Movie class

Blurry picture of some of my students after a dance performance

Movie Class

In July I started an externship with the Cambodian Living Arts (click on the "Cambodian Living Arts" tab at the top of the page to learn more about the organization) in Phnom Penh. It is a great opportunity to work with an arts organization in Cambodia as well as take a break from village life.

The summer in Cambodian villages is usually not very productive for volunteers (as far as teaching goes anyway) because school is out, it's rainy season, and the grade 12 students are studying hours a day for national exams and then immediately leave for University. In my village in particular, most students go to study in the bigger cities like Kampong Cham town (provincial district) and Phnom Penh (the capital).

My externship is for 3 months (July-September) in Phnom Penh. My main job is to teach English to the arts students. It has been really great because I am used to working with art students back in the states. In the village, most of the kids have not had exposure to foreigners at all and have never left home. Also, in most of their classes creative thinking or problem solving is not adressed. I found it very difficult (although rewarding) to work on this with them. The students I have now are wonderfully creative and some have been to the U.S. on tour so they ask these great questions about culture. Neither group of students is better than the other, but I have found it easier to make a connection with the arts students because of my own personal background.

I'm also looking forward to working on the administrative side in the office starting next week!

Temple

Mumbai

Traditional Southern Indian Food

Sari at wedding

Henna

Chinese Fishing Nets

I was invited to a wedding in India over the summer! I only went for a week because of commitments I had had in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. First I went to Bangkok, Thailand to take my GMAT exam. It was good to get that over with before enjoying my vacation in India.

Mumbai was an assault to my senses after living in Cambodia for one year. Life in Cambodia just has a different speed. After a one day tour of Mumbai I took a flight to Cochin in the State of Kerala. I had never been to the south before and I was pleasantly surprised. As I was landing I let out a sigh relief, (the hustle and bustle of Mumbai had unconsciously stressed me out). The landscape reminded me of a mix of Florida and Cambodia.

I spent 2 wonderful days in Fort Cochin at one of the most relaxing hotels I have ever been to. It was on the water and next to some beautiful Chinese Fishing nets. Next time I go back to India it will be straight to the south.

There I met up with Lauren (a Peace Corps friend) and went on a three hour car ride to the wedding site (still in Kerala). The wedding was great but still stressful, because our saris did not fit (mine in particular) and we spent a long time trying to pull the stitching out. I also discovered I did not really have the proper attire for the 2 day wedding events and had to scramble to find something in the small town. As usual in Asia, things that are pre-made are size 0-6.

The 3 back to back flights were not very fun, considering I had also come down with bronchitis and an ear infection the last day of the wedding (sorry fellow airline passangers)! I'm glad I got to see the south of India and get to an Indian wedding, but next time I will go for a longer period of time!

(Two pictures above: "The Gallows"; used for torturing prisoners)

Map of Pol Pot Regime take over of Cambodia

Students reactions to photos of victims

Chains used for prisoners

Eerily beautiful school grounds

Description of S-21

Students posing in front of barbed wire

Floor descriptions

Writing on wall (not sure if original considering most people spoke Khmer)

Torture bed

Torture roomIllustration of "The Gallows"

Pictures of victims

Student

One of the many rooms full of victims' pictures

Skulls

Floor chains

Normal looking school with a barbed wire front. I read a sign that said this was done so that prisoners could not commit suicide.

Student looking at torture weapons

Skull

dark prisoner cell

Skulls found

Student behind the wire

I brought a group of students from my village to Phnom Penh to see some Universities and visit some popular areas around the city. Applying for college in Cambodia is not done until the final National Exam is taken by students in Grade 12 in July. The students then go off to college in August. That leaves one month for them to figure out where they are going to school. I remember worrying about that for at least two years of high school.

Many students have never been to the capital and have no idea what schools, scholarships, and housing types are out there. As far as I know most schools don't have a website, (if they do they are very basic) and no one in my town offers Internet service. There is no way for students to see or talk to administration at the schools they wish to apply to. Many students end up going where their older brothers and sisters have gone.

The first day of the trip we went to a University to talk to school administration and professors about what life is really like for students there. They explained scholarships, facilities, schedules, etc. to the students. The school was very well organized and efficient with their tour. I was really happy that the students seemed to get a lot out of it.

Day two we stopped by the Tuol Sleng Museum in the center of the city. I had not been there yet but it was a good thing to do with my students because many people of the younger generation are forgetting what happened to the Cambodian people during the Khmer Rouge.

S-21 used to be a school that the Khmer Rouge took over and made into their own jail/torture chamber for prisoners. It showed me a different side of Cambodia that I am glad to have started to explore more recently. I think if I would have gone there earlier in my service it would not have meant as much. Going to this place made me physically ill, but I know it is an important part of my journey here.

According to wikipedia:

"The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a museum in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng (Khmer [tuəl slaeŋ]) means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill"."

Getting on the ferry

Fishing boats lined up along the river

Getting on the ferry requires going in reverse down a very steep dirt cliff and ending up on the ferry.

Ferry crossing in the evening in front of my house. People and horses are cooling off in the river.

My house overlooks the beautiful Mekong river. There are now two ferries that go back and forth between my side and the other from early morning (about 5am) to evening (7pm). One is bigger and can carry things like vans, tractors, motos, etc. The other just carries people and motos. Many of the students at my school travel form across the river every morning. Many times when students are late the reason is because they missed the ferry.

Some sites here are only accessible by ferry crossing. A few volunteers have the unfortunate luck to be at them. Luckily, mine is relatively small because there are other ways to get to the area by road. The ferry does however provide a fairly steady stream of taxis and trucks coming through the area. Occasionally foreigners on dirt bikes ( a popular way to see Cambodia) will come barreling through via ferry.

