My first concert

8/13/10
Tonight I went to my first Cambodia concert, and by concert I mean the largest karaoke night ever! It was put on by one of the cell phone companies here (it is really common for cell phone companies to hold big events), and included people putting their names on a list to be called up on stage to sing and dance. I think that there was easily 200 people in the audience. They had vendors and everything. My whole host family came with me and proceeded to buy me some interesting concert food. First they got me bacon-flavored chips (they were actually pretty spicy!), chocolate filled mints (I didn’t know they had anything in the middle, initially it was a surprise, but then I realized it was chocolate and I was happy), and then I got my first sugar cane juice!
Sugar cane juice is really good! It was really interesting watching them make it. They take two sticks of sugar cane and put it into a machine that compressed the sticks and squeezes juice out, they put the same two sticks through 4 times, and then there you go… sugar cane juice! Also, in Kampuchia (Cambodia in Khmer) they usually give you your drink in a bag with a straw or they give you a cup in a little bag carrier. I think they might do this because then you don’t have to hold the juice and melt the ice, and also the bags are cheaper for the vendors. They serve coffees/cokes/lemonades in bags. And you haven’t lived until you have had hand squeezed lemonade made by a lady on a bike in a plastic bag.

A Day in the Life of Tay in Cambodia

So I wake up around 5:30 because of the sun shining in my window and the chickens that live under my room (houses in Cambodia are on stilts, where you sleep upstairs and hangout under the house during the day, the animals also hangout under the house) but then I get to lay in bed til around 6. That is when I get up and change into my sampot (which is like a dress that you shower in) and head out behind the house to the shower.

For my shower I use a bucket that I fill from a basin of water. In the morning I usually find myself showering with a large toad, a lot of mosquitoes, and the occasional spider. Then I go get dressed for the day. After I am dressed I get on my bike, bike through some rice fields, and go to “that place where we eat”. Where I get iced coffee and rice with egg and chicken. The iced coffees here are awesome! They make it with condensed milk, and it is the sweetest coffee ever!

Then it is time for language class. We are in small groups of 5 each with a host country national (aka a person from Cambodia who works for peace corps). My teachers name is Samnong, and he is awesome! After 4 hours of language I bike back to my host families house for lunch. But first I take a shower. In Cambodia you shower before each meal (the showers cool you off, and if you don’t shower you are “too hot to eat rice”).

Then after lunch I lie down on my bed in front of my fan (my best investment so far at a whopping $4.50) and read over Khmer vocabulary while listening to my ipod. This is generally a very happy and relaxing time of my day. Then it is time to bike to technical training. At technical training we learn about healthcare issues/practices/culture norms in Cambodia. Then it is time for dinner, so I bike back to my host family house, shower, and eat. After dinner my host family likes for me to teach them English because they do not speak any English. This involves a lot of passing a dictionary back and forth. But proves to be difficult when my host dad points to words such as “malcontent” in the dictionary then I have to try and explain its meaning…. If we aren’t having an impromptu English listen, I go read, listen to my ipod, or write in my journal. Then it is time to set up my mosquito net and crawl into bed.

Hope all is well back in the USA. I miss you all very, very much! I am going to try and put up some pictures soon!

Catching up...

So I am going to rewind a little....

About a week and a half ago I moved to my training site Prey Chhor. When we got to the town we were blessed by the monks (which was a first for me, it was very cool; they threw flowers and holy water on us, which no one gave us a heads-up for and made me flinch). Then I was dropped off at my host families house.

Cambodians shower before each meal because "when you are hot you don't want to eat rice" so after I was dropped off, they had me shower. My first Cambodian shower was me, a bucket, and a frog. Bucket showers are new for me, but really not that bad. the water is very cold but Cambodia is very hot so it is almost refreshing. That night i went to brush my teeth (which i do outside, because we do not have a sink), but i have an electric toothbrush. So it only took a moment for my host family to go get the neighbors to watch me brush my teeth. I had a group of 10 people (yes, 10! I counted) watch me brush my teeth, and then after I was done they pasted around my toothbrush to figure out how to work it.

The first time i did laundry went very similarly... I was about to shower when my host sister figured out that i had dirty clothes. so then my host family decided it was a good time for me to clean my clothes. they then got the neighbors again so they could see their American do her laundry.

