Wish you were here

Ok, so, up until now I have spent about five entries in describing maybe... a week and a half of my life. Not that this belittles what has happened, because the reason I wrote so much about each event was that they were steps farther into this rapidly expanding experience that is my Peace Corps Service. However, the fact that I have lived with my host family for over two weeks and I have said NOTHING of most of this monumentous occurance makes me feel like I am woefully behind. In an attempt to "catch up" as it were so that I can cover some facts and observations I've had, I am going to write a grossly truncated account of bits of culture, experience, and excitement that I've had. AFTER that is done, I'm hoping my week-ish installments will be less frantic, and I can better explore smaller occurances and my thoughts about them. Worth a shot, eh?

So...

my Village: is the most rural of the three training areas. I've spearheaded the movement where 7 of us there have started calling the 23 other people (only half-jokingly) "Peace Corps Light" due to the fact that they have internet cafes, electricity outlets, some even have indoor plumbing and one group... they have a swimming pool. Sorry, Original Recipe Peace Corps is a bit more hardcore than that and we take pride in it. Bring on the small village life, I personally am really enjoying it and feel like I'm seeing a side of Cambodia that I wouldn't get to in a larger area which is where my permanent site will probably be.

My Host Family: consists of (these are the best Western spellings I can come up with) Sriang my father (about 51), Kim-Toan my mother (about 48), Bun-Tone my younger sister (about 18), Bore-un my younger brother (about 17) and Pee-Rea my younger brother (about 15). They are amazing people, and that is probably the understatement of the century. It started even on my first night, where my father saw how awkwardly I say Cambodian style on the table and so brought a chair for me not sit next to it on, and then brought a chair for HIMSELF so that I wouldn't feel alone. My mother is a great cook, but would always ask what I needed and wanted to eat - when my doctor said more vegetables, suddently large salads and salsa-esque dishes began appearing. My Younger sister is shy, but when she saw me doing laundry (debatably the thing I am most innept at in this country, though its a tight competition) she came over and "helped" me (AKA basically did it for me and was the only reason my clothes got clean). My older younger brother also doesnt talk much, but is always willing to help me get water, set things up, etc. Pee-Rea on the other hand is more open, and whenever I crack a joke (which is usually mispronouncing something, or using the wrong word in what I hope will be a funny way) he always repeats it and laughs with me. In my recent illness, my family constantly checked on me, said they were sad I was ill and could only eat rice, and my father even when 9 miles to anther market with my Language trainer (who is a solid friend, the man Sokha I have mentioned) to see if they could buy me papaya. They never let me help them do things, and never except money for food at thier breakfast stand in the morning. Thier kindness and generosity is a source of constant astonishment for me.

The animals: Animals in this country seem to have several capacities. There are those with food uses - chickens, cows (though not dairy... i miss milk :( ) and pigs. Then there are "pets" that are dogs and cats. I suppose they are pets in the sense that they seem to attach themselves to humans that they get food from (by snagging it off the ground as its tossed off the chopping block), but by no means do you ever physically pet these...pets. The dogs aren't so much dogs as they are jackals or small hyenas, and they often beat the hell out of each other and can carry disease. The cats on the whole are doing slightly better, but our Medical Officer has warned us about fleas... so we avoid them too. Apparently dogs guard the house, and cats catch snakes? They can't catch the rats, because the rats are bigger than the cats I'm told (I haven't actually seen a rat yet, which is amazing to me.) The mosquitos and flies are omnipresent, but it's not malaria season so they are more of a hassle than danger. And my room is bug free (which I credit to the lizards I let live there and the giant orb spiders on the ceiling) which is awesome. There was one rather painful incident with about 50 fire ants making thier way onto my towel and me not noticing until I was drying off after my shower... ugh. I had a jihad with the insecticide after that (despite my loathing of spray-killers like that). The animal I hate most of all by a long shot is roosters. The idea that they crow at dawn is a complete myth. They crow at 3, 3:30, 4, 4:30.... etc. And they answer each other, so Sarah was saying we should just start a program to deafen them. I told my family that I don't like chickens but I'd like to eat that specific chicken, and they all laughed... but my nemesis remains strutting around the barnyard.

