parents couldn’t speak a word and clearly were a littleoverwhelmed to be sitting in an air-conditioned room with the Embassy, lookingat a slideshow while their son or daughter spoke rapid English about a countrythat they knew very little about. ButReaksemey’s response was that “we always think that we’re right and weshouldn’t judge other cultures because we think that what they are doing iswrong.” I thought that it was incredibly mature of her not to point out theobvious and vast differences between our cultures, but rather said somethingthat made us all the same- that knee-jerk reaction to think that what the otherperson is doing doesn’t make sense or is wrong. She then cited that in America,it’s ok that people shake hands/ touch and speak informally regardless ofsocial status or age. She said that itwas strange at first for her, but then she realized that is just the way thatit is, not right, not wrong but rather how people do things.

I am surprised by the date every time I look at thecalendar. I am getting excited aboutcoming home, but there is plenty to keep me in the zone. I just like to plan and think ahead. One thing that has been a major topic ofconversation for us has been what people often refer to as the real world aka,a job. I have already started lookingfor some jobs and updating me resume, but how can I briefly explain living in Cambodia on aresume. Good thing I have about 5 monthsto figure that out. I have started tomake some plans for coming home, which thankfully will be in the summer, not inthis wretched winter. Although no plansare set in stone, mid-July- August will look a little something like this:Chicago, the east coast, job searching and lot and lots of family time. Until then, it will be lots of teaching andsweating, because it’s officially hot season again. Good news for my laundry, but bad news for myfan.

This week started with a package from my amazing friends from grade school (yes, we grew up together and still are extremely close, not many people can say that...). In the package were many inside jokes, as well as Ascension basketball, soccer and volleyball jerseys. So I took them outside and put them on Chun Lai and Chun Liap. So now we have two Chargers in Cambodia.

This week was Chinese New Year, which is the most importantholiday in my house. And, to avoidconfusion, although Chinese New Year was from February 3-5, we started toprepare about two weeks ago. This week,my family (not including me) bought the offerings for the ancestors. This means anything from food to fakerepresentations of things that the ancestors would need for theafterworld. This includes, but is notrestricted to: fake money (in dollars and yuan), passports, clothes, shoes,credit cards, plane tickets, bank books, razors, alcohol, cell phones, glassesand belts. When I asked Huck about it,he told me that he had a dream where his dad told him (his dad passed away in2003) that he doesn’t have much money left. So, this year, we burnt a lot of fake money. My friend Lisa, who is another volunteer andcame for the festivities, noted on her trip in that she saw someone burningmoney. She didn’t realize that the moneywas fake and assumed that they were really rich and literally had money toburn.

Chinese New Year’s Eve was the big celebration night. Cooking started early in the morning and thefood was presented on a table for the ancestors and in front of the spirithouse inside, while my host sisters cooked inside, the men, children and myhost mom burned the offerings. When theancestors had had their fill, we had a big feast. Keiko came in to visit, as did Lisa. The food is always so good and it was a lotof fun. Everyone napped and Lisa, Keikoand I went into town. I had a littletire problem- we were riding two people to a bike which was call Khmerstyle. Well, my rear tire had a little toomuch air and popped near the market. Itmade a really loud noise, similar to what I image a gunshot sounding like. It doesn’t help that I am currently watchinga lot of the Wire (an HBO show about gangsters in Baltimore and the policeofficers that try to catch them). Whenwe came back home, Keiko and I started to prepare our spaghetti fordinner. We had leftovers from lunch, butI made a huge batch in place of the fried noodles. There was rice, of course, but Americans andCambodians alike enjoyed the spaghetti. I am pretty confident now in cooking Italian food for Cambodians over awood burning stove. I can cross that offmy list. Darlene and another volunteerjoined us for dinner, so we had a lot of foreigners and Cambodians alltogether.

Host sister in law making an offering

Host mom and host brother in law enjoying some spaghetti

Keiko watching the dragon competition in China with Lai and Liap (the competition is two people in a dragon costume jumping around)

Chun Lai and Lisa

The offerings being burned

Keiko and Chun Liap

The dinner table

Two number two was similar to the first day at night, butlunch was rather tame because my family went to visit an Angkorian Templein a nearby district. But, for dinner,it was a pretty big party. Although noone knows when my host mother’s birthday is, her daughters decided that ChineseNew Year is a good time to celebrate her birthday. Huck told me that they have only celebratedher birthday once before. She was sohappy to have a day to celebrate her birthday with everyone. I cannot imagine only celebrating my birthdaytwice, and she is three times me age. Because Chun Lai was born on February 14, it was a combined party- Maand Chun Lai. Because my host mother isgetting older, it is a big deal to turn another year older (if we had a partyfor Huck, it would just be really weird). As I have said before, rich children and old people are the only oneswho celebrate birthdays, so it was a big day because we had both.

We sang Happy Birthday for Ma first, then Chun Lai. It’s really popular in Cambodia tospray silly string and fake snow at the conclusion of the song, for somereason, so that’s what we did. While wewere singing, Ma and Chun Lai were thanking the ancestors and gods and wishingeveryone good luck. We then set uptables for dinner. I gave Ma herpresent, which was a jewelry box and Chun Lai money. Last year for his birthday, I bought him abunch of toys and was the only idiot there with a present, besidesDarlene. This year I learned my lessonand got some money out of the bank. It’stradition to put them in little red envelopes, but I didn’t have any, so I askedHuck for two- one for me and one for Darlene. I would have felt weird giving my host mom money because I am the onlyone at the house who gives her money to live there, and I give her money once amonth, so I opted for a jewelry box because she doesn’t have one, but she has alot of jewelry. It was a fun night, butby the end of the two days of celebration, I was holiday-ed out. The third day is the day reserved for traveling. My host mom asked me to go to Pailin, whichis the bordering province with Thailand,but I opted out.

Ma's cake

Ma, host sister, her son and Navy, my brother's

Ma and I in front of the Chinese New Year tree

Fake snow

The reason that I didn’t go to Pailin was because I hadset-up another session with a fortune teller, with Darlene and herco-teacher. This fortune teller was anumerologist and lives very close to my house. Darlene and I met her co-teacher outside of the numerologist’shouse. I wasn’t quite sure the protocoland hadn’t really prepared much, so I was just flying by the seat of mypants.

In this compound, there was a big house and a few smallerones and the numerologist set up inside one of the really small houses, so weall took off our shoes, sat on the grass mats opposite the numerologist, whoimmediately started chewing his bettle nut and leaves and took out our notebookand pens. Just like last time, I willtry to recreate the conversation, and my thoughts are in italics and all ofthis was translated by Phanet, Darlene’s co-teacher.

Numerologist: What is your birthday? Kealan: January 17, 1987. N: What is your sign? K: Rabbit.N: What day were you born on?K: the 17thN: No, the day of the week. K: Uh….. I should knowthis from the family tradition of my Mom telling us about the day that we wereborn on our birthdays. Maybe I canfigure this out by going backwards. *here is the point where I write down the day of the weekthat my birthday fell on, going backwards. Anyone who knows me well can attest for how awful I am at math. I started with “2011- Monday” and tried towork backwards. I came up with Friday,then I got the idea to use Darlene’s cell phone (I forgot mine at home) andused the calendar “application” on our phones (our phones are from circa 1996)and it said Saturday, January 17, 1987. I trust a machine over my own math skills, no matter how many times Ihave dropped this thing. K: Ok, Saturday, January 17th, year of therabbit. N: Your good fortune started this year, January 2011. This year and next year will be two goodyears. In these two years, you will geta job and get married. K: This is the secondtime that I have heard this. Pretty muchthe same as the last fortune teller. N: In general, you are a good person. But, you need to consult with your eldersbefore you make a decision and if you follow what they say, you will find whatyou want. K: My parents aregoing to love this part…N: Do you have any questions?K: Yes, I want to know more about these two years. Youcan’t just mysteriously say that this year and next will be awesome and not gointo details. N: You will get lots of money. Darlene has ancestors looking out for her,and you do not. K: Oh ok. What? I have ancestors too! And note to self, askPhanet what “mein liap” means in Khmer. K: I also want to know about this future husband. Pleasedon’t tell me he is a relative. N: That will be your choice, but it will happen soon, withintwo years you will be married. The bestchoices for you, as a rabbit, are men born in the year of the ox or year of therat. K: Phew! No cousinsfor me! Note to self, look up years for oxen and rats. K: Do you see anything else? N: You will have your own house and when you build it, thehouse should face northwest and when you sleep, your head should be pointingsoutheast. K: When I build ahouse? And about children? It stillcreeps me out talking about my future children, but when I’m told whichdirection I should sleep, I think all bets are off and it’s ok.N: You shouldn’t have an odd number of children. So don’t have 1 child or 3 children, youshould have 2 or 4. Any more questions?K: What about this job? This career path? Will I go backto school or get a job?N: Don’t worry about the job. You will get a good job and you will notcontinue your education. Don’t worryabout the next two years, they will set up the rest of your life, which will bea good life. K: Can you tell me about my family? About my little sister?N: What is her information?

* after some calculations

K: Saturday, April 22, year of the snake. N: She has a good future. She has a better future than you do. K: Maura is going tolove this. Katie (older sister) and Pat (older brother) already have goodfortunes, but Maura and I are the younger ones that are still trying to figurethis out. He doesn’t need to tell meabout their good fortunes, because I can see that for myself. N: She will have an easy life. But, like you, if she wants a good fortune,she needs to respect your parents. K: She may have abetter future, but she’s in the same boat as I am with the consulting eldersthing. What about her health?N: She will have no accidents and no health problems. You shouldn’t be concerned about her. You should be concerned with your own future,not hers. K: Treated.K: Ok, back to me. DoI have any health problems? Will I bereally sick as an old person or will I be active? N: No big health problems. K: Ok, so these two years, why are they so good? And what happens after these two greatyears? 50 bad years? N: No, it doesn’t work that way. It’s nothing bad, but youwill be able to create a life for yourself. While these two years are great, they will continue for the rest of yourlife. It’s not like a peak in your life,but more of an increase of fortune that continues on.

* at this point, I stopped and let Darlene have herturn. While her fortune was being told,I thought of a few questions.

K: Can I ask another question? You said that I don’t have anyone looking outfor me, but Darlene does. Are theseancestors or guardians that are still alive? And how do I get them to protect me too? I want a little protection too. N: You don’t believe in spirits, so therefore they don’thelp you. How can something help youthat you don’t believe in or look to for help. If you start to pray for them, they will help you. And you cannot just pray every once in awhile, or when you think of it and need help, it needs to be everyday, regularpraying. K: TouchéN: People born on Saturday always have ancestors, we mustpray for them and look to them for help. Also, people born on Saturday tend to get headaches and sore eyes easierthan people born on other days. K: Thank you teacher.

So, that concluded my second Cambodian fortune tellerexperience. He was really laid back andseemed to enjoy doing this. We found outfrom Phanet that he has a lot of money and was trained by his father, who alsowas a numerologist. He charges a fairlylow fee and liked hanging out. He didn’treally lie to us; if he didn’t know the answer he said so, instead of makingsomething up or guessing.

Darlene and I then took a trip with Phanet to her farm, about16k outside of town. I forgot my camera,but we will be going back because it’s so beautiful. They have rice paddies, mango trees, bananatrees, palm trees, coconut trees and probably a bunch of other trees that Icouldn’t identify. I also asked Phanetabout “mein liap” which I thought meant to have make-up because liap is theword to put on make-up, cream, paint or really anything that can be applied toskin, or a wall. But when I asked her,she said that it means to have things, like material things, such as cars, ahouse, computers, money, etc. So what hewas saying is that I will have more material wealth, which I hope is the case,because I have a computer that crashes every other day, a phone that pre-datesmy college days and a terribly sick ipod.

All in all, I really enjoy doing these things because itmeans a lot to Cambodians. Cambodianstend to get either very into fortune tellers or adamantly don’t believe inthem. I tend to buy into it a little,but this man was really cool, because he kept saying that things were ourdecision. Husbands, jobs, children,etc. He made it clear that the futureisn’t determined because I have yet to determine it. But it is reassuring to hear that I am at thestart of the best two years of my life. I haven’t seen much difference yet. But I do have a lot to look forward in the next few months. My 24 years so far have been really great, sothese two great years have a lot to live up to.

The fortune telling journey doesn’t end here, however. We know of two other fortune tellers that wewant to consult before we leave. Phanetis really into it and is excited to have Americans who are interested init. We are also getting better at askingquestions and interpreting the interpreters interpretation of the fortuneteller’s interpretation (that makes it seem a lot more complicated than itreally is…)

Until then, happy year of the rabbit. As Cambodians say, I wish you good health,good luck and happiness for this year and for the rest of your life.

One of my favorite parts about living here is discoveringsimilarities that have been masking themselves as differences. Sometimes they are not too difficult todiscover, but some take a little more digging around. Here is a list of example from this weekalone.

Cleaning- In my house, my family went insane this weekcleaning up the entire house in preparation for Chinese New Year, but also fora special day- the god that travels to heaven and the families that have cleanhouses will have good luck in the upcoming year. Whatever the reason, it felt a lot likespring cleaning and like every family house cleaning session from my childhood. Tensions run high. Sneezing is rampant because of all theunsettled dust. Kids thinking they canhelp, but inevitable prove that they are more of a nuisance than anything. Magazines, boxes, clothes and things of yearspast seem to resurface out of essentially nowhere. But, it’s all worth it when one can look atthe revamped house and the pile of crap that needs to be thrown out, and feelthe pleasure of a good days work (or in the case of this Chinese holiday, 3days). It’s also universal that nomatter how clean the house gets, the magazines will go back into hiding, thedust will settle again and the spiders will spin their webs double time to makeup for their houses that were recently destroyed.

Little kids- I was nervous about living with little kidsbecause it’s tough enough to talk to people my own age in Khmer. But it became clear after a few months(that’s how long it took for my host niece and nephew to warm up to me), thatlittle kids all like to do the same little kid stuff. Boys are boys. They, typically, like to wrestle, play wargames, get dirty and catch animals. Girls, typically, like to get pretty and do little girl things. When I give them candy, they ask me everydayfor more candy. And if I don’t have any,they tell me to go buy some more. So,when I cleaned out my trunk in preparation for the god going to heaven (Ididn’t want to be the reason why my host family would be overlooked in thelucky category for next year), I found two glow sticks. They provided the entertainment for the night. They used them as microphones, guns, andnecklaces. And then in the morning, whenthey discovered that they had no more light, I had to field 10 questions perday for a week about why they have no more light.

Holidays- Besides the cleaning, my family is makingpreparations for Chinese New Year, which starts in February 2 (which is ChineseNew Year’s Eve and the holiday lasts until February 5). We are having a lunch and dinner party on NewYear’s Eve, my friends Lisa and Keiko will be coming too. The menu is pretty much set, plans are beingmade for February 3-5, which is the time when people travel and have a bit of abreak. It reminds me so much of anyAmerican holiday. My family (my realfamily) always hosts Christmas Eve and although the day of is crazy,preparation begins long before that, even though we have been doing it for awhile. We bake cookies, buy boxes worthof food at Costco, the house gets reorganized to hold my huge family and otherthings that I can’t seem to remember because I haven’t been there in twoyears. But, the day of the holiday, allof the running around, the preparations and stress leading up to the start ofthe party, or the meal, is worth it. Theway that we all celebrate is the same. Get together with family, cook good food, relax and hang out, play somegames and drink a little beer. Mixed inare religious or cultural traditions, which is the reason or excuse for all ofus to get together. It’s the companythat keeps us there and makes the holiday special. I always get the same feeling of family and togethernesswhether I am celebrating Easter in Americaor Phchum Ben in Cambodia.

Sibling rivalry- Because I spend so much time with my hostniece (Chun Liap) and nephew (Chun Lai), I have become very familiar with theirrespective personalities. And I havenoticed the same feeling that I used to feel when my little sister would getspecial attention for being younger and cuter than me. If I am playing with Chun Lai, Chun Liap willcome over to play, but then one up her brother and sit on my lap. It’s actually really exhausting to be the onethat they are competing about. It leadsto tears a lot of the time, and sometimes I just go into my room to avoid thesituation. But Chun Liap (the girl) didsomething to really up the ante this week. Chun Lai is about 4 and is a very bright little kid. He likes to echo me and has picked up on afew of my mannerisms and repeats some lines from a conversation that I have inEnglish with my host brother. He startedto say “ew” after he heard me said that after Chun Liap walked in chicken poopand tried to sit on my lap. He alsostarted to say “yeah” for affirmation, which clearly isn’t the Khmer word for“yes”. The other day I was singing asong (“What’s My Name” by Rihanna) and he repeated the chorus after I sangit. Chun Liap tried, but she just sortof mumbled. Chun Liap is about 3 yearsold and has Downs Syndrome. She can onlysay a handful of words in Khmer but was clearly not enjoying the attention thatChun Lai was getting from his parrot-like performance. On Wednesday night, we were watching theBears game. It was the unfortunate gamewhere they lost to the Packers and I already knew the outcome (the game wasplayed on Monday, Cambodian time) but I was so happy to see my city’s footballteam and shots of Chicagoon the screen. I was explaining therules, vaguely, to my host brother when the camera zoomed in on BrianUrlacher. I was telling Huck howUrlacher is really famous in Chicagoand how many people think that he is a really great leader. Then I said “Look at him, Huck. He is so big!” and from behind me, I heard afaint, high pitched “so big!” and was shocked when it came from Chun Liap. I immediately taught her a Pollard familyclassic- “How big is Chun Liap?” to which she responds “so big!”, arms over herhead and all, showing just how big she is. While we were enjoying this moment, Chun Lai, from across the room said“Kealan, ask me. I can do it to.” Wellplayed Chun Liap. I am interested to seehow Chun Lai responds to this.

This game of “spot the similarities” is a personal favoriteand will keep updating you.

Speaking of updates, I have my close of service (COS)date. It is July 12th. That means that all Peace Corps Volunteersfrom my group must leave Cambodiaon July 12th with two exceptions. One is a formal request to stay longer, the latest possible date isSeptember 30. The second case is someonewho cashes in their ticket for 80% of the value and finds their own way home,which some will do so that they can travel around Asiaa little bit. I will not be extending orstaying later, so my plan is to be leaving Cambodia on July 12th.

What does this even mean? Well, for one, it means that I will be coming home 3 months earlier thanI initially thought, but because the school year ends in June, there is notmuch reason for us to stick around, since the school year starts in October, soreally November. It’s a weird spot to bein because I have been gone for so long (556 days exactly) that on one hand,the 166 days until then is like a drop in the bucket. But, I also can’t help planning a fewactivities for when I come back. How canone balance the excitement of seeing my family and friends that I have missedso much and the stress of time winding down and leaving this country that Ilove so much? My mindset is much thesame as it was in college. I loved everyminute of going to Seton Hall and playing softball there, but some senior year,I knew that I would be going to Cambodiaand pursuing a long-awaited and sought-after goal. I was really looking forward to going to Cambodia andbecoming a volunteer, but there was plenty at Seton Hall to keep me therementally and happy. This is how I feelabout my position now. I am literallyswamped with projects and work until April, which is the point when the countryshuts down for a month to celebrate Khmer New Year and also escape from theheat. I have two friends coming in Apriland then we will go to Thailandfor a trip. I will come back to Cambodiain May, and mid-May is when Peace Corps brings us into PP for COS conference,which is when we start to transition out of Peace Corps life back into Americanlife. I can imagine that the rest ofMay, June and short time in July will be busy with farewells, packing and tyingup lose ends. There is plenty to keep mebusy and finish out my Peace Corps life like I want.

Currently, I have been in Battambang since my familyleft. School has been really consistent,and my American culture classes are held every week. I have been doing workshops at the universityhere and there- last week was how to make an email account, this week was howto make a facebook account. It’s weirdto teach a monk how to facebook, let me tell you. We are planning International Women’s Day,which is coming along well. We are closeto solidifying our Peace Corps doctor, Navy, to come and speak to the girlsabout her life. Her family was reallypoor and she is from the countryside. She survived the Pol Pot regime and studied really hard. She studied in Vietnamand Americaand now works in PP as a doctor. She ismarried to another doctor and has two children. We think that she is a perfect example of a strong woman- she has acareer, marriage and is a mother. Shewill talk to the girls about balance and how it is important for women topursue their interests as well has maintain their Khmer traditions with familyand children. Her husband and childrenwill be coming, which will demonstrate the support from her husband. We also want to have a segment on women’shealth. There is a Cambodian woman thatone volunteer has worked with and she may talk to the girls about how to carefor their bodies, because people have to be really proactive about their healthhere. She will probably talk about beingpregnant and having children because many girls get married after high school,if she can come, that is.

Besides that, I am starting work with an organization intown that works with a community of squatters in the train station. The train station has been abandoned for someyears and many people have come there to live in the station, the office, thebox cars and really anywhere providing shelter. It is a school that has a sister school in PP and is just starting, sohopefully I can help them set up some programs and increase the communityparticipation. It’s a perfect projectbecause I can’t start any new projects now, and this one is started and justneeds a little help. I have some ideasthat I think will help and I’m looking forward to helping them out.

I’ve also started running and working out in my room. While I also ran into a moto, the only otherproblem is the stray dogs. I carry arock in my hand, just in case. So far,no bites. I have never really been a bigexerciser, but since I wake up by 6:00 everyday, sometimes 5:30, I might aswell start the day with a run. It’s notso hot then and I really enjoy watching people start their days. The kids walk outside, rubbing their eyes,the market that I run past is just getting started for the day as the sellersget up shop, the men and women who sell various goodies on a cart are startingtheir rounds for the day and sometimes I see a few kids I know. One boy who I know from the health workshoprode his bike along next to me while I ran the other day. Maybe I will see him? It makes me realize how slow I am running,but I enjoy the company and I’m sure that he likes to show off that he knowsthe weird American who runs by their houses. Cambodians typically don’t run, but they do jazzercise and morecalisthenics.

Happy Chinese New Year! This year will be the Year of the Rabbit, and Iam a rabbit, as is my host brother, Huck. He is pretty excited that it’s our year, so therefore I am too. Chinese New Year is my favorite holiday and Itold my host mom that I can make spaghetti, which she quickly said that shewould love. I am teaching Huck’sgirlfriend how to make it because they want to know for after I am gone. Last year, I sat like a bump on the log andobserved but this year, I’m a part of the party. Every now and then, I get a pat on the back,and it’s always nice to realize that you are a part of things, and not justsome strange observer.

Passport and bank book to be burned as an offerin to the ancestors- the company is called

"Hell and Paradise" and "Bank of Hades and Heaven"

In case they need a plane ticket, they can fly on Hell/ Heaven Air

Clothes, a comb, whiskey, a razor, money, cell phone

Happy Chinese New Year from Chun Lai

On Monday, I turned 24. Scary, I know. But my mindset going into the week was that it’s just another day. Like I’ve said before, American holidays andimportant days get easier and easier as time goes on. I have never made my birthday a big deal, forthe most part, so I knew that I wouldn’t be disappointed.

Birthdays in Cambodia are a very interestingtopic. Typically, asking people how oldthey are is very confusing, since children turn a year older on Khmer New Year,which is in April. I once asked someonehow hold he was and he said that he was 24, born in 1989. Most people don’t have birth certificates, sosome people don’t even know how old they are. Sometimes people don’t know what year they were born in, but many timesthey don’t know the exact date of their birth. I’ve asked some people when their birthdays are and sometimes they say“March” or “May”. It makes me laugh andI tend to leave it at that; I asked someone once the exact date and they wereembarrassed about it, so I dropped it.

The only people who celebrate their birthdaysare old people and rich people and the Royal Family. Birthday parties for old people are more of areligious event. It’s very different toobecause the younger people all go and present their gifts, which are usuallymoney. Because Cambodia is acountry that values old people and people are proud of their age when they getto a certain age, there are sometimes religious ceremonies with monks and lotsof people coming to celebrate. Sometimesthey last more than one day; sometimes it’s a small family gathering. I think that this may also be a city vs.countryside thing. Those people who livein the countryside tend to hold tighter to Khmer traditions and are resistantto Western influence (whether that is good or bad is another story).

For the young people, parents are throwing morebirthday parties for their children. It’s very Western: birthday cake, party favors, presents. They even sing the Happy Birthday song, inEnglish. It’s pretty funny. One thing that I don’t understand is howafter the child blows out the candles, everyone sprays him or her with silly stringand canned snow. But it gets all overthe cake. It seems to me that parentsare keeping track more of the date that their children were born. But, many teenaged

For the Royal family, the King, the King’sfather and the King’s mother’s birthdays are all three day holidays. A friend once sent me a text that said “Isn’tit funny how most Cambodians don’t celebrate their own birthdays, but we have 9days vacation to celebrate three people’s birthdays.”

Because I’m not an old person, small child ormember of the Royal Family, I assumed that it would be easier to mention my birthdayto a few people, but continue life as normal, which is what I did. I woke up and taught class from 7-9, talkedto my parents, read, made lesson plans, ate lunch and then went to theuniversity for my American Culture lesson. I find that the abundance of American and Khmer holidays present greatopportunities for lessons and discussions, I made the lesson about Dr. MartinLuther King, Jr and the holidays celebrating his life and message. I told them about his life and his work andwe watched a youtube video of his “I Have a Dream” speech. My birthday coincides with this holiday everyseven years and I used to enjoy having the day off of school on my birthday,but also a sense of pride that my birthday was celebrated on the same day ashis. His message, however, meant alittle something different this year. Living in a place that doesn’t have equal rights, talking about thistopic with students who are searching for justice and development for theircountry. Dr. King’s message was verywell-received to my students and I was really touched to be a part of it.

After the lesson, Raya, who is the leader of theAmerican Corner library where I teach these lesson and is one of my closestfriends, tried to pull a fast one and told the students to wait around a momentbecause they had a surprise for me. Hereally underestimated my Khmer skills, but I went along with it when he told meto close my eyes. For about 30 seconds,there was a lot of rustling around and when I was told that I was allowed toopen my eyes, there was a cake on the table with candles and all the studentsstarted to sing Happy Birthday. It wasso touching because I didn’t expect it. The students all wished me good luck for my life and success (which is aKhmer custom that is typical for just about any situation). We all ate cake and I rode my bike home. When I got back, my host brother, Huck gaveme a gift from him and his girlfriend- a notebook and pen. Chun Lai and Chun Liap were around and ChunLai took the bag that Huck used to keep the notebook and pen in and gave me thebag as a gift and told me that I can use it to put the notebook and penin. So cute. After dinner, my host mom gave me a new towel,my host sister gave me a little purse that she made and my host cousin wrote mea note. It was so cute andheartwarming. My host mom also wished megood luck, good health and success in my life.

I was so touched that so many people who mean alot to me went out of their way to make my birthday special, even thoughbirthdays aren’t a big deal here. I toldmyself that I need to remember that feeling for when I am annoyed with my hostfamily, students and friends. I wastalking to my friend Keiko about how nice it was, and we came to the conclusionthat our students, families and friends don’t really have too many chances toshow how much they appreciate us. I wasmaking plans to return the favor to them when I leave, but then I rememberedthat I am a volunteer here. I enjoy itso much and am learning so much that sometimes I forget the other side ofit. Most volunteers abroad view theirservice as a service to the country, but Peace Corps views it as a partnership-half is learning and half is teaching. While many non-Peace Corps volunteers forget the learning part, but PeaceCorps volunteers sometimes forget the other side.

Although I was sort of dreading turning 24, itturned out to be a really great day. Butnow it’s back to real life. School isgoing to start slowing down once February starts because there will be testingand Chinese New Year. March is verysimilar and school will most likely pause until May begins. Second semester exams are the first week inJune, so I have a feeling that I won’t be doing very much teaching afterMarch. I am trying to stay as busy aspossible though, because now that it’s the home stretch, I can’t get homesickor mentally check out until it is time. In the meantime, we are planning International Women’s Day for March 11th,in addition to the regular programs. Ifound an Ngo that works with a small community of squatter who live in theabandoned train station. I am looking tostart a weekly sports program for a community development project. We’ll see how that pans out. Because this is the point where we shouldstart phasing out of our projects, I won’t be starting anything huge or new fortwo reasons. One, almost everythingtakes a few months to get going and two, because I don’t want to start aproject that will die immediately after I leave.

Our close of service conference is May 16-18,which is when I will find out when I will be coming home, but I will be home byAugust 1st. That’s good newsbecause I don’t think I would be able to survive dropping into a Chicago fall, let alonewinter. Here are some more pictures that my mom put up on facebook. Enjoy!

At the party at my schoolMa and Mom (ready for a weddin) Maura and I at dinnerIn Phnom Penh.

Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope that everyone had a safeand happy holiday. I hear that it was acold one. My New Year was one for the books. I celebrated a holiday with my family for thefirs time since July 4th, 2009, so this was a special New Years, andI’m not one for New Years. But first,let me describe the whole experience….

My mom, brother and little sister all made the trek over and originally planned on comingin from Ho Chi Minh at about 8:00 at night, but that changed, as the Waldron travel plans frequently do. I checked my email right before leavingBattambang for Siem Reap and assumed (wrongly) that they would be arriving atabout 3:00 to Siem Reap. I took the busin, got to the hotel, showered and took a seat downstairs in a chair that had aperfect view of the street.

We spent the next day viewing many of the temples at AngkorWat and then went out with some friends who were in Siem Reap for NewYear’s. We were so exhausted, butsomehow managed and brought in the New Year with a bunch of Peace CorpsVolunteers, tourists and Cambodians. Itwas a blast and I have to hand it to my family, after all that traveling andtouring of the temples, they toughed it out. All of my friends commented on how much fun my family is and how theywere so surprised that we were able to stay out, but it was the first time thatthey met other members of the family (family and friends back home would expectnothing else…)

Angkor Wat

Mom and Pat in a tuk tuk Bayon TemplePersonal Tour Guide

Maura and I

Pat and I in a tuk tuk

In the tuk tuk on New Years.

We spent the next day going to the markets and recovering abit. We went to the Cultural village before we left, which is basically a big compound dedicated to Cambodian culture. Siem Reap is often called Disneyland by Peace Corps Volunteers because it is a citythat caters to foreigners. The food is good,the hotels are really nice, the markets are manageable and the city planningmakes much more sense than Phnom Penh. Siem Reap and Phnom Penh were the touristy parts of our trip. Sandwiched in the middle was Battambang, abetter representation of the real Cambodia.

At the cultural village in Siem ReapCultural Center fun

After two days in Siem Reap, we took a taxi to Battambang,which was a total blur to me because we hardly stopped moving the wholetime. I tried to balance doing thetouristy thing and seeing the sites with showing them my real life. We stayed in a cute new guest house (for therecord, we stayed at really cool hotels the whole time…) and had at least twoactivities each day.

The first day, we went to Phnom Sampoe, which is a temple ona mountains and killing caves at the top. The Khmer Rouge basically marched people to this mountain then threwthem into the caves. It is terriblysad. That afternoon, we went to theuniversity and my family met my English Club students. They asked a lot of questions because theyare in my American Culture class, so they were able to ask three Americansquestions. They just love to practice English. View from the top of the mountain

University English Club

The first time they met and they are best friends.

The next day, we went to my high school and met the schooldirector then had English Club with my English Club there. Each students had a specific aspect of Cambodiathat they presented on, such as food and drink, art, lifestyle, religion, geography,agriculture, etc. They did a really goodjob even though they were so nervous. Theydon’t have the chance to speak to many foreigners, but they held their own andmade some really great presentations. That afternoon, we went back to the university and Pat and Maura madepresentations on their education. Mauratalked about health care ethics and Pat talked about cross- culture exchanges. They did a really good job and the studentscame up with some really great questions. From the university, we went to my host family house and we started tocook what turned out to be a feast. I cookedspaghetti (or as I call it to my host family “mee Italy” or Italian noodles) and myhost family made fried noodles and grilled quails. My host siblings all came over and met myfamily. We drank wine we bought in SiemReap (maybe from Italy?),rice wine, honey wine that my host mom makes and some Irish whiskey. My host nieces and nephews all came, as didDarlene and we all had fun. I wasrelieved that the spaghetti was a hit. At one point in the meal, I saw my family eating the fried noodles and myhose aunts and siblings eating the spaghetti. I taught my host brother’s girlfriend how to make it because I thinkthat it will be on the menu for holidays to come. I will make it for Chinese New Year, which isthe first week in February.Mom introducing herself to the club

Vida presenting on BuddhismThe Club and my family

Navy and I cooking

Pat and my host cousin's babyMaura and Chun Liap, instant best friendsMaMilk fruitThe feastPat and my host niece, Lisa. Such hams.

The third day, we went to a party at my school. I didn’t know that there was a party eventaking place, but the day before, when I came with my family, the schooldirector told me that it was happening (school was cancelled because thestudents were setting up for the party), so we had to go, we really had nochoice. My host mom was there with myaunt, which was kind of a surprise, but my host mom is really involved in everyreligious party, so I suppose I should have known that she would be there. In Khmer, the word for this kind of a partyis “bun” and it means that almost every monk from the surrounding pagodas wasthere and people make offerings, about 250 monks in total. I still don’t really understand what theparty was for; some students said that it was for National Victory on genocideDay (which was the day when the Khmer Rogue was overthrown by the Vietnamesearmy), but there were monks there blessing the school and government officialsmaking speeches, so I think that I will chalk that one up to something that Ijust don’t understand. I don’t add asmany things to that list as I did before, but there are still additions. After the party, we rode the bamboo train andthey were able to see the countryside. Because it is the rice harvest, most people were out in their fields,including many kids who have to skip school to help their families. After lunch, we went to my host family’shouse and my host brother drove us to Kamping Puoy, which is called a resort,but it is a reservoir that was built during Pol Pot. There is a damn and huts that were built inthe water. We rented a section of a hutand relaxed in hammocks. It’s abeautiful place and my students are constantly telling me to go there, so I cancross that off my list of places that I must go before I leave.

Mom and MaRidin the bamboo trainView from the front of the bamboo train

The next day, I woke up and went to church with my mom. It starts at 6:30 and there is a fairly regularcrowd. It’s a short mass all in Khmer,but I enjoy seeing those members of the community that I hardly see outside ofchurch, but it is kind of a cool feeling to see someone that you seemingly havenothing in common with, but we still practice the same rituals once aweek. As a person who feels weird,awkward and out of place most of the time, church is probably the mostconsistent place where I can come and just be another Catholic reciting the OurFather (granted I am the only one saying it in English…) After church, Maura, Pat and I went to a pagodain town and got a tour around with my star student Vida, the boy who livesthere, and a few monks. We all kind ofpaired off and Maura was able to talk to a monk in English and Pat had adifferent monk to talk to. I walkedaround with Vida and he informed me of a few things that I didn’t know. We stayed there for about an hour and everyonewalked away feeling like they accomplished something. The monks all study English and were able toshare their religion with some curious foreigners. Pat and Maura were very curious about the pagodasand Buddhism, so they each were able to get a tour with a monk. Vida was also on cloud nine because there arevery few westerners who are interested in visiting the pagodas and learningabout Buddhism. For the amount of foreignersthat I see in Battambang, the pagoda and the public school are the two placesthat I can go and know that I will not see another foreigner. He was proud to bring us there and show usoff because he can’t really see his family and works hard around the pagoda. I was happy to get to see that part of hislife, because I was always curious. Themonks chanted one part of a prayer that usually takes 30 minutes to recite, butthankfully it was only a few minutes. Ilove the sound of monks chanting, although I don’t like it at 5am on horriblespeakers, it’s always awesome in person. They chant in Malay, so I have no idea what they are saying, but themessage is very similar to any prayer in any religion. When we got back to the hotel, we got packedup and got in our taxi. We stopped by myhost family one more time to say goodbye and then we were on our way. We stopped at the half way point, which iswhere my friend Keiko lives. We went toher house and picked her up. We went toeat lunch and toured around the crocodile farm behind the restaurant. It’s pretty scary but the family is reallynice and it’s cool to see those huge animals so close. We then went out to the floating village. Keiko’s host dad asked for the day off andarranged a big boat for us. The floatingvillage is exactly what it sounds like- houses, restaurants, shops, etc on thewater. Everyone has a boat, but thereare many problems there- there is a high rate of HIV/AIDS, the crime rate isreally high and alcoholism is common. Our tour skipped over those things though- we went to a house thatcatches and sells fish and a place that makes ice and sells it to everyone inthe village. I was really concerned thatour taxi driver would be annoyed that he had to stop or try to get more money,but he was in the back of the boat, loving every second of it, taking videosand making jokes. We ended up gettinginto Phnom Penhpretty late, but we went out for dinner and called it an early night.

The crocs.

Phone stop

On the boat

The next day, we booked a tuk tuk for the whole day and wekicked it off with one of the saddest places in Cambodia. Tuol Sleng, or S-21, was a school that wasconverted into a torture prison during the Khmer Rouge period. Estimates are that 14,000 people died there,mainly those accused of being spies or former government officials. The museum is really graphic and sad, so we decidedthat we didn’t want to be genocide tourists and cut out the KillingFields. Instead, we went to the marketright around the corner and finished up the shopping for those back home. We went to the mall (which is called the“modern market” by Cambodians, which cracks me up) and got frozen yogurt andDVDs. We then went to Wat Phnom, whichis a pagoda on a hill, where Phnom Penh began, according to the legend. We then went to the RoyalPalace, which is very similar to the goldenPalace in Bangkok. We made it in time for happy hour at FCC andwent back to the hotel to back up and eat dinner. We went to sleep early, like every other night. In the morning, everyone woke up and got ready to go. They took a taxi to the airport at 5:45, soit was an early morning for all of us. We decided against me coming to the airport because I couldn’t getinside and it’s not a good idea to take a tuk tuk alone at that hour. So, we said our farewells at the hotel and Iwent back inside to sleep. When I wokeup, I was overcome with sadness because it was the first time that I woke upalone in almost two weeks. It made mefeel awful that they were gone. Idecided to start my day though because nothing gets accomplished when I feelbad for myself. I took advantage of theawesome shower, free delicious breakfast, stopped by the Peace Corps office andwas on the 10:00 bus back to Battambang. I decided against staying in Phnom Penh because it just makes me spend money and belazy. On the bus, I was thinking about myfamily, but it dawned on me that I went over a year without seeing my parentsand about a year and a half without seeing any siblings, the last six monthswon’t be bad because the tough part is over. I have about 6 months left, give or take.

I blogged about this shirt before, but we actually got a picture of it!

Now that I am back at site, I am planning the last fewmonths. The way that Cambodia worksis that soon, it’s going to be much more difficult to get stuff done becausethe weather will start getting hotter. There are tests in February, holidays in March and no one does anythingin April because of Khmer New Year and the heat. The school year ends in early June and I willbe leaving in July. So, now it’s crunch time. I have a lot of stuff planned- planning for International Women’s Daystarts on Friday, Martin Luther King,Jr. presentation on Monday, Yahoo and gmail workshops on Thursday and Fridaynext week and a workshop on the Cambodian genocide on the 24th. I have a wedding next week, Chinese New YearIn February, my host sister’s wedding in March, John and Catte visiting inApril and so on. It’s weird to be at thepoint where the end is in site. Beforeit was a point in the very distant future, but now is where plans start to getmade. It’s the home stretch.

I also was thinking about the idea of karma. I believe in something called traveler’skarma and I saw it a lot when my family came to visit. My family was so sympathetic to the workingkids, men and women and I think that it really helped us. There are some times when the tuk tuk drivershave no idea what they are doing or are rude, but the ones that we got thistime were so nice and hard working. Theyall took care of us and moreover seemed to enjoy showing us Cambodia. I think that a lot of that has to do with howinterested in everything my family was. They were so curious and open to learning about anything and everythingthat we were paired up with people who wanted to show us their country.

All in all, it was a great trip. I was so happy to see them and show them Cambodia. While I was so sad to see them go, Iunderstand that this is how things work. I made a commitment to Cambodiaand my work and I need to be serious about it until the end of the year. I will have plenty of breaks, but the worstthing that could happen is to get homesick. I’m in this for the long haul and plan on going out with a bang. Six months? That’s nothing. It continues to geteasier the longer that I am here, so I think the best strategy is just to enjoymy time left. I should be doing thatanyway, but it’s hard to remember that sometimes, no matter where we are.

This past week was a really busy one. Since my last blog, I gave out two zeros togirls that tried to use a cheat sheet during the test. It’s a heart breaking moment when you see itas a teacher and it makes me cringe that I did it as a student.

I taught my American culture class about the holiday seasonin America. Things like candy canes are easy enough tounderstand, but they couldn’t get their heads around the concept that peopleput Christmas tress inside their houses. A bunch of kids asked me why we don’t put them outside. Even though my answer was that we decoratethem and they would be ruined outside, it didn’t really work and I think I justconfused them even more. I guess theChristmas spirit is something that you have to see firsthand to get and can’tbe taught via powerpoint in 80 degree Cambodian heat.

My high school English Club watched a movie about a familythat survived the Khmer Rouge and escaped to Americaand lived in Dallas. Although the three older children were bornin Cambodiaand the last was born in a refugee camp, they are typical Americans. The movie is about their first trip back to Cambodia in 30years. It’s extremely powerful and thestudents really enjoyed it. They arewriting letters to the woman who is the narrator and main character. It’s a documentary. We should be sending them out next week.

On the 23rd and 24th, I brought abunch of people to the free clinic at the orphanage that I build the hygienestation at, which was run by Canadian nurses. I brought my host family the first day and they were all given vitamins,medicine, toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss and most importantly, advice. Two of my host aunts came, as well as my hostmom, host brother, host cousin, host sister and her daughter. My suspicions were correct that my niece ChunLiap has Down’s Syndrome. The nurse satdown with my host sister and told her how to care for Liap, because she willalways have respiratory problems. It wasa huge relief to me that they had their questions answered.

My host mother

In line.

3 people in a picture is bad luck, but I do it anyway

They got stickers and are showing them off

Liap is so brave!

Weighing some kidsThat afternoon, I arranged for about 25 of the children fromthe organization that I worked with over the summer for the health workshop tocome. They are the children fromextremely poor families, some are orphans and some are street children. They all had pretty good health. One boy, however, has scabs all over his bodyand it was heart breaking because he was in so much pain but never oncecried. He said that he was 9 but helooked more like 6. The nurse who lookedat him was under then impression that someone has burned him and she believedthat someone poured oil all over his body (that isn’t the case, however, sodon’t get upset). His caretaker, who hesaid is his grandma, put baby powder on his scabs, which made it worse. I took him to get showered and the nurses puton Neosporin and gave him a bag of medicine to bring home. I totally lost it onthe phone that night with my family because I was convinced that he was beingabused and the road to getting him in a safe place would be a tough one becausethere is a lack of infrastructure and we don’t want to step on anyone’stoes. But, Phanet, Darlene’s coteacherwho translated for the nurses and the patients said that he told her that hehas been like that since birth. Sheremembers when she was little, many Cambodians has leprosy and she thinks thathe has that. The signs are all there. Hehad scabs all over his body, he has already lost a few toes and his fingernails were falling off. To be honest, Ithought that the world had rid itself of leprosy, but as Darlene pointed out,it’s much like polio, not common, but it still exists. So our game plan changed drastically, and forthe better. We are going to talk to thedirector of the organization and visit the child at home and talk to his parentsor grandmother about getting him the proper treatment. Leprosy treatment is free at the provincialhospital, so we are hoping to team up with the parents to make sure that hegets the treatment. It cannot be cured,but it can be halted so that he doesn’t get any worse. Lesson learned, don’t jump to conclusions, alesson that I should have learned a long time ago, but those lessons that welearned when we were little are the most important- share, be nice to everyone,don’t jump to conclusions, work hard in school and love your family. The hygiene station!

Impromptu teeth brushing lesson at the hygiene station! Christmas Eve started by meeting my English Club students atthe high school then riding out to the orphanage to get check-ups. They were nervous, but they didn’t needtranslators and ended up translating for a few villagers who came in. They totally stole the show. They also had a lot of questionsanswered. They mainly had the sameailments- lack of sleep because they wake up at 4 am to help around the house,then study all day and skip lunch because they either don’t have time or don’thave money, drink more water, eat more food and heart burn brought on by acombination of stress, spicy food and sugar. They had a blast and the nurses loved them.

Ranin getting his check upVida describing his heartburnLaughing and comparing weight. They asked me to step on the scale, but I refused. Sampoh and Kimny talking to the doctors.

After the clinic, Darlene and I went our separate ways forthe afternoon and then I went to her house for a sleep over. Our friend Dave came too, he lives in thenext town over. He brought his hostbrother and he’s a nice kid. He lovedhanging out with Americans and got a very accurate depiction of what Americans dowhen they hang out, because we traded music on our iPods, ate cheese, drankbeer, then Dave played guitar and Darlene sang. In the morning, I cooked pancakes and talked to my family on thephone. It was Christmas Eve, so thatmeans that everyone was at my house for the annual Pollard family party. I was able to talk to a lot of my family,which was nice, but the truth is that holidays get increasingly easier as moretime goes on. Last year, Christmas atotal bummer. But this year, I wasreally busy and there are almost zero reminders of Christmas, or reminders thatI am used to. No snow, but rather 90degree dry heat, I live in a Buddhist country, so Christmas music and holidayfood (it’s not like there are Starbuck’s on every corner advertising peppermintlattes), so unless I looked at my calendar, I hardly thought about it. I am coming up on the last few holidays awayfrom home (New Years but I will be with my family, St. Patty’s Day, but we areplanning a party at Darlene’s, Easter but I will be in Thailand andIndependence Day but I will be on American soil at the US Embassy). The second time around is so much easier thanthe first.

