Oh wait, no its not!
It's hard for me to get in a really Christmasy frame of mind when its like 90 degrees out everyday. Its like having Christmas in July. In addition, I keep getting all these work emails about meetings on December 25th. That's crazy, but I guess thats what happens when you live in a country that doesn't give a fig about Christmas. However, a few things have contributed to me getting a bit more in the mood as of late. First, my awesome Mom sent me a package that contained a bunch of Christmas decorations and wrapped presents, complete with a fully packed stocking. So while my aparment is still light years away from being Christmas tricked out, it does have a bit of holiday cheer now. Secondly, I went to Toys N Me today, the local equivalent to Toys 'R Us, in order to get some stuff for Toys 4 Tots. I compare these stores with a bit of a smirk as Toy N Me is nothing at all like Toys 'R Us, unfortunately. Luckily for my wallet, it is a million times smaller than a normal Toys 'R Us, and the selection is also quite a bit worse, unless I want to pay $200 for a Leap Frog, which I don't. However, if you know me, you know that I tend to go quite crazy in toy stores, especially when buying them for needy kids. So I walked through the store with one of the clerks following me around and I just proceeded to throw toys at her when I saw something that I liked. I must have made her happy because at one point she stopped and said "I'll give you 10% off anything in the store." It wasn't quite like Black Friday at Toys 'R Us with Mom, but its the best I can do here. And they didn't even have any dolls other than porcelain ones. What little girl gets porcelain dolls to play with (besides me, of course as I had like 30 of them...but they werent for play, I had a bunch of plastic ones for that)?
So on Saturday I'm leaving for my trip for Malaysia, Borneo and Brunei. I'm getting really excited. I started packing...I have my bikini and sunscreen. Do I need anything else? I think not. :)
Merry Christmas all!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
4 days...and I already crashed the moto...
Yep, thats right. 3 days into owning a moto, I crashed it. Literally. Into a building. A glass building.
Now, honestly, it really wasn't my fault (I know everyone says that, but it's quite true in this case). So it turns out that my awesome bright green moto has a few problems (but of course, it looks good on the outside, not so great on the inside. This will teach me to judge a book by its cover, or more appropriately, a moto by its color.). You start my moto and it dies. So you start it, give it a bunch of gas while in neutral... and then it dies again. Apparently, the only way to keep it going is to start it, give it a bunch of gas in neutral, quickly flip it into first and give it some more gas right away. Well, when you do this, the moto doesnt seem to register that it is in first gear right away and then you end up lurching forward at an alarming rate of speed. Yesterday when I did this manuever, I was parked inbetween 2 buildings in my apartment complex on a small foot path. One of the buildings is just a small office and is made up entirely of glass walls and has a bunch of lovely potted palms in front of it. Well, when I pulled my little starting "manuever", the front wheel was turned, and I did not account for the quick lurching of my moto (granted, it doesnt always do this so it is a tempermental lurch). So, the moto lurches, I grab onto the handle bars, which effectively adds more speed as the acceleration is actually one of the handle bar grips and I plow into the glass office and end up in the doorway of the glass office with my moto pretty much on my leg. In the process, I thought I had totally broken the glass, but it turns out that I had only shattered the clay pots and spewed dirt and palm trees all over the place. In addition, I had cracked a small piece on the front of my moto, as well as bent one of the side mirrors all to hell. I had also banged up my leg between the door frame and my moto. Moto = 1, Allison = 0. It was one of those moments where nobody moves and Im still straddling my moto thinking to myself "Holy shit!" and finally one of the guards comes over and pulls the moto up and out of the doorframe. The worst part though- about 8 people from my apartment complex witnessed this little display of moto awesomeness and probably now think I'm a horrible blonde white girl who can't drive a moto (they may actually have a point there...). Either way, I persevered and made it out my gate, after many apologies on my part, to drive on to work. Half way to work the adrenaline must have worn off because my leg started hurting like a bitch. I get to work to find blood running down my leg from a nice shin cut which had a nice large softball size swelling bruise. My knee is also quite colorful and it turns out that the back of my calf has a nice long bruise up it to (don't ask me how the back of my calf has a bruise...no idea). I limped around work for the rest of the day and had to endure bad jokes like "was it one of those fast moving buildings that you hit?".
