November

If I could describe this month with one word, which I can, it would be "insanity". For some reason, my second month at site has decided to be a crazy, hectic, rollercoaster month in more ways than one. In order to accurately transcribe these events I will be updating this blog this weekend and next weekend, yay for training in Battambang! I will begin with the first week of November...

So, for Halloween I went into the city and I saw a bunch of volunteers. It was awesome to catchup and see everyone dress up. Though I, lamely, just put on a dress. I told everyone that I was either a Cambodian, a Korean, or a Japanese person. It's ironic because most people think I am those people on a daily basis. I got back home on Sunday and everything was fine. Got ready for work on Monday. I woke up at like 3 am on Monday unexpectedly for reasons I will not disclose here. But it really set the tone for the day. Went to my kmai lesson things went well. Went to work and went home. That afternoon I realize I can't find a pair of dress pants. I wasn't sure how i lost a pair of pants, but I only have 3 pairs and one has a huge hole in the crotch. So I decide to get another pair made since my butt doesn't fit most pants here. I go to the market and they tell me they don't have the material and I have to buy it in Siem Reap. I go to a tailor down the street and she tells me its 10 bucks! A fortune considering my other pants were 5 bucks. I go to another one and he's not home. I go to another one and they only make shirts. Later I go back to the one that wasn't home and he tells me he only knows how to make clothes for men even though I just want him to copy another pair of pants I already had. Some other things go wrong later that day and to relieve some stress I decided to go on a bike ride to Yeeang village, about 5 k away. I've made this ride a few times before and it's on a really big, nicely packed dirt road. I went a bit farther than I intended and realized that if I didn't book it I would be really late for this english class I help out at. I don't really help that much, but I like to hang out with the students. So I'm biking pretty fast and the road isn't bad. I'm almost home when I see a giant coach bus comming down the road the opposite way. This road is big enough for 2 lanes so I should have no problem. There's a moto in front of me and I watch him pass the bus, it's a tight fit. I make it past, and then I'm on the ground. I cleared my bike and skid a foot or so, reminded me of snowboarding actually. Luckily, there was no traffic behind the bus and I fell onto the road instead of off the side of it into a ditch. I get up and my left knee is throbbing. There's a small rivulet of blood running down my leg.I stand around trying to figure out what to do.

Then a nice guy on a moto rides up. I think he was by the bridge I just past fishing. He offers me a ride on his moto, which I should have taken, but instead I reflexively quoted the Peace Corps rule of not riding motos, ironically this is being changed at the end of the month. After a few minutes, I suck it up, ride the last 1 k home and my host sis helps me clean and bandage everything. Somehow I busted my left knee and also bruised the back of my right leg. I really don't remember at all how I ended up on the ground and now I'm a little more scared and wary of large vehicles. That day while I was bleeding, one of the girl's that lives with me had her mom visit unexpectedly and, equally unexpectedly, a monk came with her. In some cases, women are not allowed to touch or make eye contact with monks. Though actually it's the monk that should be the one trying to avoid doing those things. I'm not the one that took the oath. Anyway, I was limping around. The monk was watching me. The mom was watching me. I'm bleeding, I'm limping, I'm accidentally cursing in front of a monk. It was a crazy day. That was November 1st. The beginning of a journey that I think is a test sent by someone to test my patience and adaptability. Gratefully, today, three weeks later, I can say that my knee is almost fully healed and I'm riding around again. Another update tomorrow!