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.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I know it's been a while since the last post. My mom has mentioned this fact about 30 times in the past month. So mom, here ya go. I mostly didn't feel like posting the past month because I was pretty homesick over the holidays. Not that Christmas has come and gone (thank you for the fabulous Christmas packages everyone!) I'm feeling much more upbeat.

I stay really bust at the school and get home at night just exhausted. I have a new appreciation for all of the effort that my teachers in the past put into their classes. I've picked up some side projects and clubs at the school and I enjoy working with the students.

Since I'm so busy at school, I've decided to make a move from my current house up to the teachers' housing section at the school. Next weekend I'll be moving into my new place. My school really set me up with a nice place. The hospitality in Cambodia is incredible. I'll miss that part of the culture more than anything.

Today marks 6 months that I've been in country! I can hardly believe that I've only got a year and a half more to get all of my work done. Time is flying by.

I'll post some pictures and more stories soon (next week maybe when I have internet access at the school). Take care everyone.

Not much to update on this week. Two weekends ago I rode in the Angkor Wat bike race, which was a blast! Thank you to all who donated. We started out early in the morning right as the sun was peeking out from behind the temples. It was even a little chilly while riding through the gigantic forest surrounding the temple complex. My favorite part of the ride was when I was crunching the fallen leaves under my bike tires. It made me homesick for the Colorado falls.

The day after the race, some of the PCV’s and I went to a concert at Angkor Wat. The five famous temples were lit up and served as the backdrop of the stage. The performers were just okay at best, but the scenery made my night.

When I returned to my site, my host brother ran out to tell me that our dog had puppies! We’ve now got two mangy dogs and six adorable pups that can fit in the palm of my hand. They’re cute now, but I wonder how I’ll feel when they get fleas and start chewing on my things.

Last week I came to terms with the fact that I’m an awful English teacher. I don’t think that my students are picking up on anything I’m teaching about. It’s partly because of my complete lack of experience, and partly because the English materials we work with are useless. Incorrect grammar, spelling, and irrelevant story lines are the norm. The good news though is that I’ve taken over the library as my pet project. The Thais brought two new monitors for the computers that were sitting unused in the corner. Some of the twelfth grade students helped me to clean the inch of dust off the shelves. I’ve been spending my time trying to organize everything. Remember how I worked at Barnes and Noble for a while and hated shelving books after the café closed? Well, that’s now the job I have. Oh, the irony. It’s more enjoyable now though because I get to hang out with the kids. The school asked me to help write letters to NGO’s for more book donations. Originally I planned on doing this, but changed my mind after finding a couple hundred English books in the back room that were never set out for the students in the first place.

Sinking more and more money into a system that’s not working to begin with is useless, but seems to be the common method over here. My school has been given a ton of educational resources: microscopes, computers, lab rooms, even a small farm. It rivals many American high schools with regard to material resources. However, the science labs are always locked up and the director has the only key. The reasoning I’m told: “We need to protect the school’s things from the students.” I’m running into this issue daily and it’s hard to keep motivated. I’ve changed my focus from helping teachers improve their English to being a friend and mentor to the students. I keep a ton of office hours and welcome students in all grades to come practice their English with me. I’m working with students from a wide range of abilities. Sometimes the 7th graders come in to read with me, and other times I get questions about writing CV’s from the 12th graders. I like this approach better.

So goes life in Cambodia. From what my sister and my mom tell me, it’s been cold back home. I’m still terribly homesick, but it’s getting better. I anticipated being really lonely during the holidays, but it’s turning out alright. It’s hard to miss Christmas when it’s 80 degrees out and you’re surrounded by rice and palm trees. Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year! Please eat lots of turkey, pumpkin pie and light a sparkler for me.

PS I took the last picture a couple of weeks ago when two planets and the moon happened to line up in a smiley face. My host family was so excited that I got a good picture and they made me show it to everyone who came over to the house for a week afterwards.

First picture is of me (left) and another PCV in front of Angkor Wat. Second is of one of the pups.

Bike Race!

Everything's going smooth at site. I'm finally getting some sort of a schedule down and meeting more and more of the students everyday. I have set up a fair number of office hours each week that students can come for English help and there have been a few that stop by to practice and ask questions. Last Thursday I helped a student for a half an hour or so and when getting up to leave he tried to pay me for the help. The school's are run a little different here because the daytime classes are free, but any private lessons are not. The catch is that some teachers withhold the important information from the day classes, thus forcing the students to pay for private lessons in order to get the curriculum that is covered on the national exam in May. Frustrating, I know.

This coming weekend I will be traveling up to Siem Reap to partake in a bike race fundraiser at Angkor Wat. I'm going to ride in the short 30K road race (on my PC junker of a mountain bike) on Saturday morning. It should be quite the event and I'm really looking forward to it! If anyone wants to sponsor me, visit the website at: http://www.villagefocus.org/angkor_marathon/
The organization putting on this event is mostly involved in anti-child trafficking and land mine causes. If you feel like sending over a few bucks, go to the website and click on the "Sponsor" link. Click on my name and follow the steps. Thanks in advance to anyone who donates!

