The World's Slowest Roller Coaster (fun, but slow)

I have been trying to write a blog post for the past two weeks, but my thoughts have been so scattered that I haven’t really been able to get down a coherent paragraph.  However, as it is the last day of the month, I am going to knock out some updates today even if it kills me.   So blog readers, bear with me. 

The first three weeks at permanent site have been an insane rollercoaster: a really, really, slow rollercoaster.  Since school doesn’t start until tomorrow (SO EXCITED) I have pretty much just been bummin’ around town for the last 3 weeks.  While this was great for the first couple of days, it got pretty old, pretty fast.  However, as I spent hours reading, biking around and speaking broken Khmer with random people I realized that this slower pace has its perks.  I have slept at least 8 hours every night (something unheard of for me during the school year), I am able to exercise every day and I have time to journal, read, and do the things I love.  I also have time to just sit and talk with people.  Normally, I would never consider just spending 2 hours in a coffee shop talking to random strangers and sipping tea, but here, that’s a pretty great way to spend an afternoon.   It is because of this more relaxed pace of life that I have been able to form some pretty great relationships in my community. 

My first week here, one of my main priorities was to find a good coffee shop.  Iced coffee is pretty much be best thing ever because

aA)    it’s coffee

bB)   it’s cold

As I was biking around, I was having trouble finding a coffee shop that wasn’t brimming with men.  Now, at home, a coffee shop full of men would definitely be a huge bonus, but things are a bit different in CambodiaJ.  It’s not really common to see women just hangin’ with the guys.   Being new here, I’m pretty intense about keeping up a good reputation, so I’m trying very hard to interact with men only in social situations where it would be appropriate (I’m probably even being overly cautious with this), and being the only woman among about 20 men doesn’t seem super kosher. 

After biking around for a good 30 minutes, I couldn’t find any coffee shops with a single woman.  So, I did what any reasonable young woman my age would do and went home and cried.  However, a few hours later, I pulled myself together and reminded myself to just keep trying (this has become a sort of mantra of mine).  I got back on my bike and decided to explore the larger market and see what was up there, even though the size of it was a bit intimidating.  Like manna from heaven, I found a coffee shop owned by a woman.  I got some coffee and started talking to the owner, and before I knew it, we had formed a sort of a friendship.  Her daughters started showing up (which was very helpful because they speak a little English) and now I have a sort of coffee club I go to every day. 

I have enjoyed each of our meetings more and more each day.  They have also started to refuse my money when I try to pay for my coffee.  I keep trying to thrust riel in their hands, only to have them reply, “Sister, you do not pay because you are family.”   I might have teared up a little when they first said thatJ.    Today, I got to visit their home and I had a really nice time.  I taught them some card games and we all sat around with our dictionaries learning new words and trying to make conversation. 

This group of women has truly become a second family to me, and made me feel incredibly welcome in my new home. I cannot wait for the day when my Khmer skills are good enough to tell them how much their friendship has meant to me. 

So in short, yeah, Peace Corps is hard.  I miss my family and friends.  I miss McDonalds.  But the warmth and kindness of the people I have met here has convinced me that this is going to be a pretty great home for the next two years.  

A Place to Call Home

Well, the moment we’ve all been waiting for has arrived.  I am at the site where I will be living for the next two years!  I’m living in Takeo Province and I could not be happier with my site placement.  I’m the first volunteer to work at my site, so that has definitely been interesting, since the people here are not really used to seeing a lot of foreigners.  Being the first definitely comes with it’s own set of challenges, but I’m also definitely excited to blaze my own trail. 

My school is fairly large, with about 2,000 students.  And I know you’re all wondering about the library situation.  So am I.  As far as I know there is a library, but I have yet to actually see it.  Perhaps when school starts I’ll actually get to take a look.  The market in my town is fairly small, but if I just bike about 3k (that’s right, I use the metric system now…although I still don’t really understand it) there is a HUGE market AND a place that sells ice cream.  It really couldn’t be better. 

