Everything Will be Okay AND An Ability to Remember

Seriously, everything will be alright -

The Cats needed to lose a bad game, right? They just had to get it out of their system, so when the tournament(s) come(s) around, they'll be ready for anything. In the words of a friend (about a rival team), I'm with my Cats in rainy, rain, rain or shine.

An Ability to Remember -

what it was like when I first got here. I think I've been keeping myself way too involved with what could be at this point that I'm completely forgetting about where I am and what's inevitable. Am I speaking of fate? No, you'll never hear me speak of fate. What's inevitable here is because of a decision I had made in January of 2009 when I began filling out the form to apply to be a volunteer with U.S. Peace Corps. I didn't know where I was going to end up, or for that matter, what I was going to be doing while I was there (wherever there happened to be). I worry too much about when that guppy project is going to start or when my community will give me a figure that I can work with, so I can begin writing a grant proposal for that garden that I (and others) want to build and grow. I've been too willing to let a certain aspect of my American personality get a hold of me, specically impatience. I (and many Americans) often tend to believe that if it isn't being tended to, then it's not being considered at all; it's been forgotten and will never be revisited. But, today, my health center told me that they have the money, and they will be able to buy the water jars (for the guppy project) next month. There is also going to be a meeting next meeting with the commune chief who has apparently already been spoken to about finding out how much the community is willing to donate. Next month, I will have a number, and I can begin. In the world I come from, we are very concerned with dates and deadlines, but the pace of this society moves much slower (not better or worse), and I've begun to learn what it is to just sit and enjoy what I have around me rather than sit and contemplate and worry. I recently took a survey of the average day for people in my community. There's about 6 hours worth of "hammock time." Is sitting in a hammock, reading a book integrating?! Absolutely, I say! (Contemplating, I will persist to do, by the way, but maybe not about so many things) I think I've unknowingly had the right idea for a long time, but I hadn't really figured it out until recently. I've said many times before that success is a series of trial and error, and I've been doing that seeking a balance between what works in my community and what works for me. It's all about balance. Life is about finding balance in work, community, social life, personal life, family life, education. It's almost like a constantly moving puzzle. You have to weight what you have on one side of the scale and balance it out with what makes you happy. Is a little unbalance hurtful? Nah. In fact, it just pushes you towards one end or another. You're on a balance beam, and it's constantly wobbling. What's the fun in standing still on an unmoving beam? It's not about the outcome and the destination but about the journey that takes you there.

Hope all is well.

Talk to you soon,
Garrett

Running Away from the Problem OR Hugging is a Euphemism for Sex

*Sometimes topics need to be discussed despite the sensitivity of the material. However, I will attempt to handle it delicately.

I stayed at site for quite some time from the health meeting at the beginning of the year to a meeting I had a couple of weekends ago in Phnom Penh. In that time, I had a regularly growing frustration for the male gender in this country. It is not uncommon for a man to seek prostitution in this country, and it is not really considered taboo. I am not one to judge what one does with one's time and money. In fact, in late 19th century/early 20th century America, brothels were considered a part of everyday life and, though they were not highly looked upon by many, they were tolerated by a lot (despite its illegality). However, what does bother me are two things:

1) The open discussion it receives in front of women who are clearly uncomfortable when the subject is being discussed [call me a gentleman];

2) When married men ask me to join them at the "karaoke bar".

(The "karaoke bar" is often a site for prostitution and sometimes a brothel itself)

I've been told (on more than one occasion) "Garrett. I will have two girls: one on each knee ::slaps each knee:: and you will have four: one on each arm, too ::slaps biceps:: It is not a problem. You will have good health!" to which I can only respond, "Or you can get HIV/AIDS, and it is a problem. You are married." The response (without fail) is: "Oh, it is no problem!" I can (again) only say, "I know you're wife. She's a very nice woman, and "hugging" other women would not make her very happy." "Not a problem" they repeat.

