An adventure in town

Until you’ve tried it yourself, this may not sound like such a big deal. But, when you consider the language barrier, and the fact that people here are eager to make a living, and will try to take advantage of foreigners if they can, this is quite a feat.

So, a couple of the “expat” girls here wanted to meet at a coffee shop at the mall near our house where there’s wi-fi internet access. They invited me to join them. Moo would have liked to come, but she has to do her work at the church as her computer doesn’t have wireless access. So that meant I had to go there on my own. Walking it would’ve been no more than a half hour, but nobody walks here. The city is full of moto-taxis, or motodops, which will assail you if you try to walk, especially if you’re alone. Plus, I had my trusty laptop to carry, which can get heavy after a while. So, moto taxi it would have to be.

I got some of the words I needed to be able to communicate where I wanted to go. Then I set out on foot. Just around the corner, a moto taxi driver stopped (whithout me needing to signal to him or anything). I asked him how much he would charge me to go to Sovannah mall. He asked for $1, which is way overpriced (yeah, crazy, huh), so I said no, I wanted lower. As we were bargaining (and picture it while taking the language barrier into consideration), another taxi driver stopped by hoping to get me instead. Finally, the first driver and I agreed to 3000 riel (which is still a little overpriced, at 75 cents), and I hopped on side-saddle. It’s actually quite comfortable and steady. You don’t even have to hold on. I would never do that at the back of Moo’s moto, where I usually ride, cause the seat is too small and she’s still a new driver. But the motodop guys drive around all day, and have seats large enough to fit several people. I have to take pictures to post onto here for you guys to get a better idea of all I’m talking about!

In the end, I arrived here safely and was glad to discover I had exactly 3000 riel to give him. Here, 4000 riel equals $1 American. When they give you change, instead of coins, they give riels.

On another note, my classes went well this morning. I went in better prepared and knowing more what to expect. The prep time is a little stressful for me, cause you never know exactly how the lesson will go, and our resources here are rather limited and unreliable. Still 80 students in my early class, and then 11 in my later class. So I’ll take that to mean I’m doing alright. I taught my early class about pass progressive and we did some activities concerning that. Then I did a game and looked at some pronouns and possessives with my second class. Saying all that makes me sound smart, but I’m almost learning these things as I go. Some of the students know more grammar than I do. It’s more practice and exposure to the language they need at this point. And then, other students can’t speak a word of English.

Hopefully I can start piano lessons soon. I have at least one student lined up, but I have yet to talk to Pr Pisit (who is in charge of worship) or to get access to the keyboard.

I did find out however yesterday afternoon a bit of what Pr Mara wants me to assist him with. He wants help setting up a better system to provide pastoral care to the people. Yeah. It took me a while to understand how on earth I can help him with that. But we’ll see.

Other than that, my days so far have been pretty simple : get up at 6, shower and such, time with God, eat a breakfast of bread, fruit and yogourt, and head out to work with Moo on the back of her little moto. I teach my classes, then Moo and I have lunch somehow (we’ll either go out or order lunch from Pakhaday’s mom). In the afternoon, it’s hunting time as I try to figure out what to do and how to do it. I’ve also been trying to help Moo do some of her work, which is keeping clear communication between the church and donors here. It’s actually much more interesting than I’d imagined before I came here. At around 5pm, we head back out on Moo’s moto and figure out things for dinner. At some point in the evening I work on my lesson plans. Then I’m in bed at around 10pm.

Oh, one thing Bri and Stacey would be shocked to know: my longest shower her lasts 10 minutes. The secret? Cold water. Literally. I’ll have to post a picture of our washroom here too. We do have a north American toilet. But showers here are not in a separate little cubicle. The washroom is very small, and it all comes together in the same little room. It is different. I’ve been showering in the mornings, but the water seems to run very low at that time, and it’s colder too. So I might change my schedule a little.

Tonight we have mid-week service at church. It starts at 5:30, so I should wrap things up. Prayer requests : God’s grace and creativity on my lessons and lesson planning, and good health. Also, that I’d be able to get things organized for Pr Mara and help the school along a bit…