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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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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"Beautiful City, Beautiful Life"

As part of international Environmental Awareness Week I asked the students in my private class to work in pairs and come up with a project to help solve an environmental issue in Pursat. Each team presented their plan to the group and then we voted on the best one. Prizes were involved, of course! After a full week of project planning and much agonizing deliberation about which team’s idea was most realistic and helpful, we finally settled on “Beautiful City, Beautiful Life,” by Visa and Lehoung (that’s them in the photo).

All the students agree that “rubbish,” as they call it with their quirky half-Khmer, half-British accents, is the biggest problem in our town. To address this issue, Visa and Lehoung proposed that students at SC form an Environment Club that will run for the duration of summer. To kick off the club, we will host an awareness campaign and “bring-a-buddy” trash pick-up day. Over the course of the next week or so, we will take pictures of trash and pollution in town and use these images to create posters featuring stats and facts about the importance of proper trash disposal, composting techniques, and recycling. The club members will use these posters to give a presentation to the local community before we all head down to the river to clean up the area.

The club’s next goal is to create three trash bins for especially polluted areas around town. We are currently fundraising 60,000rh (that’s the equivalent of $15.00) to buy bamboo from the surrounding villages and soliciting donations for nails and hammers. I am impressed with the students’ initiative and passion about the issue and am looking forward to a very GREEN summer!

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Dirty Does Cambodia

After nine months, I finally had my first visitor from the States! My brother and I had been planning this trip since I found out I was coming to Cambodia, so you can imagine how excited I was to finally put it into action. Steve (and one of his fratty friends who served about 6 years ago) was a big part of the reason I decided to apply for the Peace Corps in the first place, so it’s fitting that he be the first to experience the ‘Bode. … and did he ever.

Since Steve was only going to be in-country for about a week, we didn’t waste any time. I was at the airport to welcome him at 9:00AM sharp with an embarrassingly large sign à la Jim and Jan Kimmel. Once we said our hellos, we headed straight to the hotel, got settled, and then hit a few of the main tourist attractions in Phnom Penh. Truth be told, they were pretty weak as far as tourist traps go – but we made up for it later. As per the usual Phnom Penh routine, all the volunteers in town got together for a night on the town later that evening. On Tara and Tiffany’s recommendation, we decided to check out Nagaworld Casino. Nagaworld is probably one of the swankiest places in Phnom Penh: you can’t get in unless you roll up in a Lexus (or are a local celebrity, like we are … riiight). The casino itself is the same as what you’d find in Vegas or Atlantic City, except that AC and free drinks are actually a rare perk here in Cambodia. Once we all lost our week’s worth of salaries, we headed to dinner at a great little Italian café along the riverfront, followed by a guitar jam session at the hookah bar next door and, of course, dancing at Pontoon. I’m still surprised that Steve powered through those 24 hours without the slightest sign of jet lag … maybe the girls and I should induct him as an honorary champ after all.

The next morning, we took the bus to my site so Stephen could get a feel for my daily life. After meeting my host family, he took the grand tour of the school and NGO I volunteer at before we continued up to Battambang for the evening. It was really surreal having someone from home finally see my life here. For almost a year, I’ve created a “new” life – new routine, new place, new job, new friends – that are pretty much separate from who I am in the States. That’s not to say I’m somehow different here than I am at home (except perhaps, being better dressed in the States) … but it was still strange to watch someone experiencing what I’ve been describing from halfway across the globe in person. It was like my two lives were finally meeting and shaking hands. Yeah, corny metaphor, but I think you see my point.

Now, the reason we needed to head to Battambang that evening was so we could catch the “fast ferry” up the Tonle Sap River to Siem Reap early the next morning. In theory this seemed like a great cultural experience. We were told that the fast ferry would leave around 7:00AM and take roughly four hours. Perfect: not only would Steve get to see traditional life on the river, but we’d actually be making better time on the boat than if we took a bus. The first hour of the trip was fantastic. Sure it was a little cramped (I mean, how can you fit 40 Westerners on a tiny Khami junk and not be cramped?), sure the seats were uncomfortable, and sure the few Cambodian passengers were cranky because we were taking up too much space … but who doesn’t love being out on (semi) open water at 7:00AM? Around 10:30AM, we stopped at a floating rest-stop. And by rest-stop, I mean a tiny raft with a snack vendor and gasoline for sale in old Johnny Walker bottles. At this point, I figured we could only have another hour left at most, so I was a little surprised that we were stopping at all. Steve suggested that I ask our driver when we’d be arriving just in case. After assuring him that we'd definitely be there in an hour, I decided to ask anyway. The conversation went something like this:

