We left our training host families yesterday. It was kind of sad, but at the same time I'm ready to get to site. I'm really excited about the next two years and really nervous about the next few weeks. On site visit, people were overwhelmingly excited to see me. This is good, but it can be intimidating when a school director hopes that you will teach everyone and their mom and their mom's dog to be fluent in English. I hate to disappoint people, but that isn't exactly realistic. So the first few weeks might require a lot of boundary setting. Good times. In other news, I received a Khmer dress shirt from a current volunteer, so I have something appropriate to wear to swear in. And it isn't even that tacky. I'm excited. Right now I'm in the internet cafe. "Beautiful Girl" is playing for about the eighth time in two hours. Khmer people REALLY like this song. It's really funny to hear them sing along. Oh wait, now there is a song about duck eggs playing. Don't ask.

So Pchum Ben was fun. During one of the services, the monk mentioned me by name. Everyone in the Pagoda turned around and looked at me. Then he went on about how it was okay that I can't understand what they're saying.Then he tried to speak English but all I could make out was the word "pretty" repeated about five times. This happened about three times during the two hour service. My limited understanding of Khmer made for a rather interesting time, as could figure out that one monk was asking for people to donate phone cards to the wat, and another kept going on about spoons. I'm sure this all made some kind of sense in a larger context, but to me it was super ridiculous and amusing. I have to go to our last seminar day. 8am-7pm. In a stuffy room. With uncomfortable chairs. Pretty sweet. But it is the last time! Btw, thank you so much to everyone who contributed to the package containing the bicycle seat, biscotti, and other assorted awesomeness. It was definitely appreciated.