Diana At the Crossroad: Oh No, Not a Vacation!

The schools have shut down for about a month here in Cambodia for Khmer New Year. Due to insufficient funds and other such reasons, I was unable to get myself a spot on the trendy trip to Vietnam with the other PCVs.

So, for the most part, I’m chillin’ out here at site. I will go to Takeo for 4 nights to visit my training host family. But other than that, I’ve got a good 3 or 4 weeks of a completely empty schedule. I know what you’re thinking: LUCKY! That sounds AMAZING! And indeed, when I was in America, I would have LOVED to have that. But here, a month long vacation has a different meaning.

Here are things you can do, if you ever join the Peace Corps and are in the same boat as I am:

Laundry

Read a book

Re-arrange your bedroom furniture

Take a bike ride and visit a place in your village you haven’t yet. (Just make sure you do so before 8AM because it’s the hottest month of the year).

Do more laundry. This time include your bedsheets.

Read 2 more books.

Watch a movie. Something long, like the entire Lord of the Rings series.

Try to take a nap in a hammock.

Make really epic lesson plans for when school does start again.

Study Khmer

Think

Re-arrange your bedroom furniture again because you’re still not satisfied

Check online every hour to see if anyone is online and wants to skype

Listen to every Christian song on your ipod, and call that your way of observing Easter

Write a letter or an email

Update your blog

Stalk your own facebook

Start laying down tracks for your next youtube video

Sweep your ceiling and walls

Practice writing Khmer

Take a bath. At least twice a day.

Buy coffee in a bag. Drink it.

Buy Sugarcane juice in a bag. Drink it.

Read another book.

Wash your mosquito net

Ride your bike 15k for a cup of ice cream. Then ride back.

Watch more movies

Go get a manicure pedicure

Dance alone in your bedroom, preferably after a freshening bath

Think

Poop

Laundry

Take a bucket bath. Don’t towel off. Then sit naked next to a fan.

Study Khmer

Make more lesson plans

Learn Julia Nunes songs on Ukulele

Draw a picture of that special someone, in the most creepy way possible

Watch all of the Miranda Sings videos on youtube

Teach your host family to play Uno

Write another blog post with a list of random thoughts

Get really good at Minesweeper

Respecting the flag. Every morning the students stand in lines on the basketball court. A male and female volunteer lift the flag while the students sing the national anthem. Then there are announcements (which sometimes take more than a half hour) from the administration, and the students disperse to their classes