Diana At the Crossroad: Happy In My Village

No matter what kind of fancy, expensive, delicious places I go to, I am always happy to come home to my village. And I realize how very cool that is. Okay, so the actual travelling to my village is something I dread, but once I get home, that’s exactly how I feel- like I’m finally home. And this time was no exception, when I finally came home after our Close of Service (COS) conference.

I had such a great day. It was so simple, but I just enjoyed being in Cambodia, and being in Prey Veng. I really do love the here and now.

Here are the types of things that make a PCV happy, all based on stuff that occurred today.

Good food. Not necessarily American food, but just food that you want to eat. For lunch, I made myself a mean grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. That was a treat because I just came from Phnom Penh and brought home a few supplies to last a couple days. Then for dinner my family made a delicious meal of fried pork, potatoes, rice, and mangoes. Mmmmmm.
Small successes. Like being able to adapt a letter to the Provincial Office of Education in the Khmer language with minimal help from a Cambodian counterpart.
Good lessons. Okay, so the 10^th grade students might not have learned that much from my lesson today. But they came to class- the only class that bothered to stay this afternoon. They participated despite the heat. They asked questions. They joked around with my counterpart and me.
Onkoy Laing “sit-play” time. I spent time with my sister and two nieces after lunch. My 7 month old niece beats her hands like a drum every time she sees me, because it is like our special game. Later that afternoon, I sat on the grass in a circle with 4 of my favorite female students. We were supposed to study music, but only those 4 showed up, and for today we just preferred sitting and chatting. We sat there for 45 minutes teasing each other and throwing blades of grass on each other’s laps.
Gifts. I brought bottles of kool-aid and a couple movies dubbed in Khmer for my host family. Kimla especially liked the sweet blue kool-aid and my sister immediately put Tomb Raider into the DVD player (which was also a gift from me and my family). My sister bought me 2 cans of coke while I was gone, because they know how much I like it. Also, while I was teaching my 10^th grade class, one of my 11^th grade Honor Society kids came over to the window and tried to discreetly call me over (not discreet at ALL! haha). She handed me 1 kilo of heavenly fresh avocados. Her grandfather visited her last weekend from Mondulkiri, and she asked him to pick up a kilo of avocados just for me, because she knows how much I love that treat.
Contact from overseas. Even just a simple hello in an email or on facebook can easily make my day. Extra points if you actually care enough to make skype happen. Early this morning I went over to the amazing new gas station a couple miles away that has WIFI. The WIFI even works sometimes too! There’s nothing better than seeing the faces of the people you love. Technology rocks.
Relaxing time. Time to sit in a hammock with a good book, or with new awesome headphones and a broken ipod. After lunch is a great time to find a place in the shade, and chill out for a short time. I watched that weird looking orange and yellow lizard climb the tree. I counted the fish jumping in the pond next to me.

When these things all come together, the other stuff doesn’t matter. Like having no electricity all day. or my computer dying. Or taking a bath in the dark, dumping mosquito larvae all over my body. Or hunching over a bucket scrubbing laundry for more than an hour in the hot sun.

I wouldn’t be in a position to take the good things if I also didn’t receive the frustrating-at-times things.

I hope tomorrow is this good!

Click here to see a video of my students and I dancing and singing a Khmer song