Driving a Motorbike? March 30, 2009

Well, I got my first chance to drive a motorbike (or motorcycle) into town. I have to say that my heart rate was up considerably and I was sweating more than usual, which is saying a lot. I drove around the school a bit before attempting to have Emily ride on the back. I drove from the dorm to our house, and as I tried to turn around, I just about tipped the bike in the deep sand. I don’t know why Emily trusted me enough to ride all the way to town and back, but miraculously everything went okay. I drove it into town today too, and am getting slightly more comfortable with the whole thing. It would be one thing to learn how to drive one in the States, but here… Sand, pot holes, construction sites, and numerous other things are the obstacles one has to go through. I was praying the whole way…

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to a Khmer wedding. One of my students, Chair (pronounced as if with an Australian accent), invited all us volunteers to come to his mom’s wedding. It wasn’t quite as traditional as I hear the other ones are because this was her second wedding and she is also Adventist. It was held at the church here at the school. The ceremony was pretty boring since we couldn’t understand it. One of the bridesmaids kept powdering up the bride every 2 minutes, and the people taking pictures blocked out view most of the time. The reception was held at her house. They set up a canopy outside the house where there were tables and plastic chairs covered in fancy cloth. The music was incredibly loud. Chris and I were standing right in front of the 10 or so speakers taking pictures when they suddenly started up the music. I wasn’t sure I’d ever hear again. Fortunately, we vegetarians were put at a table that was a little farther away from the speakers than the rest of the guests. There was tons of food, but only some of it looked slightly familiar. By this time, the bride had changed into another outfit. She had on an elaborate gold dress and was wearing huge anklets, a very poky arm band, and some white socks with her high heels. Stylin’…  I’m told that by the time the festivities are over, most brides will have changed their outfits at least 5 times. When we finally left, we dropped our money gift into a heart-shaped container. Apparently it’s customary for all the guests to give a cash gift to the bride and groom. All in all this wedding was quite the experience…

This week is revision week, and I have all my exams scheduled for this Friday. That way I’ll have all next week to do grades and see some sites. Then, Emily and I are blowin’ this pop stand!

Hmmm… March 22, 2009

These last few weeks have kinda crawled by. Though my time here is coming to a close, these last few weeks seems to go by even slower. Emily Yoder (one of my pals from Thailand) arrived here last Thursday. She’ll be here til I finish teaching. So now there are 5 other foreigners here to keep me company.

Interestingly enough, life here at this school has become quite normal for me. It’s normal to take a shower by pouring buckets of water over my head; it’s normal to share a room with 3 other girls; it’s normal to have no privacy; it’s normal to eat rice filled with bugs; it’s normal not to have 24 hour electricity; It’s normal to be called “Cher” constantly (the 2nd half of the word “teacher”); it’s normal to wash my clothes by hand. Most of the time I’ve been here, I’ve thought that going back to the States would be no problem, but the longer I’m here, the more I think it’ll be pretty shocking. It’ll take a little while to get used to civilization again…

Teaching has been getting easier as I get to know my students better. They are no longer afraid to ask me questions, and we have good times in class.

We’ve started up a Pathfinder group with grades 9 and 10. Not that it’s run like a normal Pathfinders would be run. Us volunteers are just trying to get the older students to learn how to be leaders so that if we’re not around, they can do they’re own Pathfinders. These last couple weeks have been pretty rough. Chris has been trying to do the Physical Fitness honor with them, and I’ve been teaching them marching. I had a hard time remembering all the commands and which foot to call things on, so I promptly called up the marching expert (my dad) and had him refresh my memory. It’s especially entertaining watching the students try to do an “about face.”

We’ve also started having Wednesday night Bible studies with just us volunteers and Tim and Wendy. So far they have gone well, though I find myself almost falling asleep by the end because I’m used to going to bed early… It’s pretty easy to when the electricity goes out at 9 pm–there’s just nothing you can do in the dark. But the Bible study is nice just to have a time when we can talk to each other in normal English and be understood without having to simplify our simplifications. I really think I’ve forgotten a lot of English words…

Well, time marches on, and I know this will be over sooner than I think.

Border Run March 3, 2009

So, just after I wrote the last post, I went over to a travel agency to get my visa extended for another month. The lady told me that I can’t extend it anymore–I have to go out of the country and back in again to be able to stay longer. Buffalo! So, I rode home and discussed my situation with Wendy. Since my visa expired on a Sabbath, she suggested that I just go to the Thai border on Sunday and just pay the $5 for being one day late. That sounded good to me. So, early Sunday morning, one of the Khmer teachers drove me and Niet (a girl in 9th grade) on his motorbike to the taxi place in town. I brought Niet along with me to help me with all the translating, plus she has family that lives right near the border.

When we arrived in Poi Pet (the city on the border), we went to Niet’s sister’s house first. Her brother-in-law took me to all the places I needed to go before entering Thailand. When I crossed the border, I immediately turned around and got back in line to return to Cambodia. As I waited, I talked with the lady in front of me. She turned out to be an Adventist who has been working in Thailand for about 4 years. She knows some of the same people I know who are volunteering there as well. I’m sure God set that up for us to encourage each other even just for a few minutes.

When I crossed back over into Cambodia, I bought my visa from a little stand that apparently was a mini police station. It’s a good thing that I had this guy helping me out or else I never would’ve been able to find the right place to go.  With the visa stuff all taken care of, Niet and I took a taxi back to Siem Reap. Poor Niet! She gets car sick really easily, so she threw up on the way to Poi Pet and on the way back.

Since then, I’ve just been doing the usual–teaching. There have been a couple times when I’ve gone over to play volleyball with the students.  Just the 9th and 10th grade guys play, so they’re way better than me, but it’s fun, and I’m sure they have a good laugh watching me try to play.

I’ve only got about 4 weeks of actual teaching left; then comes Revision week (which is reviewing in all the subjects for exams), and then Exams. It’s such a short time, but at the moment it seems to be crawling by. I hear that a few volunteers from Thailand are coming to visit in a week or so just to see the orphanage. There are visitors coming and going all the time at this place. Anyways, that’s all for now folks! GB!