A Week in the Life...

This week I:

Drove my motorcycle through a herd of cows….three times.

Got plenty of practice driving the same motorcycle through puddles, mud, narrow dirt paths, and across plank “bridges.”

Ate Thai food at a Cambodian restaurant with Japanese people while the proprietor cranked up the John Denver and Johnny Cash, just for us.

In the process of using the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, made some new friends who had decided to relax there for awhile: a mouse, a small cockroach, a big cockroach, and one baby scorpion.

Met the mommy scorpion while walking out the door to go to work.

Started riding my bicycle to and from the office once a day in order to get some exercise.

Realized just how much sweat this exercise generates.

Worked on materials for a staff orientation handbook.

Had my landlord knock on my door at 6:30 Monday morning to surprise me by delivering a bed for me to use.

Bought a mattress to use with the bed.

Tried not to fall off of the back of the motorcycle while my new Swiss roommate gave me and the mattress a ride back to the house.

Saw the aftereffects of a car driving off the road and under a house—“under” because the house, like many of the homes here, is elevated on stilts or beams. The car knocked over two of these beams—the house was still standing, but barely.

Visited two of the villages my team works in.

Attended several training sessions with the other FHCambodia staff, part of an ongoing training process in community development.

Had welcome bottle of aloe vera after-sun gel delivered to me by the American facilitator of these training sessions.

Managed to have my shoe fall off while driving my motorcycle; not once, but twice.

Prepared two new laptops for office staff to use.

Slowly started getting unpacked and moved into my new house.

Bought a few baguette-type loaves of bread, the only thing locally available. Saved one to eat for breakfast only to find out it had come complete with a family of ants living inside.

Gave a valiant effort at making tortillas.

Tried not to eat too much of my stock of peanut butter, crackers, and cereal from the city.

Watched a dvd on my laptop—while under my mosquito net and pretending my fan was turning faster than the low electricity was allowing it to turn.

Kept muddling through trying to get the hang of living here and understanding what is going on around me.

Made it through one more week in Anlong Veng.

Shakin' It Khmer Style

Last week was the annual FHCambodia staff retreat. Monday morning, all the Anlong Veng staff headed south, and the Phnom Penh staff headed north, and we all converged in the middle in the city of Siem Reap. Siem Reap is one of the big tourist destinations in Cambodia, because of it's nearness to the Angkor Wat ruins. This means that there are lots of hotels around, hence it being the site of our retreat. The upsides of staff retreat: air conditioning in the room for sleeping, hot water to shower with, and Western food to sneak out and buy during the afternoon breaks. The downsides: eating lots of sketchy Cambodian hotel food, spending many hours in teaching sessions on the hot hotel roof (see above picture), and attempting to understand and stay awake for said sessions. Although, while my understanding of the retreat speaker was limited, the Khmer staff seemed to soak it up. He gave a week of discipleship on the basics of Christianity--a good review for those staff who have been believers for awhile, and a good intro for those staff who are new Christians or are still Buddhist.

All in all, the retreat went fine, and Thursday evening was our big special banquet--meaning even more Khmer food, although this time the meal was sandwiched between speeches at the beginning and dancing at the end (see the picture at the bottom--the blond lady is our Swiss staff member, not me :) ). If you ever spend much time in Cambodia, you will get your fair share of chances to experience Cambodian dancing. Traditional Cambodian dancing (similar to Thai dance) is a very slow, stylized type of movement, with hand gestures and body position taking on significant meaning. It tells a story. Check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_WEIPMPW0U or here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjteFhfRphw. These positions and gestures are called "apsara," and carvings of apsara dancing are found at Angkor Wat. Professional dancers start as children and study for years to master the art.

This restraint and hand twisting carries over into dancing in day to day life--at our retreat celebration, other big shindigs, and especially at weddings. Whoever feels like dancing (and whoever gets pulled out of their chairs to join in) forms a big circle, walks around the room, and does their best attempt at classical hand gestures (amazing how sweaty you can get walking in a circle and flapping your hands). In this type of dancing, there's a lot of repetition, and not much choreography or big movement. Sometimes things get exciting and they speed the music up a little faster, and sometimes you can change up the way you step around the circle (i.e. cross one foot in front of the other instead of behind!).

And that's about it. I find I have a little too much rhythm for this type of dancing...a little too much wanting to bust out some other moves. Although in all fairness, there are some variations: some dances you move towards and away from a partner instead of in a circle, some dances are very reminiscent of the Electric Slide, and sometimes for the last song all rules go out the window and people dance however they want (mostly however they see their friends dancing). It's pretty great--if you've ever wanted to do the Funky Chicken or Cabbage Patch or just flap your arms around, and have a dozen Khmer people start doing exactly the same thing--this is your big chance :) Never forget, too, that Cambodian dancing is accompanied by (loud) Cambodian pop music and live karaoke, so if singing is more your bag...you'll be right at home, too. Come on over.

Welcome to Anlong Veng

Here is the FHCambodia Anlong Veng staff! International staff included--you can see my pale face shining out from the back row on the right, and if you look closely you can find another white person or two, and two from Japan. Altogether, I think there are around fifty staff--not sure if everyone made it into this picture or not.

I have officially been in Anlong Veng for one week now. Currently, I am living at one of the guest houses, waiting for a bedroom to be built for me in the house rented by another FH staff member from Switzerland. Hopefully soon the room will be completed and I'll be able to move in with her. This will be good for my sanity, by letting me settle in, and for my wallet, when I no longer have to pay for each night at the guest house (although at $6.25 a night, the cost is not too overwhelming).

So--now begins the process of actually beginning to "work" and figure out what my job will look like. Up first are some tasks relating to IT (which I have been declared qualified to oversee based on the fact that I speak English and have used computers previously), working with other staff to develop a better orientation process for new Khmer staff members, and getting to know my fellow co-workers, especially those who I will work with on the Anlong Veng area team (there are four area team altogether). Needless to say, there is lots to figure out in order to get all of that accomplished--also add into the mix continued language study, and eventually work related to my main role, as an advisor for curriculum and training. Anyone want to come help out? :)