Now, there are always exceptions to the rule, and I know many. In fact a good friend of mine in this country is one of those people. He just got married and is a delicate soul. His happiness revolves around the happiness of others. He wishes only the best for all, and I think nothing ill of him. However, not every man here is like him.

When I went to Phnom Penh for that meeting, I was excited because I was escaping the subject of prostitution (which is ironic, because prostitution thrives in Phnom Penh) for a few days. However, today I was asked again by a new person to the discussion if I wanted to "hug" the two girls next to me. I clearly had only run away from an issue that wasn't going to disappear simply because I wished it would.

"No," I say, "I do not know them, and maybe they feel embarassed when you ask me that, because they can hear you." He proceeded to tell me that all American and Cambodian men are alike on the subject of sex. I tell him that he is wrong, they are different. He looks confused and says to me, "Oh, but American men are very rich, and they can buy more women than I can, so they are like us. They can have women when they want." As you can see, this was going to take a little bit of explaining. I tried to explain that a woman (in America) is not attracted to men that sleep with many other women (for money or not). He gave me a strange look and asked why a man would not do what he wants when he can. "Maybe he does not want to do what you want to do." There are so many other things to explain, like the fact that all Americans are not rich. In fact, it's quite on the other side of the spectrum at this point.

The subject of prostitution, and more specific, infidelities are not simple subjects to tackle here in Cambodia. It is not a simple conversation you can have with a friend who you feel has gone in the wrong direction. It is a behavior that has existed for quite some time. It is also an issue that runs globally. I am attributing it to Cambodia simply because I am accounting for my specific experiences here. I do not expect to go on a campaign across the country telling of the immoralities of cheating on your wife, but I can start small scale discussions and see where that goes.

Again, there are many, many exceptions to the rule for men in Cambodia. I do not want you to take what I say and apply it to all men in this country.

Hope all is well,
and talk to you soon,
Garrett

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day exists in Cambodia for one reason:

Valentine's Day exists in America. Cambodians try to keep up with the United States in many ways in culture, holidays, currency (they accept USD).

So, the word for boyfriend/girlfriend is "sungsah"
The literal translation: "Sweetheart." And they ask it like that, too, if they speak English (mostly the teenagers). "Do you have a sweetheart?"

Anyhow, selling roses is HUGE. They do it all over Phnom Penh; on street corners, in front of markets, in malls, everywhere! They sell roses for $1 or 4000 CR a piece. That sounds cheap, but it's really not. Anyhow, funny story about Valentine's Day and business smarts, a buddy of mine here, Greg, was trying to explain to his students how you can make more money by selling them for 3000 CR (or $0.75), and they would ask, "Why, Teacher? People will pay more money for roses on Valentine's Day. We should raise the price and make more money." He explained competition pricing to them, and it took awhile (he seemed to insinuate), but I think they got it. On a related note, a buddy of mine in a more southern province explaining how some vendors would purchase products from one seller and then sell them at their stall for exactly the same price. People don't have enough money in his village to afford to buy more than the one product, so using it as a ploy to purchase more things in the shop isn't what they're going for. Maybe we need some micro-finance business volunteers here. I'm applying to Fordham in a few years, so I'll happily be the first volunteer to do that (I'll just add it to my health responsibilities) and add that to my resume.

Oh, love in Cambodia:

Here is the time line:

-Find girlfriend/boyfriend
-Get engaged (within 6 months-1 year)
-Get married (within 6 months)
-Conceive children (within 1 day)
-Have more children (about every 9 months)

I say this all jokingly, but it's kind of true.

Talk to you soon,
Garrett

Community Health Education Manual

So, this weekend, a couple of PCVs and I got together in Phnom Penh to work on the future health manual for Community Health Education (CHE) Volunteers in Cambodia. Our first meeting was meant to take an hour just to shape out how our meeting on Saturday was going to follow. However, for the best, the meeting unexpected burst open with ideas and way to shape and define this manual. Friday's pre-meeting lasted an hour and a half to two hours and Saturday's meeting lasted about four and a half. We have everything prepared for our presentation for our Health Technical In-Service Training (IST). I put together a sample manual that showcased one or two examples for each section of the manual. The document is 41 pages in length! That's crazy! It seems this will be a pretty heavy thing to carry around once its done, hence its original name: Community Health Education in Electronic Resources (or CHEERS). Anyhow, we have a LOT of work a head of us, but a great group of eleven or so people contributing to this. It's really going to be something else, and it's really pleased me to see the amount of effort that has gone into this project from the people involved.

