Well we're back in Phnom Penh for the night. We had an air conditioned van ride here,which was very nice. Checked into our guest house- and then ate at the 'Freebird' restaurant and had a cheeseburger, with fries, a beer and some onion rings. It was air conditioned. It had a large flat screened t.v. in it - with a VIP room that me and 7 other volunteers shared. it was amazing.
We're headed Kirirom National Park tomorrow which apparently is a beautiful little mountain area. I am very excited just to have a little break and see another part of the country.
Will surprised me on our anniversary with a serenade from our friend Adrian at dinner... which was very sweet, and then the rest of us celebrated the night away back at the hubsite hotel.
Language classes are going well - and we continue to stay busy--- AND we find out where are permanent sites will be next Thursday!
All for now - as I have to make a call to the Verizon Wireless rep who apparently didn't keep records that I had canceled my cell phone account in June. Just what I want to do, spend my spare time calling someone back in the states about canceling a cell phone contract.
more to share later....over and out!
(all is going well.... justnot much time to type!)
s
Friday, August 29, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Our 1st Anniversary
So here were are on the other side of the world, celebrating our 1st anniversary! It's hard to believe a year has gone by already- and that time seems so long ago.
But regardless we're having fun. Will picked me a gardenia from our yard this morning.... and today we're at the hubsite, and will be going to dinner with 34 of our closest friends. Ha. kind of our only friends!
But yes- we're enjoying ourselves!
we found out today that we get to take a fieldtrip adventure in 2 weeks. This is for us to practice travelling around the country on our own. We're going to Kiriron National Park.... and according to the staff it's a pretty cool place. We're excited to be able to get away for a weekend and not have to go to any meetings! We'll think of it as a little anniversary trip.
all for now!
P.s. To both Moms--- our host mom asked us the other day if we missed our families, and I said yes... She wanted to be sure to have me tell you that she is taking very good care of us. So no worries!
But regardless we're having fun. Will picked me a gardenia from our yard this morning.... and today we're at the hubsite, and will be going to dinner with 34 of our closest friends. Ha. kind of our only friends!
But yes- we're enjoying ourselves!
we found out today that we get to take a fieldtrip adventure in 2 weeks. This is for us to practice travelling around the country on our own. We're going to Kiriron National Park.... and according to the staff it's a pretty cool place. We're excited to be able to get away for a weekend and not have to go to any meetings! We'll think of it as a little anniversary trip.
all for now!
P.s. To both Moms--- our host mom asked us the other day if we missed our families, and I said yes... She wanted to be sure to have me tell you that she is taking very good care of us. So no worries!
08.17.08
081708
So it took us a little less time doing laundry today – so that was nice (only 2 hrs. instead of 3), albeit we didn’t have to wash our sheets this time; those are especially difficult by hand.
Sopeap (host mom) asked us jokingly if we wanted to race her in doing laundry. She does the whole family’s laundry while Will and I each have our own bin to do both of our laundry. We kindly turned her down. She finished all of hers in half the time that we were able to do ours. Ha. Good stuff.
Hrmm… what else to mention….
Oh- gosh- there was a funeral going on yesterday. (well it continued on into today, and will again tomorrow). In Buddhist custom the funeral rituals last 3 days. Part of it consists of really loud Cambodian instrumental music being blasted from the loud speakers at the Wat. I’m talking really loud. Our language lesson was really close to where the music was playing, and it was VERY difficult to concentrate, and not develop a headache. We ended up moving our afternoon session to one of the volunteers’ houses. Much better choice. I guess they play the loud music, so everyone in the community knows of the death; also I believe people then can make offerings if they want to. I guess it makes sense, as there’s no local newspaper and no local news. But seriously, is it necessary to be that loud? We live down the block and can still hear it loud and clear. Oh- and I didn’t mention that it lasts all day long… quits at night- but then starts at 4AM in the morning. Today was the first day that we busted out our ear plugs. We now know why we ended up throwing them in the shopping cart when we were checking things off the packing list back in the states. One wonders what they did prior to loudspeakers and electricity. Hmmm.
Other than that not TOooo much. J It was plain and simply a really busy week. Tomorrow we head back to the hub site to see the rest of the volunteers and more sessions. We’ll all crowd the internet café at break with only 8-spots available and take turns.
AND we will celebrate our 1-Year anniversary! Can hardly believe it has been a year. Truly went very fast…. It’ll be fun to celebrate with the rest of the volunteers. Our host mom gave us an anniversary gift. She gave Will a nice notebook and me a really comfortable pair of pants and shirt to wear around the house. Sopeap had this really light weight looking clothing, and I kept telling her how much I liked it. Lo- and behold she finds a reason to give on to me. Anyhow--- I love them – (they’re tie-died magenta) but everyone rocks the bright colors here; so I fit in pretty well.
Well this is all for the moment. I think I’m going to take a nap on the hammock. There’s only so much you can do at 2:51 in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day.
Until next time,
Stephanie b.
So it took us a little less time doing laundry today – so that was nice (only 2 hrs. instead of 3), albeit we didn’t have to wash our sheets this time; those are especially difficult by hand.
Sopeap (host mom) asked us jokingly if we wanted to race her in doing laundry. She does the whole family’s laundry while Will and I each have our own bin to do both of our laundry. We kindly turned her down. She finished all of hers in half the time that we were able to do ours. Ha. Good stuff.
Hrmm… what else to mention….
Oh- gosh- there was a funeral going on yesterday. (well it continued on into today, and will again tomorrow). In Buddhist custom the funeral rituals last 3 days. Part of it consists of really loud Cambodian instrumental music being blasted from the loud speakers at the Wat. I’m talking really loud. Our language lesson was really close to where the music was playing, and it was VERY difficult to concentrate, and not develop a headache. We ended up moving our afternoon session to one of the volunteers’ houses. Much better choice. I guess they play the loud music, so everyone in the community knows of the death; also I believe people then can make offerings if they want to. I guess it makes sense, as there’s no local newspaper and no local news. But seriously, is it necessary to be that loud? We live down the block and can still hear it loud and clear. Oh- and I didn’t mention that it lasts all day long… quits at night- but then starts at 4AM in the morning. Today was the first day that we busted out our ear plugs. We now know why we ended up throwing them in the shopping cart when we were checking things off the packing list back in the states. One wonders what they did prior to loudspeakers and electricity. Hmmm.
Other than that not TOooo much. J It was plain and simply a really busy week. Tomorrow we head back to the hub site to see the rest of the volunteers and more sessions. We’ll all crowd the internet café at break with only 8-spots available and take turns.
