Living with a different host family had been a bit of an adjustment, but we are starting to get one another. I live with a host mom and dad. Their kids are away studying in Phnom Penh and the dad is traveling a lot because he is a soldier. So basically it is a lot of alone time when I am at home which has been good for studying Khmer on my own - although I have a tutor now and he is wonderful! I live in a block of three houses that includes the extended family and each day I piece together another part of the family tree. My host mom teaches 5th grade but school doesn't start until October so she sells frogs and snakes in the mornings and has private lessons in the afternoons. (I have yet to try barbecued snake, but I can tell you that frog on a stick is not too shabby...)
I work at the health center Monday through Friday in the mornings and spend the afternoons networking around town. At the health center I talk to some patients, especially the pregnant women in for their check-ups, and do a lot of observing to get a better sense of how the health center operates. Observing is an ongoing process. Last week I spent three days attending birth control distribution workshops for village health volunteers (VHVs) at three different health centers in the district. My brain felt fried by the end because it was entirely in Khmer, but the presenters were absolutely wonderful and by the end of it I was understanding a good portion. Here is a picture from one of the workshops.
In my free time, these are some of the things I have done thus far:
- gone on exploration runs and bike rides
- chatted up too many people in the community to count (remembering all the names is a struggle!)
- "dao layng"(ed) in the market (in essence strolling without purpose)
- visited a fellow volunteer in her district town (35K round-trip bike)
- been visited by a fellow volunteer (48K round-trip bike)
- taught an English class to eleven high school girls
- had three play-dates with the neighborhood kids in the local Wat
Let me explain the last one in more detail. My best friend in my town is a girl who claims that she is eleven years old. I say "claims" because most Cambodians will say that you are one year old on the day you were born and when asked when their birthday is many will say that they don't remember. Plus this girl is tiny and looks like she might be pushing nine - at 5'7" I am constantly told that I am very tall and my friend comes up to my hip bone. I met her the second day I was here when I was having a rough day and she sat with me and held my hand and invited me to her home. She lives behind the Wat (pagoda) in a house that is in the middle of a major renovation. So logically we play games in the Wat complex. (Yes, I have asked everyone and their grandmother or "yeay" if this is culturally acceptable and everyone has given me the okay. Yet it still surprises me that the rough-housing and running is okay...) We play variations of Tag, Red-Light-Green-Light, Heads-Up-7-Up, and Simon Says. Good thing I am a quick learner because the group of kids are pretty bad at explaining the games in simple enough Khmer for me to understand. Decisions for who is IT are made exclusively by a quick round-robin-loser-moves-on variation on Rock-Paper-Scissors. I can't seem to tell if it is a democratic process or just based on pure dumb luck - I like to think it is a combination. Here is a picture of the kids and another of me with a bunch of them.
Aren't they beautiful?! I tell them that everyday, but they say "no, white skin is better." Then I proceed to explain that in America many people will sit in the sun for hours in order to get tan or darker skin. This is met with confusion in a place where you get out of the sun and where soap without bleach in it is difficult to find. I hope to someday be able to show them how truly beautiful people they are inside and out.
