July Already?

Somehow June passed me by in a whirlwind. I'm sitting here thinking, "what should I write about?" and I just don't know. It's hard to put into words a life that is so full of living.

The end of May, I found myself tackling a project that I had long sworn I would never be able to do - the World Map project. Several volunteers had already completed murals of the world on their schools and I had vowed it was beyond my abilites to attempt it. I finally decided it was an exciting way to spruce up the school, gathered 18 of my students together, and over the span of a week, we were able to produce a map of the world. My school director even got in on the fun by adding Cambodia to the map and assisting with some other painting. We had plenty of obstacles along the way from vandals to misspellings to yellow paint that just wouldn't cover but we had plenty of fun too - painting faces, teasing, taking pictures, and playing games. It was fun week and my students were very proud of what they had accomplished.

June marked the end of my first (and really my only) full school year here. We finished up classes, played review games, and got ready for exams. Along with exams, cheating is in full swing too! My school has made an effort to thwart cheating by mixing up grade levels for exams but students are creative. I read an article in the Phnom Penh Post that had a picture of groups of students outside copy companies waiting for copies of final exams. It's everywhere and hard to stop without students rebeling. Teachers pad their income with bribes and are also less than willing to have a firm hand with the classes they are proctoring.

Elections are coming up this month and the political rallies have started. We are advised to stay as far away from rallies as possible and I've been following that advice. I was on the side of the highway the other day waiting for my taxi to head back to my village when about 10 huge trucks full of Cambodian People's Party (most popular and powerful political party here) plus tons of motos and private cars come flying down the highway. Flags, music, matching shirts and hats -the works! Hun Sen (the prime minister) has been making his rounds as well - giving out school buildings, computers, money...anything to get relected! He came to visit my district and gave our school 3 new buildings, 50 sewing machines, computers, a generator, 2 new roofs, a new front sign, printers, camera....Our school is a giant construction site right now! Elections take place on July 27th and are expected to be peaceful but Peace Corps is taking precautions. We are not allowed to travel about 10 days around election time and prepare ourselves to head to a safe place if needed.

Our new group of volunteers will be arriving on July 23rd. I, along with 3 other volunteers, was asked to help with orientation for the new group. I will be in Phnom Penh with them for about 10 days helping them with their immediate adjustment, answering questions, and getting them ready for training. I'm excited to meet them all and get some new people up in my province since there are only 2 of us right now. Things will change as we won't be the spoiled, priviliged little volunteers we have been for the last year and a half. It's like going from an only child to an eldest child. Less pampering but less focus on you too.

Well that's all for now. I'll be in and out of town a lot this summer as I will be working on a summer project with an NGO called People for Care and Learning in Siem Reap town during the school break. E-mail will be accessible so I'll be in better contact with you all. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work in a different environment with different people for awhile.

Until next time!!!