AND we will celebrate our 1-Year anniversary! Can hardly believe it has been a year. Truly went very fast…. It’ll be fun to celebrate with the rest of the volunteers. Our host mom gave us an anniversary gift. She gave Will a nice notebook and me a really comfortable pair of pants and shirt to wear around the house. Sopeap had this really light weight looking clothing, and I kept telling her how much I liked it. Lo- and behold she finds a reason to give on to me. Anyhow--- I love them – (they’re tie-died magenta) but everyone rocks the bright colors here; so I fit in pretty well.
Well this is all for the moment. I think I’m going to take a nap on the hammock. There’s only so much you can do at 2:51 in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day.
Until next time,
Stephanie b.
Practice Teaching | Aug. 16, 08
August 16th, 2008 Practice Teaching
It is Saturday night and all I can say is that I am glad to finally have a night off! This last week has been incredibly busy. All of us participated in a ‘teaching practicum’ this week. Basically it gave us all a chance to begin to get comfortable with being in front of the classroom. Many of us have never taught before and here was our chance to get our feet wet.
The village that we are in for our training is the biggest of the three that everyone was sent to. Ours is also on the national highway and the closest to Phnom Penh. There are 11 of the 34 volunteers in this village.
Anyway, the way that Peace Corps set up the practicum was to ask the local high school to inform the community that there will be ‘native English’ speakers coming to town to teach English lessons for one week. (I guess it truly didn’t matter to the students that most of us had never taught before in our lives, or that several of us don’t feel that English grammar was our strongest subject; but all they cared about was that some Americans who knew how to speak English were going to give classes free of charge and if they had the opportunity to come; they’d do everything they could to make it happen.)
Anyhow, students who might be interested were to sign up on a first come first serve basis. It is summertime and classes are not in session; so they knew that when they asked for participation the turnout would be dedicated students who were really interested in being there and who wanted to practice their English.
When Peace Corps checked in with the high school director they found out that over 700 students signed up and wanted to participate. Obviously with 11 volunteers who were to teach one 45 minute class each could not do this. They narrowed down the number to around 300 students.
On Monday morning, Dan (the person I was sharing one 11th grade classroom with) and I walked into a room full of 62 students. Yes, 62. We knew class sizes were going to be large, but 62? Wow. Nonetheless all 62 stood up when we entered the room. I was amazed how they all even fit in the room. The desks have benches attached to the writing surface, and anywhere from 2 to 4 people shared one desk, just so they could all fit in. The students were dressed in their uniforms, which for the girls consisted of navy skirts, knee-length to floor length; the guys--nice slacks and everyone wore white or light blue button down shirts. Female teachers are to wear classic Khmer skirts (which consist of a really nice/actually really pretty fabric which wraps around and goes to the floor. Guys are to dress nicely as well, with button down shirts nice slacks, shirts tucked in and belts.
Do I need to reiterate how humid and warm it is here?
Needless to say I was a bit nervous. But in some respects it was almost easier teaching to such a large group. I thought I was going to be a little clammier that morning but actually was able to greet the group with a big smile and a warm hello.
The chapter we were teaching that day had to do with leisure. I started out with a warm up of hangman (they apparently LOVE that game here) and then discussed leisure activities and then had them get into groups and interview each other of what their favorite leisure activities were. After that I made a ‘newspaper’ drawing on some large pieces of paper and had them report to me what those activities were and then we listed the story in our made up newspaper.
Overall, it really went pretty well. I was easily able to fill up the 45 min. time slot and even had students ask a few questions.
But boy do I have a completely NEW respect for teachers anywhere. I felt like I had just ran 10 miles after teaching that class. It sure does take a lot of energy to keep everyone focused, entertained and to make sure that they understand what you’re talking about. I’m sure it’s different teaching something in the same language --- but still; I’ve found it is quite draining to teach a class. And this was just 1 class! 45 Min.! It’s not like we had to be up there all day.
So I did it. I taught a class. But there are soo many’ cultural differences that we all have to take into account; and I’m sure it’ll be a while before we truly get used to them. But even the simple classroom dynamics are so different here. Students are NOT accustomed to openly raising their hand to answer a question. After my first evaluation I was told to be sure to call on students directly, rather than ask an open ended question… otherwise you’ll feel like you’re losing momentum when all of a sudden NO ONE raises their hand and you hear crickets in the background. But I guess students here are used to having the teacher read directly from the book, never leave their podium and NEVER really ask for classroom participation.
Secondly, gender is a big deal here. I’ve already talked about how everything is a little more conservative here (i.e. girls cannot wear shorts that are above their knees, we do not bare our shoulders—people don’t really date here…if they are dating, or seen alone together it typically means they are engaged. Boys don’t touch girls, girls don’t touch boys; we’ve been instructed NOT to get too close in the classroom to students of the opposite sex etc.) Most of the girls sat at one side of the classroom and boys to the other. Anyway ~ I noticed even when I divided the students up into random groups, if there were only 2 girls in a group of 8, I noticed that the girls really didn’t contribute at all while the boys did most of the work. It’s not because they didn’t want to; but it’s more of a cultural thing. Girls just don’t interact with boys. They’re not supposed to, unless they’re planning to wed.
So yes, there will be a lot to learn and a lot of habits to break before we truly get into the groove of teaching; but I’m just proud I was able to do a whole week in front of a class size like that!
Will taught 10th graders, and actually our host brother was in his class. Originally Will’s assignment was supposed to be Youth Program Development; but at this point they’ve got everyone on the same agenda. He did a pretty good job too, although I know he’s anxious (as well as the other kids who were assigned Youth Programs) to find out exactly just how much teaching time they are expected to put in after we’re sworn in.
Hrmm. What else. A few other things to touch on; it did get easier as the week went on, and students became more comfortable with us as well. On Wednesday, I had one student (actually one of the more outgoing students in class) come up to me after class to let me know that he was really sorry, as he wasn’t able to come to class for the rest of the week. I said it was no problem, but he said he really, really wanted to be there, but he worked at the local factory – and the last few days he had been working nights Just so he could come and take these English classes. He apparently was unable to get the schedule switched for the remainder of the week and wanted to apologize, but thank me for having the class as he “really wants to become good at speaking English.” THEN he was kind enough to give me a book on Khmer culture as a gift. I took it graciously. I had another student give me an English Khmer dictionary, which too was a very useful book, and one of the girls had me write in her diary and I included a postcard from the states as a gift to her.
Anyways- practice teaching was very good for all of us; but it definitely proved a VERY busy week – and I am soo glad to have tomorrow off.
It is Saturday night and all I can say is that I am glad to finally have a night off! This last week has been incredibly busy. All of us participated in a ‘teaching practicum’ this week. Basically it gave us all a chance to begin to get comfortable with being in front of the classroom. Many of us have never taught before and here was our chance to get our feet wet.
The village that we are in for our training is the biggest of the three that everyone was sent to. Ours is also on the national highway and the closest to Phnom Penh. There are 11 of the 34 volunteers in this village.
