As you can see from the subject of this blog post, I've been in Cambodia for two whole months now!!! wooooooo!!!!...pause...awkward silence...
Okay. Scratch that. It's been one week. We officially arrived in Phnom Penh last Sunday. I am now in Takeo Province which is about two hours south of PP...I think. Well, know it all Google maps says it's 1 hour and 22 minutes south of PP but that's only true if you are traveling by Delorean or something. And not on Peace Corps Cambodia's watch. Eeek! Say what? I didn't say anything...
All of the K6 trainees are now with their host families as of Saturday, July 21st. My host mom's name is Sophany (Goa-ut chmoo-aw Sophany. Pronounced: Soap-ann-ee...I think) She lives on National Highway (very busy with absurd Khmer drivers), in a nice house with her husband (I can't remember his name....?) But he's a policeman and I finally saw him in his uniform during dinner tonight. He's legit, yo. No one gonna eff with us!
My host mom was a teacher but retired from that two years ago and is now a vendor. She sells bulk rice so there are huge bags of rice in the garage-type-part of our/their house. They also have a very sweet (English speaking) daughter who's 21 years old. She usually just visits on the weekends. Thanks to her I have internet! She's letting me use her internet USB stick thing. I hope to get one of my own tomorrow maybe and UNLIMITED monthly internet. Cuz I loves me some internets.
DO I LOOK LIKE A TERRORIST? THIS IS WHAT I WEAR TO KEEP THE BUGS OUT OF MY HAIR
Tomorrow we begin our day at 7:30AM with language and cross-cultural class with our LCF (Language and Cross-cultural facilitator) Linda. He is strict but I think he will be a good teacher. We have approximately 4.5 hours of this in the morning. Break for lunch and then go to the Wat for our first day of Technical training for our actual assignment, Community Health Education (CHE.)
Things I've noticed that I like/find funny/weird/silly/interesting/(or none of those):
- Host mom eye-rolling. Is this a good thing or bad thing in Khmer culture? Don't answer.
- I'm always tired! I take mid-day naps which, if you really know me, is not something I like to do. Naps often make me feel worse than before the nap took place. I am crabby after naps. And today it DIDN'T RAIN, so when I woke up from my nap I was covered in sweat. Iiiiick.
- My sleep schedule is odd...I go to bed around 9PM or 10PM and wake up several times throughout the night because I'm too hot or too cold (sometimes!) I then wake up before my "just in case" alarm anywhere between 5-530AM. And this works out fine for me since I can go running before it gets even hotter out.
- I love rain now. When you visit me in Cambodia, you will understand. Back in Minneapolis, whenever it rained, I would be pissed because that usually meant I would be soaked by the time I got to work or wherever. But NOW, I'd rather be soaked by the cool rain, than my sticky sweaty self. Sweat is a constant disgustingness sticking to every Peace Corps trainee.
- Little kids, everywhere I go, say "Hello" to me because I'm obviously the coolest person they've ever seen in their lives. (This is not a unique to me, BTWs. Every PCT gets this kind of attention.)
I'm glad I have this:
M and Ms; Boy am I glad I kept you guys to myself...
When I'm not by myself eating pretzel M&Ms, I'm eating delicious (seriously, pretty good) Khmer food with my family. We sit together on this wood-deck-type-thing with our legs crossed uncomfortably (and my feet cannot be pointing toward my host dad...) There's rice (obviously), some type of vegetables: today it looked like sprouts?(yum!), Som-law (Khmer Soup), potatoes (dom lowm barang), and green tea.
I talked with my LCF about running and he discussed this with my host dad. Neither of them wanted me to run on the National Highway...which is the road I HAVE to take if I want to go anywhere, BTW. So my dad suggested crossing the street and hopping the fence of the school to run around the campus. I followed said advice like the good daughter I am...and BEWARE OF DOG has never been more real to me (although that sign does not exist here.) I was able to run for about 5-7 minutes until the dogs that "own" the campus when kids aren't around on the weekend spotted me from their Dog throne. I could feel the three or four dogs tailing me and I tried to "confuse" the dogs by running around the building a "different" direction. The dogs were very angry with me and I've never been more afraid of any animal. I decided to stop running (as advised by the Peace Corps) and walked to the gate "with confidence."
Let's just say...I'm never doing that again. And for the record, this was not one of the dogs trying to eat me.
I'M DANGEROUSLY CUTE, BACK THE EFF OFF.
Today I did myself a favor and just hopped on my sweet mountain bike and road toward people. I was feeling weird because it's difficult to be surrounded by people that don't recognize your "mad-awesome" pantomiming skills. I tried to explain "mosquito net" to my mom yesterday with buzzing noises and waving my hand around my face...She just walked away. I'm making even more weird noises than usual to communicate with my host family.
Anyway...I got on my bike, and called my friend Willia. I knew I was somewhere near her house and that she wouldn't mind me just stopping by somewhat unannounced. She's amazing. I love her. She was napping when I called her and woke her up. The second time I did that to someone today (oops!) We gathered on the side of the road along with two other PCT friends, Miriam and Melissa. Then we visited one of the married PCT couples, Kayla and Kevin.
Long story short, I am going to make it my rule to call someone when I'm feeling weird/sad/lonely and meet up with them. I hope Willia doesn't mind being the first one on my list.
Willia: My Saving Grace
I should probably go to bed soon and before I go to bed, I have to go pee and that is also a scary ordeal...I'll spare you the details for now. This was a LONG post.
Love,
LoRAAH, PCT
