It’s actually cold here! Well, cold for Cambodia. The maybe two months where it is cool in Cambodia are beginning. It’s great to not be hot all the time and I actually may need to sleep with a blanket soon. Cambodian people are starting to wear jackets and complain about the cold. I’m still fine with just a shirt though.
I’m getting pretty comfortable here and life here is almost routine. At least one thing surprises me every day, but I’m starting to sort of know what’s going on. So, I can give you an overview of my schedule. In future posts, I will go into more detail about the work I’m doing, but here are the basics.
On weekday mornings I teach at the school. This usually consists of co-teaching 10th grade with a Cambodian counterpart in order to help them become better teachers. It’s a subtle, slow process. Monday is my long day. I go to the health center in the morning and then teach in the afternoon. Once my Khmer gets better, I’ll hopefully start doing some projects out of the health center. Right now, I just try to speak to people and figure out what’s going on and make connections.
I usually teach from about 7-11 and then go to the market to eat lunch with my host-family. My host family owns a pharmacy/money exchange/general store type place, so they eat lunch while they work. It’s typical for a Khmer family to do household things and run a store at the same time. As a result, stores do not offer American style service. Yesterday, I went to buy a pen and had to almost yell to have a woman come from doing her laundry so I could pay her the 12 cents for the pen.
Anyway, I usually eat with my family and then go back to school. I’m lucky that my house, the market and the school are all about a five-minute walk apart. From 1:00-2:00 I am in the English Library that was built with the help of the Peace Corps Volunteer who was at my site before me. Some days I receive Khmer lessons there and some days I offer an extra English class. It’s nice to be able to teach by myself and without the awful English for Cambodia book. The focus of the class is speaking. Typically 15-20 students show up, but I’ve only had a few classes so far.
Private classes are a big deal in Cambodia. My class is free, but many Khmer teachers offer private classes to supplement their incomes. Sometimes these classes are honest. Many of the teachers I work with charge a little, but offer the class for free to students who cannot afford it. Unfortunately, many students have to work to help their family, so just do not have the time. Some teachers, however, do not teach all the material so wealthy students have to pay for their private classes.
After my time at the library, I usually go back to my house to read and do a few odd-jobs around the house. Around 3:30 or 4:00, I go for a walk around the community. It is a good chance to get some exercise and practice my Khmer. Maybe once a week, I’ll bike to the local university to use the internet or run errands in the provincial town where the post office and the bank are. I come home around 5:30. Then, I read, shower and have dinner with my family. I spend a lot of time in my room at night because my family usually likes to watch lots of Thai soap opera DVDs dubbed over in Khmer. I can only watch so much.
I certainly have a lot of time to read each day, but I still wish I had more. There is so much to read. In addition to reading for fun, I spend a lot of time reviewing my Khmer language notes. I also try to read a little from the plethora of materials Peace Corps gave us about Khmer culture, teaching strategies and health. I also read news from my flash drive when I have electricity and I try to write a little about my experience and random things.
On weekends, I have a little more free time. I usually spend one half-day going to the provincial town or the university to use the internet. I spend the other time relaxing or talking to people in my community. Some weekends, I also take short trips. For example, this past weekend, a few volunteers and I went to Bavet, a town right before the Vietnamese border, which has lots of casinos and some western food. If you leave your passport at the police station, you can cross over to an international market in between Cambodia and Vietnam. It was fun to eat some good food and see a new place with more of a Vietnamese influence.
A few other miscellaneous things:
Interesting food: bon chio. It’s basically fluffy omelet filled with bean sprouts, meat and some other random stuff. It’s served with a spicy peanut sauce. Once the sauce is on it, it has the consistency of a watery omelet/pancake. Delicious.
Cross-cultural moment: At one Cambodian university, if you fail your year 1 medical school final exams, you cannot go onto year 2. You either have to reapply for year 1 or transfer to nursing school. Fail means get an F and, unlike America, you can get an E and it’s a passing grade. Students that failed were protesting because thought it was unfair for them to reapply with other students for year 1. The school and government argued that the practice was fair and that the country did not want unqualified doctors.
I was talking about it with one of my co-teachers. I had no problem with the policy, but his perspective was that students in Cambodia work very hard on things besides school, such as another job. So, the students should be allowed to go onto year 2 even if they don’t pass. It’s clear to me that he viewed the policy through a different lens than I did.
Also, I have some exciting projects coming up next month. I’m going to help some Cambodian teachers offer a class to university students about job interviews and CV and cover letter writing. We will offer the class again at my high school too. I’m also going to speak about saving money in America with a group of Cambodians who are learning about saving through an Ox-Fam program.
Lastly, to answer Watson’s question, I did see a Taylor Swift music video in a Khmer restaurant a few weeks ago.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
I finally got a few photos up. I have not taken too many photos at my site because I don’t want to make the impression of being a camera-wielding tourist. Once I get a little more settled, I will take a lot of photos.
Me giving my speech at the opening of school:
Students lining up to watch the opening of school:
The side of the market in my town:
The front of the market:
A nice view of the rice paddies at sunset:
Moon Festival:
Traditioinal Khmer Musician:
My friend doing traditional Khmer song and dance:
Preparing to aw amboke:
Me giving my speech at the opening of school:
 |
| From svay chrum lockdown |
Students lining up to watch the opening of school:
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| From svay chrum lockdown |
The side of the market in my town:
 |
| From svay chrum lockdown |
The front of the market:
 |
| From svay chrum lockdown |
A nice view of the rice paddies at sunset:
 |
| From svay chrum lockdown |
Moon Festival:
Traditioinal Khmer Musician:
 |
| From svay chrum lockdown |
My friend doing traditional Khmer song and dance:
 |
| From svay chrum lockdown |
Preparing to aw amboke:
 |
| From svay chrum lockdown |
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Holidays
As my last post may have hinted, cross-cultural interactions have their fair share of frustrations. I am working hard to understand Cambodia so that I can do good work here and, I must admit, it’s a slow process. While all cultures are complex, I have found that Cambodian culture to be particularly enigmatic and filled with contradictions. For example, Cambodian people are extremely friendly and kind, but, historically, they have a propensity towards violence (particularly the Khmer Rouge period). This can be seen when their eyes light up when violence comes on TV (and by TV, I mean dubbed Thai soap opera DVDs that make the WWF look authentic). Other complexities include: Buddhism, Eastern communal culture (including indirectness and saving face), post-communism, what many consider to be an authoritarian government and poverty, among others.
Learning about Cambodian culture is a continual process. I try to include explanations throughout my blog for why things are how they are. If you want me to elaborate on the cultural background of something please let me know. This is helpful because part of my mission as a Peace Corps Volunteer is to share Cambodia with Americans. It is also possible that I have not considered your question and it will help me understand Cambodian culture better. I also want this blog to be entertaining so you continue to read it, so if culture interests you, I want to write about it.
So, onto the past two weeks.
Cambodia is believed to have the most holidays in the world. The past two weeks included the King’s birthday, the Water Festival and the Moon Festival. As a result, I had off from school on Thursday, then school Friday and Saturday (but Peace Corps Volunteers don’t teach on Saturdays), then no school until the following Thursday. And, this Monday we have off for Cambodian Independence Day (Though I will use the day to help one of my co-teachers train other young teachers).
On the King’s Birthday, I relaxed and spent time with my host-family and talked to various people at the market. In the afternoon, I went to a few gatherings with my host-brother. First, we went to a dinner the school director was hosting. Basically, people show up, eat and give money that goes to a poor pagoda. Then, my host-brother had to stop at another pagoda to drop off more money. There are a lot of donations to pagodas because so many were destroyed in Khmer Rouge times. Of course, in typical Cambodia spur-of-the-moment fashion, he told me that his brothers/cousins (there is little distinction in Cambodia) were having a dinner party and wanted me to come. So, even though I had already eaten and was not informed prior, I had to go. They all really wanted me to drink a lot, and it was hard to explain to them that I had to teach the next day, so I did not want to. I never realized how exposed one is when they stand in front of a class every day. I feel like if I am the slightest bit tired, or have a small cold, the students all notice.
After my classes were finished on Friday, I went to Pray Vang Town to meet up with the other volunteers from Svay Rieng and Pray Vang Provinces. It was a lot of fun. Pray Vang Town is beautiful and the hotel we stayed at had two movie channels (yes, that is a big deal for me now). It was great to catch up with other volunteers and we had a little Halloween party too at another development worker’s house.
I returned to my district on Monday because I wanted to see how the other festivals were celebrated in my village. Other than watching the boat races that were going on in Phnom Penh on TV, the Water Festival was uneventful. Next year, I will go into Phnom Penh and see it for myself.
I did get to experience the Moon Festival though. The teacher I worked with on the health projects invited me to celebrate it in his commune. Not everyone celebrates the festival every year, but when I told Khmer people that I was going to, they were very happy for me. I still do not completely understand the festival, but it involves predicting the following year in terms of harvests and rain. I intend to read more about it, but it was difficult for me to get an explanation because of the language barrier and so many monks were killed during Khmer Rouge regime, so the background of many religious customs is not widely known.
