Into the 8th month....

 

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....