The Second Time Around

Exactly one year ago today, I woke up with knots in my stomach uncertain what the day would bring.  October 1st is the first day of school in Cambodia, and I had NO IDEA what was going to happen.  All I could decipher with my minimal Khmer skills was that a lot of students would be coming, but we would not be teaching classes.  It was some sort of opening ceremony but I had no clue as to what that would entail.  Were they going to make me give a speech?  How would the students react to me?  Would any of the teachers want to teach with me?  And most importantly, what I am supposed to wear????  

Needless to say, this time was much easier.  I woke up today just like any other day, put on my sampot and headed off to school, where I greeted teachers I haven't seen in a while, and met some of the new teachers at our school.  The students were much less phased by my presence, and there was significantly less staring the second time around.  I also finally understand that just because the school director says we have school tomorrow, it doesn't mean we actually have school, and I've finally learned to tell the difference.  

I'm at the point in my service where I'm going to start doing things for the second time.  While it might not seem as exciting after coming from a year of almost entirely new experiences, I'm quite looking forward to it.  Excitement is sometimes overrated.  

However, it is rather exciting to see the progress I've made over the year, and think about all the things I want to accomplish during my last year.  Just this last weekend, my friend Jodi and I were able to reserve lunches and dinner for over 70 people at a workshop, speaking only Khmer.  This is definitely something I did not envision myself ever being able to do a year ago.  

The lady at the restaurant even gave us some free cokes.  This was a cheers after a job well done!  

And although I've made a lot of progress, I know there are still things I'm going to need to figure out.  Like how to ride a mountain bike in the mud without looking like I pooped myself.  Hopefully I can master that skill, and a few others by the time I leave.  

It's mud, i swear.   

  

Some More of Daily Life

This is my awesome bike.  More importantly, this is a picture of me, waiting alone at my school for students who didn't show up.  While most of my classes possess a few eager students, the date of this particular English Club coincided with the height of rice planting season.  When I went home and told my host mom that no one came to class, she said "Of course, they didn't!  They're out planting rice!"

I live right along a national highway in Cambodia.  One day, the government decided to start repairing the road, which I was really excited about...until it looked like this for a week.  Loose gravel+motorcycles and bikes=not a great combination.  They finally got it paved while I was in Thailand, but returned today to plant down another pile of gravel.  I have no idea what is going on with this construction process.  

This is the result of loose gravel and traffic.  All the dust from the road construction settles nicely in my house, so everything is covered in a lovely shade of grey.  While inconvenient, it does make last minute note taking rather simple.  

This is something I've been trying to capture for a while, so I hope you can see it clearly.  Yes, that is a motorcycle with about 20 live chickens strapped to it.  Say what you want, but at least the poultry is fresh.  

This is a delicious snack my host mom made for me one day.  It's a tiny pumpkin that is broiled and filled with some sort of sweet filling.  It might not look like much, but it kind of reminds me of a baked apple.  It's probably my favorite sweet in Cambodia. 

Oh you know, just taking a selfie with a cow.   

This is the trap door that goes down to the bathroom from the upstairs.  There's a ladder under this that I have definitely fallen down once or twice, but climbing down this makes life exciting.  I'm also a very fortunate PCV, in the sense that I can access my bathroom at night and don't have to pee in a bucket or stumble my way to an outhouse in the dark.  

Oh hey. I went to Thailand. It was pretty cool and I took some pictures.

So I failed to mention that I went to Thailand a couple weeks ago.  It was alright, I guess.

Just kidding, it was AWESOME, and I highly recommend a trip if you ever have the chance.  The food was great, the shopping was plentiful, and the views were fantastic.  And we went zip lining through a rainforest!  I could bore you with the 3 page itinerary I wrote for the trip, but I'll just post some pictures here instead.  

Yes, this was definitely the first place I ate in Thailand.  Haters gonna hate.  

The first of many temples we visited.  This one had an enormous standing Buddha!

Street food on a stick!  It was just like the Iowa Sate Fair.!

This was my first train ride (that I can remember.  Being a baby doesn't count, Mom) and it was so exciting!  There were bunk beds and a lot of dirty backpackers.  Good times were had by all.  But mostly we just slept.  

My partners in crime, shopping at the night market in Chiang Mai.  There are sooo many different things to buy and so many pretty colors!  

There was a deal with the zip-line tour that you got to stay a free night in a 5 star hotel.  This was definitely worth it!  Here we are chilling at this super awesome pool at our super fancy hotel.  

Some Thai food we were served at our Thai Dinner and Dance cultural outing.  We like to keep it classy.  

This is the dancing portion of the Thai Dinner and Dancing cultural extravaganza (that was definitely not the name of the event, but I really like calling it that)

I'm all ready to go zip lining!  If you've never done it before, I highly recommend it.  We got to zip line for 3 hours and it was so much fun!  Terrifying, but fun. 

Rockstar Jodi heading out on a zip line!  

"Small town girl in a big city" shot.  Bangkok is crazy but it was definitely refreshing to see a big city in Asia with clean streets and functioning traffic.  You're up next, Cambodia!  

As far as things outside of Thailand go, they are pretty great.  I've been keeping really busy at site, and I'm feeling extremely productive (this has been a rare feeling for me this past year).  There will definitely be a separate post on this later, but for those of you who can't wait, I'll just tell you that I finally feel like I've made a difference in some small way.  I know this last year is going to fly by, but I can't wait to make the most out of these last months.  Here's to one more year!