The festival was a lot of fun. There was praying, then singing, dancing and some skits. I had trouble understanding the skit though. My language skills right now are at the point where I’m decent and speaking with people because I can figure out the context, but I cannot follow other people’s fast-paced conversations and presentations. After the skit, there was more praying, some candle-lighting and then the aw amboke which means “finish the amboke.” Amboke was described to me as “plated rice,” but it reminds me of oatmeal before water is added. You eat it with bananas and it’s delicious. The bananas are soft, so they provide moisture.
I know amboke doesn’t sound that appetizing, but keep in mind I have not had western food in about six weeks. My food standards are definitely lowering and my tolerance for stinky fish is going up (I still don’t think I can handle prohap though). The volunteers who have been here for a year say they don’t even know what’s good anymore. Don’t get me wrong, Khmer food is usually delicious, but my palate is altering subtly.
That’s all about the holidays for now. Knowing Cambodia, there will be another bunch soon enough.
Learning about Cambodian culture is a continual process. I try to include explanations throughout my blog for why things are how they are. If you want me to elaborate on the cultural background of something please let me know. This is helpful because part of my mission as a Peace Corps Volunteer is to share Cambodia with Americans. It is also possible that I have not considered your question and it will help me understand Cambodian culture better. I also want this blog to be entertaining so you continue to read it, so if culture interests you, I want to write about it.
So, onto the past two weeks.
Cambodia is believed to have the most holidays in the world. The past two weeks included the King’s birthday, the Water Festival and the Moon Festival. As a result, I had off from school on Thursday, then school Friday and Saturday (but Peace Corps Volunteers don’t teach on Saturdays), then no school until the following Thursday. And, this Monday we have off for Cambodian Independence Day (Though I will use the day to help one of my co-teachers train other young teachers).
On the King’s Birthday, I relaxed and spent time with my host-family and talked to various people at the market. In the afternoon, I went to a few gatherings with my host-brother. First, we went to a dinner the school director was hosting. Basically, people show up, eat and give money that goes to a poor pagoda. Then, my host-brother had to stop at another pagoda to drop off more money. There are a lot of donations to pagodas because so many were destroyed in Khmer Rouge times. Of course, in typical Cambodia spur-of-the-moment fashion, he told me that his brothers/cousins (there is little distinction in Cambodia) were having a dinner party and wanted me to come. So, even though I had already eaten and was not informed prior, I had to go. They all really wanted me to drink a lot, and it was hard to explain to them that I had to teach the next day, so I did not want to. I never realized how exposed one is when they stand in front of a class every day. I feel like if I am the slightest bit tired, or have a small cold, the students all notice.
After my classes were finished on Friday, I went to Pray Vang Town to meet up with the other volunteers from Svay Rieng and Pray Vang Provinces. It was a lot of fun. Pray Vang Town is beautiful and the hotel we stayed at had two movie channels (yes, that is a big deal for me now). It was great to catch up with other volunteers and we had a little Halloween party too at another development worker’s house.
I returned to my district on Monday because I wanted to see how the other festivals were celebrated in my village. Other than watching the boat races that were going on in Phnom Penh on TV, the Water Festival was uneventful. Next year, I will go into Phnom Penh and see it for myself.
I did get to experience the Moon Festival though. The teacher I worked with on the health projects invited me to celebrate it in his commune. Not everyone celebrates the festival every year, but when I told Khmer people that I was going to, they were very happy for me. I still do not completely understand the festival, but it involves predicting the following year in terms of harvests and rain. I intend to read more about it, but it was difficult for me to get an explanation because of the language barrier and so many monks were killed during Khmer Rouge regime, so the background of many religious customs is not widely known.
The festival was a lot of fun. There was praying, then singing, dancing and some skits. I had trouble understanding the skit though. My language skills right now are at the point where I’m decent and speaking with people because I can figure out the context, but I cannot follow other people’s fast-paced conversations and presentations. After the skit, there was more praying, some candle-lighting and then the aw amboke which means “finish the amboke.” Amboke was described to me as “plated rice,” but it reminds me of oatmeal before water is added. You eat it with bananas and it’s delicious. The bananas are soft, so they provide moisture.
I know amboke doesn’t sound that appetizing, but keep in mind I have not had western food in about six weeks. My food standards are definitely lowering and my tolerance for stinky fish is going up (I still don’t think I can handle prohap though). The volunteers who have been here for a year say they don’t even know what’s good anymore. Don’t get me wrong, Khmer food is usually delicious, but my palate is altering subtly.
That’s all about the holidays for now. Knowing Cambodia, there will be another bunch soon enough.
Friday, October 23, 2009
First month at site
Everything is going pretty well. I am still adjusting to my new home and to working exclusively with Cambodians. Working across cultures presents a unique set of challenges.
One challenge is teaching. I started co-teaching with other English teachers. Each class has about 40 students with varying English skills; in every class, there is at least one student who speaks extremely well and usually about five students who cannot speak a word. In addition, many students do not have books and the book is not very good, but we are supposed to use it. There are ways to work around these challenges, but they require a lot of lesson planning that my co-teachers do not really want to do mainly because of them being too busy and “too busy.” They seem to have plenty of time to invite me to parties though.
It’s very early in my commitment though, so maybe things will change. A teacher that worked with the volunteer who was here before me is very committed to lesson planning and finding creative ways to teach. He does not teach grade 10, so we have not been teaching together. We have been working together on health projects though. We had a meeting for class monitors about swine flu, the flu and the common cold. The monitors will teach what they learned to their respective classes. A lot of what we taught was basic stuff and made me more aware of how undeveloped the health infrastructure here is. For example, students know little about the difference between a common cold and the flu.
This teacher also helps to organize an alcohol campaign on the commune level. They try to make villagers aware of the health dangers of alcohol. Many Khmer people do not know that alcohol can be dangerous and bad for your health. Some people think it makes you strong and helps cure diseases. The campaign is also trying to make it illegal to drink at pagodas and to buy alcohol when you are under the age of 13 (If there was a Cambodian prom, I imagine they would have a different set of problems compared to ours). The campaign also had a march around town and I gave a small speech. There were about 70 people there. My co-teacher will be writing a grant for this campaign to do more activities and I will help him.
An interesting thing about working with Cambodian people is their sense of time. Many of them do not plan ahead. They frequently call me and ask me to do something at that very moment. “Where are you? Come to this gathering now.” Or, I will see them when I am walking and they will invite me to have dinner with them in a half hour. Compared to planning oriented America, this can be difficult at times, especially if I already have plans. They believe I can drop all my plans to do whatever they have asked me. They also do not know how long things will take. I was not feeling well at the alcohol campaign and my friend told me it would end at 9am (it started at 7:30). It did not end until 11.
So how is my standard of living? I have no running water and pour a bucket of water on myself to shower. I do have a washing machine, so I don’t have to wash my clothes by hand. The washing machine is actually a very big deal. Hand-washing clothes can take hours, so I am lucky. We only have electricity for about four hours every day, so I get to use my computer at that time if I want to watch a dvd or something. When I do get the internet, I usually put a bunch of news articles in a word document on my flash drive so I can read them when I am home (so feel free to email me interesting articles). When I have electricity, I have a fan, which cools off my room. But usually, my room is very hot. I generally fall asleep sweating once the electricity goes off.
I’ve been eating pretty well. I have rice with every meal and my family usually provides me with two meals a day, if I do not go eat with a community member who will typically invite me at the last minute.
The interesting food I have eaten this week in baw baw. It reminds me of grits. It’s like rice, water and oil with vegetables and meat in it. You can make it spicy if you want. It’s delicious.
I found good internet, but the connection is not that great today. I was not able to upload new pictures, but here is what a Cambodian barbershop looks like from training:
The haircuts cost about 50 cents and are amazing. Here is their diverse set of tools:
One challenge is teaching. I started co-teaching with other English teachers. Each class has about 40 students with varying English skills; in every class, there is at least one student who speaks extremely well and usually about five students who cannot speak a word. In addition, many students do not have books and the book is not very good, but we are supposed to use it. There are ways to work around these challenges, but they require a lot of lesson planning that my co-teachers do not really want to do mainly because of them being too busy and “too busy.” They seem to have plenty of time to invite me to parties though.
It’s very early in my commitment though, so maybe things will change. A teacher that worked with the volunteer who was here before me is very committed to lesson planning and finding creative ways to teach. He does not teach grade 10, so we have not been teaching together. We have been working together on health projects though. We had a meeting for class monitors about swine flu, the flu and the common cold. The monitors will teach what they learned to their respective classes. A lot of what we taught was basic stuff and made me more aware of how undeveloped the health infrastructure here is. For example, students know little about the difference between a common cold and the flu.
This teacher also helps to organize an alcohol campaign on the commune level. They try to make villagers aware of the health dangers of alcohol. Many Khmer people do not know that alcohol can be dangerous and bad for your health. Some people think it makes you strong and helps cure diseases. The campaign is also trying to make it illegal to drink at pagodas and to buy alcohol when you are under the age of 13 (If there was a Cambodian prom, I imagine they would have a different set of problems compared to ours). The campaign also had a march around town and I gave a small speech. There were about 70 people there. My co-teacher will be writing a grant for this campaign to do more activities and I will help him.
