The self-crafted calendar posted on the wall above my desk
tells me that a month has passed since this adventure began. So what have I
been up to? I am beginning to get a grasp of it myself. I will try my best to
sum up what I have been doing and the incredible people I am meeting and
engaging with along the way.
Back in the States, I felt like the token Peace Corps girl
amongst friends and family. Here - at least when I am with the other PCTs -
that identity is stripped away and I have the chance to define myself in
different and multiple ways. And yet at
the same time, by all going through and experiencing the ups and downs
together, the Peace Corps identity remains intact while still allowing us each
to find a niche in the work we will ultimately be doing. I really enjoy the
group we have. Being a big group in a medium-sized town, we often (and by
often, I mean always)stand out. We end up taking restaurants by storm and
overwhelming the local smoothie, fruit stands, and the only place in town with
AC, the gas station by the name of Tela. “Meet up at the Tela for ice cream?”
is a common question amongst the group. One of the only places in town where
you can kind of get swallowed up is the market. It is open-air and despite
numerous trips, navigating the place can still be a challenge. I hope to post
some pictures later of the array of fruits and veggies of which I could only
identify a few when I first got here. Now sraw-gaa-niek (dragonfruit) and sao-mao
(have no idea the English name) are my
go-to snacks. Oh and don’t forget the fresh chilled doungs (coconuts) that I
have every day. I will buy one with a straw and quickly finish the juice and
ask the seller if she will take a machete to it so that I can eat the fleshy
interior with the spoon that I now carry around with me in my backpack specifically
for this purpose. The word for eat here is nam, as in nom nom…
Speaking of eating, a common greeting is “have you eaten
rice already?” Why you might ask. All day everyday I
eat rice. And so does most everyone else. Even the animals. At my house, the
dogs get the leftovers (they must love me, because I never eat it all...) and
the 4 pigs we have get a rice-water-corn mixture of some sort. Definitely not
your Middle Ground leftovers that is for sure. The cows hang out in the
rice paddies and thus eat it too. And anything can really go on the rice
too - omelets, curry, veggies, meat, fish, ants and wasps. You name it, rice
can take it.
In regards to training, the majority of this phase of
service is about integrating, adjusting and exploring. Food and marketplaces
are a great way to do cultural learning. For example, the other day I was asked
to sit down with a family of four at a restaurant and was able to practice my
limited Khmer and tell them about myself and ask after their health and family.
My host family is also extremely helpful and patient as I struggle to tell them
that I will go for a short run or won’t be home for lunch. As part of a specific
training exercise, I and a few others facilitated a discussion (through
translators) about water and sanitation (WASH) practices in a rural village
20Km from where we are living. Even just knowing a little Khmer and asking
questions and expressing genuine interest in the community, I was able to
connect with the women we met with even if only on a basic level. The
experience got me excited for when we
are placed in a community and get to interact like that every day talking about
health issues. It’s all about the relationship building and it is my jam. So is
hiking in Kirivong (about 2 hours south of Takeo, right on the Vietnam border) and
seeing Vietnam and the ocean all at once. That was our group’s weekend trip and
it was beautiful and breezy. Although I can handle the heat and laying doing in
the middle of the day under my mosquito net and drench my sheets in sweat
despite not moving an inch, I do miss a good breeze, rolling hills, and stunning
vistas from elevation. Anyway, I will post pictures from that excursions and
others when my internet connection is better.
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