Ready, Set... Siem Reap!

After saying "good-bye" to my training host family on Wednesday morning- well actually "see you in November," because we are having 2 weeks of training then and will be staying with our same families - we traveled to Takeo via tuk-tuk to get some last minute training and await site placement and swearing in. On Thursday, we walked into a large conference room that had a map of Cambodia ducktaped to the floor with the provinces outlined and X's to show the spots where each PCT would be going. After a long build-up it was announced that I will be in Siem Reap Province! This is a large province well-known for Angkor Wat (or as some of the K5 PCVs say "Wat Disney"). Siem Reap has an airport (hint: come visit!) and there is a half-marathon being held there in December. I will be a good bike ride away from the provincial and district towns, so away from the real touristy areas, and will be working in a health center that serves more than 18,000 people. I am really looking forward to meeting my new host family with whom I will be living for the next 2 years.

Even though we received our site placements, we did not officially become Volunteers until yesterday afternoon. Our swear-in was a beautiful ceremony that consisted of the Khmer and American National Anthems, speeches from our country director, Takeo's governor, and 2 fellow K6s, and an unbelievable amount of photos. Here is one of me:

wearing tradition Khmer attire

So here's to another chapter of this adventure! Rooich howee knom dtao. (And here I go.)