Well, I want to get my disappointment for the Huskers performance out of the way before I tell you about Obama.
I still enjoy (enjoy is being used as a loose term due to the Huskers performance) keeping up with the games at home but this last Ohio State game was murder for me. I just wanted to cry. 38-63 OSU was the final score with me walking up and down my house cursing the Huskers and a few curious onlookers peeking in my door.
This week was pretty good for me, I began school which I learned is code for 'we will begin when the school director shows up okay?' You would think I'd be used to this sort of thing by now but I still dragged my coteacher with me to introduce ourselves and gauge where the classes were in regards to their English level.
That was well and good for Monday through Wednesday but since Thursday I've only been in school for about an hour due to the tropical storm that is currently making the road outside my house into a river.
Finally, and sorry this is such a short one, President Obama will be coming to Cambodia in November after the election and the Peace Corps Volunteers have a chance to meet him. We made this video so hopefully he accepts our invitation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWAn4X2xmAo&feature=player_embedded
Who Wants to Work 40 Hours a Week?
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Puppies, cows, babies, and bombs
Don’t be alarmed by the title, I just thought I had to add
something dangerous to make it a little more interesting.
So the neighbors that I have shared a small housing complex
with for the last year left today and to be honest I couldn’t have asked for a
better first year with them. They were
so hospitable and sympathetic to me and would cook food and feed me whenever I
happened to be home. They have been a
huge part of my experience so far.
They worked for the Cambodian Mine Action Committee (CMAC),
but don’t worry there aren’t any land mines around my site anymore. Most of the work they did was up near Chum
Kiri where another volunteer is stationed, but they are withdrawing from Kampot
(my province) now because there isn't a real need for them here
anymore, which is a good thing.
To explain why they were here in the first place is pretty
easy. When the Vietnamese invaded to
liberate Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge, the Khmer Rouge would lay random mines
all over the country to try and stop the advance. Now since recordkeeping and mapping of the
fields was practically impossible due to the fragmentation of the government,
many of these mine fields went unmarked leaving it to the local population to
happen upon a shiny object and BOOM!
But I digress, now that they are leaving and moving to a
different province I’m really sad to see them go. Yes, even though they are the ones who cooked
the road kill snake for me, among many other strange dishes. But that’s a
story for another time and place. I want
to say that they were a cornerstone of my social support and I will miss
them and their families dearly.
The long wait is over for my new host nephew! He was a whopping 4 kg (8.8 lbs) (large
when you consider my host sister who gave birth to him weighs 100 lbs) and he is really
cute. And a litter of 7 puppies was born
while I was away visiting America and they are beginning to put on some
weight and look healthy. I hope my sister lets me keep
one this time because they sold the last litter.
My Uncle has finally sold his two cows for a cool $1,800. This last year I have watched as he fed,
watered, and cleaned the cows every day, and now he seems a little lost and doesn’t know
what to do with himself all day. I’m
sure at some point he’ll noticed that I’ve been living in a house near his barn
and start fattening me up to sell at the market.
Finally, I took a trip to the mountains in a province called
Mondulkiri the last weekend before school starts up again and I had a blast. We had a group of ten people and we stayed in
these nice cabins and absorbed the flora and fauna of the area. We had the opportunity to go to some
waterfalls, go swimming, and went to a promontory were we could see for miles. I feel like the cool mountain air did all of us some good.
That’s all I’ve got for now, it’s back to school next week
and I’m happy to finally have something to fill the hours again.
Monday, September 10, 2012
The camera adds 10 lbs... So does America
I would like to thank everyone who made my trip to America
memorable. That was the most fun I have
ever crammed into two weeks. Throughout
my trip I was able to see almost all my extended family and all of my immediate
family during my visit, along with many good friends.
Two and
a half weeks is by no measure a long time to visit all your friends and family
that you have not seen for over a year, but I feel like I did a decent job of
seeing everyone barring a few people.
Not only was my vacation filled
with visiting people but it was also something reminiscent of a Roman buffet
when everyone eats until they vomit (sorry for the picture but there were many
times I ate until I could barely move).
I would also like to thank my mom for all the baked goods I didn’t have
much time to indulge in because I was eating unhealthy amounts of other foods.
The
total count of my weight gain while in America was 10 lbs, but it practically
melted away once I returned to Cambodia and I am back to my lean self. Just goes to show how desperate some of us
volunteers can be for a burrito.
I want
to thank my Brother and Sister-in-law and their wonderful daughter, Clara, for
giving me one excellent weekend at Worlds and Oceans of Fun. I had a blast, and I can’t believe how big
Clara has gotten in my one year absence.
I would
also like to thank my Mom and Grandma because without you two this trip would
have never been possible. They arranged
everything and cooked until there wasn’t a food in the house that was wanting.
Finally,
welcome to all the newly minted Peace Corps volunteers in Cambodia (I even have
one living in my town) they have 2 years of experiences that will last a
lifetime.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
One Year Mark
It was just about this point in time last year that I was
saying goodbye to my family and friends for two years in the Peace Corps. Well I’ve made it to the one year mark, the
new group has arrived, and I’m preparing to come home (just for a visit) to see
everyone before my final year of service.
It’s definitely been a year of firsts.
- · First time on a different continent
- · Seen my first wonder of the world (depending on which list you consult)
- · First time living below the poverty line
- · First time I’ve ate numerous animals and insects I had no clue were edible
- · First time hand washing my clothes
- · First time anyone in my life has ever referred to me as ‘Teacher’
I’m sure there have been more, but these are what
immediately jump to mind.
On the other end of the spectrum there are several things I
have done without that I didn’t think I would miss so much, but have been a
huge contributing factor to my overall homesickness.
- · AC, this one is obvious but it still makes me think of America everyday
- · Ice cream, in a country that’s like the surface of the sun there is an alarming lack of ice cream
- · Any type of cake, they have bread but if you are looking for a cake (not in Phnom Penh) you’re SOL
- · My car has been something I sorely miss, farthest I’ve biked in one day is 110k
- · Cheese
- · Anything that’s open after 8PM
- · Dogs you can pet
- · Unlimited texting
I could go on but you get the point.
I didn’t involve all the friends, family and pets in here
but I think that goes without saying. I
miss you all!
Since I arrived in Cambodia most of my expertise has
centered on keeping kids thinking and learning during class but I have improved
in other areas also.
- · I consider myself an expert in mosquito, food, water, and fecal borne illnesses
- · I have read nearly 40 books in the last 10 months
- · Become fairly proficient in a language that shares almost no cognates with English
- · Improved my meager guitar skills
- · Shaving with no mirror
- · Overall knowledge of English grammar
When looking at my experience and how it has changed me, I
need look no further than the new group that just arrived. I wasn’t exactly like them in every aspect
but as far as not knowing what I got myself into when I accepted the invitation
to serve in Peace Corps, I was right where they are now. It was by no means easy for me to accept that
Cambodia would be my life for two full years, and there were plenty of days I
thought one more bowl of rice would do me in, but it’s interesting to see how
far you can push yourself when faced with major lifestyle changes or
unemployment.
I promised myself to make it to the year mark and then I
would decide what my next move would be.
So I’ve reached that point and although it hasn’t always been the most
pleasant experience at all times, I will never have an opportunity like this
again anytime soon, so in all likelihood I will be spending one more year here.
Looks like it’s gonna be another
hot one today.
Dear Mom and Dad, please send money.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
May May What can I do?
Well I can’t
say everything went right last month but toward the end of May things really
started to brighten up for me.
At the very beginning of May I was organizing an event at my
school to teach about reading and how it can be used as a way to pass those
hours when most Khmer people just gape into the distance. I had contacted a university professor in
Phnom Penh who happened to be running a program with volunteer students and was
more than happy to put on the event at my school. I traveled to Phnom Penh to meet him and was
having some difficulties finding the University when a moto driver snatched my
bag from the tuk tuk I was riding in.
Well this didn’t sit too well with me so I leapt from the tuk tuk in
what I will describe as a ‘Superman dive’ only to feel his shirt slip out of my
hand and watch him speed away. Ipod,
sunglasses, camera, favorite kroma.
Went to the meeting anyway looking helpless, homeless,
dirty, pissed. Proceeded to get advice
from all the students and the professor on how to protect my belongings, no
shit you’re careful with your things, no tell me how you carry your bag
again. Giving mindless advice to a
person who is usually vigilant of things like this but had a lackadaisical moment
in a city of opportunity, but I politely listened anyway getting madder the
more I thought about it.
The meeting went well other than that and we planned for the
event to fall on the 10th.
Next duty was to tell my school director and go about getting some
supplies and seats for the audience.
Telling the school director went very well and he gave me
his blessing to hold the event, and even offered seats and a tent that his
friend had. Supplies, everyone is on
board, I got this thing locked and ready to go.
So I went to Kampot the 8th planning to return the 9th
and do one last run over of the schedule.
On the morning of the 9th I received a call from
my school director telling me the District office of Education was not going to
allow me to do my workshop. ‘What’? ‘Yes the elections are on June 3rd
and you can’t do your workshop’. ‘But that’s
3 weeks away’ I countered. ‘The DOE will
not let the school do the event’.
By this moment I’m seeing red, couldn’t figure out what the
election had to do with anything, and one day before? So I call my counterpart
and ask what the hell is going on and he says the government is scared of large
gatherings of people. So what? There are
thousands of kids who come to school every day and they haven’t canceled
school.
So I had to call the professor and inform him he couldn’t do
the workshop at my high school, something I really wasn’t looking forward to
but he surprisingly understood after I described the circumstances. ‘Is this normal in Cambodia?’ I asked. ‘Yes’ he replied ‘just wait another week or
so and you will see why.’
Sure enough in another week there were mass imprisonments,
peaceful protests were violently broken up and the participants were treated to
trial in a kangaroo court, and a 14 year old girl was killed in what the news
said was ‘indiscriminate machine gun fire’.
Onward.
I also had two other projects coming to their final events
and funding was being received for them.
The first was an art competition in which my school and four
other schools in the vicinity were participating, the three winners will be
sent to Phnom Penh to see a real exhibit and meet a real artist.
On a Tuesday I invited all my students into participate and
it soon got out of hand with kids drawing on each other more than they drew on
the paper, but I had some students take things very seriously and submit some
very good art. The art show is still on
progress so we don’t know the winners yet but we should have the results
tallied by the 14th of June.
My other project was a workshop for the boys in my grade and
I got to take 8 of them to Sihanoukville for a conference called B.R.E.W. (Boys
Respecting and Empowering Women). It may
seem a foreign concept, but most of the women still cook, clean, and care for
the children, and do not get to go out with their friends often in Cambodia. So our goal was to promote gender equality.
The boys were very receptive and enjoyed the conference, so
I think I can chalk this up as a victory in my Peace Corps service.
Last but certainly not least I was visited by a very good
friend I met when I studied in Costa Rica.
We were able to see almost everything I wanted to show her, only missing
Mondulkiri by a few days. It was a gauntlet
of traveling by bus and early morning rises to see everything we wanted to in
the short time she was here, and by the end of her visit I had been wearing the
same giddup for 3 days because we never spent enough time in one place to get
our laundry done. Wasn’t a boring moment
and I had a blast.
I apologize to my mom and grandma also because I have been
trying to make birthday shoutouts part of my blog but have fell down on several
of them. Happy belated Birthday, love
and miss you tons and will see you in August.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Vietnam Pictures
Crazy House
Dalat
Island Tour in Nha Trang (good snorkeling here)
War Remnants Museum (obviously)
Night shot from our guesthouse balcony in Dalat
Dalat Central Market
Giant Buddha
Ms. Jill Luckett and Myself in Nha Trang in an all western restaurant and bar
'Nam
I departed from my
site for about 2 ½ weeks on the 6th of April for a trip to Vietnam
while the rest of Cambodia went crazy celebrating Khmer New Year (although they
technically observe the Gregorian calendar as their official system of keeping
dates, they still celebrate events for the Buddhist calendar) which is 3 days
but in most rural regions is celebrated for almost a month. This of course means that I get a fairly
large chunk of vacation time, and a few friends and myself decided to take a
trip to Vietnam for about 10 days.
Almost immediately after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City we
were scammed by some cab drivers who ended up taking us to a money exchange
that gave us 4/5 of what we should have received and then proceeded to charge
us each $10 for a ride around the block.
So Ho Chi Minh started off pretty well.
After we got our heads about ourselves we figured approximately how much
we had lost and for some it was worse than others. I had an idea about the exchange rate so I
only changed $10 and ended up coming out okay, but a few members of my group exchanged
quite a bit more. That night we met up
with a few other volunteers also vacationing in Vietnam and tried to forget the
whole ordeal had happened.
The next day Stewart and I set out to find the War Remnants
Museum and get a feel for the city. Ho
Chi Minh is much larger than Phnom Penh so our map that we thought had a
reasonable scale turned out to be much larger than we calculated and things
were quite a bit farther than the map indicated. However we made it to the Museum and got to
go see the war from a little bit different standpoint than we were used to
seeing it in our history books.
When I say it was a little bit different I mean there were 4
floors, and 3 ½ of them were dedicated to the atrocities of American soldiers
and armed forces during the war. The
first floor was all about propaganda against American Imperialism and even
compares the war to the expansionist approach of Nazi Germany. So Stewart and I looked at each other and
immediately decided we would claim to be from Canada.
Second floor was some of the major battles of the war with
the French and American armies and the carpet bombing of the Air Force during
the later parts of the war.
Third floor was about the massacring of entire villages and
had some literature about Bob Kerry and his team. The second part of the third floor was both
my favorite and probably the saddest section of the entire museum, and it dealt
with Agent Orange. There were many
pictures of children with deformities of both Vietnamese and American parents
who had been exposed to the chemicals during the war. Many of the pictures had captions and
personal stories about the victims and some were very explicit in their descriptions
of the effects it had on the population.
The fourth floor had some of the weapons the infantry used
and had a final section with a little bit about the policies and history of
Vietnam during the period.
I tried to write this to make it as objective as possible
but the museum was very anti American and it was hard to write in a favorable
or objective tone toward America for the way some of the displays were
presented. I am aware that the
Vietnamese were not the most Geneva Convention minded during the war and many
of the American soldiers were badly mistreated also.
The last night we were in Ho Chi Minh we stayed the night at
a friend’s apartment and got a little more insight into the general attitude of
the Vietnamese towards Americans because although the host was American also
and has lived in Vietnam for about a year and a half, I had the opportunity to
talk to a few of his Vietnamese friends.
I learned that at the end of April there was a big
celebration and expressed my disappointment that I would already be back in
Cambodia and wouldn’t get to join in the festivities. Then a little later to add to my humiliation
I learned this celebration was an annual event to commemorate the day America
left Siagon.
After a few hours of sleep and one too many cups of coffee
we all hopped on a 7 ½ bus ride to a mountain town called Dalat where we were
told the air was crisp and cool, a nice change considering I have been living
on the surface of the sun for around 8 months.
Dalat was everything it was promised to be and we had a
chance to break out the fleeces and sweaters that we brought, and this small
town had the charm of a village in the foothills of the Alps at an altitude of
around 4,800ft. We spent 3 days in Dalat
enjoying the air and some of the attractions it had to offer including one ‘Crazy
House’ literally something out of Alice in Wonderland. I knew that Dalat would be an easy favorite
for me because I enjoy mountains a great deal and the fact that I wasn’t constantly
sweating because of the heat and humidity was a definite plus. Nha Trang was our next stop, a tourist beach town
about 500km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City.
Nha Trang was a very touristy town and had a lot to offer in
terms of beach activities and some sightseeing, but I’ll be damned if it was
110 degrees in the heat of the day. We
had a great time though, and managed to score an island hopping tour for about
$6 a person so we came out alright.
Overall Nha Trang was just an oasis with about 4 miles of beautiful
beach.
Then it was back to reality and that’s about where we stand
right now, heat, sweat, teaching, Peace Corps.
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