My host family is also pretty wonderful.  I live with an older couple and an eight-year-old boy.  I’m pretty sure he’s their grandson, but I honestly have no idea because I don’t know how to say that word.   He was pretty skeptical of me at first, but I gave him some bubbles and now we’re pretty tight.  I will be sharing the upper part of the house with another teacher, who is currently residing in Phenom Phen, but she teaches at my school during the school year.  It should be pretty nice to have another teacher with the inside scoop staying with me.  However, the ladder that goes down the bathroom is in her room, so I’m not really sure how that’s going to work when she gets here…

School does not start until October 1^st and I am counting the days until then.  It’s definitely different coming from training where almost every minute of my day was structured, to here, where I literally have nothing to do.  However, I have a little checklist and I try to do at least two things a day.  Today I went to the bank (it’s air conditioned!!!!) and found where the coffee place is.  Ambitious, I know.  I also got locked out of my house for about an hour.  Not exactly on the list, but it was still something I did. 

So sorry this blog post is kind of lame, but I’m hoping to have some more pictures/embarrassing stories soon.  But I wanted to assure you all that so far, so good. It’s definitely difficult adjusting yet again, but with my improved Khmer language skills, things are going much more smoothly this time around.  Basically, I’m pretty pumped to call this place home for the next two years.  

I am basically a stunt woman

Today I fully integrated into Khmer culture.   Well, not really, but I might be one step closer!  So, a few days ago, a couple of trucks came away and took most of our stuff with them, including our bikes, in order to take our things to our permanent sites (I find out where I’ll be spending the next two years on Thursday!)  Most of us have been fortunate enough to have our families lend us bikes, since that’s our primary form of transportation.  However, there are a few of us who do not have bikes, so we improvised. 

This is the story of how this happened:

My friend, Jodi, and I were sitting at her house on a slightly rainy afternoon when we heard that a few of our friends were down the street, hanging out.  FAR down the street.  Now, my family was able to let me borrow an extra bike, but Jodi was, sadly, without.  We didn’t really want to walk all the way down there, seeing as it’s about a half hour walk.  It was then that I proposed something I had always wanted to do (since coming to Cambodia).  Cambodian children are commonly seen riding on the backs of their friend’s bikes.  There’s even a little rack that allows them to sit above the back wheel.  Nifty, huh?  So Jodi and I set out to see if we could be as cool as Cambodian children. 

I grabbed my bike and we started our adventure.  I decided I would try pedaling first….but this did not go well.  My lack of balance was really apparent when trying to ride with someone on the back, so we decided to switch positions.  This was also not working.  Turns out it’s really hard to get started pedaling with an extra person on the bike.  Our little adventure wasn’t exactly off to a good start.  It was then that we decided to try and lower the seat, hitting our heads together during the process (don’t worry, we were wearing our helmets!).  Seriously, we looked like idiots. 

Suddenly, Jodi pauses and says, “Kelly, Cambodian children usually jump on the back while the bike is already moving.  That might help…”   I was not convinced.  If any of you have seen me try to function on a daily basis, it is pretty apparent that jumping on a moving bike probably wouldn’t be my forte.  But I tried it anyway. 

And it worked!  I managed to get on the seat on the first try and off we went!  Well, I guess in the interest of full disclosure, I did let her pass me the first time because I chickened out.  But the first time I actually jumped it worked!  Take that, hand-eye coordination!  I felt like Tom Cruise (not exactly sure why that celebrity comes to mind when it comes to stunts)!  

Turns out children usually ride like that because their legs are short enough to comfortably withstand that mode of travel.  Mine are not.  So after a slightly uncomfortable 5-minute bike ride, we arrived at our destination and I enjoyed a delicious orange soda.  Ahhhh, the sweet taste of victory. 

Oh, and thanks, Jodi, for hauling me around town today.  You were an excellent driver!