What did you do on your lunch break?

I don’t usually have much time to read the new paper, and the time I do have during my lunch breaks, I spend reading my book, studying French, Spanish or Italian verbs or shopping at the Russian Market. But today I had time to read the Cambodia Daily and shop for winter clothes at market for my upcoming trip to Beijing. The temperature difference is going to be a real shock! It’s a real unique experience being in the poorly ventilated sauna also know as the market trying on long pants and knock off puffy North Face jackets. Sweaty doesn’t even begin to describe it. However I find that if I go in with intention its easier to find what I need, otherwise one can easily get overwhelmed with the narrow lane of stalls packed with a smorgasbord of goods. Today the intention was winter clothes. I half accomplished the mission coming out with 2 pairs of jeans and 2 new dresses. I just cant resist the dresses, and at 5 dollars a pop they are a steal. I will delve into the markets again next week to find a jacket and some warm sweaters, and try to not come out with any more dresses.

Ok back to the newspaper. I was really filled with sadness reading numerous articles about people dying. Today I read about an Argentinian train crash and the further recovery of bodies from the Italian cruise ship. It really saddens me. But there was one hopeful article about children getting free corrective cleft palate surgery from the Smile Train. Apparently its fairly common in this region with 1 in 500 Cambodians being born with a cleft palate. Reading the stories of those served really put a smile on my face. The I was drawn into another story about worms. Since I’m deeply entrenched in all things agricultural, I read about the burgeoning worm production business Cambodia. Rural farmers are starting to raise worms to help with soil fertility and to produce fertilizer. When I shared the article with my coworker she taught me the khmer word for earthworm- phonetically pronounced “Chun Lin” I can honestly say that it is a word I haven’t learned in any other foreign language.

Awesome Asian Experiences!

Cambodia in the rain-when it rains here it rains hard!

Cambodia in the sun! tho due to all of the rain there is a lot of flooding in the countryside and in some of the cities.
One shot of many of really cute kids in one of the villages I visited!

This is sticky rice cooked in a bamboo tube with a bit of coconut juice and beans, you literally have to rip the bamboo apart to get to the rice!! It was soo fun to eat!

Met with this wonderful farmer (Middle) and one of the IDE field staff women (right)

These are her cows!

Fun masks at the market!
This was the craziest thing ever! you put your feet in the water and these small fish nibble on your dead skin! and your feet actually come out better on the other end! Its more like a fish pedicure than a fish massage! but I was just walking along in the night market in Siem Reap and decided to give it a try!
As you can see from the photo- I am not the only crazy person to do this!
This was the guy running the fish pool, he and his other coworkers were very funny!

Job excitement, anxiety

It has been a pretty jam packed two days. It seems like forever ago, but yesterday afternoon I a very pleasant experience at the farmers market. I got off work early and was home in time to walk through the farmers market that happens every Monday and goes until 6 pm. I sampled some of food, had a nibble of Taza chocolate and spilled strawberry jam on my shirt. The last stall I stopped at had a lot of fish products, but also hummus. I tried the hummus which was fantastic, as far as hummus goes and exclaimed to the gentleman working at that stall that I was excited to be able to come to the farmers market since by the time I get home the farmers market will be over. He asked what I did for work and proudly exclaimed that I worked for Americorps! He didn't know what that meant so I told him. It was the first time in my work history that I have been excited to tell someone what I do for work. In the past I have always been embarrassed about my job, and granted a job is a job and sometimes they are terrible and you just do it to pay your rent, but I am soooo happy to have a job that I love. I am excited to get up and go to work everyday. Its a really great feeling that I savor every second of the day. I never look at the clock and count down the minutes. Sometimes different parts of the day can drag on but on the whole I love my job so far.

That being said, I am still in orientation and haven't started the actual position that will occupy 1785 hours of my life from now until June. Too many people want positions in the Elementary school and not enough people want to work in the preschool. I have gone back and forth trying to weigh the differences and pros and cons between the programs. Part of me thinks that it might be fun to work in the preschool and that I should just volunteer to choose that position, but the other part would really enjoy working at the elementary school. I have decided to leave it up to the program directors to decide for me. I will make the best of what ever position I get. It's one of those situations where you just can't have it both ways and will miss out on somethings but there is good to be had in both situations. I will write more on the topic once I know my position. That being said, I REALLY hope I get the elementary school. I really want to tackle all of the challenges it poses, but preschool could be fun and I would get to reach out and help more kids with that program.

We had a really engaging training this afternoon. It was all about asset development. It discussed the 40 assets that kids need to develop to thrive and grow in to successful adults. We talked about which assets we developed in our youth and discussed ways to help foster assets with the kids we will be helping. I really liked how it was broken down into 8 different areas. I liked seeing it on paper, because a lot of the assets are things you know a kid needs like love, shelter and support but it broke down the reasons as to why these were needed and how they helped a child develop in to a well-rounded adult.

On an entirely different note I wanted to mention how much fun I had last night at Grendel's Den with Ryan, Mariana, Erika, Annabell and Sasha from Russia. I went intending on only having a beer and socializing for a short while, but it ended up with Sasha ordering us many a beverage. I had a lot of fun talking with so many different kinds of people and drinking drinks that don't usually indulge in. It was a memorable night full of excitement and laughter.