The ferry comes directly to the front of my house, giving my neighbors who sell things like: snacks, drinks, construction equipment, toiletries, etc., constant business.

I have never been across the river until recently, mostly because I don't know anyone over there and it is a fairly strict Muslim village, (here called the Cham people). This village intrigues me because I have been told that they don't speak Khmer (while there) and there is a huge Mosque visible from my porch.

My host mother and father took me to a wedding which required that we take the ferry across the river. It is only about a 10 minute ride, but it was exciting nonetheless. The village across the river was incredibly beautiful! It had great river views and sprawling rice fields. The women wore full h. That must be incredibly hot here!

I'm thinking about going over to the village this summer with a friend, (who is more fluent in the language) to inquire about teaching in the fall.

There were just a string of holidays here including: the Kings Birthday (3days), and Royal Plowing Day.

The Royal Plowing Ceremony takes place in Phnom Penh ( the capital). It reminds me of Groundhogs Day in America. According to Wikipedia, this is what happens during the ceremony:

"In the ceremony, two sacred oxen are hitched to a wooden plough and they plough a furrow in some ceremonial ground, while rice seed is sown by court Brahmins. After the ploughing, the oxen are offered plates of food, including rice, corn, green beans, sesame, fresh-cut grass, water and rice whisky.

Depending on what the oxen eat, court soothsayers make a prediction on whether the coming growing season will be bountiful or not. The ceremony is rooted in Brahman belief, and is held to ensure a good harvest."

Front page news this year was that the royal oxen ate only corn and beans, but not rice!! Surely a grave sin in this country. Royal astrologers say that this means that corn and beans will do well this year. The oxen also ate cut grass which is said to mean that livestock will suffer ( specifically from pandemic diseases).

Other government officials say that the rainy season, which started early this year, is good for the crop regardless of the type.

The following are things you would find in a typical Khmer house or is a feature of a Khmer home:

Rice before it is cooked. Cambodians eat a lot of rice, (usually 3 times a day...may bowls). A common greeting is, "Have you eaten rice yet?".

The bottom part of a traditional wooden stilt home. This area is probably the coolest in the house during the day. Most families use this area for cooking, storage, and hanging out.

Many families hang baskets out in the sun that are filled with fish, pork, or fruit to be dried and eaten later.

Lovely family of geese at the house I stayed at for the wedding. Not the most silent creatures in Cambodia. It definitely made me miss the roosters.

This kitchen also held the bathroom, (on the left with the blue door)

What the bathroom looks like, (squat toilet, bucket of water). I would say that most home have a similar set to this one. It also had a great view. If I stood up, I could see across town. The planks only came to my lower chest while standing. Because of this, most women here shower while wearing a sarong.

A lot of homes in Cambodia have what we call the "stairs of death". They are very steep, so much so that you could crawl up on all fours. I am always scared of falling on these and get very nervous when children play at the top. Shoes are usually left at the bottom, (to be peed on by a dog or borrowed by other family members). In training, many volunteers had only one outdoor bathroom. Needless to say nighttime bathroom trips were not fun, (also the house is usually locked up). Chamber pots are used in this situation.

Front of a traditional home

The front yard is sometimes shared with the families cows, goats, chickens, dogs, cats, water buffalo, etc.

The roof and windows of a traditional wooden home

Kitchen storage

Beautiful view in the countryside

The house I currently live in is a more modern style than most of the homes I pass on the road. Traditional homes here are usually on stilts and made of wood. They are cooler than more modern cement homes and more family-centered. By "family centered" I mean that there is one great room that everyone usually sleeps in together and a couple of small rooms for guests or teens that want their space.

Some of the traditional homes don't have a front door (or they are usually shut only at night). When I pass on the road children and family members are usually hanging out in this area. Homes here are often placed in clusters and neighbors have strong bonds (sometimes they are extended family). There is the occasional rude neighbor that does not hang out with other homes or makes a crazy amount of noise. As you can imagine, wooden homes are not very sound proof.

Some people in the countryside are located right next to their farms and the entire family works to keep the household running. In this picture the family makes bricks and lays them in the sun to later sell.

Something I have seen more recently is a combination of wooden stilt bottom and cement top. This is costly and usually done as a home improvement later.

The framework for a wooden stilt house. They are usually built fairly quickly, (depending on the motivation of the crew).

You are probably wondering what people do with their trash. Usually it is placed in a pile near the house and burned almost daily. The clouds of trash smoke are often a joke among volunteers because of the copious amounts of plastic and other things burned. In a house like the one above, the trash is probably placed in the ditch next to the house. I have only seen trash pick-up in provincial towns and the capital. My town has some kind of pick up. People come around with a wheelbarrow and collect cans and bottles for money as well. Trash is not private here, my family and neighbors go through mine before it finally reaches the hands of the collector or compost pile. I often see a pill bottle or Pringles can being used for other things around the house.

This is the view of my road from the ferry. As you can see, my road is not a very typical looking Khmer neighborhood.

My house is directly straight up from where the people are walking and has a red banner at the bottom.

Sunrise in Kratie

My family recently invited me to a wedding in the Kratie province of Cambodia. This is about a 3-4 hour ride by car. We actually took a car which was a nice surprise. I actually wore a seat belt! I did not know anyone in the family but everyone was very nice.

Cute wedding kid

Wedding entrance

It was extremely hot, definitely over 100 degrees and the day long wedding takes place completely outside.

Host embarrassing wedding party

The only time I have officially seen Khmer people uncomfortable has been the period in the wedding before the haircutting ceremony. The host does his/her best to embarrass the bridal party, (to the delight of the wedding guests), through dancing and personal questions.