An interesting thing about working with Cambodian people is their sense of time. Many of them do not plan ahead. They frequently call me and ask me to do something at that very moment. “Where are you? Come to this gathering now.” Or, I will see them when I am walking and they will invite me to have dinner with them in a half hour. Compared to planning oriented America, this can be difficult at times, especially if I already have plans. They believe I can drop all my plans to do whatever they have asked me. They also do not know how long things will take. I was not feeling well at the alcohol campaign and my friend told me it would end at 9am (it started at 7:30). It did not end until 11.
So how is my standard of living? I have no running water and pour a bucket of water on myself to shower. I do have a washing machine, so I don’t have to wash my clothes by hand. The washing machine is actually a very big deal. Hand-washing clothes can take hours, so I am lucky. We only have electricity for about four hours every day, so I get to use my computer at that time if I want to watch a dvd or something. When I do get the internet, I usually put a bunch of news articles in a word document on my flash drive so I can read them when I am home (so feel free to email me interesting articles). When I have electricity, I have a fan, which cools off my room. But usually, my room is very hot. I generally fall asleep sweating once the electricity goes off.
I’ve been eating pretty well. I have rice with every meal and my family usually provides me with two meals a day, if I do not go eat with a community member who will typically invite me at the last minute.
The interesting food I have eaten this week in baw baw. It reminds me of grits. It’s like rice, water and oil with vegetables and meat in it. You can make it spicy if you want. It’s delicious.
I found good internet, but the connection is not that great today. I was not able to upload new pictures, but here is what a Cambodian barbershop looks like from training:
 |
| From PC Training |
The haircuts cost about 50 cents and are amazing. Here is their diverse set of tools:
 |
| From PC Training |
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Everything has been pretty good since I’ve departed from site. I’ve been here for two weeks now.
The day I arrived, I took a taxi from Phnom Penh with four other people from my province and got off at the market shop where my family works. I wasn’t expecting to be nervous, considering I had been to my site already and knew my family, but there was definitely a shock of “wow, this is real:” the only American in a foreign, developing country. It’s funny that that is the experience I’ve wanted for a while, yet it’s weird when it finally comes. My friends in the taxi were feeling it too. As a result, I basically forgot most of my Khmer for my first afternoon at site.
The next day, I went to school and met with the school director and started to meet some of my fellow teachers. I also worked with Sopheap, one of my co-teachers and my Khmer tutor, on the speech I would have to give on Thursday for the school-opening ceremony. Oh, and the speech would be in Khmer in front of about 1500 people. No big deal.
Skipping to Thursday, the ceremony was pretty cool. The school director and district governor talked about the importance of education and gave me praise for helping. My speech was nothing glorious. I had to laugh in the middle of it because I would make mistakes and the students would giggle. The speech consisted of me thanking all the important people there, introducing myself, saying what I will be doing, apologizing for being bad at Khmer but saying that I will learn, then thanking all the important people again. Respect is very important in Cambodian culture.
Everyone thought I did a good job considering I’ve only been speaking Khmer for two months and everyone was happy to have a foreigner at their school trying to learn their language. Cambodia is basically the opposite of America with respect to xenophobia. If someone who could barely speak English gave the speech I gave in America, they would be ridiculed (or in all likelihood not asked to give a speech at all). In Cambodia, I was great.
I’ve been taking advantage of the fact that Cambodians like foreigners so much. I’ve been walking around my village, meeting people. They are always happy to talk to me. It’s also a great way to get some exercise (which Cambodians think is hilarious) learn about my community and practice Khmer. A frequent conversation topic is if I am married and why I will not get married while I am in Cambodia.
In the days leading up to the school opening ceremony, I spent my mornings at the health center. I got really lucky because the second day I was there the village health volunteers had a meeting and I joined them and now I can go to their meetings. The village health volunteers are an important resource for me. They are the people in the community that are turned to with questions about health. They also do outreach activities, like encouraging parents to take their new-born children to the doctor frequently. Some of their projects are supported by NGOs. Many of the village health volunteers are very nice; I had lunch at one of their houses over the weekend. I hope I can contribute to their activities and they can help me with future projects.
I also started classes this week. I will be teaching grade 10 and working with three teachers. This past week and next week, I’ve been observing classes to see how I will be able to help the teachers improve, learn from them and reach the students. When I get settled into teaching, I will go into more details about what the Cambodian education system is like.
Interesting food of the week: Prohap. It’s basically stinky fish goo. I’ve had maybe one bite. My family eats it every single day and it’s disgusting. They think it’s funny that I don’t like it. A funny thing about the Cambodian language is instead of saying I don’t like prohap, what my family says to me translates into English as I don’t know how to eat it. I would also like to remind everyone that I eat rice with every single meal, totaling 5-7 bowls a day. I’ve loved the western food people have sent me, but if someone could mail me ice cream and a pizza that would be great.
That’s all for now. Next time I post (hopefully within the next week), I will probably describe a typical day and go into more detail about how rugged I really have it. The fact that my family has a washing machine is a big deal. I also may have a good internet situation, but I'm still figuring it out.
The day I arrived, I took a taxi from Phnom Penh with four other people from my province and got off at the market shop where my family works. I wasn’t expecting to be nervous, considering I had been to my site already and knew my family, but there was definitely a shock of “wow, this is real:” the only American in a foreign, developing country. It’s funny that that is the experience I’ve wanted for a while, yet it’s weird when it finally comes. My friends in the taxi were feeling it too. As a result, I basically forgot most of my Khmer for my first afternoon at site.
The next day, I went to school and met with the school director and started to meet some of my fellow teachers. I also worked with Sopheap, one of my co-teachers and my Khmer tutor, on the speech I would have to give on Thursday for the school-opening ceremony. Oh, and the speech would be in Khmer in front of about 1500 people. No big deal.
Skipping to Thursday, the ceremony was pretty cool. The school director and district governor talked about the importance of education and gave me praise for helping. My speech was nothing glorious. I had to laugh in the middle of it because I would make mistakes and the students would giggle. The speech consisted of me thanking all the important people there, introducing myself, saying what I will be doing, apologizing for being bad at Khmer but saying that I will learn, then thanking all the important people again. Respect is very important in Cambodian culture.
Everyone thought I did a good job considering I’ve only been speaking Khmer for two months and everyone was happy to have a foreigner at their school trying to learn their language. Cambodia is basically the opposite of America with respect to xenophobia. If someone who could barely speak English gave the speech I gave in America, they would be ridiculed (or in all likelihood not asked to give a speech at all). In Cambodia, I was great.
I’ve been taking advantage of the fact that Cambodians like foreigners so much. I’ve been walking around my village, meeting people. They are always happy to talk to me. It’s also a great way to get some exercise (which Cambodians think is hilarious) learn about my community and practice Khmer. A frequent conversation topic is if I am married and why I will not get married while I am in Cambodia.
In the days leading up to the school opening ceremony, I spent my mornings at the health center. I got really lucky because the second day I was there the village health volunteers had a meeting and I joined them and now I can go to their meetings. The village health volunteers are an important resource for me. They are the people in the community that are turned to with questions about health. They also do outreach activities, like encouraging parents to take their new-born children to the doctor frequently. Some of their projects are supported by NGOs. Many of the village health volunteers are very nice; I had lunch at one of their houses over the weekend. I hope I can contribute to their activities and they can help me with future projects.
I also started classes this week. I will be teaching grade 10 and working with three teachers. This past week and next week, I’ve been observing classes to see how I will be able to help the teachers improve, learn from them and reach the students. When I get settled into teaching, I will go into more details about what the Cambodian education system is like.
Interesting food of the week: Prohap. It’s basically stinky fish goo. I’ve had maybe one bite. My family eats it every single day and it’s disgusting. They think it’s funny that I don’t like it. A funny thing about the Cambodian language is instead of saying I don’t like prohap, what my family says to me translates into English as I don’t know how to eat it. I would also like to remind everyone that I eat rice with every single meal, totaling 5-7 bowls a day. I’ve loved the western food people have sent me, but if someone could mail me ice cream and a pizza that would be great.
That’s all for now. Next time I post (hopefully within the next week), I will probably describe a typical day and go into more detail about how rugged I really have it. The fact that my family has a washing machine is a big deal. I also may have a good internet situation, but I'm still figuring it out.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
About to head to site. . .
*One thing I forgot to mention in my last post is that I will also have visual aids for teaching health that have pictures and Khmer writing. They will also help me communicate.
Pictures. For the first time since arriving in Cambodia, there will be pictures in my blog. I will mix them in with the text, and at the end I will provide additional pictures. This post is a little disorganized since my computer/the internet has frozen so many times while putting these pictures in place. I finally figured out how to do it in spite of the slow internet, so future posts will be better. Please note that since I wash my clothes by hand and do not want to appear rich to my Cambodian friends, I wear a lot of the same clothes.
If you want to see all 379 pictures I took during training (probably so you can find the perfect pictures of me for your screen saver), you can follow this link:
So, I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer instead of a Peace Corps Trainee. Tomorrow, I will go to my site. It was sad saying goodbye to my the friends I have made here, but we will have much to share through text messaging and when we get together again.
For the next three months, we are on what we call "lock-down;" we cannot leave our province. The reason Peace Corps has this policy is so we will make a good impression on our community and make it clear that we are living there. So, I will spend a lot of time at my site and with the volunteers in my province (of course, I will spend a lot of time at my site after lock-down too).
