A Few First Thoughts

After many hours of travel I arrived, alongside 45ish other volunteers, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Our first day here we spent a lot of time doing touristy type things; we went to lunch, visited the national museum, and took a cruise on a river boat for dinner with all of the peace corps training staff. The following morning we left Phnom Penh for Takeo, our training hub villiage. The night after we arrived a group of us went with some of the current K2 volunteers and some of our Khmer teachers to a concert. Apparantly some of the most famous musicians in Cambodia were performing. In the course of the evening a good chunk of our group turned back because the crowds were too overwhelming. They were a bit intense, but I was struck by how much I loved that atmosphere. As someone who hates crowds in the states, it seems a bit contradictory, but I suppose I'm in the right place.

Our days have been consumed by information sessions on everything from gender norms, peace corps policy, langauge, and health. I was probably the only person who was excited when we started talking about parasites and mosquito born illnesses. Our evenings have mostly been spent hanging out in the courtyard outside our guest house getting to know eachother and getting ready to separate into our own host families. That change will happen tomorrow and I am beyond nervous.

On a happy note, I learned how to use chopsticks to eat noodles for breakfast and I can now tell you my name, where I am from, and how I am feeling in Khmer. It's not much but it's a start.

Staging

Today started off a little rocky. This will come as no shock to those who know me well, but I started off the morning ( at 5:00AM) not feeling so hot. I hopped on my rather delayed flight to San Francisco as a ball of nerves. Upon arrival I soon discovered that myflight included not only Kellee (the other PC volunteer from Olympia) but also 4 other volunteers from the Seattle area. This helped to ease my anxiety a bit.

The remainder of the day, after checking into my room, involved paperwork and general orientation until around 7:00pm. After the initial ice breaker and policy stuff I joined 3 other volunteers for our last dinner in the US of A at a nice little Italian place several blocks from our hotel. We enjoyed some pasta and wine and the entertainment of the very friendly owner of the restaurant. He seemed to find our upcoming adventures exciting and rewarded us accordinly with extra food and drink. What more could you ask for on your last night!? We then joined another group of volunteers and did our best to take full advantage of our last night in our home country.

I feel fortunate to be here with a group of people that I have connected with quickly and am excited for the adventure to come (though I will no doubt be sick over it again at some point in the near future!)

Not a bad way to end a day with a less than promising beginning :)

Tomorrow we begin the journey to Cambodia.