My family

Host mother

Bridal party

Traditional wedding music ensemble

Pig parts

Cute kid in wedding party

Procession trays

Bride and groom

Last week my father asked me to go on a bike ride. This was a very strange request to me because I have never seen my dad ride a bike. Also, from my personal experience Khmer people don't really like to go on bike rides. I thought maybe this bike ride had ulterior motives like going to visit the wat or family in the next village.

I decided to go. I am really glad I went. My dad just wanted to show me the road that was previously impassable by anything other than brave motos. The village has recently added a scary log bridge, and widened the road and got rid of the giant rocks and crevices.

My host dad insisted on standing on the cliff edge to take this picture. Hence the look of worry.

My host dad and I biked about 5k (3miles) in a loop around the surrounding villages. I am glad I switched my bike from the beloved Fanta street bike from training to a mountain bike.

We passed many homes, rubber tree farms, cliffs, rice fields, brick making factories, and animals. The ride really reminded me of the dichotomy that I see every day in Cambodia. From my short bike ride around other villages one can see life and death all around.

Rubber trees

Life here is seen everywhere: kids and babies playing by their homes, families talking to their neighbors before dinner, people bathing in the Mekong, dogs chasing each other.

Cool tree

Death is also seen and is a part of daily life here in a way that is hidden in America: from my bike I saw a tiny puppy (recently dead) being carried by a child to the river to be buried, slabs of fresh meat being sold (including heads), fish being carried from the river (still flopping for air), and a large dog violently attack a puppy.

I tried to get as many pictures as I could from my camera, but as you can imagine, it was a bumpy ride.

We came across a wat that my host mom and dad sometimes go to. It is about 20-30 minutes from my village. My dad showed me that they are planning and building a giant statue. I will go back when it is finished and take more pictures.

Picture of the proposed statue

And if you are wondering, yes he kicked my butt. I have not ridden my bike since training (5 months). The next day he did admit his legs were sore, which made me feel better. Three miles does not seem like a lot, but this area was all hills. Many volunteers here regularly ride their bikes 100k so I'm hoping they are not reading this.

There is a large break in the school year here for Khmer New Year. The actual New Year is from April 13-15, but the days off are a bit wider. My classes stopped around the last week of March and will possibly resume the last week of April. Many volunteers take this time to go on vacation. This year a friend and I went to Bangkok, Thailand, a place I had only previously been for medical or short-term (one day) reasons. I looked forward to shopping for things I could not find in Cambodia, (shoes and clothes over size 0), eating western food (McDonald's!!!), going to movies, and getting a massage.

We went for 5 nights, two days travel. For some reason I thought the $25 bus fare would be better than the $200 airfare. I was wrong. It was about 14 hours from Phnom Penh to Bangkok (capital of Cambodia to capital of Thailand). The way there was not so bad. They basically drop you at the border and leave you to your own devices to find the next connection. The way back was another story.

Two days prior to leaving I ate something strange and had food poisoning until about the second day of the trip. That bus ride was no bueno, att la-aw, not good. There is not much to tell other than I got the rest I needed, shopped more than I should have, and saw a different side to Bangkok than I have before.

Now back to reality (work)!

Lauren at dinner

Traditional Dancer

River View

Wedding #2: Cousin that lives next door

This wedding was different because it fell on my 25th birthday, it was the daughter of the family I'm closest with here and I was sick with a cold. I tried to go to as much as I could, but a wedding here lasts from 5:30am-10pm. This accompanied with over 30 family members crashing at my house was too much for my cold to handle. I hope I did not offend them by cutting out early (6pm). I think all I missed was drunkin dancing and the cake cutting (and final bride and groom outfit!).

The family kept telling me how happy and tired they were. I barely saw them sit still or eat all day. Out of my house and the house next door, over 50 relatives came to stay at our homes the night before the wedding. This does not make for a relaxed atmosphere. Everything needs to be organized for the next day. There were babies crying, gaggles of yeeys (old ladies, whom I love) hitting me and asking me crazy questions, and kids running around in circles. Needless to say, I did not sleep that night, which was great for my cold.

The procession of the groom and the wedding guests started at 6:30am. This time a kid was nice enough to partner with me and I didn't feel so lost.

Grooms Party

Candy dish

The beloved (and fought after) Pig head tray

All of the food for a wedding (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) are cooked across the street near the wedding. The crew sets up huge vats of boiling mixtures and carries it over by course. I prefer not to look to closely at this area.

Bridal Party (my cousin is the bride)

Mother and father of the bride

There is a part of the ceremony I had not yet seen: the hair-cutting. Key members of the family go up to the bride and groom, "cut" their hair (not really), sprinkle or spray them with water, and use leaves to douse them with water. There were about 20 family members who did this, (including my parents). They also included the bride and grooms parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. The couple was soaked at the end of it all.

Unfortunately, I had to leave after dinner because I was really sick! If you want to see more after dinner pics, check out previous Khmer wedding posts!

I have two huge weddings within 10 days of each other. We are officially in the height of wedding season. When a couple wants to get married in Cambodia, to pick a date for the wedding, they must pick a date that is lucky for them. This practically ensures weddings during the week and multiple weddings in a week.

Hong Wedding

An English teacher at my school, Teacher Hong, got married to the district governor's daughter last Thursday. He told me to invite some of the volunteers. We had a great time!

In the morning around 6:30am I headed over for the procession with my father. I think this part of the ceremony is where the groom and his family, as well as a bunch of guests walk to where the bride and her family are waiting. All of the days festivities take place in this tented area as well.

When I got to the area where the trays that we carry were held, my father dropped me like a bad disease and went to hang out with the dudes. I kind of was just walking around confused saying "Help...Where do I stand" over and over in Khmer.

My father hanging out with teachers from my school

The room full of trays of fruit, beer, candy, pig heads, etc. that the procession carries to the wedding.