Christmas dinner- noodles and a sugar can juice. It costs about 75 cents.

Dave on guitar and Darlene on vocals.

My health workshop was on Sunday. Although the children have been taught timeand time again about hand washing and teeth brushing, the workshop was ablast. The station turned out amazing! The location is perfect, so the children mustwash their hands after bathroom use, before meals and brush their teeth aftermeals. The most important part is thejobs assigned to the three trainees- Sothea is in charge of hand washing beforemeals, Sophy is in charge of keeping the toothbrushes for the small childrenand leading teeth brushing after meals. Rong is in charge of maintenance everyday. The goal is to make it a part of their habitsso that it becomes second nature. In themeantime, those three will lead the brigade. The money that was raised went towards building the station ($450) andsupplies ($50). The $50 went a reallylong way. The older kids had just gottentoothbrushes, so the ones that we bought for them are back-ups, for when theyneed a new one. The little children werealso just given toothbrushes, but I thought ahead and made sure that bought acontainer, because the small children must return their toothbrush to Sophyafter brushing their teeth because that way they will stay clean, and notlost. She is also in charge oftoothpaste because the small ones don’t need much. They had a lot of fun, so to everyone whodonated, THANK YOU!!!! The kids really appreciate it, and it’s so important forthem because they can get sick so easily and oral hygiene is really neglectedhere and leads to huge problems in the future.

Hand washing session

In action

The trainers used glitter to demonstrate how easily germs can be passed and how they can only be killed with soap

Thanks for your help!

Group teeth brushing

Littlest guy at the center

The trainers and Darlene

One station

The other station!

They each got their own toothbrush

The workshop staff.

Showing off our clean hands and teeth

Now that my crazy two weeks are over, I will teach Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday then take a bus to Siem Reap, where I will pick my familyup from the airport that night. Myclosest PCV friends will be in Siem Reap for New Years Eve, so we will have ablast.

I probably won’t be blogging much over until mid- Januarybecause my family will be in Cambodia!I will post as many pictures and stories as possible.

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas. Have a happy, safe and healthy New Year!

Again, to those who made a donation, I cannot thank you enough. It seems like such a minor task, but hand washing and teeth brushing are two of the most important things that I can teach these children. I really appreciate your help and I wish that you could have seen how much fun they were having and how serious they took it. I hope the pictures do it justice!

Before

After

I have been thinking a lot about how animals are viewedvery differently in countries. Iremember when I studied Italian, we had a whole lesson about how Italians arereally interested in animal rights. There are times when my host family turns on the TV and there is a showfrom Americaabout animals. Every now and then, thereis an animal segment on “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” (a family favorite). Recently there was a piece on this familythat had pet pigs, about 5 or 6 of them, like most families have dogs. They wore clothes, were trained and didtricks. Now, this is silly in America. But imagine how my family felt when they sawthis. Dogs serve a purpose here, theyeat scraps and protect the house from ghosts, as Cambodians believe. Likewise, cats eat mice, spiders eatmosquitoes and geckos eat every kind of bug. The big geckos, called “tu-kai” because the sound they make when they“cry” is “tukai”, are considered lucky. My family asks me about animals in America and when I tell them thatsometimes animals are treated like people, sometimes better than people, theyfind it funny. And it is pretty funny,actually. My language isn’t good enoughto describe the idea of adopting pets and enrolling them in school or sendingthem to doggie spas and hotels, and I’m actually glad that I can’t explainthat. The way that my family viewsanimals is very practical. When a catlived with us for a few months until it mysteriously drowned in the water basinin the bathroom, no one really made notice of it. They didn’t feed it; but rather it earnedit’s keep by eating the mice in the house. When I asked my brother where we got the cat, he looked at me like I wasnuts and he told me that the cat chose our house, not the other way around. Apparently, cats meander around and choosethe houses with lots of mice in them and when their work is done, they moveon. The chickens that we have are fordaily eggs and in case of emergency, we can sell the chickens. I have seen only a handful of leases and zerodoggie bowls.

Now, before I get to the good stuff, I must explain aboutghosts. Yes, ghosts and animals have arelationship, but more on that later. Most Cambodians believe in ghosts and are deathly afraid of them. Ghosts are the spirits of people who died ahorrible death and stay around to haunt. There are constantly stories of ghost sightings near areas where peoplewere murdered. Many people claim to haveseen them. There were a lot of ghoststories after the stampede. I heard astory last week that ghosts are haunting a resort in Battambang. Huck told me that after his aunt died, shevisited the house and tried to choke him, his sister and mother. The story is that she choked to death, butthere is speculation that someone poisoned her over a land dispute. It is not really clear what happened, but allthree claim that the ghost visited her to let them know, violently, that shewas dead and was upset. A volunteer,shortly after moving into her host family’s house, woke up nightly withshortness of breath. She told her hostmother and her mother responded that a ghost was trying to choke her becausethe set up of the room was upsetting the ghost. They rearranged the room and then the girl was able to sleep. BS? Idon’t really know, but regardless, it comes up daily. There are many ghost stories, involving theghosts of the victims of the Pol Pot regime. There is a lesson on ghosts in the national curriculum. When I drew a picture of what Americans thinkghosts look like, the students all laughed at me. I drew a typical floating white sheet with acircle for a mouth and black eyes. Thenthe students drew for me a really creepy skeletal like black orb. It looked more like I think the devil wouldlook like. No wonder everyone is afraidof them.

When I talked to my brother about animals, we got on thetopic of what animals say. This was avery enlightening topic because some were the same and some were much moreaccurate. I don’t know if I can reallywrite down the way that they are said, but in America, what we think animals sayis not exactly accurate. For instance,pigs don’t say “oink”. I mean, it’s cuteand fun for little kids, but because most families here are farmers or havesome sort of animal living at their house, the way that they think animals makenoises is much less fairy tale-esque. Wedon’t really see cows and pigs in America unless we go to a pettingzoo. I see them everyday. Also, an important note is the role ofghosts. I broke it down by animal to make it easier. Chickens- My first time hearing a chicken impression was from my host sister. She asked her daughter what chickens said and her daughter couldn’t make the noise, but it sounded like a pigeon impression. It was much better than my “bahk bahk bahk”. When I asked my brother about it, he made a weird chicken noise, but he told me that Cambodians translate this from chicken language to Khmer. They say “ma chak p’dai vuyiek crow” which, in English, means, wake up people of the house and feed me. This is said by the roosters. When they say “koh-kee” that means get up. Also, when a hen lays an egg, she says “ar tuk adoit” which means that she has laid an egg and she is announcing to the family “one more” but usually she says “koh kee” as in get up. Dogs- the way I wrote this is pruh with a rolled r. It’s like a growl and it makes much more sense than “ruff”. Cats- We usually just say “meow” in America and Cambodians say the same. But there is a cry for when they are in heat and a cry for when they have babies. Goats- it is similar, but Cambodians think they “ma”, which means mom here, so it’s the goat calling for his mom.Cow- we think they say “moo” but Cambodians think it’s “ah-moh” and they translate that from cow directly to English for “one more”. Pigs- They name for pig in Khmer is “cheruk” which comes from what they think the noise is. So for this animal name= sound it makes.Geckos- In English, we only have one name for this animal- big or small. But in Cambodia, the small ones are “geen jaw” and the big ones are “tukai”. They are literally everywhere and while the small ones are enjoyable for everyone to look at, most people are afraid of the big ones, even though they are considered lucky. The belief is that if a “tukai” (the big one) falls from the wall or ceiling and gets stuck on you, 7 married women much come to remove it. And when they make their noise, it is called “tukai yom” which means “the big gecko cries” and they make the “tukai” noise a few times. They sort of gargle first a few times and then make the noise. If they make it 7 times, that is considered bad luck. I have to be honest, ever since the “tukai” moved outside of my room, I have counted his cries and so far, so good. Owls- Many people think that when they see an owl at night that it is actually a ghost because you can only see it’s eyes. Vultures- Although there are no vultures in Cambodia (or so I am told) these animals are believed to eat ghosts. After the stampede, my brother told me that vultures came to the site and were circling around the bridge where the stampede happened. Hopefully they ate all the ghosts. A black bird that we couldn’t identify- When this bird crows someone dies. It must be the bird of death. It’s not a crow, not a vulture, not an owl. What could it be? Not sure. Between the noises that the animals make and their function,it’s an interesting topic. I think that the functionality of the animals in Cambodia isvery appropriate to the culture. Cambodians are very practical. For a Cambodian, keeping an animal that doesn’t serve a purpose, butrather takes, is a silly concept. Idon’t like to dwell on the differences between our countries, but this may beone of the very few things that I will chalk up as a difference. It makes for a really great example of ourcultures though. Every pet that I knewin Americawas described as the best, groomed, bred, primped and trained. “Isn’t she just the cutest dog?” “Fido is themost beautiful dog”. I always knew, butnow I can really see the indulgence that we have as Americans. We can’t just have a dog, it has to be amember of the family. It has to have itsown house. It’s own food, identity, evenname. I’m not knocking it at all, I willhave a dog when I get home, and that’s for sure. But for Cambodians, animals have a purpose. Everyone in the family serves a purpose, andwhen a family does something, everyone does it. Dave, a fellow volunteer, has a host father who catches fish all day andwhen he comes home, no matter what time it is, every helps him unload the fish,regardless of what they are doing. In myfamily, when my mom comes home with the groceries for the day, we do whateverwe can to look busy so we don’t have to make ten trips to the care. Animals are the same. If this animal is going to stay here, it’sgoing to have a purpose. A watch dog, anmouse eating cat, an insect eating gecko, etc. I love pets and animals, I think that they are great. But that is a sort of luxury that mostCambodians can’t have. It’s very aesthetic in America,but in Cambodia,dogs aren’t bred, or even spade and neutered, which actually is kind of grossand makes for some really ugly dogs. Wearen’t really an agricultural society, so I’m sure that this doesn’t apply tothe animals in the countryside. But mostAmericans aren’t farmers, they are suburban or urban and maybe have a patch ofherbs in the backyard. An American dogthat catches a rabbit in the backyard is seen as a trophy dog but in Cambodia, it’san expectation because that’s dinner.

In other news, I took a trip to the orphanage to check onthe hygiene station and things are looking really good. The builder decided to build two differentstations, which makes more room for the kids to wash their hands and brushtheir teeth. There was some controversyabout the height, but we will be building a little step for the youngerchildren, so they can reach the station. I met with my team of youths involved in the workshop this weekend. We made our plans and will purchase thesupplies on Saturday and deliver the workshop on Sunday morning. The two students from the summer workshop(Vida and Kimny) are taking the lead and training the two new girls (Sothea andSophy) and the new boy (Rong). They eachhave a daily task at the orphanage. Because the children eat every meal together, Sothea is managing everychild washing their hands before the meals, Sophy is in charge of leading theteeth brushing after each meal and Rong is in charge of maintenance to thestation, which involves cleaning and making sure that there is always soap andthat it is working. Each child will geta toothbrush, but Sophy will be in charge of keeping them, because a three yearold orphan will lose that toothbrush immediately. This will ensure that they stay clean and notlost. We will put tape around each brushso that each child has their own. Ithink that the system is pretty good and Kimny, Vida, Sothea, Sophy and Rongare really excited about it. Youthempowerment is one of the most important tasks as a volunteer, and one of themost rewarding. The kitchen is near where that car is in the corner

3 faucets each

Two stations. Those are the bathrooms.

I also found out, and this is embarrassing, that the name Ihave been calling my host sister is wrong. How does that even happen? Well,allow me to example this year long mistake. I picked up on the fact that Chun Lai was calling Huck, ---- Huck. I heard it a few times, but he said it fastso I assumed it was one of those small words like, “there” or a little kidword. Then I asked Huck about it and hesaid that the word is “jake” so Chun Lai calls Huck, “Jake Huck” and when Iasked what it means, he said that it’s uncle in Chinese. Apparently in Chinese there are two words oraunt and two for uncle, differentiating between a parent’s siblings. It’s pretty confusing, but let’s take ChunLai and Young Uh for an example. ChunLai’s dad is the oldest in the family and Young Uh’s mom is the secondyoungest, Chun Lai calls my sister Sokeit “go Keit” and Young Uh calls her “eeee Keit”. So, the children of the boysin my family use the same words for aunt and uncle and the children of thegirls use the same words. It’s reallyconfusing. I very slowly put two and twotogether and realized that I have been calling my sister the same thing thatChun Lai calls her, which is “go Keit” which means Aunt Keit. So I have been calling my sister AuntKeit. This actually came to me in adream a month ago when Keit was mad at me that I don’t call her “bong srey” forolder sister. I wanted to be like thefamily, and I (wrongfully) assumed that Chun Lai was calling her by her firstname and because I call Huck only Huck, no brother in front or anything. I actually think of him as a twin, but wedon’t do the older brother/sister thing. And I’ve never heard them call each other older brother/ sister. Lesson learned.

Here are some pictures from a wedding I went to last weekend. I have another this Saturday. Ma and Me

Ma and Chun Lai

Older sister and Ma

Our table

Me and Bong

The bride dancin

I have also solidified my holiday plans. I will spend December 23rdshuffling my family and students from the city center to the orphanage to getcheck-ups from the Canadians doctors. Iwant the doctors to look especially at my brother, who is my age and hasarthritis in his feet, my host mom, who I think is going blind and my hostniece, who is almost three and I think has Downs Syndrome. But obviously, I want all of them to get acheck-up. On Christmas Eve, I will teachin the morning at the high school (probably about Christmas) then do the sameat the university, or have a Christmas party with them. At night, I will go with Darlene to theorphanage where they will be having a Christmas Eve party. There will be music and dancing. It sounds like a blast. I will sleep over with Darlene and we’ll wakeup and have a pancake breakfast (thanks Mom!) then ride to church. I will then travel to Siem Reap on December30th and meet my family at the airport. I am so happy that I will be spending NewYears Eve with them. Should be a funfilled and busy two week trip for them (and me). Right after they leave, I will be turning 24,which is a very scary thought.

I wish you all a happy and safe holiday season and a happyand healthy new year! Quickly approaching are my three New Years- InternationalNew Year on January 1st, Chinese New Year February 2-4 and Khmer NewYear April 14-16. Only three more NewYears then I will be home.

This past weekend I went to Siem Reap for what we call a“dahling”. This Khmer word can mean manythings- to go for a walk, to travel, to visit, go for a bike ride, etc. It’s probably my favorite word in Khmer. So this dahling was much needed because I hadbeen at site for about a month and the wear and tear of school was getting tome. There was a bike race andhalf-marathon around Angkor Wat, so many volunteers participated in that. Everyone assumed that I was going toparticipate, but lazily, I decided against it. I am not one to have regrets, but I really regret that decision. They woke up at 5 am and biked around thetemples at sunrise. It was for a goodcause too. A few volunteers have reallyfunny stories. One said that she waspassed up by little barefoot Khmer kids. Some people dressed in mascot costumes and passed volunteers (imagineBenny the Bull passing you in a marathon…) Overall though, it was a good weekend because it was an excuse for allof us to get together. I’m at the pointin my service and my life that I prefer to be around my friends and avoid theobnoxious crowds and bars. So it was apretty tame weekend. The highlightincluded barbequing at Tyler’s house, who was a K2 volunteer and teaches at a school in Siem Reap. His apartment complex has a grill and a pool,so we had a pretty typical American day. I cooked some asparagus for the first time in over a year. There is a western grocery store in Siem Reapthat has almost everything, so we always stock up on our western needsthere. It is a really basic grocerystore, but there are only a handful in Cambodia, so we tend to spend a lotof money there and lug back our goodies to site. It’s called Lucky, rightly so. I boughtbrownie mix and baked brownies at Tyler’shouse to bring back to my house.

After the feast that we cooked for Thanksgiving, my hostmother asked me if I know how to cook American food. When I said that I did, she didn’t mask hersurprise too well, then asked me to cook for the family. I have been thinking about cooking for themfor a long time, but I was nervous that they would hate it but feel bad. As Americans, we eat all different types offood and essentially what is American food? When I think about what my family typically eats, it varies. On Monday we could eat Italian, then Tuesdayis Mexican, so on and so forth. But in Cambodia, it’srice with some sort of stir fry or soup. It wasn’t that big of a deal for the volunteers that I came with toadjust to Khmer food because it’s very similar to Thai and Chinese food. But for my students that went to America for aconference, they hated the food. One boyonly ate fruit and another said that he hated literally everything except whenthey ate Thai or Chinese food. There wasonly one girl out of 7 students that enjoyed the food. So, I was nervous about this, and rightlyso. I decided that spaghetti was a safebet. Cambodians eat noodles, but ricenoodles. They also eat a lot ofvegetables, so I decided to make sure that it was more similar to something myfamily would eat.

The day of, Huck asked me what he needed to buy. I bought the noodles and Ragoo sauce in SiemReap at Lucky. So, Huck bought onions,green peppers, tomatoes, bread and beef. I added a few more tomatoes, onions and garlic to the sauce(I bought onebottle of sauce for 2 pounds of pasta). Then I put in green peppers and beef to give them something that theycould identify. The name that we gave tothe pasta was “mee eettalee” which directly means “Italian noodles”. So all day, my nephew Chun Lai kept askingabout mee eettalee and my host sister was happy for the night off. I was a nervous wreck all day that they wouldget sick or hate it and continue to eat it because they were too polite to saythat they hated it. Huck and I cooked ittogether, which was an experience because we cooked over coals, so it’s sort ofdifficult to control the heat. But wemanaged to boil the water and prepare the sauce. I had Huck and my host mom taste it becauseCambodians tend to put sugar and MSg seasoning in everything, so I wanted tomake sure that they liked it.

When it came time to serve, we all sat down and ate thepasta, which chopsticks. You may laugh,but it’s much easier and cleaner. We hadway too much pasta, but my host mom took care of that and took several bowls ofmee eettalee to our neighbors and her friends. My older sister came over and ate some, but she put her own specialtouches on it- lime, sugar and hot sauce. To each their own. Cambodiansprobably cringe that Americans cook rice in a microwave, so I guess we areeven.

The family seemed to really enjoy it, and I know thisbecause my host mom asked me if she can buy the noodles here, because she wantsto cook them for Chinese New Year in February, which is the biggest holiday inour house. We also ate the browniesafter, but I got hungry on the bus back to Battambang and shared a few, sothere weren’t that many. Next time I’min Siem Reap though, I will bake some more.

Huck

Chun Liap, my niece

Chun Lai and Chun Liap with their mother

Not so easy

Basketti face!

Lai

Ma eatin noodles

In the kitchen

Brownie and bread.

Family

Tomorrow is Human Right’s Day and in celebration, I will bemeeting with my counterpart for the hygiene station for lunch. Thanks to everyone who made a donation! I went to the bank and got the money gram, soI will give him the $450 to begin construction. It should take about 4 days to build, and in the meantime, I will bemeeting with my summer interns and our three new trainees from the orphanage toprepare the workshop. We are meeting onSunday and will most likely present the workshop next Sunday (December 19th). Because of the school schedules, it’s trickyto find a day that works for everyone, so it’s usually Sunday when I work withstudents. I am really excited to get thekids their station, toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap. It will be very interesting to see thisworkshop because I plan on taking a backseat and letting my two summer internsrun the show. They worked so hard overthe summer and now know how to do these things, so I will be there more forguidance, and they will be the leaders. I am really excited to see it unfold. The station should be complete around Wednesday or Thursday, so thetiming is pretty good for our workshop.

Time is really flying and it goes by even faster when I amreally busy, which is the case for this month. I have a wedding this weekend- my host brother’s brother in law isgetting married. I would seem verydistant in this relationship, but I got my invitation for both days, with myname written in English. Last year, Ijust received invitations a few days before without a name because peopledidn’t know it. Moving up in theworld. Next weekend is the wedding of my“ming’s daughter”. Ming means aunt, butshe isn’t a real aunt or host aunt. Iwas supposed to live at her house, but due to Peace Corps requirements, Icouldn’t live there, but we have maintained a friendship. Her brother and sister in law came from Rhode Island and I metthem when I went to the house for lunch this week. They told me about their life in America, whichhas been really difficult, but they maintain how lucky they have been. The wife cooks cakes and sells them at agrocery store to pay for their trips back to Cambodia. They are both on disability because she hasthyroid cancer and he had a stroke a few years ago. They are just a testament to the Khmer workethic and family values. It was adifferent side of the Cambodian experience that was new to me. I’m excited to hear more at the wedding.

After the back to back weddings, it will be Christmas! The Christmas spirit is a little tough to getinto when you are perpetually sweating. It still feels like summer 2009, which is good because I think I’d behomesick if there was holiday cheer and I wasn’t at home. There will be Canadian doctors and nursescoming from December 22 to 24. I will bebusy shuffling my family, my students and kids around my site to and from theclinic. On Christmas Eve, the orphanagegoes to church and has a little celebration that includes traditional Khmermusic and dancing. I have not beeninvited yet, but I am hoping to get in on that. I joke that this is the year of the weasel because I have been sneakinginto events that I probably wouldn’t have been invited to unless I was aforeigner or a Peace Corps Volunteer, such as any Cambodian ceremony, thespeech by Hillary Clinton and the Embassy gala. Cambodians are very interested in Chineseastrology. I never knew before, I wasborn in the year of the rabbit, same as Huck. My brother once was explaining this in Khmer and I was confused why hewas calling himself a horse, his son a pig and his daughter some animal I hadnever even heard of (dragon), but now I get it. Huck’s friend was over the other night and asked me what I star signwas. I reverted back to being Americanand said Capricorn then realized after the puzzled stares that he meant the otherone. Is that a pick-up line? Not sure. But it comes up a lot. My old daily planner had a chart that told youwhich animal you were by which year you born in.

According to a website I found (chineseanimalsigns.com) this is the description of a rabbit.

People born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. They are admired, trusted, and are often financially lucky. They are fond of gossip but are tactful and generally kind. They are clever at business and often make the correct choices. They are most compatible with those born in the years of the Sheep, Pig, and Dog. You also like Squirrel Fishing.

UME Club in American Corner

Visitors from DC from a last month

As I’m sure you can imagine, holidays are pretty toughhere. I have been through one full yearof missed holidays and am approaching a full two year cycle of missed holidays,and although it really stinks, there are ways to cope. One way is to celebrate with fellow Americanswho are missing the same holidays. Wetend to get together for the big ones (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years andthe 4th of July- as Americans living abroad, this one has become alittle more important). For Thanksgivinglast year, we had a dinner at a restaurant with the volunteers from ourprovince and the three neighboring provinces. It was rather small but fun. Well, this year, we discovered that language training for the newvolunteers was to be held in our province, Battambang. The venue was Darlene’s school, which isacross the street from our school. Wedecided to take on the incredible task of cooking for all of the new volunteers(there are 45 of them), the volunteers from my group that live nearby (12 ofus) and all the Peace Corps Staff (about 30 of them). It quickly became all or nothing. So we assembled a team of about 10volunteers- Darlene and I leading the brigade, four volunteers who live in ourprovince, Kara and Keiko from two nearby provinces, Darlene’s host sister andDarlene’s neighbor who studies at my school.

Me and Chatriya

Pasta salad prep

peelin pumpkins

Brownie batter

Darlene, Nary, Chatriya and me

The turkeys in the oven

Kara and I makin pumpkin dessert

The feast!

The dinner was on Friday (the volunteers weren’t allowed tocome in until Friday) and we started to cook on Thursday then had aThanksgiving dinner of Khmer noodles. Wesat around, drank some beer and said what we are thankful for (more on thislater). I slept in on Friday (6:30 isthe latest I can sleep anymore) andcalled my family, who was celebrating at my aunt Sue’s house because it wasstill Thursday night in America. I was able to talk to a lot of my familymembers. It’s tough to talk to everyonecelebrating together and I’m not there, but it made me realize that I made itthrough two Thanksgivings away from home and that I will be there for nextyear’s Thanksgiving. After the phonecall, we made coffee and I cooked pancakes for everyone. We made a trip to the market and nearlycleaned the place out. The menuconsisted of- three turkeys, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, greenbeans, pasta salad, gravy, bread and a variety of desserts- brownies, cookies,apple crumble and pumpkin delight, a name we dubbed for stir fried pumpkin,brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Now, the problem is that we live in Cambodia. I don’t have a fridge at my house, butDarlene has a small one. The turkeyswere sent up from Phnom Penha week in advance, so we stored them at our favorite restaurant in town. They refused to accept money from us when weoffered it. As for cooking, we spent aday and a half preparing. We made somestuff the day before. We also borrowedDarlene’s neighbor’s kitchen and her host family’s kitchen. It wouldn’t have been possible withoutthem. We got about 40 pounds ofpotatoes, 20 pounds of sweet potatoes, about 7 pounds of green beans, 6pumpkins, 5 pounds of pasta plus all of the vegetables we put in there. We wiped the market out. The woman who sold us the potatoes was reallyhappy to sell us every potato she had. Afdter much peeling, waiting for water to boil, stirring, mixing andsweating, we did it. It was a littlehectic getting all of the food from Darlene’s house to the school, but PeaceCorps sent two trucks and we were able to serve dinner at 6:30. There wasplenty of food and everyone was able to get their fair share of turkey andmashed potatoes. The Khmer staff enjoyedthe meal. We had enough to give to thegirls who study at the school and live on campus. I was a really great chance to celebratetogether as a group. Some provinces hadtheir own Thanksgiving dinners, but some don’t have enough people. It was a blast to be together and the foodturned out well, so it was a huge relief.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for three reasons. First, fall is my favorite season and I thinkit’s such a pretty time of year. Second,the food is just so good. And last, themeaning is so basic- let’s get together, have a good meal and think about whatwe are thankful for. Even though this issomething we should do everyday, it’s a great reminder for me to look atmyself, where I am at in life and reflect of that. Am I happy about where I am at rightnow? If not, what can I do to fixthis? Where do I want to go? Most importantly- how did I get here? I made a list of things that I am thankfulfor, because I love lists. My parents. They raised us to be independent and although it must be difficult for them when we are away, their support and love is never wavering. No one understands quite you like your parents. I really appreciate all of their hard work and dedication to their value system. I have learned many lessons from my parents, but the most important ones are about hard work and dedication, even when it isn’t fun and the results aren’t immediately visible. I think that I would have given up on a few tasks, but I think about the example they set throughout our lives, that giving up is the easiest thing that you can do. It’s the hard work that brings results. I never thought about it before this experience, but I can finally understand many of the beliefs that I never understood before. My siblings each offer a very different role to the Waldron Children Clan. Katie is the pioneer. She is the one who showed us, rather than told us, that there’s a big world out there, go see it. She also taught me the significance of finding a professional passion and pursuing it. Her journey to become a teacher was difficult, balancing work and school. Her passion for teaching and her students is really inspiring and often think of her where I think that I can’t cut it as a teacher. Teaching, in my opinion, is one of the most important jobs in America, and one of the most difficult. She helps me to remember, as a teacher, why it is that I teach, because it’s easy to forget. Her example throughout the years has really helped me grow. The newest to the family, my brother in law, Matt, has really been a great addition and fits right in. He has a great sense of humor and has really been a great source of support for me. He can always answer technological questions and crack a one-liner about any one of us. Although they have only been married for a few years, I have gotten to know him better, even during Peace Corps stint, the more I get to know him, the more I realize that he married not only my sister, but the rest of us, but he takes it like a champ. I have never understood math and science, but just like my sisters, he is science minded and very practical. I know that is a tough role for him because Maura and I tend to be tough critics, but the more I get to know him, the more I realize what a perfect match it is for he and my sister, but also for our family. I don’t think that my brother could have chosen a better professional track because he has been a professor for a long time. I am always amazed at his never ending quest for attaining knowledge, but moreover, using it. I coasted through college and studied for the sake of a test or a paper, but Pat studies for the sake of the knowledge, then passing that along. Although he is the smartest person I have ever known, he never speaks down to me, but rather urges me to think deeper. I think that anyone can teach a subject if they know enough about it, but Pat will make his students want to learn. Even from so far away, he has already discussed helping me write a book and always sends along little articles. Maura is actually younger than I am, but is wise beyond her years. She is probably the person that I look up to most in the world and is probably the most ethical person that I have ever met. She never buys into what the crowd thinks is acceptable, but rather what is right. Her moral code is airtight and never lets her guard down. This transcends all areas of her life- her school work, her relationships and her extracurricular activities. And by extracurricular, I mean health trips to Africa, presenting at medical events and volunteering. Maura has always been interested in the rights of older people and although I joke around that she is a grandma already, she understands the importance of taking care of the aged. It’s incredible to see her tenderness when talking to older people. I’ve never met anyone who has sacrificed so much of the tempting and chosen the difficult. My extended family- My cousins, aunts and uncles. Aunts, uncles, and cousins in two continents, I have quite a large family, but I feel so lucky to know them so well. I have always looked forward to family events, but even more so now. They supported me as an athlete and now as a volunteer. The letters, emails and packages mean so much to me because it’s so nice to get something from family. Some people don’t really know their extended families and I think that is really unfortunate because they are really missing out. I’m so glad to have them in my life and even if we don’t talk for a long time, it always seems to pick up right where we left off. My friends- I have been lucky enough to keep friends from my days as an Ascension charger, in high school, college and softball friends through the years. Many of them have gone to great lengths to stay in contact and maintain a friendship. If I named them, it would take a long time. But I think they know who they are and I’m so grateful for them because I’m the one who decided to leave, but they take the time to stay in touch. I also have a few good friends here that are fun to meet up with and talk about those Peace Corps things that no one back home understands. My host family- Many volunteers tell horror stories of host family invasion, perpetual illness and constant pressuring, but I have been lucky enough to find just about the best. I have stayed healthy (knock on wood) and happy here. They always think to include me and look out for me when I feel weird or out of place. They make me happy every day. I have learned so much about the universality of people. Family is family- regardless of the past, they stay true to their family and take so much pride in their family. I like to spend time with them and the more I am here, the more comfortable I feel. My job- Being a Peace Corps volunteer has been one of the most difficult things that I have ever done. But I am so fortunate to be from a place that offers this service. We also live in a time of war and there is no doubt in my mind now that spending time person to person goes a long way in the scope of international relations because when it comes down to it, we are all the same. Regardless of religion, ethnicity, language and any other barrier that people focus on to create conflict instead of friendship. Sounds really hippy-like, but I truly believe that people aren’t relative. It’s funny how I came here to teach and have learned more in just over a year than I’d be able to teach in a lifetime. America- So lame and I get annoyed with over the top patriotism, but being from America has provided opportunities that I really have come to appreciate. My education, the chance to play sports and clubs, my liberty to say what I’m saying, the chance to volunteer.Technology- Emailing, facebooking and blogging are extremely pivotal in my happiness. Talking to my family and friends, seeing pictures of everyone and remaining in the loop (somewhat) really helps me feel like I’m not totally cut off from the world. I’ve met a few Peace Corps volunteers who served twenty years ago and they were saying how it’s so cushy for us because we have cell phones and internet. But twenty years ago, no one had those things. I will be very behind the times when I get back. I just found out what an iPad was about 2 months ago and still don’t really understand what it is. But in the meantime, I will continue to read the BBC online and Keiko’s left over Economists because I can’t watch the news unless I’m at a hotel. My health- Some volunteers have gotten extremely sick while being here, and I’m glad that I’m not one of them, knock on wood. Peace Corps- As you probably know already, I feel very strongly about the idea of international development. I met many volunteers, but none of them can compare to Peace Corps. I think that it is great what they are doing, but they are not what I want to do. One of the most appealing aspects of Peace Crops is that it’s two years, all encompassing. There is no escape. And because of that escape, volunteers are productive and successful. Without a host family, teaching position at a public high school and low salary, I probably wouldn’t be learning as much as I’m learning. The main goals our Peace Corps mission are: 1. to teach English as a foreign language in high schools and teacher training centers; 2. to teach Khmer teachers techniques to improve their skills; 3. to teach Americans about Cambodia; 4. to teach Cambodians about America. I think the last two are out of reach for volunteers that stay for a few months and live on their own. There are some people who come to Cambodia and volunteer for the sake of volunteering. They tend to have lofty ideas about projects that they want to do, not necessarily what the community needs and wants. So, there tend to be many buildings, wells and other facilities that are vacant or unkempt because there is no interest on the part of the Cambodians and no one asked them how they felt. This is lesson that I learned the hard way, but it has made me a more effective volunteer not for myself, but for Cambodians, which is why I’m here. One volunteer saw this when she went to a poor community and determined after talking to people that there was no water. Everything was dirty, they hardly had water to drink and cook with, so she asked around and everyone agreed that they needed wells. While she was working on the proposal, she found out that an organization built 2 wells last year that cost $4,000 each. She asked them why they don’t use the wells and the villagers said that they asked the organization to build the simple wells, because they knew that the water would be bad. The organization never asked, built the wells and left. They weren’t being used. This volunteer provided the equipment, the community provided the labor and now they have two wells that are always used, for about $1,000 total. Plain and simple, they wanted something, she listened and now their needs are met. People just don’t listen sometimes because they think that they know better. My students- There are sometimes when I just don’t think that I am helping anyone, my students always give me a little sign that I can’t give up. I don’t think that it has anything to do with me, except for the fact that I have invested a little time in them. It’s incredible what a nudge in the right direction will lead to. Their never ending quest to study really rubs off on me. They tell me about what it’s like for them, not for sympathy, but more to help me understand. They wake up around 5:00 in the morning and take care of their chores before biking for miles, studying for hours and forfeiting their lunches to take tests and study in private classes, then coming home at about 7:00 to relax for a little before dinner, homework, more chores and then bed. Then repeat. Everyday, except Sunday. Thanks to everyone who donated money to the hygiene station! The money will be here next week and then built in a few days! The health workshop will be next weekend. I will post pictures! It means so much to the kids!!! Now that Darlene helped repair the pump, the hygiene station will be a great addition to the center!

The childrenSothea, one of the students who will be trained to deliver the health workshop and monitor the station.

This week, I decided to get coined, which is the Cambodian treatment for simple illness. It is basically rubbing a coin with lotion on your skin to create bruises. It's an attack on your system to speed up the recovery process. Every Cambodian does it, even the babies. So, I decided to do it when I got a cold brought on by the change in weather. Here is the result....

I submitted a project proposal for a hygiene station for children to wash their hands and brush their teeth. If you are interested, please click on the following link!

http://appropriateprojects.com/node/453

Now that I am about 16 months into service (has it reallybeen that long?), I have noticed how much difference one year makes. Some of it comes in the form of just knowingmore about the culture or sometimes it is when I finally connect the dots. The most recent connection came in the formof our chapter one test for grade 10. Now last year, I wasn’t too good about being strict with the studentsand was more worried about being a good representation for my organization, mycountry and myself. Knowing what I knowwhat I know now, I probably wouldn’t change that because it led to having afollowing of really awesome students who feel comfortable around me and areable to learn because we broke down that barrier of their shyness. But, I feel like I only reached a few kidslast year. I know that is more than Icould ask for, but I was really disheartened last week when my co-teacherdidn’t come to class and the students didn’t listen at all. They were really rude to be honest (rude if avery subjective word because what is considered rude to Americans may not beconsidered rude to Cambodians and vice versa). I was really mad and I called Keiko about it and she told me that theydon’t respect us. We don’t determine thegrades, they hardly understand us, so our hands are kind of tied. They may like us, but for the ones that arenot interested in English, they just don’t want to be there, but have tobe. At dinner a few nights later, Dave,a K4 who loves phrases, idioms and sayings of any kind, said, “It’s better tobe respected than liked.” I realized that I am already liked and even still,did I come here to be liked? No, I cameto teach English. My students listen tomy co-teacher because they respect him. I decided that I needed to do something to change this in my class.

We talk a lot about choosing our battles in PeaceCorps. Some you fight, some you don’tand some you just ignore completely. Last year, I ignored the cheating and copying during tests. This year, with the support of my co-teacher,I chose my battle: cheating and copying. I didn’t have much data in terms of my students understanding thelessons and tracking their improvement, which came from students not ever doingtheir homework assignments and not taking their own tests. Policing cheating will help me to see whatthey understand and what they need to work on. I can also see how much they are improving, if they are indeedimproving. Because I chose not to fightthe test battle, I was vaguely aware of what was happening and added bits andpieces of what was happening by tidbits from students, mainly Vida. When I went to copy the tests, I made enoughfor both classes, so 140 tests. Becausethe students are obligated to pay for photocopies, many teachers add a littlebit to make a profit. I obviously waswilling to pay for it to make sure that they could take the test. Altogether, the tests set me back less than$2. Now, one of my co-teachers last yearused to charge 1,000 reihl per test, which is 25 cents. Per student. Every class. Every test. It’s just so upsetting to hear those things,but what can I do? He has kids and amother to support. I can’t judge becauseI’m getting my money from Peace Corps and I don’t have to worry aboutthat. It makes me sad any way I look atit.

So, we had a review session. A few volunteers (not including me) came up with a test booklet for thenational exam, which includes a review sheet, the test and the answer key. We reviewed as a class and I told them my newrules. Combating cheating is one ofthose things that is all or nothing, you can’t give any wiggle room, so myrules are pretty strict. If a student talks, copies from another student or allows a student to copy from his or her test and I see it, I will make a huge red X on their paper, which means -5 points. If they do it again, that’s -10 points and one more time is 0 marks on the test. All notebooks and bags at the front of the class and one pen is allowed at the desk and only two students to a desk.If a student is caught with a cheat sheet, I will confiscate it and that’s -30 points. If I catch them with another, 0 marks.

They knew going into the test what the rules were and I toldthem in Khmer that I am a policewoman. Itold them to study instead of trying to cheat, I would catch them. I also made two different variations of thesame test and gave two different tests to a desk so that cheating wastougher. The day of the test, I was nervous. My class is really big, about 70 kids. I also was scared that they would all cheat,so monitoring would be impossible. Itold my co-teacher (who was absent the day of the review) and he seemed tosupport it, but one can never know. After taking their notebooks (he seemed weird about making them puttheir bags up front) we did the dictation section and the test was in fullswing. All together, I gave out 15 x’s,which is less than I thought I would. There were some kids who were pissed because they helped their friendand I put an X on theirs, but I think that next time they won’t let theirfriend. I was sooo nervous that I wouldhave to give someone a zero, but the most anyone got was 2 X’s. One boy got an X and when I looked at hispaper later, he hadn’t done anything on the test at all. So zero marks minue five more points. I put an X on one of my favorite studentstest and felt bad. But then I put twoX’s on a girl’s test who is always rude to me, so I guess it evened out.

After the test, I told them that they probably think that Iam mean and are mad at me, but that I didn’t care. I came here to teach, not to watch themcheat. I told them that we will tellthem exactly what to expect on the tests so instead of trying to copy, study. Inoticed that after the test, when we started the new lesson, the students weremore attentive and respectful.

Today, I gave the other class the test and there were muchless X’s in that class. Maybe the kidsfrom the first class told their friends in the other class. I’m really glad that they didn’t test me toomuch on it, because I really don’t want to do it. But I want my students to learn, so I guessit is something that I don’t want to do, but I must.

Over the course of my service, I have read 62 books. I am proud of that because I was never a bigreader before, but I think that I have shifted and really enjoy it. But then I realized that amount is a littletoo high and I need to cut back a little and give way to another hobby. I chose to work on my photography. I have always been interested in it and tooka class in high school, but there are some really cool photo ops here I wouldlike to take advantage. I also have afun program on my computer to edit the pictures. So here are some of the pictures, some arefrom before I came to Cambodiaand some are from Cambodia. Enjoy!

Taken at the floating village before my fortuneSoccer ball at the orphanage

My training host sister Lina

First trip to the floating village

Maura and I when were were little in Tennessee

Scary spider

My brother Pat's book reading. Maura is on the couch. I took this a week before I left America

I took this with my film camera in Ireland, in my dad's hometown.

Bamboo, so important here

Not my bike

Boats

The flowers are so pretty here.

I'm going to miss coconuts.

Water puppets from my trip to Vietnam.

Rome trip.

Rome trip, again

Rome.

One of my favorite pictures ever.

Darlene with a special needs teenager at the orphanage

In fruit news, mangos are coming back into season. Pretty soon they will be just abouteverywhere. So delicious. Cambodians scoff when I tell them that amango in America is about $3(is that even right?) when in Cambodia,they are just under $1 for 3 mangos. Right now, many people are eating grilledfish with a mango-fish cause-garlic-chili pepper combo, including myself. During mango season, they are everywhere, sono one even pays for them. People have too many mangos so they just hand themout to anyone that will take them. That’s my favorite part of the year.

I received some good news about a week or so ago- my mom iscoming back to Cambodiawith my little sister! Such great news! I told my family that my mom loved Cambodia somuch that she wanted to come back. I amthrilled about it! The tentative dates are January 1st- January 12th.

As for the approaching holiday, there will be a trainingsession for the new group of volunteers in Battambang, so the Battambangvolunteers are arranging a Thanksgiving dinner for about 80-90 people. Coordination is proving tough, but we will beable to pull it off. We are having asleep over at Darlene’s then waking up and cooking all day. Sit tight for more news of it…. I’m alsopitching my Leader Club to about 200-300 students on Friday. We want to spark their interest and get theball rolling on giving them the tools to create community projects.

I went with Darlene to the orphanage that we spend a lot oftime at, and two projects were formed. First, Darlene is working to get a replacement for the solar poweredwater pump. The pump broke about a monthago and now the children must use the back-up well and transport water to allof the bathrooms and kitchens. It takesabout 2-3 hours everyday. We alsodiscovered that many of the children were really sick during a recentflood. The reason is because they don’twash their hands. In most Cambodianbathrooms, there is no sink and soap, so hand washing never really gets done.So, I created a project to make a hygiene station, which will be a place forthe children to wash their hands and brush their teeth. Because they don’t have parents to monitortheir hygiene, it is often neglected and leads to further problems. We are aiming to solve this problem bycreating the station, supplying the children with toothbrushes and toothpasteand supplying the center with soap. Ialso asked my two students, Kimny and Vida, who did the health workshop overthe summer, to do a workshop about hand washing and oral hygiene for thechildren with three of the high schoolers who live at the orphanage. The funding will come from family and friendsback home who can contribute online. Isubmitted the proposal on Monday, so I hope to hear back soon and I will sendon the link.The boys dorm. Because my mom and sister are coming to visit right afterthe holidays, I was torn between spending the holidays at the beach with a fewfriends, but decided to stay at site through Christmas and celebrate New Yearsin Siem Reap with some friends, then meet my mom and sister. Coincidentally, a really awesome projectessentially fell into my lap. While atthe orphanage, we were told that on December 22, 23 and 24th, a teamof Canadian doctors will be setting up a clinic at the orphanage. Free check-ups will be provided to anyone inthe community, so long as they come to the orphanage. I talked to many of my students in my EnglishClub (these students tend to be poorer, which is why they study with me,because they cannot afford to go to private school) and we made a plan to bikethe 7 kilometers to the center, with siblings, parents and other family memberswho are interested. I also talked toSocheath, the director of the organization that works with street children andorphans where we did the health workshop about getting the children to theclinic. I talked to Vida about makingsure that all of the boys who live at the pagoda to come, since they areessentially homeless. We will have apretty overwhelming group, but I cannot imagine a better way to spend ChristmasEve- helping to get kids who are sick to doctors. These kids have no advocates for their healthand well-being. Because we will have ahuge group, I’m going to bring games to play while we wait for thedoctors.

My host family life continues to be one of the best parts ofservice. I’m worried, however, about mynephew Chun Lai’s attachment to me. Hisparents live in a different district and he sees them probably once a month foronly a few hours. He is being raised bymy host mother, my host sister and my host brother and not really by hisparents. This is common in Cambodia. Sometimes kids leave home to live with arelative and hardly see their parents. Ithought that it was really traumatic for the children, but I learned that ithappens all the time once I asked my students about it. Although it is part of the culture, I cantell that he is acting out because of it. He hits his grandmother (not nearly as big of a deal as it would be in America,especially with my grandma) and yells and cries a lot. He doesn’t go to school yet and is surroundedby adults all the time. I have becomehis play thing, which is really fun, but he doesn’t listen to me. Like last night, when he tried to draw withpermanent marker on his eyeball and I had to snitch on him to my hostmother. We have a blast and I’m so gladto have him; he keeps me smiling and I love to be silly with him, but I won’tbe here forever. I just hope it isn’ttoo messy when I leave. I hope that hejust moves on to the next thing. Besidesthat thought, the nightly English lessons with my brother Huck and hisgirlfriend Navy are really proving to be paying off.

Before the sentimental part, I was told last week that myname means playful in Thai. Fun little fact.