In other news: No one's perfect. Ohio St. lost. Not only were they defeated being a No. 1 team, team, but they were defeated by the same team who deafeated them in football (while at No. 1).

Hope all is well,
Garrett

2G and Super Bowl XLV

So, I was able to watch the Super Bowl today thanks to my parents Skyping with me at home (and declining on any potential parties invitations, as I'm sure there were many). That was really fantastic of them to do that, and it let me live a little more of America today. Out of the many Super Bowls I have watched (or listened to), this was up there on the list amongst the Giants v Patriots and Steelers v Cardinals (unfortunately, the last team is also respectively written as winner followed by loser. Hey! They said we couldn't make it to the playoffs, so that's pretty good, right? The Super Bowl is a big deal, yeah? I'm a fan of the Giants beating the Patriots--fun game to listen to). Anyhow, it was a really great game to watch despite the fuzziness and bad 2G connection of Cambodia. It was well worth it though. I had a stack of Prin...Mr. Potato, Thai Tom Yum Spicy Flavour Coated Peanuts (yeah...actually pretty good), and some Country Time Lemonade mix in my water bottle. Good stuff.

Now, you'll see my preference of sports, if the Cats...I won't jinx it, but if it happens, oh will be spending $10 on the 3G to watch...yeah, I won't jinx it.

Talk to you soon,
Garrett

What's Going on In My Life

So, I figured I would update you with how things are going rather than just give you random stories (which I'll continue to do).

Sports: Well, if you read my latest blogs, you'd understand that I'm very happy about Men's Basketball. Sorry Arizona football, you heavily disappointed me. However, it is making me kind of sad that I can't be at home either watching the game on the couch with friends or even worse, at the game itself cheering the team on! It's okay, and I've accepted the fact that I just won't be able to get to watch the games I want to, unless of course Arizona gets to the Final Four (this is hypothetical, don't worry...no jinxing going on here), then I will spend as much money as it takes to watch the live feed on 3G. Other than that, I'm pretty content with my near-heart-attack experiences watching the page reload every 30-seconds.

Projects:

Guppy Farm: I'm still waiting for my health center director to buy the water jars. He says when the OD pays him at the end of the week, we'll get them. He said that same line two months ago. It's pretty similar to "the check is in the mail." No worries, though. Once I do get the water jars, I have the fish available to begin the breeding process!

Health Center Sustainable Garden: I'm still waiting for my health center director to come up with a figure for what the community is willing to raise. Once I have that number and the money, I can officially submit a Small Project Assistance (SPA) grant proposal.

Now, it seems it would be easier if I did all of this myself, however, that would defeat my being here. The point of all for all of these projects is for the people of my village and health center to learn from it not just the material but how to continue teaching when I'm gone. It's all about capacity building. So, unfortunately, I get to sit back and wait while my Cambodian counterparts figure out how to get things moving. I give them a push here and there and help out with suggestions, but the more involved they are, the better the overall results.

On to projects I'm doing at my own pace:

CHE Health Manual: It's going along very well. We have about one third of the amount of health write-ups we need and are starting to create new forms for a potentially separate manual on physical projects and lesson plans that people have completed. Kristin and I created the form for it, so hopefully we can draw some pretty great submissions for it. This, thankfully, I can do at my own pace, so it's taken up a decent portion of the time I have back in my room. I say room, because I really do kinda live in a room haha. Anyhow, the project is coming along very well, and hopefully we can have it done by the end of April (crosses fingers).

Language: Language for me has been on a hiatus, because

1) My language tutor isn't very consistent

2) I'm lazy and won't look for another one

So, we met up a few weeks ago at the provincial spelling bee, and we're going to start up again at the beginning of March.