Anyway, the way that Peace Corps set up the practicum was to ask the local high school to inform the community that there will be ‘native English’ speakers coming to town to teach English lessons for one week. (I guess it truly didn’t matter to the students that most of us had never taught before in our lives, or that several of us don’t feel that English grammar was our strongest subject; but all they cared about was that some Americans who knew how to speak English were going to give classes free of charge and if they had the opportunity to come; they’d do everything they could to make it happen.)
Anyhow, students who might be interested were to sign up on a first come first serve basis. It is summertime and classes are not in session; so they knew that when they asked for participation the turnout would be dedicated students who were really interested in being there and who wanted to practice their English.
When Peace Corps checked in with the high school director they found out that over 700 students signed up and wanted to participate. Obviously with 11 volunteers who were to teach one 45 minute class each could not do this. They narrowed down the number to around 300 students.
On Monday morning, Dan (the person I was sharing one 11th grade classroom with) and I walked into a room full of 62 students. Yes, 62. We knew class sizes were going to be large, but 62? Wow. Nonetheless all 62 stood up when we entered the room. I was amazed how they all even fit in the room. The desks have benches attached to the writing surface, and anywhere from 2 to 4 people shared one desk, just so they could all fit in. The students were dressed in their uniforms, which for the girls consisted of navy skirts, knee-length to floor length; the guys--nice slacks and everyone wore white or light blue button down shirts. Female teachers are to wear classic Khmer skirts (which consist of a really nice/actually really pretty fabric which wraps around and goes to the floor. Guys are to dress nicely as well, with button down shirts nice slacks, shirts tucked in and belts.
Do I need to reiterate how humid and warm it is here?
Needless to say I was a bit nervous. But in some respects it was almost easier teaching to such a large group. I thought I was going to be a little clammier that morning but actually was able to greet the group with a big smile and a warm hello.
The chapter we were teaching that day had to do with leisure. I started out with a warm up of hangman (they apparently LOVE that game here) and then discussed leisure activities and then had them get into groups and interview each other of what their favorite leisure activities were. After that I made a ‘newspaper’ drawing on some large pieces of paper and had them report to me what those activities were and then we listed the story in our made up newspaper.
Overall, it really went pretty well. I was easily able to fill up the 45 min. time slot and even had students ask a few questions.
But boy do I have a completely NEW respect for teachers anywhere. I felt like I had just ran 10 miles after teaching that class. It sure does take a lot of energy to keep everyone focused, entertained and to make sure that they understand what you’re talking about. I’m sure it’s different teaching something in the same language --- but still; I’ve found it is quite draining to teach a class. And this was just 1 class! 45 Min.! It’s not like we had to be up there all day.
So I did it. I taught a class. But there are soo many’ cultural differences that we all have to take into account; and I’m sure it’ll be a while before we truly get used to them. But even the simple classroom dynamics are so different here. Students are NOT accustomed to openly raising their hand to answer a question. After my first evaluation I was told to be sure to call on students directly, rather than ask an open ended question… otherwise you’ll feel like you’re losing momentum when all of a sudden NO ONE raises their hand and you hear crickets in the background. But I guess students here are used to having the teacher read directly from the book, never leave their podium and NEVER really ask for classroom participation.
Secondly, gender is a big deal here. I’ve already talked about how everything is a little more conservative here (i.e. girls cannot wear shorts that are above their knees, we do not bare our shoulders—people don’t really date here…if they are dating, or seen alone together it typically means they are engaged. Boys don’t touch girls, girls don’t touch boys; we’ve been instructed NOT to get too close in the classroom to students of the opposite sex etc.) Most of the girls sat at one side of the classroom and boys to the other. Anyway ~ I noticed even when I divided the students up into random groups, if there were only 2 girls in a group of 8, I noticed that the girls really didn’t contribute at all while the boys did most of the work. It’s not because they didn’t want to; but it’s more of a cultural thing. Girls just don’t interact with boys. They’re not supposed to, unless they’re planning to wed.
So yes, there will be a lot to learn and a lot of habits to break before we truly get into the groove of teaching; but I’m just proud I was able to do a whole week in front of a class size like that!
Will taught 10th graders, and actually our host brother was in his class. Originally Will’s assignment was supposed to be Youth Program Development; but at this point they’ve got everyone on the same agenda. He did a pretty good job too, although I know he’s anxious (as well as the other kids who were assigned Youth Programs) to find out exactly just how much teaching time they are expected to put in after we’re sworn in.
Hrmm. What else. A few other things to touch on; it did get easier as the week went on, and students became more comfortable with us as well. On Wednesday, I had one student (actually one of the more outgoing students in class) come up to me after class to let me know that he was really sorry, as he wasn’t able to come to class for the rest of the week. I said it was no problem, but he said he really, really wanted to be there, but he worked at the local factory – and the last few days he had been working nights Just so he could come and take these English classes. He apparently was unable to get the schedule switched for the remainder of the week and wanted to apologize, but thank me for having the class as he “really wants to become good at speaking English.” THEN he was kind enough to give me a book on Khmer culture as a gift. I took it graciously. I had another student give me an English Khmer dictionary, which too was a very useful book, and one of the girls had me write in her diary and I included a postcard from the states as a gift to her.
Anyways- practice teaching was very good for all of us; but it definitely proved a VERY busy week – and I am soo glad to have tomorrow off.
Scorpion in the Bathroom | 08/07/08
Scorpion the bathroom. August 7, 2008
So today was a pretty good day. We finished up our seminar at the hub site. This morning we had sessions which talked about our host families and how to appropriately adjust to certain awkward situations. Lunch I had rice with pork and some tea. Will meant to order fried noodles with pork; but he said “mee bei cheng sak chido” which he said noodles, rice, fried and pork. But the waiter left before he got to correct it and ended up with the same order as me. Then we walked down the road for a while, and I was able to find a good deal on a decorative but functional clay pot that is made for holding and burning mosquito coils. We finished up the afternoon with some current volunteers sharing some of their experiences and then left around 3:30 on the mini bus to head back to our training site. Oh, our village group won a competition with the skit we put together at the seminar (which consisted of a super mix with new lyrics to ‘Camp Onawana, the theme song to ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ and ‘Baby Got Back’ filled with experiences that we’ve already had here) and the prize was a package of chips ahoy cookies, which we gladly ate on the 45min. trip back home.
I helped make the stir fry tonight, which was pork and green beans with garlic, a bit of fish sauce, some oyster sauce fried in cooking oil. The dish is called “sahn dayit”. (These quotes of course are all my phonetic pronunciations/spellings of how the words sort of sound). Will basically fried up some French fries for an appetizer, which they call “dom lom”, but instead of salt and ketchup, they dipped them in sugar, which actually was pretty good too.
