I found wifi in my town yesterday, so I decided to take advantage of it and update this blog!
It has been quite a rollercoaster adjusting to life in Prey Veng. Peace Corps time is a curious thing; days seem to go on forever with plenty of time to sleep, think, and get bored. On the other hand, weeks and even months go by in a blink of an eye. I still cannot quite believe that we have been at permanent site for three weeks now and have lived in Cambodia for almost three months. It feels like I just got here honestly.
On a different note, you may have noticed I have started to post a picture a day on my social media platforms with the #728daysofpc. One of the other Cambodia PCVs in my cohort challenged herself to post a picture a day of something beautiful, fun, or exciting, and I decided to join her. Yes, I am deliberately posting pictures of good things, things or experiences that I enjoyed, made me smile, made me laugh, but I want to make it clear that this is not the single story of Peace Corps or Cambodia. There are a lot of hard things, things that you see or that happen that make you want to hide under your mosquito net and eat peanut butter; Peace Corps was never supposed to be easy. I sometimes sit in bed at night and wonder why I chose to undertake this difficult, confusing, but rewarding journey. When it gets bad, I remind myself it is ok to feel this way and remember the good times and the things that I love about living in this beautiful country with a family that has accepted me as their own. So, the reason I want to do the #728daysofpc challenge is to remind myself that every day has good, beautiful, wonderful moments, and I just have to take the time to notice them.
Speaking of the single story, if you have never seen Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED talk about "The Danger of a Single Story" please find the link to the video below. I have listened to it a few times now, most recently at our staging event in San Francisco, and it resonates with me especially now.
https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story
All in all, I am doing well here. I teach in the mornings right now to a group of hardworking students looking to get extra English practice in before school starts. I have enjoyed getting to know them and teaching again; it definitely makes time go a little faster! I will try to upload pictures next time of my new community, school, house, and family.
Until next time,
Carissa
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