Training wrapped up nicely. We returned from our health trip and I gave a presentation to about 40 Khmer students on hand-washing. It was a little awkward since it was my first time presenting information in a foreign language, but I will certainly improve.
Then, it was a Buddhist holiday in Cambodia: Pchum Ben. It is a day where the family goes to the wot and gives food so that their ancestors receive good things in the after life. It was a lot of fun. I hung out at the wot a bit and then spent a lot of time with my family.
After the holiday, we took our language test. I passed! I feel pretty comfortable with basic conversation and, by being outgoing at my site, I think I can speak a lot and continue to improve.
On our last day in our training village, we had a part for our Khmer teachers and our host families. It was great: we cooked pancakes, carnitas and other American food. We were lucky that one of the host-parents professionally had parties, so he was able to provide a tent, tables and chairs. The Khmer people really enjoyed it and we all had fun cooking and then hanging out. But, it was sad to leave our village.
Then, it was off to Phnom Penh to wrap things up. In addition to some final trainings, we went shopping (I bought a lot of cheap DVDs) and ate delicious food. My province does not have any non-Khmer food, so I had to get as much ice cream, pizza and Indian food as possible.
I have a lot of expectations for tomorrow, which I won't bore you with, but please wish me luck. I hope to have internet once a week at my school or in the provincial town, but it may be once every two weeks while I get settled.
Here are more photos:
Me with some Cambodian children at the market. They are always eager to speak with a foreigner.
Me with my host parents.
Myself in front of some houses by the river.
At the zoo, you can touch the animals.
My friends and I enjoying a coconut after a long day.
The monkey that escaped from next-door and scared the family dogs and my host-mom. I am not kidding. My host-dad ran next door to get the owners. My friends and I aren't really sure why they have a monkey. My host-dad couldn't tell me, but when I asked if it was for safety, he said yes. But that could be just because I know the word for safety in Khmer.
The view from behind my house in training. Eat your heart out, benjaminnorman.com (a site that I highly endorse)
The shower facilities at my training site. Pretty typical. I scoop water from the basin with the bucket and pour it on myself.
A typical toilet. In addition to learning how to bathe during training, we had to learn how to use the toilet.
My host dad watching tv in the living room. The room also houses his car.
Frontal view of of my house in training..
My host-dad watching TV in his living room.
Me at our going away party with the people from the breakfast place we ate at every morning.
Pictures. For the first time since arriving in Cambodia, there will be pictures in my blog. I will mix them in with the text, and at the end I will provide additional pictures. This post is a little disorganized since my computer/the internet has frozen so many times while putting these pictures in place. I finally figured out how to do it in spite of the slow internet, so future posts will be better. Please note that since I wash my clothes by hand and do not want to appear rich to my Cambodian friends, I wear a lot of the same clothes.
If you want to see all 379 pictures I took during training (probably so you can find the perfect pictures of me for your screen saver), you can follow this link:
 |
| PC Training |
So, I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer instead of a Peace Corps Trainee. Tomorrow, I will go to my site. It was sad saying goodbye to my the friends I have made here, but we will have much to share through text messaging and when we get together again.
For the next three months, we are on what we call "lock-down;" we cannot leave our province. The reason Peace Corps has this policy is so we will make a good impression on our community and make it clear that we are living there. So, I will spend a lot of time at my site and with the volunteers in my province (of course, I will spend a lot of time at my site after lock-down too).
Training wrapped up nicely. We returned from our health trip and I gave a presentation to about 40 Khmer students on hand-washing. It was a little awkward since it was my first time presenting information in a foreign language, but I will certainly improve.
Then, it was a Buddhist holiday in Cambodia: Pchum Ben. It is a day where the family goes to the wot and gives food so that their ancestors receive good things in the after life. It was a lot of fun. I hung out at the wot a bit and then spent a lot of time with my family.
After the holiday, we took our language test. I passed! I feel pretty comfortable with basic conversation and, by being outgoing at my site, I think I can speak a lot and continue to improve.
On our last day in our training village, we had a part for our Khmer teachers and our host families. It was great: we cooked pancakes, carnitas and other American food. We were lucky that one of the host-parents professionally had parties, so he was able to provide a tent, tables and chairs. The Khmer people really enjoyed it and we all had fun cooking and then hanging out. But, it was sad to leave our village.
Us with our carnitas creation:
 |
| From PC Training |
Me with my host-dad:
 |
| From PC Training |
Sweet shot of the party:
 |
| From PC Training |
Our Khmer teachers:
 |
| From PC Training |
My friend, Nathan giving a speech about our village:
 |
| From PC Training |
Then, it was off to Phnom Penh to wrap things up. In addition to some final trainings, we went shopping (I bought a lot of cheap DVDs) and ate delicious food. My province does not have any non-Khmer food, so I had to get as much ice cream, pizza and Indian food as possible.
I have a lot of expectations for tomorrow, which I won't bore you with, but please wish me luck. I hope to have internet once a week at my school or in the provincial town, but it may be once every two weeks while I get settled.
Here are more photos:
 |
| From blog slideslow |
Me with some Cambodian children at the market. They are always eager to speak with a foreigner.
 |
| From blog slideslow |
Me with my host parents.
 |
| From blog slideslow |
Myself in front of some houses by the river.
 |
| From blog slideslow |
 |
| From blog slideslow |
 |
| From blog slideslow |
The monkey that escaped from next-door and scared the family dogs and my host-mom. I am not kidding. My host-dad ran next door to get the owners. My friends and I aren't really sure why they have a monkey. My host-dad couldn't tell me, but when I asked if it was for safety, he said yes. But that could be just because I know the word for safety in Khmer.
 |
| From blog slideslow |
The view from behind my house in training. Eat your heart out, benjaminnorman.com (a site that I highly endorse)
 |
| From blog slideslow |
The shower facilities at my training site. Pretty typical. I scoop water from the basin with the bucket and pour it on myself.
 |
| From blog slideslow |
A typical toilet. In addition to learning how to bathe during training, we had to learn how to use the toilet.
 |
 |
| From PC Training |
My host dad watching tv in the living room. The room also houses his car.
 |
| From PC Training |
Frontal view of of my house in training..
My host-dad watching TV in his living room.
 |
| From blog slideslow |
Me at our going away party with the people from the breakfast place we ate at every morning.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
To answer Tom's question
Tom asked how I will be able to inspire volunteerism and teach health if my ability to communicate is limited.
Volunteers are not expected to accomplish much, outside of teaching English, for their first six months or so. During that time, I will be interacting with a lot of people and learning a lot about the community. From my interactions, my language ability will improve a lot and I will be more aware of the community's needs. I expect that by the middle of my service, I will communicate quite proficiently and know what I can do to help.
My language ability has improved a lot already. Yesterday, I spoke to my host-dad in Khmer for about an hour and a half. Yesterday was also a Khmer holiday and I had conversations with a lot of random people. So, I will continue to improve.
Tom, thanks for asking that question. I look forward to answering more questions on my blog.
I will post more about this week and pictures in a few days.
Volunteers are not expected to accomplish much, outside of teaching English, for their first six months or so. During that time, I will be interacting with a lot of people and learning a lot about the community. From my interactions, my language ability will improve a lot and I will be more aware of the community's needs. I expect that by the middle of my service, I will communicate quite proficiently and know what I can do to help.
My language ability has improved a lot already. Yesterday, I spoke to my host-dad in Khmer for about an hour and a half. Yesterday was also a Khmer holiday and I had conversations with a lot of random people. So, I will continue to improve.
Tom, thanks for asking that question. I look forward to answering more questions on my blog.
I will post more about this week and pictures in a few days.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Health trip so far
I am writing from
We left
The next day, we visited Resource Development International (RDI), an NGO that works with communities to provide clean water and other sustainable practices. They are a foreign NGO, but most of their production costs for producing water filters are covered by sales. Their sales also cover their marketing, which is how they explain the importance of clean water. They do this through a variety of medias, including a
RDI relies on donations to conduct research about clean water and other innovative development efforts, like a non-smelling (or less smelly) pig for people to raise and eat. Donations also pay for some of the foreign staff. RDI also works with foreign universities and has students come to
The next day, in
An exciting thing about this day was taking the bamboo train for 45 minutes to and from the site where the NGO works. Don't let the word "bamboo train" fool you; this journey was far from glamorous. The bamboo train consists of a board, which may have a mat, and a motor going on a train track. About 22 people were packed on this board.
The fun part: it was pouring rain on the way there. In addition, for some reason there is only one track for both directions that trains go in. So, every time a bigger train approached, or a bamboo train that was bigger than us (usually because of lots of logs), we had to get off the train, pick up the plank and then take the wheels off the track. This happened three times on the way there in the rain, but only once on the way back when it was not raining.
The next day, in another province, Pursat, we learned more about the health system in
Basically, my job is to make friends, see what they need and how I can help. Some Volunteers who have been here for a year came and spoke to us, and said to just talk to a lot of people. Cambodian society is built around relationships, so I will need strong relationships to do my work.