I felt pretty special tonight as we’re becoming more welcomed as part of the family I believe. We got the invite to watch T.V. in the main room in which we have not yet been invited. Will stayed out on the hammock, but I took the opportunity to see this portion of the house we had not seen yet, and watch a little Khmer news. . .which I couldn’t understand. I also got to see many more photos of their family and Sopeap showed me all of those. I also learned she has a younger brother living in the states; Washington DC to be exact.
After I had enough television I decided to bathe (gnoot tuk). I went to my room, grabbed my sarong and bath caddy, and headed downstairs to the bathroom. I was going through my usual routine which consisted of hanging my sarong, t-shirt and eye-glasses on the hooks and put the bath caddy down next to the water holder. Out of the corner of my eye (without my glasses on) I noticed this rather large-ish dark blob (note I am rather blind, my contacts are -6.00 if that means anything to any of you who wear glasses; basically I cannot read a book without my glasses unless it’s 2.5” from my face) –
Anyhow, I told myself to remain calm and slowly step away from that dark thing. I grabbed my glasses and then sawr the ugly creature remaining still, on the ground. (I wish I would’ve taken a photo of it, but that just wasn’t in the cards). I looked at it a little closer and it was about 4.5” long and a blue color, with pincers and a long ugly tail. I thought to myself, hrmmm is that a little crab or craw-dad of sorts? I put my sarong back on and walked out into the kitchen and called for Sopeap and motioned for her to ‘come here’. She came in and I pointed to the creature and said, “Knyohm ah-cho-chet whatever the heck that is”. (Knyohm ah-cho-chet translates to “I don’t like ______”). Anyhow, she went and grabbed the hatchet and slowly dragged the thing into the kitchen. I yelled at Will to come down and take a look at this thing. Oh – and let me add here, that I am quite proud of myself in how I reacted during the whole situation. I didn’t scream once, remained very calm and quickly got help from my host mommy. Will came down and looked at it and said, “Whoa that is definitely a scorpion!” And THAT was the moment when I began to freak out (inside my head). Ignorance is bliss right? Ha. Craw dad.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a scorpion in person. I think I’ve only seen them on T.V. I know my friend Erin in AZ says they have them down there….but this one was a big-un. Anyways – Sopeap motioned at me to ask me if it had stung me, and I said ‘no’--- thank god. She then took the hatchet and cut off the stinger, and then Daro grabbed it and burned it in the back yard.
Time out. I’m still reflecting on this. I CAN’T BELIEVE THERE WAS A SCORPION IN THE BATHROOM. HOLY CRAP. I mean I can sort of believe it, but I’m definitely still a little bit on the jumpy side. Sheeesh.
Anyhow…. So I guess you take your chances wherever you live: Big Sky, MT – Grizzly bear country, Pierre, -- SD rattlesnakes in your garage. vs. Kampong Chnnang Province with scorpions in your bathroom. Moral of the story: watch where you step?
So yes. That’s the story of the night. Prior to the whole bathroom incident I was actually pretty excited about the simple fact of how special I felt for being invited into the room where the T.V. was. Ha.
Anyways… when the next story comes, I’ll be sure to sit down and type. Mom & Lynn – don’t worry ~ we’ll be okay. Although, I will accept any prayers to keep any and all scorpions away from my presence. Yikes!
Over and out.
Stephanie b.
So today was a pretty good day. We finished up our seminar at the hub site. This morning we had sessions which talked about our host families and how to appropriately adjust to certain awkward situations. Lunch I had rice with pork and some tea. Will meant to order fried noodles with pork; but he said “mee bei cheng sak chido” which he said noodles, rice, fried and pork. But the waiter left before he got to correct it and ended up with the same order as me. Then we walked down the road for a while, and I was able to find a good deal on a decorative but functional clay pot that is made for holding and burning mosquito coils. We finished up the afternoon with some current volunteers sharing some of their experiences and then left around 3:30 on the mini bus to head back to our training site. Oh, our village group won a competition with the skit we put together at the seminar (which consisted of a super mix with new lyrics to ‘Camp Onawana, the theme song to ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ and ‘Baby Got Back’ filled with experiences that we’ve already had here) and the prize was a package of chips ahoy cookies, which we gladly ate on the 45min. trip back home.
I helped make the stir fry tonight, which was pork and green beans with garlic, a bit of fish sauce, some oyster sauce fried in cooking oil. The dish is called “sahn dayit”. (These quotes of course are all my phonetic pronunciations/spellings of how the words sort of sound). Will basically fried up some French fries for an appetizer, which they call “dom lom”, but instead of salt and ketchup, they dipped them in sugar, which actually was pretty good too.
I felt pretty special tonight as we’re becoming more welcomed as part of the family I believe. We got the invite to watch T.V. in the main room in which we have not yet been invited. Will stayed out on the hammock, but I took the opportunity to see this portion of the house we had not seen yet, and watch a little Khmer news. . .which I couldn’t understand. I also got to see many more photos of their family and Sopeap showed me all of those. I also learned she has a younger brother living in the states; Washington DC to be exact.
After I had enough television I decided to bathe (gnoot tuk). I went to my room, grabbed my sarong and bath caddy, and headed downstairs to the bathroom. I was going through my usual routine which consisted of hanging my sarong, t-shirt and eye-glasses on the hooks and put the bath caddy down next to the water holder. Out of the corner of my eye (without my glasses on) I noticed this rather large-ish dark blob (note I am rather blind, my contacts are -6.00 if that means anything to any of you who wear glasses; basically I cannot read a book without my glasses unless it’s 2.5” from my face) –
Anyhow, I told myself to remain calm and slowly step away from that dark thing. I grabbed my glasses and then sawr the ugly creature remaining still, on the ground. (I wish I would’ve taken a photo of it, but that just wasn’t in the cards). I looked at it a little closer and it was about 4.5” long and a blue color, with pincers and a long ugly tail. I thought to myself, hrmmm is that a little crab or craw-dad of sorts? I put my sarong back on and walked out into the kitchen and called for Sopeap and motioned for her to ‘come here’. She came in and I pointed to the creature and said, “Knyohm ah-cho-chet whatever the heck that is”. (Knyohm ah-cho-chet translates to “I don’t like ______”). Anyhow, she went and grabbed the hatchet and slowly dragged the thing into the kitchen. I yelled at Will to come down and take a look at this thing. Oh – and let me add here, that I am quite proud of myself in how I reacted during the whole situation. I didn’t scream once, remained very calm and quickly got help from my host mommy. Will came down and looked at it and said, “Whoa that is definitely a scorpion!” And THAT was the moment when I began to freak out (inside my head). Ignorance is bliss right? Ha. Craw dad.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a scorpion in person. I think I’ve only seen them on T.V. I know my friend Erin in AZ says they have them down there….but this one was a big-un. Anyways – Sopeap motioned at me to ask me if it had stung me, and I said ‘no’--- thank god. She then took the hatchet and cut off the stinger, and then Daro grabbed it and burned it in the back yard.
