What can I say about a year? I know I’ve been in-country
for over a year and a half, but really, March seems a fitting month to look
back and examine what has happened since last March.
Last March, my first friend from home came to visit and
we had a splendid, if whirlwind, time exploring all the tourist sites that
Cambodia has to offer – the Temples of Angkor in Siem Reap, the beaches of
Sihanoukville, the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh, and of course, the everyday
life of my site. Last March was my first time judging the WriteOn! Competition,
and what a marathon of a day it was. Last March was also when my Peace Corps
service unexpectedly changed - my first hostmom at my site passed away.
That is why I am now reflecting on last March to this
March. What has changed? A lot. From the end of March last year to the
beginning of March this year I have done, seen, and experienced so much.
Peace Corps-wise, I went to a number of workshops:
Project Design and Management, HARVEST/Food Security Training, Mid-Service
Training. We also said goodbye to the group of volunteers that came before us
and hello to the new group of volunteers, some of whom I feel I have known for
my whole life, even though it’s been less than a year. With the rest of the
GenEq Committee, I helped train the newbies during both their Pre-Service
Training and their In-Service Training. Heck, I wrote the In-Service Training
from scratch, which felt like quite an accomplishment.
Site-wise, I felt like I started over. My first host
mother liked to keep me around the house, and, being extremely shy when not
speaking English, I didn’t push the issue. I think she was just nervous for me,
as she was for her own daughters, as she told me one. I moved houses in May,
and it was quite a difference. For one, I moved into a two-story house, where I
live in a room on the top floor. Yay stairs! I also gained new host siblings,
who were younger than my other host siblings, new host parents, and a host aunt
who reminds me of my old host mom sometimes, in the ways that she is spunky and
talkative and tries to get me to understand everything. My new host family
liked me to be out and about, so I embraced it, and I also used my love of art
to bond with my new host siblings. All in all, it has been a good change.
Literal things at my site have changed as well. After a
huge wind storm caused trees to fall on various buildings, all the of trees
along the road and near the schools were chopped down. My town now has WiFi at
a local café that was built in under half a year, and that I didn’t know about
for a while. The new market has been built and moved into, and the old one
abandoned – this is one of my favorite things because it means no sloshing
through mud to get my breakfast during rainy season, since the new market is
concrete and compact, rather than dirt and along a road. The road the runs
through my town has been completely re-done – no more potholes. Even the health
center has gone through changes! It was completely redone to include new
electrical outlets, new lights, and new fans. The road leading to the health
center, which was once a small dirt track surrounded by grass, is now cement.
We even got an ambulance! All in all, things in my town seem to be being built
up for the better.
Service-wise, a lot has happened too. I participated in a
Camp GLOW in another province. Unfortunately, the women from my province were unable
to bring students due to budget concerns, but seeing the camp helped set us up
nicely for our own Camp GLOW planning, which we are in the midst of now. I stopped
teaching English at the elementary school, and then started up again this
school year. I feel like I’ve gotten into a rhythm with the students, which is
awesome. I started doing home visits at two villages in my commune – one that requires
a 3km bike-ride, and one that requires a 7.5km bike ride. I’ve counseled
countless pregnant women after taking their blood pressure and measuring their
bellies. I’ve taught kids how to wash their hands. I wrote a grant, which was
fully funded by donations from you wonderful people. I helped to write another
one, which we will hopefully hear about soon. My Khmer has improved – I tested
at Intermediate-Mid in September, and I believe (I hope!) it’s gotten better
since then. The babies I’ve seen born have grown so much – that’s how I measure
time passed these days. Some are even walking and talking!
Personal-wise (personally, I guess, but I wanted to keep
the flow the same), things have changed as well. In the time period we are
talking about, I have had one relationship end, and another start and end.
Living in a village in rural Cambodia does not bode well for those of us who
started out single. I fell in love with exercise, and then with running. I
ran/walked my first 10k! Meditation and constant self-reflection have become
important to me. I was able to visit home for the holidays, which rejuvenated
me in a way that I sorely needed. I’ve read a lot, watched a lot of American TV
shows, and spent almost 6 months journaling every day. I’ve fallen out of the
habit since I’ve been back from America, but I need to get back into it. I’ve
reconnected with old friends, and had more friends visit this gorgeous place. I’ve
made countless collages and drawings, and I attempted and failed to do
NaNoWriMo. I feel more at peace, even when I am at my most anxious. I’ve been
asked to be a Maid of Honor, and accepted with glee.
This March… this March has been amazing, even though it
started out on the wrong foot (or leg!). The first weekend of March, I was
running another 10k in Sihanoukville and I strained my hip flexor, landing me
in Phnom Penh for a few days. I still haven’t been able to go for a run since
then and it is driving me up a wall! The second weekend of March was WriteOn!
Judging, which went smoothly and much more quickly than last year, due to some
new rules Emma and I put in place this year. The third weekend of March, I
traveled to Siem Reap to go to a Gender Conference where we were able to meet
Michelle Obama and Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet after each gave
remarks about the new “Let Girls Learn” Initiative. It was really a moment to
remember! The fourth weekend in March, this past weekend, we held the WriteOn!
Winner’s Workshop for our two grand-prize winning students. This was actually
really stressful, as we had to re-plan the workshop due to an unforeseen
circumstance. However, everything worked out really well.
 |
| Michelle Obama and I, hugging it out |
April looks like it will be exciting this year as well.
Over the next two days, I have interviews for two different positions that
would keep me here in Cambodia for at least another year. Even if I don’t get
either position, I think I’ll still stay and look for work elsewhere. I’m not
done with Cambodia, and I know I won’t be ready to leave by the time August rolls
around. I’m also planning a mini-vacation with some other volunteers for next
week, and the weekend after that will be Khmer New Year, which I am extremely
excited to celebrate at site this year.
So that’s life. Here’s a quote from a book I just
finished, to end the post:
“It was a land of almost breathtaking beauty or of savage
poverty; a land of screaming ghosts or of sun-flung possibilities; a land of
inviting warmth or of desperate drought. How you see a country depends on
whether you are driving through it, or living it.
How you see a country depends on
whether or not you can leave it, if you have to.”
- Alexandra Fuller, “Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an
African Soldier”