When I was an athlete (it seems to long ago now), I wasnever really concerned with my stats. During college, I never knew the exact numbers, but I could usually gagehow well I was doing. But it wasshocking sometimes to realize how far I had fallen. During the great slump of my freshman year,my batting average was so low; I was shocked that it wasn’t lower. My coach would sometimes read the team stats,especially from the most recent 10 games, but we usually knew what to expect- 4errors in the past 10 games wasn’t a shock, I was there for all 4 of them. During my sophomore year, I was slumpingreally badly towards the end of the season. A few bad games turned into a dent into my batting average and reallyany offensive category and one practice my coach announced that I was “0 for mypast 15”. Now, I knew that I wasn’tdoing well, but I didn’t realize that it was that bad. In softball slumps are unavoidable and the mostdifficult part of the game. Confidencegets lower with every hitless at bat. They don’t happen too often, but when they do, oh man, it’s a tough roadahead. This is how is works with myservice. Sometimes I fall into a slumpand don’t even know it’s happening, except as a volunteer, I don’t have someoneto hit me with my .000 batting average to whip me back into shape. During training, we talked a lot about peaksand troughs and how it’s really hard to tell that you are in a trough,sometimes you don’t even realize until you are on your way out of it. This is what happened to me a few weeksago. Although I don’t have a statistic,my daily planner was alarmingly barren. I was teaching at my high school and the university, but not going aboveand beyond what I want to be doing and frankly should be doing. I don’t really know how to explain it asidefrom being stagnant. Even though I don’thave a coach to call me out on not doing much, a community need usually snapsme out of it and helps to realize what was happening. I also noticed that after I come out of aslump, just like softball, the stars seem to align and projects fall into mylap. Jenna Best, one of my closestfriends, always used to repeat what her mother would tell us when she came togames “Do something out there, will ya?”. I think this is pretty perfect because it’s those times where I just laydormant that it’s not that I am doing something bad, it’s more that I’m notdoing much of anything. We are here, weshould do it to the best of our ability. But that’s behind me and let’s hope it’s the last trough of service andI can plateau from this peak.

It never ceases to amaze me how important perspective is ingeneral, especially now. When my mindsetis out of whack, Cambodiaseems like such a backwards, tough country. But when I alter my position to be open-minded and positive, Iappreciate just how remarkable this place truly is.

Many Cambodians consult fortune tellers when they are facedwith important decisions, and those topics can be anything from daily questionsto life changing issues. SometimesCambodians consult fortune tellers without questions, but rather insight intothe future, especially potential problems. Many heads of state and important leaders have fortune tellers that theyrely on when they have important tasks at hand. These fortune tellers can be found just about anywhere and are typicallyolder women. Many people that I know well (Cambodians, of course) consult afortune teller a few times a year. Onewoman I know who is opening a hotel in town consulted a fortune teller todetermine the best day to open the hotel, the colors that will bring the bestfortune to the hotel, what to call it, etc. My brother, Huck, told me that hisgirlfriend’s mother consulted one at Banan Mountain, which is amountain with a temple at the top that many people in Battambang visit. I askedone member of the Peace Corps staff, and he said that he goes to a fortuneteller about 4 times a year for a wide range of things- what to name theirbaby, what day of the week to move, professional insight, etc. My host mother is going to a fortune tellernext week to make sure that my host sister gets married in the right month andon the right day in March. I have seenfortunes told in the meat section of the market. The means to read the future vary from a deckof cards, reading palms or feet, according to horoscope or date and time of birthor by simply looking at the person and reading their aura. I read a book a fewmonths ago about an Italian journalist who lived in south east Asia for most ofhis adult life, and he spent one year traveling around the region and gettinghis fortune read by various seers (The book is called A Fortune Teller OnceTold Me by Tiziano Terzani). He onlyspent a few days in Cambodiaand was actually kind of arrogant, but the combination of the book and knowingmany people that have done it, Darlene and I decided that we wanted to takepart as well. Darlene told hercoteacher, Phanet, that we wanted to do this and Phanet made all of thearrangements. Tuesday, November 9thwas Cambodian Independence Day from France, so classes werecanceled. We were expecting to go to themarket or somewhere in Battambang but Phanet arranged a time with a woman in Pursat Province,about 2 hours from Battambang. She isthe best, or so we are told. So, onTuesday morning, we assembled, Darlene, Phanet, Phanet’s friend, Phanet’sneighbor and I. We rode to Pursatprovince and turned down a little road that seemed vaguely familiar. I asked Darlene if she recognized this placeand she felt as if she had been there before, to which she responded yes. After asking a few questions, we discoveredthat we were in Krakor District, which is where our friend Tyler lived duringhis time as a Peace Corps volunteer. Wewere both at his floating village, which is exactly what it sounds like- avillage on the water. So strange that ofall places to see a fortune teller in Cambodia,we ended up in Tyler’sfloating village.

Darlene

Killed some time until my turn

The only street

BoatsEveryone comes to this coffee shop to watch the soap operas

Because they don't have electricity, this generator powers the TV

Ice cream manThe bathroom in question.

After asking around, we found the fortune teller’s house,which was extremely modest, even for Cambodian standards. Darlene went first with Phanet as atranslator, so I walked around and took some pictures of the village. I had to go to the bathroom so I asked thiswoman who had a coffee stand to use her bathroom and she pointed me outback. Now, my bathroom standards aren’ttoo high, but this was a first. Thebathroom was over a small stream, with two planks out and a make shift“toilet”. I was scared that I was goingto insult the woman, but I was really scared that I was going to fall in orbreak their wooden planks (this woman was barely 5 feet tall and 80 pounds soakingwet). She reassured me that I would befine, and right as I was finished, Darlene walked out of the bathroom andcaught my standing on these planks in the middle of a stream. After some pictures and a lot of laughing andalmost falling in, it was my turn.

The fortune teller's house

I want to describe to you what happened during myconsultation. The parts in italics are my thoughts, things that Ididn’t actually say out loud. Now, myKhmer isn’t good enough to understand a fortune teller’s description of myfortune and luck, but there were some parts that I understood, but Phanet wasmy translator, so she was the medium for all of this, and she did an incrediblejob. All of the dialogue was donethrough Phanet.

Fortune Teller (FT): Please sit down. How old areyou? Kealan (K): 23. FT: You aren’t happy. You haven’t been happy for two years. Is this true?K: I don’t know. Iunderstood the fortune teller when she said to Phanet that I had a “bpee-bpotjett” which means a difficult heart. Translating this to English is unhappy, but having a difficult heartmeans something different to me, atleast. “at sabye jett” means to not havea happy heart, which is what I think unhappiness is. She said that I have a difficult heart, whichI think is not necessarily not being happy. I think that difficult heart inthis case doesn’t mean that I’m not happy. I am very happy, but it’s a different kind of happiness. It’s difficult, absolutely. Happiness in America means being with my family, living comfortably, etc. In Cambodia, Ilove my life, but I really miss my family, my job is tough, I’m hot most of the time, I get sick a lot easier here and I spend a lotof time alone. It’s not unhappiness, butit’s not sheer happiness by my American standards. My happiness comes from very simple things here- playing with my host nephew, a student asking me a question after beingtoo scared to approach me, my host mother confiding in me, etc. In Americathose things not only aren’t of a big deal, but here they make me happy. FT: Do you have a boyfriend? Husband? Please shuffle thesecards 7 timesK: No and no. If I hada dollar for every time someone asked me that… (I then cut the cards andchose one card, I believe the 9 of clubs)FT: A man is in love with you. K: Who?!? Oh my word,who?FT: The man that you will marry. K: Who is he?FT: He is a relative.K: A…..rel-a-tive? Like someone in my family?FT: Yes, a relative.K: As in acousin? That’s illegal. Ithink that she means how Cambodians refer to relatives, which can mean thatanyone is a relative. If I go to a province I have never been to, in arestaurant I have never been and order from a man I have never seen before, Icall him older brother, uncle or grandfather,even though he clearly isn’t relatedto me. Let’s hope that’s what she means.FT: You were a very good student. K: Not really. I wasn’t a bad student, but I was kind of aslacker, which I really regreteveryday as a teacher when I look at my students. FT: Well, you are very clever.K: Thank you. I’lltake that. FT: You have abrother, don’t you?K: Yes, an older brother.FT: You love him a lot, and you miss him the most. You thinkabout him a lot.K: I do love him a lot and yes, I miss him. Not true, I miss all of my siblings equally, and I miss all three of them alot. Pat’s birthday was last week and Iwasn’t able to talk to him, so I was thinking about him a lot last week. Italk to my sisters more than my brother, so maybe that is why? But, Katie and Maura, rest assured, I missall of you equally. FT: Please shuffle these cards again. Cut the deck then take one card. K: Ok. FT: (I hand her the queen of hearts) You miss your mother alot, and she misses you a lot. This cardhas come up a lot. You think about eachother a lot. K: Yes and yes. Truethat. FT: (after turning over some cards in 4 piles) Right now youdon’t have a lot of money. But you arenot too smart about spending money. Youneed to learn how to save your money and think more about when and how youspend your money.K: Yes. One of my on-going battles,but I am improving. One of my Peace Corps lessons.FT: When you go back to your country, you will have a goodjob, a big job. When you are 25 yearsold, you will have your best year and your good fortune will begin. K: Oh ok. Take that,economic recession!FT: When you are 25,three important things will happen to you- you will get a good job, you willget married and you will start to get more money. K: Married?!?!? 25 andmarried?!?! The good job is a huge relief, but the money isn’t important. Themarriage thing is pretty surprising, I will be 24 in January, so that leaves ayear until I turn 25. Maybe I shouldstart going to more family reunions to find this mystery relative. FT: Yes, married. Your life will begin to look like a staircase. Every year your fortune will improve and itwill stay very good, then it will improve more and stay the same. Once your life starts to really improve, youwill have your own house, a car and your life will be comfortable. K: Ok. FT: You are very independent and that will help you findyour fortune. You are emotional and thatis why you are unhappy [difficult heart] now, but that will be resolved whenyou go back to America. This job will be a great job because you willmake important decisions and it will be good for you because you areindependent. FT: Do you have any questions for me?K: Yes, I want to know about my children. If we are already talking about my wedding that will take place in 2.5 years, why not talk about kids too?FT: Shuffle these cards 7 times, cut the deck then pick acard…. Your first child will be a son. K: A son. Ok.FT: The first ten months after you get married will bedifficult for you because you will have money jobs to do. But after 10 months, everything will beok. K: Ok. What about thisstaircase? Can I ask one more question?FT: Yes, please. K: I want to know more about this husband you speak of. Do I know him? Is he from the same place as me?FT: (looks at me like I’m a lunatic) He’s your relative, ofcourse you know him! K: Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot. Crap, that’s weird. FT: (after I shuffle the cards 7 times, cut the deck thenhand her two cards) Your husband will be from a good family and he will matchyour good fortune, because he has a good job and is a good person. K: Oh, that’s a relief. Of course he is from a good family, it’s my family! I like that shesaid he is a match for me and not vice versa, which is sometimes how marriages are perceived in Cambodia. K: Thank you for your time, aunt. Good luck. FT: Thanks and same to you.

I went to a fortune teller before I came to Cambodia andalthough the settings were much different, one was at a floating village withchickens under the house and one was in an air conditioned office, I felt thesame feeling of relief. I don’t know howI feel about a deck of cards depicting my future fortune, but both women wereextremely caring and warm, so to have a woman who possesses some sort of powerto tell you that everything will be ok is a relief. One part that really struck me was how theCambodian woman told me about my future in America- that I will have a goodjob and I have things to look forward to. When I met with the seer in America,she told me that going to Cambodiawas my destiny and whatever it is that I’m looking for, I will find it.

After a delicious lunch, Phanet wanted to see one of herformer students who lived nearby, so we stopped at her house for a bit. We left Battambang at 8 am and arrived backat 5:30 pm. Almost every time that Ihave gone with a Khmer person anywhere, there is always a stop to be made and afew hour trip quickly turns into an all day affair. That’s fine by me; it was a fantasticIndependence Day. Darlene and I weretalking about our sessions and we both agreed that we had a lot to look forwardto because we have had great lives thus far and our best years are right aroundthe corner (our best years, coincidentally are the same year). Sitting at the students house

Coconut tree

Huge spider

Many people find these things to be scams or fake. The jury is still out in regards to how Ifeel personally, so I will take it all with a grain of salt. One of the women inthe car stated that the teller helped her with a very successful businessventure and has helped in her personal life on a few previous occasions. I tend to be naïve when it comes to thingslike this, but I think that it helped me to breath a little easier and I thinkwill help me take advantage of the last few months of service , because I knowthat everything will work out. Maybe talking to a fortune teller helps peoplebe braver and do things that they probably wouldn’t because they are too shy,but by someone saying, yes, it’s ok, maybe we take more chances because we areunsure of how it will end up. The fourother women felt very positive about their experience. As for me, does it really matter if it comestrue or not? Everything seems to workout in the end, and if these women are reassured in their futures for $2, whoreally cares? All I know is that thevibe on the ride back was much more jovial than on the way there.

I am back at site after a weekend trip to Phnom Penh. My initial plan was to go to Siem Reap for Halloween (I guess it’s a bigdeal there?) but the plans changed, as they often do. It all started about two weeks ago when we(the volunteers) caught wind of three important people coming from Washington, D.C. My friend Keiko and I got really carried awayand were talking about how we were going to teach our students the nationalanthem to impress Hillary Clinton. Orwhen Michelle Obama came to our sites, we would coincidentally be running agirls’ empowerment camp. It got out ofhand really quickly, but it was fun to joke about it. We found out that the visitors were three peoplefrom Peace Corps Washington, not Hillary or Michelle and that they weren’t evencoming to my site, so I let it go. Thevery next day, I went to English Club at the university and the leader of theclub, Vutha, made an announcement that the Embassy called him and he was incharge of making a group of 20 students to take to Phnom Penh for a town hall meeting with theSecretary of State. I dropped the book Iwas holding. The rest of the storyconsists of Darlene and I taking to the Embassy and the Peace Corps staff andthe result was 20 volunteers being invited to Phnom Penh to see Hillary Clinton on Monday,November 1st. Keiko and Icouldn’t believe that we had made all of those jokes and then Hillary actuallycame to Cambodia!We started to text things that we really wanted to happen because maybe itwould work again, but so far, none of our wishes have come true. I traveled to PP on Saturday because going toSiem Reap then PP then back to Battambang is about a 24 hour trip, so I decidedon just PP. It was pretty relaxing andwhereas before, when we came to PP, we would eat everything in sight then goout at night, I stayed pretty low key and just relaxed. The day of the event, we all made our way tothe Embassy and got checked in. It wasessentially the Embassy staff, their families and Peace Corps Volunteers. We had no idea what to expect, but we werehoping at the very least for a Peace Corps picture with Hil (as we continued tocall her, like we knew her on a personal level). The main reason that I wanted this picturewas for the Peace Corps Times, thePeace Corps newspaper. We get it oncevery few months and it is basically a report from Peace Corps worldwide,including news about new groups swearing in, major projects, new sectorsopening, etc. But in every issue, thereare some countries that always appear, namely Guatemala. Keiko and I were texting about how we need apicture for the Peace Corps Times tostick it to Peace Corps Guatemala, but we came up empty. She made a speech about the importance of theworkers on the ground and she mentioned Peace Corps twice. It was a nice speech, then she shook somehands and left to board a plane to Malaysia. It was pretty cool to be a part of it. With Keiko and Jacqueline at the Embassy

All of us

Ambassador Rodley and the Secretary of State

The closest picture I have

Now I am back at site, teaching. Classes are going well. I’m working with a wide range of students andstill really liking it. We are gettingto the point in the school year where there are a lot of holidays- Friday wasCoronation Day, Monday was King Sihanouk’s Birthday, November 9th isIndependence Day, then Water Festival and so on and so forth. It’s difficult to get into the flow of schoolwhen it gets canceled about once a week, but I have a year of experience now,so I think that I will be ok and try to use those days to my advantage.

The students that won scholarships to America are in America. My mom was able to go to the welcome luncheonat Northern Illinois Universityto see them. Sounds like they had ablast. They are struggling with the coldand the food, but I think that they are still shocked by America andwill be ok once they get settled in. I had a tough time the first week, and Ihave spent a lot of time traveling. Thisis their first time out of Cambodiaand it’s difficult for them. I can’twait to hear about all of it, though.

I have a daily planner that I keep track of what I doeveryday and in the corner, I keep track of the days that I have been in Cambodia and days that I have left in Cambodia. Many volunteers have differing perspectiveson this, but I keep track of the days for two reasons. First, the days in Cambodia is a nice pat on theback. I also learn best by writing outsteps (I make a lot of lists) so it helps me to organize my time here, which iswhy I keep track of the days to go. Contrary to popular belief, I do this not as something to look forwardto, but rather to remind me that my time is dwindling and I need to takeadvantage of the days that I have left. It always surprises me to see how many days I have left, which is good,because my worst fear is that I won’t do enough with my time and realize thatit is too late. The numbers, as oftoday, November 4, 2010 are as follows:· Days since I left Chicago: 471· Days until close of service: 280

My goal is to be home August 1st. That means that I have less than tenmonths. Actually even less than thatbecause during April, there is no school and I will be traveling with myfriends visiting from America. Also, June and July, there won’t be school,so it’s a lot less than ten months. Scary!!!

As for the weather, rainy season is coming to an end and Iknow that because we had the boat races in Battambang two weeks ago. On November 20th, the nationalboat races will take place in Phnom Penh and that marks the end of rainy season. It’s called the Water and Moon Festivalbecause it is when the most water is in the MekongRiver and the Tonle Sap Lake and theriver reverses flow and the Tonle Sapfloods. It is when the river and thelake are at their highest points. Soeach province and many companies send representative to compete in the boatraces. I watch on TV but will not go toPP. There are so many people, it’s justtoo much at times. With the end of rainyseason, cold season is just beginning. You can always tell because little kids start wearing winterjackets. I think it’s light sweaterweather, but I am the only one in my family. Oh, the temperature is in the mid to high 70s. Fall is my favoriteseason, but this hardly counts even as fall, let alone cold season. Cold season lasts from November to the end ofChristmas and January warms up again. Last year February, March and April were all equally hot, around high90s and into the 100s fairly consistently. So, I suppose in relative terms, yes, this is cold season. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t slightlychilly, but I am welcoming the change in weather with open arms, even if thatmeans a stuffy nose and sore throat. Italso really scares me that 70 degrees gives me a sore throat, because Chicago winter may be theend of me. Until then, long sleevedshirts for me it is!

Well, I’m back. Thetwo-month blog hiatus was due to my computer breaking. But due to the genius of Vannak, our Itspecialist, he resurrected my Seton Hall issued laptop, and even fixed the g onmy laptop so that I don’t have to copy and paste it every time I need to typethat letter. For this, I am eternallygrateful.

This means that I have many things to update everyoneon. From the top:

Mom and Dad’s tripMy host family and my parentsTalking with the university students

Dinner with Darlene!My parents came to visit for a little less than two weeks inSeptember. I was nervous about themcoming for a few reasons- people tend to get sick when they are exposed to aKhmer diet, it would be too hot, I wouldn’t be a good host, etc. The trip started off a little rocky. The plan was for me to take the bus to Bangkok to meet them, spend two days there then head to Phnom Penh and begin ourCambodian adventure. About an hour and ahalf before my bus was scheduled to leave, I got a call from America. My mom told me that they were stuck in California for a nightor two. Their plane was half way from Chicago to Tokyo when therewas a mechanical error and they were rerouted to San Francisco. I had just been telling my host family thenight before that I haven’t really cried since I have been in Cambodia. Well, when my mom called and told me that Ineeded to sit tight, I totally lost it. Crying in the internet café, trying to figure out what the heck to dowasn’t too fun. But, after I pulledmyself together, I exchanged my ticket to Bangkokfor one to Phnom Penh. A few friends were in town, so I was able topass the time with them. My two closestfriends came to PP just to meet my parents. We had a blast together in PP. Wewent to the killing fields, Tuol Sleng, which is the school that was turnedinto a prison during the Khmer Rouge period. We then took a taxi to Battambang. I have been waiting for my parents to come to do a lot of the touristythings. The mornings were dedicated totouristy things and the afternoons were dedicated to my parents meeting peopleand seeing what my real life is like. Myhost brother and his girlfriend came everywhere with us. My host family was thrilled to meet myparents and my host mom made my real mom a wedding outfit. When I look back on the week that we spent inBattambang, it’s tough to remember that they were only in Battambang for aweek. They met many of my students, rodethe bamboo train, ate a lot of Khmer food and fruits and got a pretty goodtaste of what my life is like. It wassuch a strange feeling because my Peace Corps experience is the first time thatI have done something totally on my own. College was a taste, but my parents came to visit a lot, stayed at myrented house, came to games, so it was different when I was able to show off mynew life to them. I had been working fora year on this project and it was such a pleasure to share it with them. I was really proud to see how well receivedthey were. For example, my host brotherbuilt a summer house in a district about 2 hours away from my house and thehouse warming party (which is a religious ceremony) happened while my parentswere in town. So we made the treck outthere; six people in the front of a pick-up truck and my dad in the back withall of the fruit, water and drinks. Theywere able to hold their own because enough people spoke English there and had agood time. We were eating noodles on grass mats and my dad excused himself tostretch his legs. My mom and I sat withmy aunts and sisters for a while then decided to check up on my dad. When we walked down the stairs (which leadsto the outside because the house is on stilts), we see my dad sitting on atable with about 12 Khmer men around him, hanging on his every word. Some things are so universal, like mendrinking beer, sitting around and sharing stories. It was a perfect example of how they doveright in and took everything in. Theywere totally selfless and followed the itinerary I made for them. We went to Siem Reap to see the temples,which I had also been putting off until my parents came. Overall, the trip was fantastic. It was so great to share Cambodia withmy family, and share my family with my community. People are still talking about them and dailypeople ask me how they are and if they are coming back.

Stopped to buy some custard apples on the way to the house warming party.

Mom and I at breakfast in Battambang

Health WorkshopPresenting the gift to the villageA few days after my parents left, my health workshopstarted. The funding came in a few daysafter we finished the project, so that was a little stressful. But I am at a point in my service where I canhandle those things, plus my team was so spectacular that it all seemed to workout. We spent an hour and a half eachmorning at the organization, teaching about (in order)- hand washing, teethbrushing, mosquito borne disease, water purification and dehydration and oraldehydration salts. The team consisted ofSophai, who is a college level volunteer from the NGO we worked with, Kimny- mystellar student who I invite to everything including English Club,International Women’s Day and any other project I make and last is Vida, theboy who lives at the pagoda and is the hardest worker of all time. I taught with Vida and he was such a greatpartner and teacher. I spoke in Englishand he translated. Kimny and Sophaitaught together at the same time that Vida and I taught. We spent the afternoons at a school behind apagoda in a very poor village. We askedthe village chief for 80 students, thinking that 100 would show up when inreality 160 came. While that wasstressful (we bought soap for each child, but didn’t have enough for everyone,so instead we gave gifts to each family instead of each child) it was good thatmore students came, because then their moms came and listened to what we saidabout health. There were some curveballsthrown in there, but the team did a great job of facing them and coming up witha solution. I was so proud of Sophai,Kimny and Vida who were such great leaders and role models for the childrenthat we taught.

The Rest of SummerWe celebrated the one year mark as Peace Corps Volunteerswhen the K4’s swore in last month. Allof the k3s came and it was a lot of fun to see the new group, all bright eyedidealists and celebrate completing training. A few of us went to the beach in Sihanoukville for the weekend, whichwas extremely relaxing. We stayed in acheap guest house then brought food to a private beach and paid $1.50 to spendthe day there. Money well spent.

Second School YearSchool officially began October. But I started teaching last week. The English policy changed this year- insteadof studying 4 hours of English per week, grade 11 and 12 students will studyEnglish for 2 years. When it came tomaking my schedule for the year, I decided to teach two grade 10 classes (whichmeet for 2 hours, twice a week, so 4 hours for each class) and open EnglishClub for grade 11 and 12. Formal teachingis going well and I have a really great coteacher. He is really excited about learning new waysto teach and we are a good team so far. My English Club hasn’t really started. On Tuesday, I met the students who will make up the club- some old facesbut a bunch of new kids want to study, which is great. We had a hard time finding a classroom tostudy in because there are more classes than there are classrooms at my school,so it was tricky. We finally wereapproved for use of the computer room, which isn’t used anyway. It’s usually locked, but we were givenspecial permission to use it. It’s amuch better option than studying in the library, mainly because the library ismore of a storage room without a chalkboard. The computer room has enough room, privacy and a dry erase board. The format is going to change a little bitthis year- last year we studied various topics with no real format or system,but that was very very informal. Thisyear I want to create more incentive for the students to be involved (whichthey are already, but provide some structure to the club). We are going to have themes for a fewweeks. So the first theme is geography. Because the students are constantly lookingfor ways to improve their vocabulary and are very curious about the rest of theworld, we will go over continents, regions, climates, etc. This may seem basic, but most Cambodiansdon’t know the continents. It will bereally beneficial to be teaching various subjects in English. They will make dialogues, write stories, havelistening exercises, and other such activities. They will most likely lead into each, for example, geography thentravel. I’m also going to try toincorporate important dates into the lessons (such as World AIDS Day).

Secondary ProjectsDuring training, the staff told us that the first year ofPeace Corps involves a lot of trial and error. The second year, however, is trying to make projects sustainable andphasing out of service. We have about 9months left until we leave the country. While that probably sounds like a long time, the entire month of Aprilis a vacation and June and July will be centered on packing and preparing forthe return to America. So, I am just trying to invest my time in theprojects that I have established. Outsideof my school, where I will be spending every morning, I will be spending muchof my time at the university. Everyafternoon but Wednesday will be at the university. We are starting a new group of English Clubstudents of year 1 students. The older“generation” is continuing studying English in the form of debate team andTESOL exam preparation. I will be therefrom 2:00-5:00 then teach my brother and his girlfriend from 5:00-6:00. On Mondays and Tuesdays, I will teachAmerican culture lessons to the English clubs and Thursdays and Fridays will behelp with pronunciation, grammar, critical thinking and answering any otherquestions they throw my way.

I’m also starting a leadership club at the university. The Manager of the English Department askedme to help with this project. We willessentially form a club of 40 university students interested in communitydevelopment. There will be three partsto this- 1. case studies of well known leaders and exploring how they becamesuccessful (ie what qualities should a leader demonstrate?) 2. providing thestudents the tools to develop community development projects. This will entail passing along a lot of theinformation that I learned in training and over the course of my service. This means things like doing a needsassessment of the community, creating community interest, fundraising, baselinedata, carrying out programs, self-assessment, sustainability and other suchtopics. 3. practical. Each student will be in a group that iseither interested in a topic or working in a specific community. They will need to create a project and carryout the project. This will result in awide variety of projects with the hope that the students will carry on withthese projects. Many people believe thatyou must join an organization or have a paid position to work indevelopment. We will teach them that youdon’t need that much- passion for your project, community interest and a fewresources. Something as simple ascreating an English class in the park for homeless children or a communityclean up. I keep trying to tell themthat change and progress comes from the young generation- you don’t need tohave a position of power to make an impact.

I have been meeting with a group of 5 Khmer students who wona scholarship from the U.S. Embassy to attend a conference on leadership fromthe university where I frequently work. I knew that they were applying for this because Darlene was on thecommittee that conducted the interviews. She was pretty fuzzy on the details of the trip, but I knew that therewas a group going (including one of my closest friends in Cambodia, a mannamed Raya who I work with on all of my projects there and high school studentswho I work with in English Club). Oncethe news was out that they were going to the U.S., we started to discuss thedetails and our game plan for preparing the group. Here is what the conversation looked like:

Kealan: So, what state are you going to?Raya: Of, the name is very difficult to say. Um, I…Illinois?K: Raya, that is the state that I am from!R: No, you are from Chicago.K: Chicago is a city, Illinois is the state!(Note: States and cities are really difficult to explain and very confusing formy students)R: Oh, the school is Northern Illinois University (where mybrother in law went to school and their best man works!)

I told my parents about these students coming and they wereable to work something out- my mom is going to NIU to the welcomeluncheon. My parents met these studentsduring their trip and spent an afternoon fielding questions and practicingEnglish. Such a small world!

So, I have been working with them every other day to preparefor their trip. We had lessons on whatto do and what not to do in America. We talked about clothes (they are leaving inSunday and it has been about 75 degrees on the coldest days recently.) It has been a blast meeting andpreparing. For example, they have tomake a presentation on the Sangker River, the river thatcuts Battambang in half. We were talkingabout pollution and one student mentioned the people that have houses over theriver and use the river as their garbage can. “During the day, they just dump their shit into the water.” I know thathe meant to say something less harsh, such as feces, but in Cambodia there isonly one word for “poop” so all the various forms that we have in English areconfusing, especially the swear words. That lesson turned into swear words, what they mean, when to say themand when not to. I was debating onwhether or not to talk about this, but then I imagined one of them sayingsomething to their host families like, “My family has a bitch, but it staysoutside.” Clearly the meaning is a female dog, but that wouldn’t bewell-received.

I am so excited for this group. They are spending 3 weeks at NIU thentraveling by bus to Washington, D.C. I still cannot believe that a group of mystudents are going to where I’m from. They will live with host families and have many of the same concernsthat I did, just reversed. Toiletissues, food concerns, weather. Theythank me after every session, but I am just so excited to help preparethem. There are students coming from 5countries but I want them to be the most prepared and informed. At the end of all of it, how can you reallyprepare someone for life in anther country? You can’t, but I’m just trying to ease them into the shock of America by little lessons: unlike Cambodia,boys can’t just pee anywhere, that is against the law.

In other news, there is currently a Vietnamese Expo inBattambang. I went with Darlene and wasexpecting something much different. Ithought that it would be, well, not what it was. It was essentially the market, but in avacant field and more open. My studentsare really into it, but I don’t really see the hype. This weekend is also the boat races in theriver. Water festival is next month inPP, which is the culmination of the rainy season, when the Tonle Sap Riverfloods and reverses flow. It is areligious ceremony and marks the beginning of the cold season (thank goodness,but it’s temporary relief, the hot season starts again in February…) Battambangis having the races this weekend and the winners start the really long trekinto PP for the races next month. Theyhave to drive the boats into PP and use a tractor engine on a huge flat bed totransport the boat in, so it takes a really long time. Between the Vietnamese expo and the boatraces, there are a lot of people in town and a lot is happening. Next week should be back to normal, though.

Wedding season is quickly approaching. I have yet to receive any invites, but I amsure that they will come soon. My hostmother and sister are extremely busy making new wedding clothes forclients.

Birthday partyI went to my host aunt’s birthday party two weeks ago. She turned 71 and is the oldest sister in myhost father’s family (my host father passed away 7 years ago). I went to the birthday party last year duringmy first month in Battambang. I rememberfeeling so weird and didn’t know anyone or what to do, but this time around, itwas a lot more fun and I understood a lot more of what was being said. My family didn’t have to babysit me and I hada good time talking to my cousins, aunts and other family members. During the first year, I would look back onmy senior year and try to figure out what I was doing at that time one yearearlier. For example, mid-January iswhen softball starts, so I would think about going to the training room,preparing for the New Jerseywinter when we went outside. Now, when Ilook back on “what was I doing this time last year?” it’s all Peace Corpsstuff. It’s a fun little game that we all like to play.

I have a count in my daily planner of the days in countryand the days left to go. I am at thepoint where the days left to go are much smaller than the days I have beenhere. I have about 9 months lefthere. That seems like a really longtime, but I am busting my butt to make sure that I invest as much time as Ipossibly can into my projects and relationships that I have created. If my time here (almost 16 months) has taughtme anything, it’s that time flies. No,that’s not even right, that expression doesn’t do it justice.

Hi everyone!!

Sorry it has been a really long time since my last post, but I have very legit excuses.

1. My parents came to visit and we had a really awesome, fun filled trip.

2. Once my parents left, my computer crashed and is totally out of commision (you served me well, Seton Hall issued laptop...)

3. I threw a health workshop last week at an NGO near my house and at a school about 5k away, in a really poor village. Huge success (pictures coming later...)

I will work on a better, more fulfilling post, but in the meantime, I wanted to share with you something that means a lot to us Peace Corps volunteers.

As I was preparing to come to Cambodia, I was given a list of things to bring. Instead of buying the typical shoes that you may expect a Peace Corps volunteer to wear, I chose to make my everyday shoes my Rainbow sandals, purchased 2 years before I left. Well, over a year into my service, the shoes that I was positive wouldn't last more than a few months, have held up and I still wear them everyday, regardless of the occassion. My activities in these shoes include (but are not limited to): climbing mountains to ancient tempels, buying things in the market, teaching, attending weddings and funerals, those rare nights out in PP and just about every Buddhist ceremony I have been invited to. Likewise, my host sister LOVES them and when I'm not wearing them, she most likely is. It has been a great bonding experience. Well, I realized just how appreciative I am to Rainbows and sent an email explaining just how much a reliable yet fashionable shoe means to a Peace Corps volunteer. I checked my email a few days later and had an email from Rainbow sandals, thanking me for the email and moreover, thanking me for my service. The email stated that they would be sending two new pairs (one for me, one for my sister) free of charge. I obviously didn't sent the email with that intention, but it really made me happy to get that email, and the shoes. Below is the link and I think that everyone should seriously consider these shoes (they're so comfortable and clearly a great company...)

http://www.rainbowsandals.com/

Sorry for the lack of updates, but there is not much to report. Since my last post, I have been staying busy teaching, organizing my health workshop and preparing for my parents’ trip to Thailand and Cambodia. I spent last week in Kampong Cham helping with practicum for the new group of volunteers. It was very interesting to see just how far we have come in one year. It was a nice checkpoint for all of us that went to help with training. I have also heard a lot about the Kampong Cham province- it is the richest and “most beautiful” province in Cambodia. While I believe that it is extremely beautiful, Battambang is still my favorite.

Chun Liap and Chun Lai. Too cute to not post this...

On Saturday at noon, I will be taking the bus from Battambang to the border town, Poipet, then to Bangkok. I will have some time to kill since my parents don’t arrive until 1am, but I think that I will be able to manage. I can hardly contain my excitement. I haven’t seen any member of my family in over a year. Moreover, being away from home really puts into perspective just how important family is. I have always appreciated and loved my family, but my appreciation has gone through the roof because of all the support that I have received from so far away. I just can’t wait to see them (and hopefully Pat and Maura for Christmas, fingers crossed!!)

Phnom Penh during the rainy season.

Since there is not much else to report, I wanted to let you in on something that I have been thinking about for a while….

About 10 years ago (wow, I’m getting old if I can say that), I went with my friend Ann and my little sister Maura to see a movie with Jim Carey called “The Truman Show”. Jim Carey plays a man called Truman who unknowingly the star of a reality TV show about his life. There is constant video taping of his entire life and the show is really popular in America, but he has no idea what is happening, so he acts normal. Everything is staged his entire life from his family to vacations to his job and even his marriage. The show is made possible by hidden cameras all over- in mirrors, windows and all the nooks and crannies of his entire life. Maura and I loved the movie but, of course, took it too far (typical) and looked in every mirror and window with suspicion and carried on conversations whenever we had a theory (The fight I got in with Sara felt staged or do you really think that trip to North Dakota was real?) We incessantly asked each other for a few months if there was such a thing as “The Kealan Show” or “The Maura Show” and even questioned if the whole world was in on it and there was a show involving both of us called “The Kealan and Maura Show”. One time when I asked Maura for the umpteenth time if there was a “Kealan Show”, she cleverly replied “no”, then looked in the nearest mirror and mouthed “Cut this! She knows!” while motioning the “cut” sign with her hand. After it became clear that there was no such show (we were too boring), we let it go, but laughed about it whenever we remembered. I have been thinking how funny it would be if there was actually a “Kealan Show” right now or rather, just a highlight reel of my life. This idea comes from the few times a day that I am doing something and I say to myself, “Man, I wish my family could see this now…” “Or what would (insert friend or family members name) say about this if he/she were here!” The show would just be a hidden camera show capturing all the weird, funny, embarrassing events throughout the day and shown like the “Web gems” on Baseball Tonight. Because most of it would be really boring (me reading, washing clothes, sleeping, drinking water), the show would just skip over that unentertaining stuff and get to the good stuff. Maybe an hour-long show once a week? Some parts that would make the cut are as follows: when I am riding my bike slow motion against the wind and cursing the bus to Phnom Penh that just cut me off and moto drivers are yelling hello to me and I contemplate throwing a tantrum like my 4 year old host nephew Chun Lai then deciding against it and riding on, slower still. Or when someone is trying to tell me something in Khmer and I just don’t get it, no matter how many times the person repeats or rephrases what they are saying and eventually I just accept defeat and agree, which one time led to me almost losing my entire eyebrow. Or when I fell face first over my handle bars over my bike after skidding on the national highway. Or when I am sitting awkwardly at a wedding sweating more than the entire bridal party while trying to eat rice with chopsticks. Or when my host family tells me in English that we were eating monkey my first night in training (we found out it was chicken, not monkey, through hand motions after I refused to eat it). It wouldn’t all be embarrassing or funny things though. There would be heart warming things, essentially the parts of the experience that last a life time and keep me coming back for more. Like when a student tells me that if she had enough money, she would open an organization that worked with the old, poor and sick to give them the attention and care that they need. This would be supplemented with a video clip of me talking about winning the lottery with my friends from home and would entail me saying something along the lines of “I would buy an island, fly my family and friends there and throw a month long party.” Or when a tuk tuk driver or coffee vendor refuses to accept money because I am a volunteer helping his or her country. Or when one of my students who has struggled with critical thinking expresses himself or herself for the first time. Or when my host nephew or niece cries when I leave the house or runs out to the patio when I return home, laughing and smiling and wanting to play. Or when I go to pagoda with my host family and the monks and other members of the congregation ask about me and my host mom puts her hand on my leg in a show of affection and pride to show that I am her “adopted daughter” as she calls me. See, these blog entries are a great way to express how I feel about what I experience, but it’s totally from my perspective, no matter how hard I try to be objective. Being an observer would offer such a better idea of what it’s like here, but for now, I hope that this blog will suffice. I just can’t wait for my parents to make it over and see “The Kealan Show” live, not just the highlight reel.

Hello family and friends. I wanted to clear the air on a two topics that people ask me about a lot so I want to discuss them to give everyone a better idea of these two topics, time and food. I should have done this a long time ago, but I am still learning a lot, so it’s all a process. Food was a huge part of my life in America and although there have been a lot of changes over the past year, that hasn’t changed.

So here goes nothing…

Time: Every time I talk to someone from home, I am asked within the first few minutes “What time is it there?” Not that I get annoyed by this question, but there are many misconceptions. Let break it down for you, I am currently 12 hours AHEAD of Chicago. So that means when my parents call me on Saturday morning at 7am, that means that it is 7pm on Saturday night in Cambodia. I am 11 hours ahead of New York and 6 hours ahead of Ireland. However, Cambodia does not observe daylight savings time, so when that comes around, I will be exactly 12 hours ahead of New York, which means 13 hours ahead of Chicago and 7 hours ahead of Ireland. But we can cross that bridge when we get there. Just to be clear, if I call my parents in Chicago at 7am on Sunday morning in Cambodia, that means that it is 7pm on Saturday night. A few times everyday I check my watch and calculate the time difference to my family and friends around the world and guess what they are doing at that very moment. It’s kind of fun to think about how when I am first waking up in the morning, my parents are cooking dinner. Or because I go to bed so early and my friends probably sleep in on the weekends, because it is 8pm for me (aka bed time) my friends are still sleeping because it’s 8am for them- just as my day is ending, theirs is about to start.

Ok, now that we are on the same page. I was contemplating answering the phone “Hi, it’s 11am on Saturday. How are you?” from now on. Just kidding.

Food (see pictures for reference): My general observation in my past year here is that there are two main kinds of food- fried food and soups. Sometimes they cross over (fried noodles). The carnivores of America tend to focus the meal on the meat, but in Cambodia, it is reversed. The dishes have a lot of vegetables and the meat is sort of in the background. Imagine just a typical stir fry, that is what I usually eat. Everything all mixed together and served over rice or eaten alone. Soups obviously are a mixture of foods already. There are exceptions to this rules that I just came up with on my own, but it applies to the bulk of the food that I eat.

While at site, I have a routine when it comes to food. So this is what my life food looks like over the course of a day or week.

Breakfast: I wake up at 6am and boil water for oatmeal and coffee. I buy oatmeal in PP and put some sugar and cinnamon in it. I also try to incorporate some fruit into it, but apples are really expensive and oranges won’t really work. During mango season, I cut up a mango into the oatmeal, so delicious. The coffee is either sent from home (hint hint!) or bought in PP for way too much money. I usually, however, buy my coffee from a little place in town that imports it from Vietnam. It’s not the greatest, but it does the trick. Thank goodness for my French press(thanks Mom and Katie!)!!!

Lunch: After teaching or doing whatever takes up my morning, I typically head to what I refer to as “my lunch place” which is essentially just a little stand that makes various dishes and soups. I opt for some sort of soup and rice. My personal favorite is a soup that has pumpkin and a bunch of vegetables. After lunch, I usually head home to chug water. Sometimes I mix it up and get friend noodles at a different place, but for the most part, I eat at this place during the week. It is run by a really great Khmer family and I am probably the only foreigner that eats there, but I’m pretty sure that sales have increased since I came to town. This usually happens at 11:30 or 12:00. Sometimes if I am really hungry, I eat at 10:30.

Brunch: I try to venture out on the weekend to make sure that I don’t overdo it at my lunch place, which I have done before and avoided going there for a while, which got awkward. On Sundays, I usually go to mass at 8:30 at my church then go to brunch after. Now, I am a good Irish Catholic girl that heard the phrase “You can make an hour sacrifice per week and go to church…” on countless occasions. Well, that is not the case at the church that I attend. It is at least 2 hours, but I suppose I am making up for all of those hours missed. You win, God. So, mass usually gets out around 10:30, so I usually head over the place that Darlene and I refer to as “The Spot”. The proper title is “Espresso House Cafe” but we coined the term after we began our boycott of this other place that treats its employees terribly. So the cook quit and opened up “The Spot” and after going there once and falling in love with the family, the boycott was on! I almost always order banana pancakes or the Special omelet. We go there to order breakfast but end up staying for a few hours just hanging out with the owners (a husband and wife and their 4 children).

Dinner: This is the only meal I eat with my family, unless there is a party or holiday. We eat around 7:00, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Because my family is ethnically Chinese, we eat many Chinese dishes, which are healthier and so delicious. My mom and sister are really good cooks, so dinner is always enjoyable. It consists of a bowl of rice for everyone then 3-4 communal dishes. There is usually a soup and sometimes a fruit. We have been eating a lot of watermelon with dinner, a fruit that I never really liked before, but I suppose my taste in food has changed. Sometimes we go out for dinner, but we usually eat at home. After dinner I hang out with my family, play with the kids, watch the news until 8:00 then I head to my room and read for an hour then “hit the hay”. A typical dinner for me. So delish

My host mom and host brother (who I eat dinner with every night)

Chun Lai and Chun Liap eat dinner in the other room with their mom

Common dishes or common in my life (pardon my phonetics…): -Rice- I eat it twice a day. Sometimes 3 times. -gwee-tee-you- This is a soup that is eaten for breakfast. It is rice noodles with broth. I usually order it without meat, but you can get it with beef, chicken, fish or pork. I am not a huge fan of eating meat for breakfast everyday, so I usually order it with vegetables. -Bye saik cheruck- Translated directly, this means “rice pork”. It is simply a plate of rice with grilled pork and is usually served with vegetables on the side or soup, sometimes both. -Banchayoo- I blogged about this before, but it is my favorite. It is made by first putting a rice batter on a huge skilled and filled with pork, sprouts, seasoning and carrots. It is a Chinese dish, I think, but it is another breakfast food and is about 50 cents for one. It is eaten with various veggies (herbs, lettuce and cucumbers) and dipped into a peanut/garlic sauce. Banchayoo

-Prohuck- This was essentially a sick joke played buy the French. Because the French typically love their cheese and dairy is almost impossible here, prohuck is often referred to as “cheese”. Prohuck, however, does not contain ANY dairy, instead it is fermented fish. Yep, that’s right, fermented fish. I thought it was awful at first, but it has really grown on me. It’s not my favorite, but it’s in many of my favorite dishes. -Nompon chuck- Often referred to as “Khmer noodles” and is a curry-like broth with prohock (see above) with rice noodles. They also put in herbs and some veggies. I really like it, but it is sort of rare to eat it. I only have it for celebrations, but many people in the market eat it. -Boh-Boh- For breakfast, many Khmer people eat boh-boh, which is rice porridge. My family eats with grilled fish, but it can also come in a few other forms- garlicky chicken being my favorite. My family offers me boh boh when I am sick. -Mee cha and bye cha- Fried rice and fried noodles are a cheap and easy meal (or for many volunteers, a snack). You can get it many ways- veggies, beef, pork, fish, chicken, etc. It costs anywhere from 50 cents to 2 dollars, depending on where you go. -Prohut- Not to be confused with prohuck, prohut is mashed up fish, made into balls and put into soups. Sounds nasty, but it’s really good. Chun Lai's birthday cake -Nom- Directly translated, nom means cake. But this category is so broad; I needed to bring it up. Now, cake brings to mind a very specific food: for me, a nice birthday cake from Oak Park Bakery (yum). While nom refers to that kind of cake, it also covers food that I firmly believe should not be included. For example, potato chips are called nom, as well as crackers. Maybe we are just too specific, but when in doubt of what I am eating, I just call it nom. It makes it easier when I have to explain what I am eating, but complicated when I am trying to find a specific type of nom.

