There's no such thing as a full pick-up.

Happy New Year everyone! While Cambodians don't really do anything for universal new year, never fear, for Chinese New Year is on the way, bringing with lots of firecrackers and all the fried noodles you can eat. And yes, no school. Well, it has started. We have put in enough school time, so the rest of the year will be looking for excuses to not have school. And we don't have to look too far. January 7 was victory day. It marks the official defeat of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. It's a one day holiday, on a Thursday. But Thursday is just one day. Obviously we have far too much partying to do to just take off Thursday. So how do you turn a one day holiday into a week off from school? Well that's the kind of thing they turn into an art here. The first step was to have a follow-up party on Friday. They don't even bother to call it a victory party. They call it a drinking party. You have snow days? We have Jonnie Walker days. One day down. And then, you move the Victory Day Ceremony to Tuesday, so you don't have to teach on Tuesday, and still get Thursday off. Two days down. Just to clarify: a week of no class only means less work for the teachers, as the students still have to attend the ceremony on Tuesday AND spend Monday cleaning the school and setting up for the ceremony. There are no janitors/maintainence people here. Each grade spends a certain number of hours a week doing labor instead of attending class. Soooo now we have almost the whole week off! Because my school is better than most at actually having class, we put in full day on Wednesday just for good measure. Yes friends, a school is dedicated to education when they choose to only take four days off to celebrate a one day holiday instead of five. And I'm not being sarcastic. But on that note: I love grade 11A! (Here each grade is divided into levels, 11A, 11B, 11C, etc. and those students have one classroom and stay there all day. The teachers rotate from classroom to classroom)I showed up for afternoon class on the ceremony day because... it's my job. I got there right as 11A was getting ready to go home because most teachers didn't show up(if a class decides they want to go home, they just all leave. And no one cares). They hurriedly run back into the room when they see me. So I chat with them for a minute and learn that because the speaker talked for so long in the morning, most of them didn't get lunch (it is now 2pm). It is incredibly hot and they all look kind of pitiful. So give them the option of going home (I'm a little worried they'll pass out from hunger and heat, because I sure would have. But they say no. They want to study. They pull out their notebooks. They are serious. I was so proud of them! I just played a review game, but despite their previous lethargy they really got into it and enjoyed themselves. While it is frustrating to have school treated as such a joke, it's moments like that which make it worth it.

There are some things that will never cease to amaze me no matter how long I live here. One of those is pick up trucks. So Wednesday, around 5pm, I learn that I have a dentist appointment the next day in Phnom Penh at 11:30. I tell them this is incredibly optimistic, considering the distance and road conditions from my site to the capitol. Whatever. So the next was Thursday, the aforementioned Victory Day. There were no taxis. Only pick ups. To give you some idea of size of these trucks, the Cambodian word for pick up is 'nissan'. How many people do you think could be carried by a Nissan pick up? First off, let me tell you that there were 9 people in the cab of the truck, 6 adults and 3 children. So we leave town at a reasonable hour. That is to say the truck moves about 500 feet. And we pick up people and things. And then the truck moves about a mile. And then it picks up more people and things. This continues for about 40 miles. How long did it take to cover 40 miles? 2 hours. From my site to Phnom Penh is about 140 nmiles. The trip took over 5 hours. Why? Because we don't just take people, but the things they bring to Phnom Penh to sell. Most people have at least two fifty lbs feedsacks filled with stuff. One woman had 8. Because these people don't live in towns, they just wait along the road for a truck to come by. So we a person and stop. And then the person and the driver bargain for the price of passage. And then they have to load all the things. So the all the people in the back of the truck have to get out. And once all the things are loaded everyone has to climb back in and arrange themselves. Also, snacks must be purchased every time the truck stops. Every. Time. And then we have to stop for brunch. And then we stop for the bathroom. Do we stop at the place that has bathrooms? Nope. We stop about a hundred feet before that and pee in the bushes. I should mention the drivers are always men, and they don't really take into account the fact that their female passengers can't just drop their fly on the side of the road. We finally arrive in Phnom Penh. I have missed my dentist appointment and have just enough time to get my swine flu vaccine (with complementary juice box!)and hop on a bus to the provincial town. Thankfully the bus only takes about 3 1/2 hours. So I'm spending the morning in the provincial town, getting some supplies for my girls club meeting tomorrow, and also avoiding the drinking party at site.

Saving the best news for last: When I arrived in the provincial town, boxes from Mom, Maw-Maw, Nanny Joni, and Jeanna Rutter were waiting for me. Thank you all!!!!!!!!!! So much food! A sampling of my loot: Life 2000-2009, a french press, tons of coffee, flavor blasted goldfish, gushers, candy canes, books, magazines, tea, little debbies, pajama pants, chocolate covered coffee beans, pop rocks, mint oreos, beef jerky, dark chocolate, hot cocoa, chritmas stockings, a light up snowman, a wind up santa, tony's seasoning, make up(perfect for wedding season!) a puppy calendar,and a snoopy notebook. Seriously I had to hire a motorized cart to get it all from the provincial volunteer's house. But wait, there's more! I recieved lovely Christmas cards and letters from Ruth Ann Holder (LOVE the barking dogs), Pam Chinn, Rose Ann Johnson, Lois McQuitty, Anne Keeks (sorry if I misspelled it), Marilyn Hartung, Marilyn Schoonover, Vic Comstock and family, Dennis and Sharon Smith, Shirley Grant, Jeanna Rutter, Maw-Maw, Nanny Joni, and Nanny Jan and Troy. A huge thank you to everyone. I know that many of you don't know me very well and some of you haven't seen me in a long time, but it really means a lot to me to know despite this you are praying for me and supporting me. While the people in my life know are wonderful and supportive, it's good to know that people back home are still thinking of me. So thank you everyone!!!!!