9.5.2008
Day 1: Site Announcement
The past two days have been intense! After the increasingly less interesting trip to the hub site yesterday morning, we sat through a long few sessions in anticipation of the site announcements. We waited through the morning, through lunch, and through a forever discussion of something that I can’t even remember because I was so anxious to find out about my site.
But then…the wonderful announcement. For weeks we were wondering how they would do it. Would they call our names like the Price is Right and say, “come on down!” to…(insert province here)? Would they give us some secret envelope that we would have to hold in our damp, shaking hands until they gave us the go ahead and we could tear into them as eager as kids before dawn on Christmas morning? Or, would they make it as low-key as they can and just read the names off a sheet with a monotone and brisk inflection?
It was better than all of those. They pulled out a large map of Cambodia with all of the current K1 photos in their locations and all of our photos posted around the board. The staff member who was in charge of our locations stood up and began the announcements. “In Phnom Penh…” he said in his teacher-like, lightly accented voice. Since we all know that no one is in Phnom Penh (for many obvious safety, security, and cost issues) he had a little laugh and pointed out some of the staff members who reside in our capital city. But then for the real story, he began in next province on the Tonle Sap and announced the names of all of the volunteers who would be there as they walked up to the front and moved their photos from the grey areas in Thailand, in Laos, in Vietnam, into our own country and their own province. We all clapped and cheered, and the atmosphere was jovial.
And then they called another province, to the north…Banteay Meanchay. And I heard my name with the names of 2 other volunteers from my training village and another with whom I play sports whenever the occasion arises. It is a new province to Peace Corps, so there are no K1 Volunteers there, though there are some in the nearby Battambang and Siem Riep Provinces. My actual site is north of the provincial capital of Sisophon, which makes me (by far) the northernmost Volunteer in Cambodia. I am no more than 50 K from the Thai border and close to the semi-famous temple of Bantey Chmar.
With our announcements came a small report of our village, though, for which I am grateful. And…it came with good news! There are several NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) in the area, including a mine removal center, a center that helps women and child to supplement their income, a human rights organization (that my host dad works for), and several VSOs that work in the local hospital. Including…a Kenyan (yes! Kenyan!) VSO that works with health in the area!!!! Perhaps my Africa Dreams aren’t that far away after all!
Plus, the map that I have shows my town on the cusp of a protected landscape, which I hope means that the nature will be beautiful and I will be able to find many places to bike and walk and explore throughout my service. The report notes as well that I will have some limited electricity (enough to charge my computer, my only desire), that Thai Baht is the currency of choice (though the dollar and riel are both perfectly acceptable), that my family will consist of mom, dad, sisters (18 and 15), brother (12), and grandmother, and that the town is probably about the size of my current training village. The black and white photocopy photos that I have look promising…and I’m hoping that the language that I’ve been learning from the south has some resemblance to the dialect of the far, far, far north.
Important afterthought: the K1 Volunteers gave us PB & J sandwiches with chips, salsa, Ritz, Oreos, cookies, and Apple Jacks with real milk and we were basically in heaven for the 10 minutes that it took to devour it all.
Day 2: Meeting my counterpart
With shaky butterflies in my tummy as I walked across to the venue, I wondered what he or she would be like, because throughout training, we have heard both horror and wonder stories of counterparts and co-teachers. One of the Volunteers told me that my guy was here and that I should go find him in the heavily male group of sharply dressed teachers from across the country. Fortunately, he found me before I had to look very hard, having seen my picture on the previously mentioned map. He is 39, married, three kids, and a great, enthusiastic personality. He works for the hospital in the summer, translating for the VSOs there, and his English is more than okay. I look forward to spending more time with him, especially because in his main concerns about my service, my health and my reaction to Khmer food are at the top of the list. However, I do wish that he paid little bit more attention to the important points of the sessions instead of my ability to live in Khmer culture as I have been for somewhere between 5 and 7 weeks.
