8.11...Successes so far!

8.11.2008
Despite the fact that it is almost ten o’clock and therefore almost my bedtime, I have an indescribable urge to write about the somewhere between 2 and 15 individual successes that I have had today. I know that is hard to believe, but this is Peace Corps, where anything is possible. I will go in chronological order so as to make things less confusing and brief because, let’s face it, the bed that I am sitting in is waiting for my prone form to indent itself on the mattress as I dream the sweet slumber of a long and exhaustingly amazing day.

My first success is actually a success of a few days ago, but it is worth mentioning for the sheer cultural value. In my house I have an older sister and 2 younger sisters, as well as a renter who lives with her kids in one room and who the girls call “bong nang,” or lucky older sister. It is actually the culturally accepted practice to call someone older than you “bong,” older, or “boo,” uncle, or “ming,” aunt, or some equally familial word for just about everyone you meet. Guests are the exception, and are not really called anything…at least from my perspective. Since my name is notoriously difficult for the Khmer speakers, my “bong nang” calls me “you” and the others just sort of struggled along on the path. However, a few days ago, the younger of my two younger sisters (whose name means gentle) began to call me “bong srai,” big sister, and I couldn’t be more thrilled at this acceptance into the family.

Today my teaching began, and I was a nervous wreck as I poured cool water over myself in the shower, fastened and straightened my dark blue Khmer skirt, and pulled on my helmet to ride through the market and go off to school, where a mass of young teens in dark skirts and slacks and light button downs were watching in some curious/fascinated/kid-at-school-in-the-summer daze. However, I took it as somewhat of a good omen that, when I was riding my bike to school today, an old monk in his flowing and overlapping orange turned from his perch on the back of a moto and flashed a wide, toothless smile at me. I’m still a little confused about my role around monks, especially in town, but this had to be a positive start to the day… As if I wasn’t nervous enough at the thought of teaching one class, I get ready to walk into class when a fellow teacher tells me that because of the mass of kids in our grade, we three need to teach two times to two groups of students in order to make up for the lack of space in one classroom. I am aghast!! But, as I walk into the classroom and tape up my flip chart paper, and look around to the 40-50 eager (?) Khmer teens, it comes like natural and my lesson goes off without a hitch. I smiled, and played charades, and taught a lesson that may have actually been enjoyable. My sense of relief was great and I smiled broadly at my accomplishment of the ‘impossible.’ I’m not as bad a teacher as I thought I was.

Somewhere between there and my second equally as amazing lesson, I received not one, but 2 letters from my oh-so-amazing grandmother. I’d say that reliable mail service is certainly a success on this side of the globe!

A successful session of “Bao Kao Ao-e” has once again passed. I use the Khmer term for laundry because for me, laundry implies a certain ease with which hand clothing washing does not exactly live up to.

Lunch was Long John Silvers fish that my sister picked off of the bones for me (and I actually liked it…one of the first fish-liking experiences of my life!) Oranges and my favorite plaiy me-an followed.

Ahhhh…..the sweet, sweet feel of rain and the cool air that travels with it.

At my new language instructor’s lesson today, we learned (finally!) about illness and how to saw that you aren’t feeling well. I have been begging for that one since I decided to cut back on the rice despite my family’s fervent pleas that I “nyam bai nyam bai” “eat rice eat rice!” Ask me if I have a fever, or a sore throat, or a tummy ache, head ache, ankle sprain, and (strangely enough) typhoid fever…and I can easily tell you in more than one language how much my body would like a doctor or some medicine or at least my cell phone to call the PC nurse.

I reached a new chapter in my new favorite book…”Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert. I highly recommend it.

Here comes a big one…even more than one big one, actually:

I cooked.

I cooked in Cambodia.

I cooked fried potatoes and onions and garlic in Cambodia. (This is what English class sounds like, by the way).

And…garlic bread.