Time out. I’m still reflecting on this. I CAN’T BELIEVE THERE WAS A SCORPION IN THE BATHROOM. HOLY CRAP. I mean I can sort of believe it, but I’m definitely still a little bit on the jumpy side. Sheeesh.
Anyhow…. So I guess you take your chances wherever you live: Big Sky, MT – Grizzly bear country, Pierre, -- SD rattlesnakes in your garage. vs. Kampong Chnnang Province with scorpions in your bathroom. Moral of the story: watch where you step?
So yes. That’s the story of the night. Prior to the whole bathroom incident I was actually pretty excited about the simple fact of how special I felt for being invited into the room where the T.V. was. Ha.
Anyways… when the next story comes, I’ll be sure to sit down and type. Mom & Lynn – don’t worry ~ we’ll be okay. Although, I will accept any prayers to keep any and all scorpions away from my presence. Yikes!
Over and out.
Stephanie b.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
All Packed Up | 080508
080508 All packed up…
All packed up for our overnight trip back to the hub site. It’s hard to believe we’ve already been at our host family’s place for a week. Over all I would have to say we couldn’t be more satisfied with this place. The family is really great, our living space is just fine and we’re learning new phrases every day. Although I admit the 4 hour language training classes do get to be a bit draining. It’s hard to want to sit down and practice anymore, or try and rack your brains when you’re with your family because your head is already so full from the morning.
We leave tomorrow at 6:45am on a minibus (small van) and all 14 of us will ride in it. It’s hard not to become an early riser here with all the commotion that happens so early in the morning. Maybe jet lag is still on my side; as most know I’m not the best at getting up early. But here I think we start hearing brooms sweep around 5am (or maybe earlier). The roosters crow rather early as well, and everyone in the neighborhood has at least two dogs barking right at sunrise.
The last two mornings have been exceptionally busy. It’s the national 12th grade exam, and our host cousin Riat is taking his exam right now. We have a few extra guests (teachers/and a few policeman) staying in the house-hold for the last 2 days too. Apparently they have EXTRA security while all the students take the exam as they don’t want anyone cheating. So that means many teachers are on call to watch and they bring in extra policemen to ensure that all is fair and square. Students who pass the national exam are then eligible to go to University if they wish.
Overall it’s a pretty big deal and Riat explained (gestured) to us that he was really nervous.
Oh one thing that I didn’t mention yet from yesterday’s post was that my host mom, Sopeap, showed me how to sew (sort of) on her push pedal sewing machine! I closed up the sarong that she gave me as a gift, and put elastic in it (as I’m not able to properly get it to stay up without the elastic. So anyway- that was kind of fun. I still need to learn how to tell her that I got a sewing machine last Christmas from Will and I am still learning how to use that thing.
Hmm… I guess not toooo much else is going on. Hopefully I’m able to post everything I want to tomorrow. We’re sort of limited on time as we have seminar all day long. So we’ll see.
Hope all is well back home. Feel free to drop a line. Take care & eat lots of ice cream for me.
Oh speaking of ice cream…. one funny quick story. Durian is a fruit that is grown here. People either love it or hate it. Note there are a few places in some towns that have signs that say something along the lines of “no eat durian here” because they have a really bad stench. Apparently they do taste good to a number of people, or maybe it’s some sort of after taste thing. But, I have already decided that I hate it. Last week Will bought a bag full of durian flavored taffy candy and shared it with all of us trainees. Most of us, not knowing what the flavor was, willingly and open-mindedly grabbed some of ‘new’ Cambodian candy from the bag. About 10 seconds into chewing, Will found that most people were running to the nearest garbage can to spit it out. I don’t think Will’s intention was to lose everyone’s trust when he offered up a treat, but that is definitely what happened. Then yesterday afternoon in the middle of language break, we heard the ice-cream cart going up and down the street. Being it was a fairly hot afternoon and we still had an hour of language lessons left, Will offered to buy our class (5ppl total) an ice cream treat. So he went to the stand and paid 500 Riels (which according to our host brother was the going price, even for a foreigner) and picked out a few different flavors. They were basically little ice-cream-sicles. A couple of different colors were available and both Deidre and I picked yellow. We took our first bite and immediately were reminded of that awful taste and smell of the durian taffy’s. We both glared at Will and scolded him. But he claims (as he started to bust out laughing pretty hard) that he swears he thought they were banana flavored. I just don’t know how many more things I’m going to be able to try that Will offers up!
Oh well. I had better get to bed. All the best and more when I get the chance.
-over and out…. smb
All packed up for our overnight trip back to the hub site. It’s hard to believe we’ve already been at our host family’s place for a week. Over all I would have to say we couldn’t be more satisfied with this place. The family is really great, our living space is just fine and we’re learning new phrases every day. Although I admit the 4 hour language training classes do get to be a bit draining. It’s hard to want to sit down and practice anymore, or try and rack your brains when you’re with your family because your head is already so full from the morning.
We leave tomorrow at 6:45am on a minibus (small van) and all 14 of us will ride in it. It’s hard not to become an early riser here with all the commotion that happens so early in the morning. Maybe jet lag is still on my side; as most know I’m not the best at getting up early. But here I think we start hearing brooms sweep around 5am (or maybe earlier). The roosters crow rather early as well, and everyone in the neighborhood has at least two dogs barking right at sunrise.
The last two mornings have been exceptionally busy. It’s the national 12th grade exam, and our host cousin Riat is taking his exam right now. We have a few extra guests (teachers/and a few policeman) staying in the house-hold for the last 2 days too. Apparently they have EXTRA security while all the students take the exam as they don’t want anyone cheating. So that means many teachers are on call to watch and they bring in extra policemen to ensure that all is fair and square. Students who pass the national exam are then eligible to go to University if they wish.
Overall it’s a pretty big deal and Riat explained (gestured) to us that he was really nervous.
Oh one thing that I didn’t mention yet from yesterday’s post was that my host mom, Sopeap, showed me how to sew (sort of) on her push pedal sewing machine! I closed up the sarong that she gave me as a gift, and put elastic in it (as I’m not able to properly get it to stay up without the elastic. So anyway- that was kind of fun. I still need to learn how to tell her that I got a sewing machine last Christmas from Will and I am still learning how to use that thing.
Hmm… I guess not toooo much else is going on. Hopefully I’m able to post everything I want to tomorrow. We’re sort of limited on time as we have seminar all day long. So we’ll see.
Hope all is well back home. Feel free to drop a line. Take care & eat lots of ice cream for me.