My host family and i think the other host families take a lot of pride in how they care for their guests (aka us peace corps kids). My friend James came over and my host dad proceeded to compare the number of bug bites we had. stating that his American (me) has less bug bites than he does. this is most likely a result of the fact that my host family puts the bug repellent coil next to me, where ever i am in the house.

I am still adjusting to life as a Cambodian, and learning a lot of language, cultural norms, and life skills. But I am a happy Peace Corps trainee, who is about to go to her hotel and take a glorious shower!!!
Lots of love from Cambodia,
Tay

PS. The best address for now is... (be sure to write the US embassy and Peace Corps so they dont open it and/or charge me). Any mail would be lovely!

PCT Taylor Hall
PO Box 2453
Phnom Pehn 3
Cambodia
US Embassy
Peace Corps

Hotel stay!!

Hi there! I am writing from Champong Cham right now. Peace Corps brought us here for a seminar day then we get to spend the night at a hotel here. Which i am very excited about a shower that does not require a bucket and a toilet that also does not require a bucket... and internet! It is also great to see all the other peace corps kids and speak english!
Then tomorrow we are all breaking up into small groups and visiting current PCV's at their sites. I dont know where I will be going, but it will be nice to get some kind of idea of what the next two years will be like.
I am hoping to do a better update later, this was a surprise internet access so i dont have all the things that i was going to post.
As far as where I have been for the last two weeks... i have training in Prey Chhor. It is one of the bigger training sites. My village is very small but only a short bike ride to a lot of places! Out my bedroom window I see a rice field, and another rice field. it is a beautiful view. The sunrise is my favorite though, and yes I do see the sunrise every morning because 1) Cambodians wake up very early and 2) it's very bright and 3) the chickens wake up at 4 so I wake up at 4! And yes, I do go to bed very early to make up for it!
I do have an address but not with me right now because i wasnt expecting a computer to be around, but that's to come!
My host family is very nice, and always concerned about me. I have a host mom and dad, and three host sisters (ages 12, 9, 7ish), with two (for example: I had an allergy attack and they wanted to call PC Medical Emergency because they didnt know what was wrong with me) dogs (which I think are theirs but really they just come and go as they please).
I gotta run, todays seminar is on potential diseases we may get. Some what depressing, concerning, but it has everyones attention! Hope all is well at home. The plan is to do a better update later while I am at a hotel! Yay!

training site!

So the day has come... we are about to move to our training site. I am moving to Prey Chor. and that's about all I know about it. they weren't able to tell me anything about my family, but Im taking this as a good thing because I cant be disappointed if i dont know what to expect!

Not sure when the next post will be... but keep sending good thoughts :)

Missing everyone at home, and I am a little jealous of everyone at home with their toilette paper!
peace, love, and lollipops!
Tay

Cambodia!

So quick update... I am in Phenom Penh tonight but we are leaving tomorrow for champong chang (thats not how u spell it, but i have no clue how too!) We got to walk around the city today, and it was beautiful. there is soo much to look at it's a little over-stimulating. We went to a market (where i got a coconut that they cut open and u stick a straw in it and drink... it was good, but not as sweet as i was thinking it would be), then we went to a wat (temple) where there we monkeys walking around and lots of cats. One cat hid under my skirt for about 5 minutes, it was cute but the whole time i was thinking "please don't bite me!"

Lots more to say, but I'm pooped and its another early morning tomorrow. Love you!

12 days to go!

It is getting down to crunch time... only 12 days left until I go to staging.

Very early on the 19th I fly to San Francisco, where we have staging and I get to meet everyone! Then on Tuesday we all fly to Hong Kong. Which will effectively be the longest flight I have ever been on! But I am hoping that it will be a chance to get to know other volunteers, which will make the 13 hours and 45 minutes go by a little faster. Then it's a hour flight to Cambodia!

It's getting so close to my departure date that I have already had my send-off party! On Saturday the 3rd, my family and friends all got together for a "Cambodia Party". It was great to see everyone, and it made me feel very loved because of how supportive everyone was. I even had two (that's right, TWO!) America cakes! Both were very good, and I had multiple pieces of :)