However, I feel justified this morning as one of the guys from my apartment complex offered to get my moto started for me (probably to avoid a repeat performance of yesterday) and he almost did the same exact thing! The difference is that he has the moto riding ability to be able to quickly pull the bike away at the last second to avoid hitting the building. I'm not that accomplished yet.
Oh me and my bright ideas of buying a moto...
At least I'm still alive and its day 4.
Now, honestly, it really wasn't my fault (I know everyone says that, but it's quite true in this case). So it turns out that my awesome bright green moto has a few problems (but of course, it looks good on the outside, not so great on the inside. This will teach me to judge a book by its cover, or more appropriately, a moto by its color.). You start my moto and it dies. So you start it, give it a bunch of gas while in neutral... and then it dies again. Apparently, the only way to keep it going is to start it, give it a bunch of gas in neutral, quickly flip it into first and give it some more gas right away. Well, when you do this, the moto doesnt seem to register that it is in first gear right away and then you end up lurching forward at an alarming rate of speed. Yesterday when I did this manuever, I was parked inbetween 2 buildings in my apartment complex on a small foot path. One of the buildings is just a small office and is made up entirely of glass walls and has a bunch of lovely potted palms in front of it. Well, when I pulled my little starting "manuever", the front wheel was turned, and I did not account for the quick lurching of my moto (granted, it doesnt always do this so it is a tempermental lurch). So, the moto lurches, I grab onto the handle bars, which effectively adds more speed as the acceleration is actually one of the handle bar grips and I plow into the glass office and end up in the doorway of the glass office with my moto pretty much on my leg. In the process, I thought I had totally broken the glass, but it turns out that I had only shattered the clay pots and spewed dirt and palm trees all over the place. In addition, I had cracked a small piece on the front of my moto, as well as bent one of the side mirrors all to hell. I had also banged up my leg between the door frame and my moto. Moto = 1, Allison = 0. It was one of those moments where nobody moves and Im still straddling my moto thinking to myself "Holy shit!" and finally one of the guards comes over and pulls the moto up and out of the doorframe. The worst part though- about 8 people from my apartment complex witnessed this little display of moto awesomeness and probably now think I'm a horrible blonde white girl who can't drive a moto (they may actually have a point there...). Either way, I persevered and made it out my gate, after many apologies on my part, to drive on to work. Half way to work the adrenaline must have worn off because my leg started hurting like a bitch. I get to work to find blood running down my leg from a nice shin cut which had a nice large softball size swelling bruise. My knee is also quite colorful and it turns out that the back of my calf has a nice long bruise up it to (don't ask me how the back of my calf has a bruise...no idea). I limped around work for the rest of the day and had to endure bad jokes like "was it one of those fast moving buildings that you hit?".
However, I feel justified this morning as one of the guys from my apartment complex offered to get my moto started for me (probably to avoid a repeat performance of yesterday) and he almost did the same exact thing! The difference is that he has the moto riding ability to be able to quickly pull the bike away at the last second to avoid hitting the building. I'm not that accomplished yet.
Oh me and my bright ideas of buying a moto...
At least I'm still alive and its day 4.
Monday, November 30, 2009
I have done it...
I have bought a moto. And it's bright green...I figured I didnt stick out enough, what with being white and all in Asia, so I thought bright green would be the color to go with. (Actually, I was just concerned about not being able to find a black moto back in a crowd). I think I'm the only white girl in Phnom Penh with a bright green moto, so if you happen to be driving, please watch out for me. Thanks. I have yet to take pictures of it (Ive been a little busy trying to learn to drive it) but as soon as I do, I will post them. Last Thursday, Joan (Perry's wife) and I went moto shopping and she also bought pretty much the same moto, except her's is not the cool green (its black). I did not bring enough money on that day to buy a moto (I was just browsing) but then I found the bright green moto (its a 2006 Honda Wave 125S) and I had to have it. So I gave the guy some money to hold it and I picked it up yesterday with Joan. I honestly wasn't quite sure where the moto shop was and consequently got really lost on the way back to work. I ended up on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, almost in the provinces, so I pulled over and turned off the moto and consulted my map. I figured I had to turn around and eventually I would run into something familiar so I was going to do that but I couldn't get my moto started again. I'm sitting here, turning the key and nothing is happenening. So I motion to one of the guys at the wall and he comes over and he...pushes the start button. That's right...its an electric start. I'm such a blonde sometimes. But eventually I made it back to work and I was just proud of myself for driving in traffic here and not dying. I've had the moto for 2 days now, and have not died yet, so I think I'm doing pretty well.
