French Fries

9/30/10
Today my host big sister made French fries for lunch, so I had French fries with my rice for lunch and it was beautiful. I kept saying how great they were, and having everyone try them, and then asking them if they like them. My host family thought I was crazy. Then they asked me if I wanted French fries everyday. It was, to say the least, a very tough decision, but I told them “No, I would be fat” but I quickly followed it up with “but every once in awhile is good!”



This is a picture of my host big sister's daughter. Her name is Daraniza, and she is 3 years old. She is super cute and a total drama queen!

The Great Laundry Day of 2010

9/29/10
Today was laundry day. Excuse me… the laundry day of all laundry days! I had not done laundry in about 2 weeks, which is crazy talk in the world of PCV life. So instead of taking my afternoon nap I did laundry all afternoon. It took me about 2 and half hours, of squatting in the bathroom and scrubbing clothes my clothes, but I did it.

However that evening it looked like it was going to rain, so I had to move everything inside. I currently have laundry in various places around the house. Including a laundry line completely dedicated to underwear going through the kitchen. Then it not only ended up raining, it down poured. I was sitting up at my host family’s private clinic, listening to the rain hitting the tin roof (which is super loud, if you aren’t used to it), when I started worrying about leaks in my house. So I wrapped myself up in my raincoat (thank you Stephen Lush for the best raincoat a PCV could ask for), and ran back to the house.

That was where I found that the basin in the bathroom (that holds all the water) had overflowed (it has piping that collects rain water from outside) into the kitchen, leaving 2 inches of water in the kitchen and still going. I had no clue what to do. So I went to the front door and yelled “Chewy Pong!” (“Help!”). My host brother walked up to me, and because I have no clue how to explain that in Khmer, I just lead him to the kitchen. And he said “oh!”

It took the efforts of myself, my host brother, and my host sister to try and mop up the water. We ended up using a combination of just kicking the water into the bathroom (where there is a drain), scooping it up with a dustpan, and soaking it up with rugs. Surprisingly the dustpan worked the best.

**Correction: It has been brought to my attention that the "best raincoat a PCV could ask for" was a gift from Stephen and Lindsey. So thank you to my best sister and my best brother-in-law.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

9/27/10
I am an official Peace Corps volunteer now, and so you may be asking yourself “well what is the next step?”

The next step was to get to my permanent site and start volunteering. Easier said than done. My site is along the road that the buses take, so some other volunteers going to Kampot and myself decided to take the bus. We were not in a hurry so we got tickets for the 1:45 bus (the latest bus leaving Phnom Penh). I got to the bus station, with my backpack, two handbags, and my purse. In them were tons of clothes, books, movies, and various other supplies I would need for the next 3 months (for the first three months of our stay at permanent site, we are not allowed to leave our province, so it requires some preparation). The bus trip is approximately 5.5 hours from Phnom Penh to Kampot, but I was planning on getting off when we passed through my town, which was about 2.5 hours into the trip.

Well about 45 minutes into the trip the buss broke down. Crap. But then after about 15 minutes it started working again! Yay! But it was a fake out. After another 20 minutes it broke down again. But this time it broke down good. So we all got off the bus, to wait for another bus to come get us. We ended up waiting about 2 hours. This would not have been such an issue if I was more acquainted with my permanent site, because the delay in the bus ride made it just dark enough outside that I could not recognize my site until we had passed it. It went like this… “This may be my site… maybe?... Yep that was it.” Luckily another volunteer was in the same boat, because it was even darker by the time we got to her village. So we just stayed on the bus for another 2.5 hours and went all the way to the provincial town in Kampot. Which did allow us to have a night in a hotel, and to wake up the next morning and have pumpkin spice pancakes. You read right… Pumpkin spice pancakes.





There is a western restaurant in Kampot called Sisters. It was opened by some women who were raised in an orphanage and who send a portion of their profits to orphanages in the community. There are a couple of Sisters restaurants in Cambodia, and the owners are all women who are friends from the same orphanage.

After the pancakes the other volunteer and I managed to organize a taxi to our villages.