Fruit: Fruit is seen as a dessert here, but is sometimes a snack incorporated into the meal. After dinner we will eat an orange or share some mango stein, but eating an apple for breakfast is kind of weird here. When people visit someone else for the first time, they bring fruit as a gift and is used for offerings to the ancestors for holidays. There are some fruits that are familiar and some that are completely new. Here are some personal favorites or in some cases, least favorites:

Bananas- While we have one type of banana in America that I am aware of, there are many kinds here in Cambodia. There are bananas that are long and green on the outside (contrary to in America, where green is not a sign that they aren’t ripe yet) and “chicken egg bananas” which are really small ones. They are used in many kinds of desserts, either served plain or in a concoction. One snut or bunch costs about 50 cents or less. -Sow mow- There is a translation for this fruit into English, but sow mow really captures this fruit. It was really popular when we first came to Cambodia and is now making a come-back. Unlike what my friend Nick Campbell believes, fruit actually comes in and out of season. On the outside, this fruit is red with soft green spike looking things that you cut open and eat the inside, which has a pretty big seed. It’s a fruit that requires a lot of work pre-eating, but totally worth it. Plus they are really pretty. Sow mow

-Mango- It broke my heart once they were out of season again, but during hot season, mangoes were everywhere! Mangoes are sold for about 25 cents usually, as in out of season, but people were just giving them away during mango season. Out of season, they taste really sour and people eat them with either the Ramon soup packages or with a sugar-salt-chili pepper mixture. I opt to not eating mangos if they aren’t ripe or with seasoning. It just breaks my heart to degrade mangos by eating them with soup powder or while they taste inferior. Mangoes (green ones are kijay (not ripe) and the yellow ones are toam (ripe)

-Oranges- The province just to the south of Battambang is called Pursat and it is famous for it’s oranges. The translation in both languages is “Orange” but they aren’t orange, they are green. Regardless, they are really delicious.

green oranges

-Durian- You have heard my ideas on this topic already. I am really open-minded when it comes to food and some things have grown on me. I don’t think that this one will though. Nor do I want it to. -Dragon fruit- I overdid it in training with dragon fruit by eating at least one a day. I haven’t really had any recently, but I think that I will start again. They are pretty too. Peeling isn’t so fun, but the soft, seedy inside is worth the work. -Jackfruit- This is another fruit that I don’t really like. They are huge and ugly. I think that there is a connection to how good looking a fruit is and how good it tastes. Jackfruit not only looks ugly, but tastes kinda, well, gross. It also leaves a glue-like remnant on your fingers. Too much work and it’s really not worth it. If it is offered cut up and prepared, maybe I will eat it. If not, no thanks. -Apples- They are imported from Thailand and although I will splurge every now and then for one, I pass this one up usually for a different kind of fruit. $2.50 for 4 apples? Where am I? America? -Plai Mein- Again, this fruit has a name in English, but for many things in Cambodia, we choose to use the Khmer word rather than the English one if we don’t have it in America. (For example, “doing laundry” to me means throwing my clothes into a machine that cleans it for me, while bow cow ow means washing my clothes by hand with a brush in my bathroom, so therefore, “doing laundry” isn’t in my vocabulary and has been replaced by bow cow ow.) This is a cute little fruit that is peeled and although there is only a little meat and a huge seed, it’s pretty good. -Pineapple- Pineapples are everywhere and they are eaten plain or put in many dishes. I have eaten them fried with pork or in a soup with fish. Gives it a lot of flavor. -Watermelon- I was surprised to see this fruit here, but welcomed it with open arms. My family eats it after it has been in the cooler. I cannot believe I never appreciated a cold watermelon before.

Drinks: There are many types of drinks here, and although I stick mainly to water, there are some types that I enjoy. -Coffee- I like to start my day with a homemade cup of coffee, as stated before. But sometimes I drink it at a restaurant. If I eat at a Khmer place, an iced coffee (without sugar or milk aka black) costs about 25 cents, but as we commonly say here: you get what you pay for. So, it is about 25 cents worth of coffee, which means that I usually drink two to three of these. I used to drink it with sweet milk (which I will discuss next) but I cut back on my sugar intake, so I gave them up. They taste exactly like a frapaccino from Starbucks, except here they cost about 30 cents, not one day’s per diem. Hot coffee is also possible, and sometimes I drink it, but I try to stick to iced coffee because it’s hot enough as it is. There are western places that have Arabica coffee, but that costs about $1 and it’s tough to justify a $1 cup of coffee when lunch costs about 60 cents and an entire bag of coffee costs $2 near my house. Sometimes I splurge though, I’m only human. -Sweet milk- Because most people don’t have fridges, milk isn’t really an option. So, instead, most people have sweet milk in small canisters. Khmer people love sweet things, so it is added to coffee a lot and other such sweets. Sometimes people drink it over ice. It’s really syrupy and I can only have a little bit before the sugar headache comes. -Tea- Every restaurant offers water or tea. Sometimes it is cold tea, sometimes hot. But with every order, they bring out tea cups and a teapot. -Beer- Drinking in Cambodia is a very interesting concept. In America, teenagers and college students always hear about what we people like to call casual drinking, which means a beer or two with friends. Most important is the “sipping method”. Well, here, it is totally different. Beer costs anywhere from 50 cents to $5 and that is expensive in a poor country, so people usually drink to get drunk. There is an etiquette to drinking- you cheers and chug, there are no in between little sips; the “sipping method” has no place here. “Newcomers” have to chug a whole beer when they enter a drinking circle. It is really fun and a good time, but after a round or two, it’s rough on the stomach. One very important element is the ice that is added to beer. Beer is usually room temperature and ice is rather inexpensive here while refrigeration is expensive, so ice it is. That helps water down drinks if you don’t know how to politely bow out of a drinking situation. -Dong- Dong, or coconuts can be bought just about anywhere. For 25 cents, some kid with a machete will chop a coconut for you to drink. There are many places that keep them cold, and let me tell you, there is nothing more refreshing than a cold coconut. I like to have them cut it open and eat the meat inside. Coconut milk is also used in many desserts.

Cold coconut

-Tuk a luk- A personal favorite during training that led to a bunch of us gaining weight. It is essentially a smoothie, but made a bit differently. Most of the ingredients are the same- ice, sugar, milk, fruit, etc but here in Cambodia, a duck egg is put in, as well as sweetened milk. We always make sure to ask them to leave out the durian or else it will taste like an onion smoothie. It’s super refreshing, but I haven’t had one since training, for very good reason. -Water filter- My savior. I got through at least one filter a day. -Rice Wine- At first I was baffled that rice is in literally everything here (except the salt shakers), but I guess it makes sense. Corn syrup is in everything back home. So, there is rice wine. I have only had it once or twice and although it is turning into a friend’s drink of choice, I’m not convinced. There are huge tubs of them that are at basically every stand and a small water bottle full can be bought for about 25 cents.

Traveling: I am pretty good about eating healthy and watching my intake, but all bets are off when I am traveling. It’s something about the 5.5 hour bus ride or my experience snacking on the bus as an athlete, but I tend to just snack all day. I usually have a supply of crackers when I board the bus. The bus stops at least 2-3 times on the way to Phnom Penh and each rest stop has a make shift store and various snacks to buy. This is what I usually eat: -Jake ong- The direct translation is grilled bananas and it comes in two forms. First is the harmless set of 5 small bananas with a stick stuck through them on grilled over coals. The bananas are actually first sun dried then cooked. They cost about 25 cents. The other deadly option is a sort of cake. It is made by a rice/coconut milk outside with a banana on the inside. It is wrapped in a banana leaf then grilled over coals. It costs about 30 cents for 2. They are so good and so addicting and at every rest stop.

-I actually don’t know the name of it, I always seem to forget, but it is a soupy sort of dessert. My family makes it a lot and I am very thankful. It is bananas, coconut milk, tapioca balls and sugar that are cooked to make a sort of soup then put over ice to chill. It costs about 25 cents for a bowl. My family sometimes makes it with pumpkin instead of banana, but either way, I’m happy. There are many variations of this using, instead of bananas, corn, gummy worm looking and tasting things, beans, etc. -Nom angsom- This “cake” is rice with coconut milk (are you noticing a theme yet?) with beans in the middle. It is stuffed into a circular bamboo container and cooked over a fire. During Pchum Ben, a 15 day holiday, this nom is literally everywhere. But they put pork into it. So delish.

Transporting food: If I go to my lunch place and want to eat it at home, they will put my rice in a Styrofoam case and put that in a bag. But when it comes to the soup, it will go directly into a bag. For coffee to go, it mostly comes in a bag with ice. That goes for just about everything that is ordered, it goes right into the bag.

Getting food is an interesting topic. For my family that cooks meals at home, this means that my sister has to go to the market once a day to buy the meat and veggies, unlike America, where we load up an entire car full once a month. They also prepare the food the night before for breakfast so it is easy to make in the morning. Many people go to the market to eat. There are a lot of stands there that sell just about everything. Restaurants are a little more expensive, but then you don’t have to deal with the heat and noise of the market. Just like we have the ice cream man in America, there are people to bring their carts to the street and walk around. Many women put meals in buckets then carry them on a stick around town. For the people who need a fire to cook, they have carts that they push around town. So for fried noodles, there is a guy who walks by my house every day and makes it right in his cart then moves on. There is also a man who rides around on a moto with ice cream. Food is pretty much everywhere I look in Battambang.

Unusual food that I have eaten: A few volunteers have better stories that I do about eating what we would consider “weird” in America, but I have had a few things that could possible end up on Fear Factor. First off, no, I have not eaten rat, dog, cat or horse. But I have eaten fried ants with my first host family, some sort of forest lizard that I don’t think we have in America called tra kuen in Khmer with my second host family, as well as many types of bugs. At a rest area once, a young Khmer woman sat down across from me and I offered her some fruit. She said no, but then offered me some grasshoppers. I tried them in America, but I have never tried them here. She made me a little bag and showed me how to eat them (pull off the legs and throw them away then eat the body). For Chun Lai’s (my host nephew) 4th birthday, we had a feast and after the dinner, but before cake, we ate water beetles. They had a lot of meat to my surprise and were really good. Most of it has to do with money. For example, grasshoppers are everywhere and sold for very cheap, but this forest lizard that I ate is rare, so it was expensive. My first host family didn’t have a lot of money, so we ate frog a lot (so delicious but the bones are annoying) and when I told my second current host family (who has a lot more money) that I liked frogs, they told me that they don’t eat that here because it is what farmers eat. When I came back to visit my first family around Christmas, they threw a sort of party and served some sort of uncooked pig intestines. I have never really been a fan but it is sort of a big deal to have it and I knew that my family spent a lot to have it, so I had a few pieces. It’s very common with beer. But some bugs are a delicacy and eaten on special occasions while others are cheap and sold everywhere. At the market and at rest stops, there are always baskets full of various types of insects. My friends who are rural volunteers are the ones who get more of a “strange” variation on food. A few have eaten dog, which they describe as very tough. I keep it pretty simple. I am pretty open to at least trying food (spiders, scorpions, etc) but I draw the line at fermented duck eggs (which means that the duck isn’t an egg but isn’t fully formed).

Other notes on food: Snacks are different here. Because this is Asia, chips came in different flavors than I am used to. There are prawn (shrimp) flavored chips everywhere with a side of spicy, garlicky, ketchup, etc to give it an extra kick. Also, there are a lot of seaweed flavored snacks, such as seaweed strips. These things all threw me for a loop, now I will bypass the BBQ chips for some seaweed.

Also, many dishes are eaten a special way. There are communal soups served at restaurants where people add what they want to eat, I guess the best way to describe it is a family style soup over a burner. Those are always fun to do as a family. The rule is that any soup served with noodles (as opposed to over rice) is eaten with chopsticks. And a spoon. Tricky but I have improved. The proper way is to use your dominant hand for the chopsticks then transfer the noodles to the spoon in the left hand. At the begging it just went straight to the face… Rice is eaten with a spoon and a fork. When it comes to meat or something awkward, you just use your hands. Since I am a righty, I put the spoon in my right hand and the fork in my left and use the fork as a kind of shovel and eat off of the spoon. I guess the opposite of what I am used to, but it’s natural now. Pre eating, people wipe down the utensils and sometimes the glasses with a napkin. Dishes are served with specific kinds of sauces. If you are eating a fried egg, soy sauce comes on the side. If you are eating a soup or fried veggies, fish sauce comes with that. For various meats (duck, chicken, beef, pork) there is a dark brown sauce that comes for that. I don’t even know what it’s made from or what’s even in it to be honest. Squeezing a lime into basically anything is totally appropriate (I’m a firm believer in lime now) and many volunteers, including myself, squeeze a little bit into beer. Chili peppers are also put into sauces on the side or right into the rice or dish. I was a total baby when it came to eating spicy things in America, but I have converted. I love spicy food now and I can actually handle it.

Final Thoughts…. When it comes to really any expense here, but especially regarding food, I am very loyal to the places that I like. A perfect example is “The Spot. I feel guilty going anywhere else when I need my fix of western food. Likewise, for those little purchases (phone credit, detergent) I like to support the people that I have a connection with. I don’t earn much money, but I would like to see it go to the people who mean something to me. I’m not sure where this loyalty is even coming from, but it’s almost like I need a cause for my investment. I know that when I go to “The Spot”, the money is going towards the kids’ education, as opposed to some skeezy westerner that I don’t trust. That’s just me though.

Obviously I am not an expert on Khmer cuisine, but these are the observations that I have made in my year here. I’m sure that it is totally different for different volunteers, but there ya have it!

In other news, Chun Lai has discovered that I have moles on my arms and they are his new favorite thing. He lifts up my sleeves to look at them. I think that it has something to do with the difference between my skin color and the color of my moles.

This past week was a milestone for a few reasons. First, it marked the one-year point since leaving my house in Oak Park on July 21st. It was also Darlene’s 50th birthday and the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations. All three of these events made for an awesome weekend in Phnom Penh.

The story first starts with something that I should have done a long time ago- getting wedding clothes made. After I was asked to come to a gala thrown by the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, I realized that the time had come. My host mother was thrilled when I asked her to make me an outfit; she has been wanting to for a long time now. We went to the market to buy fabric, which essentially entails three parts- the fabric for the sampot (the traditional Khmer floor length skirt), the outside see-through fabric for the shirt then the fabric for inside. I chose to do it right, which means to pull out all the stops and my host family was there for every step of the way. I chose an entirely red outfit and my family approved, saying that red looks beautiful with my meat, which I suppose means my skin. The next step was to choose the design for the shirt. Chun Lai, my 4 year old host nephew was really into the whole process and sat with me while I leafed through the countless magazines to choose the style that I liked. Every picture that he saw, he asked me “Sro line te?” which means “Do you love this?” It was fun at first, but then I told him that I loved them all, but that wasn’t good enough. Thus we created a new game I like to call “Do you love this?” Simple enough. I finally chose the style I liked, but asked my host mom to make the sleeves not to puffy. Over the next few days, my host mom, host sister and one of her employees cut, sewed and applied glitter to my outfit. I was given specific instruction on how to wear it (aka how to zip it correctly and hide the zipper) and basic information about my sampot- essentially don’t get it wet! That last part made me nervous because I live in the tropics and sweat more in one week then I ever have in my entire life. Regardless, the night before I left for PP, my host mother made the final touches and we packed it in my bag after I woke up at 5:30 the next morning.

I have found myself in quite a routine here. One days where I teach or have other meetings, I wake up at 6, shower, eat my breakfast and drink my coffee while reading then I head out around 8:50 to teach or work on my health project. When I go to PP however, it is a little different. I buy my ticket at the hotel across the street the day before for the first bus out, which is at 6:30 which means around 7:00 Cambodian time. I wake up, shower, get dressed and ready, then walk across the street to eat gwee-tee-you, which is basically noodle soup, with coffee. The girls that work there also work for my host mom, so they are always into where I am going, why and when I will come back. After I pay my bill, I stand on the side of the highway and wait for the bus to come get me. I usually chit chat with some of the villagers around me and get on the bus. It takes about 5.5 hours, so I sit back and relax as best I can. Sometimes it isn’t so easy, but the ride is beautiful and I almost always travel with Darlene, so I have a buddy to pass the time with. It was also Darlene’s birthday, so we were in high spirits once we entered the city! We check into our guest house and relaxed until we went to the Peace Corps Office to get our money. The new PC group had just gotten in that day so we were able to meet a few. They looked really overwhelmed at tired, so we tried not to overdo it.

We showered up and went to get foot massages at a really great spa. There were four of us- Darlene, Jessica, Chrissy and myself and before long we were laughing and speaking Khmer with our masseurs. They told us that Khmer people believe that those who have moles on the bottom on their feet are destined to travel and live far from home. Two of us did, including myself. We had a blast at the massage and went to get Italian food for dinner, which is always a hit. We sang happy birthday and headed back to the guest house.

The next day was all about preparing for the gala that night. We went out early after breakfast at the market in search of purses. The first market was a bust but we ended up finding really great wallets that doubled as clutches. Darlene and I went to the market to get 3,000 reihl (75 cents) manicures and pedicures. We had a little time to relax, then it was time to prepare for the gala. We showered and got ready and it took about 5 minutes to figure out the zippers and latches and everything. We walked downstairs to take pictures and the staff of the hotel was loving our outfits. When we walked outside, the entire block came outside to look at the American women in Khmer clothes. We went to Raffles, which is the most expensive hotel in the country and were directed to the ballroom. The Ambassador (Carol Rodley) greeted us outside the room and directed us in. It was obvious that we were the only Americans in Khmer clothing. After the national anthems and a video about relations between Cambodia and America, we sat down to our dinner, which was out of this world! We had steak! It has been well over a year since my last steak, but it was so good. The Marine Pacific band played during dinner and the Ambassador requested the Happy Birthday song for Darlene, so she stood up and everyone sang happy birthday. Two former ambassadors came over to talk, as well as many former Peace Corps volunteers and we had to rush to eat our food between the mingling. We went across the room to speak to our country director and along the way, Jessica and Chrissy were stopped by the Minister of Education to comment on Peace Corps and our clothes. We took a lot of pictures with many of the workers. We met so many people, and so many people commented on our clothes, which was symbolic of American- Cambodian relations. One former ambassador told us how he worked so hard to get PC into Cambodia during his time in the Embassy, but the first group came two months after his post finished. Another ambassador, who is the one who opened the American Corner at the UME, which is the university I work at, commented how glad he was that Peace Corps finally came while he was Ambassador. Many Khmer women commented about how they felt uncomfortable in their clothes, but when we came, they felt better about it and thanked us. At the end of the night, our country director offered to take us home, but it took us about 20 minutes to walk 20 feet out the door because people kept approaching us. It wasn’t a long event, but it was one that was so much fun to be a part of. I always knew how important Peace Corps is to diplomacy and international relations, but I never realized just how important it is. The people who talked to us were Cambodian diplomats, teachers, lawyers and American marines, diplomats, journalists, etc. I was really proud to be there to represent the Peace Corps side of it. Likewise, I was especially happy to tell the story of my outfit. Close up of my shirt

Jessica, Darlene, Chrissy and Me

Darlene and I with former Ambassador Joseph A. Mussemeli

The group with our country director, Jon Darrah We were wiped out after the party and headed back to the guest house. We ended up just going to sleep. Darlene and I decided to head back on Saturday morning instead of staying. “Let’s quit while we are ahead.” We had a fantastic weekend so we bought our tickets for Battambang, ran some errands and headed back. It always feels good to be back. I ran into a tuk tuk driver I knew right when I stepped off the bus, then saw a moto driver whose daughter lives in Chicago, chit chatted with a group of men near my house then my host sister saw me and offered me a ride on her moto. My backpack was heavy, but due to the no moto policy, I finished out my walk.

This weekend was a lot of fun, but it was a rarity. I always considered myself lucky to be placed in Cambodia, especially a former volunteer at the gala told me about how during his tour in Zambia, he was exposed to rabis and had to travel 12 hours just to get to the nearest phone. I have to travel about 20 inches to my purse to get to the nearest phone. Regardless, it was a weekend to be thankful- for my health, for my placement, for diplomacy and international relations, my friends and family (both real and host). Now it’s back to “real life”.

Happy belated 4th of July everyone! Independence Day has never really meant so much to me. I went into Phnom Penh for a party at the Embassy and a much needed break. I had been at site for a month and a half, so I was itching to get away. I met up with a bunch of friends and we found an awesome guest house and tried to keep it cheap by sticking 4 girls to a room and buying groceries and using out kitchenette. Needless to say, I headed back to site after a great weekend much poorer. But totally worth it! The party at the Embassy was a blast. It felt so American. I even won a door prize- the 2002 archives of the Phnom Penh Post. I would have preferred the round trip tickets to Bangkok, but it’s always fun to win stuff. It’s a really beautiful book. Phnom Penh archives 2002

At the Embassy with JaNise, a fellow PCV

I cooked pasta for my grade 12 students to return the favor for when they cooked me banchayoo (see my last post). I bought olive oil and spaghetti noodles in PP and my students took me to the market to help buy all the vegetables. I know how to buy onions and tomatoes on my own, but I know that they really enjoyed taking care of everything at the market and walking around the with American teacher, so I went along with it. We went back to my student Kunthea’s house (where we had the last party) and cooked together. There was only one student who has ever had western food (a hamburger of course….) and they kept saying “We have heard of pasta, but never had it!!” Now, I’m no gourmet chef, but it was pretty good pasta and they loved it. I also brought along half a jar of peanut butter that I got in PP to make some PB&J’s. We used the left over bread to put the peanut butter on and they loved it. They cleaned out the jar and were sticking their fingers and bread in there to get every last morsel. One girl even took the jar to buy another one at the western store. They were so cute about their first “American” meal.

Cooking the pasta.

Sitting down to the feast.

Reachaney loved the pasta.

Sovath getting every single morsel of peanut butter.

The whole gang!

As I approach the halfway point in my service, I have really been looking at the past year of my life and how different so many things are. I still have a year left, but it’s weird to think about how quickly you can change and not really even notice it. Every now and then there are little indicators of just how different my life is and I think that they are positive, because these changes can sometimes mean integration or even independence. But, I will be coming back to America in a little over a year, which means these changes will stand out once I get back. Now the reasons for these changes can be because I am in Cambodia, or simply because I am in Peace Corps. Or maybe they have nothing to do with either. Regardless, I want to walk you though them (these are meant to be silly, for the most part): · Throughout college, we abbreviated Madison Square Garden as MSG, for example: “When you take the New Jersey Transit into New York City, Penn Station is right underneath MSG.” Now, when we say MSG, it refers to the chemical flavor additive that our families frequently cook with and is rather addicting. So now, when I say MSG, it’s more along the lines of “My food didn’t have enough MSG in it tonight” or when I received a text from my friend that said “I had a huge allergic reaction to MSg tonight and now I have a huge cold sore looking thing on my face.” I even sing the song on the commercial with Chun Lai when it’s on TV. · I frequently tell my host family that in America, I only ate rice one time a month, which was actually a stretch of the truth, it was more like one every two months. I tried to explain that there are other kinds of rice in America, such as wild rice or various Uncle Ben’s flavors, but that was just more confusing so I dropped that concept. Well, now, if I don’t eat rice at least once a day, I feel sick- stomachache and/or headache. Yes, I crave rice like a junkie craves his next fix. While I was in Vietnam and Jacqueline and I were trying to find a restaurant (and they had some really good western places) , we actually passed up the pizza place for the roadside rice stand for $1 on more than one occasion. · Khmer people are very affectionate, so hitting can be both affectionate or a means of disciplining. When I get together with my friends (other Peace Corps Volunteers) and someone makes fun of someone else, we do the “Khmer fake hit” which is essentially raising your hand high above your head in a mimic hit pose. Mothers frequently do this to children when they don’t eat their rice here, but people also do it when they are being made fun of, in jest. Well, I do it and I don’t mean to, I sometimes just find my hand over my head without thinking about it. · As a student athlete, there were some days when I was just too tired to shower after practice, especially if we had practice early the next morning (I’m going to get dirty again in like 8 hours, so what’s the point?). I know that this is gross, but oh well, I did it. Not frequently, but I did. However, one year later, if I don’t shower three times a day, I feel so dirty and gross. Granted I sweat much more now than before, three showers a day, sometimes four, everyday. · I no longer speak in contractions. Because it is confusing for my students when I speak in contractions, I have eliminated them from my vocabulary. When I talk to a fellow American, I find myself saying something like “Oh, I cannot go to the market today because I do not have free time.” I need to pick that back up upon my return stateside because it sounds pretty condescending. · Last year, one day after practice, my roommates and myself made our lunches and sat down to assess our stance in the BigEast, etc, and when I took a bite out of my tuna sandwich, there was a hair in it. My roommates were so grossed out and I lost my appetite and didn’t eat anything else all day, although we just had a 4 hour practice. Now, if there is a hair in my rice or fly in my soup, which is common, I just take it out and move on. I think back to that tuna sandwich and I could kick myself because at least that was MY hair! Here, it’s someone else’s, or some sort of weird bug. I cannot believe that people actually send food back for even less than that! All I know is that I wish I had that sandwich now, such a waste… · I saw a picture of myself from a “business casual” setting and the fact that my knees were showing was so mortifying. Likewise, I was watching the British Office and someone on the show was showing their knees AND shoulders in the workplace. I couldn’t move beyond that and enjoy the show, so I turned it off (aka I closed my computer) came back to the show a few hours later when the shock wore off. No one in my family has seen any further than my knees or shoulders and I plan to keep it that way. · I always correct my students when they translate Khmer phrases directly into English and they just don’t make sense. For instance, in Cambodia if something is fun, they say that it is happy. So holidays, birthdays, vacations, etc. are described as happy. Or, when a student wants to leave early, they say “Please, cher, I want to leave first”, which is something that I took as a competition, like who could leave first. Well, now I speak in those Khmer phrases in English. I told Huck that Vietnam was “very happy”. I also announced to the university English Club that I had to “go first” because I had to teach. I just embrace it now, even though it doesn’t make sense in English. · When I graduated last year, I was SO excited about doing absolutely nothing before I left. I spent the summer gallivanting around New Jersey, Chicago and even Ireland. I reveled in the fact that I didn’t have a job for the first time ever and ate everything in site because “I may not get to eat this for another 2 years”. Well, now that it’s summer again, I am working so hard to make sure that I am as involved as possible. I have started second guessing taking little side trips with my friends to make sure that I am working enough at site. I know that it is what I am supposed to do, but it’s just interesting to see how one year can change so much. I cringed at the thought of work last year, but this year I am out everyday trying to find projects that I want to take part in. I also don’t have access to a couch and never-ending freeze pops in Cambodia, so that helps. · There are some Khmer noises that are part of my daily vocabulary now. When a seller tells me a price that is “t’lai nah!” (it costs too much), Khmer people (and I am now included in this group) make this noise and for lack of better definition would be “uuuuhhhhfffff”. Most important is the facial expression, which is of pure disgust and a hand wave is usually thrown in, too. We use this from tuk-tuk drivers to fruit vendors and it works every time. I think that the noise is an important because while we speak Khmer, it is something that Khmer people do too, so it shows a sign of integration. There is a noise that I think is only popular in Battambang, and it’s a noise of surprise. If I had to spell it, it would be “uah-uh!”. When I walk out of my room and Chun Lai sees me, he makes that noise. Sometimes we shorten it to just “uuuuhhhhhh!”. A student used it when we were taking about ghosts, too. I don’t really know if we do this in America, but noises are pretty important here. A noise + an expression such as “too expensive” really drives the point home. · Because Cambodia is a very communal place, we have grown accustomed to always eating family style. When we go out, we will all share and split things even if we order a salad or burrito. Ordering beers separate and not getting a pitcher is such a strange concept. This concept has really transcended the “food category” and now includes hair products, electronics, clothes, etc. I sort of feel uncomfortable not sharing things now. I will just be grabbing things when I get home because it’s just so natural now. · When transferring anything in Cambodia, there is a proper way to do it. As an example, let’s use money. There are two correct ways to hand money to someone, first is the “two handed transfer”, which is one hand on each end of the bill(s). The other is the right hand on the money and the left hand on the right arm. We noticed that during a Peace Corps meeting and I asked someone for a pen, I reached with both hands and the person who handed it to me used the other method. The only one that is wrong is just one hand with the other arm dangling at the side. A volunteer worked for a big US company and her job was to assess the customer service in various stores around her state. She told us that Asian-Americans are much more likely to make an immediate purchase at the store that hands money/business cards back with two hands. Interesting little fact. Maybe that company can hire me because I am now an expert. · Because beer is sold lukewarm here, we always have beer on ice. Now, as an avid fan of milk with ice, I welcomed this cultural difference with open arms. Even when we go to a restaurant that serves cold beer, we still ask for ice. The thought of beer without ice these days is enough to make me not want to drink it. There is nothing worse in Cambodia than a warm beer. I had a rough day and called Darlene and asked her if I could bring some beers over to her house. I stopped at my little stand and got some (cold) beer. I also picked up one kilogram of ice to go with it, out of habit. · While we were growing up, dinner in my house looked something like this: two vegetables, a salad, potatoes (most likely) and a huge piece of meat or fish for everyone. After we were done eating our personal hunks of steak/chicken/pork/etc, my dad would always comment that we left a lot of meat on the bones. It actually became kind of a joke and we would say things such as “you can’t be done, there’s plenty of good meat left on that!”. The rule was: if I can’t cut it with my Cutco knife, it’s not going to be eaten. Dad, here is the official apology: I’m sorry for not understanding when I was a little punk and sorry for those laughs. I get it now. My host family is pretty good about having enough meat, but I can honestly say that the amount of meat for my whole host family is about as much as I would eat in one sitting in America. As for the bone policy, my game has turned around 100%. I thank my lucky stars when the meat I scoop from the communal dish is without bone/fat. And if there is a little bit of meat on some bone, it’s game on. I will fight for that meat. I get it now, Dad. I’m with you on this from here on out. · I thought to myself the other day how nice it will be when I get home and I don’t have to worry about mosquitoes every night because there aren’t as many and my house isn’t as open in America as mine is here. Then it struck me, the seasons actually change in America! I won’t have to “deal with mosquitoes” outside of summer months because it is too cold and they die. Which is what I may do when I undertake my first Chicago winter after becoming Khmerican (a fushion of Khmer and American cultures). · I remember being younger and listening to my older sister, Katie, and my older brother, Pat, work on speeches at our grade school. I always thought that it was so cool how they began their speech by addressing the principal, the priest, the staff and the other students (and any other guest that may have been there). They usually started with something along the lines of “Father Jenks, Ms. Burns, faculty, staff and fellow students…” I always envied the “Father Jenks, Ms. Burns” part because they were addressed personally. Well, now that I work with two English clubs and they each had a segment on public speaking, each student stood up and addressed the group as a whole and then addressed me personally, either by calling me “Cher” “Sister” or “Kealan”. So it was something like this “Hello Cher/Sister/Kealan. Hello everyone” I was pretty taken aback when the first student addressed me personally. One of the three groups of the university’s English Club had never presented before and they addressed me either by “Sister” or didn’t address me at all. The man in charge of the group, Raya, chewed them out for not addressing the special guest. I accomplished that goal of being addressed personally during a speech. · One of my former teammates and best friends, Jenna Best, used to make fun of me for how much I love attention. We both believe that it is due to my birth order (being the third out of four children, and being the middle girl) and it used to annoy me when we were on the bus during road trips for softball and no one paid attention to me, so she would humor me and listen to whatever I was talking about. I realized real early on that doing Peace Corps and coming to Cambodia was about the best thing that I could have done for my never ending desire for attention. I teach classes of 70 students and about half of them hang on my every word. Moreover, the teachers have a platform at the front of the room, so it’s almost like I am performing for the class (almost). Granted I am talking about the present continuous tense or vocabulary, it still counts. The attention still has not ceased although I have been here for almost a year. Except now, the attention that is directed towards me is simply because of how different I am. By being my normal self, people want to watch. Sometimes when I am riding my bike and come to an intersection and want to cross the street, some people stop just to watch me to ride my bike because everything that I do is weird here. I embrace the attention, but the only difference now is that I don’t seek it out, it happens naturally. The only thing that scares me now is that when I go home, people aren’t going to stop to watch my every move. I sought out the attention before and now that it comes to natural, I almost forgot how much I looked for it back home. I will just have to cross that bridge when I get there in about 12 months. · As a DI athlete for the 4 years leading up to my Peace Corps adventure, second semester was flooded with practice and games. Because we played double headers on Saturdays and Sundays, going out chances were so limited, and on the rare occasion that we could in fact, go out, we were really tired. Now my Saturday nights consist of being in bed by 8:00, although I am not playing Louisville in the morning this time around. The “going out” scene is probably still possible, but I just don’t really care to. In general, the free time vs. busy time has reversed. While there are days that I am really busy, it doesn’t really compare to how filled my schedule was during season. · I now talk to myself. I’m not so sure why that started or even when that started, but it did. · While this time last year I could catch a 70 mph line drive at my face, I am now incapable of killing a mosquito. They fly much slower than softballs, but it takes me a long time to finally get one. Maybe it’s the heat or the old age, but my reflexes are simply awful. · Oak Park River Forest High School (my former high school) was infamous for never having snow days. It’s been like ninety years or something outrageous like that since the last one. Every time there was a forecast for snow, everyone would cross their fingers (which is actually a sexual reference in Cambodia) and pray for snow. Although the snow usually came, the snow day didn’t. It used to really make me mad because we could have used that day. Now when I go to bed and it’s raining, I cross my fingers and pray for it to clear up so that we do have school. There are some days when I just have a feeling that we aren’t going to have school and I’m usually right. Sometimes there isn’t even a reason; we just don’t have school sometimes. My sister Katie really looks forward to her vacations because they come after a long period of working hard and teaching. For me it’s the opposite, I look forward to teaching because there are usually long periods of vacation and free time. When have I EVER complained about having too much free time? Never, because it has never happened before. · When we first came to Cambodia, there were a few of us who became obsessed with Tiger Balm. It was mosquito season and Tiger Balm helps with the stinging and itching. Well, after living with a host family, I realized that they use it not only for mosquito bites, but when my sister burned her hand, they used Tiger Balm on it. Or if someone has a stomach ache, they rub Tiger Balm on their stomachs. Now, being American, I usually reach for some sort of medication. But, I noticed that recently when I have a headache, I reach for the Tiger Balm instead of ibuprofen. I don’t even know why, but I do, and it works. · While in PP, a bunch of volunteers went out with some westerners that we met over the weekend to a Pakistani restaurant and obviously, we ordered family style. We each got a plate of rice, a spoon and a knife. We shared all the dishes and about halfway through the meal, my friend Jacqueline called attention to the fact that the Peace Corps Volunteers were eating Khmer style, using the fork to put rice on our spoons and eating off our spoons while the other westerners were eating with their forks (the same as everyone does in America). I think that we were all relieved that everyone else was doing it too, not just us… Lastly, Chun Lai and Chun Liap have returned from Takeo province! I hadn't seen Chun Lai in about 2 months, so I was so happy to see him. But Chun Liap was in Takeo for about 4 months, so when she came back, she wasn't really a baby anymore. She walks and is talking and even sniffed me, which is the Khmer way to kiss. So cute.

Summer in Cambodia is a very strange concept mainly because I feel like I am in a perpetual summer. I left America during the summer and the weather never really changes, so sometimes I feel like time is standing still and it is still July, 2009. I have to remind myself that I have been here for 11 months already and that contrary to my instincts, time is moving forward. I find myself making comments to my parents and friends that really shows my ignorance to this whole time thing. For example, I was talking to my mom last week about the trip that we are planning for us (my parents and myself) and she was saying how it would be fun for another sibling to come along. I offered that Pat would be free to travel with us. “No, Kealan, he will be at Yale by then.” Right, people actually have lives. Sometimes I forget that. I remember thinking that when I was little and we went on vacation that since we weren’t at home that things actually stayed the same until we got back. Sounds very selfish, but it’s very difficult to grasp the concept, even after all this time.

On Sunday, June 20th, my grade 12 English Club members asked me to come to their end of the year party. I knew that it was a very special occasion because they cooked banchayoo, which is my favorite Khmer food, and is a sign of a special event. Banchayoo is made from rice (of course) which is ground and boiled to create a batter, which is cooked on a wok into a sort of pancake, then inside the pancake is sprouts and a pork-carrot-seasoning combination. It’s pretty difficult to make and is a special occasion meal. The day of the party, two students came to my house to collect me and my friend, Rachel, who I met through the Child Hope Ngo where I will do the health workshop (she is doing a summer internship of sorts for one month). We rode about 3k to my student’s house, and it was a section of town that I hadn’t ever traveled to, so I was glad to see another part of this huge place. It was really beautiful out there. I was able to see the Cham (Muslim) population in Battambang as we rode past the mosque. I invited Rachel along because my students are always looking to meet new Americans and practice their English. I also wanted Rachel to meet them and have the chance to hang out with them. So, we went to one student’s house and we cooked the banchayoo together, joked around and had a good time. There were some other teachers there from the students’ private classes, so it was a fun mix of people. We all sat down to eat the banchayoo, which is eaten with herbs, cucumbers and lettuce that is dipped in peanut sauce. It is hands down my favorite food in Cambodia. We sat on the floor and all ate together, typical Khmer style. Afterward, we ate dessert, which was a mixture of fruit (jackfruit, passion fruit and many others that I don’t know the English word for) mixed with coconut milk and ice. So delicious. After the meal, we all sat around and listened to music, and shared stories, jokes and language. It was a very fun day and I was really honored that they invited me. On the way back home, I rode my bike with a student who kept thanking me for coming to the party and coming to Cambodia in general. She lives about 25k outside of town and leaves her house at 5am to go to school, which is a 1.5 hour bike ride. She just kept telling me how happy she was that she was able to be at a party with foreigners, which was her first party with Americans. I tried to express that I felt the same way and I hope that she understood that the feeling was reciprocal. We made plans to ride our bikes to Banan Mountain, which is a sacrifice for them because they all ride motos, but because I can’t, they agreed to take me all on bikes. I also want to cook American food for them. I texted my friend Keiko about it that night because it was one of those days that I will look back after I have finished my work as a Peace Corps Volunteer as one of the best days. Her response was that those days are valued so much because as volunteers, we don’t really get too much feedback to indicate if what we are doing is actually making a difference or an impact. So, those days that come every once in a while that provide the feedback that we crave and are ones that are really special and will be stored as a fond memory.

Cooking the Banchayoo!

Banchayoo all ready to go!!!

The feast....

Dessert

Every now and then I need to be put in my place, in general but also here in Cambodia. I actually think that we all do. I didn’t do much the week after school ended and chalked it up to “needing a break” and I spent a lot of time in my room and read a lot. Now, I think that is ok, but I had the audacity to complain about being woken up at 5:30 to my cousin chopping coconut skins. I wanted to lie low for a while and pick up my work after July 4th. Then I realized that didn’t make any sense. I didn’t come here to waste time in my room. My students have an unbelievable power to humble me. After I was upset about being woken up at 5:30, my student really unknowingly treated me by telling me that she leaves her house at 5:00 (a half hour than I woke up that day!) and obviously has to wake up much earlier than that to complete her household chores. I secretly was ashamed by my selfishness but she provided the kick in the butt that I needed to get my act together and work hard before my mini vacation for the 4th of July to PP. I turned over a new leaf and put some plans in motion. I started the World Map at the Ngo shortly after and got the ball rolling with my health workshop. The English Clubs at my high school and the UME will continue as before. I decided that the week leading up to my trip to PP would be a good time to take on the World Map project. Although I am more of a baseball girl myself, the World Cup is a perfect time to do this project. Geography in Cambodia is a requirement in school, but after asking various questions to my family, friends and students about geography, I realized that it is a really important aspect that is missing. Most of my students couldn’t name the continents and had trouble finding their own country on a map. Soccer is a really popular sport here, so the World Cup has been on every TV after dinner and everyone is talking about it. I noticed my brother saying the names of countries that he didn’t even know existed before. I couldn’t have asked for a better time to do this. Because this project is mainly done at schools and my school director said flat out “No!” when I asked him to do it because the walls were being repainted, I asked my friend Rachel, who is a college student intern at Child Hope Organization, where I will be doing my health workshop, if she wanted to help. Due to time constraints, we projected the map onto a wall and outlined it ourselves. We began teaching very basic geography and learned quickly that the students only knew a handful of countries and couldn’t even find them on a map. We dove right in and learned the names of the continents and drew attention to many popular ones. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo is HUGE here, but the students all thought that he was from Spain. Now they know that he is actually Portuguese. Likewise, they knew that the World Cup was in Africa, but didn’t know that it was South Africa and couldn’t find it on a map, and they were all floored when we pointed out how far many people were traveling to go watch the games. We finished it on Friday and it looks so great. Many of the students painted their hands and made hand prints on the wall to make their mark in the world. It was a nice touch. Aunt Sue and Mom, I cannot thank you enough for providing the funds to make this possible. I will send PLENTY of pictures, but the look on their faces when they actually started to think about the world as a whole, it was truly remarkable. They are so excited to be a part of it, and it means so much to them to paint. These are kids who are extremely poor- their parents’ income depends on finding bottles and glass to recycle. Many are street children and some are orphans. Because of human nature, they tend to be looked down upon, but simply by helping me with your donation, you really helped open their eyes to how big the world is. It warmed my heart on the last day when this one girl took her friend who had missed the lessons before that, up to the almost completed map and taught her all of the continents and the big countries. So, on behalf of all of them “Ahkun cheron!” (thanks a lot in Khmer). After the first step: paint the wall light blue (for the water)

Next: outline the map!

Then paint the countries!

The little girls were so brave and painted about half the map

My favorite boy painting in Cuba One girl teaching her friends the continents

The final product!!

Now, as for my health project, things are going really well. I met with Child Hope Organization a few weeks ago and they are doing some fantastic work with training these children. There are daily English lessons, computer class, agriculture lessons and they even hatch and raise quails, which are sold and eaten. I realized that one aspect that I can contribute to this organization is related to health. Now, these are children who are going through other people’s garbage to find bottles and glasses to recycle to make money, so hygiene is not emphasized. So, I devised a plan, using two trainees who are two of my star grade 11 students, we will conduct a one week workshop on very basic health concepts. So, our plan is to have these sessions to teach or to reinforce very basic ideas, such as why drinking clean water is important and how to make sure the water you are drinking is clean. But, it has been my experience that Khmer people know these concepts, but since it is not habitual to them, they tend to neglect them or change their ways. Think about it, as a child, I specifically remember taking bathing breaks together as a class with Mrs. Skaleny and after we finished going to the bathroom, she watched us wash our hands. Same at home, wash your hands before you eat, when someone is sick, etc. It is so deeply engrained in us that sometimes we forget that it isn’t in others. Having said that, the workshop will be the starting point of implementing healthy habits into the organization with the effect of the children bringing those habits home. Another setback to practicing good health is that it’s expensive. When it comes to these families that don’t really have any money, having soap around the house is trumped by getting food for the family, always. So, part of our workshop will be for the children to take something home with them (a bar of soap, a toothbrush, etc.) We also will make sure that there are some changes with the organization when it comes to these issues, which I discuss below. Here are the five lessons that we will teach and what they entail: Handwashing- Instruction on how to wash your hands using a fun activity I found that involves glitter, which is always well received here. We will put glitter on a few students’ hands then have them touch their friends, their books, their pens, etc. and we will be able to see how easy it is to pass germs. We will then have the kids wash their hands and if there is still glitter on them, they know that they haven’t done it right. Each student will have to properly wash their hands in front of an instructor to be given a bar of soap. In our budget, we will also have extra soap that we will keep at the organization and each of the teachers and workers will make sure that their students wash their hands after going to the bathroom and before they eat. Tooth-brushing- This is probably the most expensive topic, but none the less very important. Many people here have very bad teeth and it is incredibly painful for them later in life. It is also a source of embarrassment and they tend to be self conscious. We will have the students draw a picture of how to brush your teeth and they will take it home to their families. Once they have finished that, they will each get a toothbrush and toothpaste. Water purification- Many people drink dirty water, so we will discuss how to make water drinkable. This, again, is sort of tricky because it requires boiling water, which can be expensive. This is why the students will be in charge of boiling water and making sure that there is always clean water at the organization. Diarrhea- Towards the end of the dry season, there was an outbreak of cholera in 4 provinces to the east of us. Many children die from diarrhea every year caused by dehydration. This will be a piggy-back off of the clean water lesson, and will talk about prevention (drinking clean water) and how to fight it (making oral rehydration salts). We will teach them how to make the mixture for the rehydration salts and keep some at the center. Mosquito borne illness- Because it is rainy season, the mosquitoes have really been a problem. There is an announcement every morning about sleeping inside mosquito nets, wearing long sleeves, etc, but still, there are many children who die from diseases such as dengue fever. This lesson will be about how to protect yourself from mosquitoes. The students will each take home a bag of abate, which is a chemical that is offered at the health center to kill mosquitoes in water. All families collect rain water and most of them are exposed and are teeming with mosquitoes. Most Cambodians know about abate, but they don’t want to go to the health center, so we will make the bags for them and keep some extra at the organization for the kids to take home. The chemicals are free and all you need is a bag to put it in and drop it in the water. It will be the responsibility of the students to then refill the abate on occasion. The two students who I chose as my summer interns are Vida and Kimny. Vida is the boy I always talk about and Kimny is one of my best students, she also went to International Women’s Day. They are two of my star students and also expressed interest in volunteering. Vida isn’t really interested in getting money this summer, he would rather get professional experience. Kimny wants to be an English teacher, so this will be a great way for her to have some teaching experience. I took them to meet with the director, Socheat, at Child Hope. He asked them to submit their resumes because he wants them to start teaching English to children at the pagoda. Vida told me that he asked to volunteer there before, but they don’t accept high school students, only university. Vida went back and gave Socheat his resume that day and Vida and I worked with Kimny on hers the next day. Kimny is nervous because she thinks that she isn’t prepared, but this is such an awesome chance for her to get some experience under her belt. As for the health workshop aspect, Socheat is on board and is really excited. I will be working closely with him, as well as my interns until we have the workshop in September. That will give us more than enough time to prepare for everything. One important part of this is to train Kimny and Vida how to do everything- the budget, the curriculum, the translating, delivering the workshop and then assessing the workshop and moving forward. I want them to see the whole process and learn from it. First is the budget. We went to the market to price everything that we will need and Vida was leading the brigade- negotiating, making deals, bargaining- he was awesome. Kimny played the sweet Khmer girl card a few times. They were real go gotters. We then have to actually write up the budget, which will be done before I leave for PP (I will be submitting it to PC when I get in). It’s exciting and they are the two best people to have on my team. I can’t wait. I have set up times to meet with my grade 11 (Tuesday and Wednesday from 9-11) and grade 12 students (Tuesday and Wednesday 1-3) because they are a blast. My library was taken over by some books (not books that should in a library), so we will have to find another place to study. I made a slideshow of my sister Katie’s wedding and showed it to my grade 11 and 12 students this week. My students were baffled that we wore black dresses and one student said, “A Khmer girl would never wear black to a wedding.” The bride doesn’t wear white here (she actually have about 4-5 different colorful outfits she wears each day). I used to think that Khmer weddings were exhausting, but I saw the same look of exhaustion on their faces when I explained that it’s a one day affair for us. “But cher, you travel to so many places for your weddings! Pictures before, the church, the reception, someone’s house!” They also said that it was bad luck if anyone cries at a wedding. Hopefully that isn’t true because I think we all brought Katie and Matt lots of bad luck. They thought that everything was so beautiful and couldn’t believe the cake. Some things were just lost on them- like how many people like to play “Shout!” at the reception and everyone crouches on the ground at one point when he repeats “a little bit softer now…” My summer basically looks like this- teaching two groups of students at my high school for 2 hours twice a week (so total 4 hours). Then working with Kimny and Vida on the health workshop at least once a week. I also have two afternoons twice a week with the UME English Club. I will continue to teach my brother Huck and his girlfriend every night, as well as the man who pumps air in my tires once a week and the school directors daughter once a week. I want to set up a program with Child Hope that would be a sort of gym class where we go to the park (well really the open field) and play red rover, kickball, etc. Darlene and I have talked about a resume/cover letter writing workshop at the universities.