Thanksgiving here was pretty good. A few women from the Embassy invited me to their houses when they found out that I was, for all intents and purposes, an orphan. And it was lovely because they actually had 2 (not one, but TWO) real turkeys (shipped in from the states of course...gotta love the Embassy people), ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, deviled eggs, and lots of other yummy stuff that I like. The Marines were there as well as the Army people so I knew a lot of people. The Army guys invited me to go with them to the next Embassy house that they were going to (its like a Thanksgiving feast crawl I guess...?) so I went with them. It was good there too...lots of food. Later that night I had a nice dinner with some friends at their house (non-embassy) but also really delicious. So it was a good day, all in all.
So today, they decided it would be a good day to tear off the roof basically of the place that I am working...they say that they are "fixing" a leak in the roof but it is going to take them 10 days. 10 days for a leak?! In the meantime, I get to listen to non-stop sawing, drilling, and hammering. It is driving me insane. O well. C'est la vie, oui?
God bless Cambodia.
Thanksgiving here was pretty good. A few women from the Embassy invited me to their houses when they found out that I was, for all intents and purposes, an orphan. And it was lovely because they actually had 2 (not one, but TWO) real turkeys (shipped in from the states of course...gotta love the Embassy people), ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, deviled eggs, and lots of other yummy stuff that I like. The Marines were there as well as the Army people so I knew a lot of people. The Army guys invited me to go with them to the next Embassy house that they were going to (its like a Thanksgiving feast crawl I guess...?) so I went with them. It was good there too...lots of food. Later that night I had a nice dinner with some friends at their house (non-embassy) but also really delicious. So it was a good day, all in all.
So today, they decided it would be a good day to tear off the roof basically of the place that I am working...they say that they are "fixing" a leak in the roof but it is going to take them 10 days. 10 days for a leak?! In the meantime, I get to listen to non-stop sawing, drilling, and hammering. It is driving me insane. O well. C'est la vie, oui?
God bless Cambodia.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Diplomatic tests
So it turns out that I am not so good at updating blogs (although I appear to be better than my ASPH fellow counterparts...lets get some updates people!). I think part of the reason is because I havent had anything terribly exciting going on here that I should update you on. I'm really just enjoying living here and meeting new people.
However, yesterday I did meet with the Ambassador, so I figured I could give you a bit of information on that. First of all, I was pretty nervous, even though I kept reminding myself on the ride over to the Embassy that she is "just a person, just a normal person". However, for a normal person, she has a frightening amount of power and I think thats what made me a wee bit nervous. But I get to the Embassy to find that David (the Associate Director of CDC Cambodia) was going to escort me to meet her. I have a sneaking suspicion that my bosses just didnt trust me alone with the Ambassdor, but I was assured that this is just protocol. It was actually quite nice because David offered his opinions in this rather informal meeting, so it wasnt just me talking all the time (which if you know me, is a good thing. The less I talk, the less trouble I get in). :) She pretty much just asked me about my background, how I got here, what I have been doing here. The questions werent terribly hard to answer until she asked me what I thought of the Ministry of Health and if I thought they were doing a good job. I've been in the country less than 2 months, and in that time, I have not worked that closely with the ministry of health yet, so all my opinions are just based off the stories of Perry and others that I work with. So I stuck with my diplomatic "Well, I think parts of the ministry are trying to do a good job, but there is always room for improvement" kinda response. She then talked for awhile and at the end asked me if I had any questions for her. Of course, being a curious sort, I had like a million questions, probably none of which were appropriate to ask and which she would not have been able to tell me the answers to anyway. So I just stuck with asking about her personal background and how she got this gig (you never know, maybe I want to be an Ambassador someday...). I really think it would be fun to spend a day in the life, just to see what she actually does on a day to day basis. I bet she has some great stories too because she has been a career diplomat for 30 years now and has been all over the place. So after we were finished David told me that I did a good job and that she liked me. I am now "official" (whatever that means) and I have passed my first diplomatic test. I hope there are not many more.
