Welcome home, Diana.

Wow, its October 16^th already?

Alright, well, on October 4^th was our official swearing in ceremony. I had a traditional Khmer outfit made just for the occasion. My training host mother bought me beautiful fabric to have a sampot made, so I got that done. I also had one of those fancy frilly sparkly shirts made. It’s not really something I could get away with wearing in America, but I definitely do appreciate its beauty, and I enjoyed wearing it.

            The swearing in ceremony was attended by all the volunteers currently living in Cambodia (because we also had some training that morning), as well as the majority of Peace Corps staff (American and Khmer), the current American Ambassador (who I believe is actually just filling in for a few weeks or months? Or something? Shows how much I pay attention) and of course a few important people from the Cambodian Government, including the Minister of Health.

            I don’t know if I mentioned this before in a previous post, but I’ll explain it all here again. I was put in charge of organizing the music for the ceremony, which included the Khmer National Anthem and the American National Anthem. I asked the 60 or so trainees for volunteers to sing in a small choir and 5 brave talented souls took on the challenge. First, I made a simple 2 part arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner. Within 45 minutes of rehearsal, they had it. Then I learned the Khmer National Anthem, notated it, analyzed the chords, and wrote a harmony line for that too. This one was more challenging, obviously, but my singers took it on like champs! Realistically we probably rehearsed less than 3 hour in total, but we still managed to do it and do it well. I was so proud of all of them when we were singing, and I appreciate their patience with me and the music I wrote. Here is the video from that bit of swearing in.

            Then of course there were speeches. Two of or volunteers did a fantastic job of giving speeches in Khmer- a language we’ve barely known for 7 weeks. Our country director gave a speech. The Ambassador fill-in guy gave a speech (really, please, forgive me for my ignorance), and the Minister of Health gave a speech. Every person at the ceremony had a folder with the speeches printed out and translated into either Khmer or English. I particularly enjoyed the Minister of Health’s speech. I was listening to his Khmer and trying to follow along with the English- translating his flowery speech in my head. He was almost done, but then all of a sudden he completely goes off course. I can’t really follow him, but I do catch random phrases, such as “wash your hands”, “health”, “mosquito net”, “filtered water”, “condo… wait.. is he really talking about condoms?” Haha, we did get a brief translation of his 10 minute tangent, and sure enough, he was advising us to stay healthy and to teach our communities these ways of staying healthy as well. Wash your hands, sleep under a mosquito net, drink clean water, and wear a condom. I think that is right up there with my other favorite pieces of advice, which include:

1.      Don’t eat shit- our Peace Corps Medical Officer (really almost all of her medical topics could be boiled down into this one simple piece of advice).

2.      Eat when you can, sleep when you can, pee when you can- Our country director

Anyway, so moving on with the ceremony, after all the speeches, all the volunteers stood up, raised their right hand, and repeated after Penny. I don’t remember the words exactly (you can find them online if you’re interested) but it had to do with withholding the constitution  and committing to service. Sounds good to me. Then- voila! We were volunteers! The next 45 minutes were spent taking pictures with each other, with Peace Corps staff, and saying goodbyes, as we were moving to our sites the next day. Although we did celebrate that night, so goodbyes were not sad, and they were prolonged goodbyes.

The next day, I packed up my stuff, bought a few things at the supermarket to hopefully keep me sane over the next over the next few months when I can’t leave my province (purchases included a bag of unflavored oatmeal, a bag of pasta, Lucky Charms, and a small box of Couscous). Then I went to the bus station, bought a ticket, boarded, and was on my way.

I should also mention that during my time in Phnom Penh I purchased a violin. I actually used the tiny bit of money I have from home to buy a decent violin that I could practice with while I am here. I was SO excited, and it was actually hard for me to leave me hotel room and go out with my friends on the big city. Can you say NERD? Sorry, I don’t want to go dancing, I’d rather be practicing. But yes, I’m super happy about it. It was a lot of money, but I think it was an important purchase.

            The bus stops at Prey Vang province, which is past my house, so I had to pay attention and tell the bus driver to stop when I recognized my new home. This was tricky, as I only visited once, and for two days, and also Cambodian houses and streets tend to all look very similar. Sure enough we passed it, but I did recognize it. I had to walk back a short distance, with all my luggage. But my host sister was there to greet me, looking all excited. She took my heaviest bag from me and lugged it up the stairs and showed me my new room.