All in all, it has been a great start to the summer. I will be going to a wedding on Sunday (our tuk-tuk driver is getting married) and next week should be quite busy. I will head into PP on Sunday and meet up with my friends there. Summer will fly by, I’m sure. I am just trying to balance having fun and working hard, which actually isn’t much different than my previous life….. Miss you all!

Also, congrats Kelly and Dustin on the new baby! So many babies back home that may not be babies when I get back.

This week has been a very important one for me because I have officially completed my first year as a teacher. Grade 9 students already finished their tests and grade 12 students takes their tests next week, so classes are officially done. I am really proud of myself for making it through one year, but I still have one more left. I have learned a lot of lessons that I want to share with you: Much like most (if not all) Peace Corps Volunteers, I entered my service a bright eyed idealist. I still possess those idealistic ideals because frankly, I would be miserable or at home if I didn’t have them. After training, I was super excited to get into the classroom and make these huge changes. Well, needless to say, those changes that I was seeking were not as dramatic as I anticipated initially. I thought that I would defeat cheating, inspire teachers to teach when they are supposed and most importantly see a huge improvement in my students, both with their level of English and attendance. Well, after about a month or two, it became clear that these changes weren’t going to come so easy, if at all. I gave up on fighting cheating and learned that when teachers aren’t paid, they simply aren’t going to teach and focused my attention on working my butt off to improve my students’ English. Most of my students improved their English levels, but I have noticed successes in some really unlikely places. I was talking to my friend Jacqueline about how at the year mark, it’s so easy to look back on the things that we wanted to change and didn’t, but it is such a pleasure to see those changes that actually took place. See, it is way more obvious to see the things that did not change, because they seem so important. But let’s be honest, the system has been this way for much longer than I have been around, and Cambodia is a place that sticks firmly to it’s ideals and customs, which I believe to be its best and worst characteristic simultaneously, so it makes sense that not all battles taken on are going to be victorious. But, if I could express in words the pleasure that the small successes have brought on, I would not be writing an amateur’s blog, but rather a book. Although I am setting myself up for another failure, I will attempt to describe this feeling. On my first day of actual teaching, a sheepish boy came up to me and asked for extra lessons outside of class in the library. I knew that he worked up the courage the entire class and seemed extremely relieved when we set the time. Those first few lessons proved that we needed to work really hard, but Vida showed that he was determined to learn English. We would study grammar and vocabulary, but we got to know each other a little bit. I learned more about him with every lesson- he hasn’t seen his parents in 3 years and for an 18 year old, that is a really long time. He also told me that because he is not from here, he didn’t have many friends. When I started my English Club, Vida was the only boy who came and was really awkward around the girls and I noticed that while he spoke when we studied alone, he hardly said a word while others were there. He confided in me one day that he felt really self-concious because he is a “pagoda kid”, meaning that he lives with the monks at the pagoda, rather than in his home (which is about 400k in a distant province called Kampong Cham). Over time, I noticed that with his improved English, many of the boys who sat around him would ask him for help and suddenly, he was Mr. Popularity. He even ventured so far as making fun of his friend in front of the class. I asked him to answer the question: “What does your friend like to do during the weekend?” and his response was “My friend likes to look at pretty girls.” His friend didn’t understand, but he instantly gained more friends. For the past two months, I have noticed his self-confidence peak. He has even gone so far as correct me (rather put me in my place) during class when I confuse tenses and write something wrong. In the English Club, we call him “Cher Vida” because he is so good at English is always looking to help the other kids. When everyone presented their public speaking assignments, he grilled everyone and offered his expertise to help them out. He is a completely new kid and it has been a pleasure to watch his progress as a student and also with his confidence. I am really looking forward to watching next year. As volunteers, it is a tough lesson to learn that not everyone will benefit from your efforts, for whatever reason. By the end of this school year, I stopped trying to include the students who didn’t want to be there for a few reasons. If they don’t want to be there, I’m not going to take away from attention and help that I could give to the kids that want to be there. I know that is such a teacher thing to say, but it’s true. In a class of 70, when there are about 10 kids who want to do the work, you tend to not care about the other 60. I wish that this wasn’t the case, but I came here to teach English, not to convince students to listen to me and do their work. Some of the kids really got their acts together and took an interest, but most didn’t. It would be foolish for me to believe that I could make everyone interested in my subject. If I devoted my entire life to that, then maybe that would be worthwhile, but I have other plans. Most of the kids who didn’t pay attention in class are the kids that pay the most money during private classes with my coteacher, so they can get away with it. Essentially, my hands are tied because I would be creating a huge fight if I got involved in that. Yesterday, I met with my grade 11 English Club and when I asked them if they wanted to study this summer, they all said yes. Now, this English Club would mean that the students have to take time out of their vacation to study more, which is unlike most 18 year old kids. They have family obligations and they aren’t getting anything out of this besides knowledge, but that is what they want. This is a huge success for me because Cambodia is run by stupid certificates that people get for taking part in classes, so no certificate usually means no interest. Their reading comprehension, listening, writing and speaking skills have sky rocketed. Before I had to spoon food any metaphor or deeper meaning, but yesterday when we read an article about cholera in Northeast Cambodia, they were connecting the dots and making comparisons on their own.

11D students in the library (aka storage room attached to the library)

So where does this leave me? With renewed spirits and a break to work during the summer, which starts immediately. Here is a breakdown of my summer projects, just to keep you informed:

World Map- Thanks to my mom and Aunt Sue, I have enough money to paint the world map on two separate surfaces. I want to do it at my high school and the university, but the university may not be so keen, but there will definitely be two world maps in Battambang in a few months. This project will be a really great geography lesson, but more importantly, it will be a good community project. The students that will paint the map will most likely be the students from my English Clubs, which will be a really fun activity to do. Likewise, Khmer students tend to be very artistic and rather meticulous when it comes to straight lines and proportion, so I think that they will look beautiful. English Clubs- As of right now, I have four English Clubs. One at the university and one for grade 9, 10 and 11 each. I meet with the university English Club two Mondays and Thursdays from 2-5 where we discuss a specific topic from the World Book Encyclopedia. The theme for this month is natural phenomena (such as tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, etc). The students read the material, we discuss it and then they each give a speech about what they learned. They are a lot of fun and we have a lot of laughs. They are very curious about America because most want to study and or live there, so we tend to share information about our countries, which is always a really great cultural exchange. Private English Classes- I have three private classes as of right now. Every weeknight, I teach my host brother Huck and his girlfriend, Navy. They are great students and it is a great chance to get to know them better and spend time together. I told Huck that I needed him to speak and be brave, so initially just guessed all the time, which I appreciated, but eventually it led to him getting many questions right. Sometimes he is so far off, but he tries really hard and doesn’t get embarrassed. He has improved so much, especially with listening because before if he didn’t understand a word, the entire sentence was thrown off. Now he is able to pinpoint the word that he doesn’t understand and ask about that word. It always brings a smile to my face when he uses a phrase that I taught him, such as: check it out, it depends, what’s up. I also teach lessons once a week to a man who is a bike repair man. He is really sweet and although the cards are stacked against him, he wants to be an English teacher. We read articles together from the Cambodia Daily and he gives me free air in my tires. I also teach English once a week to my vice principal’s daughter, who just married a Cambodian-American who lives in California. She will be moving there in 6-10 months, so she wants to prepare. I am trying to improve her level as much as possible while also trying to prepare her for the cultural differences. I think that she will be ok because she is going to Long Beach, which has a high mount of Khmer people. Health Training Center English- I went to meet the director of the center and after a rather embarrassing exchange (he went to shake my hand, which is very uncommon in Cambodia because they hold their hands in a prayer position and bow just a little, but I was confused and thought he asked me to take a seat…) we went into his office and talked about what the center needs. He told me that they have many resources, but they are all in English, so the trainers (professors or teachers) have to learn English and then translate them into Khmer then teach them. He was asking for someone to teach the trainers and the trainees (aka the students). I still have a lot of thinking to do about this one because if I simply help to translate these documents, when the next documents come in, this health center will be in the same position. Likewise, if I teach the trainers and trainees, they need to have a high level of English to understand books about health. So, I am thinking that I will lay the groundwork for some sort of English curriculum for the health center. I think that this will be best because the better that the trainees are at English, the more that they will understand from these resources and after they graduate, they will be better candidates for jobs if they can speak English. Also, for many jobs at clinics or organizations that are run by international funders, reporting is done mainly in English, regardless of the country that the organization is from. This project, though, seems really huge. Then again, I’m not looking for cushy jobs here and although this project is one that I cannot do alone and will take many years after I am gone to implement, it has the capacity to really help the health sector in Cambodia, which is obviously a big one. Health Workshop- There is an Ngo very close to my house called Child Hope Organization, which works with children, mainly street children, extremely poor children, orphans or children with a parent with AIDS or a disability. These children go to school in the mornings, but because their families are poor, they are forced to go to parties and schools to collect cans and bottles to recycle. This organization was established to give them a safe, clean place to come and learn skills. My plan is to set up a weekly workshop on a health issue with my student, Vida, who wants to get some volunteer experience. It will be a sort of internship. We will work on the curriculum and create a book for the workshops. We will deliver the workshop together, me in English and Vida translating to Khmer. The issues we will discuss are washing hands, how to handle diarrhea, teeth brushing, drinking clean water, etc. I will need to submit a project proposal for funding because my plan is to get the children to come to the sessions by offering food in the beginning. Then we will deliver the workshop and upon completion of a sign to bring home or hang in the organization, the children will get something to bring home to their families to enforce what they learned. For example, when we do hand washing, the children who complete the lesson will get a bar of soap. Or when we do teeth brushing, they will get a tooth brush. Because we will cover many different topics, the children who come to every workshop will get a certificate and some sort of prize (money most likely). Because being healthy is expensive when you don’t have much, we need to cater to those needs. We will also implement these values learned in the seminars around the organization, such as making sure that there is always clean drinking water and soap for them to wash their hands with while they are there. Youth Development- There is an Ngo that works with youth development and I think I will work with them to try to find funding, as well as give English lessons and hold various workshops about resumes, applications, etc. They have a youth club that I would like to be a part of, but that is still unclear too.

That about covers my summer. It may seem like a lot, but there aren’t too many obligations that I have for the summer and I know myself well enough to know that I will need to stay busy to stay sane. The next group of volunteers will be here in a month and half and that will be fun to be a part of. It will be difficult to do anything next summer, so I want to make sure that I really put myself out there this summer. Some of the programs will most likely bomb, so it’s good to have certain programs that will run. It also helps that I will be working with places that are established already. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, I just want to add to what is already out there. Most places want an English speaker to help teach or proofread applications for funding, etc and although it is not my ideal summer project, if that is the blaring issue here, then I will do it. Notice that I am working in a wide range of places, which will help me with the projects. I have had my fill of teaching from the English for Cambodia curriculum, so teaching my private class will give me some room to teach as I please, as do these other projects.

As for the 4th of July, which was something that I was nervous about, I will be heading into PP to celebrate. Jacqueline and I decided to have a really American weekend- swimming, subs, shopping, eyebrow waxes, and air conditioning. There is a party at the Embassy on the 4th, but we are going to make sure that we have a great weekend before that. It has been a while since we got together to have a break, so we will make it worth it.

Me teaching Darlene how to use facebook. Sometimes we joke that I am her grad assistant.

I have learned more in my first year as a teacher than I did as a student. It has been a crazy year, but I still feel good about being here, even though there were times when I doubted myself, my work and the ability to help. Some volunteers have abandoned their optimism for “realism” but they aren’t really happy. It’s really easy to get down and negative and blame it on being realistic, but if I lost my hope, why would I remain here? No matter how upset I get with Cambodia, I know deep down that I am doing some good, no matter how difficult it is to see at time. And if I ever lose that fire, well, it’s time to go home. I think that after being a teacher for one year, one of my biggest successes is keeping a positive spin on things. I found a quote in a book that I am reading that I think is perfect in this case. “But any country is still in the making. Always.” He was talking about America, but I think it is perfect for this situation. I will try to remember that when I think things aren’t going well.

P.S. I changed the settings on the blog so that anyone can comment. That’s a hint…. :)

Well, I am officially a few days into my 11th month of service and the arrival of the next Peace Corps Cambodia group is approaching much quicker than any of us thought possible.

Last week I was in PP for my one-year check-up. They bring us in to make sure that we haven’t picked up any crazy diseases and that our teeth are not falling out of our heads. I have stayed relatively healthy (knock on wood), especially compared to some of my friends who have had multiple worms, amoebas and other things that I cannot even write because they are that gross. I was more nervous about the dentist, however. Now, I am not a freak about my teeth, but I brush them at least 3 times a day and although that should be more than enough to keep the cavities away, Cambodians insist on putting sugar into everything, so I was scared. When I got to the dentists office, the dentist checked my teeth out while a dentist in training nervously watched. I knew something was up when he lingered on a tooth a little too long. He told me that I had a suspicious tooth and that I needed an extra. I just didn’t want a cavity, simply put. So, we got the x-ray and crisis averted, no cavity. Lesson learned, from now on, I need to tell the man who makes my fried noodles to hold the sugar, not really a sentence that I ever thought I would say, ever.

But now I am back at site. School is winding down and I just found out that this was my last full week of the year. Next week on Tuesday, we don’t have school because of another holiday, then tests start on the next Monday. I realized that I probably should have done some sort of review, until I realized that my students all buy the test from the teacher (not me) a few days before, so there isn’t much point in reviewing. This is not bitterness or anything, it’s more acceptance.

While teaching my brother Huck and his girlfriend Navy English last night, I found out about a fight that has been going on between my host family and their cousins, who live behind us. This feud started when my host mom build a wall around our house (which looks really awesome) but her sister-in-law who lives behind us thought that she was infringing on her land. I had literally no idea, but it makes me feel right at home! (Just kidding!) It made me realize how little I actually know in the grand scheme of things. Nevertheless, I had no idea because no one is really taking it out on me, which I am thankful for. My cousin, who is in the family that is pissed, covered my solar panel headlamp charger when it was raining and I wasn’t home. They all look out for me more than I will ever realize, regardless of the family fights.

I officially ate durian last night. If you don’t know what that is, you are lucky. It is a fruit that is really popular in Southeast Asia. Cambodians go nuts for it. I inadvertently have eaten it a few times when I order a tuk-a-luk, which is a fruit smoothie. The first time I ate one, it tasted just like a Jamba Juice. Except in this, someone accidentally put an onion in it. Upon further investigation, I found out that the mystery onion fruit was called durian. I automatically hated it and never gave it a chance. It looks like something out of MarioKart and smells like rotting meat. I always think to myself that if someone is chasing me down the street, I can always grab a durian and use it as a weapon because those spikes are dangerous. In Singapore, they don’t even allow durian in the country because it smells so bad. Well, it’s allowed in Cambodia and it’s everywhere. Huck told me that when he was little, he hated it but now he really likes it. What he was getting at was that it is an acquired taste. It made me think about some of the things that I thought was nasty before but now love- wine, beer, Chinese food, sushi, etc. So, when my host mom summoned me to try some durian, my will was really tested. The rotting meat scent hit me right away as Huck said, “I tried to tell her that you don’t like it, but she wants you to eat it.” For the sake of my family and all Cambodians who love this fruit, I decided to try it. I took the yellow bulb looking fruit and tried a little nibble. And it was worse than I ever thought possible. At least in the fruit smoothie there as some papaya, mango and banana to offset the onion. My host mom said to try a little more and if I didn’t like her so much, I would have refused. I don’t know if I accepted the “acquired taste” thing to take affect immediately, because it definitely didn’t. I excused myself right after and sprinted to my bathroom to brush my teeth for about 10 minutes. What did I learn in this experience? Durian is gross. My family at least got a kick out of the ugliest face that I have ever made.

Durian. So nasty.

I have started a few summer projects. One of them is yoga. I started on Monday and I really like it. I decided that I was sick of people calling me fat, so I started to curb the junk food and took up yoga. I was investigating “weight loss yoga” and was thrilled to find something called sauna yoga, which is just doing yoga in a sauna. I’m in luck because my bedroom doubles as a sauna on really hot days, so let the sweating begin. Running has never really been my thing, but I am going to try to do it once or twice a week at least, but yoga is an everyday thing now. I also want to find a Khmer tutor because Huck is going to the pagoda to become a monk soon. My search for summer programs continues, but I have a pretty good idea of what my summer will look like.

As for summer projects, I am turning to you, my family and friends back home. There is an awesome project which is called the world map project. It’s pretty self-explanatory, but I plan to paint a huge world map on the side of my school. Many Peace Corps volunteers worldwide start this project and it’s a fantastic way to build community relations as well as learn about geography. Although all Cambodian high schoolers take geography, I am skeptical as to whether or not they even learn anything. I say this because I was talking to my brother about the pyramids. When I asked him where they are, he said Brazil. When I told him Egypt, he asked if that was in America. When I said that it is in Africa, he said, “well, yes, but Africa is in America.” He was pretty floored when I brought out a map and pointed out Egypt in Africa, America in North America and us in Cambodia, in Asia. So, I decided to paint this map on the wall of my school this summer. I also want to do it at the university that I work at. Each map will cost about $40, so I am looking for contributions because sadly, my $4 per day won’t cover the $80 needed. If you are interested in making a donation, please send me an email at kealanwaldron@gmail.com

A Peace Corps Volunteer that I don't know and her World Map Project As for the rest of my life, everything else is normal. I have been in Cambodia for 310 (who’s counting anyway) days and am still learning and growing everyday. Miss you guys a lot.

I tried to make a post before my little adventure this weekend, but my blog was being very strange and it didn’t work. Then I lost the document because I put it in the trash prematurely, so I will try to summarize the past few weeks.

One bike parking section behind my school.

Today marks 300 days since I left America and it has been a whirlwind. My first year as a teacher here is coming to a rather abrupt end. I found out last week that grade 11 second semester exams start on June 7th and I started freaking out. I was shocked that no one else was when I announced that many of my other teacher/volunteer friends are on the last chapter of the book, which is 20. What are we on? Just finished chapter 9. Uh oh. But when I was the only one with any sense of urgency, I calmed down. It must not be that big of a deal, so I just let it go.

I have been meeting with some Ngo’s in town in search of a summer project. One was really great, but the other two were in other districts, so they are off limits. Peace Corps really wants us to stay in out own districts for two main reasons: first, we were assigned to a district for a reason. Second, if I go to a district that has another Peace Corps volunteer, I will really be infringing on their turf. I was able to pass along the information that I received to the other volunteers. I have one really good project lined up and a few more meetings. I am sure that things will work out.

My 10Q class taking a test.

I often write about the ups and downs and I am positive that will not end until my time here does. It is the goal to have every volunteer COS, which means close of service. If the volunteer wants to end early, that is called early termination, or ET. Rarest of all is medical separation, which means that the health of the volunteer is in question and they must end their service. There have been a few people to ET and while it is a tough situation, I have counted myself lucky that my closest friends here have all stayed. Well, there was a blow to the group this weekend when our friend Jessica was medically separated. I have been lucky enough to find three amazing friends, Keiko, Jessica and Jacqueline. We talk all the time and although we are all really spread out across the country, we have been able to meet up about once a month. We get along really well and have a good time. Moreover, we have all been really supportive of each other. While family and friends back home have been so supportive, I have been fortunate enough to find a support system in country. They know exactly how it is, while it is a little more difficult for family and friends back home to understand. So, on Thursday, Keiko and I got into a taxi to Siam Reap because school was cancelled due to the King’s birthday. Siam Reap is only a three hour taxi ride from Battambang and about a five hour bus trip to Phnom Penh. We had just gotten into the taxi when we got a text from Jessica asking us to come to Phnom Penh. She has had Dengue Fever twice and was in PP. We weren’t really sure why she wanted us to come and when we talked to her, she said that she was getting medically separated. We had just gotten to Siam Reap, so we decided to spend the night (it was already about 4:00) and took the 7:00 AM bus into PP the next day. We spent two days with Jessica and although she was really sick and upset, we were able to have a really fun last weekend together. I went back to site yesterday, which was Sunday and said my goodbyes to Jessica. It was really sad and I officially cried for the first time in country. I know that we will be friends after this, but the group just won’t be the same. The four of us balance each other out and while we will really miss her, we all consider ourselves really lucky to have had ten months with her.

Me and my friend Jessica

Last week was a rough week and on Tuesday, I had a miserable day. My coteacher scheduled a meeting with the vice school director about me teaching his daughter English because she is going to America. I wasn’t really excited about this meeting at all, but I think that since she is going to America, I want to help prepare her for the trip. I know that if roles were reversed, I would really appreciate it. Also, the vice school director is a pretty important person at the school, so I thought that it would be a good chance to get to know him better. When we had the meeting, he told me that she works Monday-Friday and her only free time is on the weekends. I wasn’t really excited about working on Saturdays or Sundays and when he said that he wants me to teach her for three hours each day, I had to politely inform him that is just too much. Six hours between two days is a little much. There were a lot of teachers listening in and because he is important, it is such an awkward position. I can’t flatly refuse this man, but seriously, that’s a lot. I told him that I can teach one hour each day, so two hours on the weekend. I told him that I will not always be in town and that I have other things to do on the weekend and I may not be able to come. Two hours on Sunday is probably what I will end up doing. I was just very annoyed that my coteacher put me in this position. Many people believe that since I am an English volunteer teacher, I only want to teach English. I was just not in a good mood after that. It was one of those days that I have about once every two months, where I just question what I am doing here and if I am even making a difference. Well, just like every other time, my students came through in full force the next day to remind me of why I am here. Although teaching formal class is really difficult because we never really have it, my English Club students have remained true and attendance has been better than I thought it would be. We worked on public speaking and Vida presented his two weeks ago. Vida has really grown a lot and while not too long ago he was a shy “pagoda” kid, he has really come into his own and when he presented, he was full of confidence. Also, he showed the other students how to do it. Last week the other 5 students presented. Vida talked about how to improve your study skills while two girls who attended our International Women’s Day presented on the event. One boy talked about “how to sharpen your mind” and another boy talked about “how to improve your English skills.” The last two girls talked about the traffic in Phnom Penh and education in the countryside. They all did really well, but Vida shocked me the most. He was asking questions left and right and gave everyone suggestions and advice. The girl who presented on education in the countryside was grilled by Vida. She talked about a boy that she knows who is really poor but is a really good student. She also offered information about how he pays for school. Vida was asking all sorts of questions about this boy and I thought that he was getting out of hand and when I told him to relax, he said that he works with an Ngo that tries to find students like him to work and earn money. Vida just wanted his name and information so that he could help him. I felt bad for disciplining Vida, when in truth he was just trying to help a kid much like himself. Those kids in that class are so cool and are so positive. Sometimes I wish that I could just teach the eight of them because it is so enjoyable. Then again, it’s the difficult work that needs to be done.

English Club before their public speaking presentations.

I will be heading back into PP on Thursday for my on year check-up and dentist appointment. I am pretty scared about how many cavities I will have because everything has sugar in it here. I feel pretty healthy, so I’m sure the check-up will be alright.

Chun Lai is still in Takeo and hopefully he will come home next week with his mom and sister. I miss him. I also was floored this week when Huck told me that he will be joining the pagoda this summer and will be a monk for about 3 months. It’s very common for Buddhist men to become monks for a few months (it’s much different from the role of priests in my religion). I assumed that he was joining to learn about his religion and felt a spiritual drive to do so, and I’m sure that is a part of it, but he told me that his doctor told him to… um, what??!?!?! As I have written before, Huck has arthritis in his ankles and although he is only a few months older than I am, he walks around the house like a 90 year old man. He went to Bangkok a few years ago and was given medication but since he has a really sensitive stomach, he would just vomit after every meal, so he stopped taking it. As an American, I have much faith in the health field, mainly because of the progressive nature of medicine and technology. This happened a few years ago, but I can tell that my family lost faith in the system because this one medication didn’t work. He went back to the doctor to see if there is anything that they can do, and he said that if Huck becomes a monk, his pain will decrease. Don’t get me wrong, I strongly believe in miracles, but this is different. A medical professional should not be offering this sort of advice, I mean it’s arthritis, there are other things that can be done. Again, I’m sure that Huck feels a spiritual drive to become a monk, but I am scared about when he leaves the pagoda. I am working on a back-up plan to help him when he gets out. I’m praying for the monkhood to cure his pain, but I am also trying to come up with a plan b. That is one of the most frustrating parts of living here- development doesn’t happen overnight and that is clear in this situation. My family is correct to turn to a medical doctor (as opposed to a traditional health worker who uses unsanitary and questionable means to cure ailments) but then the doctor turns them back to something that goes against what his profession should be. I am hoping for the best outcome in this situation, however.

My host brother Huck, on his 24th birthday

I know that it has been a while since my last post, so I will do my best to catch you up to my present situation….

After my trip to Vietnam, I was really excited to get back to work (teaching) and my regular schedule. Well, that didn’t really work out like I had hoped. The school year is tricky because the religious holidays are based off of the lunar calendar, so it’s difficult to know when those are. The other holidays, such as the King’s birthday, are the same every year, but the school year is littered with various religious, international and Cambodian holidays. It’s difficult to get back on track when the school year is disrupted like this. So, Khmer New Year holiday was scheduled from March 29- April 20. The teachers and students at the school said that the students may not come to school during the week of April 20th because they “may want more days off”. I took that to mean that not all of the students would come, but we would have enough to have class and at least make the most of coming to school. Well, I was wrong. I went to school on April 20th to find about 5 motos parked outside of the office. Not a good sign. As for class, out of my 70 students in each class, about 5 kids came. I went to two of the classes and we just talked about what we did for Khmer New Year. Because there were so few students and I spent last week in PP, I didn’t want to teach something new or even review because we would have to do it again two weeks later. Essentially, it was a wash of a week. At first, I was really mad because it seemed to be a waste of time, but I was able to spend a lot of time with my students and we had fun. I helped one 12th grader with her iPod that her cousin sent to her. I met with my loyal English Club students and we started to work on our public speaking project. I realized how frequently in high school students are obligated to present something to their classes (regardless of the subject or means, students are always giving presentations in America). I wanted my brave students to work on this task. So, like many ideas that I have here, I had to start from square one. The students that come in had no idea how to do any of this, so I had to explain to them the types of public speaking (informative, persuasive and instructional/how-to) and encouraged them to not do persuasive. We made lists of ideas to present on and scheduled a field trip to the university library. Now, my high school’s library was two floors with an electronic system, but at Net Yong High School, we have about 200 books and most of them are American girl doll books, such as Samantha’s Big Day or Meet Kirsten!. Those are some fine reads, but not in this case. I talked to my friend Raya, who works afternoons in the American Corner library, and he gave me the ok to have my kids come and research their ideas. The next day we set off for the library. There were only two kids who came, which happens from time to time, but it worked out better because I was able to give them my attention. The girl, Kimny, who came to our International Women’s Day event was REALLY nervous because she had never been to a library and she told me that she has never done research and had never used a computer. When we walked in, they both (as in Kimny and Vida, the boy who I write a lot about) both signed up for a library card, which only costs 50 cents. Vida decided that he wanted to present on how to improve study skills (which is a great topic because study skills aren’t really taught here) and Kimny wanted to present on a famous person. Because there aren’t that many internationally famous people in Cambodia, she chose to present on Hun Sen, the Prime Minister. We started in the Encyclopedia while Vida looked for books on his own. There was a small little blurb about Hun Sen and she was able to get some information from that. The other books didn’t mention Hun Sen at all, so we went onto the computers. I could see how nervous she was because she had NEVER used one before, but we went to Wikipedia and looked at Hun Sen’s page. I know that many of you believe that Wikipedia is not the best source, but because she had never used anything like this before, I didn’t want to overload her and scare her off of research. She took notes and had some difficulty with it, but was able to get some good information about him. Vida was unable to find any books, but started messing around with google searches and I left them alone to search on their own. For about a half hour, Vida helped Kimny with some basic computer ideas, such as email and google. It was so great to see them branch out and go at it themselves, without me holding their hands. We still have a long way to go, but it was a pretty great first step.

Khmer New Year only lasted 3 days officially, but it really was a week. Cambodians all went home to their “homelands” and the country was pretty much shut down for a week. It was a rather boring week and therefore I went into PP on Sunday, which was the day after the field trip to the library. We had training on Tuesday and Wednesday, but a bunch of people came in early. The purpose was to begin the preparation for the arrival of the K4’s and their training. I am in the K3 group and the year ahead of me if the K2 group. We are only the third group in Cambodia (the K stand for Kampuchea, which is the Khmer word for Cambodia). It was very strange to sit in a room with all of the K2’s and K3’s because we have never all been together. Moreover, we were talking about the next group coming in! The school year is almost over and the K4’s will be here in July, that means that we won’t be the babies of Peace Corps Cambodia anymore, such a strange thought. We spent Tuesday and Wednesday coming up with ways to improve training for the K4’s. The K2’s also had a conference about COS, which stand for Close of Service, which is essentially when they end their tour as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Chun Lai eatin some cake

We also talked about summer projects. After living here for 7 months, I have decided that my summer projects will most likely not be projects that I create on my own simply because there are so many projects already in progress here and it makes more sense for me to join a team and help with something that is in the works instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. The next few weeks will consist of teaching, of course, and looking around for non-governmental organizations that need more manpower. Obviously I will not just sign up for anything, so I am going to get a feel for what I want to do and how I can help. It’s really exciting to think about being able to take part in some really great projects. While I enjoy teaching, there are so many things that are happening here that I want to be a part of.

In PP, we did what we normally do- shop for things that we can’t get at site and eat western food. We all go back to site with digestive issues, but it’s worth it. It’s funny though, because a common topic of conversation with my host family is that in America, I only eat rice once a month, but in Cambodia, it’s usually twice a day. Well, now I NEED to eat rice once a day or I feel sick. I crave rice and I never really thought that I would. So, sometimes when we are in PP and we are making plans for lunch or dinner, we bypass the western restaurants and head for the 50 cent plate of rice and pork and feel really satisfied. So that brings me up until today. My next few weeks will be at school, but the school year is really winding down. I graduated from college almost a year ago and my first school year as a teacher is almost done. Some really strange things to think about. It makes me look back on my nine months and ask myself where they went. At this rate, I will be at the COS conference wondering where my two years went. It scares me that time can move this quickly, but also gives me comfort because those volunteers that are unhappy tend to comment that time moves really slow for them.

JaNise and Jacqueline at the Chinese Noodle Shop- $4 and we ate like QUEENS

I hope that all is well at home with all of you! I miss everyone and love to get updates, so please feel free to contact me either here or my email address is kealanwaldron@gmail.com. I have also posted a lot of pictures on my facebook account, so check them out if you are on. If not, find someone who is if you want to see them!

The craziness of Ho Chi Minh City's traffic

I want to apologize to my loyal readers for my two week hiatus, but I wanted to gather my thoughts about my recent 12 day venture to Vietnam before I posted.

So, let’s start from the very beginning, a very good place to start (just a Sound of Music reference…). I left Battambang on April 1st and spent the night with my friend and travel partner, Jacqueline. While we both love Cambodia, we were both itching for a trip and spirits were really high that night and we left early the next morning for Ho Cho Minh City. I had previously set up my visa at the Vietnamese Consulate in Battambang, so that was one less thing that we had to worry about at the border. It was really painless and the trip there was pretty cool because it was a place in Cambodia that I had never been. We drove through a bunch of other PC volunteers’ sites. It’s always cool to see one of my friends homes, even if it is from the air-conditioned bus passing through. Nonetheless, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City around 2:30 and the culture shock set in. Although Ho Chi Minh City is close in proximity to Phnom Penh, it seems light years ahead. I never thought that I would ever be amazed by a vending machine, but I couldn’t help myself gawk at it while we strolled through the park on the way to the market. It was obvious once we set foot into the market just how different Cambodia’s markets are to Vietnam’s markets. For instance, they have much more to offer and it is so much cleaner. There were ever land lines in the individual stores! Needless to say, we were astounded by the array of goods that we simply don’t have in Cambodia and therefore spend way more than we wanted to. Regardless, we had a good time walking through the market (Ben Thanh Market) and relaxing with a coconut and talking to a family from Hong Kong.

One of the funniest parts of our trip was our inability to stop IRB-ing. What is that, you ask? It is a little technique that we learned in training and it stands for intentional relationship building and one volunteer refers to it as BFF-ing. Anyway, it is the effort to let people know who you are, why you are here and establish some sort of relationship. It is what we do all the time and our IRB-ing skills have really skyrocketed at site, but clearly we don’t know how to not IRB and talk like a regular person. We kept telling anyone who would listen that we were from America, but we work for the US Peace Corps as English teachers. Oh yes, we speak Khmer and we live with Cambodian families. Yes, we miss our families, but we love Cambodia and are really happy there. Essentially we had the same conversation with anyone who showed ANY interest in us. I guess our Peace Corps training staff would be really proud of us.

The One Pillar Pagoda

The rest of our time in Ho Chi Minh City was spent being tourists. Our first full day there was spent at the Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum and a pagoda, of course. The Reunification Palace was the home of the former President during the 60’s and became a symbol of the fall of Saigon in 1975 when North Vietnamese tanks broke down the gates. It was built in the 1960’s and based upon “modern design” and therefore looks something like a Brady Bunch home. The War Remnants Museum was exactly that, a museum of artifacts from the wars fought between Vietnam and French and America. There was a large emphasis on the American war, however. While it was very awkward to be on the other side, there was one thing very clear was we walked around the two floor museum- no matter the cause, war is such an awful thing. It brings out the worst and divides people in ways that are simply grotesque. Clearly I have a non-violent stance, being a PEACE Corps Volunteer, which is one of the reasons that I gave up two years to live here in Cambodia. That’s neither here nor there…. The pagoda was beautiful, but after living in Cambodia and spending much time in pagodas, it wasn’t much to write home about.

We stayed at a family-run hostel in Ho Chi Minh and the family was really nice. We weren’t excited about our fifth floor room without an elevator, but the father came to my rescue when I locked my keys in my backpack. We lock up our bags when we leave with those little luggage locks and I had the genius idea of leaving my keys in my bag because there was no need for them. The father went out and bought a little saw to saw the lock off. We were happy that we stayed at the place run by a family.

The next day, we went to the train station and boarded the train for Hanoi. We left Ho Chi Minh City at 12:00 and embarked on our 31-hour train ride. It really wasn’t as awful as I thought that it would be, but it wasn’t that fun. There was not much to do except watch a Jet Li movie dubbed with Vietnamese translations or attempt to play solitaire. I remember when I interned in New York with the Peace Corps Recruiting Office, one of the woman that I worked with was a volunteer in the Ukraine and she told me that when you are a PC Volunteer, you get used to the idea of a long bus or train trip really quick simply because there is no other option. This time last year, I was complaining about an 8-hour bus trip to North Carolina with my softball team, how times have changed. While we were making our plans for our trip to Sapa, Jacqueline said, “Well, it’s only a ten-hour train ride, so it won’t be that bad.” I agreed with her, but it wasn’t until a few minutes later that I realized just how long ten hours really is, but we were acting like it was nothing.

When we got to Hanoi, it was night and we were really tired, so we dropped off our things at our hostel and ended up just eating dinner and going to bed early. The next day, we switched hostels to the one we originally intended, which is a European-style backpackers youth hostel. It was way more our feel than the other place, plus it was about half the price. We stayed in a dorm room with two French girls who liked to sleep more than sight see or go out, so we didn’t really see much of them. We spent the day in the historical part of the city, starting with the One Pillar Pagoda, which was built about 1,000 years ago by the King at the time as a symbol of fertility. We were too late to see Ho Chi Minh’s remains at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, which was a common theme of our time in Hanoi. We walked around the city and ended up on some side street and since we don’t know any Vietnamese, when it came time to order food, we usually just pointed to what someone else was eating. The food in Vietnam is really good and we had pho at least once a day, sometimes more than one. Pho is basically noodles, chives, broth and meat. There is a lesser version in Cambodia called gwee tee you, so we ate all the pho we could. We then went to the Temple of Literature which was built in 1076 dedicated to studying the doctrine of Confucius. The design and architecture are Chinese and I almost forgot which country we were in for a few minutes. There is also a section of stone diplomas to honor the few students who completed the rigorous curriculum. It was very serene there and was a great place to walk around in the hectic city. Next, we went to Ho Chi Minh’s residence, which is behind the Presidential Palace, which was the home of the French governor. After the French were thrown out, Ho Chi Minh refused to live there and instead there was a modest house built behind the palace. The landscape and view was gorgeous, but the house was really small and actually looked like house a Peace Corps volunteer would live. That was all the sight-seeing that we could do in a day, so we went back and ate dinner then went out. We were both very impressed with our ability to go out at night then wake up the next day and take advantage of the city.

The Temple of Literature

We went to the Museum of Ethnology the next day, which is dedicated to the ethnic minorities in Vietnam, which there are a lot. It really got us excited for our trip to Sapa, which is home to a few ethnic minorities. We especially liked the section about the Khmer minorities in Vietnam. On display were the sampots that we teach in everyday, as well as the kramas that the men wear everyday. From there we went to the Hanoi Hilton, which was the prison that was used to hold POWs during the Vietnam War, including John McCain. We toured around the rooms as they displayed how the prison was used to house Vietnamese rebels and how the French used it to torture and kill. The music was really scary and the lighting was dark. We then came to the part about how the Vietnamese used the prison against American POWs. There was a sign that discussed how well the prisoners were treated as well as pictures of them playing basketball, celebrating Christmas and altogether enjoying their stay. Like I said, we were on the opposite side of the equation this time, so I left with the same feeling of just how awful war is.

The next day, we had seen everything we really wanted to and the traveling really got to us, so we went to the shopping section of town and then went to the water puppet show, which is an old Vietnamese tradition. We went into a theater and listened to a Vietnamese band narrate the various stories through music. There were a lot of families there and I think that it was one of the cooler things that we saw there. The pictures don’t really do it justice.

Water Puppets

We left the next morning for Sapa, which was a ten hour train ride then an hour bus ride to the mountain side town. It is really close to Laos and China and we were thankful for the cool weather. We were awed instantly at the beauty. Like I said, there are many ethnic minorities who live there and still farm on the mountainside. The fields looked like steps and when we came into town, we were really pleased with out decision to go there. As for sight seeing, the most to do is to take a tour through the mountains, which we did. The markets were flooded with woman and children selling jewelry, clothing and purses. We really relaxed there and met a lot of cool people. Unlike the rest of Vietnam, most of the people there spoke English, so we were able to communicate and learn a little more about their lives. The food was really good and we stayed at a cute French hotel with really good food. The nightlife for us consisted of getting food massages then singing “YMCA” at a karaoke bar that only had 5 people in it, all Vietnamese.

The mountainside in Sapa

A Hmoung Woman, Voo, with her daughter, Coo in Sapa

The trek back to Battambang was awful, to say the least. We left Sapa in the morning on Sunday, April 11th for Hanoi. We took the minibus to the train station and were appalled to find out that there weren’t any seats left. We freaked out a little because our flight was at 7:00am the next day to Ho Chi Minh, so we were really scared we were going to miss our flight when a man come up to us and told us there is a bus. It was a lot less money and the bus had all recliners. We found out soon why people still preferred the train, however, it was sooo windy that we had motion sickness the whole time. Regardless, we made it back to Hanoi safe and sound, which was a relief. We spent the night at the backpackers hostel and woke up at 4:30 and made out way to the airport. Despite the fact that we witnessed the drama of a 50-year man throw a tantrum about a bag, we checked in and were so thankful for the 2 hour flight, instead of a 31 hour train back. We stopped in Ho Chi Minh for lunch (it was Monday by then). By this time, Jac and I were really missing Cambodia in general and were so happy to hear a man next to us say “Kinyom jung ban nyum bye” which means “I want to eat rice” in Khmer. We both stared and each other then struck up a conversation with him in Khmer, but he wanted to practice English. He lives in PP and thanked us at least three times for being volunteers in Cambodia and bought our lunch for us. Not to say that anything bad about Vietnam, but there is something so special about Khmer people. They are just so friendly and warm and we really missed that when we were in Vietnam. Meeting this guy and talking to him really made us realize that we were in the right place. By that time, we were itching to get home to our families. We took a bus into PP and once we crossed that border, we were instantly happier. Jacqueline stopped at her site and I proceeded into PP. The trip from Ho Chi Minh to Battambang in one day is just too much, so I left PP early the next morning. I was so happy to be able to speak Khmer again and felt like I was home. The tuk tuk drivers were all happy to see a foreigner who can speak Khmer. When I got home, my family was all happy to see me and at dinner, Huck told me that he asked Chun Lai if he missed me and his response was “nuk nah!” which means “I miss her a lot” which warmed my heart. It feels good to be back, except for the heat. It’s so hot.

It is now Khmer New Year and my family isn’t really doing anything today, but tomorrow we are going to the pagoda, which will probably be an all day affair. All in the name of cultural exchanges. I am really happy to be back and can’t wait to start teaching again. A student called me this morning to wish me Happy New Year and to have good luck and good health. So, to all of you back home, during Khmer New Year, I wish you good health, good luck and all the happiness forever (this is something that my students say to me a lot, even if it’s after English Club or class…)

Since I am leaving for Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow morning with my friend, I thought that I should update my blog to tide my loyal readers over for the next two weeks (which is how long I will be in Vietnam, probably without internet). I am currently in PP and will spend the night here then set off for Vietnam in the morning. I thought that I would be able to make it all the way from the BB to Ho Chi Minh City in a day, but that’s about 12 hours of bus travel, which is not that fun.