Alas, I fear there are since the Marine Ball is coming up this Saturday. Talk about a diplomatic test. Geesh. There is an actual VIP table. However, my dress is finally ready (not exactly what I wanted, but still simple elegance... I hope), I have all my accesories, and I know where to get my hair done (I wouldn't be getting my hair done if I would have just thought to bring my curling iron...). However, getting my hair done beautifully here only costs about $8 so what the heck? (I also got my eyebrows waxed for $3- Mom, pass THAT along to Deb!) This is what I love about Cambodia. If I don't want to, I really don't need to sacrifice many creature comforts (like when I need to go to a ball). But most of the time, it's just the dirty, sweaty Cambodia that I love...where no matter where you go or what you do, you will always have the faint smell of garbage, sweat, and a whiff of fish stuck to you. God bless Cambodia.
However, yesterday I did meet with the Ambassador, so I figured I could give you a bit of information on that. First of all, I was pretty nervous, even though I kept reminding myself on the ride over to the Embassy that she is "just a person, just a normal person". However, for a normal person, she has a frightening amount of power and I think thats what made me a wee bit nervous. But I get to the Embassy to find that David (the Associate Director of CDC Cambodia) was going to escort me to meet her. I have a sneaking suspicion that my bosses just didnt trust me alone with the Ambassdor, but I was assured that this is just protocol. It was actually quite nice because David offered his opinions in this rather informal meeting, so it wasnt just me talking all the time (which if you know me, is a good thing. The less I talk, the less trouble I get in). :) She pretty much just asked me about my background, how I got here, what I have been doing here. The questions werent terribly hard to answer until she asked me what I thought of the Ministry of Health and if I thought they were doing a good job. I've been in the country less than 2 months, and in that time, I have not worked that closely with the ministry of health yet, so all my opinions are just based off the stories of Perry and others that I work with. So I stuck with my diplomatic "Well, I think parts of the ministry are trying to do a good job, but there is always room for improvement" kinda response. She then talked for awhile and at the end asked me if I had any questions for her. Of course, being a curious sort, I had like a million questions, probably none of which were appropriate to ask and which she would not have been able to tell me the answers to anyway. So I just stuck with asking about her personal background and how she got this gig (you never know, maybe I want to be an Ambassador someday...). I really think it would be fun to spend a day in the life, just to see what she actually does on a day to day basis. I bet she has some great stories too because she has been a career diplomat for 30 years now and has been all over the place. So after we were finished David told me that I did a good job and that she liked me. I am now "official" (whatever that means) and I have passed my first diplomatic test. I hope there are not many more.
Alas, I fear there are since the Marine Ball is coming up this Saturday. Talk about a diplomatic test. Geesh. There is an actual VIP table. However, my dress is finally ready (not exactly what I wanted, but still simple elegance... I hope), I have all my accesories, and I know where to get my hair done (I wouldn't be getting my hair done if I would have just thought to bring my curling iron...). However, getting my hair done beautifully here only costs about $8 so what the heck? (I also got my eyebrows waxed for $3- Mom, pass THAT along to Deb!) This is what I love about Cambodia. If I don't want to, I really don't need to sacrifice many creature comforts (like when I need to go to a ball). But most of the time, it's just the dirty, sweaty Cambodia that I love...where no matter where you go or what you do, you will always have the faint smell of garbage, sweat, and a whiff of fish stuck to you. God bless Cambodia.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
What an amazing weekend...
This past weekend may have been my favorite weekend in Cambodia so far. However, looking back, I realize that I say that about all my weekends, at least until I get to the next one. They just keep getting better and better. There has to be a point where they will plateau but I hope that doesnt come soon.
Anyway, this past weekend was not only Halloween (my favorite holiday ever) but also the Water Festival so I had a 4-day weekend (Sat-Tues). The Water Festival is supposed to celebrate the end of the rainy season and usually people who live in Phnom Penh go out into the provinces and people from the provinces travel into Phnom Penh (don't ask me why, this just is). So the population of Phnom Penh swells by the millions and its crammed with people, which makes for a fun time usually. I, however, made no travel plans as I wanted to see what the Water Festival was like in the city. I had heard that there are boat races on the river and fireworks at night and it sounded like a fun time.