Me: So, when do you think we’ll get to Siem Reap?
Driver: Maybe around two.
Random bystander: No, probably more like three.
Driver: Ok, between two and three.
Me: You mean in two hours, right?? ... not at two o'clock?
Driver: No, I mean two or three o’clock.
Me: ……… oh …. oh, I see.

… so much for the four hour water taxi. Eight hours later, we finally arrived in Siem Reap. Needless to say, I was never happier to get off a boat in my life.

Once we regained feeling in our legs, we hailed a took-took to take us to our guesthouse. We didn’t have any specific plans for the afternoon other than meeting up with some other volunteers for a late dinner. That gave us just enough time to nap (incredible how sitting and doing nothing on a boat all day can take it out of you), shower, and pull ourselves together before we headed out. Good food with good friends was the perfect end to our day. After we hit the Blue Pumpkin for some of the best ice cream in the Bode, we called it an early night so we’d be ready to conquer the temples the next day.

As some of you may know, Steve’s birthday is in April. For something a little different than the usual gift ideas, I splurged on a helicopter ride over the temple complex. At 10:00AM we lifted off! I’ve never been in a helicopter, so I was like a wide-eyed little girl the whole time. Steve loved it too, and I don’t think we could have started our day any better. Our pilot gave us a little overview of the temples and some history of the area and then we headed off to see everything in person. There are tons of temples in the Angkor complex, but we only chose three: we started out with Bayon (famous for its giant stone faces), then visited the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed – also famous for the ancient fichus trees literally crawling all over the temple structure, and finished with the iconic Angkor Wat. The temples were massive and we could actually crawl through the stones in many of them, making me feel like maybe we really were tomb raiders. Standing inside these incredible structures is, for lack of a less cliché term, awe-inspiring to say the least. Even so, by the end of the afternoon, we were officially templed-out. We headed back to the hotel, cleaned up and hit the new Mexican restaurant in town. You all know how I feel about Mexican, so I’ll spare you the details – but it definitely gives Viva! a run for its money!

The next day we met our took-took driver from the day before, who had developed a serious man-crush on Stephen (think thigh-grabbing and heavy petting), to take us to the Kulen mountain ranges where there are several 45ft waterfalls. And, yes, ladies and gentlemen, you can swim right in the spray at the base of the falls. On top of that, we were the only people swimming at the base, so it felt like we owned the place. Getting there was a little bit of a trek, but the experience was so worth it. I’m not sure who loved it more – us, or our driver – but the whole day was by far one of the coolest things I’ve done in Cambodia to date. When we finally got back to civilization, we enjoyed our last night on the town (complete with Apsara dancing and a city-wide power outage – see, I told you he got the full experience).

The trip went by way too fast, but it was one for the records. As always, he came. He saw. He conquered.

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Making Headlines

Check out this article on the Habitat for Humanity website for more info about our build. You can also read about the Jimmy Carter blitz build taking place in November that I hope to be a part of. Keep your fingers crossed that Water Festival falls on those dates!
p.s. pics from Malaysia and Habitat are up on facebook and under my "Six Months Plus" photos. Enjoy!

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Habitat for Humanity Build

Picture me in a hard hat. Ok – good. Now picture me laying bricks. Still with me? How about me climbing on scaffolding? Yeah, I know – I probably lost you all the way back at the hard hat. But I swear it’s all true! Fifteen volunteers and I joined up with Habitat for Humanity for a week to build a community center for homeless Cambodians in Oudong province. This project was actually a test run to generate excitement for a huge blitz-build that will take place in November. The next goal: 21 houses in one week! Depending on my school schedule, I hope to participate in the second build because this past week was so incredibly rewarding.

We all piled into a guest house on Sunday night – not really sure what to expect for Monday morning. We knew we’d be working alongside the local community, for the community, but none of us had any construction experience and many of the volunteers actually thought I was serious when I jokingly asked if you could plug in a hammer. Oh boy.

