Ob-Ob-Obsessed with Gangnam Style

I’m writing this at 9pm on the 7^th with hopes of uploading it on the 8^th. So, where should I start?

Well, the first thing I want to say that I keep forgetting to mention is how OBSESSED with Gangnam Style Cambodians are. I hear it almost every day… It’s on at least two commercials, and if you pass by a wedding with its usual loud music, you’ll hear a mix of traditional Khmer music and Gangnam Style. I wish I was kidding. They have Gangnam Style hats, clothes, and even cards… and I’m not talking playing cards with Psy on one side, I’m talking collectible Psy cards (if you are my age or slightly older, think about the Spice Girls lollipops that came with collectible stickers… now think about how they probably could’ve just sold us the stickers and we’d be happy… yeah, it’s like that). I mean, even this morning at the market, somebody was blasting it. This was before 8am. It’s quite the spectacle.

It’s been an eventful week. Between the mouse that just won’t go away and my iPod dying, I could say that it’s been a bad week, but that’s not actually how I feel, if that makes sense. I’m totally content and really getting into the groove of things here. On Sunday, almost all of the CHE volunteers gathered to play a rousing game of volleyball. We were having so much fun that we continued to play during a downpour. Of course, I’m the only one who hit it over the wall of the backyard that we were playing in, so I had to retrieve it, but other than that 20 minute break, we played for about 2 hours straight. Then I watched the first hour of Pitch Perfect with another volunteer. Yeah, Sunday was great.

We also had our language groups changed around this week so now I’m with Nico, Abby, Amy, and Kayla, who was in my last group. My language is definitely coming along; I can feel myself getting stronger in Khmer with each passing day, even though sometimes it feels like I can’t possibly learn anymore. Those feelings usually come in about hour 4.5 of a 6 hour language day. Blergh.

Last night, we had basically monsoon rains right as I was settling in for bed. It was so loud, and as soon as the thunder hit, I raced down the stairs to be with my family, as I was, frankly, terrified since the lights had gone out. It’s not that I can’t handle rain storms, it was just the time of day that it hit really reminded me of Hurricane Sandy, which still kind of makes me upset. Plus, it was actually really scary, and it was the hardest downpour I’ve seen yet. In the morning, we had two trees down, but my family kind of put them back up with wooden supports, new dirt, and a pile of rocks. Cambodian ingenuity!

Other than that, this is definitely my new normal, and I’m loving every single moment of it.

Before I end though, three quick stories:

1) My homestay aunt was telling my homestay mom how sohpeeup (feminine) I was eating, until I wiped my hands on my sampot (skirt), at which point she started yelling “Ut tay, Ut tay, chohp!” (No, No, stop!). She made me smell my hand, as if wiping it on my sampot would somehow make it dirty? It was funny the way it went down.

2) Small victory: Put on a pair of pants this morning that used to be tight when I was in the States, and now they are loose. Not something I normally care about, but I can feel myself getting physically stronger here, and it feels GOOD.

3) I told my family that I like spicy things, so they went out and bought hot sauce. I now eat it on *everything* because I feel bad, although I really love the sauce.

That’s it for now! Thanks for reading :-)

PS – Did I mention that my bug zapper broke? This is my worst nightmare. Especially since I currently have a cockroach flying less than 4 feet from me. Eek.