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.

The Cartoon City

I am in a Dr. Seuss city! Everything here is very colorful and some of the older buildings are full of designs. There are buildings that are standing and look like they are defying the laws of gravity, and I have been eating dragon fruit and other colorful and storybook-like food since arriving.  Yesterday a K5 (PCV who is in the Kampuchea 5 group and has served a year so far) took me and a few others in my group on a tour around the city to exchange money and see the markets - it was like the Grand Bazaar all over again with stalls and vendors every which way. One of the supermarkets sold some American food such as Oreos and Ritz crackers. I made a mental note in case I am ever food homesick and need a good Oreo to take my mind off of hamburgers and ice cream. When we got here and distributed American candy to all of the PCVs they were like kids in a candy store, so excited! I expect I will be longing for a Butterfinger far before the year is up, but the excitement of a whole new cuisine to dive into has me distracted from American daydreams thus far.
  This Dr. Seuss city goes along with the Super Mario Kart streets here in Phnom Penh, and I've heard, here in Cambodia in general. The only rule of the road is that there are no rules of the road. Most Khmer ride motorbikes (called "motos" in English) or a tuktuk which is kind of like a rickshaw but with a motorbike instead of a bicycle.  So far my group an I have gone as far as fitting 7 on one tuktuk, but I've heard the record is 15 people. The streets are utterly INSANE! And I say that being a driver of both Chicago and New Orleans. If I find out there is a word in Khmer for "traffic light" I will be astonished yet still. They have no lights, no signals, no lanes, no stops, no nothing (no anything?). The name of the game is to get where you're going as fast as possible and pedestrians fear for their lives when crossing the street - that last comment was only half joke. :)
  The water here is not safe to drink...at least not yet. So I have been brushing my teeth using bottled water and eating only cooked foods.  We have been warned against not using bug spray and getting Dengue Fever, Japanese encephalitis, and other mosquito driven diseases as well as rabies which is prevalent here.   And at this point I'll cut it out with the doomsday prophecies - Cambodia is a great country and has a lot of dangers just like any American city...they are just different than the ones I'm used to!
  Below I've posted a photograph of a tuktuk from behind (I was in a different one while taking this) as well as a photo of national museum which I will find a way to get to eventually, and JD, another K6, and myself.  We were celebrating some other K6 birthdays last night on a boat ride on the Mekong River when I saw his shirt and said to him, "OMG I need a picture of that...I'm a brain scientist!!!" as if that would explain everything. And you get to see K6! This was a photo posted on our facebook page of the night we arrived.

 As you can see we are exhausted, a little overwhelmed, but overall ecstatic to be here. There were about 100 different cameras flashing at us. I believe there were 100 cameras, if I were to guesstimate.
  I leave today for the village of Takeo, about 2 hours south of Phnom Penh for PST (pre-service training) where I have been told internet is a maybe/maybe not kind of thing, so I might not be posting for a bit - know that I am alive and well! and just in the heart of a third world country.

life is good!
xo-Amanda

The Kingdom of Wonder

I made it! I am here in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The flight this afternoon was only an hour long (and they still served us a whole meal) but I did figure out that I am a full 12 hour time difference from home - Chicago (central) time. K5 - the group here before us and in the country for a year so far - met us at the airport and it was quite a surprise! It was very fun to meet the previous volunteers and very overwhelming. My group and I have been traveling for over 24 hours. This journey has been a mix of sleep, plane rides...and sleeping on planes.
  I am so exhausted-the kind of fatigue that seeps into your bones and turns to lead, making your body want to be closer and closer to the ground with each step you take as fighting off sleep becomes the primary reason of your existence. Until jet lag wears off I think the only thing that will be on my mind is "when I can get sleep?" and "why am I not sleeping?". Airports have become another sort of hotel where one of our group watches bags while everyone else cat naps and turns are taken. Southeast Asia is beautiful, and I say that even if the only parts of it I have seen are hotels, airports, and streets on the bus ride. In Bangkok a few of us decided to take a walk around our hotel and met a few of the locals at street posts and food stands. They yelled, "America!" at us and offered us whiskey which we politely declined.
  As soon as the plane landed in Cambodia, upon request and full of Tulane pride, the first thing I said in Camboda and while wearing my Tulane baseball jersey was "Roll Wave!" haha Go Green Wave. All we have learned about each other in my group has been where we're from and what college we went to. Rapport has been built on the Big Ten, the midwest (yea midwest pride) and football (obviously). It's been quite the trip and it feels SO good to finally be in Cambodia.
  Nevertheless, as adult life will teach everyone and as we have learned so far: building relationships is the key to EVERYTHING. Some of us met with the previous volunteers for drinks, dinner, and conversation. We drank a "beer tower" (shown uploaded and only $3.75!) of Ankor which is a Cambodia beer. I heard one K4 describe it as a "Bud Light" - it's more like just a watered down beer. They gave us a lot of good info on wearing bug spray to avoid dengue, the fact that ants have a "lemony taste" and that fried frog legs are very common. I am so excited to begin training and learning Khmer (pronouced "Koom-I" or "k'mai") and will depend a lot upon my host family and site to learn. One of the most interesting things to hear was that Khmer is a very basic language and easy to learn - for example, "air conditioner" is just "cold machine" in Khmer...just like "airplane" is "air machine" etc. I am not sure that I'll be learning how to read and write but speaking is for certain. Here goes nothing!

 Excitment abounds!

 xo-Amanda

"Begin Anywhere" -John Cage

"Anywhere" is my hotel room in Washington D.C. where staging was today. So this is where it all begins-the life changing volunteer job that is more myth than actual fact due to all of the details taking place across the world and the story seen through someone else's eyes.
  Though draining, today was a lot of fun. I woke up with a lot of questions in my head and even more butterflies in my stomach flying around the knots already lodged there. It hadn't hit me until this morning and then BAM, like a lightning bolt it was there: I'm going to Cambodia with the Peace Corps. Saying goodbye is never my favorite part of traveling but I know that the sooner I get gone, the sooner I can come back. It's amazing having so many great people to say goodbye to at least.
  Staging here was jam-packed full of information. I was able to meet everyone in my group (Kampuchea 6) - there are 58 of us, and get a lot of information about what we're going, how to cope emotionally and mentally, and travel details. Everyone here is in one of two programs: English Teaching and Teacher Training (ETTT), or Cambodia Health Education (CHE). I was relieved to find that everyone also pretty much feels the way that I feel about this Cambodian adventure: a wee bit queasy about the unknown but excited and ready to learn all the same, and especially happy in my discovery that our optimism and each other will help to get us through the tough times. Experience and someone going through what you're going through will be a good teacher. Isn't it great to know that the lows in life only contribute to the best of the best feeling in the highs?
  I fly out to Tokyo and then on to Bangkok tomorrow where I will be for one night before reaching my destination of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Words do not do my feelings justice at this moment and it will take a great will of imagination to contemplate the next two years. How I love the shoes that I am wearing right now-I would not pick anyone else's shoes for all of the world. It's probably a great sign that I'm flying out of the country and beginning this new journey on Friday the 13th...right?! ;P
  This is the time when I am missing everyone back home (in all of my "homes") like mad. Thanks to everyone for the love and support in the days since I've received my invitation. I'll try to blog only the best and most interesting information without exaggeration and as often (but not too much) as I am able to get to internet. This truly has been a whirlwind of a preparation as well as both mentally and emotionally challenging and stimulating. I have a feeling though, that the best is yet to come.

 Wish me luck!
 xo-Amanda