Not only that, but they sort of liked it. Not too much, not exactly delicious, but as I was in my seventh heaven usually only achieved through some sugary substance known as chocolate, or ice cream, or chocolate ice cream, they were steadily consuming my fried concoction and the bread with a nice garlicky veggie oil on the side. It was a little experiment that was substantially successful in my eyes. Sure, Dad called it tasteless and my sister just looked at it and me with her big smile that shows the gold tooth in the side of her mouth, but…it was so much better than rice today!

And in shopping for this little adventure, which I cooked on a portable gas stove that poofed out of nowhere like in the Jetson’s cartoons, I got a few smiles, a few hellos, a couple “sa’ats” (pretty). And the little baby didn’t cry when I held her as we walked home.

It was even a successful TV day. My favorite soap opera (as previously mentioned) was on, and I found out that it is (a) Chinese and (b) called…Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion. No one can make this stuff up…
In addition to Lethal Weapons…(please excuse my further use of the title to gain a bit of a giggle from myself and you, the reader)…I also had the pleasure of seeing 2 classic American culture icons: Usher and Justin Timberlake. Both through some amazing music videos which just made my day. I also had the pleasure or hearing and seeing the Khmer knock off of the “beautiful girl/suicidal” song which mentions beautiful girls (in English) but in Khmer…prolly not the suicide so much. I think it is a bit of an improvement, though the jury is still out for now.

And I kicked a june bug’s ass in the bathroom.

8.10 - Coconut Party

8.10.08
Once again my one and only free day a week is coming to a close and I feel the urge to write based on three separate things that are churning the emotions inside me. One: Tomorrow I begin my first day of practicum teaching, and I am so nervous that I could barely enjoy the delicious beef stew with fresh French bread that I was served this evening (and served, and served, and served…) at my friend’s house. Two: I finally had the ultimate pleasure of hearing my mother and my grandmother’s voice as I left my wonderful beef stew and a mass of Khmer people to answer my phone with all the joy that could be expected from such an occasion. And of course, three: Cambodia is remarkably different than the good ole state of Iowa…and I may or may not have fallen in love.

You may be asking yourself, “Self, what is so different about Cambodia?” I’m going to make a vast generalization and guess that you probably have not stepped a single toe across the lovely country and seen the rice paddies, the village markets, or anything in between. I am thrilled to elaborate.

For one thing, Wal-Mart is (thankfully) a distant memory because no such thing exists here. Instead we have markets, which are a mass of people and goods and mud. I have not been able to stand up straight in the market in my village because the cloth ceiling hangs too low (and, let’s face it, I’m not that tall). You can buy everything you need at the market here – though there is somewhat of an art to shopping. No one person will sell everything you need at once, but if you make a few friends in a few trades…you’re set for good prices. Find a good friend in the plastics department. She (or he, but usually she) will sell you hangers and basins and almost anything you need to wash your clothes or your plates or yourself. It’s very useful to have a frequently shopped friend in the beauty department as well, so you can get your sabboo (soap) so that you can actually clean your clothes, or your plates or yourself, and you can add some accessories and sweet smelling perfumes to attract the mosquitoes! I recently made friends with a veggie seller…but friends in the plai me-an (such a delicious little fruit!!) and sao-mao (the bigger and sweeter cousin of the aforementioned fruit) are quite an asset. I’ve also found a tailor in a fellow trainee’s family, as well as a sweet seller from another trainee. Market life is chaos and a barang (French, or foreign, or white, or not Khmer) always makes the gossip mill start running. In fact, I bought some bread the other day and my friend Deidre knew how many loaves and at what time before class the next day. Other trainees hear about one another’s bathing and oral hygiene habits with all the intensity of the 6:00 news.

I have electricity, which means that I have a fan, and light, and…(this is where I picture suspenseful music from an old black and white horror flick)…Television. Although…this television does not play any classic movies, any of my favorite sitcoms, or news that I can make sense of. Instead, I have the pleasure of watching news in Khmer (with not always the best photojournalism for the language-impaired like me), watching Khmer karaoke music videos with usually sound or look similar (Which is how I imagine my mother feels about the hip hop that I may or may not blast throughout the house when I am home), and soap operas. I have watched so many soap operas – though I do guiltily enjoy the plots that I sort of understand, the Khmer dubbing from Korean or Chinese or Japanese, the blood that looks like the classic corn syrup mixture without the syrup. My favorite one is set back in ancient times and the women who star as pick-pocketing bad asses have beat up the men in the pale blue fabrics on more than one occasion.

