I ain't got nothing but love babe...

I recently taught some of my students how to say a Beatles phrase that I know my mom will get a kick out of. It took some explaining before they understood what "Eight days a week" means. I've created little monsters! Now they say that phrase with everything:

"Teacher, I miss you eight days a week."
"Teacher, you teach me English eight days a week."
Teacher, I eat rice eight days a week."

These outbursts are followed by fits of laughter by the students and me shaking my head thinking "that's great, but can you please finish conjugating these irregular verbs in the past tense?"

Quack quack

I moved up to the school on Friday and I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s taken my entire 6 months to come to terms with the fact that personal space and privacy are obscure ideas here. Large families and small houses are the norm, so I’m having to adjust my habits and responses to stay sane. The Khmer family I lived with previously afforded little privacy, and my living situation now has even less. I live across the street from lots of the teachers, and my house has become the new playground for all of the kids.

They love to watch me doing anything…..washing my clothes, reading a book, working on lesson plans. Today about ten of the kids were huddled on my floor watching while I cut up a pineapple. They make me smile and I’m learning lots about how to not let little things get to me. In conversations with other foreigners who have worked in Asia, I’ve learned that the lack of personal space is pretty spot on in most countries here. It’s a struggle some days when I just want to go get a coffee without 34 kids screaming “Hello, what’s your name? Where you go?” at me. The lack of privacy makes me appreciate the moments that I do find to spend by myself.

This evening I made some penne pasta with powdered pesto sauce that I bought at the Western Market in Siem Reap. The neighbor kids came over to my house to see what I was cooking and I offered them some noodles. They were so cute when trying the food. A few of them looked at me like I was trying to give them a poisonous apple. Eventually everyone tried the pasta, and it was quite a hit. I’m bracing myself to talk to everyone tomorrow about pasta, where it comes from, how much it costs, and if I like it more than Khmer food. I always lie and say that I like Khmer food better than non-Khmer. Inevitably everything I eat and do becomes the talk of the town. The fact that I didn’t eat my pasta with rice will be the newest joke to tell about the barong. Sigh.

I’ve been staying really busy at school lately. In addition to teaching my regular 11th and 12th grade classes, I’ve started a 3 month English camp for two students who have been awarded scholarships to study at a University in Thailand. Before they are accepted into the program they have to drastically improve their Thai and English language skills. I work with the girls 5 afternoons a week and I’m really enjoying it, despite it being an incredibly challenging task.

I thought maybe everyone would enjoy this picture, unless you’re a PETA supporter. It’s amazing how much stuff can fit on motos. I will try to take some good pictures of ridiculous moto cargo. A few weeks ago I saw a moto with three full sized mattresses tied on the back somehow. Once I saw three motos in a row cruising down the road and each one had four monks plus a driver. All you could see was a streak of orange. Cambodia’s nice this time of year. Come visit me!

Also, I found some old pictures of time spent in Tabernash during the teepee days. This one was taken when Marissa and Adrianne visited me. We had a big bonfire and lots of redneck fun and redneck beer.