Hello all and long time no see! I honestly have been so busy this past month, I have barely had time to sit down and write out what has been happening! This post is for sure going to be a story dump over the past couple of weeks. Brace yourself. These little stories will be in bullets.
First: a rice field appreciation photo. It takes me a little bit (aka 15 minutes or more depending on which rice fields I go to) but my niece and I took a walk in the rice fields and it was gorgeous!
I ended up on a farm during a school day: I was at my desk (and actually was supposed to have a meeting with a Peace Corps staff member an hour later) and my school director said "Alex do you want to go to another school with some of the students". I swear this is exactly what he said and so I said ok sure but I had to be back in an hour. This was the day before I went to Phnom Penh to do the Small Grants Committee training and also go to a wedding. I got into the truck with some other staff members and my school director and his kids and then all the students loaded into the flatbed of the truck. We drove for 15 minutes to another school and the kids took pictures in the garden, etc. It was nice to have a change of my normal day to day! But then when we left the school, we did not turn on the road we came from, but instead kept going into the rural area. I have learned to just trust the process (and I was with my school director so I wasn't worried where we were going I just was wondering where we were going.) At this point, it was evident that I was not going to make it to my meeting with the PC staff member, so I had to call and apologize and cancel. At this point, I was rapidly texting my friends saying "guys I am currently in the middle of nowehere with 15 students and 4 school staff and I do not know what we are doing". We finally stumble/drive upon a farm and we enter the farm and see they grow green beans and fruit. The farmers talked ot the students and we saw the farm and picked some green beans and fruit and ate it right then and there. Then after that, we drove back to the school and I biked home thinking about what a fever dream that trip was. I am 90% sure it was an educational farm trip, but I do not know why some students went over others. The mysteries of living in Cambodia. And now I have a great story of finding myself in the middle of a farm on a Monday.
Phnom Penh: Right after the whole farm adventure, I went to Phnom Penh for the week to do the Small Grants Committee training. Yes, you heard right! I am one of the three other members for my cohort who is on the Small Grants Committee. So we help other volunteers in reading and advising on writing grants before official Peace Corps staff look at it. Think of us like the first set of eyes to review and help volunteers get their grants in tip top shape. For Cambodia, there are two different places of funding for the grants, and I will be aiding in reviewing both. Also, at the end of the training, I was named the new chair of the committee for my cohort, so I am so excited to have this opportunity in a leadership position. After the training, I got to stay in Phnom Penh for two extra days because all of the volunteers went to a wedding on that Sunday. While in Phnom Penh, I spent WAY too much money (which was mainly at the mall because I could not resist myself). My PC bestie Kyle finally came to Phnom Penh on Saturday (which is when all other PCVs were allowed to come) and we had a movie night on Saturday (it was so lovely). We also went rollerskating on Saturday (per my request and than you Kyle for going). On Sunday, we went to the wedding which was a combination of Western/Cambodian style. We had dinner and I got to dance with other PCVs, and despite the music being only disco (and there were like no words) I still had a nice time. After all of that, I had to take the bus back home on Monday. I feel like my host family thinks I was on vacation for a week, but I was so busy working the whole time, and once I got home with my new duties on the Small Grants Committee, I had even more work I had to do!
However, I did get to finally go see the sights In Phnom Penh (the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, Wat Phnom) so I am glad I got to see that.
Photos from the wedding (I did get the dress at the mall but it was NEEDED)
My Deaf Tuk Tuk driver: I cannot believe the odds, but in Phnom Penh, I got the same tuk tuk driver I had in March who was deaf. He has buttons in the back of the tuk tuk to have the rider tell him if he needs to turn left, right, or stop. But besides the very slim odds that I got him again in July (which is already a coincidence), we pull up to my hotel and he keeps point to a man outside. I look at the man and just nodded my head because I had no idea what was happening, but the tuk tuk driver kept gesturing with his hands near his ears. Long story short after this non-verbal communication, it turns out that the man sitting outside the hotel (who is a staff member) actually was also deaf, and my tuk tuk driver and him are friends! Because I don't know sign language, I was trying to gesture if they speak in sign-language to each other and my tuk tuk driver was like "yes!" (this yes was through a thumbs up). I say "wow!" and left my tuk tuk in a sense of happiness and also awe of the coincidences.
My Protective Tuk Tuk driver: I tell you on the whole my tuk tuk drivers are the greatest. I got a tuk tuk from the Royal Palace and was holding my phone a little too far out. My tuk tuk driver said in Khmer, "be careful of the phone snatchers". Since I understood what he said, I put my phone in my bag and he then said "wow you speak Khmer?" We had a lovely conversation about me teaching in Cambodia and then once I got to my destination he said "Can I ask one question?" and asked to practice saying "be careful of phone snatchers" so he could warn other tourists to keep their phones close to them.
Ending Up Speaking at a University: Once I came back to my province, another volunteer asked if I wanted to help out and speak at an event that was going on at the university in my province. She said it was about the importance of learning English. We made a wonderful presentation, but did not know how many people would show up. I biked 40 minutes to the provincial town to make it in time (so I left my house at 6:30am). I changed in a coffee shop bathroom to get ready to speak. When we walked into the room, there was 55 students (who were learning English). I had to try to calm my nerves to not freak out. The presentation went well, but another good story for the books how I biked to the town in the morning to give a speech to a lot of university students (who are only a year or two behind me since I just graduated last year!) After the speech, we went to a super cool place that collects old record players, records, cameras, etc. It feels like such a flash from the past.
Lastly: shoutout to my school director who does the most to keep the school beautiful: featuring him welding the broken soccer goal.
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