6:15 Woke up intending to meditate (something I do sporadically), reset the alarm since I slept well due to the aid of benedryl, but couldn't really go back to sleep.
6:35 Alarm went off again, read some Tao of Pooh with my headlamp and crawled out of the mosquito net, brushed teeth, put on sampot and button down shirt, ate a small banana (intending to eat real breakfast after class).
6:50 Biked to school to start class at 7, my co-teacher tends to be 5-10 minutes late, so I usually sit down on a bench in front of class to read, but no time today as he showed up about when I did.
7-8:50 Taught 2nd year students, reviewed for a semester exam next week with a week voice I thought I might lose as I had a bit of a cold the day before. Voice came back thankfully as I had to teach more later.
8:50 Headed to the market in teacher clothes which is exciting for the crowded market as I look more Khmer (despite my desired features of angular nose and 'white' skin), went to my favorite sweets lady where I got a small bowl of jek k'dtee (banana soup with tapioca, condensed milk, sticky rice) for 500 riels (~12 cents). She gave me some warm tea as the weather was pleasant/cold today, then I bought some yogurt at one of the few places that sells it in my town to eat later with cereal, bananas and some honey.
9:10 Arrived home. Changed to do some laundry, it had been 2 weeks so I had a fair amount to do. A new grandma ('yaay') that lives in my house, maybe temporarily, maybe not, asked me about how I do laundry in America and she observed me trying my hardest for a bit. Finished up the laundry around 10:40 after a rinse cycle with fabric softener which enabled me to check email, chat with a friend in America, etc. Changed again to teach.
11-12:10 Went to the vocational school where I teach everyday with my tutor, Sam Ang (the best person in Prey Veng) a free class open to the public. It's a fluctuating group of about 20 students, high school, university, high school teachers, focused on reading comprehension. Taught vocabulary related to braille to prepare for reading the article the next day. Sam Ang often buys me nice things to thank me for helping, today he got me a soy bean drink from the food shack at the school served in a bag with a straw. Delish.
12:10 Back home to eat lunch, usually eat with my family, but they were hungry today and my sister's were already napping. Lunch was left out for me, so I enjoyed on my own. Checked the internet again (I spoiled myself with unlimited internet), talked to Mom.
1:10 Headed out to adventure and meet up with a Khmer volunteer working with a Youthstar, a Khmer volunteer organization, I had met the previous Saturday. I was intending to meet up with her in her village and observe her English class to help her out. Her village is 7 km away so I set out biking in the heat of the afternoon.
1:40 Supposed to meet her at 1:30 but no luck finding her village. She calls and I put her on the phone with a woman on the side of the road to help find her village. She informs me that I have to go back to Prey Veng, then go 7 km in the other direction. Oops, guess I'll meet her next week. No problem (awt panyaha). Lots of construction on the main road, number 11, get hit by a few pieces of gravel, luckily not in the eye. I'm good. I'll go get a coffee in the market instead.
2:20 Get back to the market. Buy fried banana from a friend I haven't seen for a while, stop to chat. Then, head into the market to see my coffee stand friend (it's common to not address people by names, so all these friends of mine, are without name). One of the town crazies is sitting at the stand but I sit down anyway and pull out a book. My coffee friend moves me behind his stand to sit there instead since he looks out for me and this guy is staring at me and saying things. Hang out there reading Steinbeck's "To a God Unknown" for a while and chat with my friend. Leave to go teach my 4th grade once a week class at the primary school next to my Teacher Training school.
3:50 Get a call from my co-teacher asking where I am as I'm biking (yea, one handed mom and dad! don't worry I am good at it), I explain I'm on my way to school. He says I have to come as the students are having a cooking contest (again) and I have to eat num ban chok (noodles with fresh veggies and curry). No problem, I'm on my way anyway. Arrive at school, shove food in my mouth, tell them it's all delicious. Rush off to teach.
4:05 Arrived a little late to class, the kids are super excited. They have awesome energy and listen so well. We review last class's lesson of "Hello. My name is..." and simple commands. Today I teach them "Hello. My name is... What is YOUR name?" and directions to help them learn how to write. They all write the letter "C" and the bell rings. It's time for them to head home.
4:55 Started my English club with 2nd year trainees which meets every Tuesday and Thursday. It usually has about 6-10 people who come which is a good number as we practice a lot of pronunciation and word stress. We also tend to chat and I answer questions they have about my culture and personal experiences. We switched off between the students figuring out the correct word stress in a laundry list of items and them asking me about why I like to travel and where I have volunteered before. There is often a monkey running around at that time too, which I love. Unfortunately, today there was trash burning on both sides of us, but I tied a bandanna around my nose and taught anyway.
6 Arrived home to the whole street torn up. Check it out. Prey Veng is having major construction, it seems like all the roads are being revamped. It will be nice for biking when it's all done. Took my clothes in from the line outside with the help of Daibee. She likes to hold up my underwear and clothes to herself and say "tome!" which means 'big'. We spoke in gibberish and played on my computer a bit.
7:15 Ate dinner with the whole family: sisters, mom, dad and yaay. Had a spinachy green sauteed with egg, fried eggs, sour mango with fish sauce and rice, of course. Shared a sweet mango with the family and told my mom, sister and yaay about the monkey at my school today, my love of monkeys as long as they're not too daring, and the cooking contest.
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| Camera 2: This lady is headed off to a wedding |
Hope you made it through not completely bored. I guess a lot does happen here in a day. Even when I think I had a pretty uneventful day, when I start cataloguing the small moments, it's actually quite infinite.
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