After you select a tray, you are supposed to line up next your partner (of the same gender) that has the same tray as you. Then you walk in pairs to the wedding tent. This is led by the groom and his family and traditional Khmer instruments.

Someone finally took pity on my soul and paired with me.

Needless to say, I could not get anyone to help me take a picture of myself walking in the wedding procession. Here are some aerial shots I took of a wedding procession in my town last week to give you an idea of what it looked like:

Procession walking down the river to the wedding tent

The traditional Khmer instrumentalists and the groom's party lead

I always thought the trays were gifts for the bride and groom, but they are used throughout the day to feed the tables of people. I was told over 100 people were invited to this wedding and that is considered a big wedding in my village.

Bridal Party (sorry it's so fuzzy..I mean "artsy")

The other PCV's got to my site in the late morning, we went back to the wedding to eat lunch, got our hair and make up done (Khmer style!) and went to the dinner/reception portion of the wedding.

The toes and nails are hand painted for an extra dollar

Face is literally painted on. They tried to shave my eyebrows but Lauren stopped them. Fake eyelashes a must!

If you are a guest at a Cambodian wedding you get all three meals that day, along with a Khmer "open bar" dinner (beer) and fruit. You are expected to give the bride and groom around 5-10 USD according to how big the wedding was and how your status in the community. I'm not sure if they make a profit.

Party Pictures!

Prom or Khmer wedding?

Kampong Cham volunteers and students

Bride and groom (final look)

Bridal party behind giant fruit tower

The Peace Corps Creative Writing Olympics have officially made it Cambodia! This is the first year that Cambodia had participated in a Peace Corps Sponsored Writing Competition that is now in 14 countries around the world. This is how it works:

Schools are invited to hold essay and creative writing training courses at their schools and in February, PCV teachers give the assigned topics to the kids to write an essay to submit that will compete internationally.

Essays go to Phnom Penh to be graded by Peace Corps and Host Country judges. They choose one winner (from all the combined schools' essays) per grade (grades 9-12). Each winner per grade wins a slew of prizes (thanks to Aaron and Billy), including books, t-shirts, a certificate, and materials for the school. They will go on to compete with other essays of the same grade level worldwide.

Prizes

I also chose winners per grade in my school just to get them excited about writing.

The competition unexpectedly took off at my school, I had over 100 kids come to write essays. This was somewhat overwhelming and I did not get a chance to photograph the writing process. I did however take a bunch of pictures of the winners with their prizes.

Grade 7 Winner and my co-teacher

Teaching writing was not easy in the beginning for me because it is simply not part of the curriculum in the English book series. The book focuses more on the writing structure of sentences than longer passages and creativity. The process was great, my writing class soon became one of my favorites. I still find it is difficult for the students to step outside of the box. They have never been asked to do that before so it is hard for them to understand. I hope that next year I can really get them to go crazy with their writing!

I had a winner from grade 11 that will go on to compete internationally! Her name is Seng Vichheka and her essay was about whom she respects most (her parents). The essay will go and compete in April 2011.

Winner for grade 11 in all of Cambodia!

Happy 100th International Women's Rights Day! To commemorate this occasion as well as Peace Corps 50th Anniversary, (which provided the funding for the project) another volunteer and I decided to hold a show featuring performing arts that expressed how the students feel about women's rights and issues in their community.

We first instructed them to write a play (in English) that somehow addresses women's rights. My school decided to do a play about a good family and a bad family. I really did not help them with anything (just a little grammar). They put together such a great story and dialogue! I could not have been happier. A month of hard work paid off.

Some pictures of rehearsal:

On March 8th, 24 students, my co-teacher, and I crammed into a van and took the 3 hour drive to Memot. Good thing I brought a Justin Bieber DVD! We got to the school and met with the other students. Lindsay (Memot PCV) and her co-teacher prepared a lecture on the history and importance of women's rights. Her school director also spoke, which was nice.

The students had a chance to rehearse on the stage before lunch. I think they ended up just having a dance party. Our students got along really well. We even had dueling Korean dance-offs.

Dress Rehearsal and getting to know each other

Dance Party

The students were also given a chance to express how they felt about women's rights through other performing and visual art mediums like poetry, song, traditional and modern dance, instrumental performance, traditional short stories, essays, and paintings.

Performance

Creativity was through the roof with these kids. Both schools put in so much work and were happy with the final results. They slept most of the way home, then sang Khmer songs the rest of the way. Kids are the same in every country.

This is really the best thing I could have ever done with my students. I had tried to do some role-plays with them in the past and it really didn't work. I think taking ownership over the project, working together, and talking about something that has personal meaning to them really opened the door to their confidence. Before this project the students were quiet most of the time. To be honest, I had a hard time remembering their names because they showed so little personality. I would have never believe that this group of kids would be excited to perform in front of over a hundred people. They had a great time! I remember all of their names and I finally saw that each has a wildly different personality. They rose above and beyond my expectations. They were charismatic and I now think they could all be stars! I will really miss this group when they go off to college.

I definitely could not have done this without my two partners, Lindsay(volunteer in Memot) and my co-teacher. Next year we hope to add guest speakers, invite more schools, and just make it bigger and better!

The School Library

The main room

Room 1

Room 2

This is the current library at my school. I am glad there is space put aside for something at all, but there are many challenges.

1. The two rooms in the library are always locked, making them useless to the overall function of the library.

2. The librarian is at school maybe 2 hours a day, always at different times. She is the only one with a key. She goes to the market to sell things to supplement her income. She makes about 30 dollars a month.

3. The librarian wants me to wait for the mythical new building our school is supposedly going to build (was supposed to start building this month) before making any changes.

4. There are numerous shutters in every room that are in disrepair and allow copious amounts of dust and water into the rooms. As you can imagine, this is not good for books.