Lots of the stuff I will teach is pretty simple, like the importance of washing your hands. Supposedly, something like 60% of childhood illnesses in
To practice, this week we are doing a community project in our training village. My friend Philip and I will be talking about the importance of washing hands (We will instruct in Khmer). Our project will be part of a bigger project conducted by all the Trainees. Other Health Trainees will be doing other presentations, and the Community Development Trainees will be organizing a school clean up, a talent show and other activities.
Another interesting part of the trip was visiting a social enterprise called DVD. They do data entry, but they recruit and train their staff from disadvantaged groups in
Interesting fact of the day: When we go to swear-in, we become Volunteers as opposed to Trainees. The oath we say is the same oath that the
Monday, September 7, 2009
Brief Update
Site visit went great. Everyone is eager to work with me and my host family seems great. I have lots of expectations, but I don't want to lay them out because, apparently, Peace Corps Volunteer expectations change a lot. I will give you one: I expect to have internet once a week! There is supposedly internet at my school that I can use and it requires a generator. My school director will let me use it for free and I will teach some of the teachers more about computers, particularly the internet, which they know little about.
We saw the Khmer Rouge tribunal on our way back from site visit. Duch, the guy on trial, was in charge of S-21, the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison. Much of the questioning was pretty boring because they are nearing the end of the trial, so they were interviewing obscure character witnesses from the late 90's (his atrocities were committed in the 1970's).
A fascinating part occurred when Duch himself was questioned. He claimed he did what he did to protect his family and because he was forced. He also said he converted to Christianity and was working on repenting. However, his claims are denied by much of what I have read. He is not mentally ill by conventional standards. An opinion article also argued no person who was not running the prison by choice would be able to have his position without feeling grave remorse. He would also have gotten killed or lost his job if he was not passionate about it.
The setting of the tribunal was also interesting. It was conducted judges and lawyers who are Cambodian and other nationalities. So, the proceedings were in a variety of languages and we had head sets that gave us translations. The trial took place behind glass and there was stadium-like seating. There was even a refreshment stand outside the court room (but we could not eat or drink inside the court room).
Other than that, not much is going on. We are leaving for our health education trip tomorrow. We will get to see four provinces. Then, there is a big Khmer holiday, our language test and swear-in. I am feeling pretty good about the language, but I need to get better at listening.
Interesting foods I've eaten:
spider - has bbq flavor on the outside, but the inside is gross
snake - gross
frog - delicious
Lastly, I have my mailing address in my province (posted on the right-hand corner of my blog). Send me something!
We saw the Khmer Rouge tribunal on our way back from site visit. Duch, the guy on trial, was in charge of S-21, the Khmer Rouge's most notorious prison. Much of the questioning was pretty boring because they are nearing the end of the trial, so they were interviewing obscure character witnesses from the late 90's (his atrocities were committed in the 1970's).
A fascinating part occurred when Duch himself was questioned. He claimed he did what he did to protect his family and because he was forced. He also said he converted to Christianity and was working on repenting. However, his claims are denied by much of what I have read. He is not mentally ill by conventional standards. An opinion article also argued no person who was not running the prison by choice would be able to have his position without feeling grave remorse. He would also have gotten killed or lost his job if he was not passionate about it.
The setting of the tribunal was also interesting. It was conducted judges and lawyers who are Cambodian and other nationalities. So, the proceedings were in a variety of languages and we had head sets that gave us translations. The trial took place behind glass and there was stadium-like seating. There was even a refreshment stand outside the court room (but we could not eat or drink inside the court room).
Other than that, not much is going on. We are leaving for our health education trip tomorrow. We will get to see four provinces. Then, there is a big Khmer holiday, our language test and swear-in. I am feeling pretty good about the language, but I need to get better at listening.
Interesting foods I've eaten:
spider - has bbq flavor on the outside, but the inside is gross
snake - gross
frog - delicious
Lastly, I have my mailing address in my province (posted on the right-hand corner of my blog). Send me something!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Got my site placement
We got our site placement today! I'll spare you the anticipation that they made us go through, but I am going to Svay Rieng Province. I basically got everything I wanted for a site. It's two hours down the road from Phnom Penh. It's about 10k from the provincial capital where there will be more things. Another volunteer lives there and I can bike in pretty easily to see her. The internet is said to be spotty there, so who knows how much internet access I will have.
In addition to a school and a health center, there is a microfinance institution near by. The town is also walkable, though I will ride my bike lots of places.
My site is a replacement site, meaning a Peace Corps Volunteer was there before. Hence, I received a report written by her. She had excellent relationships with her school director, a co-teacher and he volunteered at the health center. I look forward to building off of her work.
Svay Rieng has few westerners (Lonely Planet says you can see the entire province through the window of a bus), so I will be immersed in Khmer and have to do my work in Khmer.
Unfortunately, I do not know my particular living situation yet. Peace Corps said there are plenty of families that I can live with, but they have not narrowed it down yet. So, I will stay with a teacher when I go to visit the site this weekend.
I will provide more details once I see the site.
Peace Corps has had our site chosen since Saturday or Sunday, but has made us wait until we were all together for a seminar day (the group is split into two training districts). Everyone was pretty anxious to find out their site and when we got to Takeo, they made us sit through a presentation about mental illness and dermatological health. Our poor Peace Corps Medical Officer had to try to keep our attention while we were waiting for our site announcements.
After her presentation, we went outside where there was a makeshift map of Cambodia with flags for each site. The staff drew an envelope which had a trainee's name on it. The trainee came up, read their site, found it on the map, and then had to draw another envelope for the next trainee. Luckily, I was one of the first to be called, so I found my site quickly. Overall, it seems everyone got what they wanted, but we'll see what happens once site visit comes about.
Please comment on my blog: Do people have questions? Am I painting a clear picture of Cambodia?
In addition to a school and a health center, there is a microfinance institution near by. The town is also walkable, though I will ride my bike lots of places.
My site is a replacement site, meaning a Peace Corps Volunteer was there before. Hence, I received a report written by her. She had excellent relationships with her school director, a co-teacher and he volunteered at the health center. I look forward to building off of her work.
Svay Rieng has few westerners (Lonely Planet says you can see the entire province through the window of a bus), so I will be immersed in Khmer and have to do my work in Khmer.
Unfortunately, I do not know my particular living situation yet. Peace Corps said there are plenty of families that I can live with, but they have not narrowed it down yet. So, I will stay with a teacher when I go to visit the site this weekend.
I will provide more details once I see the site.
Peace Corps has had our site chosen since Saturday or Sunday, but has made us wait until we were all together for a seminar day (the group is split into two training districts). Everyone was pretty anxious to find out their site and when we got to Takeo, they made us sit through a presentation about mental illness and dermatological health. Our poor Peace Corps Medical Officer had to try to keep our attention while we were waiting for our site announcements.
After her presentation, we went outside where there was a makeshift map of Cambodia with flags for each site. The staff drew an envelope which had a trainee's name on it. The trainee came up, read their site, found it on the map, and then had to draw another envelope for the next trainee. Luckily, I was one of the first to be called, so I found my site quickly. Overall, it seems everyone got what they wanted, but we'll see what happens once site visit comes about.
Please comment on my blog: Do people have questions? Am I painting a clear picture of Cambodia?
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Cambodia Adventure and Practicum
Still been pretty busy, but I am enjoying it. Last week we went on Cambodia Adventure. I went with two fellow trainees, Jen and Nathan (who are married). We visited James, a current volunteer in Memot, near the Viatnamese border.
Getting there was kind of intense. We stuffed in a taxi to go from Triang to Phnom Penh. It was a sedan with 5 seats. We had seven people in the car, all trainees. On the way back, the driver put his friend in the driver's seat to bring, the total up to eight. Apparently, that is not considered a crowded taxi in Cambodia. The driver was someone's host dad, so I guess we got a luxurious ride. Also on the way back from Phnom Penh, the driver stopped for about an hour to get a custom hat made. The sense of time in Cambodia is just so different.
In Phnom Penh we took a five hour bus to Memot. It wasn't too bad except it left late and the driver was on his cell phone picking people up. We actually got our own seats though.
James lives in a dorm at his school, which is a unique living arrangement. He has an English club where he works with his students on reading. He mostly works with the best students because they are the ones who study the most. Many of the other students don't have the time to study English, so do not participate as much or show up to class. This is unfortunate, but when Peace Corps Volunteers focus on human development, they need to work with Cambodians who will reciprocate.
The same is true when working with co-teachers. Volunteers look for teachers who need improvement, but are willing to work with the volunteers. Some teachers are just stubborn and won't change their ways. The harsh reality is, there is little we can do for them.
Memot is in Kampung Chung (sp?) province, which had amazing food. We ate some great fruit and fried noodles. We also spend time playing frisbee with the students and had dinner and drinks (warm beer mixed with ice) with James' co-teacher.
Overall, we had a wonderful few days outside of our training village.
When we returned, we began Practicum week. We were in groups of three and paired with a Cambodian co-teacher. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we each taught Cambodian students for an hour. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we each taught an hour to the same class with our co-teacher. There were about 45 students in the class and we had to spend a lot of time lesson planning.
My group was lucky that our co-teacher was nice. It was a wonderful exchange; she learned from us and we learned from her. I lent her some of our training materials, so that she can continue to learn.
Throughout the week, we became more fluid as a team and I certainly improved as a teacher. It was my first time teaching a large group over a sustained period of time.