Mr. Thanksgiving

I envision dozens of ways to kill him while lying under my mosquito net every morning waiting for dawn. I think about the most fitting death for that damn rooster. Beheading would be nice, but death by boiling in a pot of water would help with the hassle of plucking the feathers. Contrary to popular belief, roosters don’t crow at the crack of dawn. What a perfect world it would be if that were the case. Roosters crow before dawn, after dawn, mid-morning, in the evening, and undoubtedly will crow after the apocalypse.

This morning (Sunday morning and also my day off) he started in around 4:00. I’m reminded of that Alan Jackson song that my mom likes “Its 5:00 somewhere.” Presumably, the rooster wants to let me know that somewhere in the world the sun’s coming up, even if it’s still early morning in Cambodia. I think the entire rooster population of SE Asia is in an alliance to thwart my plans of sleeping until 6:00 on Sundays. Maybe one of the members lives on the coast of Vietnam and looked out east across the ocean this morning to see the tiniest sliver of light on the horizon. From that moment on it was a race against time to spread the news of the sun’s arrival to the roosters in Cambodia.

I heard them way out in the distance across the rice fields. Gradually the crowing became louder as my consciousness slipped out of pleasant dreams and back into hell…aka ‘the land of the perpetually crowing roosters.’ I waited in anticipation, knowing that the inevitable event that begins my every day was about to happen. There it is! That $#@ing rooster is sitting on the fence 2 feet outside my window crowing away. I looked out the window and he stared right back at me as if to say “I’ll stop crowing when you can catch me barong.” I told him that he better watch himself because Thanksgiving is less than a week away and I have yet to see a turkey in Cambodia. That rooster now has a name; Mr. Thanksgiving. Fortunately for him I will be away from site over Thanksgiving, but Christmas is just around the corner.

Happy Turkey Day everyone! I wish that I was there eating pumpkin pie with you all. Please send terrible thoughts about death and suffering to Mr. Thanksgiving. The family’s only been serving these weird eel fish the past few weeks and it’s put me in the mood for a drumstick.

Then again, without Mr. Thanksgiving around I’d miss the beautiful sunrises in Cambodia. Maybe I’ll just have to learn to tolerate him for two years. By the way, Sunday marks my fourth month in country. It’s flown by and time speeds up every day. Suksabie (good health) to everyone back home, miss you all tons.

Harvest time

Farm life has always enthralled me. I like the idea that one could conceivably grow and raise a good portion of the food that one family needs at home. It’s a world that I have little knowledge of, but much curiosity for. While I don’t currently live on a farm per say, just being in Cambodia puts me up close and personal with tomorrow’s dinner. My family has chickens and ducks that roam around the yard eating the rice scraps and whatever bugs they can catch. My evening commute home from school is often sluggish due to the traffic jam consisting of water buffalo driven carts, cows, and motos. All around me are miles and miles of rice fields.

I arrived in Cambodia during the planting season, so I’ve now seen one whole rotation of rice growth. I love riding my bike through the rice patties in the afternoons attempting to explore every road, path, and cow trail around my village. In August and September the feilds were nothing more than a billion brilliant green shoots sticking a foot tall out of the mud. Now that the raining season is coming to a halt, the rice has started to seed out at the top and turn gold. From a distance it looks vaguely like a wheat field in America (minus the palm trees).

On Tuesday my farm life curiosity got the best of me. I’ve been bothering my host family for weeks to teach me how to harvest rice, and they finally gave in to my requests. In the morning we headed out to the family’s plot about 4 miles from the house. My host dad rode his moto there while I followed close behind on my bike; peddling furiously to keep up. Upon arriving we were greeted by about 20 day laborers, who are paid 8,000 riel ($2) per day to cut rice by hand. I think this is the standard pay rate for harvesters, but it’s a wonder their families eat at all. You won’t find a Cambodian farmer with any body mass to spare.

First I’ll explain the rice harvest attire. Long sleeves are a must for sun protection, as is a brimmed hat. Most people wear mid-drift pants or roll their pant legs up since you stand in about 8 inches of water and mud all day. The women all wear kormas wrapped around their necks and faces. Nobody wears shoes since they’ll get sucked down in the mud after two steps anyway. You can imagine my hesitancy in kicking off my flip-flops and wading through the same mud that the Peace Corps nurse has warned us about. Most of the fish my family feeds me are caught from the rice fields, which are also habitat to snakes, frogs, mice, rats, birds and small crabs. Walking through snake water is not my idea of fun, but when in Rome…

To harvest, a big group of people stand side-by-side and make their way across the field while cutting the tops off of the plants. In one hand you grab a big bunch of the rice stalks and with the other you cut the top 8 inches or so with a crescent shaped metal tool. After gathering up a big handful of plants, you neatly pile them behind you. Someone follows behind the group of cutters and gathers all the small piles in one location.

The tools are incredibly sharp and you have to be careful to not cut yourself. I learned that lesson the hard way. I cut my hand without knowing it and suddenly I was bleeding all over. Guess I wasn’t ‘cut’ out for farm work in Cambodia. Thankfully it was just a shallow cut and didn't need stiches.

The woman who was teaching me how to harvest was great. She kept stopping to pick crabs out of the mud with her feet. Then she would shake the mud off and stick them in her pocket…presumably for lunch. It’s amazing how fast a group of people can clear a field. I was hypnotized while watching the workers’ movements as they made a path across the endless fields. My favorite part of the harvest though was the sound of people walking through the rice while their tools made the cuts.

Tuesday was a very good day.