Have you ever biked on a bumpy dirt road wearing a sampot (skirt)? Well let me tell you, it is not ideal, but not bad either. This is the path I take home from the school everyday and it always feels like a little adventure. I have settled into my new town nicely, especially settling in with my new family! I have been so busy I have barely had time to sit down and write more of the blog. The week has gone by so fast and so slow at the same time because it feels like I have already been here for a year. So what did you miss?
The first two weeks of me being here is my observing the classes. On Wednesday it resulted in me teaching a class on the fly. Wednesday was a crazy day! My new hours to be at the school were negotiated from 7-10 and 1-4 (and I teach 1.5 hours in the morning and in the afternoon). So because I got out at 10, I still had an hour before going home to eat lunch (we eat lunch together as a family in the afternoon). I told my host brother (8 years old) that I was going to the market, but he needs to stay at the school. I went to the market and was walking around, when I saw his head pop out from behind a market stall. I started to panic and asked him why he was there and he said it was because he was worried about me. I called my host mom in a panic asking her what to do and she told him to go back to school. (He did go back to school and I bought new sandals and then also some coffee packets because being at the school at 7:00am to teach means I need the extra caffeine.) I went home for lunch and ate and rested and then went back to the school. The teacher (who is so nice!) had a student write on the board the English textbook and after 20 minutes she came over to me and said she didn't know what else to do. She is an incredible Khmer teacher, but she told me she had not taught English before. I asked her if I could finish the lesson and she said yes. Thank goodness I taught the lesson before during my practice teaching and so I had some activities in mind that I think the students really liked. After the class the teacher said I was a great teacher (and in my head I was hoping she would tell everyone else I am good-because I know I am young I want to build a good reputation with teaching despite my age!) When I went back to the office (which is pink-it always makes me happy), I told the school director that I would love to also teach the teachers English if they would like to learn. It would be completely optional, but I saw that some of them would maybe want to learn while I am here. He said that would be great and so then we decided I would run a morning session and an afternoon session for the teachers (because some teachers are free in the morning and some are free in the afternoon)...Oh also a side note I forgot to mention, I do work and lesson planning in the office and when the students have a small recess a lot of them come up to my window and say "Teacher! Teacher! Teacher!" and so I end up going outside of the office and I go walking around with the students.
After school, I went home to hang out with my siblings and extended siblings (what turns out to be my 30 extended siblings is actually like 60 but some of them I chat more with). I was teaching English to my sister (7) which was learning Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd. She helps teach me the Khmer alphabet and so it is a nice exchange. While I have been learning the Khmer alphabet, it has helped me realize how difficult it is to learn the Latin alphabet if your native language does not use it. This has also helped me realize I need to take more time with the alphabet and with sounds when I am teaching my students.
On Thursday, I only had to go to the school from 9:30-11:00 for a teacher meeting. Many students still come to the school and do gardening or school clean-up. The meeting we had was actually dedicated on doing lesson planning with me and using certain activities. I, therefore, sat in the front row. The whole meeting was in Khmer but they kept asking me if they need to add more. After that, the school director passed out a sign-up sheet for the teachers to see who would want to learn English with me. I did not expect many to sign-up, but lo-and-behold, all of the teachers at my school signed-up (so I have been creating some lesson plans for that as well). I got to come home early that day and I had lunch and napped, but then the rest of the day was free! I did laundry, caught up on reading my book, and lesson planned. On Friday, I was also back to school! One of my co-teachers asked me a couple of days before if I wanted to try mi ketang (which I will talk about later), so in the morning during my break she took me and one of the front office lady's to get breakfast there (and some great coconut coffee!) I am still working on my Khmer so sometimes it is tough to have a deep conversation with people, but I told her about how sometimes it is hard to move to a new town and know no one (and sometimes get funny looks from people-because I am the only person over 15 who rides a bike, besides the really old people). I am so grateful that all of the teachers I have met at the school I teach at are so helpful and nice and really want to see me be a part of the town! On Friday night, I was back to teaching my sister the ABCs and then some of the high school students asked to review some of their vocabulary, so we ended up learning the words and playing "slap the board" as review until it was 9:30 and I decided I needed to go to sleep.
