Trying to Keep Up...

It's been a while since I've posted  a blog. Things have been a little hectic at my new site. Here's a recap on what's been happening these past few weeks:

My teaching schedule is starting to pick up.  I am now teaching at least twenty-two hours a week to 7th, 11th and 12th graders.

 I'm also startig my Khmar tutoring sessions where I'll hopefully be improving my language skills with my one hour lessons everyday.  

I've been brainstorming with my counterpart on ideas and clubs that we can get started.

I'm also training for a half marathon that will take place in about three weeks.

I've also been traveling on some of my weekends to the provincial town, Kampong Cham.

One of the volunteers who is about a two hour bike ride away, needed help with one of her projects so I, along with some other volunteers, rode our bikes and helped her paint her clinic.

 I have also been doing a ton of reading and researching on teaching skills and other resources.

And then I have also been spending time with my family and workng on getting to know them better and  vice versa.

Needless to say everything has been going great. I've been adjusting well into my new home. I have a great support system from my fellow volunteers who live in my provincial area. They're an active and athletic bunch so that kicks ass! I do have my occassional moments when I feel homesick but talking to my family and looking at photos from back home helps ease the pain a bit.

The pictures that I uploaded for this blog are photos from the home I lived in while I was living in Takeo. I haven't taken to many pictures of my new home so I figured I'd bombared you first with what my homestyle was like at my other site.  

This was my bedroom. The only reason why it's nice and clean is because this was my last day and had to move most of my belongings out. My bed is also missing the mosquto net that I had hanging.

This is where most of the delicous meals I ate was cooked on.

The kitchen

The stairs to the second floor. The one with the door open was my room.

The living/gathering/tv/storing room. The windows on the top lead to the bedrooms. The far left one is mine. My host father is also a moto mechanic which is why there's a line of motos to the right.

One of the buddhist temples my family kept. Most families in Cambodia has at least one temple in their homes adorn wtih flowers, food and other decorations.

My two host sisters in the middel along with their cousins.

This is where we sat and gathered almost everyday. It's our little spot where we eat, drink, talk and sleep.

On my last day there my host family and I exchanged some gifts. I was touched to see how beautifully wrapped they were. They gave me a few clothes and accessories which was all very sweet of them.

I gave my host sisters a bubble kit and I was happy to see that they started enjoying it right away.

For me this was probably one of the best ways to enjoy my last day with my host family.