Since my last post, I have been handling my free time well. While I feel strange that I am not putting on my sampot (the traditional Khmer skirt) and blouse, jumping on my bike and heading to school, but it is nice to have some time on my own. I spent the free time relaxing and trying to enjoy my free time but meeting with friends and making arrangements for our event (that happened yesterday, more to come on that later in the post….) For a one day event, we really had our work cut out for us. We had to arrange many things that we never really expected. For instance, because the entire event was in Khmer, we had to translate everything, which takes a long time, since we only have one translator, who is a man who works at the UME. I have been to the UME at least twice a week for the past 2 months working with the English Club, but also making sure that our program was coming along well. Working with the English Club at the university is really a pleasure. The students are really fun and it’s nice not to have to worry about teaching grammar and to engage the students in discussion without pulling it out of them. The way that the club works is that the man (Raya, who has become a close friend) copies an excerpt from the World Book on a particular subject. The students mainly ask me how to pronounce the difficult words or what they mean. We also talk about what the weeks lesson (last week was diabetes and the lesson before that was cancer). We also tend to talk about other things that have nothing to do what the photocopies from the World Book are talking about. For instance, one student asked me what it means when someone says “Nice tutu!” I asked him where he heard that, and he told me that he heard it on a TV show. I then explained how tutus are special clothes for ballet dancers and the rest of the hour was littered with tutu comments. I have also been able to increase my ties with the university, which is fun for me because working with students closer to my age on a more personal level is actually really fun. Because I am continually learning about the way that things work here, I have come up with a really great system with Raya, who is the man in charge of the English Club at the UME. We learned in training that Khmer people tend to go about things in an indirect way, which means that for Americans, it is difficult to get to the point, which is what we are after. After a few times of me not understanding the customs of programs like this, I told Raya that I won’t be upset or angry, I just need to know how things work, so please just tell me how to do it and we can get more done. It worked well and we are openly communicating, which is a good sign for events to come.

Last Saturday, we had a party at the high school for the end of term and the end of student teaching. The end of term is sort of a misleading title because all of the classes, besides grade 12, finished their term about a month ago after their tests. But grade 12 tests are a really big deal, so the end of their tests means a month long vacation, which Cambodians refer to as a “small vacation”. There are a few reasons for this vacation: end of grade 12 tests, end of practicum for teacher trainees, then Khmer New Year. Khmer New Year doesn’t start until April 14, but the students decide that they don’t want to learn, so that settles it, no class for a month. Khmer New Year is a three day affair and I will be coming back from Vietnam just in time for the occasion. There was a lot of confusion because school isn’t really officially canceled, but the students don’t come. In America, when school is canceled or we have a holiday, everyone knows months in advance. In Cambodia, I was supposed to hop on my bike and head to school to see if the students came. If a decent amount come, then we have class. But if not, then no class. I decided against this, because it just seems so wasteful and told my coteacher that I wouldn’t be there. I texted my favorite student, Vida, and asked him if we had class (the teacher asking the student if there is class???) and he said that he went to school on Monday and he was the only one there, so he wouldn’t be coming to school. I knew that if Vida, the most determined and hardest working kid that I have ever met is not coming to school, then chances don’t look too good for the rest of them.

On the home front, I have started teaching my host brother and his girlfriend English every night in our kitchen. It was really cute because one night at dinner, Huck asked me if I had some free time at night from 5:00-6:00 to teach him and his girlfriend, Navy. Between regular classes and English Club, I am really busy, but I knew that he probably worked up the courage after months of being too shy, so of course I said yes. It’s funny because when I walk into the kitchen from my room at 5:00, they both address me as they would a teacher and Huck has accidentally called me “cher” a few times, at which point I told him to call me Kealan, always, no need for the “cher” title. They are good students and I can see how much they are improving already. Navy is very shy, but that is not rare in this culture, but she is getting much braver and has even put Huck in his place a few times. As for the rest of the family, Chun Lai is still the cutest kid in the world and Chun Liap, his little sister, is still in Takeo province, which is where we had training and is about eight hours from the BB. I asked when she would be back and they said when the dry season harvest ends, in about 3 months. This made me extremely sad because she is staying with her great aunt and will not see her mother, brother or father for about 6 months, and she’s only a year and a half old. Huck told me that this happens because “she’s sick and she falls down a lot and her mom can’t work when she is there.” I’m pretty sure that she has Down’s Syndrome but children aren’t really tested for those things here. She is such an angel and I really miss her, but I feel awful that she is not with her family, but then again, these are things that I don’t understand, so I can’t pass judgment because I have no idea what is really happening.

End of the event happiness picture to show what strong women we are: Cher and students (from left to right)- Kimny, Sothea, Sophy, Sony and Charkiya

As for International Women’s Day, I have given a pretty detailed description of the events leading up to it, but I failed to describe how I chose the 6 females from Net Yong High School (my school). Each volunteer did it differently, but I decided that I wanted to choose the students who have shown leadership in class or around school. Brave girls who aren’t afraid to speak their minds and let their voices be heard. I also knew, because of the nature of Khmer girls, that they would feel much more comfortable if they came with a friend or someone that they knew beforehand. We split them all up and they were essentially forced to make connections throughout the province, but for their immediate comfort and simply to get them there the day of, I chose three sets of two friends. The first two girls were from my grade 11B class, Chakriya and Reaksmey. I have blogged about them before- Chakriya is a little pistol that is not afraid to speak her mind and Reaksemey is my host cousin’s daughter (the one from the funeral festival). They both are really smart and because they are in such a high class (11B), I know that they will be going to university and because they have a little money, they have a much better chance of success (sad, but true, it’s the same in America….) The reason that I like them so much is because when I stopped teaching their class, Chakriya apologized for the whole class and tried to get me to come back, that’s really brave. Reaksemey is the “cleverest” female in the class and is not afraid to put any of the boys in place. The next two girls, Kimny and Sony, are from my 11D class and English Club. When I first came, they were extremely shy and although they sit front and center in class, they never spoke. Well now, that is NOT the case; they are the first to volunteer to read or write their answers on the board. In English Club, they are the most consistent students and really are determined. They are the daughters of farmers and while I know that they don’t have a lot of money, they aren’t the poorest of my students. The last two girls, Sophy and Sothea, live at the orphanage that we visit a lot. It’s misleading because a lot of children who live at orphanages actually have parents who are alive, but their parents simply cannot afford to pay for them and they have a much better chance at success if they stay at an orphanage. They are the sweetest girls and although I don’t teach them, I have been able to get to know them around school and through the orphanage. I chose them because they have the odds against them. I know that not many people express their faith in them because their parents aren’t really their main caretakers anymore. Darlene and I went to their orphanage to deliver invitations that were written by the UME and stamped by the Provincial Office of Education in Battambang, and therefore were super official. They don’t have cell phones, so Darlene and I headed out there on Sunday and delivered the invitations to the girls. Sothea was at the market, but Sophy was shocked that I was inviting her and she must have reread the invitation 15 times. She was so happy and I know that she is really nervous about it, but they both are really independent. On top of all the regular obligations of a Khmer teenage girl, they also have to look after the younger kids at the orphanage and there are a lot of them. But they provide the affection and love that those kids don’t really get from anywhere else. They are two of the happiest and sweetest girls that I have met and I really want to let them know that I believe in them, and I think that this was a good venue for that.

My students working on their public speaking project (from left to right) Sothea, Sony, Kimny and Sophy

So, let’s get to the point- celebrating International Women’s Day. The day started like most of mine here, with a 6:00 wake up call. I made a little oatmeal and a lot of coffee then set off for the UME. I knew that there would be a lot of “day off issues” but I really underestimated those issues. It was a mad house because my daily tasks included being the leader of the group leaders as well as teacher and the other various tasks that are included with setting up an event like this. It took us a while to get going, but once we did, oh man, it was non-stop until the end. I was talking to the group leaders as my students started calling me saying, “cher, where are you? We are at the high school!” After we checked the students in, we separated all of them into 6 groups and since there were 6 students from each school, that means that they were all separated. I don’t think they liked that initially, but soon enough, they were best friends with their groups, which was the goal (to make friends across the province of Battambang), which was accomplished within the first few minutes. Each group was led by 2 students from the UME and one student from the teacher trainee school that Darlene teaches at. I cannot tell you how impressive these group leaders were. It is in their nature to be shy and nervous, but they were so brave and initiated conversation and that rubbed off on the high school students, which made the event a success. Of course there were bumps in the road, but the main goals were achieved:

• For the high school and university students to meet and make connections

• To hear from 5 successful women about how to become successful

• To improve confidence by instilling the idea that success is possible, no matter your background

Cher with the students and Chakriya this time...

The first speaker was a woman who works for a computer ngo and talked about her recent trip to America. She talked about how leaning English was so important for her because technology is moving so fast and is such a great asset to one’s career, which pleased all of us volunteer teachers. She was totally right in what she said, though: knowing how to operate a computer and the internet opens to many doors. She went to high school in Battambang and talked about being raised here. The second speaker was a bank teller from ANZ bank. She was a really short speaker, but she also speaks English and graduated from the UME. Working in a bank is a really great job, so that was inspirational. We broke for about 15 minutes and came back together. We then had our first (and only, it turned out) break-out session. We had the groups each make a list of their goals, but they also made a list of challenges standing in their way of those goals. For instance, a goal can be that the student wants to be a doctor. But the challenge is that medical school is expensive and the best ones are in PP, which is really far. We were scared that a half hour wouldn’t be enough time, but the students were really thorough, almost too thorough. We ended up cutting down the presentation time. We ate lunch together and it was so tasty. One of the teachers at my school also owns a restaurant. We bought lunch for everyone- rice and pork with mango salad and some drinks. I was so proud of my students because two of them, Kimny and Sony, were sitting with other girls and when I asked how they were doing, Kimny said that she has a new friend and they both giggled. I was impressed to see that my students were all pretty spread out, talking to students from different schools. That is a really big step for them and I was really proud because I know that when I go places where I feel uncomfortable here, I tend to stick to the people that I know well. After lunch, we listened to a nurse from Emergency speak. There were three other nurses that came with her. Emergency is an Italian ngo that trains Khmer doctors and nurses and they provide free services to Cambodians. While they used to mainly provide services to landmine victims, most of the patients are motorcycle and bicycle accident victims. The next speaker was a professor from the UME. This is where the timing gets a little messed up… Everyone was really interested in hearing from the speaker from the US Embassy, so we decided against the second break out session so that the girls had more time to speak to the speakers. The last speaker was a woman from the Embassy. She was such a good one because she talked about how she didn’t like school and was never good at it, but she really loved English and was really good at it. She used to be an English teacher, but then she took the exam and passed and now works for the US Embassy. One of my students, Sothea (who is from the orphanage) asked her to talk about her schooling because she is not so good at school, but loves English too. I was so proud of how brave she was. It was a big deal to have the Embassy speaker there and Sothea worked up the courage to ask her something in front of 80 other people. I cannot even imagine what it’s like to have a kid because I was so proud of my girls. It may not seem like much, but I have had the pleasure of seeing them gain confidence over the course of the year, but to see them thrive at a workshop with these guests was probably the highlight of my service so far. I could see the wheels spinning because at first, they thought that they were unworthy and therefore were scared. Then after they heard these stories from women who were just like them, it was truly amazing. There were three women who work for Peace Corps Cambodia (Tharoth, Markara and Serak) and they each spoke for a few minutes about university, volunteering and applying for a job. It was a nice segment to have some insight into some professional aspects.

The whole group at the end of the day!

We ended the first section of the event with an exit survey and then gave each girl a t-shirt. We had a few ideas in mind and since we didn’t have a lot of funding, the t-shirts are the most straight forward shirts that I have ever seen but they are perfect. On the front it says “International Women’s Day Battambang 2010” and on the back is says “In Collaboration: Peace Corps Cambodia, POE Battambang, UME and the US Embassy” in blue writing, no logos, no frills. Straight to the point. I guess you get what you pay for ($3 per shirt). But the fact that they each have a shirt now to remember the day is pretty great.

All the UME, RTTC and high school girls listening to a speaker

The second part of the day was a segment on public speaking. The point of the event was to discuss these huge issues, but we proposed an idea to the girls: what will you do now? We broke into groups with our high schools and began talking about what our next steps are. The idea, essentially, is that they have this information from each other and the speakers and they need to share it with their family, friends and community. We will now work on a presentation to be made at Net Yong to tell everyone what was discussed. When I told the girls that this segment was part of the event, they were so nervous and scared, but when we talked about it during the workshop, they seemed a little more confident and didn’t flat out refuse to do it like they did before. The timing is pretty bad because school is not in session, but we will work on this to tell the other girls about it.

Overall, the day was a success, but there were a few lessons that I will carry over. First, an all day affair means only one shower that day, as opposed to the usual three or four, and in 100 degree heat and 80 people, the smell is not so great. Second, it pays to have a Khmer counterpart to be your partner throughout the whole process. This is twofold: things can be done better when there is one person with ideas and one that can make it happen. The second is that it’s always nice to have a translator at hand to help. We kept grabbing the same UME girl, who is amazing at English, but she was a group leader and kept having to leave. Another lesson learned was that when someone says that they will come, it doesn’t always hold true. There were many people that we went through a process to invite but didn’t even come, which will happen. The most important rule that will continue to pop up for the next 16 months (which is how much longer I have here…) is that the most important rule of Peace Corps is to roll with the punches. Nothing will be perfect. The two and a half months of preparation and headache and stress is worth it just to see your once shy, self-conscious student stand up, take the microphone and read aloud her answer about why women’s rights are important. I will do it again in a heartbeat because doing this is worth it for the girls. I just wish that you all could have seen it, it has been one of the most amazing things that I have ever witnessed. It’s not over yet, though, and I cannot wait to see how far these girls go now that (hopefully) this seed is planted. It will be so great to watch them transition into the next phase of their lives and I just hope to be a part of it.

I got a ride into PP with Peace Corps today, which saves me $5, which is about 4 meals at my lunch place. Jac and I today then heading into Vietnam tomorrow. I ended my first part of my PC service on a really tiring, but positive note. I will probably end up sleeping for the entire 33 hour train ride to Hanoi.

Happy Easter (tied as my favorite holiday with Thanksgiving). I don’t want to sound preachy, but we have a lot to be thankful for and it’s nice to remember that every once in a while. But it’s more important to reach out, even just a little. It doesn’t take money or things. A little faith in someone can go a long way. I thought of all of those people in my life that have helped me to get to where I am today, all my family, friends, coaches, teammates, etc simply by expressing their faith in me, obviously my parents and siblings are at the top of this list. We are always told that we can reach our goals by believing in ourselves, but sometimes someone else believing in you is the spark that is needed. I was lucky to have encouragement all my life and I never realized how far it can go until this event. I have always agreed with Peace Corps ideals and values, but one of the most important aspects of the human resource that PC offers is human emotion. I saw that in my covolunteers at the event and in the students that were there. It’s so easy to get down on all the difficulties and the things that may never change because at the end of my service, I may never know the fruits of my labor. But a little glimmer of hope is sometimes all it takes to keep me going. I’m leaving Cambodia today with a really “s’bai jet”, as they would say in Khmer to mean having a “happy heart”. I always thought that was a silly expression, but I think that it applies perfectly here.

Here is the link that didn't work in my last post. Hopefully it sheds some light as to why I am here. I can't put it in a a link, my tech skills are really suffering. So maybe just copy and paste it?http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/03/peace-corps.html

Today marks the last day of teaching for me for at least a month. Next week is the beginning of grade 12 exams and they are a really big deal, so students who aren’t in grade 12 aren’t allowed on the campus. So, no class next week and then because of Khmer New Year, we have a vacation until April 20th. That means that maybe the students will decide to come back on April 20th and they may decide to take a few more days (or weeks) off. So, that means that I have a lot of free time coming up. While I am not looking forward to having nothing to do, teaching has really gotten to me, so this break will be a nice refresher. This means that if school starts back up in late April, we will teach for the rest of April then May and then exams start the first week of June. That means that I am almost done with my first school year. Crazy!

Last week saw the continuation of my cultural interaction. I went with my family to a ceremony for the 3rd anniversary of my host mother’s sister’s death. In Cambodia, death anniversary’s are celebrated with a party/festival/ceremony for the first 3 years, then it becomes much smaller scale. And ceremonies in Cambodia mean all day affairs, for at least two days. I’m sure that you can imagine how frequently funeral ceremonies happen here if they are celebrated when they happen, then for the next three years. There is traditional funeral music that plays to let everyone know that there is a ceremony happening. Also, I forgot to explain in my last entry, but for these ceremonies, the family rents out tents from a company and they set up these tents on the street in front of the house, which means that many streets are impassable because of ceremonies (whether funeral or wedding). So, music is BLASTED from rented speakers all day long. So, my family told me a while ago about the ceremony and I have gotten to know my host family’s extended family much better, so they made sure that I would be there. Reaksemey, who is the girl from 11B who is a host niece made sure that I cancelled English Club for the party. I talked to my family the night before to set up what time we were leaving, etc. It is a Peace Corps policy that volunteers are forbidden from riding motorcycles (or motos as they are called here) but since the most popular form of transportation is by moto, my family always has to arrange special transportation for me. So, my host brother, Huck, told me that we would be leaving at 8am. I woke up at 7 am (slept in) then got ready to go. I realized that my family will just knock on my door when it’s time to go, so I killed some time reading when I realized that it was 10:30 and I was still sitting in my room. My host cousin, Poe, came and knocked on my door. I threw on my clothes really quick (it’s too hot to wear anything but a sarong in my room) and walked outside my room to see everyone in my family either watching TV or sewing (my family runs a tailoring business) and I was the only idiot all ready to go. Poe, who speaks English, asked me why I was ready to go when the party didn’t start until 2. “Oh, I thought that it was earlier than that.” “No problem, you can just come to my house now.” So, we left, me in my teaching garb, four hours early for the party. When we got to the party, the tent was still being set up and no one was even close to being ready. So, I sat there and tried to help, caused more harm than good and just observed. It’s really great to get to know my family, but I felt so stupid. Plus it was so hot, of course, and I was sweating through my clothes before the party was even set up. The set-up was essentially grass mats in the front with decorations, either traditional Buddhist art, colorful sheets or flowers and a picture of the deceased. There was a set-up for the monks at the front and they arrived at 3:00 and the ceremony proceeded. From my perspective, this is what happens: there is a clergyman who sort of emcees the whole thing and the monks lead chants while the rest of us (me and about 30 Khmer women) sit on the mats with folded hands. I don’t know the chants, obviously, but I am always distracted at these events by how quickly my legs fall asleep. I try to shift as discreetly as possible, but let’s be honest, I stand out like a sore thumb in this country and everyone is PACKED into the room, so moving is not really easy, especially when I can’t feel the lower half of my body. After the monks finish their chants, they go back to the pagoda and two more monks came and basically passed the mic back and forth and gave a sermon. I have been to many Buddhist ceremonies now, and they all vary based on the event, but this is basically the standard, as far as I have seen. The two monks that came for the sermon where the head monks and one of them made a reference to me being there and taking part in their ceremony. How did I know this? Because I heard a few clues in Khmer such as “foreigner” and “English” then everyone turned around and looked at me and smiled. I didn’t really know what to do and he asked me in Khmer if I could understand him and I said that I could and he thanked me in English for coming and listening. Huck, my host brother, told me “He’s talking about you!” I had figured it out by then and as awkward as it was, this is yet another example of how by simply coming to those events and being pleasant, it reflects well on my family. After the monks left, we sat down and ate rice porridge or “boh boh” as it’s called in Khmer. I sat with some people that I didn’t know, but I am used to that now. So, I ate my boh boh in silence and reached for my security blanket (my cell phone) when I finished and didn’t have anything to do. I have noticed that unlike meals in America, or at least with my family and friends, Cambodians don’t really view eating a meal as a social event. At home, we usually have a running conversation at meals but in Cambodia, meals are reserved for eating only. I have eaten a few meals in complete silence, which is actually welcome when I am feeling more uncomfortable than normal. Many Cambodians (at ceremonies or even at restaurants) will eat then bolt right after. There is not a lot of time after the meal for just sitting and chilling. After dinner, my host mother asked me if I wanted to go shower. Oh, I have been meaning to explain this: Cambodians shower no less than two times a day and usually more. Chun Lai showers three times a day. The “mue tuks” as they are called here, are really important because being clean shows a lot of self-respect. So, even at an all day affair like this ceremony, people who didn’t live there showered at the house we were at, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, etc. So, I went home and showered. When I came back, we ate some more food and the drinking started. My host mother’s family from PP was back (the ones from the wedding) and they were loving round two of drinking with the American. I took it easy because there were a lot of people there. I have found a balance between not getting drunk but still having fun with them while they drink. There was a band that came and the dancing started right away. Everyone was really determined to get me to dance and I refused a bunch of cousins, then one cousin, Poe, convinced me. Khmer dancing is very different from any that I have seen. We basically walked around a table in a circle and moved our hands. People don’t touch when they dance and it’s not very difficult, but I still felt stupid. After three trips around the table, I realized it wasn’t for me and took my place next to my host brother and watched. At 10:30, about 11 hours after I first arrived at the party, my host mother took me home. I went to bed right away and slept like a baby.

The ceremony with the monks

Monks giving a sermon.

As I said before, Khmer ceremonies are a two day affair, but I told Huck that I needed to go to church, which usually goes from 8:30-10:15. As I was leaving church, Huck told me to ride my bike to the “festival house” when I got there, I realized how late I was and how underdressed. Great, I was so early and overdressed Saturday, then late and underdressed on Sunday. You win some, you lose some. We walked to the middle school by the house and I sat with some more people that I didn’t know and we ate lunch together. The food at these ceremonies is really, really good. Like I said, no one really talked and a few people skeeted right after they finished. We were only there for a few more hours then we went home. I went to meet up with Darlene at the Sokimex to catch up on our weekends and when I got home, my host sister-in-law told me that we were going to the festival house for dinner. “This damn party just won’t end!” I thought to myself. I asked her if I needed to wear special clothes, but she said no and a few minutes later, my host brother came with his car to take me. As we were about to leave, his car wouldn’t start. I felt bad about the car, but I just wanted to eat in peace and go to bed early. It was an exhausting weekend and I fell asleep right away that night.

Dancing at night. My host sister is in the white shirt.

I realized that I have not described one of the most important factors of my service (and life): food. As you probably now, rice is the most important food here, but second is fish. And man, the food is so good. It is really easy to tell which foods are “in season” because they are everywhere. Watermelons are in season, while cauliflower and pumpkin season are just ending and it is the start of mango season, which will probably be my favorite. I have been eating a fresh mango in my oatmeal for a while now and it’s amazing. I also have developed a favorite food: grilled catfish with mango/fish sauce. It is simply amazing. The catfish is from the Sangker River, about one block from my house. They salt the fish then grill it. When they serve it, they take small mango shavings and mix it with fish sauce, garlic, sugar and chives. It is out of this world and is my favorite food.

I have been thinking about lessons that I have learned in Cambodia as we pass the 8th month mark and I want to share them with you. It is a completely disorganized list, but I find these things important, none the less…

1. Traffic laws and rules of the road are two completely different ideas here. The “right of way” belongs to the biggest vehicle, not to the most at risk. So, the hierarchy means that pedestrians are at the bottom. Honking, instead of sending a message of “hey, I’m here” it is more of “watch out, I’m coming through!! Move it or lose it.”

2. Packing (whether it is a car, bike, bag or moto) the rule is basically, if it can fit, it’s fair game. In a car, this means that a 50 pound bag of rice has a place in a car if it can be stuffed. It is common to see a family of six on a two person moto and about 25 people in an 8 person van. Now, this only includes the amount people- motos, animals, food, luggage, etc are not included in this number. Cambodians can pack anything. It’s common to see a van piled high with people, goods, food and animals and other forms of transportation, such as bikes and motos. If there is not enough room in the back, it is commonplace for there to be 4-5 people in the front seat. Oh yes, the drive will sit on someone’s lap while he controls the wheel and someone else controls the petals. 3. Honesty is not seen as a quality here, it is the norm. People just say it like it is, not meaning to insult anyone, that’s just how it is. I can respect that. At first, I wasn’t too happy when I would meet someone and they would say “so fat” right away. Sometimes I get a “so pretty” sometimes I get a “so fat”. It’s basically what they notice first- my face or my fat. My students wrote letters to their pen pals and they didn’t sugar coat their lives. One student wrote, “I have 5 brothers and 5 sisters. We are very poor because my mother died 15 years ago. My house is very small, but it’s ok because it is ours.” He doesn’t want his pen pal to feel bad, that’s just how it is for him, so why not? It’s sort of difficult to get used to, but I have really come to appreciate it. It’s like a whole country of Pollard family members: in their heads, out their mouths.

4. Titles within the family can be VERY confusing. For instance, Reaksemey, who has been referred to by Huck as “my niece” is actually his cousin’s daughter, which is not what we would call a niece. I thought that I was missing a sibling or something, but then I realized that it’s just the titles. Likewise, Reaksemey was referring to my host mother as her “grandmother” but really she is her great aunt. The more I am with my family, the more I am realizing how people are actually related because the titles are really misleading. In the end, it doesn’t really matter, but it helps me organize my family when I learn how people are actually related.

Lastly, I wanted to tell you Chun Lai’s top two activities as of late. There is a Khmer song called “Rambo” that basically says a bunch of things that end in “-o”. For instance, one line is “chi moto, srok Boribo” which simply means, “ride a moto, Boribo district”, two things that have nothing in common besides the fact that they rhyme. My friend Keiko lives in Boribo. But this song is essentially a bunch of nonsense words that end in “-o”. One line is “le-it leo” which means “wear underwear” and it’s Chun Lai’s favorite part of the song. So, whenever I do laundry, he always takes the clothes out of the bucket for me to hang up and every time he sees my underwear, he says “le-it leo”. Even at dinner, he will tell me to “nyum bye, le-it leo” (eat rice, wear underwear). Today, we were eating coconut cakes together and he was mixing up the words to say things like “wear a moto” and “ride underwear”. He loves talking about underwear now, especially mine. He will ask me if I am wearing underwear, which isn’t that weird because a lot of people don’t. The second thing is that he now doesn’t let me go into my room without opening the door for me and telling to me enter. Even if we are outside, he will run inside to open the door and say “joll” (“enter”). It’s a cute little phase…..

With all my free time before my trip, I will probably try to tutor the kids who want to study over their vacation and finish the plans for International Women’s Day. It is really becoming a huge deal- the governor of Battambang will be there. I will probably try to get to know Battambang a little better as well and make more connections. I also want to decide what to do during the summer. Maybe study for the gre? Maybe start a project? Who knows…..

Chun Lai showing off his green fingernails and toenails .

Happy belated St. Patty’s Day. I was able to find some Guinness at the vas station, so Darlene and I enjoyed the day properly.

Also, click on the link to read a little about why I am here:

On Sunday, I went to a wedding and I realized that I haven’t really explained what it is like to be an American at a Khmer wedding, so I will try my best to give you a play by play. Although all weddings are different, we will use this one as an example of how things are run.

But first, I had a meeting last week with my coteacher and school director to discuss how I decided not to teach two of my classes anymore (11B and 11C). While there are many students that I really like in those classes, as a whole (70 students), it is very clear that they don’t want to learn English with me. There are a few reasons that I can think of- many think that they are really good at English, some don’t like the book but most think that taking private classes is important for their grades and because they may be more interested in other subjects, such as math and science. I am not upset or angry at all, quite the opposite, I think that those students that want to learn with me still can, just not in the formal classroom setting, which is actually where we get more accomplished. There are 4,000 other students at my school, I need to give the ones who want to learn English a chance because I gave 11B and 11C a chance and it didn’t really work out. I am still teaching 11D and 10Q and those classes are going really well. The kids are really improving. I also have more time to spend in the library, which means those kids who want me to teach them can find me. There have already been a lot of kids who have approached me and asked for more help. I decided to clean up the storage room connected to the library to have a place where the English students can come to study with me. It is really gross in there and I spent one afternoon sweeping and dusting and it is still a work in progress, but it serves it’s purpose, which is to have a place where the students and I can study. We started a new project during our meeting last week, which is a pen pal program with my friend, John, who is a teacher in Chicago. Some students have already finished their letters and they are SO excited to be a part of this. They all wrote about their families, friends and their country. They really took the role of talking about Cambodia seriously and did such a great job explaining our school and province and their country. I’m so proud of them and I cannot wait until they get their letters back. With the opening in my schedule, I was able to add another afternoon on for the English Club at the UME, which makes me happy because they are really intelligent students and we have a good time. I am now working there about 6 hours a week and it’s really enjoyable. The students in the club were all very happy when I told them that I can work another afternoon with them and I think working with them is really beneficial.

Well, after my coteacher made the announcement, it was really clear that 11C didn’t care, but a group of 5 students from 11B pleaded with me to come back. I refused because I have tried to talk to them about their behavior in class, but they didn’t change last time. They all apologized and said that it would be better this time. I felt really bad about it, but my decision was final and I have to stick to my word. I can’t cave and go back, as much as I like those kids. The unfortunate part is that while I have time to study, they all are so busy. Between regular class and private classes (both held at the school) they also go to private schools to learn “part-time”. It’s really different because the students are always in a classroom but hardly ever study on their own.

Ok, so weddings. Here we go----

Eating the 3rd course. The initiator is on the far left and the man is from PP and has a daughter in San Francisco.

Huck told me on Friday night that there was a wedding on Saturday and he said that the family really wanted me to go. I said that I was really sorry, but I had been sick all week and had English Club, so I declined the invitation. When I came home yesterday after my English Club meeting, there were a bunch of people there. Turns out they are family from PP and after dinner we all chit chatted. They are really nice and one of the men has a daughter who is studying in San Francisco and was so proud of her. He has been to America 6 times and was glowing when he talked about her and how she is coming home this summer. They asked me to come to the wedding and I was really looking forward to a day of rest and initially denied it, again. I could tell that my host mom felt kind of bad (I realized why later) and I reconsidered. When I thought about it, I realized how silly I was actually being. Why not go? What else am I going to do? Sleep? I can sleep when I finish being a Peace Corps Volunteer. This is why I came here! So, I decided to go. They told me that we would leave from anywhere between 9-10 so I set my alarm for 7 and said my “rea-try sua-sa-dye” (goodnight) and went to my room. I woke up on time, made my coffee and started to get ready. I don’t have traditional wedding clothes, so I just wore some teacher clothes. I realized that I have been in uniform my whole life and living in Cambodia is no exception. I simply traded my SHU pinstripes for a sampot and blouse. I did my make up a little more flashy than usual because weddings are special occasions (aka more mascara and more blush). I texted Keiko and told her that I have never worn so much blush in my life, so thanks Maura for that Christmas present, it has really come in handy. I was all set to go at 9 and heard everyone eating, so I knew that it would be time to go soon. Well, 9 turned into 9:30. I walked into the kitchen to find Huck not showered and eating. He said that we would leave around 10. I went back into my room and watched “Six Feet Under” and waited for the knock on the door. It finally came at 10:45. We all packed into a car (as always, it was packed, 13 people in an 8 passenger van) and we took off for the wedding. We pulled up and I realized that I was at their engagement party like 3 weeks ago. In Cambodia, engagements usually last a few months, but sometimes they last a few weeks. Most people want to get married before it gets too hot and no one wants to get married during the rainy season, so it was a rushed engagement. I felt a little more comfortable knowing that they knew who I was and why I’m here. It didn’t stop the stares though. So, the families of both the bride and groom are at the entrance and everyone greets both sets of parents and the bride and groom by the traditional way, which is to fold your hands in front of your mouth and say “jim riap sua” and bow while you are saying that. Weddings are a two day affair, so this was day two (I missed day 1 on Saturday) and it usually takes place at the house of the bride. They set up huge tents and blast music so everyone knows. You know when there is a wedding, there is no question. So, we sat down and everyone had a cup in front of them with a napkin inside and there is what looks like a gift bag with bowls and spoons. We spent about 5 minutes using napkins to clean our glasses, spoons and bowls. This is customary in Cambodia; I do this at the place where I eat lunch everyday with my spoon and fork. Eating is done based upon arrival, so we were just starting our first course when the first table was just finishing. The caterers brought out the first course, which was fried spring rolls, nuts, papaya salad and some other stuff that I have no idea what it was. After we finished that course, they cleared that and brought out the second course, which was a spicy beef salad. It was delicious, but as always, I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be rude and take too much, but everyone always gets concerned that I’m wasn’t eating. I also don’t really know the “when to use chopsticks and when to use a spoon” rule, because we have both and for some things you use chopsticks and for some things, you use a spoon. For instance, it was acceptable to use my spoon to pick up the nuts, but not acceptable to use it for the beef salad. I usually just sit back and try to take up the least amount of space possible and just hope that my host mom or host brother will take care of me, which always happens. Every table has a drink initiator. I don’t know if this is a custom, but it always happens where there is one person who peer pressures everyone to drink and initiates the drinking. As a reminder, drinking in Cambodia, especially at ceremonies, entails everyone who is drinking to not sip on their beer on their beer. Instead, everyone drinks together, which makes sense because everything is so communal here, and drinking is no exception. The initiator stands up and tells everyone to drink, so we all cheers then drink. There is even a special way to cheers. If you are cheersing (not a word) with a person older than you or someone who you respect a lot (as in someone who has a job that is in a position of power), you have to make sure that your glass is lower than theirs when you cheers as a sign of respect. Also, your hand placement is crucial- either two hands on the glass (most respectful) or one hand on the glass and one hand around your wrist (also very respectful). If you hold your hand close to your elbow, it is the least respectful and one hand on the glass and one hand at your side shows zero respect (which I did accidentally all through training). When the initiator was out of her beer, so told me that I have to finish my beer because she was finished (she had just filled me up). All eyes were on me, so I did what any self-respecting person would do in this situation, I pretended that I couldn’t do it twice then chugged it all and pretended like it was so painful, when of course, it wasn’t. They all asked me immediately if I was drunk and Huck said to me, “Kealan, it’s no problem. If you are drunk, you can go home and drink.” Little do they know what college is like for most people. Or rather a Pollard family get-together. She was bombed within two hours. Ok, so back to the meal. That course was cleared and they brought out a fish dish that was really good (catfish perhaps?) Again, I used the wrong utensil and felt dumb, but then the man from PP who has a daughter in San Fran took care of me and gave me a huge portion, so that took care of that course. The last course came out (have you noticed that there hasn’t been any rice yet?!?!) and it was a seafood and chicken soup with rice. It was a bit spicy and I was full by then. It has been so hot that it’s so hard to eat, especially hot or spicy food. After that we were officially done with lunch and the second that we got up from the table, about ten homeless kids swarmed out table and ate what we didn’t. They go to weddings to collect cans and bottles to recycle and hope to get some food. One boy actually pushed me out of the way because I wasn’t moving fast enough. I couldn’t bring myself to take a picture of it because it literally breaks my heart and it’s something that you all don’t want to see. They are still people and it compromises their value if I were to have taken a picture of them for the sake of showing you- I’m sure you get the point of how heart wrenching it truly is. These things happen all over- at weddings, at restaurants, outside of bars, etc.

We sat around for a little while longer and at 2:00 we loaded up the car again after we took a bunch of pictures. We had 15 people this time and since it was the hottest part of the day, we were all sweating. On the way to the car, a parent of one of the students from 11B, who is also a host cousin, asked me about how I stopped teaching his daughter, Reaksemey. I like his daughter a lot, she actually texted me to come back, but I told him they don’t listen to me, so there is no point. It wasn’t confrontational, but I know that when I was upset with that class last time, Reaksemey’s brothers and sisters told her to make sure that the class behaves because they are lucky to have me as a teacher. He said that she is “not happy now” and I felt bad about it, but I have to stick to my word. We also made a stop to get rice because the family from PP likes BB rice better, it’s more delicious, or so they say. So, we added a 50 pound bag of rice to our van already full of 15 people.

The bride and groom. The bride usually changes outfits at least 5 times during the reception. My host mother is next to her.

I am still working with my really loyal students, especially Vida, aka Elvis Pressley. He tells me the inside scoop at school. He was so cute the other day because he told me that he wants to have friends that are girls but he is so shy that he can’t. He has a lot of friends that are boys but they all want to start hanging out with girls. I asked him if he wants a girlfriend and he said that he is too young and busy, he just wants friends. So, I told him that no matter how shy he is, the girls are shyer than he is. He said that he was scared that they would make fun of him because he is a “pagoda kid” (because he lives at the pagoda with the monks) and he is poor. When I informed him that he talks to the scariest female at the school (me) and when it didn’t work, so clique, but I told him about the quote in America “there are plenty of fish in the sea”. I told him that if he talks to girls they are mean, you don’t want to be friends with them anyway, so find new ones. I didn’t really think that would be the case, but I wanted to give him some confidence. The next day at English Club (which was Saturday), I noticed him working with two girls (two of my favorites, I might add) on translating an article about the earthquake in Chile and I told them once to speak in English then gave it up after I realized how much fun they were having. It was a small victory for Vida, I was so proud of him. I also worked out the problem with teaching Reaksemey, the girl who is a member of my family and was upset that I stopped teaching (her dad asked me about it at the wedding.) We set up a time to learn together, which is Friday from 2:00-4:00. It is usually just Vida and myself, but when I asked Vida if it is ok if more people come, he said that the was happy to learn with others because he wants to make more friends. He was nervous when I told him that it’s only one girl from 11B, but it will be a good chance for him to make a connection with a student from another class.

Monday was International Women’s Day so we didn’t have school. Our event isn’t until March 31st, so Darlene and I decided to do something productive. So, like most of our days off, we met up at “The Spot” and had breakfast with one of our favorite families in Battambang. We rode our bikes into the nearest district (about 4 k) to the orphanage that we visit a lot. We were coloring with a bunch of the little kids when Sothea, who is an 11th grader at my school, said that there were Japanese volunteers coming. They came right after and had a really great activity planned. They had letters from people in Japan and they gave out the letters (actually more like cards) then had the kids respond, more like just colored. It was great to see the interaction between the volunteers and the kids and even though it was Women’s Day, men don’t really come to orphanages, so the boys were all ecstatic. We rode back and ended our day like most days off, at the Sokimex. However, I have been really sick (maybe the heat is getting to me) so there was no sneaking beer for me.

It rained for the first time in about three months two nights ago. And it POURED. The next day was really cold (maybe 70, which has become very cold for me). It’s pretty incredible how quickly your body can adjust. While I tried to play it cool like I wasn’t cold, I was cold. My students thought that it was funny that I was cold. Today was a bit hotter, but not too hot. It was pretty consistently in the high 90s for about two weeks, so this hot spell snap is definitely welcomed, and appreciated.

Me and my oldest host sister outside of the wedding.

As for what is on the docket for the next few weeks, I will be busy at site until the beginning of April. Grade 12 testing will start on March 23rd, which means that I won’t be teaching until May. We will be really busy with our International Women’s Day and I hope to continue to teach private classes during the break to stay busy. As for vacation, it is still unclear whether or not my brother Pat will be able to come (that’s just what happens with stand by travel) but I have planned a trip to Vietnam with my friend Jacqueline regardless. If Pat is here, that’s awesome. If not, we will be able to have a trip. My vacation will start on April 2, which is when I will leave BB for PP. The next day, I will take a bus to Vietnam and pick Jacqueline up on the way (she lives on the highway connecting Cambodia and Vietnam. Our trip will last until April 14, which is the start of Khmer New Year, which will be an amazing thing to see. It is supposed to be a huge deal (clearly, we have a month off of school). We will be traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi by train, which will take 33 hours from start to finish. Seems like a long time, but we will be able to see a lot of the country, which is out goal. Plus it’s cheap. Northern Vietnam is supposed to be cold right now, which will be so refreshing. We are going to have a blast and while I am super happy here, a trip to another country will be great. I want to see as much of the region as possible. I have already been to Thailand and obviously Cambodia, so this will be my third country in Southeast Asia. Not bad.

Chun Lai's Birthday Cake- sorry for the delay, I forgot on the last post. The huge pig is on the cake because he was born in the year of the pig.

The birthday boy on his 3rd birthday. He rocked a mohawk, of course.

I have officially passed the 7th month mark, which is really wild considering how insignificant my work here seems. We were in PP last week for In Service Training, which is basically a time for us to have meetings all week and discuss our secondary projects. My main assignment here is to teach English and anything that I do outside of teaching English at my school is considered a secondary project. For example, our event for International Women's Day is considered a secondary project because it is above and beyond what I was sent here for. We talked about how to do secondary projects and what it means. We took a field trip to the Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia in PP and learned about what is happening in the health sector of the country. The clinic was simply amazing, they had everything. Like developing countries, there are huge issues with reproductive health. They covered all aspects of reproductive health, from education and prevention to testing and surgery. There is still so much work to be done. The cities are so different from the countryside and most people live in the countryside. Because Cambodia is a traditional culture, there are many misconceptions about sexual education and health, so as volunteers, we have to find those people and make changes.

Before I left for PP, I went on a tour of BB with Darlene and we went to get our nails done at the market. Our friend, Sina, who works at the Spot (Espresso House Cafe) always has beautiful nails and I said I wanted them to, so I got them done for 3,000 reihl, which is about 75 cents. Plus we made some new friends. Check out the picture below.

75 cents for these nails and a new friend.

As for the meetings, we were in air conditioning talking about development, so it went about as well as expected. It was super informative and really gave me some motivation for side projects. We were able to hear from the K2s, which was really informative. I also came to the realization that I am going to drop two of my classes, as in stop teaching them. Out of my four classes, there are two that are really resistant and basically rude and don't want to learn English, for whatever their personal reason is. I will continue teaching two classes (10Q and 11D) and try to add another class or start a private class or add more English hours. There are plenty of students at my school who want to learn English with me, so I need to stop wasting my time with students who do not want to learn with me and find those who do. I came here to teach English, not to convince students to learn English.

As for International Women's Day, the preparations are coming along very well. We pushed back the date until March 31 because we were feeling rushed. Now we are able to take out time and do it right. We asked a Peace Corps doctor to speak to the girls about her life. She survived the genocide and studied in Vietnam and America and is incredibly inspiring. She is from the countryside and survived a lot of hardship and is really successful. She will talk about her personal history (how she funded school) and also how she balances being a daughter and wife as well as being a doctor. She is simply wonderful and I cannot wait for my students to hear her story.

I am trying to adjust make to life in BB. I will be staying here for a month and then taking about two weeks in April for a vacation. It will be Khmer New Year, so classes are canceled and the country takes a long time to celebrate. My brother, Pat, will be coming and I will show him Cambodia then we will go to Vietnam for a while. He will be my first visitor and I am really excited to take some time to see the country and Vietnam. Plus, I haven't seen him in a long time, so I can't wait to see a member of my family.

That's about all the news here. We had fun in PP and did what most Americans do in PP, went out and ate pizza. We bowled and had fun. PP gets to be overwhelmed after a while. There are some really awesome things to do there, but it sort of gets old quick. It was amazing to see all of my friends, but I am happy to once again be back at site and start doing some of the things that I want to do outside of the classroom.

BEFORE At site: Hair up, glasses on, blouse covering shoulders, skirt (sampot) covering ankles, woke up at 6 am and the highlight of my social life includes sneaking beers at a gas station at 4pm and of course, no make-up. Meals included rice and more rice.

AFTER

In PP: Hair down, contacts in, make-up on my face, knees exposed, shoulders barely covered, slept in til 8 and my social life included a club and dinner at a restaurant.

Just wanted to show you in pictures this double life I am leading....

Just an example of how unbelievably artist some of my students are. The assignment was to "draw your favorite place" and this student drew Angkor Wat.

Sua sa dye ch’nam t’mai! (Happy New Year!) Over the course of this year, I have already celebrated two New Years and I still have one more to go. Western New Year was celebrated in Kampot with a bunch of volunteers and Chinese New Year was celebrated in Battambang with my Khmer family, who knows what the last New Years will bring…

Chinese New Year was a riot. The first day, which was Friday, February 13 was probably the biggest day. There was a really big lunch with all of my host siblings and their spouses and children. My oldest host brother, Manlee (who is Chun Lai and Chun Liap’s dad) came home for the occasion. He has been working construction at Banan Mountain, which is still in Battambang, but it’s pretty far away. From what I can gather, which usually isn’t much, he is working construction on the road. The meal was amazing, as it always is. After the big lunch, I went to a meeting at the UME for our International Women’s Day event, which is coming along really well. We expanded the schedule to include a workshop on public speaking, which will present a project for the students, which will be to speak to the females at their schools about what they learned at the session. It will be very beneficial to teach the girls a skill as well as presenting them with information on women’s affairs in their province and country. We ate left overs for dinner that night from the luncheon feast. The offerings to the ancestors on the first day of Chinese New Year

Saturday was day two of Chinese New Year, as well as Valentine’s Day. If you are wondering, yes, Valentine’s Day is a huge deal here. There were stalls selling roses, blasting Khmer love songs. I did what I do on most Saturdays which was to meet up with the other volunteers in town at what we call, “The Spot” which is actually the “Espresso House Café”. That is the family that I have become friends with after the mother, who was a cook at a restaurant run by Americans quit and started her own restaurant with her husband and four children. The kids are all so hard working and they balance their education and running their small business. We always try to send people there to eat because the food is really good and they are such a nice family. Their business has been doing really well. So, we went to breakfast there then I came home for lunch with my family. While eating there, my brother Huck told me that it was Chun Lai’s birthday and there was going to be a party. I didn’t really know the protocol for birthdays, so I called up Darlene and we went to the market and bought him two trucks and a police car. Since there aren’t really any Hallmark stores here, I took the present to my friend who owns a little café/bakery/western store (the place that made my birthday cake) and asked them to help me wrap it and she did a wonderful job making it look good for him. I came home with Darlene and people starting coming in for the party. We ate a feast of shrimp, fried spring rolls and of course, rice, on bamboo mats outside of the house. We ate cake before dinner then after we ate fried water beetles, at least that’s what I think they were. They were actually really good and I ate two. They weren’t cockroaches but I don’t really know what they were. Better not to ask questions sometimes. Huck gave me some sparkling grape fruit juice, but some man (I have no idea who is he, a friend maybe?) handed me a beer and told me to drink. I didn’t really know what to do because it was the first time I was drinking with this family. Just to remind you, Khmer people don’t really sip on beers, they cheers and chug. It is always really difficult to strike a balance between not being judgmental but not getting smashed. My host cousin asked me if this is the first time that I tasted beer and I didn’t want to lie, so I said that I have tried it before. My host sister was drinking and was pretty drunk after only a few drinks. My host mother was really concerned that I was drunk and everyone kept asking me if I was drunk. I only had one beer, but that is enough to do in most Khmer people. I didn’t want them to think that I was drunk, but I also didn’t want them to know that my tolerance is probably better than most of the men there, not because I drink that much, but just because it’s in my genes to be able to drink more than the average Khmer person. My host sister’s brother in law took a liking to me and gave me a rose (that he stole from his sister in law) and gave it to me out of friendship for Valentine’s Day. It was so awkward because I didn’t want to insult this man by totally rejecting him but I also didn’t want to give off the impression that I was interested in dating him, because I’m not. The best way to avoid these situations, I have learned, is simply ignorance. Literally ignoring the comments or just pretending that I don’t understand what he is saying worked like a charm. My family was getting a kick out of it and I made a joke out of it, so it was fine. My family would probably love for me to marry a Khmer man, especially one that they know and really like. Don’t get me wrong, he is a nice guy, but I didn’t really come here to get married. If something happens, ok, but it’s not my goal. I actually had a conversation during the week with my host mother and sister about how I came to America to teach and help, not to have a boyfriend. They thought that it was funny when I explained that I am taller than most Khmer men, so I can’t have a “song saa” (boyfriend) who is Khmer because they must be taller. That night, I ended up staying up until 9:30, which is so late for me. I’m sure that they were confused when I didn’t head to bed at the stroke of 8, which is what I do every night.

