310 days and countin.....

Well, I am officially a few days into my 11^th 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.