A New Blog Project

As many of you know by now, I'm kind of terrible at keeping regular blogs.  That is all about to change for year numero dos (yay! I can still speak a little bit of Spanish!).  That's right, I'm in my second year.  Crazy.  

So the plan is to take a picture every day and post seven pictures at the end of each week.  I didn't do super great at it this week, so most of these photos are a little old, but here they are!  

Me in front of my school with a few of my students from my English club.  These ladies are such hard workers and I have been so blessed to be able to work with them.  The young lady in the top right is my most dedicated student, and is moving to Phnom Penh with her family so she can attend a private school.  I'm so happy for her, and I think it'll be great for her education, but I'm also selfishly going to miss teaching her.

This is a terrible photo I took from my window of the road construction happening on the highway outside of my house.  It was pretty awesome to watch it all take place.  There are no such things as closed roads or orange cones in Cambodia, so it's interesting to just watch motos drive through the road construction.  Also, you can see my neighbors watching the construction.  I found it kind of funny how entertained they were by it all, but then found myself staring at the construction right along with them.  

The election just happened a while ago and this is Cambodian campaigning at its finest.  It basically consists of trucks and motos driving up and down the highway blaring music and campaign speeches.  

This scene is something I bike past every time I go to my Khmer tutoring sessions.  It seriously takes my breath away every time, and is even more beautiful in person. 

I woke up to this gem a few days ago.  This is my littlest host brother who is about 4 years old.   A little background on this is that no one wears helmets in my village except for me.  So it was pretty heartening to see my little host brother using the world's best helmet while riding his bike around the front yard. 

This photo is in honor of my fellow Iowan who has returned to the homeland after his two years of service.  However, before leaving,  he left me his Iowan flag so I can carry on the Iowa pride.  

This is a random photo, but this is what happens when you go to the dentist (which also happens to be the most modern looking dentist building I have ever been in) in Cambodia.  They call these Crocs "hospital shoes" and you have to don a pair of these babies before you get your teeth cleaned.  I'm pretty sure these are never cleaned, so that's a little gross, but after a year in Cambodia, putting on used Crocs is the least of my hygiene problems (no toilet paper...think about it).