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:
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| From PC Training |
The haircuts cost about 50 cents and are amazing. Here is their diverse set of tools:
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| From PC Training |
2 comments:
Hi Jeremy,
Barabara Weller told me about your site. I lead a Girl Scout troop of Rand 5th graders. We are pen-pals with some girls in Cambodia and are learning about the country. I'm going to show your site to the girls in December. Would love to have you Skpye with the girls sometime if that is possible. My email is kjmdonald2@verizon.net.
--Kelly McDonald
Does Taylor Swift exist in Cambodia?
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