Finding my grove at permanent site

It’s been nearly 2 weeks since I arrived at my permanent site in Kampong Thom province. I’ve made friends with a lady who sells coconuts at her food stand, had some teaching clothes made at the market, explored the nearby temples of Sambor Preh Kuk, and eaten a cow’s stomach. It hasn’t been an easy week at school, but I’m trying to make a place for myself in Cambodia.
Each morning I’m up before dawn stretching and preparing for a quick run through the rice fields near my house. My new house has something that resembles running water, so after my run I take a cold shower and get ready for school. However, there is not electricity available at my site, so I use a car battery to charge my cell phone and power a small light in my room. On school days I get dressed in the traditional Khmer teaching garb (yes, I look ridiculous) and ride my bike up to school (about 2k away from my house). Before class I grad a quick breakfast of rice, and veggies for 2,000 riel ($0.50) and then observe 4 hours worth of English classes. At 11:00 I go home to change clothes then head to the market to eat lunch at my family’s stall. The rice is not so bad…I now prefer to have duck eggs rather than chicken eggs served on a big pile of rice with lots of soy sauce. I sure miss bread and cheese though! Depending on the day, I will hang around the market for a while to practice Khmer, go for a bike ride, or go back to school to observe more classes. Since everything is so new, I do find myself very bored at times. Last Sunday I had absolutely nothing to do, so I went to breakfast, worked out for a couple hours, went for a 2 hour bike ride, ate lunch, then rode my bike to the nearby temples and wandered around all afternoon. I spend a lot of time on my bike.
Living with my new host family is working out well so far. I have a younger sister, Bun yah, who is 13 and in 7th grade. She is such a sweetie and I’m trying very hard to help her with her English. This is her first year studying English formally and she is really shy to practice with me. I understand completely because I usually feel very shy to practice my Khmer.
My host brother, Bun nah is 10 and hilarious. Last week he was riding my bike around (it’s beyond too big for him). I borrowed someone’s mini sized kid’s bike and rode down the street after him. All of the neighbor kids were rolling on the ground laughing at the site of us. Last night he was looking through an American magazine of mine and was SO excited about all of the car ads. Tonight I’m going to buy some glue on the way home so that we can make car book covers for his school books.

I call my host parents older brother and sister since they are fairly similar in age to me (30-something and 29, respectively). They own a stall at the market and sell TV’s, radios, cell phones, and car batteries. I think that they get frustrated with me because my language skills are by no means impressive, but they do show me a ton of patience when I try and verbalize my plans or what I did in the day. I don’t think that I would be able to stick things out here without them.

The work situation is beyond frustrating for me right now. The 10th grade still has not shown up yet, only about 1/3 of the students have books, the computers would be better served as doorstops because they don’t work with any regularity, and I can’t even get someone to give me my own bathroom key. Ugh! It’s just going to take time for things to take shape. I’m trying my best to get used to the pace of life in Cambodia and show the same patience that the Cambodians have shown me regarding the language barrier. Thanks for the letters and phone calls from home everyone! They keep me smiling and cheer me up when I’ve had a rough day. Take care and write often.

Pictures: first (the K2 crew after swear-in ceremony October 4th), second (interesting tree cluster at Sambor Preh Kuk), third (me standing on top of a huge stone archway @ Preh Kuk), and fourth (over-grown temple @ Preh Kuk)