I do not have running water here, though it is around. I bathe in a little bathroom with tile on the floors and a very large spider that I’ve been calling my friend (he eats the mosquitoes, after all). I use a plastic saucepan that makes me think of making mac and cheese and dump cool water over myself about three times a day…which I recently learned how to say in Khmer, thank you very much. I also use a cleverly named “squattie pottie” which is not (despite the mental picture in my head) a simple hole in the ground. It is also tiled, and the mechanics of flushing are much the same, except there’s no button to push. It’s very frugal with water I think.

The teenage Britney Spears is huge here and I saw her picture on a shampoo/hair dye/skin care box looking like she just sang the Baby One More Time song…one more time.

I dreamt about a washing machine last night.

Then I woke up and began washing my laundry in the buckets by the well. Side bar: Last week I wanted to do laundry and therefore brought out my clothes and began soaking them in a bucket by the well. It is a small well, back behind the house past the chicken coop and the trash pile. But then, as it does here, it began to rain suddenly and I made a mad dash for the house, leaving my clothes behind. Later, I notice a brood of strange young men walking haphazardly about the yard (in the rain, mind you). I was very curious and began to peek around trying to figure out what these 5-7 men in their twenties were doing around our compound, especially since my brother was inside the house…

As I continued to watch the men, who had moved their party to the well near my laundry, I noticed a few strange things. For one, they were standing out in the rain still. Two, they had began to drink coconut milk straight from the larger, green coconuts (in the rain). And three, one strange case was getting water from the well to pour all over himself as if he was taking a bath, and as if he wasn’t already drenched from the rain pouring down upon them. Later, after the still nameless (and one faceless because he was wearing his moto helmet) men left in the slow dash that only a Khmer man can perfect, one fellow stayed, and I peeked to watch him glance over his shoulder before he stripped off his shirt, slung a towel around his waist, and lost his pants and red bikini style underwear to lay on the line. This was not before I noticed that the glimmer around his waist was, in fact, a belly chain. It really matched his gold necklace and bracelet, though. Oh yeah and, by the way, if you have gained any insight from this story about Khmer men, please, please, please enlighten me...

I cannot remember the last time that I thought that 20 til 11 was late and far past bedtime, but it is certainly the case now. More Kampuchea (Cambodia to Cambodians) / USA differences are certainly on the way.

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…

New Day, New dolla

7. 26.08
Right now I am listening to the sweet sounds of Quinn and Adrian playing their respective guitar and violin, harmonizing so wonderfully as we enjoy the post-rain evening out on our veranda. We’re all just sitting and enjoying (except for Greg, who is break-dancing in the hallway…he’s the resident Buddhist vegetarian b-boy Iowan…) There are crickets in the background, and another wonderful Khmer meal in my tummy. Tonight, after our basketball court soccer game, I ate some ginger chicken and barbecue chicken on a stick. There was tuk thai, or tea, and bai, or rice, and all kinds of very tasty food.

I’m finding a niche here though. Slowly, but I feel it happening. I’m sitting here in my sarong, enjoying the lovely night and the companionship. I also had a major achievement today; I bought a hat. I realize that to most that that is not much of a celebratory event, but I don’t know numbers past 19, and anything that I would pay for would be in Khmer riel, and therefore at least 500 or 1000 for something. FYI: 4000 is one single dollar and I have paid nothing more than 8,000 for any given meal that I have eaten, and the food is organic and more delicious than anything here in the states. I also speak no useful vending Khmer, so asking ‘how much’ and other sorts of things is not possible. Plus, there is very little English here, and my worse-than-childlike Khmer is not usually understood. Even against all these odds, though, I bought a hat. I went to a local vendor, said hello, and picked out the one that I liked as the rain began to pour. I also bought some laundry soap, which was a lovely adventure with the same woman, strangely still in her bathing sarong with her shoulders bare. I must have been that exciting…because it is extremely rare for a woman to bare her shoulders here, especially after bathing. It is a lovely straw hat with a big green bow and a blue rim. It was also just 4000 riel.