I ended up hanging out with the Marines most of the weekend. I met them on Friday night at their Halloween house party and after that, they just kept inviting me to go out. This was actually quite nice because I got to walk around a lot at night without feeling unsafe (when you have 4 large Marines with you, you feel pretty protected). We did a lot of things, many of which will not be detailed here, but it was an awesome time. One thing I learned- never argue with the Marines about directions. You will lose.
So by hanging out with the Marines, I found out about the Marine Ball. I bought my ticket (Nov 21) and I have a Marine as a date so now I just need a dress. I am terribly excited about it. I will keep you updated on that.
Anyway, this past weekend was not only Halloween (my favorite holiday ever) but also the Water Festival so I had a 4-day weekend (Sat-Tues). The Water Festival is supposed to celebrate the end of the rainy season and usually people who live in Phnom Penh go out into the provinces and people from the provinces travel into Phnom Penh (don't ask me why, this just is). So the population of Phnom Penh swells by the millions and its crammed with people, which makes for a fun time usually. I, however, made no travel plans as I wanted to see what the Water Festival was like in the city. I had heard that there are boat races on the river and fireworks at night and it sounded like a fun time.
I ended up hanging out with the Marines most of the weekend. I met them on Friday night at their Halloween house party and after that, they just kept inviting me to go out. This was actually quite nice because I got to walk around a lot at night without feeling unsafe (when you have 4 large Marines with you, you feel pretty protected). We did a lot of things, many of which will not be detailed here, but it was an awesome time. One thing I learned- never argue with the Marines about directions. You will lose.
So by hanging out with the Marines, I found out about the Marine Ball. I bought my ticket (Nov 21) and I have a Marine as a date so now I just need a dress. I am terribly excited about it. I will keep you updated on that.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Work smart, not hard
I realized that I have not really updated you all on my work here. Granted, there isn't a ton to update you on, but there are a few small things.
Mostly work is pretty slow here. I'm always terribly excited when I am given something to do or there is a meeting that I can tag along to. I think the reason why it's been so slow is because our office is going through somewhat of a transition period. Our new director has arrived, but the old director is still here for a little while more. Perry is quite new as well and I was kinda foisted on him, but hes a very good sport about that. David, who was my primary contact before I came out here, has his office at the Embassy so I don't see much of him on a day to day basis. Plus, he is really busy and is more on the administrative side than the technical side, which is part of the reason that Perry got stuck with me. We have a very limited number of technical staff in the office and they all seem to have their own pet projects and it is proving to be a bit difficult to get a slice of any of them.
That being said, it has been discussed that I will be taking a good bit of responsibility for the CQI project (Continuous Quality Improvement). I'm not certain on all the details, but this will involve working very closely with the data management team of NCHADS (National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology, and STDs) and going with them on their site visits. Basically, they go out to sites and analyze data to see how the country is doing on key indicators that have to do with Care and Treatment of HIV. The CDC has yet to get their hands on this data, so this is a way to get it. Also, NCHADS said that they lack a lot of the technical support necessary to do this and so they have discussed giving me my own team to supervise as I supposedly have the technical expertise. Not so sure about that, but it sounds good, right? There are only two problems with this: 1) NCHADS uses STATA (a statistical software package) which I don't know how to use and CDC doesn't have it (and is having some issues getting it) and 2) The project does not currently have any activity so I haven't really been working on it. I'm waiting for NCHADS to determine when they are going out to Pursat but it could be awhile.
While I'm waiting, I try to make it a point to ask people for work, but usually that means that I get to review a paper/presentation/training/cooperative agreement for proper English grammar. Now, while this does keep me busy for approximately 15-20 minutes, it wasn't really what I meant. However, last week, I asked Prateek (our USAID strategic information guy) if he had any work and he finally gave me something useful that I can sink my teeth into. He is working on compiling the Annual Progress Report (APR) which is a document that we send to PEPFAR headquarters detailing our previous year's achievements on our country's indicators. He asked me to compile the CDC portion and he has been on leave since last week. I have spent the last couple of days going through spreadsheets of data trying to figure out which numbers should be included for which indicators. It is challenging because the spreadsheets are not usually formatted in any particular way and some of them are mostly in Khmer. But I'm having fun doing it because its finally something that has just been given to me and its a bit of a number challenge. I like those.