Oh speaking of ice cream…. one funny quick story. Durian is a fruit that is grown here. People either love it or hate it. Note there are a few places in some towns that have signs that say something along the lines of “no eat durian here” because they have a really bad stench. Apparently they do taste good to a number of people, or maybe it’s some sort of after taste thing. But, I have already decided that I hate it. Last week Will bought a bag full of durian flavored taffy candy and shared it with all of us trainees. Most of us, not knowing what the flavor was, willingly and open-mindedly grabbed some of ‘new’ Cambodian candy from the bag. About 10 seconds into chewing, Will found that most people were running to the nearest garbage can to spit it out. I don’t think Will’s intention was to lose everyone’s trust when he offered up a treat, but that is definitely what happened. Then yesterday afternoon in the middle of language break, we heard the ice-cream cart going up and down the street. Being it was a fairly hot afternoon and we still had an hour of language lessons left, Will offered to buy our class (5ppl total) an ice cream treat. So he went to the stand and paid 500 Riels (which according to our host brother was the going price, even for a foreigner) and picked out a few different flavors. They were basically little ice-cream-sicles. A couple of different colors were available and both Deidre and I picked yellow. We took our first bite and immediately were reminded of that awful taste and smell of the durian taffy’s. We both glared at Will and scolded him. But he claims (as he started to bust out laughing pretty hard) that he swears he thought they were banana flavored. I just don’t know how many more things I’m going to be able to try that Will offers up!
Oh well. I had better get to bed. All the best and more when I get the chance.
-over and out…. smb
The Moment in which.....080208
08.02.08
The moment in which. . .
one actually goes through with it, and steps outside of their comfort zone.
I guess people always talk about “getting out of your comfort zone.” I guess we practiced it, heard about it, and learned about it. But then there’s the moment when you realize, in your head that you are actually in the action of ‘getting out of your comfort zone.’
Not that there should be some grand prize or anything for ‘getting out of your comfort zone” and not that it makes you some great person or anything. As there are people who don’t mind doing it and people who do. But when you’re one of those people who does like to try new things, it’s funny to feel that moment and know when you’ve actually crossed the line and have done it. I guess you feel proud of yourself … er something.
I guess for me, my very first moment was using the squat toilet in the house. No big deal or anything. You squat down to this lil toilet in the ground with your knees up and your butt down and then just do your thing. Then you wash yourself with a bucket, h2o and soap, and then use that bucket to flush some water down the toilet, then let yourself dry/air out (f.y.i. toilet paper doesn’t flush down those things), and you get on with your day.
Anyhow…
We’ve been in our training village now for four days. To be honest, it has been great. It has been nice to have been able to unpack our suitcases and actually put our belongings in a bedroom we know we’ll stay in for a while. (9 weeks left to be exact).
We were welcomed to this town by attending a special welcoming ceremony at a Buddhist Wat (temple). There were monks. There was incense. There was chanting. There was a lot of bowing. There were 11 American kids who got really sore from sitting on the ground with legs to one side (we couldn’t sit cross legged, it’s not polite) through the hour long ceremony. But seriously, how neat to be able to experience that. After the ceremony, they announced to all of us our host families for the next 2 months.
Our host mother, Sopeap, was there at the ceremony to greet us. A VERY nice and welcoming woman, with a beautiful smile who greeted us in Khmer (pronounced K-mai). She doesn’t really speak any English at all, but is a primary school teacher, and in the summer gives small private teaching lessons here at the house. Actually, tonight she gave both Will and I some Khmer activity books (which I have to laugh to myself, as they are the same books she has for her 5 year old students with pictures and everything), nonetheless it’ll be a good learning tool for us, and I’m sure we’ll practice with her tomorrow evening.
Her husband speaks very, very little English; a few words. He is also a police officer. Very early in our meek conversation with him, he brought up the fact that Pol Pot killed his brother, sisters and mother. Will and I really wished that we knew how to say “I’m sorry” in Khmer at that point but we didn’t. (For those that don’t know about the Khmer Rouge period (which I embarrassingly admit I didn’t know about until I started researching Cambodia) it happened approximately 33 years ago. Google it/Wikipedia it, look it up, or ask your parents about the mass killings that went on in Cambodia, or rent “The Killing Fields” or read “First they Killed My Father” or “The Gate” to get a grasp on what happened here in very recent history. So anyway – much of the population is still dealing with the effects of that time period; and I think that that time period has a lot to do with why Peace Corps was ever even considered to be invited to help out, in this country. But anyways, it caught me off guard that he brought it up so early because at our training sessions they mentioned that most people do not like to talk about that period at all.
Anyhow…… the rest of their family. They have a 15 yr. old son Daro speaks some English, which has been a blessing. Sopeap’s nephew also stays here while he’s attending school, and he’s 18, and his name is Riat. Their daughter, Dary is at University in Phnom Penh (pronounced P-nom Paeng), she is 17 and studying accounting. I guess she’s coming here to visit next weekend. Ha, oh I just got a text message from her, as Daro gave her my number. Ahhh modern technology.
Anyway, their house is great. To be honest, it is nicer than I was expecting. A lot of houses here are built up on stilts. At least the bedroom/main living portions seem to be upstairs for most houses. There is a porch/living room area upstairs, with some nice wooden furniture (couch and chairs) and a hammock. Our room is to the left as you come up the stairs. Our bedroom is actually bigger than our bedroom was in Big Sky (which is kinda crazy). Peace Corps gave us a king size bed, our own mosquito net, and a bedroom that is bigger than anything that Will and I have had together to date.
Then downstairs is the dining area which is enclosed, but then the cooking/kitchen area is outside under a tin roof with a tarp over it. Sopeap cooks with woks/pots and pans outside, using a wood fire. It struck me kind of funny as they do have electricity (no refrigerator), and for some reason she cooks her family’s rice over the fire, but she also has a rice cooker, which she makes the rice for me and Will. I haven’t figured out if she thinks that is better, so she lets the American married couple use the rice cooker, or what. But I just go with it. I don’t ask. Ha. I don’t know how to ask that one yet.
So yes, there is electricity…. But no A.C. (not that I was expecting it)…. But the electricity often goes out once or twice a day. (But to be honest, where I was in Big Sky, the electricity went out fairly often oddly enough; so I am somewhat used to it). Off of the dining area they have the bathroom area. There are 3 doors, one goes to a bathroom (bon tuk) with a toilet that is more western style (you can actually sit on it) but again, no plumbing to flush; so you flush with a bucket of water. Then in the middle door, is the squat toilet room. Then on the right, just a bathing room. I guess you could say they have running water…. Sort of. There is a well in the back which somehow pumps from the ground. (I don’t see a pump, nor have I seen them pump any H20). They also catch rain water from the roof which drains into this big urn in the back yard, and they have that going thru pipes to a sink in the kitchen, and also an area outside where they do the dishes.