It is a very strange experience to be on time with the sun. I thought my dad was always crazy for being up at 5, but I am beginning to wonder if it is more positive to do so. I see the sunrise, enjoy the cool air, and generally do a lot more when I am awake so early. Plus, I am safe from the more frightening nighttimes here and can enjoy the other volunteers, my new pseudo-family members. I’m trying to remember why I ever wanted to sleep in until 12 the next day. It must be the new crowd of people. In fact, its about 10 30 and the bed a few feet away is sounding pretty darn good. I have to wake up tomorrow and begin the adventures of laundering my own clothing. It should be quite a fun time.

Another First Day!

7.25.08
Things to know:
The rainbows here are out of this world. Both times that it has rained and the clouds have cleared at sunset rainbows break out in pairs in the sky and they go all the way across. Pots of gold to be had by all (if there were any Irishmen here!)
Khmer children are the most fun I have ever had. Our first day at our training site brought a few little boys anxious to show us their bike tricks as they rode back and forth in front of the gate and waved and smiled and said “hello.” Most people say hello to us whenever we walk around – it is a pretty popular phrase, along with, “okay!” I also heard an LCF (Language and cultural facilitator) say, “Fo’ Shizzle.” Another day, during a rain, a few children were out playing and they caught me snapping their picture. They ran inside, suddenly shy, and waved and danced and stared at me, smiled all the time. The younger kids, though, the toddlers – very unhappy reactions to the barang trying to say hi to them.

Soccer on sand is immensely difficult, though the Khmer LCFs are basically pros in disguise. And Quinn should not be allowed to kick a ball at full force at a 5’0” les-than-100-pound woman.

Have I mentioned that the food here is amazing? And cheap!

Part of our XC (Cross-cultural) training today was an exploration into the world of non-indoor plumbing and running water. We observed our LCFs acting out how to wash clothing, eat (there are lots of rules about seating and the order in which food is served), sleep (with nets and bugs), bathe and …um….wash ourselves are using the toilet. One of the LCFs mocked the cry of roosters as he rose for the ‘morning.’ One LCF mimicked the act of washing himself, blushing and giggling the entire time, and we figured out how to tie our new sarongs around us.

Elections are in full force now. With three main parties and a smattering of other people running, the campaigns are intense. Today we saw a party with a parade kilometers long – full of uniformed men in trucks and loud music blaring from awful loudspeakers. It is quite the event, although there is likely to be no major upsets in the governmental seats. Training today was interrupted several times by these loud trucks and campaigns running the streets, as was the breakfast that I enjoyed bright and early this morning.

On a sadder note, I visited the market today and a very young boy was begging for money from me, silently, a site that was very sad and very surreal for me. PC has advised us not to give anything to anyone on the streets, so all we could do was look and ignore, a very uncomfortable feeling. Also, the dogs here are sadly underfed and underloved. While eating dinner, Quinn made friends with ‘Angelina Jolie’ and all the time he pet her she was wary of a kick or a slap or a stick or a rock…

I can feel that things are adjusting. The past few days remind me of freshman orientation in college, which has become a bit of a blur in my mind. Being so tired and anxious and stressed messes with your memory perhaps. But as I relax and enjoy, I feel like the adjustments are coming and adaptations are already being made. I’m not as tired today, I wasn’t as hot, the food is tasting very good, and the language is … on its way. I’m still taking the experience on a day-to-day basis, but it’s on its way to natural.

The first days!!!!

7.24.08
I made it. After an uneventful, though thoroughly tiring trip, I am finally here in Cambodia. The K2 class, along with our luggage and anxieties and bubbling excitement, left the lovely Kabuki hotel early on Monday morning, flying 11 and some odd hours to Tokyo, then another 6 to Bangkok. Bangkok airport staff received us at the airport and we were taken through the bustling passport control before getting a bus that took us to a gorgeous 5-star hotel. By the time we reached the hotel, though, it was about 1:00 in the morning. I gave my tired body a long, hot shower and then took a quick nap before rising to be downstairs by 5. Then we were off to Phnom Penh.