Day 1: Site Announcement
The past two days have been intense! After the increasingly less interesting trip to the hub site yesterday morning, we sat through a long few sessions in anticipation of the site announcements. We waited through the morning, through lunch, and through a forever discussion of something that I can’t even remember because I was so anxious to find out about my site.
But then…the wonderful announcement. For weeks we were wondering how they would do it. Would they call our names like the Price is Right and say, “come on down!” to…(insert province here)? Would they give us some secret envelope that we would have to hold in our damp, shaking hands until they gave us the go ahead and we could tear into them as eager as kids before dawn on Christmas morning? Or, would they make it as low-key as they can and just read the names off a sheet with a monotone and brisk inflection?
It was better than all of those. They pulled out a large map of Cambodia with all of the current K1 photos in their locations and all of our photos posted around the board. The staff member who was in charge of our locations stood up and began the announcements. “In Phnom Penh…” he said in his teacher-like, lightly accented voice. Since we all know that no one is in Phnom Penh (for many obvious safety, security, and cost issues) he had a little laugh and pointed out some of the staff members who reside in our capital city. But then for the real story, he began in next province on the Tonle Sap and announced the names of all of the volunteers who would be there as they walked up to the front and moved their photos from the grey areas in Thailand, in Laos, in Vietnam, into our own country and their own province. We all clapped and cheered, and the atmosphere was jovial.
And then they called another province, to the north…Banteay Meanchay. And I heard my name with the names of 2 other volunteers from my training village and another with whom I play sports whenever the occasion arises. It is a new province to Peace Corps, so there are no K1 Volunteers there, though there are some in the nearby Battambang and Siem Riep Provinces. My actual site is north of the provincial capital of Sisophon, which makes me (by far) the northernmost Volunteer in Cambodia. I am no more than 50 K from the Thai border and close to the semi-famous temple of Bantey Chmar.
With our announcements came a small report of our village, though, for which I am grateful. And…it came with good news! There are several NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) in the area, including a mine removal center, a center that helps women and child to supplement their income, a human rights organization (that my host dad works for), and several VSOs that work in the local hospital. Including…a Kenyan (yes! Kenyan!) VSO that works with health in the area!!!! Perhaps my Africa Dreams aren’t that far away after all!
Plus, the map that I have shows my town on the cusp of a protected landscape, which I hope means that the nature will be beautiful and I will be able to find many places to bike and walk and explore throughout my service. The report notes as well that I will have some limited electricity (enough to charge my computer, my only desire), that Thai Baht is the currency of choice (though the dollar and riel are both perfectly acceptable), that my family will consist of mom, dad, sisters (18 and 15), brother (12), and grandmother, and that the town is probably about the size of my current training village. The black and white photocopy photos that I have look promising…and I’m hoping that the language that I’ve been learning from the south has some resemblance to the dialect of the far, far, far north.
Important afterthought: the K1 Volunteers gave us PB & J sandwiches with chips, salsa, Ritz, Oreos, cookies, and Apple Jacks with real milk and we were basically in heaven for the 10 minutes that it took to devour it all.
Day 2: Meeting my counterpart
With shaky butterflies in my tummy as I walked across to the venue, I wondered what he or she would be like, because throughout training, we have heard both horror and wonder stories of counterparts and co-teachers. One of the Volunteers told me that my guy was here and that I should go find him in the heavily male group of sharply dressed teachers from across the country. Fortunately, he found me before I had to look very hard, having seen my picture on the previously mentioned map. He is 39, married, three kids, and a great, enthusiastic personality. He works for the hospital in the summer, translating for the VSOs there, and his English is more than okay. I look forward to spending more time with him, especially because in his main concerns about my service, my health and my reaction to Khmer food are at the top of the list. However, I do wish that he paid little bit more attention to the important points of the sessions instead of my ability to live in Khmer culture as I have been for somewhere between 5 and 7 weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment