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| Welcome back to America ! |
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| Thats what I call a meal. (Thats enough food for 4 people in Cambodia) |
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| hiking in the mountains |
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| My new niece Stella and I |
I recently made a trip back home, leaving Cambodia for what could have been the last time. You never know. I brought all of my most important possessions just in case I chickened out the day before I had to leave. My computer, ipod, my favorite clothes, vitamins, photos ect. I felt like Id been gone a long time, but that Id never left. I would think about Cambodia and feel like it must have been a dream I had. It felt like the past year was a flash, even though the days dragged while I was there. I had also been having trouble with some dental work I had done after cracking my tooth on a small chard of bone in the food I was eating. So I was finally authorized to see a dentist in the US when I got back so I could get a second opinion. As soon as I went in they were near laughter after seeing the crown on my tooth, and the 3 obvious cavities. The peace corps then allowed me to get the crown replaced along with the 3 cavities the Cambodian dentist missed entirely. This extended my stay by nearly 2 weeks, which was great for me. On the other hand its pretty expensive to be home on my salary. I normally make about 4 dollars a day, on vacation they allow for 12 dollars a day (which I had been paid for a little each month, without my knowledge) and the final days while I was under a 'medical hold' they gave me $32 dollars a day ! Whoo hoo. Once getting back to the US, I noticed a few things right away. We have rules, alot of them. You cant park here, you can drive over this speed, you cant drive in on coming traffic or disregard stop signs. I also learned you cant just park your car anywhere. $200 per car later ( there were 2 cars towed) both Matts,I felt so bad. He bailed the cars out and Im forever in debted to him. Later that week I had a minor fender bender and then a photo radar speeding ticket. WOW. I guess not driving for a year, I had to make up for what would have happend if I had been home the entire year all in one month.
My parents and brother, sister, 2 nieces were all in Denver and I spent the first week with them. It was hard, when everyone was so spread out all over the country and even throughout Denver. In Cambodia, most of the extended family members live next door or down the street. They are always together, many times living together in a single room hut, all 7 of them sometimes.
At home I ate ALOT of Mexican food. Id missed tortilla chips, cheese, salsa, adequate portions of meat other than pork, a refrigerator, running water that I could actually drink, hot showers, air conditioning, being clean, clean feet, not sweating all day, not having dirt/mud everywhere, a couch, cable, comfortable beds with out a mosquito net and QUIET. Its never quiet in Cambodia. Things had changed a big in Denver though. My sister and 3 friends had had thier first babies and two more friends were pregnant. It was hard to say goodbye again, for ANOTHER year, knowing that when I come back these babies will be walking and not even know me. I 'll just have to work extra hard to get to know them when I get there. Hopefully this next year will be even easier. My parents are coming in January, right after New Year. Im curious what they will think and if they will smell the smells I remember when I first got here, noticing all the little things I first did, and now I dont even notice. Matt would like to come again too, hopefully around January February as well. I just cant go without seeing him for more than 6 months. My flight was from LA, to Seoul, Korea where I was able to do day drip into the city during my 10 hour layover.
The food in Korea was great. I ate 4 meals there, including on the plane. The city was very modern and clean. I wouldnt have minded being stuck at the airport though. Its a huge airport with many things to visit, you can rent a bed to sleep in and it includes a shower and a buffet afterwards, you can eat lots of different foods and even make a free souvenier in many areas of the airport.
It was hard to know that I was coming back to a place where ultimately I have 4 regular students who get my English tutoring, and up to 3 hours a day in a health center where they enjoy me being there, but probably dont have many other ideas as to why Im going back. I hope what they say is right, that the 2nd year is much better, more productive. I dont mind the naps sometimes, because it is pretty hot in the mid day and it is pretty overwhelming to be out there with the people and the chaos, so having some time to zone out has become essential for my sanity.
I arrived back in Cambodia at nearly midnight after almost 20 hours of flying. I got the first taxi that I saw and had to go straight to the ATM, then to buy a phone card, then to my hotel. I didnt sleep much at all on the plane, so Im surprised I was alert enough to remember any Khmer language or where I was in the city. I probably watched 5 movies on the plane, including the Justin Bieber documentary. Why was I crying while watching that? I did sit next to a nice guy on the flight from LA to Seoul who was a dentist that did mission trips to 3rd world countries. He may be a good connection in the future. Maybe he can come to Cambodia and offer a little dental clinic in my village. Boy they could use it.The dentists in the village are very dangerous in my opinion. It costs 5 dollars to get a tooth pulled. Thats alot of money for them. One woman came over last night, desperate, to ask me for pain medicine for her completely rotten teeth. Before then, I think she'd made a habit of drinking shots at my host mothers general store. She sells homemade liquor. One of the kinds translates to "Medicine Liquor". Its a little misleading. The people dont have access to a Target where they can buy a big bottle of Advil and keep in at thier house. They dont have dental floss and probably dont care too much about brushing their teeth. They usually have to go into the health center and pay .25 cents and get 3 -4 days of pills if they are sick or have pain. But this particular womans'teeth are going to hurt for some time until they fall out, or she gets them pulled. My own teeth had taken a plunge since being over here, I cant imagine this woman, who was about 45. I was told by my American dentist that due to not having flouride in the water, or in the toothpaste I had been using, nor having a very good diet as far as calcium and minerals for good dental health, that my teeth suffered quite a bit. Another man who runs the coffee shop/shack I go to had sliced his hand up so badly, to me it looked like he needed stitches badly, but apparantly not. He did have a dirty bandage on it and had no soap to wash it with. I happen to have some hospital strength anibacterial soap for my mosquito bites that got infected. I offered him this, in hopes his hand doesnt fall off in the near future. I can always get more, but this guy would never go buy soap for his wound. Lots of people asked where thier gift was, from the US. I couldnt possibly get everyone something, and I warned them of this before I left. I told them, I get 12 $ a day and food is atleast that much in one day, not including gas or anything else. I brought little things like candy and cheap dollar store toys/jump ropes, word searches ect. One old woman asked how much money my family had given me for the people in her community. I thought, did she really expect that? Was she kidding? I somehow dont think she was. Either way she wasnt overly disappointed either though, so that was good. My host family, in my absence, has since made a new drive way. The road down the street had been torn up over 2 months ago (and still isnt re-paved) so many people have decided to take the chunks of asphalt and make themselves new driveways. This is what it looks like. Also the table where I tutor was completely blocked with these peices of asphalt and a barrel. I had to tell the students we'd have to wait a few days to study since we would no longer have a light or a way to sit at this table. I had to laugh.
My parents and brother, sister, 2 nieces were all in Denver and I spent the first week with them. It was hard, when everyone was so spread out all over the country and even throughout Denver. In Cambodia, most of the extended family members live next door or down the street. They are always together, many times living together in a single room hut, all 7 of them sometimes.
At home I ate ALOT of Mexican food. Id missed tortilla chips, cheese, salsa, adequate portions of meat other than pork, a refrigerator, running water that I could actually drink, hot showers, air conditioning, being clean, clean feet, not sweating all day, not having dirt/mud everywhere, a couch, cable, comfortable beds with out a mosquito net and QUIET. Its never quiet in Cambodia. Things had changed a big in Denver though. My sister and 3 friends had had thier first babies and two more friends were pregnant. It was hard to say goodbye again, for ANOTHER year, knowing that when I come back these babies will be walking and not even know me. I 'll just have to work extra hard to get to know them when I get there. Hopefully this next year will be even easier. My parents are coming in January, right after New Year. Im curious what they will think and if they will smell the smells I remember when I first got here, noticing all the little things I first did, and now I dont even notice. Matt would like to come again too, hopefully around January February as well. I just cant go without seeing him for more than 6 months. My flight was from LA, to Seoul, Korea where I was able to do day drip into the city during my 10 hour layover.
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downtown Seoul, Korea |
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| The Royal Palace |
The food in Korea was great. I ate 4 meals there, including on the plane. The city was very modern and clean. I wouldnt have minded being stuck at the airport though. Its a huge airport with many things to visit, you can rent a bed to sleep in and it includes a shower and a buffet afterwards, you can eat lots of different foods and even make a free souvenier in many areas of the airport.
It was hard to know that I was coming back to a place where ultimately I have 4 regular students who get my English tutoring, and up to 3 hours a day in a health center where they enjoy me being there, but probably dont have many other ideas as to why Im going back. I hope what they say is right, that the 2nd year is much better, more productive. I dont mind the naps sometimes, because it is pretty hot in the mid day and it is pretty overwhelming to be out there with the people and the chaos, so having some time to zone out has become essential for my sanity.
I arrived back in Cambodia at nearly midnight after almost 20 hours of flying. I got the first taxi that I saw and had to go straight to the ATM, then to buy a phone card, then to my hotel. I didnt sleep much at all on the plane, so Im surprised I was alert enough to remember any Khmer language or where I was in the city. I probably watched 5 movies on the plane, including the Justin Bieber documentary. Why was I crying while watching that? I did sit next to a nice guy on the flight from LA to Seoul who was a dentist that did mission trips to 3rd world countries. He may be a good connection in the future. Maybe he can come to Cambodia and offer a little dental clinic in my village. Boy they could use it.The dentists in the village are very dangerous in my opinion. It costs 5 dollars to get a tooth pulled. Thats alot of money for them. One woman came over last night, desperate, to ask me for pain medicine for her completely rotten teeth. Before then, I think she'd made a habit of drinking shots at my host mothers general store. She sells homemade liquor. One of the kinds translates to "Medicine Liquor". Its a little misleading. The people dont have access to a Target where they can buy a big bottle of Advil and keep in at thier house. They dont have dental floss and probably dont care too much about brushing their teeth. They usually have to go into the health center and pay .25 cents and get 3 -4 days of pills if they are sick or have pain. But this particular womans'teeth are going to hurt for some time until they fall out, or she gets them pulled. My own teeth had taken a plunge since being over here, I cant imagine this woman, who was about 45. I was told by my American dentist that due to not having flouride in the water, or in the toothpaste I had been using, nor having a very good diet as far as calcium and minerals for good dental health, that my teeth suffered quite a bit. Another man who runs the coffee shop/shack I go to had sliced his hand up so badly, to me it looked like he needed stitches badly, but apparantly not. He did have a dirty bandage on it and had no soap to wash it with. I happen to have some hospital strength anibacterial soap for my mosquito bites that got infected. I offered him this, in hopes his hand doesnt fall off in the near future. I can always get more, but this guy would never go buy soap for his wound. Lots of people asked where thier gift was, from the US. I couldnt possibly get everyone something, and I warned them of this before I left. I told them, I get 12 $ a day and food is atleast that much in one day, not including gas or anything else. I brought little things like candy and cheap dollar store toys/jump ropes, word searches ect. One old woman asked how much money my family had given me for the people in her community. I thought, did she really expect that? Was she kidding? I somehow dont think she was. Either way she wasnt overly disappointed either though, so that was good. My host family, in my absence, has since made a new drive way. The road down the street had been torn up over 2 months ago (and still isnt re-paved) so many people have decided to take the chunks of asphalt and make themselves new driveways. This is what it looks like. Also the table where I tutor was completely blocked with these peices of asphalt and a barrel. I had to tell the students we'd have to wait a few days to study since we would no longer have a light or a way to sit at this table. I had to laugh.
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| our new drive way? |
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| The table where I tutor...used to tutor? The other day, a couple little girls I know in the village came by with thier notebooks asking me for an impromtu english lesson. I agreed because my goal when returning to Cambodia from the US was NOT TO BE BORED. I sat them down at the above table thats in shambles and began going over the basics since they dont know much at all. ABCs and 123's and some words like Mother, Father, Dog, Chicken ect.. My host sister who is older, sometimes gets jealous and comes and bothers us, talking, distracting the girls and getting upset when I ask her to kindly not do these things. Later in the lesson one girl said she goes to 'summer school' at an NGO (organization that donates to Cambodia) near my house. So I agreed to go with her to check it out. I went down a path that I didnt know existed and saw there was a whole other little neighborhood. One house, was being rented for this school. The teacher was a 29 year old married Cambodian guy, who lived 30 minutes away but since he doesnt have a car, he lives at the school, away from his family and child. I know its sad right? Well he was more than happy to talk with me, and practice his english. The NGO is called Çambodia Reads, sponsored by the USA. I informed him, I am American too! Can I do anything to help here? He stated that its a Khmer (Cambodian) language school, to teach the kids after or before school (depending if they usually go to regular school in the morning, or after lunch) This is to supplement thier schooling. I noticed alot of un-opend art supplies and wondered if the kids wanted to do an Art day. They were thrilled. The teacher was too. So today I went and there were 55 kids in this small room. I thought , Oh no, there are only about 10 paint brushes, 20 or 30 colored pencils and 5 water color paint kits. I started by giving them each a piece of white paper, and tried to divide up the paint and pencils. It was all fun until 3 minutes later all the kids kept saying ERIN ERIN HEY ERIN ERIN TEACHER TEACHER (then shortend to CHER! CHER! CHER! CHER!) I grew pretty frustrated pretty quick. I mean, I know they are kids, but come on ! Meanwhile, the teacher I was helping just sat back and relaxed. Most of these kids if not all, God bless them, had never had an art class, or been able to paint at school, having art supplies like this to work with. They had no idea what they wanted to draw. They sat there with blank papers for awhile until I could give them ideas, what color to paint thier flower or rainbow. On the white board I attempted to give examples of what they could draw, a Cat-person, a Cow-pig, or a flower. Im not the best artist. Many of the kids still couldnt decide what to draw and I ended up drawing about 10 houses and 15 flower outlines for the kids to paint over. They were so happy and helped clean up the complete mess they had made of the classroom. Afterwards, I exchanged phone numbers with the teacher, in hopes of keeping the communication going for helping out here more often. However, typical Cambodia, the teacher called 2 or 3 times wtihin a few hours of me leaving the school. What could we possible have to talk about? I had this happen with the Monk once , remember? I thought, its a monk, he will only use my phone number if there is something specific I can help with or if he has a question. Wrong. That monk called 3 to 5 times a day for a week until he realized I was ignoring his calls and stopped calling. The few little girls who I tutor then accompanied me to the market where I wanted to buy some fruit and maybe some vegetables. One rode on the back of my bike and the other two rode on another bike. I got my apples and a few bananas and a part of a pumpkin to cook probably the size of a walnut. Sometimes I think, how do these people survive? This family is not considered poor. They just dont care, or know better. Another volunteer text me today saying that "come hell or high water I will be going to Batambang today for some real food" Thats the closest main city to her where she will probably have a steak for breakfast lunch and dinner. Talk about underfed. This girl gets watermelon and rice for multiple meals a week. I couldnt do it. I will soon be moving to a new house. I have come to realize that living here is just not fun anymore. Maybe the buzz of having the "foreigner"living with you has worn off. I think the daughter who is ten, and who Ive mentioned before is the devil, just cant handle the fact that I do absolutely EVERYTHING different than her or her mother. The new house is also one of the nicer ones in the area, a mother and her teenage daughter are the only people living there. Her husband died about 6 months ago. The kids today told me that there is a ghost in the house since her husband died there. I shrugged it off but I keep thinking about it. Part of the reason I want to move is because my host family is very quiet and rather moody I find. Although the house is quiet typically, the kid and her friends can be crazy running around and making so much noise. The new house will be next to an English school, which could get rowdy but I will be awake by the time they start class, which consists of the teacher saying a phrase and the students shouting /repeating it back (50 + students that is) My host sister is what I consider a new type of Cambodian kid, with money, and an only child. B-R -A-T.  So many things happen a day that make me wish I had a video camera or audio recorder so I could remember it all. * a student came to me and said the other student couldnt come study because she was at her cousins funeral. She said her cousin had rejected a guys marriage proposal and he cursed her, wishing for a cobra to kill her. The cousin got bit by a cobra and died. * an old man at the coffee shop I frequent, told me that when he was a soldier during the Khmer Rouge - Vietnam war days, they would kill the opposition soldiers and eat thier livers, along with cats because they were starving. * walking through my village saying words to people like " Haircut" to the barber.... Horse to the guy riding down the street on a horse drawn cart, " puppy" to the family with the puppy. I picture myself being an Asian exchange student who can only say one word phrases. "hungry" "school bus" "Watermelon" * watching my host sister play 'Pick up sticks with real sticks and a lime. * watching the road get paved down the street, its been over 2 months now for a stretch of road about 1/4 of a mile if that. * riding in a taxi van with 14 people, the man in the very middle lights up a cigarette without hesitating. * the phone conversation with the Cambodian Peace Corps staff. me: "where is my bike"? PC What bike? me: My bike, you took it to fix it while I was in the US. PC We did? me: Yes. PC We will have to find out. There are no bikes here. me: What? PC We may have given it away.   8-11-11 The Dental Students came to my health center today. They pulled teeth for people in the village at no cost. The students were very nice and enjoyed talking with me about the Dental system in the US. They looked at my teeth, and we talked about how in the US we put flouride in the water, they had no idea, and why would they. I talked about the fact that I hadnt been getting enough calcium since Id been here, but that Cambodian people probably do, since they eat Prohoc, a fermented bucket of fish that has been sitting in this bucket for up to a year, bones skin and all. I cannot eat this and there is very little milk products here. Drinking Milk with ice is probably the closest I get.    My new favorite little girl, I gave her this toothbrush. I collect them from hotels and other volunteers give them to me. I pass them out to the kids. If I can get them to, I ask them to brush for me, so I can see how they do it. This little girl was more than willing. Love her !   |
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