Yesterday didn’t really feel like Chinese New Year because no one at my house was really home. I was actually sort of happy that we didn’t have a huge celebration, again, because two days was enough for me. I’m not as young as I once was, so I can’t party for three days in a row.

This week is testing for grade 11, so I will not be teaching. My coteacher asked me to come and I said no, because I am not going to be involved with the tests. He doesn’t agree with my no cheating attitude (rather a think for yourself attitude) so I decided to avoid the frustration and instead get some other work done. We will be going into PP next week for 8 days, so I want to do as much work as possible for this International Women’s Day event before we leave. I will teach all through March, but there isn’t much school in April because of Khmer New Year and I will most likely be in Vietnam, so this school year is really winding down. After April, we have class in May and the tests start in June for semester 2. The time is really flying and before I know it, we will be at the year 1 mark.

This is a close up of the New Years tree that was set up near one of the spirit houses. It's decorated with Chinese ornaments and lights. Reminds me of another holiday I know....

I will be leaving for PP on Sunday and until then, I will be tying up lose ends here and maybe even visiting an orphanage or exploring BB a little more. We all kind of realized that coming back to site after a trip sucks at first, but giving it a few days to get back in “volunteer” mode really makes it enjoyable.

Today (is in Tuesday) I taught 10Q and did laundry. I am going to set up another meeting for our event then probably just hang out with the babies. Today I was playing with both Lai and Liap and they were just beating me up. Hitting is affectionate but also out of anger. This, I guess, was affectionate, but it really hurt. Liap slapped me across the face then laughed for 5 minutes and pulled my glasses off my face. Perfect.

Hello everyone!!! I heard that there is a lot o snow in America now! Just wanted to let you know that, unlike America, the cold season has officially ended, and that means that sweaty teacher has made a comeback. I am so hot when I teach class (outside it is about 90 degrees and the classes don’t have electricity) but I have gotten over the embarrassment that is my life a long time ago.

I have been traveling on the weekends and it has been pretty fun. But on the bus home, I always feel a sense of remorse because I feel like I am living a double life and after the bill of the weekend, I realize that it is excessive. But, I am able to see a lot of Cambodia with people that I really enjoy, so I shouldn’t feel guilty. I guess the guilt is a good sign, but it would be rather wasteful if I didn’t take advantage of how small (and amazing Cambodia is). I always feel really refreshed after these trips and it is actually really important for my metal health. My mom put it all in perspective when she said that on those trips, I am actually being myself because at site, I am a teacher, constantly concerned about being conservative, I am at home by 6:00 at the latest and when I am away from site, I can let my hair down (literally), speak English and literally be myself. I realized, though, that in transition, I am able to meet people that I would never have the opportunity to meet. There have been many people who say that they have never hear of Peace Corps or even talked to an American. So even when I am traveling, I am able to converse with people that I would never have the chance to outside of sitting on a six-hour bus ride from PP. It is just a really weird change once I step off the bus.

Integration here is a really strange concept. Everyone talks about “being integrated”, but what does that even mean? How does one even become integrated and how do we even know when we get to that point? Well, I realized that maybe I am becoming “integrated” (whatever that even means) last week. I had a flat tire when I came out of an internet cafe. I knew that are places to get a flat tire fixed on my side of the bridge, so I decided to just walk my bike there. I ran into a man who is a “motodup”, which means that he drives his moto for a living. He is always parked outside of a restaurant that I eat at every now and then and he always tries to chat with us. I saw him while I was walking my bike and he directed me to a place that he knew. Furthermore, he stood with me and made sure that it was fixed properly. It turns out that he has a daughter who lives in Chicago and before I knew it, we were talking about the price of the electricity that we get from Thailand. I could tell that this guy had been dying to talk to an American. As you are reading this, you probably don’t understand how this little, minute action really made me feel at home. And of course, I will be looking up his daughter once I go back to America. When I got off the bus, I saw him and we had a little conversation but it was more personal this time. I was walking to get my bike, which I had left at a restaurant in the center of town. Darlene and I have become friends with the family and I asked them if I could leave my bike in their house and they looked after it. When I got there, my bike had (yet another) flat, but their son took the bike to a bike repair shop on his moto and got it fixed for me and refused to accept money. If you are wondering how he got my bike there, he rode his moto while holding onto my bike as it rode passengerless. These two very, very small interactions really go a long way when you are a 23-year old year old living in a different place. It was really reassuring to know there are some people that are really looking out for me. Battambang is a big place, but I continue to feel increasingly comfortable here. Our trip on the bamboo train.

As for teaching, I have really hit a wall. Of my four classes, I really enjoy two of my classes but the other two are a little more difficult. It’s tough to teach when the curriculum consists of a book that is ten years old and has lessons on windsurfing, which is a word that I have never even said until I came to Cambodia. Plus, there are literally no resources besides a chalkboard and chalk. But, there are small accomplishments that really keep me going. For instance, we played “Robot” in my class after learning how to ask indirect questions using “Can”. For example: “Can you please tell me your name?” as opposed to “What is your name?”. The way that the game is played (which I learned during training) is the teacher (me) is the robot and the robot has to do what the students ask so long as they as a question using “can questions.” One class was asking questions about what I look for in a guy, but this class was more easily amused. I actually danced for them and sang. One girl asked me to speak in Khmer to the class and when I said “Kinyom chimua Kealan. Kinyom mock bee Amerik bontai ail lonee, kinyom rua now Kampuchea” which means “My name is Kealan. I am from America but now I live in Cambodia” they were dying, I kept going and told them about when I tried to buy fruit. They were all clapping and laughing so hard but I was happy that they got to see how shameless I am about speaking. They actually told me that my Khmer was very clear, which made me happy. After class, I was walking to my bike when Chakriya, who is one of my favorite students, asked me to come with them to the canteen. They ordered papaya salad for me, which is so delicious, but super spicy. While I really like spicy food, I am a huge baby. They even ordered me the “at hul” (not spicy) and I was dying. My lips were on fire when one student looked at me and said “Cher, you need water” I tried to play it cool, but I chugged that glass in a second. They were asking about the upcoming Chinese New Year (more on that later) and we talked about America and just life in general. It is pretty amazing to be able to hang out with students in their true element.

As for Chinese New Year, since my family is Chinese, it is a pretty big deal. It will be a three day even starting on Sunday, which is also Valentine’s Day, which is a big deal here, or so my brother Huck and my students tell me. So, Chinese New Year is a three day event with a lot of food, drinking, music and pretty fun parties. It is pretty unreal how universal holidays are. When it comes down to it, it is really simple- there are customs then after, everyone enjoys themselves and the company of family. It always makes people reflect on just how lucky we are to be alive and to be around each other. Of course there is the ritual of the pre-ceremony fight, which I witnessed first hand during training. My host family was preparing to go to the wat and my sisters and mom were all yelling at each other. I don’t know what they said, but it was so obvious- my mom was yelling at my sisters for being too informal, to which the girls all responded that they don’t have any clothes to wear. But once that issue is resolved, it is really uniform how people sit down, eat the traditional food and simple enjoy themselves. There is so much preparation (my family has been preparing for weeks) but once the tables are cleared and the dishes are washed, that is the real holiday- being around each other. Simply having a day set aside (or in this case three) to simply appreciate the past year and celebrate what is to come is customary, regardless of religion, language or country. We tend to complicate the process, but it’s the end result that is the important part. Maybe this is just me not having a holiday that I am used to for a while, but it is actually rather obvious when you back up and look at it from the side of the world.

I talk about my friends here a lot, so here they are: (In the back, left to right) Jessica, Meagan and Keiko (in the front row, left to right) JaNise, Jacqueline and Me

As I have posted about a few times before, we are currently right in the midst of planning an event for International Women’s Day at the university which will focus on the importance of education. We had a meeting and they approved the event, so now we will have another meeting tomorrow with the Ministry of Education, the university and the volunteers. I am really thinking long term for this (as in making a weekend long event over the summer with a few volunteers from different provinces). I asked a female Khmer teacher to be my counterpart and she was really excited about it. Our game plan is to bring in 5 female 11th graders from each of our schools (there are 6 volunteers participating). We will make small groups of 4 high school girls and 2 university students, who will be the group leaders. The event will be completely in Khmer, so the girls feel comfortable and so that they are able to express themselves. We will have 5 speakers from 5 different professional careers (a doctor or nurse, a woman from an Ngo, a professor at the university, an accountant and a woman from PP who works in the international sector). We want the women to talk about how education was the bridge to achieving their goals. Many of the girls want to be doctors, but they have no idea how to become one. We are all really excited and it is coming along really well. We will be presenting our schedule and budget plan tomorrow.

As for my home life, I came back from PP two weeks ago to find a new member of the family, which is common. His name is Meow and he is a really annoying cat. I guess he is a good pet because he only eats bugs and mice, but he always wants to come into my room and I get really stuffy around cats, so I have been trying to get him out. Chun Lai is as great as always. My family is trying to force him to call me “Ming” (aunt) or “Bong” (sister) but he doesn’t really do it and calls me Kealan all the time, which is fine with me. Chun Liap is walking a lot, which is fun because she couldn’t when I first came. It’s really enjoyable to watch her grow. Except for when both Chun Lai and Chun Liap cry at 6am when I am actually able to sleep in… Chun Liap has cried a few times and the family passes her along to me when no one else can calm her down. She is so cute because there are a few times when Chun Lai and I are playing and she will hear us from the kitchen and crawl as fast as possible outside. She is a really loud breather, so we can always hear her breathing and laughing in anticipation of playing with us. There are times that having babies around isn’t so fun, but they are a pleasure when I have had a crappy day because they are always there with a smile and a “sua sa die” (hello). My host brother Huck is getting really good at English and I realized that when he picked up on how frequently I say “it depends” and he asked what it means. He also told me that he was really confused on how I say “little” because it sounds more like “liddle” (said very fast). It was pretty impressive that he was able to pick up on the slang because sometimes I forget that English isn’t his first language.

I will be in PP next week for in service training, which basically means a week of sessions during the day and pizza at night. We found a bowling alley in PP and that was a blast! There is also a movie theatre, so maybe we will go there too…..

I realized that teaching is not really my cup of tea (as in I don’t want to do once I get back) but I am trying to make the most of it and enjoy it the best that I can. Starting this International Women’s Day event has really kicked my mental health back up. I feel better in class simply because I now have a project that is not related to teaching English. Don’t get me wrong, I love my students and I am really liking my job as a teacher, but sometimes it feels like the barriers are a little too much and it really weighs me down. This project has really revitalized me.

Last two things: fashion here cracks me up and despite the conservative nature of clothing here, I think that it is pretty funny to note two very popular t-shirts in the BB currently. The first is “I f***ing love to cuddle” and my favorite “I’d rather be snorting coke off a stripper’s ass”. That is not a joke. Anyone want one?

My house on a typical day

Well, I am currently into the second half of my four part service and it has really made me reflect on my time here so far. Much like any endeavor we take on, it is difficult to know if you are doing the right thing at the time. Sometimes we realize immediately if we acted in the right way or the wrong way and sometimes it is not so cut and dry. With Peace Corps, it is the same. You can do something and immediately regret it and sometimes it takes weeks or months to see the reaction to your action. The reason that I am even saying this is because I had the rare experience of seeing first hand the fruits of my labor. For the sake of this story, I will call the student Dara (I still do not know all of the names of my 350 students…) Well, Dara is a boy in my 10Q class and he is probably the biggest trouble maker of all my students. For the most part, the entirety of my 10Q really makes an attempt to learn, although they are still not as strong as many of the other 10th graders. Well, Dara is pretty inconsistent in attendance but very consistent in making trouble for me during the class. The class is pretty dominated by girls and the boys sit together in the back. Within this group of boys, there are probably 5 boys that participate and are at the top of the class (they are also in English Club). So, when Dara comes to class, he sits in the back and distracts all the boys, never takes notes and refuses to speak English. When I ask him where his book is, he will say “now pdaia” which means at home. Much is the same when I ask him where his homework is, “at mein” which means I don’t have it. Well, this week, he was especially rowdy with his two cronies in the back. We started an exercise with seven questions and I told them that they were each to do one. They didn’t understand, so another boy explained it. They kinda freaked out and tried to plead with me, but my response was that if you come to class, you come to work, not to sit. Everyone is fair game in my class. So, the other four students wrote their answers on the board and these three boys went to the board and wrote their answers. One was right and the other two were just completely wrong. One sentence said “I never used to eat to the moon.” (The exercise was to take words from a table and construct a sentence.) Well, we went over the answers and I was very patient with those two and we all worked on the answers together. My coteacher usually calls those boys “not clever” and makes fun of them, but I decided that I wanted to show them they can actually do this. I tried to praise them as much as I could and make fun of myself to divert the attention from those students. Well, the next day, I was waiting outside the classroom when Dara came up to me and started a conversation. Now, he can’t really say much in English, so his questions were “House, where?” After he asked a few questions in English, I decided that he felt really uncomfortable, so we spoke Khmer. He asked about my siblings, if I am happy in Cambodia, do I miss my family, etc. He also told me a little bit about himself. He lives at the pagoda and is from a district pretty far away. There were some kids making fun of him but he didn’t really care and we actually had a nice conversation. I thought that maybe he was just trying to suck up after the class before, but when I walked into the class, he moved his seat away from his posse of boys and instead sat next to my coteacher. He took notes all class long and when I used a little Khmer, he said “very good” and gave me two thumbs up. I noticed that he was talking to the coteacher a lot and pointing to the board, which I took as an indication of asking her a question related to the class. Maybe it was an act, but I really think that he made a turn around. He is a total tough guy. What really stood out was that he moved seats. When I first came to Battambang and was trying to figure out what classes to teach, I was really torn up as to whether or not I would be able to teach 10Q. I knew that the class would require much patience and that the students wouldn’t understand me. I mistook their confusion as laziness for the first few months, but now I really understand the class and I can honestly say that this class is my most rewarding. Who knows why there are in that class, maybe learning disabilities, eyesight issues, they are poor, etc. I knew that I wanted to teach classes 11B, C and D because their skill level and interest would be high. I was torn up about 10Q because I didn’t know if I would actually do it because let’s be honest, patience isn’t my strong suite. But, this whole experience is about challenges. I want to develop these skills and teaching this class is really helping me to learn. Of course I am learning so much with my grade 11 classes, but it’s different. I am seeing the growth of a different kind of student. These are kids are different from the other ones. There are a lot of those kids in my English Club and teaching them can be so frustrating, but when they understand, it is the best part. Last week, we listened to “Real Love” which was originally written by John Lennon, but Regina Spektor sang it for a charity CD for Darfur. We listened to the song and wrote out the lyrics then talked about the meaning. They were so proud of themselves when they got all of the lyrics. I had to help them with a lot of the lines, but they were so happy and after we ended, I heard a bunch of the girls singing the song as they walked away. All in all, it is so important to remember that this is a marathon. I am in the second part of a four part series. You can have your highest highs and lowest lows within hours of each other. But those little victories along the way are what is keeping me going. I am curious to see how Dara progresses now that he (hopefully) has made the decision to study.

Peace Corps came for a health site visit and I went with the two medical staff (one is from America and the other is the sweetest Khmer woman named Navy) to this hospital called Emergency. It is really close to my house and I ride past it everyday, but I have never gone in. We went in to look around and it is simply remarkable. It is an Italian ngo and they cater mainly to accidents from all over the country. The medical care is completely free and the staff consists of medical professionals from Italy as well as Cambodia. They train doctors and nurses so that the international staff can phase out, which means that the hospital will be completely Khmer run and operated. It was a really great experience. I was able to get to know Navy, who is the newest Peace Corps medical staff member. She studied medicine at Tulane and UC Davis. She is a remarkable doctor and an even better woman. She embodies all the characteristics of being a powerful woman. She survived the war and educated herself, but never lost touch of her roots. She is extremely gentle and affectionate, which is very common amongst women here. I cannot say enough about her and I really look forward to getting to know her.

Darlene and I are working with two K2’s to plan an event for International Woman’s Day, which is on March 8. The event will hopefully be at the University of Management and Economics. We will meet in a week from Monday with the university and a ministry official to talk about the details. We want to pair up our high school girls with university students as a sort of mentor program. The theme will be about the importance of education and we will have guest speakers. Many of our female students know what they want to be, but not necessarily how to become it. We will most likely have 3-5 girls from each of our schools come to the UME and have the girls work together. It is going to be a really fun event and I am hoping that I will be able to lay the foundation for the girls’ camp that Keiko and I are planning. One of the amazing parts of Peace Corps is that we have this ability to say “Ok, I think that we need to work on empowering girls, let’s have a camp.” We are going to identify girls that we think are the best candidate for this position of leadership. At my school, we will most likely have an essay contest involving everyone interested.

The statue upon entering Battambang (symbolizes the tale of manu battambang, which means the man with the disappearing stick.)

English Club is going well. The grade 12 students are super busy because they have tests coming up, so they haven’t really been coming. But the grade 11 and 10 students are really consistent with their attendance. On Wednesdays, I usually meet with a group of grade 11D students in the library and we just talk and work on writing and they ask me questions. One student asked me if he could make a presentation to the group about Cambodian customs, which was such a great idea. So, we decided that every Wednesday, one or two students will make a presentation on something that interests them. We will all have a discussion and give feedback. That way we can work on public speaking as well, which is important. My goal for English Club was to have the students really run it, but I just monitor. This was such a great first step. I will be there to guide them and correct them, but they are really taking initiative in their club and their education.

A typical classroom in Cambodia (70 students to each class means about 3 students to each desk

I also went to PP this weekend. A bunch of volunteers went in and essentially did what our friends are doing at home- eating pizza, going to bars and seeing other Americans. What we do in PP is basically all of the stuff that we can’t really do at site- spend money, eat western food, buy bootleg DVDs and show our knees and shoulders. It is really refreshing to go into PP and really not have to worry about being really conservative and have our guard up. Obviously we have to be careful in PP, but I am at home by 5:00 every night in Battambang, but in PP I don’t have to worry about offending my family. While going into PP is a great break, I am always really happy to get back to site. There are currently tests going on at school, so I didn’t have class yesterday or today. Tomorrow classes start again and so does English Club. I’m excited to get back to the daily grind.

Typical wedding clothes for women

So, today officially marks the 6 month point in my service. I left Chicago exactly 6 months ago, which equates to one quarter of my service here. Pretty crazy to think about.

So, my birthday was on Sunday and I was prepared for it to be a regular day, but there were a lot of people who really made it a special day. My coteacher told our classes (in Khmer of course, so I couldn’t understand) that it was my birthday and they raised some money and I got three presents from the classes. It was really unexpected and extremely cute how the students presented the gifts. I had just arrived at school and there was a group of girls standing near where I always park my bike. I was talking to another student and they kind of waited around, then handed me the present, which was wrapped and had a card from the class. The first gift was a wooden carousal that plays music as the Ferris Wheel of teddy bears revolves. There is a windmill has four planks that read “Best Wishes For You”. They were really cute about it and a few took pictures, so hopefully I will be able to put those up. The second gift was a box with two pairs of earrings. Khmer fashion is pretty centered around jewels and sparkles, so these earrings are really sparkly. I have never really been that flashy with my jewelry, but when in Rome…. So I wore one pair on Monday and every female that saw them complimented me on how beautiful they are. The last gift, which I think is my favorite, is a Mickey Mouse lamp/ night light. It’s Mickey in a glass of ice cream. I put pictures on facebook of all of the gifts, so log on and check them out!

My student Vida, aka Elvis Presley, also got me a gift. I was concerned that he spent money on it, but he reassured me that he didn’t. I know that he doesn’t have a lot, so I didn’t want him to spend what little he has on me. One of his friends makes jewelry and keychains out of coconut shells. So, he had his friend make a cross necklace. The cross is actually the name “Jesus”. It is hard to describe, so hopefully I can upload a picture onto this blog to show you. The other thing that he gave me is a keychain in the shape of Cambodia with my name engraved. His friend has made a little business out of it and I would love to help him, so if anyone is interested in getting one, I have some visitors coming over soon(ish) and maybe something can be arranged. While I would love to do a mail order thing, it probably isn’t the best idea because for one, things break on the way and also it may not go over so well with Peace Corps if I am working in a business.

Darlene also came through and bought me a cake and brought it to my class on Monday, which was 11C. I was not shocked to see every kid in that class when there usually are about 20 out of 70 on average. The cake was made by our friends who just opened a western store (it’s a Khmer family) and are quickly adding on- a little café, garden and bakery are the latest additions. They are a really great family and the boy who made it told me today that he put a lot of chocolate on it because he knows I like it. The class really liked it. Again, there are pictures on facebook of the occasion… I also met with Leah and Eddie, who are K2s who live in my province. We went to lunch and ice cream and basically planned what we will do for International Women’s Day (which is March 8th) and caught up. It was a very relaxing birthday and again, the weather makes it so confusing because my birthdays are always really cold. Time is totally standing here, but I have grown accustom to writing 2010 and saying “Kinyom mein au ma-pie bye chnam” which means I am 23 years old.

This week really marked the beginning of my busy schedule. I am meeting with English Club 5 times a week and the English Club on Mondays and Fridays. It’s nice because the English Club at my school is really me calling the shots and settings up, but at the UME, the club is already up and running, I am just there for guidance. I will be meeting with the club on Monday and discussing the readings that were assigned the Friday before. We are able to have more in depth discussions about really important issues- health, environment, AIDS, etc. On Friday, I will come in and work for one hour on a skill (this week it is the Do’s and Don’ts of using PowerPoint in a speech, next week is The Importance of Body Language in Public Speaking). The second hour will be really general, open for questions, discussion, etc. I am very happy that my projects (teaching formal class and the two clubs) are very different, so I’m not getting bored. The next project, however, will probably be unrelated to teaching English. Like I said, we are trying to start a project for International Women’s Day. We want to have some girls get together and discuss their goals, options and futures. We will probably focus on education and how to get to university and stay there. It will also be a great way to plant the seed about our girl’s camp that will be over the summer. Needless to say through all of this that I am super busy. But, I didn’t come here for a break or to relax. There’s a lot of work to be done here. Some days are really tough, but that’s part of the job.

I am steadily making more relationships with my students. There is probably one student a week who works up the courage and asks for English help or asks a random question. I realized really early on that the high school is my way into the community and it’s going well. There are some students who are still really scared of me, but I find myself not really being alone much when I am at school. There is one student, Houert, who asked me today to help him learn how to teach. He juts got a job teaching children English. I could tell that he is really proud of this and we arranged a meeting for tomorrow to talk about techniques. One of the goals of Peace Corps is to teach teachers how to be better teachers and focus on student centered learning. I never realized that by teaching my students American techniques in the classroom that they will be able to carry them over. I’m not sure if it’s just a coincidence, but this boy Houert has a job as an English teacher and Vida (aka Elvis) is trying to get a similar job. Just to clarify, most Cambodian students study full time (at a school like Net Yong) and then what they call part-time, which is at a private class and is paid for. There are a lot of schools that are private where students come to learn after school. So, they are trying to become teachers at those schools. That is also a reason why a lot of kids ask me if I will charge for English Club and when one boy said he wanted to study with me, he quickly added, I will pay. I constantly have to reinforce the “smot jet” (volunteer) status. It is not the money but rather the fact that my schedule is steadily becoming more and more full. I am literally exhausted all the time because of the workload and the heat. But that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Two days ago marked the 7th anniversary of the death of my host sibling’s father. Because he was ethnically Chinese (his parents were from China) many of the traditions that we took part in I would imagine stem from his Chinese roots. The day before, Huck told me to eat lunch at home (I usually eat at a stand on the way home from school) so I knew that I was in for a feast. I got home from school to see a legit spread on the table and it was only 11:00. My host sisters were cooking all day and we had some awesome food. We started out with Fried Noodles, which are so good. I had to pace myself because then we sat down to a feast of rice (obviously) chicken soup, mushroom and chicken stir fry and to my surprise, peas and vegetables. I totally forgot about peas. It’s weird how acclimated your body gets when you have changed climates, diets and lifestyle. We ate then I napped for a little before going back to school with a completely full stomach. Before the meal was the tradition, and I guess ceremony if you will. The food was used as an offering to the prayer houses(my family has three, one outside, one right by the front of the house and one on the wall in the sitting room). When everyone arrived (as in my host brother and sisters who do not live at the house), they lit incense and prayed for their father in front of the table full of food, incense and candles. Again, check out the pictures to be visualize it. So, basically, there are two prayer houses that they prayed in front of, in addition to the huge table of food, incense and candles. They put the incense (they usually light three, five or seven at a time, but this time I noticed it was seven because it’s good luck and symbolizes family) in the pots in the two prayer houses inside then in a holder outside of the house. I always wondered what that was used for because it looks like the thing that contains the holy water inside churches. My question was answered. As I was riding back to school and writing in my journal later that night, I was really impressed with how happy the event was. I thought that it would be really sad because from the stories that I hear, he was very well liked. “My father always cooked while my mother worked, which is opposite in Cambodia.” The entire time, everyone was really happy and enjoying the company. People always say that we should celebrate someone’s life, but I have never really seen that until now. He thought that family was really important and you could tell by looking at his kids. They included me in on the process and I was very happy to be there. It was probably the first time that I didn’t feel awkward at a ceremony. It was really intimate and personal.

English Club is currently working on creative writing. This is a difficult concept to get across because they simply don’t write for fun. I was so happy yesterday because I had two students, both 11 graders, read each other’s story then give feedback and suggestions. One of the students was Vida (Elvis) and the other was a girl (I don’t remember her name, Khmer names are tough) who has really come out of her shell recently and is opening up and speaking up more. They felt really weird at first, but they sat together and talked about their impressions of the other person’s story. It was really heartwarming to see because at first, they said that they wouldn’t be able to because they don’t know how to say it in English, but they tried and they did a really good job. What I am trying to do is to have the students work more with each other instead of relying on me to correct and fix. It was a great first step and I hope that things continue to move forward in this direction. Some of the stories are really great. We are planning on having a meeting where the parents, siblings and friends can all come to listen to the stories. We will also make a book of all of the stories. It is really a long project, but I want this to set the stage for what we will be doing, which is working on things over time and using each other to learn. I can already see HUGE improvements and the students have no idea. It is really a pleasure to watch the whole process.

That about sums up what is happening currently. In between running to class and club, I am trying to spend time with my family and friends in Battambang as well as plan future events. My group of girlfriends are going to try to plan a trip once every two months (at least) to get to each other. The problem is that we are all so far from each other. Keiko and I are about 3 hours away, which isn’t bad. But you have to travel through PP for most trips down south, so it’s another 2 hours to get to PP. From PP, Jessica lives about 2 more hours to her provincial town then another half hour to her site. Jacqueline practically lives in Vietnam. If I were to travel from my site to hers, it would take about ten hours. But our plan is to meet in other locations, so in February we will go to Siam Reap. We are also planning some international trips, most likely Vietnam in April then Australia this summer. It helps to plan these things because it gives us something to look forward to. If we were at site with no trip on the horizon, it gets tough. Plus, we will be able to see a lot of the country this way (actually the continent if we have our way…)

Well, I have to sign off now. Hope all is well with everyone back home. As for the weather, it rained for the first time in 2 months for about an hour yesterday and the day before. The “cold” season (cold being about 70 degrees) will end in about two weeks with the beginning of February and the hot, dry season starts. That should be fun to teach in. I am still hot and it’s “cold”. People are actually wearing winter jackets. I have to admit that it is pretty chilly, but hopefully that means that I am used to the weather. If not, I am in big trouble when the hot season comes around.

This is my last post as a 22-year old. With the new age (since it didn’t really feel like a new year, I will use my birthday as a new start…) I have grown to be very patient here, but there is always room for improvement. My number one goal is to be a better teacher, however. My private classes and English Club come very naturally, but working within the confines of a ministry developed book poses its problems. Honestly, as a teacher, I have never learned more in my life.

I cannot emphasize enough how much of an emotional rollercoaster it is to do Peace Corps. The problem is that it doesn’t bad days happen that frequently (probably once a month or less) but when things come crashing down, look out, it’s not pretty. It literally comes out of nowhere. Today, for example, was an ordinary day, then all of a sudden, I was walking home in a sampot, having just reamed out my 11B class contemplating if I am even doing anything here. The ish really hit the fan this morning in my 10Q class when ONE student turned in her homework. Yes, 1 out of 67. I was so upset not at the kids who never do anything, but the kids who I know are really into learning English. There are about 10 kids in that class that are really promising not because of their skills, but rather their determination and perseverance. I said my piece to them about the need to due their homework and felt better about it. They probably didn’t understand because I was speaking fast, but those who did are the ones that I was really talking to- the ones who are the heads of the class and have a chance to do something with English. During training, we were told that scolding the students doesn’t work because they aren’t used to that, but to that I say, they aren’t used to anything that I do. Talking wasn’t working, so raising my voice a little let them know that I was upset. I wasn’t upset about the lack of attendance or the amount of kids that come late, I was upset about their lack of effort, and they knew how wrong they were.

11B was just a bad class to start out with. Teaching on Wednesdays from 2-4 is just recipe for disaster. The building is always really busy and the classroom is close to the roundabout, so the cards are always stacked against getting anything done in this class. They are really bright but they LOVE to talk. That wouldn’t be a problem (it would be totally welcome, as a matter of fact) but they refuse to speak English when I ask them to, and instead they have a bunch of side conversations. No one was really paying attention, so I threw my book down on the ground to get their attention. I tried sushing but that wasn’t working. Those of you who know me best know that throwing things is my favorite way to release anger. It worked, but after the break, they were doubled in noise level and when I walked around to check on their work, there were 3 students actually working on the classwork and the other 60 students were on their phones, doing other work or just talking in Khmer about other things. I am embarrassed to say this, but I totally lost it. I wasn’t yelling by any means, but I pulled out all the stops of a typical teacher rant. I told them that coming to class simply isn’t enough. They have to work for it. If you don’t want to learn, you don’t have to be here. American teachers say that all the time, but this is so true in Cambodia. If you skip class at OPRFHS, the attendance office calls home and you are in trouble, unless you answer the phone yourself. Nothing like this exists here (much like every other country in the world…) I am not proud of how I said what I said, but I was glad that I said it, I think that they needed to hear it.

I asked them if they wanted to continue the lesson or just cut their losses and head home. They wanted to stay and we finished the lesson, but there was tension, awkward is probably the best word for it. I apologized that the end of the lesson, but the students said that they were sorry for not working. I explained to them just how frustrating it is because I want them to learn English so bad (clearly, I left America for it) and when the students just sit there and don’t work with the teachers, it’s is really frustrating.

I left the class pretty embarrassed that I came at them like that, but I felt a little better. Until I realized that I locked my keys in my room, for the second time that I have lived here in Battambang. So, I started the 1.5k trek back to my house in a sampot thinking about what just happened. Maura, I have that really weird cramp thing in my foot that I had in Italy again, so walking wasn’t fun. I was supposed to get my bike and go to the post office to get a package for my friend and meet her at the bus stop while her bus stopped in the BB, but that clearly wasn’t happening. I felt a little better walking, but I was still upset. Here I thought that I was making some strides, then I have a day like today. I realized that my anger should be directed at myself. It is my job as teacher to teach the students. I need to make learning English as appealing and fun as possible. So, I got my wallet/keys and turned around and made the 1.5k trek back. Usually people make no notice of me here, but for some reason, there were a lot of people taking interest and when you are in a bad mood, it’s not fun to have an audience. When I got back to school, I ran into a girl from my 11B class, the class that I just let have it. She apologized again for the class and said that she doesn’t know why her class gets like that, but she knows how I feel. While we were talking, this boy David (that is his birth name) rode up on his moto and we got to talking. His English is unbelievable, but when he comes to class, he just sits in the back and sometimes participates. His dad is French and his mom is Khmer, but they are divorced, so he spends a lot of time in France. He told me the first time I talked to him that we are alike because we are both not Khmer. He is a really great kid and he always comes to class, but never really says anything. I asked him today why he doesn’t do anything during class and he said that he doesn’t want everyone to rely on him. I pointed out that I could really use his help to inspire the class to speak more and that way he can be useful in class instead of just chilling in the back. We were talking about how little the class talks when David said, “Cher, you don’t understand. Before you came, my class NEVER spoke, now they speak a little.” He probably didn’t know how much that meant to me because during that whole walk back and worth, I was thinking about how little of an impact I have made. It gave me some reassurance. The three of us got to talking about how we can improve the class. I tried doing groups in my 11C and 11D classes, but it never really took off, so I decided not the try it with 11B. David suggested that we should try it, but he offered to help. “Cher, I can help you to make the groups. I know my classmates. We will put the weaker students with the stronger students to help.” When I told him that I wasn’t sure because my other classes had no idea what I meant by group work, he said “Don’t worry, I will help.” It made me feel so much better because at the tail end of my walk, I remembered what I have always thought about these situations, that I cannot control other people, I will never be able to. What I can control is how I teach, and that is what I need to change and make better. These two students offering to help with the class understanding the vision was simply remarkable. This kid David has literally nothing to gain by helping me out with the groups, but he is doing it anyway. So, starting next week, we will be working in groups. We will probably have group competitions and it will be really fun.

After David left, I continued to talk to the girl, Chakriya, for another half hour. We began by talking about her class and it got way more personal and we were talking about her problems with her friends. She is a ball of fire and is really assertive. She is always happy and is a really reliable friend. She was telling me how important her studies are, but she thinks that it is also really important to be happy and have friendships. “You never know when you are going to die, so you shouldn’t waste time being mad or sad.” She is totally right. She works hard but also plays hard. She really impressed me with her maturity because girls are girls wherever you go, so those pesky, little fights happen everywhere. It was perfect timing to have this talk because Keiko, Darlene and another volunteer, Lisa, are in the preliminary stages of setting up Camp GLOW, which stands for girls leading our world. Our vision is to have girls from Keiko’s province (Kampong Chhnang) and Lisa’s province (Beantay Meanchay) come to Battambang for a weekend camp for girls’ empowerment. We will have guest speakers, self-confidence seminars and the like with all of the girls. We are in the very early stage, which is observation. We are trying to find a handful of girls from our schools that really show the qualities of a leader. Chakriya really embodied everything we are looking for and I was really happy after this talk. We are all really excited about this camp, but it will talk a really long time to plan and there are a lot of aspects that need to be sorted out. We will do it probably in Septemberish. Tonight, after dinner, I got a text forward from Charkriya. The text forwards are really cute. Sometimes it is a poem, sometimes a picture made of symbols like *, ~, ], { etc. This particular one was a forward. I really enjoy getting these texts because they always add a personal note on the end. The text was about being happy and how important it is to smile (how totally appropriate) and at the end, she said thanks for talking to me today. Although sometimes the students are the toughest part of this job, they always prove to be the best part as well.

It’s simply crazy how quickly things can turn sour. For those reading this, you probably think that I was upset about something so miniscule and I probably was, but Peace Corps is all-encompassing, so when something heads south, it really involves all facets of your life. But just as important is how quickly things turn back around. Here I was throwing a pity part in National Road #5, complaining about something so ridiculous, and these two kids completely turned around my state of mind. They have no idea that they did this, but they really found the positivity that I needed to reverse my thinking and now I have two potential projects to improve the youth of Cambodia. One of the most important things to remember is that we are trying to help Cambodians help themselves. I will not change the system, but I hope to change the student that will one day.

In other news, my schedule is insanely busy. I started my English Club this week. We had the tests on Saturday and I was kinda put off by how few students showed up, but the concept is totally new and probably really confusing for them. I gave the test to about 60 12th graders and of those students, I chose 13 students. There were plenty of kids who cheated, and I marked their papers and refused to grade them even. For 11th grade, only 8 kids came and the same was true for 10th grade. Not a coincidence, the kids who came were all from my classes. At first, I felt embarrassed that not that many kids came out, then I realized that these are kids who I teach 4 hours a week and they want more time. It was really touching when I got over the initial shock of not having a lot of kids. I set up this club to study with kids who are serious about studying. It’s more important to have the kids who have the dedication as opposed to the kids who are the best at English but don’t give a hoot about the club. We met for the first time Tuesday and it was a success. We all introduced ourselves and went over why there is a club. There were some ground rules- come prepared and ready to study hard, listen to each other, don’t laugh at each other for mistakes, no Khmer and most importantly, don’t be shy. There are some kids who are really coming out of their shells and it is a total pleasure to see. I have a wide range of students in the club, from 12B to 10Q, but I did this on purpose. I want the 10th graders to study with the 12th graders because it will really help improve their level. The 10th graders are so cute and were really excited just to be there. The only problem is scheduling. That is a really common theme here, especially in the schools. The students hardly have free time because all of them have regular class, private class or work. What we ended up coming up with is 5 meeting times per week- one for each grade separate, 10th grade and 11th grade then we will meet all together once a week. The only time that we could all get together is on Saturday night. I don’t really want to “work” on the weekends, but this is really important too, and I want them to all come together at least once. I also want to instill really early on the importance of the students running the club, so the weekends that I am not there, hopefully they meet and get some work done. Saturday night for me is like any other night (I know hard to believe that my college days are over…) so it won’t be a big deal when I am around to give up my Saturday evening, because we all know I’m not doing anything anyway…

I will start working with the English Club at the UME (University of Management and Economics) on Monday. The way that the club is set up works perfectly for me- it is student run and the group consists of ten small groups and they have a theme for the week (AIDS, environment, etc) and they read about the topic then make a PowerPoint presentation in front of the club. I will be meeting with each group once a month and I will have 2 open hours in the American Corner, which is funded fully by the US Embassy and has a library, computers, essentially the resources that are really rare at any other school. When I met with the man who runs the English Club, I originally planned on meeting two or three groups per week then having one open hour to anyone who wanted help, but after some twisting of my arm, I agreed to two hours on Friday, one hour for open correction or question and answers and one hour of a public related speaking skill (for example, week one will be Do’s and Don’ts of making a speech and using PowerPoint.) Between my regular teaching hours (16 per week), English Club (about 10 hours per week) and the UME English Club (another 4 or 5 hours per week), I have a really full schedule and I for sure have my work cut out for me. But, I didn’t come here to have a two year vacation; I came here to do some work. I am happiest when I’m really busy and thoroughly enjoying what I’m doing. Besides today’s actions, I have been really happy and things have been going well. Those moments will happen, it simply comes with the territory. When you are really emotionally invested in something such as this, it tends to have a greater effect when things come up.

As for my family life, I have created a monster in Chun Lai. I gave him Jolly Ranchers and he is addicted. Every time I come out of my room, he is standing there and he says “Mein sca-cro-op diet?” which means “Do you have anymore candy?” We ate the last of the candy tonight, so we will most likely go back to regular. He is still as cute as ever and has been making many comments such as “Chun Lai doy-ka bong Kealan” which means “Chun Lai is the same as Kealan”. He usually says these things when we are “journaling, eating or playing. Chun Liap is equally as cute and she is growing so fast. She is ready to walk and has taken a few steps already. They are really fun to be around and though sometimes it is difficult to live with too children, our relationships are really growing. Even the other day, Chun Lai came into my room early in the morning and crawled under my mosquito and into my bed. He just wanted to play, but I told him that I needed to shower, go back outside and wait. But there was a cockroach on the ground, so he said “Kinyom klight!” and I told him not to be afraid, I will be out there soon.

One more note about teaching here: everyone is really worried about the semester exam, which comes out of the “English for Cambodia” book, which is not the best. It is difficult to strike a balance to cover what will be on the test but also making it fun. I will figure it out though, that’s what this whole thing is about. Mistakes will be made. It’s actually a bad sign, I think, if I am not making mistakes because that means that I am not taking any chances. This is pretty unchartered territory and it’s important to remember that mistakes usually bring progress and growth. You just figure it out as you go and it all seems to work out, somehow.

Happy New Year everyone! I just got back from a week long sort of vacation all over Cambodia.

It all started the day after Christmas. I came down with a pretty bad fever and sore throat. It is pretty common for me to have throat issues if there is a change in season. It was a pretty crummy feeling to be so far from home during the holidays and then to get sick on top of that. I called the medical officer and went into PP. Everyone was there celebrating Christmas and it was really fun to get to see everyone. My original plan was to stay in Battambang for Christmas then travel to Kampot in the south. But since I went into PP for medical, I just decided to travel to Takeo to see my training host family in Takeo, which is 2 hours south of PP instead making the 6 hour trip back to site. I spent a few days with my training family. I was really refreshing to see them and it was a great escape. I was surprised at how at home I felt. Keiko and I were joking that Takeo is our stomping ground, so it was very familiar to go back. There were a few changes that I noticed immediately. First, it is harvest season and my host family is part of the vast majority of Cambodians that are farmers. They were harvesting rice and I was able to see the process. The fields were stripped of the crop and my family hired a man to come and essentially pound the rice grain against a table to separate the rice. This is the table that my host sisters ate on in the kitchen when I lived with them, but for harvesting, they moved it outside. The table is made of really thin planks so the rice falls through the cracks and creates a pile on the ground. Needless to say, there was a lot of rice around the front of the house. The second huge difference was that upon my arrival, I wasn’t greeted by five children sprinting down the lane, only two. The other three were studying English. Liney, the oldest who is in 8th grade studies at school and takes private classes at night, like most Cambodian students. But her sister, Lineat, who is 7, hasn’t started English at school (they don’t start studying English until 7th grade) was at a private class with her cousin, Jan Bo, who is 5. Just to be clear, my host family lives right next door to my host uncle, so the kids are really close and essentially split the time between the two houses. Although I technically lived with three host sisters, I feel like my two cousins were around just as much. Lineat and Jan Bo, the two younger ones are taking a class called English for Children, which is really great that they are starting out early. Learning English is so important for children because Cambodia is supposed to be the next up and coming country out of Southeast Asia. Learning English opens the door to much better jobs. For instance, Cambodians that work for Ngos make much more money than other jobs. In addition, bank tellers need to have some sort of background in English and that is a good job because there are so many banks all over, in the countryside and in the urban areas. Once they all came back from studying though, I was reuinted with my original posse, consisting of about 10 Cambodian kids all under 12.

I spent my time with my host family and was able to see a few other volunteers who were traveling there. There is a volunteer living and working in our training village and I was able to see him a lot and see what is happening at his school. Also, one of the Peace Corps language coordinators lives in Angtasom (the name of the village) and she has an amazing house and amazing family. We were invited over there two nights in a row to eat pizza and hang out. She rents rooms out to travelers, so we ended up just staying there at night. There was a family from New Zealand staying there and the dad gave me two wooden bats that he had a bunch of tennis balls. It was really nice of him and will make a great addition to the growing amount of equipment.

I went to Kampot, which is in the south on New Years day. A bunch of volunteers were there and we were all able to celebrate with each other, which is always really refreshing. We are all pretty isolated and far from each other, so it is really enjoyable to relax and get some reassurance that we are all in fact, going through many of the same things. It’s nice not to have to worry about lesson planning or grading papers and such. From Kampot, a group of us went to Rabbit Island, which is a small island off of Kep. We had to take a boat there and we stayed in little huts that didn’t have electricity most of the day and only cost $7 per night. The bed bugs bites that I discovered on the way home were not a surprise at all. We basically laid out and relaxed. The pace of life is pretty slow in Cambodia and it is even slower on the island. No one was in a rush to do anything and we were really able to enjoy each other’s company and not have to worry about much. The island is pretty small and there are a lot of Khmer people who come during the day to swim and then leave at night. There were some tourists, but it was never really flooded with people. The whole trip was pretty inexpensive considering how amazing the view is and how much fun we had.

