2012: October, November, December, The End!

This whole writing 4 posts because I really wanted to end the year with a nice round number of posts was just silly. Just plain silly.

Chris and I are currently watching Asian CNN, which is delayed half an hour, to watch the ball drop.  Which mostly means that we've been watching far too much Kathy Griffiths and Anderson Cooper attempts at humor, but really mostly making me feel very, very sad for the state of television.

On that same note, I somehow made it through the entire year without ever hearing about this poor little girl Honey Boo Boo until she was interviewed by Anderson and Kathy.  Then I had to Google that shiz, and oh my word?! What is this?  I don't understand.

So, let's finish this up. It's almost midnight there, and as this blog is still set to Eastern Standard Time (refusing to let some things go, even seventeen months later), so let's get 'er done!

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October.

 October was a month of birthdays! I celebrated mine a number of times, it seems.  I wrote about all the things I've learned in my 27 years on earth, which, if you glance at it quickly, is seemingly a great exercise in narcissism as it's basically a dozen pictures of me.

We celebrated Pchum Ben for the second time, this time with our host family.  We also celebrated one year of life as official Peace Corps Volunteers with champagne and pumpkin bread (an excuse to learn to make easy caramel sauce and eat a lot of it.)

I got into a bus accident, but all was well, and I got serious when discussing the state of women here in Cambodia, and how much I fear the negative and unintended impacts of voluntourism. Also, I was far less serious for the majority of the month.

November.

Kisses to November. Good month, November.

I wrote a post every single day in November. This made for some interesting posts, and some other ones that are mostly filler that I probably shouldn't link to.

We watched the returns of the presidential election in our home, on this little screen, with this fan cooling us off. We were very happy with the outcome. I also chipped my tooth. Chris wanted to know why we take pictures of ourselves in mirrors. I captured an entire day in the life here.

November was absolutely the month of food. I have more pictures of food than anything else in this month.  Our biggest accomplishment was making Thanksgiving dinner for 100 peeps.

We spent the end of November preparing for our second Christmas here, in an attempt to make me far less sad and dejected than I was last year.

December.

 This month, we ran a race at Angkor Wat.  I somewhat did a daily reflection challenge. I shared why I was incredibly sad in May (and still get twinges of sadness), and asked you what your "drink" is.  I basically summed up the reasons why I lie awake at night, unable to stop my braining from thinking all the futures in all the worlds, and the success of my Camp GLOW.

We spent Christmas in Kampot and with friends. It was a wonderful holiday season.

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So kisses to you friends!  Here's to what I hope was a wonderful 2012 for you, too!

2012: June, July, August and September

June. And then it was June! We had long awaited June because it meant the arrival of my parents and school break time!

My mother and father met my host mother and I spent the evening translating back and forth between my two mothers. 

We visited our favorite place together, Kampot, and headed to the beach at Kep for the last few days of their visit. Prior to that, we all ventured to Thailand for the first time, passed through Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

And it included our first visit to Angkor Wat!

(I'm so hot.)

July.

July marked the arrival of Hillary Clinton to our little corner of the world and we were lucky enough to get to go hear her speak!  It also meant the addition of Dairy Queen and we've had lots of delicious soft serve since then.

 It was a bit of shenanigans too that month, as Chris got coined to cure him of his cold, and Khmer biked on my bike, with my purse, with Jill. We also celebrated a year in Cambodia, and I shared how we get around here in the 'bode.  I discussed my desire to give our future children a second, literary middle name.  

For the record, this dude, still not on board.

 We spent many an evenings eating at the 'riverside' in our town.  Cheap corn on the cob, fried meat on sticks and fruit smoothies. Yum.

 July was also the arrival of the new group of Volunteers, and I played an active role in their training.  That pretty much encompassed my entire July and a large part of our August as well.  It was one of the most personally and professionally fulfilling times of my service so far.

August.

August meant the Fillingames! When Paige and Michael told me that they were going to celebrate Paige's competing law school and taking the bar by traveling to Cambodia, I was ecstatic.

  We even made them try Khmer coffee. It is super sweet which is why I love it!  At first taste, it can be a bit... cloying.  We did a lot of amazing things with Paige and Michael, though some of the funniest times came when we got our fish foot massage.

 

And when we got back to site, we had a surprise: a western restaurant to call our own. Cheeseburgers whenever we wanted, money permitting.

In August, I also wrote myself a letter to try to stay in the moment, and I shared how I've been dealing, or not, with a stroke that my grandmother had last year after I arrived in Cambodia.  I also got a bit silly, or funny, depending on your take.

September.

By September, it hit me that much of the year had sped by.  We welcomed six new Volunteers to our province and attended the new group's Swearing In, where I posed for a picture for a camera that apparently only I was aware.

Though I didn't share it, I spent an entire weekend alone in Phnom Penh while Chris ventured to see some dolphins.  We both had successful weekends.

In September, I shared the major differences in cultures of privacy, as well as how I started myself on a path that would lead to running a 10k in Cambodia.  We also biked to Kampot, and spent a lovely weekend taking in sights like above.

