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!