While all the trainees improved as teachers, others were not as lucky as us in terms of their assigned co-teacher. Some trainees had co-teachers who refused to lesson plan with them, would talk over them in class and would refer to them to their faces as "bad teachers."
During the afternoons of Practicum week, we would continue our language training. My language skills are continuing to improve. I still confuse and mispronounce a lot of words, but every day I am saying more.
Now that Practicum is finished, we are leaving Triang for a little while. On Tuesday, we go to the provincial town, Takeo, to find out where we will be stationed for our two years. We had a few interviews and the anticipation is building. I hope to post details about my permanent site in a few days.
As a health volunteer, I know my site will be the right size for me and contain a health center and a school. Our training officer visited the health sites and says the health center director is eager to work with us (more about health in a few paragraphs).
After Takeo, we head to Phnom Penh to meet teachers from our permanent site. We will then depart with us to visit our permanent sites next weekend.
When we return to Phnom Penh we are going to a Khmer Rouge Tribunal. I'm really happy that we will get to go because a colleague of mine from Haverford visited and she attended one of the trials. I hear it is a powerful experience.
We will then return to Triang for about a week and then we go on our health road trip. We will go to on an eight day trip to learn about the health sector in Cambodia. Out of the 45 trainees, 10 are health volunteers. We are the first health volunteers in Cambodia. Like I said, this means we will volunteer at a health center in addition to teaching.
At the end of training, when we do our community project in Triang, our training village, the health volunteers will do a health presentation. . . in Khmer! We apparently have a long list of health vocabulary to memorize.
The new interesting food of the week is fried sweet potatoes covered in sugar. They actually taste just like Frosted Flakes!
That's all for now. I look forward to finding out my permanent site. Again, I am sorry for the lack of pictures. I don't think I'll be able to post pictures until I can use wireless internet in Phnom Penh. Right now, I am at an internet cafe in Takeo.
Getting there was kind of intense. We stuffed in a taxi to go from Triang to Phnom Penh. It was a sedan with 5 seats. We had seven people in the car, all trainees. On the way back, the driver put his friend in the driver's seat to bring, the total up to eight. Apparently, that is not considered a crowded taxi in Cambodia. The driver was someone's host dad, so I guess we got a luxurious ride. Also on the way back from Phnom Penh, the driver stopped for about an hour to get a custom hat made. The sense of time in Cambodia is just so different.
In Phnom Penh we took a five hour bus to Memot. It wasn't too bad except it left late and the driver was on his cell phone picking people up. We actually got our own seats though.
James lives in a dorm at his school, which is a unique living arrangement. He has an English club where he works with his students on reading. He mostly works with the best students because they are the ones who study the most. Many of the other students don't have the time to study English, so do not participate as much or show up to class. This is unfortunate, but when Peace Corps Volunteers focus on human development, they need to work with Cambodians who will reciprocate.
The same is true when working with co-teachers. Volunteers look for teachers who need improvement, but are willing to work with the volunteers. Some teachers are just stubborn and won't change their ways. The harsh reality is, there is little we can do for them.
Memot is in Kampung Chung (sp?) province, which had amazing food. We ate some great fruit and fried noodles. We also spend time playing frisbee with the students and had dinner and drinks (warm beer mixed with ice) with James' co-teacher.
Overall, we had a wonderful few days outside of our training village.
When we returned, we began Practicum week. We were in groups of three and paired with a Cambodian co-teacher. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we each taught Cambodian students for an hour. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we each taught an hour to the same class with our co-teacher. There were about 45 students in the class and we had to spend a lot of time lesson planning.
My group was lucky that our co-teacher was nice. It was a wonderful exchange; she learned from us and we learned from her. I lent her some of our training materials, so that she can continue to learn.
Throughout the week, we became more fluid as a team and I certainly improved as a teacher. It was my first time teaching a large group over a sustained period of time.
While all the trainees improved as teachers, others were not as lucky as us in terms of their assigned co-teacher. Some trainees had co-teachers who refused to lesson plan with them, would talk over them in class and would refer to them to their faces as "bad teachers."
During the afternoons of Practicum week, we would continue our language training. My language skills are continuing to improve. I still confuse and mispronounce a lot of words, but every day I am saying more.
Now that Practicum is finished, we are leaving Triang for a little while. On Tuesday, we go to the provincial town, Takeo, to find out where we will be stationed for our two years. We had a few interviews and the anticipation is building. I hope to post details about my permanent site in a few days.
As a health volunteer, I know my site will be the right size for me and contain a health center and a school. Our training officer visited the health sites and says the health center director is eager to work with us (more about health in a few paragraphs).
After Takeo, we head to Phnom Penh to meet teachers from our permanent site. We will then depart with us to visit our permanent sites next weekend.
When we return to Phnom Penh we are going to a Khmer Rouge Tribunal. I'm really happy that we will get to go because a colleague of mine from Haverford visited and she attended one of the trials. I hear it is a powerful experience.
We will then return to Triang for about a week and then we go on our health road trip. We will go to on an eight day trip to learn about the health sector in Cambodia. Out of the 45 trainees, 10 are health volunteers. We are the first health volunteers in Cambodia. Like I said, this means we will volunteer at a health center in addition to teaching.
At the end of training, when we do our community project in Triang, our training village, the health volunteers will do a health presentation. . . in Khmer! We apparently have a long list of health vocabulary to memorize.
The new interesting food of the week is fried sweet potatoes covered in sugar. They actually taste just like Frosted Flakes!
That's all for now. I look forward to finding out my permanent site. Again, I am sorry for the lack of pictures. I don't think I'll be able to post pictures until I can use wireless internet in Phnom Penh. Right now, I am at an internet cafe in Takeo.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Stuff
Things are still pretty busy around here, but I actually have some time on the internet right now. Usually, I am trying to squeeze it in before our seminars, which are in a different town from where I live.
We had to come here today to go on a field trip. We just got back and I have the rest of the afternoon, so I am taking advantage.
Our field trip was to the Cambodian zoo: Phnom Tameo. It was kind of like a safari and you could walk up to all the non-dangerous animals. I got a cool picture with an antelope, which I will post here eventually.
There were no tour guides, but some kids followed us around and pointed things out. People are always staring as us in Cambodia. Most of them have never seen a westerner before. And little kids yell "hello"and, occasionally, "I love you" when we pass on the street. They don't know much English.
Other than that, everything is still good. I've been eating lots of rice, working on the language and learning about my other responsibilities. In addition to teaching English, I'll be working at a health center and using my role as a teacher to teach community members about health. I'm also hoping to work on some microfinance/business development projects, but it depends on my permanent site placement.
My host family has been quite helpful with me learning Khmer. I need to listen more though. It's tempting to dive into the language, but so many of the sounds are so different from any sound I've ever made. I attempt to speak a lot, but listening is so important.
I've been lucky to have internet so much in the past few days, but this is unusual. Over the next few weeks we have our Cambodia Adventure, where we go visit a volunteer at their actual site and we have to get there by ourselves in small groups. We also have our practice teaching with real Cambodian students. Wish me luck!
We had to come here today to go on a field trip. We just got back and I have the rest of the afternoon, so I am taking advantage.
Our field trip was to the Cambodian zoo: Phnom Tameo. It was kind of like a safari and you could walk up to all the non-dangerous animals. I got a cool picture with an antelope, which I will post here eventually.
There were no tour guides, but some kids followed us around and pointed things out. People are always staring as us in Cambodia. Most of them have never seen a westerner before. And little kids yell "hello"and, occasionally, "I love you" when we pass on the street. They don't know much English.
Other than that, everything is still good. I've been eating lots of rice, working on the language and learning about my other responsibilities. In addition to teaching English, I'll be working at a health center and using my role as a teacher to teach community members about health. I'm also hoping to work on some microfinance/business development projects, but it depends on my permanent site placement.
My host family has been quite helpful with me learning Khmer. I need to listen more though. It's tempting to dive into the language, but so many of the sounds are so different from any sound I've ever made. I attempt to speak a lot, but listening is so important.
I've been lucky to have internet so much in the past few days, but this is unusual. Over the next few weeks we have our Cambodia Adventure, where we go visit a volunteer at their actual site and we have to get there by ourselves in small groups. We also have our practice teaching with real Cambodian students. Wish me luck!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Training
Training is real busy and my training village doesn't have internet. I'll try to bring everyone up to speed and fill you all in on what I've been up to. Yet again, I'm a little bit rushed because we have to be at training soon, but hopefully this all makes sense.
We left Phnom Penh for Takeo Province which is two hours away. We stayed in a hotel for a few nights and had seminars all day about safety, langauge, culture and our work, among other things.
Then we split up to go to to training villages. I was placed in Triang with half the volunteers. We will be there for the next two weeks except when we go to the District Capital for Seminar days where the whole group is together. We are there now and got there a bit early, so I am able to get on the internet for a few minutes.
My host family is really nice. They speak all Khmer which is helping me learn. I can actually kind of speak it, but the pronunciation is a little difficult. I'm learning a lot though. I live with a mother and father. They have a son who speaks a little bit of English. He lives in Phnom Penh, with his wife and child, but we speak on the phone sometimes and he came to visit. His daughter (my niece) is afraid of me. My family thinks its hilarious.
