Two Weeks in Cambodia and the Flood

Hello everyone! First off, I am sorry I have not posted sooner. But that means I have been having a very busy and good time! So what have you missed? Honestly, too much for me to get into this two week blog post, but I will try my best.

Ok, so let’s start from the beginning. I went to staging in San Francisco, and this was probably the most intimidating part of the whole trip. I know what you are thinking which is: how could that be the most intimidating part? Well when you go to a hotel not knowing anyone and are trying to make new friends, it is hard. But nevertheless, I managed to find friends (which is something my mom always says, that once I find friends and am busy, I am all set). After staging, we set off for the airport to have our first flight from San Francisco to Taiwan. Upon checking my bags, I won the lottery of being in the middle seat for the 14 hour flight. Anyar and Reagan are now my airplane besties (I was between them on the flight from SF to Taipei and Taipei to Phnom Penh). Let’s just say that it was a long flight but not as bad as you would think. Arriving in Cambodia slightly sleepy and having changed in the Taipei airport, I was ready to go! The In-Country staff greeted us with open arms and gave us beautiful flowers and a food goody bag (which I was needing, although I did have some bubble tea at 6:40am in the Taipei airport). We

loaded on the buses to go to our first stop which was the hotel training site. I shall spare the details because it was a lot of training and language learning, but all the sessions were great and I continued to bond with my K15 cohort, which has been the most important thing for me to be able to adapt to a new country. We are all in this together. Oh P.S. the food was amazing at the hotel.

We then loaded back on the bus to go meet with our host families! For those who do not know, we do a training for the first three months in the country, and we all stay with host families near each other, but then when we swear in, we will all move to different parts of the country! My van (the fun time van because Sanders was playing Cambodian music on the drive) pulled up to the training school, and all of our host families were sitting there waiting. A monk blessed the volunteers and then the PC staff announced our host families (thank goodness I was not called last). I went to sit with my host mom, but trying to have a conversation with only knowing how to say “My name is Alex, I am 22 years old” in Khmer, makes it very hard. So we sat there in slight silence and ate fruit while everyone else was being matched. We then loaded the vans back to go be dropped off at our host families. One by one, my fellow van mates got out of the van, until it was Reagan and me left. We drove far down the bumpy road and Reagan got out, and then finally it was me. (Note that Reagan and I live at the end of the road, because this will be VERY important later).

I have a host sister (who has now been the biggest help at learning how to do stuff at the house and helping teach me Khmer), a host mom, and host dad. The food they make is SO good, and I have learned for sure that #riceislife. I have had rice for every single meal. Literally. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. We have chickens and ducks in the back of the house in a coop and then they have a cow, but the cow sometimes roams around the outside of the house. Oh and they have three dogs. Also an occasional bucket of live crabs (but I did eat that for dinner tonight). My host sister and I also went picking for limes in my backyard and sometimes my host dad cuts a coconut down from the tree at our house for me to drink the coconut water. I, so far, have loved my host family.

We have training everyday and I usually wake up at 5:45 to bike to school (yes I have a bike! This is also important to note later). We have training, language lessons, etc. from 7:30am-5:00pm everyday, except Sunday. I have found my core group of friends (shoutout our Tea group) and we like to go to this tea shop down the road to drink tea and take a break from lessons (we have to bike there). I eat rice and pork or rice and chicken for breakfast and lunch from the lady across the street from the school (yes, I am no longer a vegetarian, it was going to be too hard for me to be picky here and I need my nutrients). I then bike home to my house on the paved road (as opposed to the unpaved road- I can go either way but the unpaved road has so many pot holes in it that it is very hard to ride the bike).

My language class is awesome and we have a great teacher and great group (and my competitive side does come out when we play the language games, I just can’t help it). I have for sure been trying to get used to the heat, the squat toilet, the bucket shower, no toilet paper, the constant sweat, the road traffic (and trying not to get hit by a vehicle), and of course the language, but I have been having such a great time learning and just taking in this experience that everything has been super positive.

The only downside is the rain. It rains SO much. And so sometimes I have to bike home in the rain, etc., which is only a minor inconvenience. However, the rain did turn into a downpour. And that resulted in the paved and unpaved road to be completely flooded….

Enter the saga of the flood, which is where my current state is now. It all started when I biked home in the rain from the school. In this downpour, my dress got wet under the poncho I wore. I did make it home and slept with the nice sound of rain. However when I began my beautiful bike ride to school the next day, I stumbled upon the whole paved road flooded. I am talking to the high pedal on my bike flooded. I refused to get off my bike and walk through the water because I was scared of what may be lurking in the water and I in fact powered through biking (however, my skirt was super wet when I got to the school). Reagan helped me bike back home on the unpaved road, which was also flooded but a little better. I also biked to school on the unpaved road the next day, which resulted in me almost falling off of my bike and an old woman telling me in Khmer to drive on the other side of the road because it is easier (shout out to this woman). I biked through the paved road on the ay home and showed Kit, Reagan, and Sanders, my house (and the lovely flood in the way). And finally, we come to today. The bus to go to Hub Day was able to drive through the water to pick me up (whoooohooo). However, on the way back we were alerted that the road has flooded more and that Reagan and I would have to walk. I would like to thank our Language and Culture Facilitator for walking us through the water because I was so scared to walk through the flood, not knowing what I could step on. There were kids playing in the water, but those kids are a lot braver than I am. The walk was successful, but I am hoping the flooded road subsides soon.

P.S. I helped my host sister practice her English homework and it was nice because I knew some of the words she was learning in English in Khmer so I could actually explain it!