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A lovely conclusion to come!

2012: March and April and May, shabang!

The springtime months in Cambodia hit like three months with no rain.

Which, le sigh, they were.

 March.

March got really introspective up in here.  Beyond the fact that I went to a wedding in a nearby province with many good friends, I started digesting and trying to explain my daily encounters with Khmer culture.  I discussed how so much of life here happens outside, and how Chris and I have changed our ways to be less physically affectionate in public.

I baked a lot in March, and apparently it was tasty.  We went to a housewarming party for a family that runs a little mart here that we frequent.  It was hilarious and nuts and oh so fun.

Chris and I had burgers that pretty much tasted just like America.  I realized I'm an extrovert, that I like the Rocky movies and montages are the best, and I reflected on one of my favorite memories.

I gots my hairs cut for the first time in nine months, and we celebrated St. Patrick's Day.  It was fun.

I forgot to write about it, but Chris and I also were invited by our host family to take part in their Cheng Meng, or paying respects to ancestors.  A good portion of Khmer people are also part Chinese, including our family.  Once a year, they gather at the stoopa (building in which the ancestor is buried) to offer up food and other items needed in the afterlife.  By burning fake money, gold, and even paper Lexus SUVs, these items can be received in the other realm by family members.  A lot of food is set in front of the grave, incense is lit and prayers are given.
  
April.

April was the best.  We went to Vietnam, and I got to hang out at the beach AND almost collapsed from my ph-not-being-able-to-move-my-limbs-obia while crawling through tunnels made during the American War in Vietnam.

Because of the Khmer New Year, April was a big chunk of down time.  We hung out a lot with our host nieces and nephew.  I decided to give up Coca Cola, which lasted really well except not at all.

May.

May was a turning point for me. After Chris and I celebrated two years of marriage, I got really sad and then really happy.

We made pizza with Jill and it was all I dreamed it could be.

We went to the beach to celebrate Chris' 27th birthday, as well as many other PCV's birthday, including our dear friend Libby's 23rd!

By May, I began to feel very, very settled and content in Cambodia.  That feeling has lasted the rest of the year.

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A whirlwind of a summer, next!

2012: so this was january and february

I am wrapping up the year I spent living entirely in Cambodia with a year in review chronicle of some of the best days from each month.

Or, rather, a chronicle of the events that occurred in the first sixth of this past year, as recorded by my phone and/or planner.  Because if it wasn't saved that way, I've probably forgotten the details, which may be for the better.

So, let's begin.

January.

January was pretty special. There was a lot of overthinking of my future hopes, but it started out tranquilly enough, with me excited for the year to come.  I drank some water too fast and put too much faith into some terrible chocolate, and even tried to prove to my husband that I had more internet friends than I actually do. Otherwise known as, the first time I've had to admit publicly that I was wrong.  It was a tense day in our marriage, that was.  I wrote an ode to my coozy, and modeled for the world my new couture for Cambodia.  I got really deep and stuff when I realized I have found a new time and space for my crazy thinkings that I used to do in the shower: doing laundry.  I even tried to bring my vlogging days backed, but that petered out quickly.  I always seem to want to do them only when I've had time to properly dress and prettify myself, and I always seem to not want to put energy into doing that when I shower three times a day. So there's that.

In other news, I learned that I know how raise one eyebrow higher than the other, but actually have no idea how I did it. Also, Chris ate a beetle.  It was slimy, yet satisfying.  I'm making that up, I have no idea what it was like.  It seemed crunchy?!

 We discovered Topher's innate ability to kill large jumping spiders. He goes to great lengths to ensure my safety.  I document his heroics.  It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.

 And at the end of the month, we made our first trip to Northern Cambodia to see Libby, drink Coca Cola out of mason jars, and experience our first bout of site placement envy.

February.

 It got really hot and dry in February.  Remembering that, I am now appropriately not looking forward to February.  I wrote a little letter to Topher explaining to him why I don't think he's my soul mate, and I shared the joy that is Khmer music video watching with each of you.  You're still so welcome.

Chris and I went a wedding, and we found mayonnaise in our town.  We weren't smart enough to purchase any mayonnaise (in Phnom Penh) for another ten months, when Topher discovered that we could easily make these delicious tomato and egg and a little bit of mayo sandwiches.

 Cambodia had about twenty holidays. Or three, but I'd lost count by February.

I baked real cookies and real brownies in a real oven for the real first time in six real months.  

 I drank my first Mountain Dew in many, many months and took a picture documenting it wherein I had unfortunate arm-skin-to-body-pressage and produced an arm-is-larger-that-my-neck look that no girl would love.

 And I attended one of my final Peace Corps trainings until my end of service conference this May, and an international TESOL conference in Phnom Penh the following weekend. It was riveting.

.......

I'll be back with March through December in coming hours, as my OCD-like tendencies will have me dividing these little reflections into four separate posts as to have a nice even number of written posts in 2012 to close out the year.

And now you know that about me.