Orientation on our first day consisted of a brief “how-to” on laying bricks before we were thrown into the action. My three-person team was in charge of laying the bricks on the Western wall of the center. Despite the scorching heat and long hours, the day passed super fast. I felt like I had learned a real skill and was using it to do something meaningful and lasting.

Day two we continued to work on our wall … this time on scaffolding. I dropped a re-bar on Tara’s head, but luckily she had a hard hat on and that was my only really spaztastic moment. Of course, the real secret to our dream team was Rebecca. That girl can BUILD. She was one of the few people who had a working knowledge of this sort of thing (grace à her father) and it showed.

We continued on to help install the doors and windows, which resulted in a minor catastrophe because the window and door fixtures were the wrong size so we had to do some improvising to get everything to fit. Aside from that, things were really shaping up and we were all having a blast doing it. Nothing like working under a blue sky and big sun to make you feel alive.

By day four I’d had my fill of brick laying and crack filling, so I switched over to the “management crew” while a few other volunteers raised the roof and plastered it into place. We weren’t allowed to help with the roof itself due to liability, so we cleared out all the renegade bricks from the site and organized the remaining materials. This was more interesting than it sounds – if for no other reason than there is tons of wild life that likes to hide in the brick piles. Hopping mice, frogs, snakes eating the frogs, scorpions … you name it.

On our last day, we finished the community center, cleaned it up, and prepped for the dedication ceremony in the morning. The families arrived after lunch all smiles. After a few speeches, we turned them loose to enjoy the building. Seeing the gratitude on the families’ faces, letting their children crawl all over me in excitement, and participating in an impromptu dance party right there at site (that’s how excited everyone was) was beyond touching. These families live on a garbage dump site that is closing down, so they will be loosing the meager homes that they have. To them, this isn’t just a simple building, but a new life. And being part of that is something I will carry with me forever.

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Gettin Out of Dodge!

After literally counting down the days until April 10th for more than a month, Dan, Deidre, Tara and I finally boarded our plane for Malaysia. This was, of course, after my traditional stop at the DQ inside the terminal. Before going, I didn’t know much about Malaysia other than the fact that it wasn’t Cambodia. And that was enough for me. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur late that evening; leaving us just enough time to shuttle into the city, find the seediest hostel around, and grab our first of many Indian meals to kick off one of the best vacations I’ve ever had. Our plan was to head up to the Cameron Highlands the next day to visit some tea plantations and do a little jungle trekking. After that, we hit KL for a few more days before flying into Singapore to get our fill of the cities. We visited Kota Kinabalu for some sun and scuba on the surrounding islands. We planned to head to Mount Kinabalu to do some hiking but somewhere along the way, Tara and I decided to return to Singapore while Dan and Deidre conquered the mountain. For those of you who know me well, it should come as no surprise that I opted for a few more days of shopping and city hopping over hiking. Some things will never change I guess … even after nine months in the sticks!

Malaysia and Singapore are about as different from Cambodia as you get. Aside from the fact that they’re all in South-East Asia, I’d say they don’t share much in common. Malaysia has a stronger Indian and Muslim influence that gives it a lot of its character. Singapore is a utopia of high gloss shine, culture, and order. Both places have embraced Western culture in a way that made me feel right at home, without loosing their own uniqueness. Ok, on to my trip …

The Cameron Highlands are a five hour bus ride from Kaula Lumpur, up a winding mountain road that rivals the insanity of the Amalfi Coast. We stayed in a sleepy little village where we could o.d. on E! TV at our hostel, catch a cheap massage at the local spa, and continue or tour de force of Indian food. Actually, we spent most of our time in the Highlands hopping from one delicious meal to the next. Aside from the Indian food, we were surrounded by three tea plantations (each with their own assortment of homemade scones and pastries to accompany their tea), several strawberry farms where you could pick your own berries or any strawberry confection you could dream of, and an apiary – because tea and scones clearly wouldn’t be complete without a little honey. When we weren’t feeding our inner-epicureans (literally), we explored the surrounding rain forest and waterfalls. The tea plantations were by far my favorite part though. The Boh plantation is made up of 1,200 hectors of terraced and manicured tea plants, all of which are harvested every 15 days. The work that goes into making tea is astonishing, but to work at a place with that kind of view is probably worth its weight in tea leaves.