I had to travel all the way from Rabbit Island yesterday and it was not fun. Rabbit Island is about 4 hours from PP and then BB is about 6 hours from PP. I had to stop in PP to get the H1N1 shot, which took about an hour and I couldn’t get out until 3:15 which means that I didn’t get home until 9. I accidentally left my phone with my friend Jessica on the island, so I had no way to communicate with my family, so I just sort of showed up at the house at 9, right before bed. While I had an amazing trip overall, I am really happy to be back to my schedule. I realized that I really enjoy having a schedule and plans. Being spontaneous is really fun, but I prefer (especially as a Peace Corps Volunteer) to have a purpose to every day.

I taught class today and I was really happy to be back in the classroom. I think I am making some progress with my 11C, but they still have a long way to go. We decided today to have two sessions of the test to get into English Club. It’s tricky because the students are always in class. They are so busy. American students are too, but because teachers hold private classes outside of class time, it’s tough to find a time that works for everyone. I think it will work out though.

I started my day off today with Dunkin Donuts coffee sent from my mom for Christmas in the French Press mug from Matt and Katie and it made a huge difference. I also felt like such a teacher sipping some coffee while talking. Starting the day with a cup of coffee makes a huge difference. I always thought that those commercials were super lame, but it’s so true. I also had a Carmello from Curt and it is simply unreal what a chocolate bar can taste like when you haven’t really had one for almost 6 months.

As for what the next few months look like, I will be really busy at school and at the university. I will probably have little trips on the weekend, but I will probably staying really close to Battambang for a while due to lack of funds and due to how much work is unfolding. We have in-service training in February in PP, but that is about my only plan until Khmer New Year, which is in April. I will be taking a trip somewhere, most likely Vietnam, with some friends. Besides that, I am just flying by the seat of my pants. While I was really happy to take a break from Battambang for a while, I was even happier to get back to site and resume what I am here to do.

Hello family and friends! I hope that everyone had a really great holiday season! I am posting this on Christmas Eve, after teaching my 11D class. So, Merry Christmas to those back home! This is going to be a loooong entry, to brace yourselves!

Tomorrow, for Christmas, I will be celebrating in a rather unorthodox way. I only teach one class on Friday, which is 11B from 7-9. Those students are really great, so I decided to have a one hour Christmas party from 7-8 and then let them go an hour early. We will eat candy and listen to Christmas songs then I will then rush across the street to get wireless to call Maura on skype and talk to my whole family at the Annual Christmas Eve party at the Waldron’s. There are so many new babies, I cannot wait to meet them!!! It will be really great to talk to everyone. Although I am not homesick, I wish that I could magically appear at the house for the party then head back here. But, clearly that is impossible, so I will do the next best thing, which is to call and talk to everyone. Thanks goodness for technology!

I was able to go to my first wedding on Friday, December 18. Wedding season takes place during the dry season, usually. Cambodians are, generally, very superstitious and many of the traditions within the Buddhist religion here in Cambodia are dependent on the lunar calendar. A perfect example is weddings- the time of year you get married in depends on the year that you are born. I have heard my host brother Manlee talk about his star sign a lot- he is a rat and his son is a pig. The first time he mentioned it I was really confused as to why he kept calling Chun Lai a pig. So, therefore, someone who may have to get married during the rainy season or the hot season because of the year they were born in. So, the wedding that I went to was the daughter of one of the teachers at my school. Now, you are probably confused as to why I was even invited, but weddings are very open, so therefore the bride’s father invited literally every teacher at the school. The first time I talked to him was when he handed me the invitation. It’s also a really big deal to have foreigners at weddings, and that was very clear when I walked in with two other teachers and the former school director. Traditional Khmer wedding clothes for women are really extravagant and colorful, but I haven’t really had time to get any clothes made for the occasion. My host mother makes wedding clothes, but she has been so busy lately, I didn’t want to ask her to take time out of her busy day to make some clothes for me, but at the same time, it would probably be insulting if I went to another tailor. As for the invitations, in America, it is pretty much standard to send a save the date a few months in advance, but engagements here last only a few months on average, so there is not much notice. I got the invitation maybe on December 9th and the wedding was on the 18th. I knew that it was going to be weird, but there are few encounters these days that aren’t. The wedding started at 11 and we arrived around 11:15. I noticed right away that the room was divided into males on one half and females on the other half. I walked in with three middle aged men and didn’t know what else to do, so I sat with about 9 middle aged men. It became very obvious that not only was I one of about 5 females on the wrong side, but I was the only westerner. I also was one of the only women without wedding clothes. It’s important to note that wedding clothes for men are pretty standard. My coteacher wore the same thing he wears to school. Formal occasions for women here seem to be so stressful. They have these beautiful, elaborate dresses with updoes that must take hours and loads of make-up. Like most Asian countries, most people usually apply skin-whitening lotion daily. I often talk to my family about how my view of skin is just the opposite of theirs- I want to have their skin and they want to have mine. It’s funny how at first I didn’t understand how they can want so badly to change their complexion, then I realized that I am the same, it’s just that I pay of lot of money and spend a lot of time to make my skin dark. I was accidentally using a whitening face wash and my face looked really weird. So, the makeup that the women wear makes their skin look very light. I have a picture in my most recent facebook album of a girl about my age going to a dinner dance party. It is a prefect example of what dress up looks like here. Besides the clothing, there really weren’t that many differences in weddings. Granted I did not attend the actual ceremony but rather the reception. The reception is much the same in Cambodia as it is in America. They cut the cake, throw the bouquet, everyone eats a lot and drinks even more. There was a band and a DJ. Cambodians know how to have fun. While it was really awkward during the meal, the men did not waste much time drinking. Because of my Irish heritage, I can appreciate the rush to drink as much as possible, I have been there myself a few times. It is a very strange position to be put in because it was a Friday afternoon and I had a private lesson with a student at 2, so clearly I didn’t want to drink before that. In addition to that, half of the boys from my 11B class were working the reception, filling up ice and handing out drinks and beer. I drank Coke through the meal and it was obvious that the people I knew there (the teachers) did their fair share of drinking and man, they were so much fun. I haven’t really been able to get to know them personally because it has been at a school setting, but we were able to put our guards down and have some fun. Three of the teachers got on stage and sang karaoke and one even did a duet with the singer of the band. Cambodians love music and love to sing. So, once the meal was over and everyone was mingling, most of the teachers came over to talk. I was rather taken aback when I realized that many of the teachers who aren’t English teachers can actually speak English. As is the custom in Cambodia, you always do a little cheers before you drink and clink glasses with everyone you are with. All of the teacher who came over to say hi and chit chat were cheersing my Coke, then one teacher took an ABC beer and filled me glass. It’s tough to strike a balance between not really wanting to take part in the festivity of drinking without coming across as condescending or awkward. So, I though that one beer would be ok. So I drank my one beer and had a good time with the teachers. A few of them have students that I teach and it was really great to get to know them. We left around 1:30 and I was dropped off at home. I went to the basically deserted school and met with the student that I have been working with. A few teachers were at the school when I finished tutoring Elvis. I don’t think they taught- I think that they came to school just to continue hanging out. I talked with them for about ten minutes and they asked a lot of questions about me. Here is verbatim the conversation I had with a teacher:

Teacher: Are you married?

Kealan: No.

T:Why not?

K: I don’t know, I haven’t met anyone that I want to marry.

T: How old are you?

K: 22.

T: Well I have a son who is 25 years old and he came back from Malaysia to marry you. He is very tall and very handsome.

K: Oh really? Well, he probably doesn’t want to marry me, I don’t think.

T: Are you drunk?

K: No, I only had a half of a beer.

T: I think you had 5.

K: Nope, only one.

T: How long will you stay in Cambodia?

K: 2 years. But I must go home now.

This teacher is a Khmer Lit teacher and is a really nice teacher and was one of the first to talk to me and try to make me feel comfortable. The previous conversation was all in jest, not putting pressure on me in any way. He has a really contagious laugh and seems like the life of the party. I am really starting to pick up on the fact that many of the teachers, as well as the students, are starting to get used to me being here. In addition, they are realizing that I will stay here for a while. There was another Peace Corps volunteer who worked at my school maybe 2 years ago, but he was never at the school and kept to himself. He left after one year and it seems like he didn’t really have much to do with the school. They really don’t talk about him ever, so I take that as a sign that they must have been disappointed in his distance from the school. At first I was sort of upset that the teachers weren’t really trying to talk to me more, because Cambodians are so friendly and they want you to feel comfortable. I realized that it could have something to do with the previous volunteer and the way that he interacted with his colleagues. It makes me happy though that they are starting to go out of their way to talk. I have definitely noticed that there are a few teachers who always laugh and joke around with me. I think that it’s really important to have a relationship with the other teachers because one of the goals of PC is to teacher the other teachers student- centered learning strategies. There is no reason why I can’t be friends with the teachers too. I spend most of my time at the school, as do they, so the personal questions about me, my family and background make me happy.

I have two more weddings coming up. I have one on the 26th for a teacher’s daughter and then my host cousin, Makara, is getting married on the 27th. I told my host brother Huck that I feel so strange at those events because I don’t know anyone and I don’t know what to do. He told me that people get so happy when they are able to share a holiday with a foreigner. About two months ago, I went to a festival with my host mother at her brother-in-law’s house. I was pretty miserable, but the man who held the festival told my host mother that he was so happy that a “barang”, as we are called, came to his ceremony. It reflects really well on the family if a barang (which is the Khmer word for French, but Cambodians use this word to describe anything from the west) tries to take part in the service and is respectful. So, this is probably why people want me to come to their parties and events. It’s fine with me, they are super fun.

Life at home is going really well. My host brother and I get along really well and he is learning so much English. My room is really great and I have my daily and weekly schedule pretty much set. I am really independent and come and go without guilt or a barrage of questions (unlike at my training host family). But at the same time, I feel very integrated here. I spend a lot of time with my host niece and nephew, Chun Liap and Chun Lai. I always sit outside at the table and write in my journal every other day. Chun Lai, my 3 year old host nephew, usually sits with me and shares my iPod. Last week, he asked Huck for an old notebook that he now uses as his journal and we sit together and journal. Clearly he does not know how to write, but I think he sees me doing it and he wants to write, too. While we are writing, he usually pauses once in a while and asks (in Khmer, but I have translated…) “Sister Kealan, what are you doing?” I responded “I am writing in my book. What are you doing?” to which he responds “I am writing in my book, just like Kealan.” The first time he did it, it broke my heart. We usually chill together before dinner then for an hour after dinner. We have been playing this one game a lot recently. I like to call it the “wear a bag on your head while the other person tries to knock it off with a balled- up bag”. He loves that game. At 8:00 on the dot I retire to my room and usually go to bed shortly after. Am I embarrassed that my three year old host nephew stays up later than I do and wakes up earlier than I do? Maybe a little. We have a good time, though. The girl, Chun Liap, has downs syndrome and is very attached to her mother and father, but there have been a few times lately when we are playing and her parents try to take her away, she cries. She cannot really speak, but she does say “ba”, “be” and “by”. She always makes a point to say “ba bye” when I go into my room or go anywhere near my bike. Even when her mom takes her to bathe, she says ba bye. She is so cute and I really like to have kids around because it takes the stress away from not really being able to communicate. Chun Lai talks to me a lot and sometimes I understand, sometimes I don’t. But I listen to him talk and usually we just play. It’s a good stress reliever and it’s really great to come home and be greeted by smiling Cambodian faces.

I talked to my school director on Tuesday about starting an English Club for more advanced students. He was all for it and gave me total support. The plan of action is to have a test on January 9th for grades 12, 11 and 10. Of those grades, I will most likely take the top ten and start a club of about 30 kids. While I feel horrible that I will be turning some kids away, it is simply impossible to have a club with all of the students who are interested; there are about 1,000 kids in each grade. I am going to continue my office hours and work with any students who ask for help. My Wednesday sessions with Elvis Presley now include James Earl Jones and Horace Mann now. I think that more kids will ask for more help once they realize what I mean by having free time and wanting to work with them. The club will most likely meet 3 times a work during lunch and we will do more hands on activities such as student run discussion, writing assignments, peer revision, public speaking, etc. It is impossible to do some of these activities in class because either the students don’t understand what I am talking about or there is just not enough. For instance, in my 11D class, we read a little one page passage about education in Cambodia and I spent about 45 minutes explaining words from the passage that the students didn’t understand. It will be fun to be able to work with students who are able to do more accelerated activities. I have also been in contact with the University of Management and Economics (UME) about working there. I decided that I didn’t really want to teach and because Eddie and Darlene (two other volunteers who live in Battambang) are doing workshops, I agreed to work with their English Club. Working with them at the UME will be different than at the high school because the UME English Club is totally student run. I have to completely create this club from scratch at my school, but the club at the university has already been created the club. I will just offering some assistance in the way of correcting the students. The way that the club is set up at the university is the club consists of about 30 students, but because they can’t all meet at the same time (Khmer students are SOOOO busy), they broke the club into 9 groups of 3-4 students. I agreed to meet with each group once a month and hold one open hour a week for any of them to ask questions. That way I will be working with the club for 13 hours a month, which is reasonable, and I will be able to work with them all. This will all start after the new year. Between the two clubs and teaching, I will have my work cut out for me. This will keep me very busy for a few months, until I have that under control and then I will start something different, probably apart from teaching, maybe a sports team? Who knows. Weekends will most likely be my only free time, but I will probably find something really quickly to fill up that time.

The other day, I came across a blog and the person who wrote it was basically making fun of Khmer students trying to speak English. I want to make one thing clear: the only person that I intend to make fun on this blog is myself. I understand that I came into another country- they have their own culture, values and traditions, who am I to undermine them? I have a few skills that I am trying to carry over into this country to help further the development that is just starting here. There are some things that I are very different that I want to share with you, but I think it’s really important to keep in mind that I am not here to change their culture, rather I am here to embrace it and share mine. When I get back to America, I will want to share what I learned about Cambodian people, traditions and culture with you. The goal is to create friendships by realizing how similar we actually are instead of identifying differences and exploiting them. On the surface, we may seem different, but after five months, I can honestly say that people are people wherever you go. Likewise, on the subject of the students- it is so difficult to learn English when Khmer is your language. Khmer people are very laid back and have simplifying down to an art. While English is very complicated with tenses, subject-verb agreement and so on, Khmer language makes everything so simple. What I mean by simple is that in English we tend to throw in a bunch of extra words, but in Khmer, you get right to the point. For instance, in English, a common questions is “Do you have any water?” but in Khmer you ask, “Mein tuk at?” which very directly means, “Have water not” or as we would say, “Do you have water or not?” And the response is either “Mein” which is “have” or “at” which is “not”. The fact that the students have any sort of skill at speaking a language as complex as ours is a testament to their determination and hard work. I was really upset by this post because I know how much I struggle with learning Khmer. The mistakes that the students make are ones that in the end are really difficult to grasp. Instead of ridiculing the students for their mistakes, I think we should be praising them for their progress (which was a vocab word for grade 11 this week).

Have a great (and safe) New Year! I will be heading down to the beaches of Kampot with my friends to bring in 2010! Miss you all!

Hello everyone!

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post, but things in Cambodia have been pretty crazy. Picking up where I left off.....

We visited Whitney in Pursat town. There was a group of us that took a ramourt (the best way to describe it is a motorcycle that pulls a big flatbed truck) There were about ten of us. The tricky part about traveling in Cambodia is that there are hardly any fixed prices, so travel isn’t just getting on a bus and that’s that. You need to fight for it. We laugh because that’s how eating is too. To eat anything, you need to cook it thoroughly enough, soak it in bleach or find something that can be peeled. That is how travel is. We met at the Tela at 6:00 am and spent at least 20 minutes arguing with the tuk tuk drivers because we refused to spend more than one dollar to get into Takeo. We finally got on a ramourt for 2,000 riehl, about 50 cents and went into Takeo. For the record, they use dollars and riehl in Cambodia, so either works. As we are on our ramourt, we picked up or dropped off many people along the way, so it took a little longer than usual to get into town. We met the Traing group at the Tela in Takeo and negotiated bus prices and found one for 5,000 riehl per person. The group split up and we headed off to Phnom Penh. We started out with 9 Americans and our driver, but Khmer drivers will go to great lengths to fit as many people as possible in the car. We picked up 5 or 6 more people, so there were 14 of us in a 9 passenger van. But that really wasn’t even bad at all- one group had 38 people in one bus, 8 were on the roof. When we finally made it to Phnom Penh, we split off and Jessica, Keiko and I negotiated a tuk tuk to the bus station. Our driver dropped us off at the wrong place, so we had to get another one. When we finally got to the bus station, we bought our tickets for $7, which we found out was way to much, but we didn’t know how to negotiate that because there was no way for us to prove that it was too much. If a fruit vendor pulls that, we just walk to the next stall, but when we have to take a bus to get to where we are going, we sort of have to deal with it. It was 9:30 when we bought our tickets for the 11:00 bus. We wanted a little time to walk around the big city- we ended up at a KFC and it was unreal. All the meat here is full of bones, so half of dinner is spent pulling bones out of my mouth because that is how you do it. If you try to remove the bones beforehand, it is weird. The boneless chicken sandwiches and fries were out of this world, even though it was 10:00. When we walked back to the bus station, the bus was basically waiting for us and we got front row. The trip was about 3 and a half hours and it was so great to see the north. We have been in the south for so long that we were eager to see what the rest of the country is like.

We met up with Whitney and Bri (another K2). Bri had two K3s coming to visit, but since her site is so far, they stayed with us at the guest house in Pursat town. We checked into the room (it was $5 per night and actually had a shower head and a sit down toilet, even though it didn’t flush!) We walked to the market and went to the Chinese drink shop and bought pasta and the makings for sauce (although the sauce was more Khmer than Italian). Whitney is friends with a girl who works for an Australian NGO (non-governmental organization) and lives at her own house with a kitchen. We made garlic bread and pasta- it may have been the worst pasta in America, but it tasted oh so good. We were so happy to just hang out with Whitney, Bri and Dani (the Australian) and just talk about what to expect in the first year. They helped us gain a lot of insight as to what we should say in our interviews for our site placement (which I will talk about later...)

We woke up the next morning, got breakfast and took a tuk tuk 40 minutes to a floating village in Pursat. We hired a man to give us a little one hour tour on his boat. It was pretty crazy to see some of the things- they had a floating gas station, one family was “moving” which meant that they pulled their house by boat to another place. It was incredibly sad to see because there were so many children there, but they have nothing to do. The water is so polluted and there is no where for them to run around and play. Their social interaction consisted of waving to us and saying hello. This village also has one of the biggest crime rates in the country because there is nowhere for people to retreat to. All in all, it was a very interesting aspect of Khmer culture to see.

That night, we went to dinner at a restaurant pretty close to the guest house. We had a good time just laughing and hanging out. It was enjoyable for all of us to have a break from training and I had to remind myself that we weren’t in America because it was the first time that we didn’t have to really guard what we were saying and how we were acting.

The next morning, we woke up at 5:30 and bought our tickets for the trip back to Phnom Penh. All of the K2s made plans to head back into PP (as we call it) to spend a little time there. Whitney knows a lot about PP, so when she told us about the place where she gets massages, we were all over it. First, we got pizza and it was so good. Cheese doesn’t really exist in Cambodia because refrigeration doesn’t really exist, so having cheese was unreal. We took our time eating our pizzas and enjoyed every bite. After pizza, Keiko, Jessica andI took a tuk tuk to the spa Whitney told us about. We all opted for the hour long massages and it was worth the $12 we spent. We all decided that when we swear-in as volunteers, we are going to treat ourselves to a spa day (which will be less than $40).

When we left the spa, we wanted to meet up with some other trainees to head back to site. We had trouble negotiating a tuk tuk and then a car back to Takeo. When we finally loaded 6 people plus a driver into a compact little car, we headed off for Takeo, for about a block then we were stuck in traffic for 2 hours. There was a bus in front of us and motos and tuk tuks all around- traffic jams in the US are NOTHING compared to traffic jams here. Oh another thing- traffic laws (and signs for that matter) simply do not exist here. We think that the unspoken rule is to honk when you pass someone. It is pretty rare to see street lines and way too common to see people driving on the other side of the road.

We started practicum this week and I am halfway through it. Since I do not have any formal experience with a real class, I was very nervous. I spent the past three days teaching 10th graders English for 45 minutes. I was shocked when my lessons didn’t crash and burn. I know that I have a lot to improve on, but that will come with experience. I actually really enjoy teaching. It is very different here though. Peace Corps and the K2s really prepped us on how Khmer students are, but it is very different when there are 30 Khmer students sitting in front of you. When you think of American classrooms, I think of a classroom that is buzzing with noise, students speaking with confidence, asking questions and maybe even some disagreement or argument. Well, Khmer classrooms have none of those qualities. Getting students to answer a question is a task in itself. They all know the answers and are incredibly smart, they are just so reluctant to put their hands up. They are also really cute when they answer a question because they stand up to address you. Just a quick note: Cambodia is all about titles. In the U.S., we refer to people as Mr., Mrs. and sometimes Dr. Well here, everyone has a title- anyone older is bong, younger is pa-own, teacher is lo crew for men and net crew for women, etc. So while I am teaching, the students call me Teacher or Cher for short (not pronounced like Cher the singer, more like how it is spelled). They are very shy and it was rare when a student asked me to explain something to the class that he was unsure about. Those students are rare and they are usually boys- the girls are very reserved. I will just have to learn the culture and norms as I go along. I will be teaching with a co-teacher tomorrow, so we will see how that goes.

Yesterday, we had our permanent site placement interviews and I took Whitney’s advice and told the two people who interviewed me exactly what I wanted and didn’t want. They make no guarantees but I am sure that they want to place people where they are going to be happy. Basically what I told them is this:

-I want to be at a big school because secondary projects (such as sports teams) are more likely to happen because funding is not as difficult.

-I want to be able to travel the country and not be confined to my site. So, I basically do not want a rural site. I do not need a provincial town, but something like Tramkak would make me very happy.

-I enjoyed having electricity and the internet. Because the internet has become the main form of communication in the US, those people from home who want to help me will most easily be reached through the internet. That doesn’t mean that I need to have internet, but I want to be able to go somewhere close and spend an hour a week at the internet cafe.

We will see how that goes, but that is what I told them. The rest of this week consists of finishing up student teaching. Next week is the mack daddy of all weeks- we are traveling to Takeo on Tuesday for an overnight seminar until Wednesday. We will spend Wednesday night with our host families and then we will head out to PP to meet with our co-teachers and then visit our permanent sites. That trip will take us into week 6, which is nuts to think about. I will be blogging once I found out where I am going next week, which should be Tuesday or Wednesday!

Hope all is well, miss you all!

This blog does not reflect the thoughts or opinions of the Peace Corps or the U.S. government. It reflects my own thoughts and opinions.

Today we had a little free time so I thought that I would use this window to let you all know what is going on in Tramkak....

Here are a few more updates to life in Cambodia in general:

Learning the language: In my town, there are 4 language groups and mine consists of JaNise who lives the closest to me and Nick, who lives second closest to me. We are lucky because most groups have 6 members, but we only have three. Some on that is luck and it also is because our 4th member, Jan, broke her ankle one of the first days we were in Tramkak and was sent home, unfortunately. So, learning the language for us is a good time because we come up with stupid pneumonic devices for everything. For instance, the word for yesterday sounds a lot like “muscleman”, so we all flexed our muscles and said the Khmer word in a manly voice. Our LCFs are patient in general, but for them to handle our actions and jokes after every word makes me think that they are going straight to heaven when they die (although they believe in reincarnation.) Also, verbs are usually coupled with water or rice because those are the two main things Khmer people eat and drink. For instance, instead of saying, “I am going to eat” the translation is “I am going to eat rice”, as if there was ever a question of what they are going to eat: it is always rice. To say I am full, it is “I am full of rice”. We laugh every time we learn a new verb because water (tuk) or rice (bye) is most likely going to be added on.

Daily life: Everywhere we go, we are still gawked at. There have been a few cat calls but the most common form of “harassment” as Peace Corps defines it, is people calling to us “Hello! What is your name? Where you go?” There is no time to respond and if you do, they have no idea what you just said anyway. We also get a little peeved when we see the same people who ask us the same question every single day. You know I am going to study Khmer and that my name is Kealan. On the really long days, we tend to get annoyed, but when a super cute kid works up the courage to speak to a “ba’rong” (foreigner), it always brings a smile to my face. It cracks me up about how much we complain about being the only westerners and how everyone always stares at us because we are so different. But, the second another westerner comes into Tramkak, we stop what we are doing and stare at them like the Khmer villagers do to us. We all whisper to each other what we think they are doing here and where they are from. This hypocrisy makes me laugh because it puts us in such a bad mood when we are on the receiving end, but the second we have a chance to gaze at on outsider, we are all over it.

For those of you who are looking to send things over, disregard what I said in my last post. We went to Takeo for a seminar day and they gave us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and I have never been so excited to eat the simplest American meal. So those of you who want to send things over, not only will I be eternally grateful, my diet consists of broth with some boney meat, green veggies and maybe bamboo on a good day over rice. Honestly, I will take anything. We are able to get some things, but the Japanese cannot do junk food like Americans can.

We went on a field trip to Phnom Da on Saturday and it was great to see some more of the country. I was also able to learn a lot more about the history of Cambodia, which is not really emphasized. Just to give you a background, history is not a requirement in high school. We took a boat 40 km through some of the prettiest scenery I have ever seen. Since it is the rainy season, we were able to take a boat taxi. During the dry season, however, the “river” transforms into rice patties. After 30 minutes, we landed about 5 km away from Phnom Da (phnom means mountain) and went to a museum with artifacts from the Funan dynasty. We got back on the boats and went to 10 minutes to Phnom Da, which is the name of the wat and temple, it isn’t the name of a city, like I thought. As soon as we got off the boats, we were swarmed by 30 little kids, asking for food or money or both. They walked with us up this little hill and we went to the ruins of the wat. There was an unbelievable view of the water and surrounding area. The Vietnam border is only 5 km away, so we were able to see Vietnam from the mountain. We then went to a little temple that was a 5 minute walk from the wat. We ate lunch as a group and gave our leftovers to the “Lord of the Flies” group of kids that didn’t leave our side for the day. We walked around the inside 3 times, which is supposed to bring good luck. Hopefully it works. We then walked through the forested area to get to the most disappointing waterfall I have ever seen. It was basically a 5 foot pool full of green water. Since the wet season has not been very wet, the waterfall was not much of a waterfall. We walked back to the boats

Tomorrow, Keiko, Jessica and I are heading out on our “Kampuchea Adventure.” That basically means that we are going to visit a K2 in her permanent site. The K2 is Whitney and she is in the Pursat province. She is in the provincial town (which means that we will be staying at a guest house!) The funny part about staying at a guest house is that it makes hostels look like the Sheraton. We slowly downgraded in housing from San Francisco to Bangkok to Phnom Penh to Takeo. When we got to Takeo, the bathroom consisted of a sit down toilet and hose (notice lack of toilet paper) and a shower head. When we signed up for Pursat, we were so excited at the thought of a sit down toilet and shower head. We met Whitney when we first got to Cambodia and she is extremely helpful. We will be gone from tomorrow (Thursday) until Saturday. When I told my family that I would be gone for 3 days, they all told me that they would miss me (at least I think they did, my Khmer still needs to improve a lot).

Sometimes we get frustrated with how little Khmer we know, but we have been here for less than 3 weeks. It feels like much more than that.

On another note, malaria pills make you have weird dream. Bridget- Paige was in my dream the other night and I brought her to Cambodia. I don’t want to share some of the others because they are really weird. They have been really vivid and sometimes I wake up and need to assess where I am. My host parents have a habit of waking me up just a few minutes before my alarm clock is supposed to go off and I am not sure how they are able to manage that. But, when I wake from these weird dreams, I feel really discombobulated and it takes me a second to realize that I am not in Jersey or Oak Park and this person saying my name with a weird accent is my new roommate.

A few of us have come up with a little quote to help us when we start to feel bad for ourselves- this is my life. For instance, when I was practicing Khmer and a beetle the size of my ipod flew into my face and I screamed and my family laughed at me, I simply said to myself, this is my life. But there are other times, like when I finally make a complete sentence in Khmer that my family can understand and I comprehend the answer, I feel good while saying, this is my life.

I miss you all and for those of you that have little babies (Kel, Bridge and soon to be Col) I would love to get pictures and such of the babies so I feel like I can actually see them grow up a little.

This blog does not represent the Peace Corps or the U.S. government. This blog represents my own thoughts and opinions.

Hi everyone. Sorry that the last post got messed up, not sure how that happened with that and this is the first time that I have been back to the internet cafe in town. I will try to pick up where I left off in Tramkak...

First of all, I love all of the comments and I feel horrible that I cannot respond as I wish I could. I hope you all understand how little time I actually have. We are also trying to indulge ourselves in the culture and the internet is not a huge part of their culture like it is in America. Plus the computers totally suck.

We went into the provincial town in Takeo for a seminar day. It was the first time that we were all able to get together, so it is a really good time. Our 2 days there consisted of more cultural lessons, health seminars, etc. So that night we decided to go out to dinner as a big group. The boys went to this restaurant across the street from our guest house and we met up with them. They were raving about how great the service was and the girls are used to it because men are typically treated better. It wasn’t until we noticed their clothes and when the boys told us that they were getting massages that we put two and two together and realized that we were at a brothel. One of the volunteers told us what to look out for so we don’t end up in another one. No wonder the food did not taste good; they weren’t cooks.

One of my favorite stories is that I wear a lot of headbands because it is so damn hot and my hair has a mind of its own with this humidity. My host cousin brought a towel from her house and tied it around her head to look like me, which was adorable. I gave my host sisters and my host cousin one headband each and I have not seen them without them since that day. They are the most enjoyable part of the experience.

Peace Corps intentionally makes training really busy, but we are all getting a little burnt out. We study Khmer from 7:30 til 11:30 and eat lunch right after. Our bikes are not the best, so I usually walk into town at 12:30 and we have culture lessons from 1:00-5:00 and we have to be home immediately after that. One day in particular, I was getting really frustrated with the set up and language. My host sister, who is 3 (I think), was really scared of me and whenever I tried to talk to her, she would run away. Well, this one really bad day I turned into the path to my host family’s house and my town littlest host sisters ran up to meet me, like they always do. But that day, my littlest sister grabbed my hand and held it all the way back to the house. It was so subtle, but it made me feel so much better.

Tomorrow, we are taking a field trip to Phnom Da. There are 5 different locations and group of us signed up for this one because it is an hour boat trip to the town. I am really excited to see another part of the country. Next week is going to be nuts, we are taking a 3 day field trip to see other Peace Corps volunteers who have been in Cambodia for a year already. It will be really great to see what life will be like.

As for the language, it hit me the other day how much respect I have for my language and culture facilitators (LCFs) because going from Khmer to English is so difficult. Khmer is so simple, it made me realize just how complicated English is. For instance, directly translating “I am mad at you” to Khmer is “I mad you”. They also have some words that have so many meanings. “Nom” is the word for any cake- rice cakes, donuts, banana chips, etc. We have a word for everything. They have spent so many years learning English and they decided to stay in Cambodia. They could have easily left and gone to another country, but they decided to stay here and try to make a difference. One LCF, Dara, learned both English and Thai in a refugee camp during the Khmer Rouge period. Thai is more complicated than English, he says. It really makes me have so much respect for them, because they worked so hard to learn English and most are teachers, and teachers make so little money here.

As for things to send to me, I would really appreciate just letters in general. I will be able to write more letters because it doesn’t require internet to respond. Unless you can send a deep dish pizza, there is not much that I really need or want. That also may change.

Please keep the comments coming! I love reading them although I do not have time to respond!

This blog does not reflect the opinion of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps. This blog reflects my opnions alone.

Here is my address:

Kealan Waldron

Peace Corps

PO Box 2453

Phnom Penh 3

Cambodia

Today was our first day off from training and it couldn’t have come at a better time. We are all so tired and we all really missed each other, so we met up at the Tela this morning. I slept in until 7:15 and walked into town and met everyone at the Tela, which is probably the equivalent to a regular gas station or 7-11 in the U.S. Our day is going to consist of walking around town and hanging out. Peace Corps has done a really good job of keeping us busy, so a free day is just what we needed.

Not too much crazy stuff has happened since my last post, so I thought that I would share some general observations and stories. First, my sisters are probably the cutest girls in the world and my cousins are just as much fun. The four girls and two boys are always waiting for me to do something “American” and sometimes try to mimic me. For instance, I wear headbands a lot because it is so damn hot and humid here. One day I was wearing one and my cousin ran home and tied a towel around her head to look like me. I gave all 4 of them headbands and there hasn’t been a time that they aren’t on their heads. Another funny one- I was eating dinner with my parents and they pointed to a dish that had some meat in it. I try to avoid the meat because they don’t take the bones out and it is awkward when I bite into one. So, they put some on my plate and pointed to it and told me to eat in Khmer and told me that it was monkey. Now, I am open to eating different things (I tried ants the other night) but monkey is where I draw the line. They saw my face and repeated monkey a few times and when I didn’t budge, they acted out a chicken. Thank goodness it was NOT a monkey but instead chicken because that would have gotten real weird real quick.

Some general differences in Cambodia:-Eating: I eat with my mom and dad for lunch and dinner while the girls...

This blog does not reflect the opinions or thoughts of the Peace Corps or the US government. It reflects my thoughts and opnions only.

I am officially with my host family! I am in the town of Tramkok in the province of Takeo, about 10 km from the hub site where we were all week. We had a day of training which consisted of getting more shots, getting supplies from the market (including teaching skirts and shirts), a language lesson and a bike lesson. We were taught the day before about things that weren’t too appealing- doing laundry (which is all done by hand) and going to the bathroom in a whole in the ground without toilet paper. I will leave it at that. But yesterday, as we were walking up to training, one of the other volunteers, who is one of the first people that I became friends with, needed to go home because his father passed away. It was incredibly sad and we were trying to be as supportive as we could have been, but he handled himself very well. We headed back to Phnom Penh and in in transition back to Georgia right now. He will be back in about 2 weeks, but please keep him and his family in your prayers. That was his only request. I know this is a sad topic, but it is something that we all fear and my heart goes out to him that it happened.

After training, we packed a backpack full of things to get us through the week, locked up our other belongings and set off for our towns. I lucked out and got placed with the best language teacher, Kim Kong, and I am close to a few friends. There are three other people in my language cluster, one boy and two other girls. The entire Tramkok group (the others went to Traing, which is more rural) went to a wat in town. When we walked into the wat, the monks performed a blessing ceremony for us. We had no idea what they were saying, but they the point of the ceremony was to offer protection for our time in Tramkok. It was my first experience in a wat and it was beautiful. There was a group of older men who began a chant and then the monks took over the chant and blessed us with water (much like what the prients does during lent) and threw flower petals and candy at us. It really sounds strange, but it was a great welcome, although we had no idea what they were saying. We were on our knees and offered incense to them when they were done.

After the ceremony, the police chief welcomed us as honored guests to the town. Then came the fun: the host family announcement. One by one, they called our names and then called our host family name and we looked around to see who it was. I was towards the end and was soooo relieved when a woman stood up who was around 35 years old. She brought her 4 year old daughter with her and her husband. I said that it was going to be super awkward, but it was not nearly as weird as I thought it was going to be. From the little Khmer that I have learned, I found out that they have 3 daughters- 3 years old, 7 years old and 12 years old. Those numbers a little deceiving because in Khmer culture, the children all turn one year older on New Years, not their birthdays. After the ceremony, we were all dropped off at our houses. I met the other girls and they set me up in my room. We chit chatted (if you can call my very broken Khmer and a lot of motioning chit chatting) and then ate dinner. The 12 year old is learning English in school and is actually very good, so between the two of us, we are able to get the point across. My host mother’s sister lives right next door and she has 3 children- a boy around 11, a girl around 4 and a boy around 3. Their grandpa lives on the same plot of land- he stopped by last night and today to check up on the American. A few people that I do not know have come by to get a look at me. Where ever we go, there are always a bunch of people who gather round to see us. They observe everything and if they know how to say anything in English, they do. We ate dinner, watched a little tv, I showered and then went to my room. I talked to my friend Jacqueline, who is in Traing, last night. She has the exact opposite situation as me and referred to her situation as “real Peace Corps in the 60s.” She has no electricity- I was talking to her while a fane was blowing on me. She has no bed- clearly I have one. There were chickens running around her “room”, while she was sitting on a mat on the floor that doubled as a bed. Her host family does not know any English and it seemed very awkward. When I told her that I am fairly confident that I have the best host situation of the entire group, she said that she is fairly confident that she has the worst. Needless to say, I am super happy with my set-up.

Today started with a rude awakening at 5:30 by roosters. I never realized that roosters don’t actually sound like they do in the cartoons. Instead of saying “cock-a-doodle-do” it sounds more like “cock-a-doodle-crook””, and it really is not pleasant. I showered (showering is more like pouring water from a big basin over yourself in the bathroom outside”) and walked into town to meet up with Kim Kong and my group. By the way, the shower is really not as bad as it sounds. The thing that cracks me up is there is a gecko that lives in the bathroom, which I am thankful for because he eats all of the bugs. The firs time I showered, he sorta scared me because he was staring at me showering. I felt like I was in one of those Geiko commercials.

I will update later because I need to run to dinner and if I am not home by a certain time, it really does not reflect well on myself.

The thoughts and opinions in this post are mine alone and do not reflect the opinions of the Peace Corps or the U.S. goverrnment.

I just spent the past half hour writing out an awesome post, but Mozilla shut down and now I have to restart it. I guess that is the price you pay for paying around 10 cents a minute for internet. We are in the Takeo province right now, which is about 2 hours from Phnom Penh. Our time is Phnom Penh was really short lived, since we got there at 11 on Friday night and left Saturday afternoon. From what I have seen so far of this country, the people are unbelievably warm and welcoming and the landscape is unlike anything that I have seen. Whenever we are walking to or from training, we stop for a second and just take in just how unreal this experience is.

To pick up from my last blog, we went to the guest house after getting in from Bangkok. Keiko and I were too tired to do anything, so we just went to sleep. We were so thrown off and ended up walking up at 4 and convinced ourselves to go back to bed until 6. At breakfast that morning, we were approached by everyone and we really had no problem rubbing in how great Bangkok is. We missed out on the first day in Cambodia, but I am pretty sure we got the better end of the deal.

We spent that day at our first day of orientation, which consisted of getting shots, our cell phones, taking pictures, etc. The orientation ended with the Undersecretary for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports welcoming us to the country. It was a Saturday and the three representatives took time out of their weekend to meet with us, which was a great honor for us.

After the session with the MOEYS, we got into the vans and made the trip to Takeo. We are right in the middle of town and we are in walking distance to everything. Just to give you a little insight into Cambodian lifestyle, almost everyone has a bike or moto, either brand new or looks like it is from the 80s. Needless to say, traffic is INSANE!

The food is unbelievable. I have been getting a coconut a day, which is so refreshing and tasty. There also are fruit smoothies, called tuk a luks. We drink a lot of those. Just to give you an idea of how poor this country is, we went out to dinner our first night in Takeo with our Khmer instructors to dinner a few blocks away from our guest house, which seems more like a hostel than a hotel. My dinner was $2,which included a soup, veggie dish and fish dish, plus bananas for dessert and a Sprite. When we asked Kim Kong, one of our instructors, he told us that this was a pricey meal. We spend around we spent $1.25 this morning for breakfast and had more than our fill. The food is very different and not what I was expecting. Everything is really hot and there is not such thing as breakfast food. We ate chicken porridge for breakfast the first day. Another suprise is how much they put cilantro and mint in the dishes. We are trying to learn portion control and take it easy during our meals, but the food is so damn good, it is really difficult not to. I was suprised to find that cilantro and mint are in many of the dishes here.

The next 9 weeks will start tomorrow with our departure for the two towns in the province of Takeo, which is pronounced ta kay o. We will be meeting our host families tomorrow and begin living with them tomorrow night. We are all really nervous about this because we only know a few things to say. We know how to say hello, jim rap sua. My name translates to kim yon chimua Kealan and how are you is Gneck soke sa bye tay. The only other thing I know how to say is I am from America, kim yon mock bee Americk. Besides that, there will be a lot of pointing, sign language and motions. The volunteers ahead of us said that it will be the most awkward thing of our lives. If it really is the most awkward thing of my life,I really scared because I have been in some really awkward situations. More on that after I meet them.

Here is what a typical day is for me over the next 9 weeks:

-530 wake up and run with the running crew- I know, I know, this is very unlike me, but it is a great way to explore the city, bond with my volunteers and just a great way to start the day

-from 530 until 8 I will be getting ready for the day, so showering, eating breakfast, maybe some laundry, who knows.

-8-12 is when we have our language courses in our cluster classes. We are divided into 2 towns and in those towns, there are 4 groups, which are our cluster groups. There will be 3 to 4 of us

-12-1 is lunch

-1-5 is other culture/teaching/tradition classes

-5 go to host family and eat dinner

-530 dinner with host family and gates lock, so I am not allowed to leave

-730 ish is time for bed. The time before bed will be time with my family, time to read and write in my journal and general alone time.

In general, I am so happy. I called home last night and talked to my mom and Maura. I was bummed my dad wasn't there, but I was so happy to touch base. Keiko and I were talking about how great it is to call home and not stop talking about how this is the best experience and we are so happy. The group is really fun and we are getting along really well.

Well, I am going to head to dinner at the only Western place in the city- a burger place, so typical. We are going to be ultra American and drink some beers and play music in the courtyard at the guest house. There are plenty of stories, but now that I am a teacher, this 7 cents a minute for internet is going to get to me. I will tell all these stories once things settle down, because these days are jam packed, physically and emotionally.

I don't have much internet access, so please pass the link onto your family members and such. It is really difficult to send emails because the internet is so slow and the computers all are teeming with viruses. I enjoy the comments so much, so please keep them coming!

This blog purely reflects my own thoughts and opinions and does not reflect the thoughts and opinions of the Peace Corps or the U.S. government

My first post is going to consist of the past 4 days rolled into one, so stay with me. It is always confusing when you travel such a long way because the days tend to blend together, but I will do my best to capture the past few days.

I flew from Chicago to San Francisco on Tuesday morning and landed in the afternoon and headed to our hotel for staging. There were 45 of us present that first day, but one boy left halfway through, or at least that is what someone said. No one can actually remember what this kid looked like, but that is the word on the street. Staging is going to be boring to try to describe, so, basically, we all met in a conference room and had some ice breakers. We all got to know each other a little better and talked about days ahead of us. I went out to dinner that night with a bunch of kids in the Japanese area of the city. We were completely whiped out and I headed to bed around 10:00. When my roommate for the hotels came into the room, we ended up having pillow talk (Leah, don't think that you have been replaced, but I need someone to fill that void in my life). Her name is Keiko and she is from Seattle and went to University of Washington.

We woke up bright and early the next morning and went to the airport. We left at 1:35 for Tokyo, which was a ten hour flight. We were broken up into five groups based on our last names. So, in true end of the alphabet fashion, the T-Z's were all in the front of the plane sitting next to Japanese people who didn't know English. I am usually really good at sleeping on planes, but I couldn't, even though I took two sleeping pills. We had a few hours in Tokyo before we took off for Bangkok. I was out like a light before we took off and slept most of the flight. We got to Thailand around 12:30 am on Friday and went to a really sweet hotel for a few hours to get some rest. We left the airport at 5:30 for our flight. While we were attempting to check in, the ticket agent told us that Group 5 was all on the stand-by list because the flight was overbooked. After not getting on the flight and having 10 hours in Thailand, the group of nine of us headed into the city. We were not upset that we were left behind; quite the opposite, we had an awesome day. We went to the Golden Palace and saw the Emerald Buddha. We split into two groups because some people wanted to go on a tour and the others didn't. Keiko, Jacqueline (originally from Denver and went to USC) and Philip (who has a really thick southern accent) walked around the palace and the grounds. We all agreed that taking pictures was a disservice to how unreal the grounds were. The architecture was beautiful and the decoration was so intricate, it was really a great trip for us. Jacqueline and I had to rent clothing because her shoulders weren't covered and my ankles were showing.

After the Palace and temple. we walked across the stree to get some lunch. We had some really great Thai food and shared some laughs. We were all really excited that we were able to bond with each other because it is a really awkward experience to meet total strangers and travel to 4 different countries with them in 2 days. We were able to get to know each other and we all agreed that the kids who got left behind actually had a much better time. We walked around the city and looked at all of the monks going about their daily activities. Jacqueline, Keiko, Phil, RT and I all bought Ray Bans for 150 baht (which is $5) and they look pretty good. Beats Canal Street in New York.

The rest of the group spent the day with the current volunteers in Phnom Penh. We really had no idea what the plans were, but we will most likely stick to the original plan and head to Takeo for the beginning of training. Although we missed the first day in Cambodia, we all really wanted to see Bangkok and it will be 6 months before we can even leave Cambodia. Traveling has been a little rough on all of us, but our excitement to get to Cambodia and start language training and experiencing their culture is what is keeping us going.

Jacqueline said that she is going to help me become a better blogger, so I can guarantee more pictures and such next time. I am uploading my pictures onto facebook and snapfish right now, but it is taking so damn long. Send this link to anyone and please leave messages!

This blog purely reflects my own thoughts and opinions and does not reflect the thoughts and opinions of the Peace Corps or the U.S. government