Once I got to my village I was reunited with my duffel and trunk! It was beautiful! When we first got to Cambodia (I mean first thing, like we walked off the plane), Peace Corps asked us to pack a backpack of things we want for training and the rest of our stuff will stay with Peace Corps. So I have not had the majority of things that I brought to Cambodia. But now that I am at my permanent site, I have all my belongings. It was actually a little overwhelming! I have not had this many possessions in over two months.

The first thing I did was unpack my books. My host family gave me a bookshelf, which I immediately filled up with novels, health reference books, and dvd’s. Then I decided to take a shower to cool off. This was when I noticed that none of my host family’s stuff was in the house. Later that day I asked them were their things were, and they told me that they moved into their private clinic, which is just about 20 yards away, by the main road. This means that I have the whole house to myself. A big change from what I had grown accustomed to. This is a very kind gesture, and I was very, very appreciative. The house has two rooms, one room has a corner closed off as my bedroom, and the other room is the kitchen/eating area. The bathroom is off of the kitchen. They also installed a shower! Shower is a strong word, it is really just a showerhead, but it is glorious. I have not figured out how it works, but I am enjoying it while it lasts!



My first afternoon in my new site, I spent watching Avatar with my host brother’s brother-in-law and a couple of neighbors. The brother-in-law brought over his computer and asked me if I like movies. So of course I said yes. It was interesting watching an American movie with people who have never been to America. They kept asking me if certain things were “real” and if America had them. Such as the lab and the helicopters in the movie. They did seem disappointed when I told them that we did not have them and that they were not real.

I plan on taking pictures soon, so that you can actually see what I am talking about!

It has become very real that I have just started my routine that I will have for the next two years. Every time I meet someone new (which is constantly) I hear someone say “bi chnam” (two years). Reminding me that I will be here for two years, which is totally overwhelming. But I am trying to look at this as an opportunity rather than one big booty of a challenge. I hope all is well in America. I miss you all so very much! Stay happy and healthy, and enjoy that air conditioning and recognizable food.

With love,
Tay

Health Fair

As a part of our training we were asked to have a community project. The trainees in my villages decided to have a Community Health Fair. There were 3 stations: Self Defense, Frisbee, and Hand washing with healthy snacks. I will give you one guess as to which station was my contribution to the fair... haha yes the hand washing with snacks!

I had gone to the market and bought two tubs for a hand washing station, that the kids would stop at to wash their hands before they were allowed to get a snack because "It is important to wash your hands before eating". The kids were great sports and all washed their hands, even the Peace Corps staff washed their hands before they got their snacks!

It went really well. We had the fair at the school and over 100 children from the community came. For the rest of our stay in the village we saw children practicing self defense moves on each other and playing Frisbee.

Cambodian Fruit

These are pictures of some of the many fruits in Cambodia. My favorite are the little purple ones that kinda look like plums, but then you mash them and peel off the shell and the inside is white and almost tastes like banana. It's wonderful!

The pink fruit with the polka-dot inside is my second favorite, it's called Dragon fruit. It is sweet and kinda tastes like watermelon.

Swear-In

On September 23, 2010, I was sworn-in by the US Ambassador as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cambodia.

Swear-In Week

Not really sure how it happened, but somehow training is over and it is swear-in week! What does that mean? Well first it means that after Thursday, I will no longer be a Peace Corps Trainee, I will be a Peace Corps Volunteer. It means that next week I will move to me permanent site in Kampot. And my favorite thing… it means that I am in a hotel all week! And man-oh-man it is an awesome hotel. If you have skyped with me lately you have already hear my excitement about this hotel, but those who have not… Its got air conditioning, a shower (with hot water), tv (with HBO), black out curtains, and internet in my room! It is indeed a little piece of heaven.

Sadly my first night was not as wonderful as I was hoping. Yesterday I received my seasonal flu shot, and last night I suffered the consequences. I had a fever that kept me up with extreme sweating followed by chills, and then more radiating heat. I am hoping it was just a one night event because it was not enjoyable, however if there was a time to have a fever it is when I am staying in an air conditioned room. Before the night of “revenge of the flu shot” I had a good night. Phnom Pehn has so many options of restaurants and places to eat it is really fun to go out and eat. A group of us went out for pizza. We got a sundried tomato and a meat lovers (which had surprisingly little meat on it). Then we went and got frozen yogurt. I got “Death by Chocolate” with chocolate syrup on it. It was awesome!