Khmer people seem to be fairly private people. We’ve only seen the kitchen, living area on the porch upstairs and our bedroom. I do know they have a TV. They also have a nice little Honda motorcycle and a car… which I’m sure is a bit of a status symbol. We haven’t seen them drive it yet; so I don’t know if it’s just b/c we’re here or if they just don’t drive it that often.
Hmmm…. What else. Ahh – going to the market (p’saa). That is quite an experience. It’s pretty much an open air market, with lots of tarps etc. covering all the goods and little aisles you can walk through to find things that you need. OH and there are TONS of people walking around everywhere. Think crowded. Think Asia. After you get over the part where EVERYONE is staring at you, pointing at you, or saying “HALLO” …. Or Barong (word for foreigner). You find some time to do some shopping. We’re still learning the whole bargaining thing (in fact that was in our language lesson today). But yes, this morning we rode our bikes into market and found it a little funny, as by the fruit section there were huge speakers blasting Santana’s ‘Oye como ova”. We were able to get a baguette, some oranges and some bananas for breakfast but were disappointed to find that our bananas were most definitely NOT ripe yet. Guess we’ll have to wait a week or so; as the chalky texture that was left in our mouths after biting into one was enough to not go near a banana for a week. . . . or so.
PC definitely keeps us busy. We have language lessons 4 hours every morning but Sundays. Then we usually have some sort of activity in the afternoon. We typically go home for lunch and dinner. Last night Sopeap let me cook. (Well basically she put in the correct portions of everything, and I basically stirred the stir fry). But I was impressed, as whatever it was we threw together was delicious (chngang). It had this really leafy green stuff, pork, garlic, fish sauce, oyster sauce, salt, sugar, and pepper and I think that was about it. Throw that business on some rice and you’ve got yourself a pretty darn good meal!
Tonight Sopeap showed Will how to make fried bananas. That was delicious--A nice little snack prior to supper. The breading was basically flour, sugar and salt mixed with water – then he put the cut up bananas in the mixture and fried them in vegetable oil and voile (sp?) a nice sweet treat before dinner!
Also typically with meals they serve a type of hot broth-y soup. (One wonders how on earth these people would find a hot, hot soup appetizing on such a hot and humid day.) But regardless, it’s part of the meal. They’ve usually been fish (tri) based… but tonight she made a beef (gko) based broth-y soup. It had some green stuff in it and fish sauce and lime juice in it and it was good. (I think Sopeap is realizing I’m not the biggest fan of fish. While I’ll eat it, I’m not at the point where I love it). Don’t worry mom- I REALLY am trying it!! --- But I think she notices that I let Will eat more of the fishy fishy dishes.
Hmm.. not too much else. I’ve already written a bit of a novel, but I’ve been enjoying our time just hanging out and pointing at things and asking “Nu chi ai?” (What is that?) and saying “Aht dung dei?” (I don’t know!?) with the family in the evenings. Even though language classes do kind of drag on, I’m really looking forward to getting a better grasp on the Khmer. I mean, on the first day here about 10 hours of language class lasted about 10 minutes in conversation with the family. (Hello, how are you. I come from America. I have 5 people in my family. Let me point them out to you in this photo.) AND that’s about all the Khmer I knew Wednesday afternoon after arriving here. I now know how to ask about how many times they do laundry, bathe, eat etc. as well as how to tell them how many times I do the same things. And as of today, I know a little bit about the market; how to ask/purchase/bargain and what some appropriate prices are for certain things.
Anyhow- Over and out for the moment. We have all day tomorrow off in which we’ll be doing laundry (bow cow ow) by hand, running to the p’saa (market) and helping to clean (___ don’t know pronunciation yet on that one. Charades on that one in the AM).
Anyhow… this won’t be posted till Wed. of next week –as we’re going back to the hub site where we can get access to internet…. But I had some time to type- so I thought I would.
Hope all is well back home… I think of you often, but know that we are having a great time here and are enjoying a much more laid back lifestyle. (Even w/ the busy PC training schedule).
Okay… goodnight- and lots of love to all. : )
-Smb.
The moment in which. . .
one actually goes through with it, and steps outside of their comfort zone.
I guess people always talk about “getting out of your comfort zone.” I guess we practiced it, heard about it, and learned about it. But then there’s the moment when you realize, in your head that you are actually in the action of ‘getting out of your comfort zone.’
Not that there should be some grand prize or anything for ‘getting out of your comfort zone” and not that it makes you some great person or anything. As there are people who don’t mind doing it and people who do. But when you’re one of those people who does like to try new things, it’s funny to feel that moment and know when you’ve actually crossed the line and have done it. I guess you feel proud of yourself … er something.
I guess for me, my very first moment was using the squat toilet in the house. No big deal or anything. You squat down to this lil toilet in the ground with your knees up and your butt down and then just do your thing. Then you wash yourself with a bucket, h2o and soap, and then use that bucket to flush some water down the toilet, then let yourself dry/air out (f.y.i. toilet paper doesn’t flush down those things), and you get on with your day.
Anyhow…
We’ve been in our training village now for four days. To be honest, it has been great. It has been nice to have been able to unpack our suitcases and actually put our belongings in a bedroom we know we’ll stay in for a while. (9 weeks left to be exact).
We were welcomed to this town by attending a special welcoming ceremony at a Buddhist Wat (temple). There were monks. There was incense. There was chanting. There was a lot of bowing. There were 11 American kids who got really sore from sitting on the ground with legs to one side (we couldn’t sit cross legged, it’s not polite) through the hour long ceremony. But seriously, how neat to be able to experience that. After the ceremony, they announced to all of us our host families for the next 2 months.
Our host mother, Sopeap, was there at the ceremony to greet us. A VERY nice and welcoming woman, with a beautiful smile who greeted us in Khmer (pronounced K-mai). She doesn’t really speak any English at all, but is a primary school teacher, and in the summer gives small private teaching lessons here at the house. Actually, tonight she gave both Will and I some Khmer activity books (which I have to laugh to myself, as they are the same books she has for her 5 year old students with pictures and everything), nonetheless it’ll be a good learning tool for us, and I’m sure we’ll practice with her tomorrow evening.
Her husband speaks very, very little English; a few words. He is also a police officer. Very early in our meek conversation with him, he brought up the fact that Pol Pot killed his brother, sisters and mother. Will and I really wished that we knew how to say “I’m sorry” in Khmer at that point but we didn’t. (For those that don’t know about the Khmer Rouge period (which I embarrassingly admit I didn’t know about until I started researching Cambodia) it happened approximately 33 years ago. Google it/Wikipedia it, look it up, or ask your parents about the mass killings that went on in Cambodia, or rent “The Killing Fields” or read “First they Killed My Father” or “The Gate” to get a grasp on what happened here in very recent history. So anyway – much of the population is still dealing with the effects of that time period; and I think that that time period has a lot to do with why Peace Corps was ever even considered to be invited to help out, in this country. But anyways, it caught me off guard that he brought it up so early because at our training sessions they mentioned that most people do not like to talk about that period at all.
