coming into focus

As is the case when you go to any new place, when I first came to site I was completely overwhelmed and disoriented. My first few rides down my now familiar road seemed so long and disorienting. I distinctly remember thinking to myself “it’s really awful that my natural reaction to being so overwhelmed is to yawn constantly and want to fall asleep, I wish I could take more of this in.”

Well now that I’ve been here for a while I’m starting to realize how much I have taken in.  The road is now familiar; I even know the villages we are passing through. When I first came to site I had to hope that someone either knew where my house was or attempt to explain that it’s near Banon, but before it, but near the 16km sign (signs, I have learned,  no one looks at), I’ll just tell you where to stop. Now I can tell them my village, what road my house is near, and the villages that sandwich mine. But of course now I don’t need to because they all know where my house is.

When I first came to site I asked a million times, a million different people, a million different ways if there are taxis to go into town. “No. no taxis here.” Well that clearly isn’t the case since I’ve definitely gone on at length about my experience with taxis in this blog, not to mention I have left site since arriving. Over time I tracked down the taxis, have come to learn their approximate schedule, come to know the drivers, the shortcuts they sometimes take and have come to learn more efficient ways of getting them to stop than relying on my host mother to scream across the road from the front of our house.

My first ride to the health center was long, hot and hellish. My bike had arrived at site with the gears bent so I couldn’t really ride it. I attempted to ride/walked my bike to the health center that day only to find that my director was circling the immediate area to make sure I was making my way ok (he had also been to my house 3 times since I had arrived the night before including twice that morning). Before I even went into the center he had me take my bike across the street and with the quick pry of a screwdriver my bike was fixed. Since that ride I have found lots of places to go in case I do have trouble with my bike, I know where and how much it will cost to get my tires filled. At this point even if I was having trouble with my bike there is no way I would make it all the way to the health center without running into someone I know who would most likely whisk my bike away on their moto and bring it back to me in good running order, much like what my host dad did for me when the front tire of my bike popped.

The places at site have become familiar and the people have become friends. The kids don’t scream “barang!” (white person) at me anymore, instead I get hellos and waves. I hear the gossip in the village and I’m invited to join the weddings and other celebrations. The kids I teach English to ride home next to me and tell me how their placement tests for high school are going and ask me how my latest trip was. I know which lo-cha cart is delicious and which one is not. I know that the creepy ice cream guy my sister used to buy from everyday is now the creepy lo cha guy who just happens to sell the bad lo cha.

I have seen that my site is an ever changing place. Teacher s from the school and younger skilled workers live in Battambang but commute to work out in the country.  Farmers grow, sell and work with what is in season. Riding my bike every day I love to see the different things that are drying on tarps to be processed or piled on stools to be sold, from chilies to peanuts, beans, mangos, mango jam, papaya, custard apples, jackfruit and many other things. My favorite is riding past tarp after tarp of chilies drying in the sun, you can smell their heat and it always reminds me of home a little bit.

My site is tiny and there might not be the most going on all the time but I do appreciate the people I have here and the little things that I love about my community. The weekends I’ve been spending away were good, but yesterday coming back to site I really was ready to be back. Seeing all the fruit coming back to the markets that I remember learning to eat right off the plane last year has really reminded me that I’m almost done with my first cycle and has made me realize how much I have to look forward to in this next year.