So in completely unrelated, but interesting, news- I'm trying to decide which moto I want to buy. I'm pretty sure I want a Honda and the Wave series is looking pretty good. Will update more when I actually buy a bike. Perry just bought a Dream and he is going to show me how to ride them. I know the basic concept...I just need to practice. :)
Mostly work is pretty slow here. I'm always terribly excited when I am given something to do or there is a meeting that I can tag along to. I think the reason why it's been so slow is because our office is going through somewhat of a transition period. Our new director has arrived, but the old director is still here for a little while more. Perry is quite new as well and I was kinda foisted on him, but hes a very good sport about that. David, who was my primary contact before I came out here, has his office at the Embassy so I don't see much of him on a day to day basis. Plus, he is really busy and is more on the administrative side than the technical side, which is part of the reason that Perry got stuck with me. We have a very limited number of technical staff in the office and they all seem to have their own pet projects and it is proving to be a bit difficult to get a slice of any of them.
That being said, it has been discussed that I will be taking a good bit of responsibility for the CQI project (Continuous Quality Improvement). I'm not certain on all the details, but this will involve working very closely with the data management team of NCHADS (National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology, and STDs) and going with them on their site visits. Basically, they go out to sites and analyze data to see how the country is doing on key indicators that have to do with Care and Treatment of HIV. The CDC has yet to get their hands on this data, so this is a way to get it. Also, NCHADS said that they lack a lot of the technical support necessary to do this and so they have discussed giving me my own team to supervise as I supposedly have the technical expertise. Not so sure about that, but it sounds good, right? There are only two problems with this: 1) NCHADS uses STATA (a statistical software package) which I don't know how to use and CDC doesn't have it (and is having some issues getting it) and 2) The project does not currently have any activity so I haven't really been working on it. I'm waiting for NCHADS to determine when they are going out to Pursat but it could be awhile.
While I'm waiting, I try to make it a point to ask people for work, but usually that means that I get to review a paper/presentation/training/cooperative agreement for proper English grammar. Now, while this does keep me busy for approximately 15-20 minutes, it wasn't really what I meant. However, last week, I asked Prateek (our USAID strategic information guy) if he had any work and he finally gave me something useful that I can sink my teeth into. He is working on compiling the Annual Progress Report (APR) which is a document that we send to PEPFAR headquarters detailing our previous year's achievements on our country's indicators. He asked me to compile the CDC portion and he has been on leave since last week. I have spent the last couple of days going through spreadsheets of data trying to figure out which numbers should be included for which indicators. It is challenging because the spreadsheets are not usually formatted in any particular way and some of them are mostly in Khmer. But I'm having fun doing it because its finally something that has just been given to me and its a bit of a number challenge. I like those.
So in completely unrelated, but interesting, news- I'm trying to decide which moto I want to buy. I'm pretty sure I want a Honda and the Wave series is looking pretty good. Will update more when I actually buy a bike. Perry just bought a Dream and he is going to show me how to ride them. I know the basic concept...I just need to practice. :)
So many things, so little time...
Well, I have been informed that my Aunt prints out my blog to share with my 97-year old Grandmother, which means I probably should censor myself somewhat, but I'm not going to. Sorry, Grandma. :)
Anyway, I'm sorry that I have been a bit remiss in writing on my blog, but I have a lot going on here and sometimes its hard to figure out how to write about all of, but here I go.
A little over a week ago I went on a scavenger hunt with Perry and his children. Their school, the International School of Phnom Penh (or ISPP as us locals call it), puts on the "Fun Rally" every year apparently. We went with his two younger girls (Ellie -5 and Jessie - 8) while his wife went with his oldest daughter (Sarah -12). It was a lot of fun because we got to see a lot of things in Phnom Penh that you probably wont find in the tourist book. Like, did anybody know that there was a really old kite museum in Phnom Penh that is filled with ancient Khmer kites? Yeah, I didn't either. But my favorite part of the day (and this will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me) was when we went to the orphanage. The Missionaries of Charity (a Catholic order of nuns established by Mother Theresa) has an orphanage in Phnom Penh and apparently a hospice of sorts a bit outside of Phnom Penh. We donated a bag a rice at the orphanage and got to play with the kids for a couple of minutes. I will say more about this a little later.
