Well apparently it is hot season. I had forgotten what it feels like to be covered in sweat all the time. Cool season was so nice, and I really took it for granted because it wasn’t actually that cool. Now I wake up a little sweaty. Am dripping by the time I get through my morning routine, and have soaked through my shirt before I even get to school. I have to mop up my face about every ten minutes to keep the sweat from running in my eyes while I am teaching. I come home and lay on the tile floor in my room with the fan blasting on me. The floor is definitely not clean, but I am so unbearably hot I don’t even care. I shower before dinner or before I go to bed but I start sweating again as soon as I dry off. I soak a sarong in water and wring it out, then drape it over myself when it’s time for bed. It helps me cool off enough to fall asleep. I do not like hot season.
In other news, I just returned from a week long meeting and conference of English teachers in Phnom Penh. It was a really busy week and I feel like I had so much to do and so little time to do it in. I didn’t get through everything on my to-do list but I did eat a delicious roasted veggie and hummus bagel sandwich one day, so that was nice. I have a lot of new ideas, and just getting away from site for a week helped motivate me to move on some ideas that I had before but was having a hard time implementing. I started a participation program in my classes today. I mark down every time a student speaks in class and after two weeks the most vocal student will get a prize. The only problem is it isn’t motivating any students who don’t already speak in class. At least maybe it will spark some competition among the students who do know enough English to participate. I am also planning a writing workshop for the 12th grade students with my co-teacher. Well actually, he asked me to do an essay writing workshop and I am making him do it with me so he can learn the information as well and teach it after I am gone. I need to hunt down my school director this week and get his permission which is always fun. It usually takes about five days to pin the man down in a meeting, which then takes about 20 minutes in half Khmer half English to get my point across. You gotta do what you gotta do though.
After I make it through the essay workshop I hope to start my girls’ health club. I need to move soon since students will be mostly MIA as summer approaches, and it will be impossible to wrangle them after May. I am hoping to find several students who want to work in the health field and speak enough English to follow me if I speak slowly and translate difficult words and teach them about various health topics. I also hope they can tell me from their perspective what the most pressing health issues are in my commune and we can work on a project together to improve one of them. I think this will be a great opportunity to discuss basic health information that isn’t known to many Cambodians and also to give young girls a chance to be empowered by seeing the change they can make in their community, however small.
I have a few other ideas for things I want to do this summer, but for now I need to figure out how to get support and funding and coordinate with other volunteers!
Sorry my blog updates have been infrequent lately. I haven’t really done much except have diarrhea and try not to get on a plane back to America. I will try to be better this month and hopefully I will have some exciting things to share soon!
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