5. Most of the books are old editions that are not even readable because of damage. The school wants to keep them "just in case".

6. I asked if I could take down the wall between the smaller rooms to make a medium sized room and I was told I could not because the school does not own the building.

7. There is no system to how the books are put on the shelves or lent out to students. The library currently functions mainly as a place for students to rent out their books for class at the beginning of the year.

There are however things in my favor:

1. Energetic co-teacher who is willing to help.

2. Director agreed to pay electricity if I could find some computers.

3. The students REALLY want a library they can use and that will be a great resource to them. They volunteered to help clean the place up.

For some reason the locked rooms are filled with boxes of beer cans and water bottles

4. There are some English books and a few Khmer books that are in good shape.

5. I think I might get my own key to the building. This will be a great help so I don't have to stalk the librarian to get inside the building.

Just in my initial investigation to improve the library there have been many challenges. The kids and teachers want a space that they can go to read that is quiet and has materials they are interested in. This project is very personal to me because I grew up in libraries. I always took out the limit for borrowing books and my first volunteering experience was at the local library. To me they are a special place where I can learn about anything, pretend I'm anyone, and use the quiet to achieve a focus to really get things done.

These are my objectives for the school library:

1. Upgrade the facility (safe from weather and theft, add places to sit, clean up)

2. Add more books in Khmer in English that the teachers and students request

3. Add scholarship and college information

4. Encourage students to volunteer to help the librarian keep the place clean

5. Improve the general interest in reading

6. Organize the books in some kind of system

I would really like to add two computers that would serve as learning tools and a listening lab, and possibly record local stories and history. I am going to spend the next 6 months (at least) applying for grants, talking to NGOs (asking for money, donations, or general advice), and trying to overcome the barriers that stand before me. I am planning a library clean up for next week. When I told the students, they let out cheers of joy akin to me telling them they won concert tickets to Justin Bieber. That's a positive start. Wish me luck!

My parents work hard every day to make a living. They mainly do two things: prepare and sell a vegatable called Spie at the market, and make and sell cigarettes. The entire process for preparing and selling the Spie takes almost 24 hours. A man comes and delivers bulk Spie to my family in the afternoon. They sit outside and cut off the impurities. They then drag the veggies to the backyard and cook them for 30 minutes. After that I am unclear on this stage of the process other than they are washed a lot and cooked. After dinner more things are done to the veggies until about 9pm. My parents wake up at 4am to continue to prep the veggies to sell at the market. My mother goes to the market probably around 5am and comes home around 9 or 10am. The veggies are delivered again in the afternoon.

Spie(Veggie in Lettuce family)

My father dragging spie to the back yard to boil

My family also makes and sells cigarettes. My mother and father both roll them from these huge bags of tobacco and other similar leaves that are delivered to our home. They mainly do this in the late morning before the next shipment of Spie is delivered. These huge brown spiders like to hang out in the tobacco so I usually steer clear of that area. People are always coming to our house to buy them because they are cheaper than the ones from the vendors(probably because they are not taxed). I believe my family sells them for 3 for 100 reil (100 reil is about .024 USD). That's less than a penny!

The materials for making cigarettes (tobacco, glue, paper)

My mother rolling cigarettes and chatting

Yesterday we finally had the provincial spelling bee! Last month, I held a district wide spelling bee at my high school for grades 10 and 11. Then, for the two winners, I held weekly practices to learn how to listen to words and spell them.

It is actually very hard for the students, not because they do not know how to spell the words, but because they do not understand what I am saying. Most of the kids at my school have never heard a foreigner speak. They rely on what their teachers tell them. Unfortunately, most of the teachers in my school have not really heard a foreigner speak. Some of the words they say are completely mispronounced. This is because all they have to go on are what their teachers taught them when they were in school. An example of this is the word "clothes". If I told a student to spell this word they would probably give me a very strage look and a wrong spelling. All of the teachers here say the word "clothes" as "closes". It took me awhile to realize they were saying "clothes".

The winners from my school

Anyway, the two students and I left for Kampong Cham (my provincial town) in a taxi early Saturday morning. We arrived at the high school there and quickly ate some breakfast. There were seven other schools there, each with their two students, PCV, and co-teachers. The competetion lasted about 3 hours. It was nerve-racking for me! I think I was more nervous than the students. They did incredibly well! Last year I don't think any of the students palaced. This year my grade 10 student, Srey Mum got 4th place, and my grade 11 student, SuyPheng got 2nd place (both out of 7). I was so proud! It is a wonderful feeling to work hard for something in Cambodia and see results. The students walked away with a great sense of pride. Next year, I hope to work with outher provinces in Cambodia and take the spelling bee to the national level.

First project in Cambodia: completed!

For some reason I thought that my town would not really celebrate Chinese New Year. I guess there are more families here with Chinese ancestry then I imagined. At hte end of the day, I am left with the smell of incense, the sound of firecrackers, and the sight of families spending time together outside their homes.

My town is somewhat deserted, as most people have gone somewhere to visit their families for the holiday. There was a strange formality that went on at school, I'm told it happens every year. The students and teachers get dressed and go to school in the morning and then promptly go back home again. When I asked why bother coming at all the response is that school still goes on despite the holiday, but we must go home and pay tribute to our ancestors. Luckily, I was at home doing laundry and did not get dressed and walk all the way to school. Confused texts from fellow volunteers said they had done otherwise.

I was invited by my co-teacher to her home to see what her family was doing in honor of the holiday. All I had previously known was that many people deep clean their house (much like a spring cleaning) and cook a lot of food.

When I arrived, there was a large table covered in delicious looking food, drinks, fake money, and incense. You are supposed to go to the table and light some incense to honor your ancestors. They then brought me a huge tray of food, bigger than normal I might add. They wanted me to eat it...at 9:30 in the morning! I have to admit, I tried some out of courtesy, and it was delicious!