Not only do I play with orphans, I also hang with prostitutes (yes, Grandma, you read that correctly). Last Wednesday Perry and I went out with one of our government funded partners, PSI (Population Services International), on their risk behavior and condom education outreach program. They go to places in Phnom Penh in which local men can pick up indirect sex workers like beer gardens, barbeque's, and karaoke places. I know, they don't sound like your typical sex shops, do they? My personal favorite is the karaoke places in which you walk in and there are separate rooms (kinda like a brothel) that have TVs and couches set up and you pick which karaoke girls you would like to be in the room with you from a lineup of Khmer girls. Perry took me into one in Battambang and they must have thought he was really kinky for bringing me with him. Anyway, we went out with PSI and they showed us what they do. They had a famous Cambodian rapper at one of the barbeque's rapping about how condoms are like raincoats and body armor (I can't make this stuff up if I wanted to!). It was hilarious and I ended up hanging with the rapper and his posse for a bit because we share a common interest: Reggaeton! I was so excited! Once PSI was done taking us around, Perry and I were a little disappointed because we didn't really see many sex transactions. The places that we went too could almost be family friendly. So one of our other esteemed coworkers, Prateek (he works for USAID but we work together on everything), decided to take us to a "sexpat" bar. It is exactly what the name sounds like: a bar with scantily clad hott cambodian women draped all over old, ugly white men. I was the only white woman in there and I was chatting up the girls. Again, I think they thought it was weird that I was in there with 2 Americans (although Prateek is of Indian descent), but Prateek told them that I was with him. That must have made it look weirder, on hindsight. Anyway, the girls were really nice, and I felt bad for them more than anything. They really were just trying to make a decent living. So we talked to them about condom use, because really that has become my life.
Thursday night I went to a party at the Assistant Defense Attache's house. Yep, I hung out with the Army guys. That was actually awesome because Jay, the Assistant Defense Attache, it Latin and he had some pretty good music. His wife was speaking to me in Spanish, which I loved, and she said she would help tutor me. Excellent. Not only that, but the Defense Attache is a COLONEL! I was inordinately impressed by meeting a colonel in real life, much to his and his wife's amusement. His wife is super funny though so we got on great. My favorite part of the night, though, was when one of the army guys came up to me and asked me if I had been in the military. Here is what the conversation went like:
Army Guy: Have you ever been in the military?
Me: No, why?
Army Guy: Because of the way you carry yourself. You seem to have a lot of confidence and you are really fit.
Me: Don't you mean fAt?
*Awkward silence while Army Guy tries to decide how to get out of that one*
It was really funny and I was quite flattered actually. Good night, all in all.
So Sunday, I went back to the Missionaries of Charity orphanage. I told the Sisters that I would and asked if they needed anything. I brought them some formula and diapers, which they were terribly pleased about. Least I can do since I live like a queen over here. I don't really know how to describe the orphanage. It was fun and sad and hopeful all in one. The kids there range from little toddler (its hard to really tell their age because of size and malnourishment) to maybe about 6-7. The older kids seemed to all have special needs. There is this one little girl who is just a ball of sunshine and you barely even notice that she doesn't have arms past the elbow or legs past the knee. No hands or feet. The kids love having someone come to hold them and would start to scream if I had to get up to grab a Kleenex. Clearly, they have some abandonment issues. I held this one little boy for almost the entire time that I was there. He was quite malnourished and listless and I have a theory that holding him will help. I fed him too and the nun's were quite impressed with how much I was able to get him to eat. He pretty much just laid his head on my chest the whole time (he was facing me) and didn't hardly move. It was sad. Clearly, I'm going back.
So looking back on this past week, it appears that I have quite the motley crew of friends. I hope I didn't shock you overly much, Grandma! :)
Anyway, I'm sorry that I have been a bit remiss in writing on my blog, but I have a lot going on here and sometimes its hard to figure out how to write about all of, but here I go.
