our cambodian life, in images

On the bus from Phnom Penh to our training "hub site" in a nearby province

Our view on a bike ride in our training hub site village

Cambodia coffee- coffee with ice and condensed milk. 

Friends. And many hours being trained.

This one time, in Cambodia, we went to the market to get the skirts we'd had made and got caught in a torrential down pour.

We made it, with our cheap ponchos

All dressed up to meet our training host family.

At the beautiful wat (pagoda) to meet our training family!

Our family's home- we live with a yeh and a young relative who cooks/cleans

Our house! With our bikes and the table we eat nearly every meal.

Our water filter.

Because I know most of all, you're wondering about our bathroom. That's a western toilet, no running water.

We have puppies!

Sometimes, we play volleyball with our fellow trainees.

And then we play with puppies again!

Two weekends ago, we biked to a nearby killing field memorial site. Yes, those are human skulls.

From zero to sixty

It’s no secret, if you’ve read this here blog, that for the last four years, I gave my time and energy and general self over to my job.  I loved every single minute- even the ones I spent crying or being the shoulder that someone cried on- as a teacher and program director.

It’s also no secret, though, that Topher and I averaged very few hours (hardly any of them daylight during the week) together.

Our current reality could not be more different.  For the first time ever, we are literally with each other nearly every hour of the day.  This past Thursday was the first time we’d spent more than one hour in a separate place, as I actually traveled to another village to offer some of my knowledge to the other trainees who are teachers, and it was strange!

Being married in the Peace Corps is pretty swell.  When one of us is frustrated, the other one is usually able to be the tough and supportive one.  We’ve practiced learning the language under our mosquito net together, and have sweat probably three gallons together in the last month, all the while maintaining how wonderful the other person still looked.

I am so grateful to have Topher here in this experience- we’re growing together, even as we grow differently.  Having the same daily events and occurrences but varying reactions has pushed us to really understand each other’s mental and emotional states at a new level.  I am pretty convinced that the next two years will be incredible challenges but if the first month of service is any indication, we’ll only grow stronger in the process.

Thank goodness.

It’s just like America, except without air conditioning

This quote was some of the witty banter being tossed around on the Cambodia facebook page before our group of K5s arrived in country.  what’s best about this little bit of wit now is how often I find myself saying, in subconscious attempts to acculturate in a foreign land, “wow, that is something I could have seen in America.”

Often this little moment is a simply act of humanity (or depravity, but we won’t dwell on dogs having sex constantly on the side of the road, or people kicking dogs or the like.) Small little moments that I most often catch as I ride my bike on one of our various trips into or out of town, from language class or technical training.

It caused me to smile when I saw a father teaching his daughter how to ride a bike in their “driveway” yesterday.  A few weeks ago, I saw a little boy helping his mother hang the laundry in the midday sun.  I’ve seen more instances of sibling love here than I ever imagined- so many older brothers caring for their younger sisters, whether it be helping them open a piece of fruit or pushing the hammock, emitting a giggle.

Those moments have me instantly feeling twangs of sadness, as I think about Colin (my brother) and remember how he was the one that taught me how to ride a bike.  Both my mother and father had given up hope- even at five, my stubborn ways were preventing us from communicating effectively sans-training wheels.  It was Colin that had the patience- and maybe guile- to push me and let go so that I could ride on my own.

Life here, in case you were worried, is pretty awesome.  We’ve both had our terrible moments- read Chris’ favorite worst story so far here (for the record, I was simply trying to help Chris conquer his lasting fear of rats)- and I would be lying if I didn’t admit that about once every 72 hours I have five minutes of pure frustration either due to sweat pouring from every crevice (did you know that your calves sweat? They do- in southeast asia) or MOSQUITOS.  I f-ing hate mosquitos.

We switched language groups recently, and learning to speak Khmer is still my favorite part of the day. It’s amazing to feel like I am slowly moving from 1 year old level to 2 year old, and practice with street vendors, women in the market, and even the employees at our Tela gas station (complete with air conditioning and cold water!)

Monday we begin our Practicum week, when we’ll actually be team teaching small groups of Khmer students.  I am so excited to be a teacher again- though I am constantly saying to myself “in Baltimore, the CMs just came back from Institute.  Today, they’re getting sessions on setting goals and writing assessments! I wish I was there to guide the awesome 2010s and 2011s to prepare for the year!”  So to all my TFA loves reading this- you’re going to have an AMAZING start to the school year! Smile, be firm, and rock it.

I am going to try to upload some pictures for later this week, so be on the lookout!

Much love from the Kingdom of Wonder.

Take a Look at "Good Hard Look!"

Hey all! My review of Ann Napolitano's new book A Good Hard Look  is up on the BlogHer book  club.  Go take a look and tell me what you think!

My Review

Hello from Monday Night!

Hello all!  In case you couldn't tell, access to internet is not readily available here for us Peace Corps Trainees.  I did put up a post over my Travels Blog (go check it out! now!)

While I navigate the internet situation here during my incredibly busy days (7:30 to 6 or so, then dinner with our host family until 7 or 8), please don't blame me for sparse posting.  I'll try to put up a few posts each week, but as I am running on limited time and internet, I'll likely be double posting the same entries here and on the Travels.

In the mean time though, I'll be back tomorrow (my tomorrow, you're tonight) to post a link to a review I did as a part of BlogHer's Book Club. Get excited!

I hope everyone is well, and I wish my internet was faster so I could read each of your blogs and catch up!

khnyom mok p bpro dtey americ.

i come from the country of america.

it's hard to believe that we've been here for just over two weeks now, and living with our host family for just over 1 week.  it's been a long few weeks, mainly due to major life adjustments, long and jam packed days and especially hours of attempting to learn to speak Khmer.

if my internet were faster, i could regale you with a picture book encapsulating the last 15 days, but until that is remedied, you'll have to deal with my written words.  as in the sample lesson i taught on adjectives today, i'll try to be descriptive such that you develop a mental image of our life here.

each morning, we wake up around four to the sound of a rooster crowing.  we then try to ignore him, stuff our earplugs in a bit deeper, and dig into firm bed, covered in a mosquito net.  we finally give in to the sounds of our village waking up, and mosey out of bed around six thirty.

we then stuff ourselves into varying degrees of uncomfortable and smelly clothes- a long skirt made of traditional fabric and long sleeve collared shirt for me, and long pants and long sleeve collared shirt for chris. our saving grace are our sandals, which are now coated in an appropriate amount of red clay mud, given the daily rain showers and our typical 30-40 minutes of biking we do each day.

we then drench ourselves in sweat attempting to not get sweaty while finding some breakfast.  we stumble over our tongues learning the language, enjoy a beautiful temple while attending technical training for our days as english teachers, and then drench ourselves again as we ride back and forth from our pday-aw (home) to each class.  our amazing host family- a grandmother and her granddaughter (ish)- have given us a wonderful place to stay and make us delicious lunches and dinners every day.  we've tried to help out by doing the dishes each night, but i'm still convinced that she goes back into the kitchen to do them again.

i'll try to get back on soon with s have ome pictures uploaded, so you can see all of our amazing life here, and the wonderful people- from fellow trainees and current volunteers to host country nationals- in our life. just know we are so happy in cambodia and so lucky to each other and amazing people like you supporting us!

be well!