Then they took out a basin that is usually used for laundry and put some fake money and gold into it and lit a fire. The fire grew so big I really thought the house would burn down or the baby would fall in. Thankfully, none of this happened. I did get to burn some pretty realistic 100 dollar bills. For some reason all I could think of was the line from the P-Diddy song "It's all about the Benjamin's Baby". When I asked why they are burning fake money, gold, and material, my co-teacher told me it's because the ancestors in hell/underworld, (I believe in their religion that's where everyone goes, but do not quote me) need money to buy things and clothes to wear. Of course! The family looked at me like it made perfect sense, and I guess it kind of does.

On the way home I saw a lot of people lighting fires to put burn money for their ancestors in front of their homes. I also saw children and men lighting firecrackers and families sitting outside their homes playing games and drinking.

As I walked up to my house I saw similar things going on inside. Of course! My family has some Chinese blood. I had forgotten. My host mother put out a delightful buffet, including an abundance of coca-cola and cigarettes. My kind of offering. They had also turned on the lights to the altar that honors the ancestors and put some incense outside the door.

Walking up the stairs, munching on the treats that my co-teachers family gave me to take home, "knome sabye jaruke" (roughly translated, if I'm hearing it correctly, snack happy pork. Don't worry they are really made from rice), I thought today had a very nice air about it.

Although no day in Cambodia is typical, I will attempt to summarize a common day I have here. My schedule for school changes, as I teach with two teachers and follow their schedules:

Sunrise over the Mekong River

Typically I wake up at 3am because my parents get up to start preparing their vegetables for the market They also wake up the roosters, who do not have the good sense to go back to sleep. I dose until 5 or 5:30am and get up and get ready to go to school. I try to eat at the stall next door, (she makes the best pork and rice I have ever had). If she is not ready yet I go to eat noodles or porridge at the market. This time of year it is dark well until 6:15am, so it makes everyone late.

Breakfast lady

Deliciousness

I teach a private class at 6:15am on a high level English book. It's so much fun, I wish I could teach out of this book all day. Teaching students that do not speak your language (and I do not speak much of theirs) is not easy. These kids make it easy. I have about 3-6 kids per day.

The next four hours I teach with two co-teachers in public school. I teach grades 7-10. Its difficult to teach with another person. Sometimes I think it would be easier to teach alone, then I realize the students have no idea what I am saying. Some days it is great and I am glad I have someone with me. The book they use for English teaching is not the best, but the teachers make due. The school is small, although I hear they are building a new building (maybe they will break ground before I leave??). I hope to see something done in the future. Each class period is supposed to be 50 minutes long with 10 minute breaks. Lets be generous and say that class is tough 45 minutes each hour.

By far the best building at my school

My lunch break is from 11am-1pm. This goes by very fast. I have Khmer language tutoring from 1pm-2pm everyday. My tutor is another English teacher from my school. He is great. Aside from being a really slow learner, I have a good time. From 2pm-4pm I go back to school to teach my clubs. More good times. It is very hot outside at this point.

I then come home and shower and check my e-mail. I try to hang out with my neighbor downstairs before the mosquitoes comes out. Eat at 6pm. I spend the rest of the night doing paperwork for future projects, reading, watching movies and/or playing games. It sounds like a good time right??

Most of the time it is. When I need a break, I call someone, or go to my district town or the capital.

My family just remodeled the kitchen, although for some reason they still cook outside. Our backyard is where I do my laundry and my family cooks, does laundry, and prepares the vegetables to sell at the market. They spend most of their time here. I do not enjoy it because there is a large amount of flies. My father builds things in the back forest looking area. I am not sure what goes on there as I do not venture out into the yard. Somewhere there is a hen house (unsure if it is ours or not as all of these buildings' yards are combined, numerous cats and roosters. The latter are my sworn enemy. If you have ever tried to sleep past 5am in Cambodia you would know exactly what I am talking about. Perhaps the roosters are just trying to alert me to the beautiful sunset over the Mekong that I am missing.

The area that connects the kitchen and the living room is my parents bathroom and a storage area where they keep the dishes and hang laundry.

The living room is fairly big. It is where we eat dinner, my family prays and studies prayer, and where I study Khmer with my tutor. We have a small TV that my family does not really watch, they prefer to listen to the radio. We also keep my bike and my dads moto here at night.

In the last picture, you can see two common items in Cambodian homes: alters to honor spirits and ancestors. The alter on the floor is to keep bad spirits out and protect the inside of the home. There is usually one outside the home to keep bad spirits off of the land. We have no front yard so my host mom just puts incense on the door. The one that is mounted to a wall or put somewhere high up is to honor the family ancestors. There is usually a picture of them put around it. My mother offers fruit, incense, money (fake?) and other treats to the spirits. The official religion of Cambodia is Theravada Buddhism. The ultimate goal is to rid yourself of desire and suffering so that you may be reincarnated at the highest level. To read more about religion in Cambodia, go to:

This is a picture of my house. As you can see, it is similar to the homes in San Francisco: skinny and tall. It does not leave a lot of room for privacy. Luckily, my family is very small, just an older couple, so I get a lot of space for myself. Unlike the traditional homes of Cambodia, my house is made of concrete, not wood. This keeps a lot of bugs out but will become incredibly hot in April. I usually leave my doors to the patio open so I can get a breeze off the river.

This is my room. I love my bed because has four posts which allows me not to feel claustrophobic when I sleep with my net. There is also a balcony that I never use because I like to spend time on my porch that overlooks the Mekong River. The view from my balcony is mostly of other peoples homes and our small back yard.

The best part of my space is the bathroom. I have it all to myself, which is not common in Cambodia, (or America for that matter). I also have a shower that somehow is connected to the arctic tundra. I have no idea why it is so cold.