Anyhow…… the rest of their family. They have a 15 yr. old son Daro speaks some English, which has been a blessing. Sopeap’s nephew also stays here while he’s attending school, and he’s 18, and his name is Riat. Their daughter, Dary is at University in Phnom Penh (pronounced P-nom Paeng), she is 17 and studying accounting. I guess she’s coming here to visit next weekend. Ha, oh I just got a text message from her, as Daro gave her my number. Ahhh modern technology.
Anyway, their house is great. To be honest, it is nicer than I was expecting. A lot of houses here are built up on stilts. At least the bedroom/main living portions seem to be upstairs for most houses. There is a porch/living room area upstairs, with some nice wooden furniture (couch and chairs) and a hammock. Our room is to the left as you come up the stairs. Our bedroom is actually bigger than our bedroom was in Big Sky (which is kinda crazy). Peace Corps gave us a king size bed, our own mosquito net, and a bedroom that is bigger than anything that Will and I have had together to date.
Then downstairs is the dining area which is enclosed, but then the cooking/kitchen area is outside under a tin roof with a tarp over it. Sopeap cooks with woks/pots and pans outside, using a wood fire. It struck me kind of funny as they do have electricity (no refrigerator), and for some reason she cooks her family’s rice over the fire, but she also has a rice cooker, which she makes the rice for me and Will. I haven’t figured out if she thinks that is better, so she lets the American married couple use the rice cooker, or what. But I just go with it. I don’t ask. Ha. I don’t know how to ask that one yet.
So yes, there is electricity…. But no A.C. (not that I was expecting it)…. But the electricity often goes out once or twice a day. (But to be honest, where I was in Big Sky, the electricity went out fairly often oddly enough; so I am somewhat used to it). Off of the dining area they have the bathroom area. There are 3 doors, one goes to a bathroom (bon tuk) with a toilet that is more western style (you can actually sit on it) but again, no plumbing to flush; so you flush with a bucket of water. Then in the middle door, is the squat toilet room. Then on the right, just a bathing room. I guess you could say they have running water…. Sort of. There is a well in the back which somehow pumps from the ground. (I don’t see a pump, nor have I seen them pump any H20). They also catch rain water from the roof which drains into this big urn in the back yard, and they have that going thru pipes to a sink in the kitchen, and also an area outside where they do the dishes.
Khmer people seem to be fairly private people. We’ve only seen the kitchen, living area on the porch upstairs and our bedroom. I do know they have a TV. They also have a nice little Honda motorcycle and a car… which I’m sure is a bit of a status symbol. We haven’t seen them drive it yet; so I don’t know if it’s just b/c we’re here or if they just don’t drive it that often.
Hmmm…. What else. Ahh – going to the market (p’saa). That is quite an experience. It’s pretty much an open air market, with lots of tarps etc. covering all the goods and little aisles you can walk through to find things that you need. OH and there are TONS of people walking around everywhere. Think crowded. Think Asia. After you get over the part where EVERYONE is staring at you, pointing at you, or saying “HALLO” …. Or Barong (word for foreigner). You find some time to do some shopping. We’re still learning the whole bargaining thing (in fact that was in our language lesson today). But yes, this morning we rode our bikes into market and found it a little funny, as by the fruit section there were huge speakers blasting Santana’s ‘Oye como ova”. We were able to get a baguette, some oranges and some bananas for breakfast but were disappointed to find that our bananas were most definitely NOT ripe yet. Guess we’ll have to wait a week or so; as the chalky texture that was left in our mouths after biting into one was enough to not go near a banana for a week. . . . or so.
PC definitely keeps us busy. We have language lessons 4 hours every morning but Sundays. Then we usually have some sort of activity in the afternoon. We typically go home for lunch and dinner. Last night Sopeap let me cook. (Well basically she put in the correct portions of everything, and I basically stirred the stir fry). But I was impressed, as whatever it was we threw together was delicious (chngang). It had this really leafy green stuff, pork, garlic, fish sauce, oyster sauce, salt, sugar, and pepper and I think that was about it. Throw that business on some rice and you’ve got yourself a pretty darn good meal!
Tonight Sopeap showed Will how to make fried bananas. That was delicious--A nice little snack prior to supper. The breading was basically flour, sugar and salt mixed with water – then he put the cut up bananas in the mixture and fried them in vegetable oil and voile (sp?) a nice sweet treat before dinner!
Also typically with meals they serve a type of hot broth-y soup. (One wonders how on earth these people would find a hot, hot soup appetizing on such a hot and humid day.) But regardless, it’s part of the meal. They’ve usually been fish (tri) based… but tonight she made a beef (gko) based broth-y soup. It had some green stuff in it and fish sauce and lime juice in it and it was good. (I think Sopeap is realizing I’m not the biggest fan of fish. While I’ll eat it, I’m not at the point where I love it). Don’t worry mom- I REALLY am trying it!! --- But I think she notices that I let Will eat more of the fishy fishy dishes.
Hmm.. not too much else. I’ve already written a bit of a novel, but I’ve been enjoying our time just hanging out and pointing at things and asking “Nu chi ai?” (What is that?) and saying “Aht dung dei?” (I don’t know!?) with the family in the evenings. Even though language classes do kind of drag on, I’m really looking forward to getting a better grasp on the Khmer. I mean, on the first day here about 10 hours of language class lasted about 10 minutes in conversation with the family. (Hello, how are you. I come from America. I have 5 people in my family. Let me point them out to you in this photo.) AND that’s about all the Khmer I knew Wednesday afternoon after arriving here. I now know how to ask about how many times they do laundry, bathe, eat etc. as well as how to tell them how many times I do the same things. And as of today, I know a little bit about the market; how to ask/purchase/bargain and what some appropriate prices are for certain things.
Anyhow- Over and out for the moment. We have all day tomorrow off in which we’ll be doing laundry (bow cow ow) by hand, running to the p’saa (market) and helping to clean (___ don’t know pronunciation yet on that one. Charades on that one in the AM).
Anyhow… this won’t be posted till Wed. of next week –as we’re going back to the hub site where we can get access to internet…. But I had some time to type- so I thought I would.
Hope all is well back home… I think of you often, but know that we are having a great time here and are enjoying a much more laid back lifestyle. (Even w/ the busy PC training schedule).
Okay… goodnight- and lots of love to all. : )
-Smb.
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