July 18, 2009

Zen and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance

Mike the Mechanic I’m not, and this afternoon’s – scenario – may have been my fault (read: haven’t put air in my tires/oiled my chain/any other form of bike maintenance since Christmas when I connived Dan into doing it for me…), but seriously people: how many barangs does it take to change a bike tire? Right. So, this morning I woke up and hauled myself into the “office,” a.k.a. my self-appointed folding table and plastic chair at SC, to do a little work. When I hopped on my trusty 24-speed to ride back for lunch, I noticed a strange schlump-schump sound coming from the back tire. I had the sickening sensation of déjà-vu as I realized it sounded exactly the way my car tire did when Gray, Lorraine, and I blew a flat on the way to Montreal … except there’s no AAA in this country.
At this point it was already 11:45, my wallet was at the house so I couldn’t make a pit stop to have it fixed, and it was at least 100 degrees. Did I mention I was hungry? That being said, I decided there was really nothing to do besides bike back and have some lunch. And a nap. And then worry about the bike tire. Biking with a flat turned what should have been a 10 minute ride into 30, and by the time I got back to the house I was literally dripping sweat. Dripping.

I camouflaged the bike in my host family’s bushes as not to attract attention and hurried upstairs for lunch. The thing is, I have a mountain bike. Most Cambodians – host family included – ride beach cruisers so anything with more than two gears is a great mystery. I'm not saying I know more about bike maintenance than your average Cambodian, but I'm skeptical sometimes … especially after the screws on my bike rack mysteriously “disappeared” while I was out of town one weekend, the batteries on my tail light have “fallen out” in their bike shed on more than one occasion, and almost all my pink streamers have been shredded due to excessive petting. When I finally pulled myself out of bed and away from my book, I knew I needed a plan. Peace Corps supplies us with all the necessary goodies to fix a flat, but I’ll be damned if I know what to do with them. I mean, do you know what to do to with a hexagon wrench and new bike tube? (Don’t answer that, Stephen).

As I swerved my way back across town, I had a brilliant idea. We have three 17 year old boys from Utah volunteering at SC for a few months. Time to in call the backup. Surely between the four of us we could figure this out. I frantically texted Scott and asked if he knew hot to fix a flat. A painful mile and a half later, we were standing in SC’s courtyard trying to figure out how to get the back wheel off. He was pretty sure his dad showed him how to do this once upon a time and I was pretty sure we learned this during Technical Training but you know, there really are an awful lot of pieces back there. Once the tire was off, we (and by “we” I mean Scott) realized I hadn’t brought the thing to loosen the rubber casing over the tubing. No, a hexagon wrench won’t do. Neither will a stick. Or my keys. We struggled for a good 25 minutes before we swallowed our pride and took it to the mechanic shop next door. I’d like to say our main reason for delay was because it was torrentially raining. It was torrentially raining, but I’m sure we all know better. Seriously, though, how difficult is changing a flat? (Again, don’t answer that, Stephen).

Naturally, the Cambodian fellow had the casing off, tubing out, new tubing in, tire inflated, and put back together in less than 3 minutes. Scott and I did manage to get the tire back on the bike ourselves (after some logistical confusion about exactly where the bike chain went), and inflated the front tire for good measure. All in all the whole process took up the better part of my early afternoon. I did contribute – albeit marginally – and think I’d be able to change a flat on my own in the future. Well, ok, I’ll probably just take it straight to the mechanic, but I’ll be all set as management material next time now that I know what the process should look like.

… And some of you thought I might actually be going native out here?? Har har.

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July 15, 2009

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!


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President Obama appoints Aaron Williams as new Director of PC

We have a new director of the Peace Corps organization! Check out the White House press release here.


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