My home is three levels. The first level contains the living room/main room, the kitchen, and a bathroom. This is where my family spends most of their time. The second floor had two bedrooms each with a balcony. They are unoccupied and locked most of the time. The top floor is where I spend a lot of my time. In addition to my bedroom, I have a large open area that serves as my work/study area and living room. On Sundays the school is not open so I teach my small clubs here. My host father hung a small whiteboard for me to use. There is also a large porch where I hang my laundry and that I'm trying to start a garden on. It's also a great place to watch the sunrise. I hope to get a hammock out there sometime.

Pictures in order from top: sparklers after cake cutting, my grade 12 students looking beautiful, catching the bouquet, kids waiting for cans, food, receiving line, neighbors daughter (in the bridal party), flower girls?, wedding tent, my entourage: Host mom, me, neighbor, random yeey

Last Friday I went to my first Khmer wedding. The bride is the sister of a teacher at my school so all of the teachers and students were invited. It was so much fun! I think it was a bigger wedding than most. The colors in Khmer weddings are very bright and the women dust off their best dresses and spend hours doing their hair and make-up. It had many similarities to a western wedding. There was a cake that the bride and groom cut, there was a receiving line to say hello to guests and give them a gift, a live band, tossing the bouquet (my student caught it!), and of course...dancing!

This man that eats breakfast at the same place as me every morning (wearing silk pajamas) got up and sang (really well) with the band. That really surprised me! The other thing that I didn't expect were dozens of children that hung around the outskirts of the wedding waiting to grab any leftover cans or food. They reminded me of little (Tennis) ball boys. There was a woman dressed in pajamas with a large stick that was there to try to keep the kids and dogs out of the tent. Needless to say, she quit after the first hour.

Luckily, I just stayed long enough to eat and watch the cake being cut. My neighbor wanted to go home, (as most of the older people do) so I went with her. They leave the dancing and REALLY loud music to the young people. I am not really a good dancer but I do like trying to dance Khmer style. I will save that for the big wedding I have coming up in March. I would like to get a proper wedding outfit by then.

This week I went into my afternoon class and my co-teacher told me that it was cancelled because the students have been asked to help with some construction project. For some reason my first thought was, "In their uniforms?..they might get dirty", instead of "what about class" or "child labour". So curious, I followed the kids to the construction project, which turned out to be helping the local wat build a school for monks. The kids worked really hard for the most part, and the monks had on monk construction robes which looked like the aprons from Home Depot. My coteacher and I also got to work in the cement passing line. It was really fun and my parents showed up midway through (if there is something going on at the wat they are there). Everyone was really happy to see me helping with the wat and it made me feel more like a member of the community. I even got hit by some yeeys (old ladies)!! It is a great honor to be hit by a yeey. I believe it's their way of showing affection.

This is an old video from practium week. The health volunteers joined us to teach about the body parts. Bill is leading a game of Simon says. Enjoy!

I was gone almost the entire month of November because of a strange string of illnesses that allowed me to become a frequent visitor of the medical office. Among the offenders were a kidney stone, fissure, and food poisoning. There might be someone out there with a voodoo or hair doll that does not like me. I also made an appearance in Thailand's wonderful hospitals, although the city of Bangkok itself only confused me with its modern infrastructure and tall buildings.

The last week of November I attended an in-service training in Battambong. It is a large city about seven hours from my site. The bus ride was no joke: one bathroom break in a rice field and over 20 people sitting in the isle. I cease to be surprised in Cambodia. This affinity Cambodia has for strange happenings is a double edged sword; it allows things to always be interesting but also is sometimes a huge pain. I am always in wondrous awe of how Khmer people are so good at keeping their cool and are ok with being very uncomfortable. I am trying to adapt some of this from them. This in-service training was the first time I have seen everyone since training and it was great to talk to all of them. The sessions were on teaching, safety, secondary projects (yay!), and language learning. I left the training feeling sick (food poisoning!), behind on the language, and energized by talking to other people and getting information on secondary projects. Most importantly, I came back realizing that I had not tried hard enough to become a part of my community. I had let a funk, (brought on by being sick and added to by language and teaching frustrations) take over my body. I left my site too much, not tried hard enough to talk to people (EVERY DAY), and stopped trying to think of new ideas to get around my problems. I just got the feeling that no one wanted to talk to me at my site, and I was a complete outsider. Things all changed on the taxi ride home.

The taxi I usually take back to my site left me because they did not understand what I was saying on the phone. The next van I took back waited about an hour at the market to fill up. That's when it happened. Sometimes people talk to me a little bit, but only pleasantries. The woman who entered my life via taxi changed my entire view of my town. She came in guns blazing: How old are you? What do you eat that makes you so fat? Being fat is bad for your health!...and so on. For an hour. I understood most of what she was saying! She understood some of what I was saying! It was magical. She asked for my phone number and told me to visit her later that day(and I did). I realized up to that point that I have been stupidly waiting for these grand gestures of welcome from people in my town that I was not getting, and it made me think they did not want me there. This could not be further from the truth. People are just as scared as I am of going up to a complete stranger, (a foreigner none the less) and really talking to them.

Thus upon returning home I told the neighbors I missed them and have sat outside and talked to them everyday, (they seem very happy for my enlightening). I have also been talking more to people in my neighborhood. Even though my Khmer might not be the best, people are actually understanding some of what I am saying. I can not even explain how happy it makes me when I understand what is going on in a conversation!

Today I also started a creative writing club. I tested my 12th grade English club students, (about 50 kids), to narrow it down to a class of ten. This small number will allow for more individual attention. The kids also respond more to questions. It really seems like this club will be a good addition to my schedule. The kids really seemed to respond with individual, thought provoking statements! I am hoping to start an 11th grade version soon as well.