Since then, I've been trying to learn new words myself everyday and study that. That's actually what I've been doing since I moved to this permanent site! We only really had one lesson, and it was planning all of the lessons we never had. I'm currently reteaching myself how to read and write. It'll take a bit, but I hope to be able to read and write fairly well by the end of next month? We'll see.

Friends:

Cambodia: My friends here are amazingly supportive and give my life more meaning and purpose. Without them, I would live on a day by day struggle much more trying than it already is. I am very thankful that I have them around in my life right now, and I look forward to making life-long friendships out of it.

America: I live for Wednesdays and Sundays so that when I get online I can reconnect a little with America and my friends and loved ones back home. All of the Skype conversations and IMing really do make all the difference. As well, that care package with the giant Country Time Lemonade powder...awesome gift...awesome.

Japan: Caitlin, you are the one friend online that I can consistently chat with regardless of what time it is, because of the simple fact that you are only 2 hours ahead of me, and that is awesome. What am I going to do when you go back to the States? I'll probably read more haha. Alex, you count, too. Don't worry.

Books: I just finished John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" which my brother suggested, and wow! It was a fantastic piece of American literature that had me trying to figure out what was going to go on next. It was a bit of a mystery-solving fun without the book having anything to do with that at all. Thanks for the suggestion. It ranks right up there with "Of Mice and Men" for me. Right now, though, I've started "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabukov. Let's just say it's, well, you just read it. I won't say anything about the contents of the book for the sake of probably a good percentage of the people reading this blog.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I'm hungry, and am going to go buy some nom (rice flour/bread-like products).

Talk to you soon,

Garrett

Interesting Thing #3: Sometimes Food is Not Food

Sometimes food is not food.

This is false, yet this is true. Strange. Isn't it?

I'll tell a short story:

A couple of nights ago I was eating a delicious meal of fried rice with eggs, green beans, onions, chives, cucumbers, sweet chili sauce, and soy sauce. It was fantastic. I said, "Thank you! You could feed this to me every night, and I would be happy." My host mother's response, "Oh, so it's not delicious?!" She was thinking that I was being sarcastic. "No! No," I said, "It's very delicious. I like fried rice with [all the aforementioned "foods"] very much!" She says, "Oh. I'm sorry, the market was out of food." I said with a very confused expression, "The food is very good. I don't understand." She tells me she's sorry that there wasn't any food to cook for me.

What is she talking about? Meat. Simply, meat. She said in Khmer, "Awt mean m'hoap dtae." Which literally translates to "they didn't have food." Cambodian people don't really consider eating without meat...eating. Some families, indeed, are very poor and only have enough to afford "boh bo(a)h" which is basically rice porridge (rice + water + heat...sometimes). However, if you asked them if they had food, they might say, no, but we do have boh bo(a)h. It's an interesting concept isn't? Now, it makes much much more sense why vegetarians have such a difficult time explaining to their families not only why they don't like meat (and that it isn't their cooking they don't like) but the fact that they really do want a multitude and variety of vegetables.

Well, that's all I got for today.

Hope all is well, and

Talk to you soon,

Garrett

Tachycardia and Cats

If you haven't already figured this one out:

1) You don't know me well enough
2) You didn't go (or currently go) to the University of Arizona
3) You don't follow NCAA Men's Hoops

Tachycardia = Abnormally rapid heartbeats
Cats = University of Arizona Men's Basketball Team

Arizona 107 California 105 3OT

Now, typically, Cal has a pretty decent basketball team a good portion of the time. However, this year (sorry Cal fans) you're not so great. With 13-10, Overall; 6-5, Pac-10, things aren't looking so great. However, Cal is always a tough game on the road for the Cats. When I came in on the half-time score (again, misjudging the time difference), I was certain this game was in the bag. We were up by 8. This was a good sign. However, very quickly into the second half, Cal came back and with a vengeance. Arizona was down by as much as six points to the Golden Bears. Harper Kamp led the way for Bears ending with 32 points for the game. However, it wasn't enough for the MoMo Jones and the Cats who lost 4 out of 5 starters to fouling out, and yet, we still won. I'd say that means something.

