Welcome to Cambodia

I hope that this post is somewhat coherent. I've never been so exhausted in all my life.

Staging happened! In San Francisco. It was pretty much what I expected; a lot of paperwork and sessions, masked by cheesy ice breakers and creative short projects. I was pleased to find though that I was comfortable and found some people I enjoy talking to.

I went into class clown Diana mode. When Diana is in a new situation, she like loses her filter and just makes really bad jokes about everything. I think it's to make life seem less awkward. But I think it was okay. Some people humored me :-P

Many of us went out to get Mexican food after staging. Delish!!!! I had a giant burrito! Then, despite all I had said about wanting to tear up San Francisco, I went back to the hotel and was out like a light in no time.

The following morning we piled onto buses, to the airport, and then to the gate. Our plane was delayed! So we passed the time with some card games and I played some uke and guitar.  I called my mom and dad and emily one last time to say goodbye and A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO EMILY!

hahaha I just fell asleep on my laptop. So I'm going to put this away and finish in the morning.

MORNING: Hi, this is blogging, take two.

So first we flew to Tokyo. That was about 10 and a half hours. Lucky for me (not) I wasnt seated near any of the other Peace corps volunteers. I was nicely sandwiched between two Japanese men. But I wsas talking to one who was very nice and told me a little about Cambodia because he lived there for 4 years. They showed awful movies on the plane. Both guys next to me slept nearly the entire time. I literally sat there staring at the back of the chair in front of me for 10 and a half hours haha. I have no idea how I survived.

We were in the Japanese airport for about 3 or 4 hours. I tried my first strange food. It was like... dried crab. But whole crab. Shell and all. and you eat it like a chip. t was very strange. They glazed it with some sort of sweet coating, but it still had an extremely fishy taste too. Not my favorite.

The flight from Tokyo to Bangkok in Thailand was 6 hours I think? Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well during that one. I don't know why, but I had really sharp pain in my stomach the whole time and i was very uncomfortable. I guess we'll blame the plane food? Or how about that crazy crab? Or maybe you're not supposed to eat a mass amount of gummy bears on an empty stomach. Who knows. But I'm better now.

The little piece of Bankok that we saw was so cool! The airport was very contemporary. We got into Bangkok at abour 11:30PM and we were exhausted. So we piled into buses and went to a hotel that Peace Corps so nicely provided us for the night. Some people went out for food, but I was too exhausted. The hotel was BEAUTIFUL! Probably one of the nicest I've ever been in. Only weird thing was that there was a large window between our bathroom and our room lol. creepy! Oh, btw I forgot to mention I've had a roommate this whole time. It's been fun.

After sleeping for like 4 hours, we had to get up again to go back to the airport for our final flight to Cambodia. Again, that flight was delayed. But thats okay cuz there was free wifi in the airport! The flight from Bangkok to Phnom Penh was only an hour.

When we landed in Cambodia I was so excited! Everyone was saying "welcome home!" and that felt weird but exciting. Our group of volunteers is called K5. The K4s have been serving in Cambodia for a year. Many of the K4s came to meet us in the airport and cheer as we came through customs. It was a good time.

We loaded most of a luggage into a truck and said temporary goodbye to that. We will only have access to our large bag once a week during training. Thats alright, I can live off essentials for a while. I think.

Then we packed like sardines into two buses and went to two different hotels in Phnom Penh. The hotel is pretty decent. There is air conditioning and something like a shower lol. Which reminds me... Cambodia is HOT! like really hot! Like hotter than Africa and Haiti was. So humid! And we have to wear long skirts and blouses. Should be fun.

We settled into our  rooms, then got back on the bus to head to the Peace Corps office in Phnom Penh. They fed us a Khmer lunch, which was pretty good. The rice was delicious! There was some sort of egg thing. That was good. There was musy eggplant. That was alright. And there was like a fish curry. That was interesting. The vegetables were very good (you heard me right, mother). And there was some fruit. I'm not too sure how I feel about dragonfruit. I think I like it? It's almost like a really mild kiwi. Its not my favorite, but its okay I guess. They also had this spiky grape like thing. I forget what its called. That was delicious!

Then it was time for business and we went into the conference room for introductions and such. We met the new Country Director, Penny, and our Medical Officer Joanne, and everyone else that I dont remember. Joanne gave us like an hour rundown of important medical stuff; everything from how to cross the street and not die to how to kill mosquitoes using and electric tennis racket that the peace corps provides haha. We got our medical packets too.

Then we separated in separate groups for a mini tour of Phnom Penh led by a K4. My group was scheduled to get our vaccinations first. There were two rooms doing the vaccines. One was Joanne's office and the other  was 2 Cambodian Doctors. I was the first one in the Cambodian office haha. I don' think they were ready for me? Becuase they seemed very confused and almost like they didnt know what they were doing... They were like arguing with each other in Khmer and running around putting stuff together. They tried talking to me, but even though they spoke okay English it was so hard for me to understand their accent. I'm sure I'll get used to it though. So I got three vaccinations. Typhoid (SO PAINFUL) Rabies (OOOOUUUCH!) and... something else. I forget.

After my group was done we went on our Phnom Penh tour. We took tuk-tuks (carriages pulled by a moterbike) to the Central Market and we just walked around there. They had everything there like textiles, electronics, jewelry, toiletries, etc. We exchanged some money. Here, american money is pretty much accepted anywhere, but they don't use coins for smaller change. They use riels. So when buying small things its easier to have riels on you.

Then we to another Tuk Tuk to a bar where we met up with the 62 K5 and like 25 K4s. We hung out there for a while introducing ourselves and talking. The K4s were so nice and so happy to have us there. We were happy too.. but exhausted. I promised them we were more excited than we were letting on lol.

We had to sign up earlier in the day for "dinner groups" that were each going to get a different kind of food. Italian was all filled up.. so I went for Indian food! For Vinny and Emily lol. It was good. I just had chicken curry. It was very tasty and satisfying, and so was the company, but I was beyond ready for bed. Finally we were able to go back to the hotel at around 9 and call it a night. And thats when I fell asleep on my laptop.

It is now 6:18AM. Our call time is 7:25. I think its basically more orientation stuff today. who knows.

So I survived my first day of Cambodia. How do I feel you ask? Overwhelmed. Really really overwhelmed. I am so lost here and I have no idea what I'm doing. I have so much to learn. I look at the K4s and I worry that I won't be able to get this whole Peace Corps Cambodia thing down as good as them. I think its best for me to just take it one day at a time. We've been asking tons and tons of questions about what our service will be like, and its a lot to take in. It's better for me to just tackle one day at a time.

So day two, here I come.