The airplane ride to Phnom Penh was wonderful. Even though the flight was no more than an hour, we were served a huge meal, complete with cold duck and noodles, juice, water, tea, coffee, rolls and a little green jello-like dessert with cheese on top. They served the meal while our plane was still on the incline and practically threw our food to us because of the time restraints. I looked out the window as we reached the airport though, and the rice paddies are as beautiful as they look. A lovely sight.

As we walked off the plane we were greeted by a couple of staff members, then by a huge group of staff and PCVs with banners and fans that they gave us as gifts. We snapped a few pictures and then drove off to the next hotel, a little place in PP. Now, a day later, I am laying in a bed in a guest house in our training hub site. Here, unlike in the other hotels, there is no AC, no toilet paper, and no bathtub. I feel like I have been gradually adjusting to the lack of amenities since San Francisco and I am grateful for that. What is that proverb about the frog and the boiling water? Replace that with extreme humid heat and I am that frog (except for that whole dead part…).

We’ve been asked a few times what our initial reactions are to Cambodia. Hot. But that fan that they gave us is lovely and works wonders. Fantastic Food. Although I’ve yet to get used to a lot of the food here, there is rice and stir-fry and fruit and tea, and at the moment, it is my own personal heaven. Happy People. They smile and the entire country lights up. Plus, we met a few young boys who were so thrilled to meet the barangs and it was beyond adorable. The staff and the PCVs and basically everyone that I have met have been wonderful. Have I mentioned hot yet? The countryside is so pretty, and we saw a few very vivid rainbows after the rains today. I wish I knew the Khmer word for fantastic because Cambodia is that and so much more.

One notable thing from PP was a cruise on the Mekong river. Stunning and great food and good company and dancing as I have never seen dancing before. We were told that the graceful hand and arm movements the women perform are a way to combat the heat while in traditional, semi-arm restricting clothing. They delicately move their hands and arms slowly, gracefully, deliberately, and the way of life is like a dance as well.

Made IT!!!!

Well, I made it to Cambodia safe and sound and non-jet lagged. I'm pretty far from internet at the moment, but in this quick 10 minutes I have with a computer I had to post. Things are great here...the food is great and the staff and PCVs are awesome! I am looking optimisitcally at the future of training!

San Fran-Phil's-Co

Well, I made it. After a couple of games of Wilson solitaire, a quick stop at Perkins, and a teary goodbye at the airport, I got on a plane to get my 49 pound suitcase, my hiking pack, and my little bag all the way over to San Francisco. I was happy to have stopped in Dallas/Fort Worth and ridden a huge sky-train. Obviously Des Moines’ airport is a little bit different… In true travel style we waited on the plane in Dallas for an hour because of “total incompetence” as the pilot said, but, fortunately enough, the movie 21 was playing as in-flight entertainment and the time went fast.

From then on it was Phil’s Frisco. We came through, stopped at the Marriot where I am staying (holy cow is it nice!) and went on to glance at the Golden Gate Bridge and head over to Phil’s apartment. We went to this little place called Nopa… yummmmm…There was little crispy bread chips and goat cheese dip, pizza with cucumbers and tomatoes and goat cheese, rabbit with a spicy stew, and dark chocolate dessert. I’m a picky eater, I’ve never liked goat cheese, I’ve never had rabbit, but it was delicious! And Nopa was an experience, not a restaurant. True San Fran style.

I’ve decided that I am getting spoiled with all of this luxury. The Marriot has a king size bed and a TV to match, not to mention $4.00 M&Ms and a concierge room that has food and dessert at almost every hour of the day. Before I left, I had chicken and noodles, and pizza, ice cream, hibachi Japanese, and all of my all-time favorite foods, plus time playing solitaire with Mom and Grandma. (Note: Solitaire with the three us is group solitaire: a hardcore, competitive, break-all-your-nails sort of game. Is there limited electricity sometime in the future? I would never know it from my experiences today!