I think my arrangement is perfect. My family is nice and patient with me. And there is an English speaker available (in addition to my language and cultural facilitator who trains me during the day), but for the most part I am immersed in Khmer at home.
Here is a typical day for me when I am in my training village. This encompasses Monday- Saturday for the most part:
5:30 AM wake up. I take a bucket shower and brush my teeth. I am lucky that my family has electricity.
6:30 Meet up with my language group (four other people) for breakfast. I have rice, pork and vegetables for about 75 cents. Then I take my malaria pill after I eat.
7-11 Intensive language class with my five-person group. Sometimes groups combine and we have ten people. I like the way we learn languages. We do a lot of speaking and conversations, and do interactive activities like go to the market to learn to bargain. For the most part, we are just learning to speak and listen. I hope to teach myself some writing when I get to my permanent site.
11-1 Go home for lunch with my family and nap. Maybe do a little cleaning.
1-4 or 5. Learn about teaching English in Cambodia
5-7 Eat dinner and study Khmer. Try to chat with my family.
At least 60% of what i eat is rice. Some cool things I've eaten:
chicken foot
ants
awesome tropical fruits
7 Wash myself with the bucket and get ready for bed.
8-9:30 read and go to sleep
That's a typical day for me. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I miss everyone.
We left Phnom Penh for Takeo Province which is two hours away. We stayed in a hotel for a few nights and had seminars all day about safety, langauge, culture and our work, among other things.
Then we split up to go to to training villages. I was placed in Triang with half the volunteers. We will be there for the next two weeks except when we go to the District Capital for Seminar days where the whole group is together. We are there now and got there a bit early, so I am able to get on the internet for a few minutes.
My host family is really nice. They speak all Khmer which is helping me learn. I can actually kind of speak it, but the pronunciation is a little difficult. I'm learning a lot though. I live with a mother and father. They have a son who speaks a little bit of English. He lives in Phnom Penh, with his wife and child, but we speak on the phone sometimes and he came to visit. His daughter (my niece) is afraid of me. My family thinks its hilarious.
I think my arrangement is perfect. My family is nice and patient with me. And there is an English speaker available (in addition to my language and cultural facilitator who trains me during the day), but for the most part I am immersed in Khmer at home.
Here is a typical day for me when I am in my training village. This encompasses Monday- Saturday for the most part:
5:30 AM wake up. I take a bucket shower and brush my teeth. I am lucky that my family has electricity.
6:30 Meet up with my language group (four other people) for breakfast. I have rice, pork and vegetables for about 75 cents. Then I take my malaria pill after I eat.
7-11 Intensive language class with my five-person group. Sometimes groups combine and we have ten people. I like the way we learn languages. We do a lot of speaking and conversations, and do interactive activities like go to the market to learn to bargain. For the most part, we are just learning to speak and listen. I hope to teach myself some writing when I get to my permanent site.
11-1 Go home for lunch with my family and nap. Maybe do a little cleaning.
1-4 or 5. Learn about teaching English in Cambodia
5-7 Eat dinner and study Khmer. Try to chat with my family.
At least 60% of what i eat is rice. Some cool things I've eaten:
chicken foot
ants
awesome tropical fruits
7 Wash myself with the bucket and get ready for bed.
8-9:30 read and go to sleep
That's a typical day for me. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I miss everyone.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Arrived safe and sound
Arrived in Phnom Penh this morning. It's almost noon here, but almost 1am at home. I am pretty tired after all the flying, so hopefully this comes out concise and coherent. (Apologies in advance for the typos.)
Everything is good. The other volunteers (technically called trainees) are pretty cool. The flights went without incident for the most part. We caught all of our flights, I got some sleep, and I don't feel too terrible right now. The one annoying this that happened is that Thai Air messed up the Peace Corps reservation. They put about ten people (out of our group of 45ish) on stand by and supposedly we didn't pay the airport tax, so had to go to another booth and pay some crazy tax. It's all taken care of now and the Peace Corps will reimburse us, so no worries. And the standby people will get their later today.
I also got to eat some sushi in the Japan. It was cool to do, but airport sushi is pretty average.
Since arriving in Phnom Penh, we have gone to the hotel and walked over to this internet cafe. The staff and some volunteers who are already here met us at the airport and are taking pretty good care of us. Of note, so far, is just that it's really hot! Haven't really gotten a feel for Phnom Penh yet, but it looks like a developing city, with lots of chaotic traffic and crammed together markets.
I was joking around on the bus that Phnom Penh and I are in an arranged marriage. It's supposed to be my New York/Copenhagen/Prague equivalent for the next two years. Hopefully, we will get along.
My time is almost up and I want to enjoy the internet a little since I won't have it for a while. Today we are going to lunch, seeing the national museum and a boat cruise. It's mostly to fight the jet lag. I'll probably end up crashing pretty early.
Apparently things get pretty busy after today. Tomorrow, we have medical orientation and leave for our training site in Takeo Province. Everything has been real good and I expect it to continue that way.
Everything is good. The other volunteers (technically called trainees) are pretty cool. The flights went without incident for the most part. We caught all of our flights, I got some sleep, and I don't feel too terrible right now. The one annoying this that happened is that Thai Air messed up the Peace Corps reservation. They put about ten people (out of our group of 45ish) on stand by and supposedly we didn't pay the airport tax, so had to go to another booth and pay some crazy tax. It's all taken care of now and the Peace Corps will reimburse us, so no worries. And the standby people will get their later today.
I also got to eat some sushi in the Japan. It was cool to do, but airport sushi is pretty average.
Since arriving in Phnom Penh, we have gone to the hotel and walked over to this internet cafe. The staff and some volunteers who are already here met us at the airport and are taking pretty good care of us. Of note, so far, is just that it's really hot! Haven't really gotten a feel for Phnom Penh yet, but it looks like a developing city, with lots of chaotic traffic and crammed together markets.
I was joking around on the bus that Phnom Penh and I are in an arranged marriage. It's supposed to be my New York/Copenhagen/Prague equivalent for the next two years. Hopefully, we will get along.
My time is almost up and I want to enjoy the internet a little since I won't have it for a while. Today we are going to lunch, seeing the national museum and a boat cruise. It's mostly to fight the jet lag. I'll probably end up crashing pretty early.
Apparently things get pretty busy after today. Tomorrow, we have medical orientation and leave for our training site in Takeo Province. Everything has been real good and I expect it to continue that way.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
senior year and Peace Corps
Well it's official! I am departing for the Peace Corps in Cambodia on July 21. Lots has happened since I left Copenhagen, so I will try to offer a brief summary of my senior year, and then get into the details of my upcoming Peace Corps service. After Copenhagen, I took a class at Penn and did some campaign work for the DNC. Then, I got a great internship with a small business development organization, Chester Microenterprise Partnership.
My senior year was not quite as exciting as my junior year since I didn't spend the entire year studying abroad. I did get some traveling in though: I went to Honduras, Guatamala and Nicaragua with my sister over fall break; I went to San Diego and Florida over winter break; and, I received a grant from Haverford to go to Mexico City over spring break to learn about microfinance firsthand. I also spent a weekend in Austin at the Clinton Global Initiative University Meeting, and frequented New York City, Philadelphia and some other college towns for various conferences.
The main reason I attended many of these meetings and received the grant to go to Mexico City ( aside from academic curiosity of course), was because I started the Microfinance Club at Haverford (soon to be renamed Microfinance Consulting Network). It started with me and a fellow student attending the Penn Club's meeting and realizing there was a void at Haverford; so many students are interested in economics and social justice and student life does not account for that. We spent much of the year finding our identity. By the end of the year, we solidified ourselves in consulting.
During our first semester, we won a "consulting competition." We had to research whether it was feasible to start a microfinance institution (MFI) in Abia, Nigeria. We presented our findings via video conference and our recommendations and presentation were considered the best. We built off our victory to attract more students. We got great publicity in the college newspaper and on the college website: http://www.haverford.edu/news/stories/16181/30
While in Mexico City, we met with various MFIs and we realized we could do more research and offer our services for free to MFIs. Two members of the club are in Mexico City now on summer internships and working on this, and that is the direction the club is heading in now that I have graduated. I am pleased that the club will continue after I graduated. We struggled getting people to attend our meetings at the beginning, but by the end of the year we had at least a dozen people at every meeting and a 70 person list-serv.
As you can see, my commitment to economic development attracted me to the Peace Corps. I will be going to Cambodia at the end of July to teach English and work with a health NGO or clinic. I will answer the two most common questions people have been asking me here: How did I get involved with the Peace Corps and what will I be doing?
Basically, I leave July 21. I spend two days in San Francisco, meeting my group, getting shots, signing forms, and getting some very basic cultural training. Then, we depart for Cambodia. We will live with host families for 9-10 weeks. We will meet at a conference center sometimes, but for the most part, we will be in small groups learning Khmer (the local language), Cambodian culture, our work responsibilities and ways to take care of ourselves in a new country, ranging from maintaining a bike to avoiding dengue fever.
Then, I will spend two years on my own, living with another host family. I will spend part of my time teaching English to high school students with a Cambodian counterpart. The other part will be the health component. I am also expected to work on other projects, including extracurricular activities with students and the community. They said you can work with other NGOs, so I requested being where I can work with a microfinance institution.
