A game of "the real football"

Here I am in Takeo! This is my last night in a guesthouse in Takeo and so I am taking full advantage of the amenities offered: internet, toilet paper, and drinking water. As I had mentioned before, the water is not safe to drink and so all drinking water, water used for brushing of the teeth as well as washing fruits and vegetables has to come from bottles. What I have not said yet regards more water and the most important part of hygiene - the bathroom! Here in Cambodia showers are of the bucket kind, most toilets are squatting toilets, and toilet paper is used only in tourist areas (aka Phnom Penh). I won't go into particulars (that's what Google is for) except to say that if I wanted to be pushed out of my comfort zone during the next two years...challenge completed.
  Last night some other K6s, Khmer, and I played soccer on a field with grass that hasn't been cut in a few months and that quite possibly once was a lake. To say we played in the mud with a soccer ball is closer to the truth, and it could not have been more fun! I'm not sure if you can tell through the photo that we are all thoroughly satisfied with life at the moment and absolutely covered in mud! Another K6, Michela, in addition to being the biggest fan on the side, agreed to be my photographer and so recorded the game on film (it wouldn't upload or I would have shared). She is behind the camera while I am rocking out on the field looking quite smashing (if I do say so myself) in ridiculously long shorts - quite the change from the ankle-length skirts I have not been getting used to.  You might be able to tell that a lot of the girls are wearing really long shorts or pants - this goes along with Khmer culture in that women are not supposed to show their knees. Thus I played muddy Khmer soccer in my brother's basketball shorts and it was my most favorite night in Cambodia yet. On the plus side we were probably more protected from Dengue covered in mud than our bug spray. There is nothing like a good soccer game to make me feel at home.

  Tomorrow morning we are heading to a pagoda (a Buddhist temple called a "wat" in Khmer) to be blessed by the monks. All of the other girls and I went to the market to have sampots (traditional Khmer skirts) made in preparation. Well - all of the other girls had sampots made while I wandered around the market...I jacked a hand-me-down sampot from the PC Office in Phnom Penh because I'm cheap and have been told by other CHE volunteers that I will not be wearing sampots on the reg like the teachers. Thank goodness for that, do you know how hard it is to ride a bicycle in a traditional long Khmer skirt?! I did however get a sarong and chroma made in my feeble attempts to "fit in" with the Khmer. At the very least, wearing Khmer clothing makes me feel like I do not stand out like a sore thumb in this incredible place. ...Maybe I should tuck my baseball cap away... :)
  After the wat visit I move in with my training host family and get to the grueling work of learning Khmer language, culture, and technical training regarding health education and the work that I'm going to be doing for the next two years. Training will last about 7 more weeks after which the the real serving begins. I am more than excited to begin...plus my host family has a dog. For those of you who know me, you know this will be quite the experience (dog reference). Fingers crossed that they have a Western toilet!

Cheers!
 xo-Amanda

 -top: Miriam takes pictures of Sally and I at our guesthouse
 -below: Takeo rice paddies.