Thank goodness, it is not the same room I stayed in last time. This room is in the front of the house. It is MUCH bigger, and they put a smaller bed in it. I love a big bed, but I love space for my things more. There was even a nice desk and chair for me to have in there. I instantly love it, despite the cobwebs, holes in the wall ceiling and floor, spiders, and rats. Also, it has its own door leading to the patio. So I do not need to go through my brother’s and sister’s part of the house to get to my room. Although going to the bathroom is a different story.

I was surprised to find that there was another couple living in the house as well. They are somehow related. I think my brother and the woman are siblings.. its hard to tell because everyone just calls each other “bong” around here. They live in the back part of the house, actually in the room that I stayed in last time. They also fixed up the spare kitchen and another small bedroom in the back. They have like their own little apartment. But that’s also where the bathroom is. So to go to the bathroom, I have to walk through my brother and sister’s house, and this couples living space. So everyone knows when the foreigner has to go to the bathroom, and everyone sees the foreigner heading off to shower, or to brush her teeth. Somehow this is amusing.

The new woman is a Khmer language teacher I believe in the local primary school. The man is actually the deputy director at the high school I work at. I will likely use this to my advantage. The school director seems less than interested (or maybe nervous?) to talk to me, so I’m working on building some sort of relationship with this guy. When I first came he literally hid in his room from me, but I think I’m slowly winning him over. Now he likes to watch me eat and see if I’m enjoying eating Khmer food. One time I sat down and played some ukulele for him. I even showed him some pictures from home. I just want him to trust me, so that we can both feel comfortable with trying new projects down the road.

So I arrived at my house at around 4. I immediately started setting up my room, and making it fit the word “home”. I organized books, clothes, and storage spaces. I put pictures up on the walls. I set up my bed. I even designated which hooks would be for what purpose (hanging my instruments, or hanging my wet clothing?). The next day, I went to the market and bought myself a hamper, and scrub brush, and some laundry detergent. Welcome home, Diana.

That afternoon, I called one of my co-teachers to let him know that I have moved in. I just wanted to find out what time school started the next day so I could stop by, but he told me to meet him in 5 minutes. So I got on my bike and headed over to the school. He introduced me to a few more English teachers, including the one that my school director wants me to work closest with. They told me they wanted me to start teaching tomorrow. I was like “oooh woow slow down. Peace Corps wants me to observe for 2 weeks before I start teaching” (always blame it on Peace Corps, even if it is really because of you). I said that I would really like to observe all of the English teachers- yup all 10 of them. I just wanted to see the different teaching styles, and of course this would be a good way for me to try to get to know these 10 teachers.

The next day I observed a few different teachers. I enjoyed it. I’m pleased to say that I think almost all of these teachers are pretty good at what they do. I saw some good vocabulary teaching techniques, and it seems that they all have a fairly decent grasp on the English language. I think it is rare to find a school where all of the English teachers (especially when theres TEN of them) actually speak English. Technically there is one teacher I haven’t seen teach yet. I went to one of his classes, but instead of teaching his class of 50 students, he instead decided to give a complete and detailed life story, in English (most of which would go over his students’ heads). I’m not sure if he was trying to impress me or his students, but I’ll have to observe this guy another time, maybe when we’re a little deeper into the curriculum.

The second day, one of my co-teachers literally handed me the white-board marker and left the class- and didn’t come back for 2 hours. So much for observing for 2 weeks…

I did get to observe all of the teachers eventually, but I also ended up teaching a few more hours of this guys’ classes. Not with him, but for him. I’ve spent the last week trying to explain to him that my job is to teach WITH him, not INSTEAD of him. We’ll see if we finally have it straightened out this coming week.

I could keep going for pages and pages about my first few days at site, but that’s enough for now. I got things to do, markets to shop at, lessons to plan, miles to run, buckets to pour over my head, rice to eat, you get the picture. 

1. A typical Cambodian HS classroom, taken during practicum week during training. And teacher Erik, lesson planning. 2. Our last class of the week, we gave each student certificates as Pomp and Circumstance played over my borrowed speakers. This was our star student who we nicknamed Manchester United, because every english sentence he made had to do with this favorite soccer team. 3. All of our students and my 3 co-teachers during practicum. 4. My songsaa Vanessa making tomato sauce from scratch. 5. Glazed carrots that I MADE! WHAT NOW? 6. DELICIOUS pork ribs smothered in my Khmer teachers' special sauce. As you can tell- this was a ridiculously good meal.

I know I'm super behind on pictures. These pictures are OLD. well deal with it. I'll catch up soon.