So, how did I get here? I knew I wanted to do something related to economic development where I could live abroad or travel after I graduated. I talked to as many professionals as I could throughout the summer and fall to try to figure out the best move. By January, Peace Corps was one of my top choices. Let me say here, that I am extremely lucky that I began applying in January and I'm leaving in July. They say the process typically takes 13 months, and I was invited in less than five.
The application process began with some online forms, which included questions about my medical history, my background and a few essays. I also had to get three letters of recommendation: one from an employer, one from a friend you've known for a long time and one from a community service supervisor. I am very appreciative of everyone who wrote me a recommendation. After I submitted these forms, they sent me more forms to fill out, which included getting myself fingerprinted. Apparently, I got through everything pretty fast and my interview was in early March.
The interview lasted about an hour and the recruiter said she would let me know within a week. At that point, I was hoping to do business development work for the Peace Corps. The recruiter told me at the meeting that I probably wouldn't be able to leave until early 2010 because so many programs were full. (At this point I was waiting for a nomination. Once one is nominated, they have to get legally and medically cleared, then they get an invitation for placement in a particular country)
I received my notification the following week via email. I had not been nominated. What I was unaware of after the interview was that if she couldn't find placement for me right away, I would have to wait until May to find out if I was nominated. In other words, I knew I probably wouldn't leave until 2010, but the 2010 nominations didn't open until May.
Then, the following week, I got an email from my recruiter saying there may be a health extension opening in Asia. It was a long shot, but if I got it, I would leave in September. I had to decide by the next day. I made a few calls to former volunteers I knew because I wanted to ask them if it would be really different doing something besides business development. I realized that for the most part, although you learn valuable skills as a volunteer, it generally does not make a huge difference what you are sent there to do (with some exceptions).
As I was about to email my recruiter the next day, she calls me. Apparently, I would be leaving in mid-July and there was a very good chance of my being nominated. The government sure moves fast. Later that day, she called me and said I had been nominated. The nomination process involves regional recruiters using the internet to place their nominees. Apparently, there were five slots available and I got the fourth one.
After the nomination, I had to get a bunch of check-ups and shots and wait for all my paper work to go through. At that point, at the end of March, I knew I would be going to Mongolia, China, Thailand, Cambodia or the Philippines. At the beginning of May, I found out I was going to Cambodia on July 20.
Now, I have been trying to prepare for my trip. I don't need to bring that much, since I can buy almost everything I need there and I will have to wash my clothes by hand, so I don't want to bring too many outfits. I still do need to buy some stuff, like a digital watch and a new backpack. I am also using the time before I leave to spend time with all my family and friends and maybe make a little extra money for traveling. I'm also working to organize all my stuff and give away everything I don't need, since whatever I don't take will be sitting in my room for two years.
For the most part, I am quite excited about my trip. It's definitely right up my alley. Some days I'm less excited than others because it will be a big change. It's also weird when I'm speaking with people about it and they think it's so crazy/dangerous/impossible to do.
I hope to update my blog at least twice a month while I am in Cambodia. They say I will probably have internet at least once a week. I do not get placed at a site until I get there, so I may have daily access to internet or I may have internet once a month.
As much as what I have written here sounds definitive, my understanding is that I cannot fully comprehend what two years will be like in one of the poorest countries in the world (one of the 50 poorest in the world according to the UN: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908763.html) Wish me luck!
My senior year was not quite as exciting as my junior year since I didn't spend the entire year studying abroad. I did get some traveling in though: I went to Honduras, Guatamala and Nicaragua with my sister over fall break; I went to San Diego and Florida over winter break; and, I received a grant from Haverford to go to Mexico City over spring break to learn about microfinance firsthand. I also spent a weekend in Austin at the Clinton Global Initiative University Meeting, and frequented New York City, Philadelphia and some other college towns for various conferences.
The main reason I attended many of these meetings and received the grant to go to Mexico City ( aside from academic curiosity of course), was because I started the Microfinance Club at Haverford (soon to be renamed Microfinance Consulting Network). It started with me and a fellow student attending the Penn Club's meeting and realizing there was a void at Haverford; so many students are interested in economics and social justice and student life does not account for that. We spent much of the year finding our identity. By the end of the year, we solidified ourselves in consulting.
During our first semester, we won a "consulting competition." We had to research whether it was feasible to start a microfinance institution (MFI) in Abia, Nigeria. We presented our findings via video conference and our recommendations and presentation were considered the best. We built off our victory to attract more students. We got great publicity in the college newspaper and on the college website: http://www.haverford.edu/news/stories/16181/30
While in Mexico City, we met with various MFIs and we realized we could do more research and offer our services for free to MFIs. Two members of the club are in Mexico City now on summer internships and working on this, and that is the direction the club is heading in now that I have graduated. I am pleased that the club will continue after I graduated. We struggled getting people to attend our meetings at the beginning, but by the end of the year we had at least a dozen people at every meeting and a 70 person list-serv.
As you can see, my commitment to economic development attracted me to the Peace Corps. I will be going to Cambodia at the end of July to teach English and work with a health NGO or clinic. I will answer the two most common questions people have been asking me here: How did I get involved with the Peace Corps and what will I be doing?
Basically, I leave July 21. I spend two days in San Francisco, meeting my group, getting shots, signing forms, and getting some very basic cultural training. Then, we depart for Cambodia. We will live with host families for 9-10 weeks. We will meet at a conference center sometimes, but for the most part, we will be in small groups learning Khmer (the local language), Cambodian culture, our work responsibilities and ways to take care of ourselves in a new country, ranging from maintaining a bike to avoiding dengue fever.
Then, I will spend two years on my own, living with another host family. I will spend part of my time teaching English to high school students with a Cambodian counterpart. The other part will be the health component. I am also expected to work on other projects, including extracurricular activities with students and the community. They said you can work with other NGOs, so I requested being where I can work with a microfinance institution.
So, how did I get here? I knew I wanted to do something related to economic development where I could live abroad or travel after I graduated. I talked to as many professionals as I could throughout the summer and fall to try to figure out the best move. By January, Peace Corps was one of my top choices. Let me say here, that I am extremely lucky that I began applying in January and I'm leaving in July. They say the process typically takes 13 months, and I was invited in less than five.
The application process began with some online forms, which included questions about my medical history, my background and a few essays. I also had to get three letters of recommendation: one from an employer, one from a friend you've known for a long time and one from a community service supervisor. I am very appreciative of everyone who wrote me a recommendation. After I submitted these forms, they sent me more forms to fill out, which included getting myself fingerprinted. Apparently, I got through everything pretty fast and my interview was in early March.
The interview lasted about an hour and the recruiter said she would let me know within a week. At that point, I was hoping to do business development work for the Peace Corps. The recruiter told me at the meeting that I probably wouldn't be able to leave until early 2010 because so many programs were full. (At this point I was waiting for a nomination. Once one is nominated, they have to get legally and medically cleared, then they get an invitation for placement in a particular country)
I received my notification the following week via email. I had not been nominated. What I was unaware of after the interview was that if she couldn't find placement for me right away, I would have to wait until May to find out if I was nominated. In other words, I knew I probably wouldn't leave until 2010, but the 2010 nominations didn't open until May.
Then, the following week, I got an email from my recruiter saying there may be a health extension opening in Asia. It was a long shot, but if I got it, I would leave in September. I had to decide by the next day. I made a few calls to former volunteers I knew because I wanted to ask them if it would be really different doing something besides business development. I realized that for the most part, although you learn valuable skills as a volunteer, it generally does not make a huge difference what you are sent there to do (with some exceptions).
As I was about to email my recruiter the next day, she calls me. Apparently, I would be leaving in mid-July and there was a very good chance of my being nominated. The government sure moves fast. Later that day, she called me and said I had been nominated. The nomination process involves regional recruiters using the internet to place their nominees. Apparently, there were five slots available and I got the fourth one.
After the nomination, I had to get a bunch of check-ups and shots and wait for all my paper work to go through. At that point, at the end of March, I knew I would be going to Mongolia, China, Thailand, Cambodia or the Philippines. At the beginning of May, I found out I was going to Cambodia on July 20.
Now, I have been trying to prepare for my trip. I don't need to bring that much, since I can buy almost everything I need there and I will have to wash my clothes by hand, so I don't want to bring too many outfits. I still do need to buy some stuff, like a digital watch and a new backpack. I am also using the time before I leave to spend time with all my family and friends and maybe make a little extra money for traveling. I'm also working to organize all my stuff and give away everything I don't need, since whatever I don't take will be sitting in my room for two years.
For the most part, I am quite excited about my trip. It's definitely right up my alley. Some days I'm less excited than others because it will be a big change. It's also weird when I'm speaking with people about it and they think it's so crazy/dangerous/impossible to do.
I hope to update my blog at least twice a month while I am in Cambodia. They say I will probably have internet at least once a week. I do not get placed at a site until I get there, so I may have daily access to internet or I may have internet once a month.
As much as what I have written here sounds definitive, my understanding is that I cannot fully comprehend what two years will be like in one of the poorest countries in the world (one of the 50 poorest in the world according to the UN: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908763.html) Wish me luck!
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