the Sports: there is a huge lack of kids sports programs here (well, programs of any kind) due ot various factors, and in fact that is a major request of the school systems - that we help to facilitate those sorts of programs. For recreation, kids seem to play some soccer, basketball, and this hackey sack game (which i havent seen yet) but mostly volleyball. HOWEVER, what is hilarious is that about 90% of this country seems to watch WWF Wrestling. I've been asked if I'm a wrestler, if I know the "Undertaker", etc. It never fails to crack me up that such a glitzy Hollywood thing made it over here.

the Food: is really, really good. Like I said before, the slaughterhouse is close (a good bit of it lives under my house, I think) but they are great cooks, and the vegetables and fruits are great. For breakfast I typically eat something called "bau-bau", which is a sort of rice porridge with bits of liver and what I THINK is squid in it. They tend to eat a lot of soup-based dishes and they drink a lot of tea (boo yah) and these two seem to be thier primary sources of hydration. I ate my first Dragonfruit yesterday (a big red thing with green hornish leaves sticking off of it, Nick and Patrick you better be reading this) and overall I'm finding my tolerance for new foods will serve me very well.

the Language: has ups and downs. There are no cognates, and the pronunciations are difficult, so there are times where Americans and Cambodians just stare across the table at one another, haha. BUT we are learning SO fast (immersion "ftw")and there are NO VERB CONJUGATIONS, PRAISE BE. I am finding I have a really good memory for vocab, so its a matter of just continuing to put in work and better grasp the grammar... but I'm feeling so much better about my two years here seeing the language come along. Woo!

the Weather: is freaking hot. They have two seasons, Dry and Wet, but in each season is a hot and cool one (cool being relative. its still high 80s) and we are just ending the "cool Dry" season. A group of us talked to an ex-pat from Pennsylvania who had been here 10 years and he said April gets so hot that he just closes his restaurant and takes vacation for a month. Oh, good. Great. Me saying "I'm very hot I'm going to die" in Khmer has become a staple statement to my host family, and they always get a kick out of it. If only they realized it wasn't entirely a joke...

my Health: actually took a downturn last week. I typically never get sick, but I was having some muscle aches, fatigue and stomach ache on Tuesday, and in the middle of the night I woke up with chills and a 100ish fever. As if I didn't sweat enough, my fever has been breaking almost every night just in time for me to lay in a puddle until the roosters start to wake up. Two days ago the MO put me on some heavier meds, and yesterday she recommended I come up to the Capital of Phnom Penh to be observed and finish recovery. I have started to feel better (took time and antibiotics), but this weekend we had a special trip planned - in pairs we were given various locations within 4 hours of our villages and we were to practice language, travel, money, and everything to get there on Saturday and back on Sunday. I was really excited, and was to head with Joe to the Odong District of Kampong Speu, which is supposed to be a gorgeous area...but I am in fact missing it... so really, being able to come to the capital rather than sit in my village and feel sorry for myself was about as important to my mental health as physical. Now Phnom Penh is my self experience, and I'm going to try to go exploring today! My family, the PC staff, and my fellow volunteers were sooooo amazing and supportive throughout the whole process, but really not feeling at the top of your game at a time like this is pretty devastating. However, the end is in sight and I will return to my village on Sunday.

the People: while there is probably more to be discussed, I have two years, so I want to finish on the overwhelmingly positive note (though maybe I already said this last week) that the people are some of the most overtly wonderful that I have ever met. They constantly ask how I am, where I'm going, where I've been. Smiles are everywhere, and just broaden when they hear me try to speak Khmer. They constantly tell me how much progress I am making and how much I know (which is just MORE of a testament to thier kindness, since I know I have so much to learn). The fact that we want to come to them, learn from them, and help them on thier terms rather than judgement/mission work just seems to make them so happy that it's awesome. It sounds lame, I know, but so far it has been nothing I expected but everything I hoped.