Thanks so much to Rebecca for this picture! I have been wanting to find a picture of the poultry moto for weeks. Here it is. This is a very common site in Cambodia, but it makes me smile every time I see it.

With people having so much economic fun in the US, Cambodia is seeming more exciting all the time. Anyway, not a lot is new. The students just took their semester exams, thus many of them consider school to be over (it doesn’t end til April). If the atmosphere at Cambodian schools was relaxed before, it is nearly comatose at this point. But we still have fun with the students who do come. Since school isn’t taken very seriously now, we can use this opportunity to do fun things that are really educational. Peace Corps wants us to set up things like workshops and camps, but it is really hard to get people to come to anything that requires a time commitment. So my coteacher and I took class time to show the students a movie about HIV/AIDS. It’s really cool; it is made just like a movie, not a documentary. The students loved it. I think the most rewarding thing on the planet is the raucous laughter of 50 Khmer teenagers. The movie had English subtitles, so I could read it, and it could technically be counted as English class. We had to watch it in the school office, so a lot of the teachers ending up watching it with us as well. We even had some students wander in from other classes. It made me really happy. It is estimated that 70,000 Cambodians have HIV/AIDS, the highest infection rate in Southeast Asia. Many people were infected during the war. Most men were soldiers, living away from home. More recently, the infection rate has skyrocketing among police. Most police officers do not live where they work. They live in dorms at the police station, only going home once every month or so. Another problem is the lack of female control over the use of protection. Even if a woman knows her husband is sleeping around, it would be unacceptable to for her to insist that he use a condom. Because of this, the infection rate is just as high among chaste, married women as it is among prostitutes. The rate of new infections is declining, however. There is a ton of education available now.

In other news, I moved this week. Apparently, my host family doesn’t actually own the house we live in. They rent it from a Cambodian woman who lives in the States. She is back for a visit so we had to scram. We now stay two doors down, and my in my new room I can see the stars at night. So that makes me super happy. I have also developed a slight obsession with sugarcane juice. Known locally as ‘tug empoa’, it is possibly the most wonderful thing ever on a hot day. Because it is heating up, tug empoa stands are everywhere. The best part is that a glass costs less than 13 cents. I love this country. I’m not going to lie, it does kind of look like pee, but it is super refreshing at 3 in the afternoon when temperatures range from 90-100. I drink one everyday. Sometimes I drink two.

What else? Ah, yes. My hand sewing has improved a great deal since I’ve been here. One day I was bored, so I bought fabric and made a skirt. By hand. In one afternoon. I think it turned out quite well. Currently, I’m working on a purse. My creative powers are being put to excellent use. My family doesn’t understand why I don’t just pay someone to do it.

Another thing that was kind of weird was going to the US Embassy. During our recent training session in Phnom Penh, we were invited to eat lunch at the Embassy. There were polished tiled floors, heavy metal doors, glass everywhere. Things were shiny. I afraid to walk in, for fear that I would sully this immaculate place with my shoes that had stepped in God-knows-what in my village. The tables and chairs were beautiful and *get this* NOT plastic! The really funny thing was that our counterparts were there too. Picture 30 Americans, who had been living in Cambodian villages, dining in this air conditioned splendor. Now picture 30 Cambodians being given a tour of this place. The tour didn’t last very long, as the cubicle area was all we were allowed to see. But needless to say, they were awed by the grandeur. It was kind of cool to think that they all got a chance to have lunch in America, seeing is that is the only time most of them will ever set foot on American soil.

On our last night some of us took our counterparts to Nike’s Pizza for an American meal. They liked it, although they felt the pizza and pasta were a little salty. But you should have seen the way they gobbled up the ice cream. It was pretty fantastic. We were planning on going to the western market for ice cream, but it was closed. So we decided to just head back. Lydia and I, being the only girls, were walking ahead because the boys were slow. We spotted a western gas station across the road. We wanted ice cream. Without telling anyone, we ran across the road. We didn’t know if the guys would follow, but eventually they did. 7 people shared two pints of ice cream standing in the middle of a gas station in Phnom Penh. It was nothing short of stellar.