On Saturday, it was a nice relaxing day! I hate to say that I did not do too much, but I read a lot in my book and was at the house. The biggest milestone in the day was learning how to make mi katang (Cambodia noodles popular in
Battambang and Banteay Meanchey). I will write down in a separate post about how to make it! I got to bond with my host mom and learn from her how to cook-(by the way, it was so so good). I cannot reiterate how great of a person she is and how kind of a heart she has. She took my host sister and I to the market to buy fruit and then we went back to the container store to get a bottle for my water bottle holder she made me. Later in the day, my mom's brother came to the house and they all were going to go see the delivery of their sister's baby! I was invited to go, but I unfortunately could not because Peace Corps has a strict no far-travel after dark policy. So my host brother and I stayed home and then some of the high schoolers were still around (some of them go to their homes on the weekend whereas some stay). My host brother loves to watch movies on my computer and so I started to play Madagascar for him and then we switched to Alvin and the Chipmunks (then after that we read and he played a little). We waited for the whole family to come back later to then eat dinner before I fell asleep.
And now we come to Sunday, the day that I feel like I have lived 1000 lives. I woke up at 7 (which is late for this household) and my host brother tells me "Alex I heard your alarm go off like 3 times but you never got up" and I had to explain to him that I was very tired. It has been colder here (I mean 60 degrees in the
morning- I have been wearing a sweater and jeans because it is actually chilly) and I have sat outside and drank my coffee and my host siblings sit with me and drink hot chocolate. It has become a nice weekend routine to sit with them and drink our hot drinks. I helped clean around the house and then I did some laundry. Then, my host mom said "ok Alex let's go to the market". I assumed we were going to the market to get fabric for my school teacher shirts, but she did not say. So her and I headed off towards the market. Her speeding on the moto and me pedalling as fast as I could to keep up on my bike (trust me when I tell you I was incredibly tired). As we approached the turn off for my town, we turned down another road and I ended up at someone's house for a celebration. For those of you who think that I could have just misheard my host mom's Khmer, I will have you know that she told me "let's go to the market" in English and I know I heard that correctly. The celebration actually was the 100th day after a family member died. This gathering was not with people my family is related to but instead friends of my host mom. Her and I sat down at a table, and when I describe to you that they gave me enough food to last me at least one week, I hope you believe me. We ate and I was so full, and I thought that was it. But no. Another wave of food came out and they kept
handing me food! I had to eat it but I was losing steam. (this is also a P.S. that Cambodian hospitality is next level.) This whole meeting was a haze because, again, I was thinking I was going to the market. So then, my host mom gets a phone call that the tailor is at our house to take my measurements for the shirts I need. We booked it back home and I got the meausrements taken and I was like "ok now I can relax". Wrong. My host mom then told me "ok let's go to the market". I was really hoping that this time we would go to the market. We first stopped at a place that sells snacks in bulk (think of a mini version of Cambodia Costco-but it is from a seller on the side of the road). My host mom buys these things in bulk to have the snacks easily assecible for the kids who live next to me. After the shopping trip, we went to the market! Thank goodness my host mom was with me because she is a bargaining queen. We got the blue fabric for my shirts and then we went to the shoe part. She is the Cambodian version of my American mom because she told me for my swearing in outfit that everything was cute, but the Chacos did not match and that I needed to get nice shoes. I know she is right because the Chacos did not match (but I had no choice). I would also like to mention that finding shoes for me to wear is very difficult for me. I am usually a 42, but today the shoes I had to buy were 45s (nonetheless, I did find them). Then we also looked at the pretty matching sets, and my host mom assured me we could go back and get some. I do not need another one but they are SO pretty! We also stopped at the perfume booth because I forgot to pack some.
So after the market trip, and my host mom and brother carrying all of the snacks for the kids on their moto and me trying to bike as fast as I could, I thought it was time to rest. I took off my shoes went into my room and was ready to get my book. Was it relax time? No. My host mom was so sweet and said "I know you are tired so you do not have to go, but would you want to go get your nails done and hair done?" I swear, if any of you reading this know my mom in the U.S., this was the most Crystal phrase I have ever heard. Today was like Crystal day but instead in Cambodia. I of course said yes, not only because I know that Crystal would want me to go, but I also want to know where I should go! We went and I got my nails, toes, and hair done. It was like a nice little spa treat with my host mom. After that, we rushed home and ate dinner!
I know this was a lot of things with a lot of moving parts, but it is because my life has gone by so fast in this past week!
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