geographical deficiencies

tonight, chris was talking on the phone with america.  he had to explain to america that he was abroad, so the connection was a bit scratchy.

"where?" america asked.

"cambodia?" chris answered.

"where?" america asked.

"southeast asia." chris answered.

"oh. right." america let it go.

i would hedge a bet that the majority of america, likely even some of my most favorite, amazing friends and family, are not exactly sure where exactly chris and i are living for two years exactly.

you know, somewhere over in asia?

i have my own deficiencies when it comes to geography.  i mean, we can just throw out all the 'stans- i'd fail any exam asking me to write those on a map.

in school, i grew up memorizing and taking tests on where all the states are, the names and places of the lakes and rivers, and even the capitals. you know you did too.

and then in college i took an african history course which entailed also memorizing and being tested on all of the countries, mountains and rivers in africa.

and then during and after college, i traveled through europe and had to learn my way around that area in order to plan a logical euro trip.

but asia?  unless i'd lived here, i'm pretty sure i'd still be wondering about those countries over yonder, near vietnam and china and japan and such.

though i'd have to say that if i was going to most afraid of any geography exam, it'd be a central and south america one. i'm pretty much crap there.

and just to clear things up, here's where chris and i have been living for nearly a year, and it's neighboring countries:

source

which geography test would you most likely fail?

where we were: may

may was a relatively normal paced month at site- worked a normal number of hours, ate a normal amount of bowls of rice, read a normal amount of books.

but may was also a month where there was a fantastic week smack dab in the middle where we celebrated topher's and three other PCV's birthdays at the beach and we had our last official training before our final one next year!

in may, we utilized the end of a four day weekend to venture to what has been called one of the prettiest beaches in cambodia: koh rong island, off the eastern coast of cambodia.

for the beach, we took a two hour boat ride.  the one there was perfectly fine.  the one back...happened during a rainstorm. needless to say, we really should have remembered to bring our rain jackets.

koh rong has a variety of available bungalow villa type places.

and we were simply excited to get to the beach!

if you ignore my head, you can see our quaint bungalow we shared with three great friends.

as soon as we arrived, we dove into the warm, crystal clear ocean.

through out the weekend, we spent many hours lounging in the restaurants, playing cards, eating, and drinking delicious things.

we attempted to head via small boat to the other side of the island, said to be one of the top beaches in the world. the winds and waves were against though, so we ended up hiking to a different beach.

it was the bay for a small fishing village, and also had some gorgeous waters.

the bungalow had a decent restaurant, with a great 2 for 1 drink special. yummy pina coladas!

we were very lucky to be celebrating with great friends, and beautiful waters.

in may, we also enjoyed some delicious food and drink at a cafe in phnom penh with our friend.

this particular cafe sells delicious happy hour drinks AND is a bakery. so you know i had a cookie with my drinks!

and i ate dessert first- a mudslide!

this month we also celebrated two years of marriage by going to eat at my favorite restaurant in phnom penh- italian, of course!

in may, we also got to make the BEST pizza ever via a chef boyardee make your own pizza kit sent to our gorgeous friend jill from her family!

without a doubt, one of the best nights in may.

 and, as mentioned, we had our last training as a whole group of k5s in mid may, and peace corps was awesome and paid for a glorious two hour boat ride on the mekong for us to celebrate- early- our mid service mark!

we've made such great friends these ten months in the 'bode.

and we've got such pride for our site province! get ready k6s- your training in the BEST province in cambodia!

and what's a great month without a great movie? we saw the avengers- in 3D- and loved it, as it seems most of the world did!

indulge me and share your favorite thing that happened in may?

ten for ten

on may twenty-fifth, topher and i and fifty five other peace corps volunteers in cambodia hit a new mark:

ten months in country.

in honor of ten months, i have ten reflections about sounds in cambodia.

let's get this out first: cambodia is a NOISY country. some might even say loud.  but really, it's simply full of noise- all kinds of noise.

there are a variety of sounds that i do not appreciate in my new country- dogs fighting, cars honking, children crying, motorcycles honking, anything honking- but the sounds i do appreciate far outweigh these.

but mostly, i love the sound of:

rain hitting the pavement as i bike home.

my host nieces and nephew screaming "yay!" when they see me pull in from being away from site for a few days.

the sound of meat sizzling in a pan as topher or our family makes dinner.

the ding! of our toaster oven, indicating something delicious is ready to be devoured.

a cambodian child laughing. or really, any child.

a breeze rippling through the many leaves of the many trees that surround my life here.

the zap of the mosquito racket as it toasts those terrible things.

the sweet "hello!" from an adorable child in their parents' arms as i bike by.

the constantly faint chirp-chirp-chirp of little chicks as they follow their (louder, more annoying) mother hen around.

the soft "psssttt!" of a can of coca cola light opening.


oh sweet sounds of the 'bode, i love you!