So this has been a rather hectic and exciting week. I found out I get to take the oral exam for the Foreign Service, and then I went to the embassy and got to talk to some Foreign Service officers. So that was pretty stellar. Speaking of stellar, my co-teacher used the word ‘stellar’ during the conference we are attending. It was possibly the proudest moment of my life. We have been in Phnom Penh all week. It has been pretty cool. The first couple days the volunteers talked about teaching problems and ideas, as well as ideas for other projects. Our co-teachers came yesterday, so we’ve spent today and yesterday hanging out with them. Tomorrow we start the big Cambodia-wide education conference. So I’ve basically been eating ice cream and planning projects. It has been an exciting week. Sorry if this is a short post, but we have had very little free time. I hope to provide more info before we leave Phnom Penh, for now, know that I love and miss you all (even those of you whom I’ve never met, I know you’re out there)

Today I ate an ice cream sandwich. Unlike the weak excuse for an ice cream sandwich you may be picturing, (two brown, paste-like sheets with ice cream in between) this, my friends, is the real thing. Seriously, it is like an ice cream sub. Imagine, if you will, a baguette, much like you would see at subway. That’s right, real bread, with a scoop of ice cream in it. It sounds weird and slightly disgusting. But believe me, it was yummy. I suggest you try it at home (although the bread needs to be kind of sweet). Another thing I suggest: fried breaded bananas. Cut a banana in half length-wise. Wrap it in plastic wrap, then use a rolling pin to roll it flat, about1/4 inch thick. Then, coat it in pancake batter and fry (remove the plastic wrap first:). These are fantastic and I am slightly addicted to them.
Yes, Cambodia is full of culinary marvels. I learned of the ice cream sandwiches today at a volleyball game. My students won, 3-2. I was extremely proud of them. It was a very close game. They handily won the first round, but when they switched sides in the second round, the sun was in their faces. So basically, whoever was not facing the sun won each round. By the final round, they had them switch sides halfway through so it was fair to everyone. My school is now eligible to compete in a national tournament in Battambang at the end of March. It will be stellar.
Also, it is hot. Yes, I know you are shocked. But really, I’m worried about April. The heat makes me excessively lazy. Perhaps I will build up incredible heat tolerance. One can only hope. I am concerned that I will return to the US with the cold weather tolerance of a Texan (friends from Texas, you know that while I tolerate your state, I really love you). And then all my Texan friends will make fun of me. I guess I have it coming.
Speaking of cold weather tolerance, I finally managed to get a Khmer person to understand why we don’t eat rice as much in the states, it was a miracle. They assume that since we don’t eat, we must not like it. Whenever I meet, new people, they always ask if I can eat rice. And they are very surprised when I say yes. Over the course of about three conversations, I managed to get my friend to understand that most states are too cold or too dry to grow rice, ergo, we don’t produce nearly as much of it. Understand that most Khmer people eat rice 3x a day, 7 days a week. I didn’t know that there was so much rice in the entire world. Well, I explained to my friend, when it gets cold, water freezes. Since rice plants live in water, they would be frozen in the ice, thus they would die. This was an earth-shattering piece of information, let me just tell you.
Other things they can’t believe: people choose to live on their own, when a couple gets married, they don’t live with bride’s family, weddings are only one day, there are poor people in America, that girls and boys stay in the same dorm, supermarkets aren’t wooden market stalls, we have traffic laws, we work forty hours a week, this list could go on forever. I miss all of you, see you in 19 months!

