let’s see

Since I last wrote…

• Wedding clothes and weddings: I was invited to another wedding and my host mom and I decided that it was time for me to buy a proper wedding outfit. The two of us went into town one morning and hit the market. I thought we were going to buy me just a traditional wedding outfit (puffy princess shirt like the one I wore for swear in and a new sampot). I ended up with not only that, but a crazy pink dress that looks like something a Barbie would wear as well. It was fun going to the market with my mom, having a million people ask a million questions and letting her answer them all (why in the world would a Barang be here with a Khmer woman buying wedding clothes??). I pretty much let my mom pick out the things I would buy (giving a little guidance on color) and bargain prices for me. The outfits I bought are nothing I would ever wear outside of a Khmer wedding but they certainly will make weddings more fun and they will be a great souvenir of my service when I get back.

I had a chance to wear my new clothes to a wedding about two weeks ago now. In honor of my fancy new clothes my host mom took me to her friend’s house where I had my hair and makeup done totally Khmer style. The first day of the wedding I wore the pink Barbie dress and just had some little French braids in the front of my hair with the rest long and down. The makeup wasn’t too intense either. The second day is the fancy party day, my hair was again in French braids in the front with the rest of my hair curled and the makeup was much heavier. I looked a lot like all the other Khmer ladies there in my orange outfit. I don’t have pictures on my camera, but pictures were taken so once I get them I’ll try and post them here.

• 50^th Anniversary Project: In between my shopping spree and wedding extravaganza I did a project! The Peace Corps just celebrated its 50^th anniversary on March 1^st and is celebrating all year. In Cambodia we were given the opportunity to apply for a small amount of money to do a service project in our community during March and April to celebrate the anniversary. About ten of the projects were filmed and the little video they made will be shown in May at the US Embassy Peace Corps Celebration and then on TV here in the ‘bode. My project was one of the ones filmed so I was a little bit nervous that no one would show up and I would look like an awful volunteer.

The morning of my project an Embassy car (not the usual Peace Corps car) pulled up to my house. There was one Peace Corps staff and the rest were Embassy staff and people working on the video. It was a lot more involved than I thought it was going to be. They wanted shots of me at my house, riding my bike and they interviewed me…in Khmer. Eeks, definitely didn’t have anything prepared so let’s hope they edit, a lot. Then it was time to go to the health center where the kids would be meeting to do the project.

My project was making big banners with road safety messages on them to then be hung on the side of the road. We painted three that say in Khmer “Don’t Drink and Drive” “Wear your Helmet everyday” and “Drive carefully”. The road in my town is narrow and has lots of curves so accidents are an issue in the community. Hopefully these signs will at least raise some kind of awareness.

We pulled up to the health center about 5 minutes before I had asked the kids to show up. Like I said, I was really nervous no one would show. The two weeks before I went to the private English class next door every night to help the kids practice English, remind them about my project, and beg them to show. There were 5 kids sitting very politely on the bench waiting for us. I had a brief moment of panic as I asked them where the rest of the kids were. They told me they were coming from school and would be here soon. Not feeling too much better I began to set things up and move tables and chairs around. About 15 minutes later a parade of kids came streaming in on their bikes, fresh from school still wearing their uniforms. Attendance is a funny thing out here and you never know how many people will actually show, I had been telling myself if 20 kids came I would be thrilled. By the time everyone showed I had between 30-35 kids helping me. I was so happy and relieved; the most nerve wracking part of my project was over.

I had some health games that we played so the film crew could have something a little more interactive and then we got down to painting the signs. Everyone was involved and it all worked out and all three signs were painted. I was so happy the project went so well and relieved that it was over.

• Vacation and Khmer New Year: April means Khmer New Year, Khmer New Year means, vacation! I got back to site yesterday from a week in Thailand. I spent a few days in Bangkok and about a week on an island called Lanta. It was great. I spent a week sitting in the sun, reading and drinking mango shakes. Definitely a nice change from site. Now I’m back to celebrate Khmer New Year with my host family. Everyone has been talking about it since we arrived in country (almost 9 months ago, whaaa??) so I couldn’t miss being at site for it! I still have another week until I go back to work so I’m just going to relax and enjoy the new books I put on my kindle.

Hope all is well back at home! Send me updates.

Xoxo,

B