It's Mango Season!

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 20^th.  That means that maybe the students will decide to come back on April 20^th 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 3^rd 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 8^th 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:

The DL on Khmer Weddings

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 31^st, 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 11^th 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 23^rd, 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. 

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....

Sua sadie Chnam Tmie!

 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.

I'd rather be.....

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 11^th 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?

The tale of Dara

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