Nerd Alert

Ants heart my retainers.

I don't know why. Of all the delicious things to eat available around the house (and believe me, there are many), they are drawn, inexorably, to my bright red retainer case, labeled with my name, containing my two retainers. They especially like the all-plastic lower one.

Please note that I will henceforth strike the phrase "like a moth to a flame" from my daily usage and replace it with "like ants to my retainers."

It's kind of sad that I am no longer squeamish about putting them in my mouth, even after the ants have used them as their tiny playground (for those weak of stomach, I do clean them before I put them on). It's also kind of sad that I'm posting about my retainers. *sigh*

The News

Here's what's new: I have a family! A great family! I moved in two days ago. I have a mother and three siblings, an extended family nearby, a room of my own, and a classroom on the ground level. My family sells shampoo, sugar, gas, cold drinks, and other stuff I haven't yet examined at the store out front. A month of unsettledness has turned out to be worth it.

The other news has to do with why I have internet access today. The branch of the bank in my town doesn't give out cash (hey, it's always an adventure), so discovering that I was down to my last $4 with no credit-card cushion and no local access to money, I ventured in to the big city for a visit to the bank. Which is a complete trap! Because when you're in Battambang, you have to spend money on the delicious Western food and things like beautifully illustrated Khmer-language books and possibly, possibly, musical intruments. I've got to get out of here before the temptation takes hold...

And Some Administrative Crap

I think I'm going to have to password-protect the blog. Or something. Some Peace Corps policy says it's "recommended." Be ready.

My Awful Confession

There is some old saying, yes, about a picture being worth a certain large number of words? Which in theory means I could make this blog much more compact simply by making entries that look more like this: [picture]? Or: [picture]! Or even, most efficiently: [picture]

However, my titular awful confession is that I am intimidated by my camera. It's a nice camera, and I had enough foresight to buy it the day before I left Idaho, cleverly leaving the bill to my unsuspecting parents. The problem is, after taking these lovely pictures, I don't really know what to do with them. So here's my ambitious promise: next time I'm in Battambang town, I will post pictures. (Note the "s"!)

Language Family Tree

Despite the presence of the word "linguistic" in the name of my college major, I still have no idea what makes one language family different from another. (A little research on Wikipedia reveals that my confusion is shared.) English is part of the Indo-European family. Khmer, according to my books, is part of the Mon-Khmer family. But in the end, they don't seem so different to me. I mean, yes: Khmer and English have many different sounds, and Khmer verbs are conjugated differently from English ones (that is to say, minimally). But in the end, the language is made up of words and sentences, and they're even generally in the order of subject-verb-object. What kind of acrobatic grammatical contortions did I expect I'd have to put myself through?

Maybe I am simply seeing the surface similarities because my current grasp of the language is so poor. Maybe once I am more conversant in Khmer, the language will fall clearly, in my mind, into a family of languages to which my native tongue does not belong. Until then, I will look at the language family tree with skepticism.

Postmark: Battambang

So! Training is over. To sum up training: we learned how to speak beginning Khmer, practiced teaching English at a secondary school, learned how to take care of basics like traveling and eating in Cambodia, and in the process made some predictable and some unpredictable mistakes. We lived in a small rural village with Cambodian families in wooden houses with outdoor bathrooms and no electricity (although batteries and generators provided the power for watching TV with our families).

The unintentional (and therefore eerie) foreshadowing in the last post is as follows. Two weeks ago, just before I left my training village and arrived at my permanent site in Battambang province, where I'll be for 2 years, I learned that the host family at my permanent site was no longer able to host me and that I would need to find a new family to live with. I am hoping to identify a new family this week. In truth, this is an opportunity for me to exert control where most Volunteers have none, as host families are usually identified by staff and not by Volunteers. When I visited the original family, there seem to be no hard feelings on either side. Settling in will just take me longer than most folks, and to put it all in perspective, I remind myself that one month of unsettledness is short compared to 2 years of service.

Cambodia has just emerged from the holiday of Khmer New Year. America definitely ought to adopt this holiday as a model. It's 3+ days of celebration and relaxation with family and friends. The transition from old year to new year happens not in the middle of the night but in the middle of the day, when, Khmer legend has it, an angel...well, does something (my listening comprehension isn't great yet). People go to pagodas to pray and also to enjoy the company of other people. And for recreation, they throw water balloons at passing trucks and moto drivers (the American version wouldn't allow this for legal reasons but I propose pedestrians as an alternative target). Seize the opportunity, America! I expect to see a daytime holiday complete with water balloons when I return. Although come to think of it, are water balloons a good idea in January?

Dry/hot season is sighing its last raspy breaths. Now, the Cambodian countryside is mostly yellow. Think Serengeti with palm trees. We've had a few raging rainstorms, but the predictable daily rains haven't started yet. Can't wait to see what that's like.

Where To Begin?

My first post from Cambodia! (And I can't even remember now what's remarkable and what's prosaic. Many things that were initially strange and different are now simply The Way Things Are.)

Cambodians are amazing people. They are friendly, helpful, industrious, and inventive. My training family has woven me into their lives. My language teachers have taught me about Khmer culture and helped me when I was unsure of myself. Cambodian high school teachers do loads of work with few resources. And I am continually amazed at how friendly and generous strangers are to me.

Cambodian culture had my head spinning at first. The way people dress, handle status differences, eat, get married, sleep, feel about their families: all topics of lengthy discussion in my training village as we Americans navigate our lives there. I will absolutely write more on this in the future....

For now, the focus is on transitioning from being a trainee to being a volunteer. Everything I currently know about my job here is about to change. Hahahahaha*snort* *wipe away tear* *reflect on whether tear is result of joy or despair*

n.b. Good news! My mailing address will remain the same for my entire service.