The weather here is wonderful: cool (relatively) and breezy. My host father wears parkas and fur turtlenecks.

Will write later with thoughts I jotted down the past month and hopefully some pictures (although like all of my electronics, my camera is now broken).

Things that make me happy:

Jake gian and cold coke

The students in my English club

The Internet

The funny things my host dad says

Hawaiian pizza in KC

Watching dragonboat racing and finding a traditional Khmer band in the same day

Things I do not enjoy:

flies

people watching me do laundry

mud

not understanding one word that my host mom says

the giant padlock on our door that I cannot unlock

shady co-teachers that shall not be named

Funny things that my co-teacher and host dad, and students have said:

"I like Barack Obama....I like what he said....we CAN...you know?"

"I'm not going to let mosquitoes bite my youngest daughter"

"Can I borrow some of your fat?"

"Don't take pictures yet...wait until you are not big"

I have been at my permanent site for a week now and it is definitely a challenge. I have spent time getting to know my co-teachers, reading, doing laundry, and exploring the town. I live in a district town along the Mekong river. My house is directly on the river. My family consists of a man and a woman, both of whom are in their 80s. They work hard every day: doing chores, going to the wat to pray, and preparing and selling some sort of leafy green. I have no idea where they get the energy to do it. My father used to be a Khmer teacher and knows some English so it makes things easier. I start school this week, which means that I will observe the English teachers lessons and work out my schedule to work with a co-teacher(s). I really like the teachers at my school because they are around my age and I can relate to them and speak to them relatively easily. I have also spent some time talking to the 12th graders that speak some English. They were really great to talk to because they talk about what they want to improve in the community and what they would like to do in their future.

Next week is the Cambodian holiday Pchum Ben. My father has taken me to the wat a couple of times to watch the ceremonies. I'm not really sure what is going on, I just know that it is associated with the death of budda. Here is more information on the holiday: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pchum_Ben

I have posted some pictures of the ceremonies at the wat and my home. Enjoy!

This is the last week in my training village and it's definitely bittersweet! I love my family and it is hard to imagine that there is another one out there like them. We have been spending a lot of time together because my brother is going off to college in the capital. This will be really hard on the family. They also claim they they will get a new puppy at some point, hopefully before I leave! The group of people I have spent the last 8 weeks with have also been amazing. I will be really sad to leave them and head out on my own.

Last week I spent a couple of days at my new site in Kampong Cham province. The town is fairly small, but the land around it is beautiful. The drive from the provincal town is incredible: rice fields, mountains, the Mekong, farming and wooden stilt homes. My site is on the Mekong and the riverfront is really great. A local student took me on a tour around town to the school, market (it's huge), and the ice factory. I definitely think I will like it in this town. The co-teachers seem really great and happy for me to be there. My family situation is a bit messy at the moment, so I can tell more about that when it is resolved.

Other than that, I am going to spend the week riding through the rubber fields, studying Khmer for the big test, and hanging out with family and friends. Let's hope it stays this amazing!

I just biked from TC to Kampong Cham on my orange street bike! I should probably try to get a mountain bike for the next long distance trip. Travis, Bill and I came here to lesson plan for next week. We will be teaching 10th graders at the local high school until Saturday. That should be interesting. Other than that I think I am learning enough words to understand the occasional sentence. I know my colors, which I think will get me far. This week is also the interview for site placement!! I hope I get placed with some positive people. When I came home last night my family had like 40 people over(supposedly extended family) and it was super uncomfortable. Some of them are from the US and they spent the whole time asking me why I would do something like Peace Corps, how I'm to-at, and how I only know tik-tik Khmer. The cat kept me company and slept in my lap. I felt special because it refused to go to anyone else in the room. Good times. Luckily, my sister is awesome and we went into my room and watched Beyonce videos. Last week was sad because my 5 month old puppy got hit by a car. I came back from KC seminar day and my mom was like, "The dog died", "Your father cried about it". I think it's a big deal to cry here and my dad really loves pets. He used to greet me every morning covered in the ashes from the fire. I'm pretty sure I was days away from getting him to shake. My dad says he will get a new puppy before I leave. Wish me luck on teaching and message me if you have any helpful ideas!

I have been here a couple of weeks now and everything is going well. I don't really have much access to the internet right now but I might at the end of training. I have been living in a district town outside of Kampong Chom. I got really lucky with my host family. My father is a teacher and a musician and my mother is a housewife. I have an older brother in college in Phnom Penh, another brother in 12th grade and a sister in 11th grade. They are on break right now so they pretty much just help out around the house. I also have two dogs (one puppy!) and a cat! The puppy and cat love me but the other one tries to attack me (which doesn't work out because he got hit by a car before I got here and is paralyzed from the chest down). It's really sad! My family really takes care of me and tries to help me with the language. A typical day for me looks like this:

5am wake up because my dog is barking/roosters!

6am eat boh-boh (rice porridge) and tea at the market

7am language class

12pm eat lunch with my family, nap or study

1pm Tech class (on how to teach)/ and/or culture training

5pm Hang out with other trainees

7pm dinner with family

8pm Study Khmai and watch a movie with my family (usually about ghosts)

10pm sleep!

So this weekend we are going to see PCV's who has been living here a year so that we can see what different sites are like. I will try to update as soon as possible (with pictures!).

Last week I received an invitation to serve in the Peace Corps in Cambodia! I am beyond excited and I have many things to do to get ready to leave.

This week is my last week teaching and I am surprised how emotional I have been saying goodbye to some of my students. I just realized today that I have had some of them for four years! They have all improved so much from when they started and that's so encouraging for me to see!

I move back home in a little over a week and I need to get organized and finish all of my paperwork! I should also probably start studying some Khmer...