Day 2

This city is amazing! Phil, Aparna and I, after a light breakfast in the hotel-room-for-special-people lounge, walked around the city, getting a little feel for the downtown skyscrapers, the grand hotels, the parks and the fountains, the little eateries, and all of those hills that are great to look at on the movies, and a little less fun to walk around. We walked through Chinatown (both tourist town and the true China town), down to the pier, and right onto a little catamaran that took us under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz island. It was beautifully bumpy, spraying Phil and I with ocean water numerous times as we tried to hang on to the rails through the wind and the waves. Fun Fact of the Day: The guards at Alcatraz made the prisoners shower in hot water so they couldn’t get used to the cold water and therefore would be less likely and able to escape by sea to the city.

Before we went on, we had these delicious sandwiches at a place that I would never had found by myself. Tiny, no seats (not full…non-existent), just a register and a counter for the chow. Places like this are the reason why I never want to tour a city without a native, or, in Phil’s case, a guy that has somehow become a native through extensive exploration.
We had the lovely pleasure to go see Frida Kahlo’s work at the SFMOMA. So amazing! Passionately created, intricate in detail, and simply gorgeous. The museum itself is also quite a pleasure to walk through.

For dinner, because the wonder never stops, we ate at a little Brazilian steakhouse: Espetus Churrascaria (I thought of you, Jacob!). There was a salad bar in the back full of greens and mango salsa and all kinds of ethnic dishes. Then all of these men called gauchos come around to each table with skewers of meat and, if we consent, put a slice or a bite on our plate. I was impressed with their skill as they cut and placed the meat. I was also impressed with the delicious glass of sangria that I had (And with the pomegranate gin that I had later at an old style speakeasy that we had to give a password to get into!).

I would like to publically state that Phil is the best tour guide that I have ever had. San Fran-Phil’s-co was a blast…and now the rest of the adventure.

As of now.....

Here is what I understand about my assignment and my time in Cambodian Peace Corps: My group of 38 people, about half of which I have talked to over facebook and email, will all be Teachers of Foreign Language (TEFL). I will leave on the 17th of July for San Francicso, where I will see my brother and then begin Peace Corps Staging, sort of an orientation to Peace Corps. On Monday the 21st, the plane leaves for Cambodia. We fly through Tokyo, through Bangkok, and arrive in Phnom Penh. From there we go to our training site, where we will learn the language in small groups of 4-5 people as we stay with a host family. The large group meets for special events and special larger-group training sessions. Training is intense, leaving very little time for any sort of exploration except for within my host family and small village.

At the beginning of October, we are sworn-in and transported to our sites. I won’t know where I am going until right before then, though, because training is one of the ways that the PC determines where we are going to live. When I am there, I will stay with another host family and teach English for a school…I don’t know the grade level (or levels) yet.

Other than that, the questions are up in the air! I will find out soon…but until then…on with the wait!

To take or not to take.....

In less than two weeks I will be soaking up the sun of the Cambodian sky. I had my last day at Simpson College just this past Thursday and rushed home to Grandma’s house for the small-town Fourth of July celebrations. Considering that the majority of my possessions are stuffed into the trunk of my little car…I have yet to begin packing. However, I have been thinking about the things that I need, the things that I want, and the things that the current PCVs tell me not to bring (How I love the internet!).

What does a person pack for a two-year trek into another country?

Take:
A couple pairs of pants, Some skirts, Some shirts, Undergarments, Socks, Shoes (especially shoes, because my “Canoe feet” won’t fit into small Cambodian shoes)
Gifts for the host families, including some hats, some toys, some stickers….etc, etc, etc.
Conditioner, Deodorant, Contacts, Glasses, Hair brush, Toothbrush, Face Wash, non-PC bug spray.
Laptop, ipod, camera, pictures, paperwork, and a couple of books.
My blankie…because we all need something with absolutely no use besides sheer comfort.

Not Take:
Too many clothes (Because everything is so cheap and special clothes are required for women there)
Too much stuff (Because everything is so cheap there)