If marriages are subject to the proverbial ‘seven year itch’, then Peace Corps volunteers could be said to experience the ‘six month blues’. The honeymoon is over. What started out as an exciting overseas adventure has settled into the dull routine of everyday life. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We aren’t here to be adventurers. We are here to serve the people of Cambodia by living the way they live. That is a very noble thing to say, but the reality isn’t always that simple. A few other factors happen around the six month mark as well. One is that we have been here long enough to grasp the full extent of many of the problems facing this nation. One is that the people here do not seem to believe self sufficiency. The culture has operated on the patronage system for a long time, and they simply believe the only way to better their lives is through foreign donations. Some people would say that Khmer people don’t work hard. In a sense, yes, this is true. A teacher decided to have his engagement party during the week, so one day we simply didn’t have class because all the teachers were drunk. This is perfectly acceptable. Also, because of the heat, all real work tends to cease around lunch. And people don’t work if it rains. Or if it’s very cold (like 60 degrees, brrr). Now there are many people who work hard, but it is because they have to. And these people are usually poor.
You can really forget about getting things done after 11. (Although 10:30 is great because people will do whatever you want so you will stop bothering them and they can go eat) I think the problem is that they don’t see hard work rewarded. People who work hard have to because they are poor. People here who have money didn’t work for it (generally). They are either politicians or have family in America. This, in the Khmer way of thinking is how one becomes rich: have the right connections. I believe that will begin to change in the coming years, as there are many young people who understand that dependence is not going to help them or the country in the future. But for now, it is discouraging when people just want you to teach English to (or marry) their children.
But at six months, you feel like you aren’t making a difference, you just see the problems. This is compounded with another six month problem: relationships. In training, there were a lot of things we overlooked because we were only going to be living there for two months. But now, we have to make more clear decisions about what we can and can’t deal with concerning other people. We know have to deal with real relationships with real people just like we would in the states. As just like anywhere else, dealing with people (even those you generally like) can really suck sometimes. This deals with the third six month issue: culture. Basically, anything considered impolite in America, a Khmer person will say within the first five minutes of meeting you. ex. “How much do you make? How much do your parents make? Will you send me money when you go back to America? Why are you so fat? Don’t you want to be thin? How much do you weigh? I love you, do you love me? Will you teach my children for free?” Also, it is perfectly acceptable to talk about how much anyone makes. Everyone will tell you how poor they are (even if they have two cars and two motos). The sob stories begin to get on your nerves. The fact that women will just walk up to you and start petting you gets on your nerves. Mothers telling their small children to stare at the white person (literally) will get on your nerves. People messing with your bike gets on your nerves. Being a circus attraction gets on your nerves. Having a host mother who thinks she is the center of the universe gets on your nerves. People treating you like you are some fragile doll that will break if exposed to anything strenuous gets on your nerves.
Having said that; it is worth it. In general, I’m happy. And for as exasperating as people they can be, they really are the most generous people ever. The bike guy fixes my bike for free. People always want me to come to their houses just so they can feed me. The fried banana dude at school always gives me an extra banana, the other day I paid for two oranges and they gave me four. People are genuinely good hearted, it just looks a lot different than what I’m used to. There are some things that I hope I never get used to, like selling your daughter to the highest bidder so you don’t have to pay for school. So to those of you who talk to me on a regular basis: if you think I’m upset when you call, it’s not you, I’m just upset. But don’t worry; the good times outnumber the bad. My students are becoming more creative, which makes me super happy.

To any prospective K3s, this will be an awesome adventure. But the adventure will end, and you will be left with a life that is full of the same frustrations and disappointments that you had in the states. And that is a good thing. Because the most important part of this experience is realizing that other people are basically just like us. They get up in the morning, eat, do their thing, take care of their kids, and buy their groceries. People here love their children, get frustrated by traffic, put off homework, lament the loss of a sock, just like anyone else. That isn’t something you can really understand until you’ve lived here. But the simple things somehow add up to make it worth it. A friend and I were complaining to each other, and we agreed that as much as we do complain, we wouldn’t want to leave.

I’m also extremely excited about the upcoming soccer tournament my students are about to compete in. They will compete against three other teams. But the team from the provincial town has a lot more people, so we’ll see how it goes. I also have at least four weddings to go to this month, and two conferences in Phnom Penh. It will be pretty stellar.

Love to all