Now, you might wonder where tachycardia comes into play. This is a simple answer. The way I'm able to follow sports in Cambodia is by automatic reloading on ESPN.com. The quickest reload time is 30 seconds, which gives me plenty of time to freak out about what's going to happen next. Now, given the Cats were down by four points pretty close to the very end, waiting 30 seconds for the page to reload with 0:09 left in the game is terribly agonizing. My heartbeat was highly and consistently irregular (is that an oxymoron?) for about a good two hours. Not only was the waiting dreadful, but there were four reloads on the "Box Score" page with 0:04 left in 3OT. I'm in Cambodia! I can't stream this game! I'd like, as an alumnus, to thank the whole of the University of Arizona Men's Basketball team for letting me live. I really do value my life, so thanks.

Arizona Wildcats (20-4, 9-2 Pac-10)

Go Cats!,

Garrett

Caramel and Coffee

So, I was on the verge of tears just now.

Why Garrett? What's wrong? Are you alright?

It's okay, It's okay! Fret not! It was a good cry. What was the cause, you might ask?

Simple: The beautifully blended flavors of two individual, but differently flavored "Jack and Jill" brand "X.O." sucker candies. Their flavors: caramel and coffee. This passing of tears was not situational or built up, it was simply the effect of the cause. My mouth salivated instantly and my eyes began to well up with tears. How could I have not realized such a beautiful combination from all of my experience with mixing flavors and colors and coffee drinks over the past almost 24 years of my life.

It was love at first taste.

Unfortunately, I will have to resort to buying twice as many bags of these delicious Thai can...

Sorry, I got distracted by another round of the undeniable combination.

I hope all of you can one day try this amazing discovery. For all of you fortunate enough to live close enough to me when I move back, I will bring back plenty!


I just had to post this. It was necessary both emotionally and confectionerily!

Hope all is well.

Talk to you soon,
Garrett

Chinese New Year

So, I'm at my health center right now, it's 8:20, and there have been 0 patients and 2 of 17 staff have showed up. I was trying to figure what could possibly be the delay of sickness, but then, I remembered: it's Chinese New Year. Now, you're probably thinking, 'But Garrett. I thought you went to Cambodia.' And you'd be wrong. I'm actually now in Peace Corps/China! Ok just kidding. You're right. I am in Cambodia, which has a fairly high percentage of Chinese ethnicity throughout the country. So, it's almost a National Holiday. Schools take off for a whole week, people don't go to work, yet here I am with no days off writing to you. I'll be glad to catch up on some news while I'm here. But seriously! It's way too quiet for my own liking...maybe there are zombies, and this is a scary movie set in rural Cambodia, but I'm the only one not in on it. Anyhow, tangent, there are plenty of Jews in America. Why don't we learn from these intelligent people over here and start getting 8 official days off me school and work for Hanukkah? For that matter, all Jewish holidays. If some of you are not aware, there are more Jewish holidays than there are nationally recognized Cambodian holidays, and that is saying a lot. Okay, back to the point. The reason why there is nobody here is not because people magically didn't get sick this week, but because everyone in a 25 km radius from here is attending a celebration at school about 15km east of here. So, that means, some poor health center with only 5 staff members are probably dealing with 150 people today. You'd probably ask, 'Well Garrett, why don't you be a good volunteer and help out?'
Reason 1: By the time I got there, on my bike, it'd be about 9:15, and there would be about 45 min left to help.
Reason 2: Helping right now would involve writing things down I don't know how to spell and handing out medications. You tell me if you think that's a good idea!

Anyhow, it's 8:34, and there are still 0 patients. My health center director told me to go home. I brought my annual leave form with me to sign, which means I intend on going on vacation. But where, Garrett? Where are you going? You guess on posts, and I'll update you in two weeks!

Hope all is well and
Talk to you soon,
Garrett