A new home, new family, new village..........

8.5.08

I’ve been in Cambodia now for about 12 days, and yet I feel like I’ve been here for ages. The time here is so different – slower, calmer, more tranquil. I have, even with the PST training schedule, time to rest and take really good care of myself for the first time in a long time. I have the energy to take care of myself, the drive, and the resources (especially in the form of a super awesome PC Medical Officer named Linda and all the materials she gave us in our health kits). I eat three square meals a day, complete with rice and more rice, veggies and fresh meat, all with a delicious flavor that pleases me so much. Mom, you’ll be thrilled to know that there is garlic here and it is in most of the meals!!!

My family is so wonderful as well. I’ve been with them for about a week now, so we are getting to know one another. It is basically like Wilson Christmas every day…there are lots and lots of people around. Mom and Dad are both teachers, very sweet and very nice and very good-natured. They both try to feed me constantly, with a phrase that has become very ingrained in my brain…nyam bai…eat rice. Then there are my brothers and sister. The youngest two are my little sisters, Lea Kn-ow and Pe-ah, 14 and 16, and we joke around even though I can’t understand the majority of what they say and vice versa. They take care of lots of the housework, cooking, cleaning and so on – summer means free time for all around here (though there is a classroom in my house and every day around 4 and 5 a bunch of teens come to learn about math). There are a few daughters at University that I have yet to meet. Then a brother, Singliy, 24, who likes nothing more than playing around with his niece and watching the Khmer dubbed Japanese soap operas. Next another sister, Titya, who works at a local bank and speaks enough English to give me some new Khmer words. The oldest is Greban, who only visits with his wife to take care of the pigs here and lives by another PCT near the market. And last but not least, Bong Nang (Lucky older sister) who lives in the house with her husband and 5 children…oh yeah, 5. Two boys, three girls, the youngest of which is so cute and just trying to walk. She always addresses me as “you” whenever she speaks to me, one of the very few English words that she knows. English just isn’t easy to come by here.

It’s very different to have so many people here…but I like is a lot. And the house is wonderful. Lots of space, a comfy bed, baby duckies, chickens, dogs, a cat, a hammock, and electricity. What more could you need? It is also pretty informal around here, a fact which I have come to appreciate considering some of the things that I hear from other volunteers. I’m getting along for sure. Learning the language, which is very hard…my mouth just doesn’t understand the sounds of the Khmer language. Making some friends, knowing the town. The Tonle Sap River is about 3 kilos outside of my town, so I’ve biked there twice and enjoyed the sights of the rice paddies and the rural lifestyle. It is so green and so beautiful.

I’m missing everyone dearly but doing so well in my new family. I can do laundry pretty well, and I’m learning how to cook. I have also found waffles and bread and chocolate. Life is good. I have been craving some bruschetta or spaghetti sauce, though, so if anyone knows a good recipe…