ChOOm-rehap-sueh

That means hello in Cambodian – or I should say Khmai. Here are a few highlights in my life since the last time I was at the hub site:

Monday-Friday we worked in groups of three to practice teaching a 10th grade Cambodian class. We split the lesson into three 45 minute sections (vocab, grammar, and conversation) and rotated our topics each day so we would all have a chance to teach each category. For example, I taught …

Monday: Grammar – Simple past tense
Tuesday: Conversation – Developing opinions and comparing town and country
Wednesday: Vocab – Infrastructure/around town
Thursday: Grammar – Directional prepositions
Friday: Non formal teaching – “How to make an origami balloon”

I was surprised at the students’ levels of English. I have to commend them for their own progress – especially since they receive little, if any, homework and have so few resources. They really take pride in learning for the sake of learning. My biggest challenge won’t be the students; it will be helping them overcome everything holding them back. The students themselves are wonderful. My host sister’s best friend comes over to our house a lot to hang out with my host sister and me. Her family has a male volunteer and I don’t think he was nearly as interested in getting his fingernails painted with bright silver sparkles as I was. Instant hit with the 16 year olds, what can I say?

For those of you wondering, Stuart my mouse, is still alive, scurrying and eating my soap. He’s becoming more brave, but we have an agreement that as long as he doesn’t try to get into my bed, he can run around and I won’t freak out … much. Last night he almost crossed the line while running above my bed and pooping on my mattress pad. Not cool. One of the other volunteers had a kamikaze mouse that would jump from her ceiling into various places around her room, get stuck and squeak until he got out. Kristine’s family has since killed her “roommate” after one particularly acrobatic evening (she said the following quote could be heard through the walls of her room after she screamed in the middle of the night: “gundow, no prob-lem, Kristine”). When I suggested to my host family that I didn’t like mice either in hopes of a similar solution, they just laughed, so I’ve decided to befriend mine.

Speaking of animals, it’s a full moon right now and the dogs are nuts. I never believed the moon made animals crazy, but after this I’m a believer. The howling is ear splitting and a little bit scary sometimes when the wild dogs come out. Last night the moon was so full I could see them on the road in a dogfight with host family’s pets and it looked like something out of a horror movie. I miss Xena. Moving along.

On the plus side, the full moon is also a minor Chinese celebration commemorating ancestors who have passed away. My host family had so much delicious food on Saturday I thought I might explode. They invited my teachers over to the house for dinner and we all ate together. Fried coconut rice cakes, noodles, tom-yum soup, angle-food cake, all my favorite fruit, beef and veggies, roasted chicken, wine, beer, soy milk, coconut milk, fruit juice, vegetable soup with chicken. It was absolutely wonderful.

The only thing that could possibly be better than all that was “girls’-night-in” dinner last night. All of the girls in my village got together to make mashed potatoes, pepper steak, green beans and garlic toast. Cookies and pineapple for dessert – no rice on the menu. We all felt very American and very full by the end of the night. We decided that next Sunday we would cook breakfast together and watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

What I love most about Cambodia is the simple pleasures like cooking mashed potatoes, watching The Little Mermaid with my host siblings, finishing a whole book, beginning to whittle a chess set (don’t ask), weekly phone chats with my family, and drinking instant coffee in the afternoon at Rebecca’s house and liking it. This week we’re at the hub site again on Monday and Tuesday. We just learned that in two weeks we’re splitting into little groups to go on a mini-vacation! Each group pulled a location out of a hat. Deidre, Katie, and I are going to Battambang. We totally lucked out. This is the second largest city in Cambodia (holla!!!) and is known to have a lot of Francophones. It’s supposed to be scenic, with a temple nearby that is similar to Ankor Wat. Complete with a mote and caves!! This is our first test in getting around Cambodia without supervision and a little freedom to cut loose…. The only thing that comes to mind is: I. Can. Not. Wait!!!!!!! Details to come when I return and have internet access again! Which, by the way, may be a while since the next two weeks don’t seem to have any time scheduled in Kampong Chanang. Hopefully I can catch a few minutes in an internet café along the way to and/or from my little road-trip.

I’m also sorry for the lack of photographs. I know a lot of people have been asking to see what I’ve been up to, but I probably won’t get a chance to upload any photos until I get to my permanent site. I just don’t have the patience to do it here. Don’t worry, I’m taking lots of pictures though! As always, I miss you all and look forward to seeing you all in my mailbox. Much love!