MISC.

This week I had the pleasure of explaining to my khmer tutor that sperm and bacteria are not the same thing.

So, I am prepping this lesson on reproductive health. Really basic stuff; these are the kinds of birth control available, here is how they work, these ones are the best, etc… I doubt that any of my girls actually need this information but many of them will probably be married soon so I figure I might as well give them the info now. My Khmer tutor was helping me to go through the lesson and translate it. Even though I have help with translating the lessons while I teach them, I try to make sure I at least understand the basics of the language necessary so I will know if there is a major mistranslation. This particular topic is proving to be a challenge, not because I am shy about teaching it, but because getting someone to translate it is proving difficult. Trying to explain what I want to say when my teacher does not have the vocabulary in English, or the practical knowledge in her own language…tricky. This challenge led to an interesting conversation during my last session. My tutor was explaining to me that she knows about condoms because she teaches HIV/AIDS education. She is a primary school teacher. I got rather excited thinking that they actually taught sexual education in my district. WRONG. They teach HIV/AIDS education in 6th grade, but from what I gathered, there is no sexual education taught in the schools. I have been here long enough not to be surprised by this, but I have to say the logic seems faulty, teaching safe sex to kids who probably don’t even know the mechanics of it. I know there is debate even in the states about how much should be taught in schools but it seems to me that if you are going to teach about things like condoms you should probably make sure people know the basics.

On a more serious note: Recently I began reading the Twilight books. I have resisted this for a long time, but finally illness induced boredom got the better of me. Now I could go off on a shpeel about how you should be required to have a college degree to read these books so as to ensure that you don’t take them seriously, I could rage about how they completely normalize and even idolize violence in the context of romantic relationships, I could add to all of the commentary about anti-feminism and what have you, or perhaps the whole issue of forefitting your SOUL for a boy…but I won’t. Instead my mental processes have been entirely consumed with this question: Edward or Jacob? As far as personality and general attractiveness I would have to go with the werewolf. Ultimately though, I think the choice is entirely climate dependent. Living in Cambodia for a year has taught me to value cold things. So I would say Pacific Northwest Meghan is all about cuddling with a personal heater and Cambodia Meghan is all about shacking up with a walking air conditioner. In short, friends and family, this is what my brain has deteriorated to.

This past week I taught my health club about exercise. My friends at home can go ahead and keep laughing. They really did not know much of anything about how much exercise you should do or basic kinds of exercise you could do. They wanted me to demonstrate some things which was fine. We started with really basic things like sits ups and push-ups. I kid you not, these girls are itty bitty but maybe 2 out of 20 of them could actually do a sit-up. Also, I wanted to smack the lot of them because they were asking questions about how to lose weight or make their thighs smaller etc and so forth…because a 000 isn’t small enough already.

Oh dear it's been a while....

I started a health club at my site a few weeks ago for 11th grade girls. Our first class went so much better than I could have hoped. I had my lesson plans all ready and two 12th grade girls lined up to help me with the Khmer, but not knowing their level of English I was very very nervous about the potential need to teach in Khmer. At this point, almost a year in, I shouldn't worry about looking like a fool anymore, but alas, I still do! Anyhow, I could not have been more pleasantly surprised or pleased with my girls. About 20 minutes before the start of the club my one of my helpers showed up. We went through the lesson plan together, she had maybe 2 clarification questions, then jumped right up at the start of class and co-taught the whole lesson with me. I hardly had to speak Khmer at all, the girls were able to ask questions in KHmer and I was able to answer them without language confusion. We had about 40 girls who all stayed engaged the whole time and asked lots of good questions. We definitely addressed the misconception that water makes you fat and other things like why it is bad to skip meals and why sugar is not the best source of energy, etc... Overall a major success and I am excited to keep going with it for the remainder of the summer.

Some of my wierder moments of the last month: A lady in my market asked me if my mom was dead yet the other day. Not the usual "where do your parents live" or anything like that, but literally "is your mother dead yet?" Wierd. I went to my usual lunch place and this rando guy was sitting there and as soon as I walked up he said, in English, "You drink beer now," I was like...ummmm No. Then he proceded to ask me where I live, my phone number, and if I would come over to his house. I tried to ignore him then he started talking about people trying to kill him. All in English, bad English, but still. When I finally finished my food and walked home (across the street) I was oh so thankful that I don't live alone. AND the ultimate weird: I was in a car on my way into town, some random people passing through gave me a ride (sometimes that happens when I go to the taxi stand), very nice people. Anyway I was sitting in the back with some guy who knew a little English, so we were chatting in English and KHmer. It was the usual questions, "where are you from, why are you here, how long, do y ou have a husband, do you want a khmer husband..." I answered as I usually do and stated that I want an American husband to which he responded, in English, "that's good, hybrids aren't smart." He then went off on a shpeel about how Khmer people who have children with Chinese, Thai, or Vietnamese people produce inferior offspring. I could hardly believe that level of ignorance. I didnt know what to say so I just said "Wow, America is full of idiots, most of us are like 8 way hybrids." He didn't seem to know how to respond. Very few people here understand how diverse America is and that most people from America have ehtnic heritage from another place, many other places generally (most people here don't know about native Americans at all).

THis past weekend was 4th of July which I had the pleasure of spending in Phnom Penh with a majority of the PCVs currently in country. We went to a party at the embassy and it was fun to see all the decorations and hear the national anthem for the first time since our swear in. In honor of the fourth of July I would just like to say how thankful I am to have been born in America.