365 days down ... lots of adventures to go

My biggest fear for the summer was that I wouldn’t be busy enough. In case you’ve known me less than 10 minutes, let me just say: I love being busy. Actually, I need to be busy. In college, I could never have too much work + cheer practice + editors meetings + sorority functions + group projects … etc., etc., etc. I’ve always found I do my best work when I have just a second too little to finish what I needed to do. This is one problem I assure you I don’t have in Cambodia. A fifteen hour work week is generous for the average Cambodian, afternoon naps are a must, and what doesn’t get done today can always get done next month. In some ways, this has been great for my patience (a virtue I don’t possess) … and in some ways, it drives me right up the wall. When school officially ended a few weeks ago I seriously wondered how I would ever find enough work to keep me from going AWOL, but I’ve been surprised – and delighted – with how busy I actually am!

I’ve been spending most of my days preparing for my girls’ leadership camp, taking place August 7-9th. We finally secured funding for the project and have begun taking the next steps to get the ball rolling. Think program planning, t-shirt designs, and meetings with the Provincial Office of Education. There are a hundred and one details that need ironed out, but if that wasn’t enough to keep me out of trouble, I’ve also been continuing work on my students’ environmental awareness campaign. We are completing banners with inspirational proverbs promoting recycling and proper trash disposal this week. They will have eight signs in total that we will hang all over the busiest parts of town. It’s exciting to watch the students take such ownership of this project. They’ve all been logging extra hours to make sure the banners look good and stand out and I can’t wait to see the final results!

Outside of provincial life, Peace Corps hosted our official Mid-Service Training a few weeks ago in Phnom Penh. It was interesting to see where the other volunteers are at after all these months. Although we all struggle with the same challenges and work towards the same goal, we go about our mission in different ways. It was nice to hear about other projects, ideas, and insights into Cambodia – 12 months in. I’ll also be participating in several training session for the new K3 volunteers (arriving next week!?!?). I’m helping with their welcome session – can we say new blood? – as well as presenting some information on culture shock and how to cope with it. It’s a great honor to help with training and I’m really looking forward to the experience and meeting our 47 newest trainees.

As hard as I’ve been working, you know I’ve been playing hard too. It seems like summer has been a time for visitors and lots of reminiscing about where we all were last year. In case time has slipped away from you like it has from me, this time last year I was packing up and getting ready to ship myself overseas. Has it really been a year already? We couldn’t be hitting the one-year mark in better style though. Deidre’s twin came to visit for a few days at the end of June. Needless to say, the resemblance was uncanny and I all but freaked out seeing them together. Having known D for almost a year before meeting her twin, I really felt like I was stepping into the Twilight Zone. The girls and I celebrated America’s (and Deidre’s) birthday over 4th of July weekend with the usual Phnom Penh shenanigans, but it just wasn’t the same without an Altoona Curve game, Dad’s hamburgers, and fireworks at College Park. As if the month couldn’t get any better, my boyfriend Goy came to visit this past weekend. Since I already mentioned patience is not one of my virtues, you can imagine how long the past two months felt while waiting for his arrival. It was worth the wait though! We hit all Phnom Penh’s tourist attractions (he even got me to eat fried crickets. No futher comment, thank you.) and o.d.-ed on some much needed quality time together. Although I failed to convince him to “miss” his flight indefinitely and set up shop here in Pursat, we have lots of visits to look forward to in the near future so, thankfully, it wasn’t really goodbye.

I’d also like to send out my respects for Stephen’s father, who passed away this past weekend. You both have been in my thoughts and prayers a great deal this month, and even though I am far away, I think of you often. All my love and support are here for you.

More updates to come - but until next time, as Dad would say: be safe, be kind. Hope to hear from you all soon!