A little over a week ago I went on a scavenger hunt with Perry and his children. Their school, the International School of Phnom Penh (or ISPP as us locals call it), puts on the "Fun Rally" every year apparently. We went with his two younger girls (Ellie -5 and Jessie - 8) while his wife went with his oldest daughter (Sarah -12). It was a lot of fun because we got to see a lot of things in Phnom Penh that you probably wont find in the tourist book. Like, did anybody know that there was a really old kite museum in Phnom Penh that is filled with ancient Khmer kites? Yeah, I didn't either. But my favorite part of the day (and this will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me) was when we went to the orphanage. The Missionaries of Charity (a Catholic order of nuns established by Mother Theresa) has an orphanage in Phnom Penh and apparently a hospice of sorts a bit outside of Phnom Penh. We donated a bag a rice at the orphanage and got to play with the kids for a couple of minutes. I will say more about this a little later.
Not only do I play with orphans, I also hang with prostitutes (yes, Grandma, you read that correctly). Last Wednesday Perry and I went out with one of our government funded partners, PSI (Population Services International), on their risk behavior and condom education outreach program. They go to places in Phnom Penh in which local men can pick up indirect sex workers like beer gardens, barbeque's, and karaoke places. I know, they don't sound like your typical sex shops, do they? My personal favorite is the karaoke places in which you walk in and there are separate rooms (kinda like a brothel) that have TVs and couches set up and you pick which karaoke girls you would like to be in the room with you from a lineup of Khmer girls. Perry took me into one in Battambang and they must have thought he was really kinky for bringing me with him. Anyway, we went out with PSI and they showed us what they do. They had a famous Cambodian rapper at one of the barbeque's rapping about how condoms are like raincoats and body armor (I can't make this stuff up if I wanted to!). It was hilarious and I ended up hanging with the rapper and his posse for a bit because we share a common interest: Reggaeton! I was so excited! Once PSI was done taking us around, Perry and I were a little disappointed because we didn't really see many sex transactions. The places that we went too could almost be family friendly. So one of our other esteemed coworkers, Prateek (he works for USAID but we work together on everything), decided to take us to a "sexpat" bar. It is exactly what the name sounds like: a bar with scantily clad hott cambodian women draped all over old, ugly white men. I was the only white woman in there and I was chatting up the girls. Again, I think they thought it was weird that I was in there with 2 Americans (although Prateek is of Indian descent), but Prateek told them that I was with him. That must have made it look weirder, on hindsight. Anyway, the girls were really nice, and I felt bad for them more than anything. They really were just trying to make a decent living. So we talked to them about condom use, because really that has become my life.
Thursday night I went to a party at the Assistant Defense Attache's house. Yep, I hung out with the Army guys. That was actually awesome because Jay, the Assistant Defense Attache, it Latin and he had some pretty good music. His wife was speaking to me in Spanish, which I loved, and she said she would help tutor me. Excellent. Not only that, but the Defense Attache is a COLONEL! I was inordinately impressed by meeting a colonel in real life, much to his and his wife's amusement. His wife is super funny though so we got on great. My favorite part of the night, though, was when one of the army guys came up to me and asked me if I had been in the military. Here is what the conversation went like:
Army Guy: Have you ever been in the military?
Me: No, why?
Army Guy: Because of the way you carry yourself. You seem to have a lot of confidence and you are really fit.
Me: Don't you mean fAt?
*Awkward silence while Army Guy tries to decide how to get out of that one*
It was really funny and I was quite flattered actually. Good night, all in all.
So Sunday, I went back to the Missionaries of Charity orphanage. I told the Sisters that I would and asked if they needed anything. I brought them some formula and diapers, which they were terribly pleased about. Least I can do since I live like a queen over here. I don't really know how to describe the orphanage. It was fun and sad and hopeful all in one. The kids there range from little toddler (its hard to really tell their age because of size and malnourishment) to maybe about 6-7. The older kids seemed to all have special needs. There is this one little girl who is just a ball of sunshine and you barely even notice that she doesn't have arms past the elbow or legs past the knee. No hands or feet. The kids love having someone come to hold them and would start to scream if I had to get up to grab a Kleenex. Clearly, they have some abandonment issues. I held this one little boy for almost the entire time that I was there. He was quite malnourished and listless and I have a theory that holding him will help. I fed him too and the nun's were quite impressed with how much I was able to get him to eat. He pretty much just laid his head on my chest the whole time (he was facing me) and didn't hardly move. It was sad. Clearly, I'm going back.
So looking back on this past week, it appears that I have quite the motley crew of friends. I hope I didn't shock you overly much, Grandma! :)
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