This Isn't A Wedding Party!

 After one week of living with my Kamar host family, my host mother invited me a party and asked if she can dress me up in the traditional Kamar clothing. I right away accepted her invitation and got ready for the party.

 Me and my most awesome host mother.

 How about a little entertainment for a one year old's birthday party? Wouldn't be a party without the all girl Kamar singing group.

 I can't quite remember what this is but i do remember that instead of having six rounds of beers we had six rounds of food. Each and everyone of them both interesting and delicous.

 Being at this party made you feel more like you were at a wedding party. None the less, i enjoyed every minute of this colorful extravaganza.

I enjoyed everything I ate and saw at this party but the one thing I enjoyed the most was being able to spend time we my host mother. We are still not able to fully communicate with each other but the fact that she took the time to find someone who knows English so that she can tell me that she wants to invite me to the party completely took me by surprise. It also helped me feel more at home and also like part of the family.

How Can I Concentrate When It's So Beautiful Outside?

 A typical classroom view from Cambodian student's perspective when sitting on these hard wooden desks.

 It is not uncommon to have children come by the window or doorway and glimpse in to see what you are teaching.

 Ha ha a little bit of comic relief during our intensive language training. It always helps to find the best humor in the smallest things. Thanks to my friends Hal and Sam for the bananas.

I'm not sure how any of the children are able to get through a lesson without starring out the window for most of the time. Every time we have our language lessons or study groups in one of these classes I lose focus right away as I send empty gazes out the window.

Running My Heart Out

Our first few days into Traing, (our training site) and we have already deemed ourselves as the athletic bunch out of the other two training villages. Which i'm sure is not really true but playing soccer, basketball or some other type of sport on a daily basis really helps keep our mental and emotional stability much stronger and healthier. I know for me it is definitely a stress reliever. Thank goodness for friends who like to plays sports!

Playing sports not only with my fellow Peace Corps trainees but also with the local community has helped us to build stronger relationships. I can't tell you how much I look forward to gettting done with our training at the end of day to go out and play with everyone. Our training lasts for six days a week for almost 8 hours a day. By the end of the day I just want to run free and exhaust myself even more...as if sitting and learning a new language and learning how to become a Cambodian teacher wasn't enough.

Me, you and the Buddah

 Our last morning in Takeo. I was able to wake up before the sunrise to take a few shots out my window. Moments like these i really enjoy savouring, no matter where I'm at.

 Taking a morning stroll in the town before we our headed off into our training sites and into our new homes.

 A great group of friends to stay up late with and to play two truths and a lie. :)

 Before we were introduced to the families that we would be living with for the next couple of months we went to the Watt (Buddhist Temple) where our ceremony took place and we had several monks chant prayers for us.

Getting ready to met our families was a bit nerve wrecking. The whole idea about living with complete strangers who may possibly not even know a single word of English is probably what stressed me out the most. But looking back on it now, i realize that these families were probably just as nervous as we were. They did open up their homes to complete strangers from America and welcomed us into their lives with great big open hearts. Now that's courage.  <3

We just got served...

 Our final stop before we get placed into our training sites. I'm also making note of the last time we'll get to sleep in a real bed for a long while.



 We made friends rights away with the Cambodians and started playing volleyball with them on our first day.

Volleyball is a very serious sport here. Even though it was all in good fun for us we can see the seriousness in their eyes and in their serves.

Our guest house. The upstairs window was where my friend, Jill, and I stayed at. We called it our tree house.

Any time we played it always caused a spectacle event. Eithere they were interested to see some Americans or they were just interested in seeing how bad we played.