Orientation.... Complete!
- Lauren Achen
- Sep 21, 2018
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 25, 2018
Sunday September 16th was the completion of our orientation in Phnom Penh. The #Fambodia are all at their placements, and things are starting to get real! The remainder of orientation included a variety of activities, and continued language classes (which reminds me, I need to continue to study!!). During the last part of our stay in Phnom Penh, we had various buddy dinners which included walking 20 minutes in a complete downpour, eating at the wonderful David's Noodles, and having a quick/quiet dinner so I could go back to being horribly sick. Wednesday night/Thursday morning I had an awful fever, and stayed home from school on Thursday. Being sick is definitely not fun, but being sick in another country is even more difficult! This made me really miss home and my family, and was really my first "speed bump". We also received a Krama from our coordinator Stephanie, which is a traditional Cambodian "scarf" and have a variety of ways to be worn.
Saturday September 8th was another fun weekend. We spent the morning at the market completing a market bingo game, and the afternoon was spent on a boat to Silk Island. When we arrived at Silk Island we had quite the journey getting off the boat... There was a cruise like boat docked, so we had to shimmy our way onto their boat and then get off from there. We took tuk tuks to where the tour would be, and were able to see the unbelievable time and effort that goes into making one scarf or sarong.
Sunday the 9th consisted of attending church and cooking with members of the congregation. We made beef stir fry with rice, and chicken soup with wax gourd. For dinner we went to Friends restaurant, which works to build the futures of former at risk youth. We had delicious meals, and then attended the Apsara dancing at the National Museum. Apsara dance is a Khmer classical dance, similar to Ballet in the US. Below in the picture, you can see the different hand positions and bent fingers. It is not an easy task to be an Apsara dancer!
Monday the 10th was our last week of Khmer language classes, and definitely a busy week! We took a class field trip to Wat Phnom with 2 of our teachers, traveled to the LWD (Life with Dignity) office to speak with the Executive Director, traveled to the City Church to speak with the Reverend/Chairman of the LCC (Lutheran Church in Cambodia), we learned about Buddhism from a former LWD staff member, and finished our week with KTV! Saturday was a free day to run any last minute errands, and Sunday was spent at Church and cooking lunch as the #Fambodia. Sunday night we met and had dinner with our supervisors, and then Monday morning we were all off to our site placements!
While today is officially my 2nd (ish) day at my site placement I will update you all the more I learn and start my various tasks! Here's me with all my bags in a tuk tuk starting the journey to Kampong Chhnang! Love and miss you all <3
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