I know I'm posting two blogs in a day right now, but it's only because these last few days have had a lot of activity. I just recently found out my site placement for the next two years. The announcement, at least for my site, was semi-anticlimactic: all of the PCTs were in a room with the staff building up the excitement by drawing a map of Cambodia in chalk on the floor with bamboo flags representing the potential sites. One at a time, a PCT's name was drawn and his or her site was announced. I started crying before my name was even called. Typical. But level with me, if you were the third to last name out of fifty some people to be called, the anticipation would get to you too. Then I when it was revealed..."Youll be living in...Kampong Cham Province!", I thought, "oh, so I'm not going anywhere?" I have already been living in Kampong Cham province for a month and expected a change, however the day of relaxation allotted to me and the other six volunteers assigned to my province in substitution of a traveling day was much appreciated.
After visiting my site I can safely say that I couldn't have asked for a more perfect assignment for me. Bos Khnaor in Chamkar Leu District is absolutely breathtaking and is what I had romanticized Cambodia to look like before I came here. The bike ride with my Mai and a neighbor to the more secluded of the two wats was a snapshot at every turn of the head. Chamkar, which means "plantation", proved its namesake with rows of banana trees, rubber trees and rice paddies. The younger boys in the village fish in the paddies with sticks five times the length of their own bodies to catch dinner for their families, with the background of hyperactive clouds tumbling along the horizon and jumping back in the sky as if God in his boredom decided to entertain Himself by twirling them around with his finger. There is also a zipline from the upper level of the pagoda that rests in the mountains. I just kept thinking to myself, "I get to live here for two years. This view will be my solitude. How lucky am I?"
The other wat, on the national road, has four monkeys and a black pig. It's also very beautiful but nothing really compares to that first path to the wat that practically sits among the resting clouds.
As the amenities of my living situation started to unfold themselves I started humming the sweet tune of the Jefferson's theme song..."Moving on Up!..." I thought, no rats! no endless heights of rafters I have no hope of getting clean! no squat toilets! When I had two minutes of a hot shower coming from, get this, a shower head of all things, I started fist pumping and party-boying the air. And as the cherry on top of this epic Khmer cake- I have a wooden floor large enough to dance on. What else could I ask for?
My family is the bomb-my mom is going to teach me how to cook (she's an amazing cook!), the neighbors (who are my younger cousins' ages) come over and play all the time, and my sisters told me that they would miss me already. My mom calls me fat- beautiful and flicks my cheeks and tells me I have a lovely nose, and upon our first encounter she cried and hugged me. My friend Emily's response to the rush of emotion was, "Look, Lauren, she cries, just like you." Like I said, this site is perfect for me. Did I leave Cambodia? I thought Peace Corps volunteers had to suck it up and deal with their sucky situations. I think my only complaint was that Tbong Kmoum does offer better iced coffee, and cheaper-luckily I live so close, right?
It's a bit of a tease though, visiting this new site. I honesly didn't want to leave but I have yet another month of training and stressing over critters before I move into my awesome accomodations. Even the stars shine brighter in Bos Khnaor, I swear it! But we shall be reunited soon, this paradise on Earth and I. Until then, BK, you'll be in only the best of my dreams. With sincere admiration, your anxiously awaiting future volunteer, "Nar-ren".
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