Coming from Cambodia to the Highlands wasn’t too much of a shock. Sure the Highlands were cleaner, people were driving on the proper side of the road, and no one was yelling or staring at us … but the town that we stayed in had a lot of the same rustic charm as the Bode. Kuala Lumpur blew it all out of the water. One of the first things on our agenda was to catch a movie (at a REAL theater) and do a little shopping for new ‘going-out’ outfits so we could hit the town without looking like a bunch of dirty Peace Corps Volunteers. Walking into the Pavilion shopping center was like releasing three caged animals back into the wild. I say three because while Tara, Deidre and I stalked the shelves for heels, bags, and dresses, Dan dutifully endured our shopping extravaganza in a way I didn’t know grown men were capable of…he even let us drag him along to see “He’s Just Not That Into You.” We did all the requisite sight seeing of the KL needle and Petronas Towers on our second day (although we never made it to the observation deck because we got distracted by the shopping center on the ground floor). That evening we were all in our best form. We went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse and then to a fabulous club where we made friends with half the bar staff and partied until the sun came up. Now, I know what you’re thinking: why would you go all the way to Malaysia to eat at Outback. But let me tell you what, after nine months of white rice and paddy fish, that steak never tasted so good. Trust me on this one.

We spent our first full day in Singapore at the Disneyland of beaches. It’s an entirely man-made beach island right off the city’s coast, complete with theme attractions and plenty of places to spend your money. In fairness, Sentosa Island is absolutely beautiful and would actually be a lot of fun if you went knowing what it was, but we were looking for a more laid-back vibe. Sentosa Island was recommended to us by one of the staff members at our hostel, who, interestingly, also recommended Attica – the Disneyland of clubs – to us for our first night out. After strike two we decided we should find a new resource.

Always the classy bunch, the four of us decided to head to the famous Raffles Hotel for Singapore Slings and peanuts (the rest of the menu was a little out of our budget) and Tara and I eventually found our club of choice. We claimed the Butter Factory as our late-night headquarters and embarked on another night of adventures … this time involving some slap-happy Cubans and an editor of Playboy magazine to name a few of the cast of characters. On our way out we snagged two of the bouncers who promised to show us the “real Singapore.” A bowl of noodles later and a few hours of chatting, the sun was coming up, but we weren’t ready to call it a day yet – so we headed to the East Coast beach where we all went swimming and watched the sun rise. We spent the next day hanging out with them and enjoying a totally relaxing day in Singapore. Perfect. I should also mention that we met up with two other volunteers who were also traveling through Malaysia and we all agreed we should move our office to Singapore and call it a day.

Needless to say, when it was time to head to our next destination, I was a little reluctant to leave. Kota Kinabalu was worth it though. Every day was a perfect day at the beach --all teal water and white sand. One of the days, Tara and I also went scuba diving. Our salty scuba instructor insisted we hold hands the whole time and regaled us with the story of how he woke one day and decided to flush his IT job down the drain for a life on the high seas. We have aptly startled referring to him as Captain Jack Sparrow. Although we didn’t dive too deep, we saw some great stuff: brilliant coral, a baby sea turtle, and a giant school of mirror-like fish that surrounded us and nibbled on our fingers and swam through our hair. We had dinner on the water and shot the breeze while listening to the waves break on the jetty that night … the perfect end to the perfect day. That was before Dan decided to take us on a - how should we say - "detour" on our way back to the hostel because he didn’t want to ask for directions. See, I knew it was only a matter of time after that shopping trip before he showed his true colors as a member of the male species!

Now, Kota Kinabalu was great, buuut Tara and I really wanted a few more days in Singapore and I was secretly (ok, maybe not so secretly) beginning to remember that in my heart of hearts, as much as I wish I could say I love hiking, I just don’t … and the next part of our journey had us heading straight to Mount Kinabalu for just that. By a stroke of luck, Tara and I found a flight back to Singapore for under $30 – at the point, we figured it was meant to be. So off we went for Singapore: Round 2. We spent our remaining days with the guys – even though they did throw off our one and only plan to get to the zoo!

By the time we said goodbye for the second time, I was fairly certain I’d hit a depression the minute we got back to the Bode. Our “home coming” to Phnom Pehn was less than ideal … but a good Indian meal and a major reminiscing session kept us sane!

…. So, when do I get to go back?

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