Things are looking up!

As hard as this has been for me, I am amazed at my good fortune. I have no doubt that I was blessed to be working at the best school (at least for me) in all of Cambodia. I was the first one in our whole class of 27 to get a job. The other classmates fell off their chairs in shock (well, that is what they get for thinking they are so smart, ha ha). Okay, so American Pacific University was desperate. My contract is up the last week in June. I told Hayley and she asked me - are you coming home to stay? Who knows? I am pretty sure that being in a third-world country for nine months may have cured me, but . . . . one never knows. I am hoping to go to Nepal and Tibet before coming home. Going to Viet Nam for Christmas.

I have about 10 students in the morning and about 8 in the afternoon and a full-time teacher's assistant. They seem to follow the same plan every single day, so I am slowly trying to change things because I can't see that they are learning much. I went out and finally found some crayons (at about the fifth store I went to). She had them coloring with colored pencils, which meant that it took them twice as long to get the page colored. She had been teaching them the alphabet - but in capital letters - so I told the her that I wanted to start over and start with the lower case. I hope I didn't offend her, so to make sure, I asked another teacher who blatantly told me, "Cheryl, you are the teacher. She is the assistant. You make the decisions, not her." She is very good at what she does, and she has control over the students that I am still learning, so I am very grateful to have her. I am always praising her, so I hope she will be okay with the changes. I mean - how many times can a person be forced to sing: "There Was a Farmer Who Had a Dog and Bingo was his Name-o? They sing it in assembly and then after taking attendance and then after recess and then we go through the same thing again in the afternoon. So, I taught them, "I am a Little Teapot." Each week we will work on a new one. And they sing that blankety-blank ABC song more than that.

I move into my new apartment sometime between Nov.22 and December 1st. The guy who lives there now moves out the 21st, but she said she wanted to clean it. She doesn't speak English, so I told the realtor that if she let me move in the 22nd that I would clean it. I haven't heard the verdict yet. Hotel living gets old after awhile. But get this, it has two beds in it and I am paying $10 a night. It is just as nice as the one I stayed in in Ontario, Oregon when I was there in September for $69 a night.

The apartment was a little higher than I wanted to pay. Most everyone here pays $200 to $250 a month for a one-bedroom place, and she wanted $300, so the realtor got her to consent to $280 - but she told me I couldn't use her washing machine (she would have to pay the water). I can have this laundry place do my laundry for that amount and it comes back dry and folded. It was the nicest apartment I saw and it takes about one minute and 30 seconds to walk to work; that alone will save me $2/day on a moto - and with two artificial hips, those things are hard to get on and off of. I could almost walk it, but there is this four lane highway I cannot cross by myself. It is not the distance so much but the heat and humidity would kill me.

And the kitchen is so small - you have to go outside to change your mind - but the only reason I have a kitchen anyway is because it came with the apartment. I mean - who cooks?. Not only that - there is a KFC right around the corner. The best thing is that it has a veranda to die for and you walk through a garden to get to the apartment - most everyone else walks through a cement hallway or two of three flights of stairs that look like the way to a dungeon.

More later - the heat has taken it's toll on me for now.

Transportation in Cambodia

I was riding in a tuk tuk (a motorized rickshaw) yesterday with other student teachers from my class. It is interesting to note that I was the only one from America. One was from England, one from France, one from Ireland, one from Burma, and our driver was Cambodian. One of our instructors (who is from Canada) insists on referring to this country as Kampuchea; which I guess was the name of it before they changed it to Cambodia.

There are not a lot of cars or trucks on the streets. Everyone rides a motorcycle which they call a "moto." It is not unusual to see three or four people on one motorcycle. Of course you can ride one the year around here. If you are walking alone, you are constantly being asked, "Ma-damn, you want moto?" Then you haggle over the price and if you agree on one, you hop on the back and off you go. I have to close my eyes sometimes because I KNOW we are going to get hit or someone is going to hit us; of course that rarely happens. I was told they REALLY do not want to hit a foreigner because then they have to deal with all kinds of legal issues, red tape, and the American Embassy. I hear tell that if there is a minor accident, the one at fault just pays off the other right then and there and that is the end of it.

There is no end to the differences between America and a third world country, and of course that is why I am here - because I am sure not having (yet) what one could call "fun." I miss the little conveniences like crushed ice, garbage disposal. I don't even have hot water in my bathroom - so I use someone else's to take a shower.

And while I really do not want to miss these experiences, I want to go home to America when the time comes for me to go. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Lightening Strikes

We spent the weekend in Siem Reap. It was a horrible bus ride. The roads were so bad and of course I had to pick the worst seat on the bus (over the tire) and I was cramped up all the way there and back. The heat was unbelievable and everyone was sweating like they never had before. I finally got some Cambodian clothes - very light cotton. I could not believe the difference in comfort. What was I thinking - wearing those heavier clothes? Took us seven hours to get there and seven back.

HOWEVER - Angkor Wat was something to see. It is the longest temple in the world. I am surprised that it is not on the list of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is not any less of a wonder than the Pharoah's Treasury in Petra, Jordan.

I had been having a terrible time deciding whether to go on to Thailand (as I had planned) or stay here in Cambodia, as I think I will be more comfortable. Every day they kept asking me if I was going to stay or go. I said I was waiting for lightning to strike me and tell me what to do.

So last night I overheard one of the young men say how he wanted to go to Thailand (he had signed up for Viet Nam). I told him he could change his mind if he wanted, but he said that the Thailand quota was already filled up. I could see how much he wanted to go and I knew the other kids who were going to Thailand would much rather have him go with them than me, so I told him he could have my spot and I would stay here in Cambodia. And I really am okay with that. I can always go to Thailand later if I want to. I definitely will go to Thailand, but probably not to teach.

If I had this to do over, I am not sure I would do it by myself. I really feel like a fifth wheel with 27 students in the class and most of them are in their 20s. I am by far the oldest. I told them I would be their mother and keep them in line. One guy is 27, one lady from Australia is 54. One of our teachers is 73. About 5 people are from the UK and one from France and one from Burma (now called Myanmar) which borders Cambodia. Most of the students are 20-something and all college graduates. Talk about feeling out of place. I guess it was this or not come at all. Who knew?

I am not sure how long I will stay here. The humidity is something else, but my room is air conditioned and the school is air conditioned, so one can survive. I hear tell that the public schools are NOT air conditioned, do if I don't get a private school, I may only stay a few months. I hear tell that the hottest months here are January and February - oh goodie!

Once I get an apartment and a new keyboard, I hope to get a blog going so I can put my pictures on it, etc. (Greg will moderate a blog for her in the meantime)

Send mail. I am already homesick.


Love, C