March/April 2010

07.04.2010

Unbelievable but true, but today, am here for 11 months already. It feels very strange, and also like I am going home soon. Delia left, Holli left Stung Treng this morning, Evic and Helen leave next month and then it will be me next, next year though.

say: Cheese

The urge to go home to visit my family and friends is still there, although it gets slightly less. I also made the decision (as I initially thought), not to go home during my time here, although another opportunity came up in July this year, but I’ll be involved in the annual Health Sector Workshop.

Sunset over the Sekong, taken from the Sekong Bridge, Stung Treng

Some volunteers do go home though and then have no other holiday left. I hope to see much more of Cambodia and South-East-Asia in general and maybe go for Christmas to South Africa to see my sister, brother in law and nieces.

my giant bathroom spider, can you see it?

I can see now that I am going to be more and more busy over the next year. Lots of other important meetings and workshops coming up and of course the project, I am working with, will finish by the end of 2011, so lots of activities have to be done until then and a study tour.

3 midwife students, year 2

TB ward in ST

a nurse with her child

Rubbish dump infront of the ST RH, childrens ward

Mami, Deine Yogorette war der Hit!

My highlights this month were eg. the MEDICAM (Membership Organization for NGOs Active in Cambodia’s Health Sector, which vision is improved health status in Cambodia by building bridges between civil society organizations and the Royal Government of Cambodia through enhancing evidence-based policy development and program design) meeting in PP, where at the end of the meeting I was able to point out the urgency of needed support for all Nursing schools in Cambodia, so that it was added to the list of priorities; and Linda.

She is one of the new volunteers, who arrived in March and she will be the first one, who will work in Stung Treng in the Education sector.

Linda and me in her new school

She stayed with me and we had a lovely time. This was her ‘placement visit week’, a week were volunteers visit their placements during the period of their In-country-training, and we both explored her new workplace, the PTTC (Provincial Teacher Training Centre).

That's the one!

It was very interesting for me to see the inside of a real school, and it was absolutely amazing to go to the primary school and see the little ones.

I would love to work there. It just warmed my heart so much…

the kindergarten next to the primary school

visiting the different classrooms

Hello there!

Chum reap sur Misses Linda!

children from Stung Trengs Primary school

We also interviewed 8 candidates to work as her translator and found a very good young Cambodian woman, who is perfect for the job of being Linda’s Volunteer Assistant in future. I am glad it’s a female, because so far male VA’s dominate VSO.

that's how it works!

We also had a welcoming party for Linda, where everyone prepared some food and brought it to Helen's place. We call it here: "Pot-luck". It was nice!

our group of ST volunteers, missing Loi and Holli

who wants to be in the picture?

and now, try to stay straight...

Well, we had lots of fun that night

Ferdi, what are you doing?

Fortunately Linda liked my house, that she decided to take over when I move. Yes, that’s right, I’ve decided to move house.

my new approved hat

I am going to move into Vandys house in May, the family were I teach English twice a week. I like them so much, we get on very well and I would like to support them with my monthly rent, because they are poor. My current landlord and landlady just built a new house and they have a car. I feel I would like to support Vandys family now. The place will be very basic though, no balcony, no fridge, holes in the roof and a shared bathroom for altogether 8 people with a squat toilet. But therefore 3 big doggies, a parrot, 4 cats and one kitten, a lovely warm family, lovely people who are fun, I can learn more Khmei from them, they benefit hopefully from my English. Food wouldn’t be a problem because Vandy sells noodles for breakfast and will be happy to cook all meals and I’ll eat with them most likely, like I do already in the evening when I am there. So I am really looking forward to that, also to downsize my possessions. My giant house made me buy things and put stuff because it felt so big and empty at the beginning. Now seeing volunteers leave makes me feel slightly panicky, what to do with all my stuff. I came here with only 20kg, now I nearly have another household! And so many clothes, shoes and random things.
So although I have another 1 and a half year to go, if I am able to extend my placement, I feel that I need to start to downsize now.

the river road in PP

view from the FCC

at the Royal Palace in PP

During the weekends, I travelled a lot to PP and once to Battambong to meet Oliver and each time, we had lots of fun.

tuk-tuk, ot chngai-pii!

In Battambong I also saw the RTC,

the RTC in Battambong

because Oli had some work to do there. In the evening we met Sue and Alan, our batch mates, for dinner. It was the coldest day I experienced so far in Cambodia. All day long I felt cold. That's why I had to borrow Sue's jacket in the evening.

Sue, Oli, Alan and Katja say: soka-peap laor!

a Karaoke house in Battambong

Gekko cafe in Battambong, very nice

Street in Battambong

One night in PP, a quiet ‘last drink before bed’ developed into a mega- party!

it got later and cosier

Africa, USA, Germany, Cambodia and Korea in the "Green Mango"

just met a few hours ago...

yes, he had to be in EACH picture

picture?

Sarah and Jen like to dance

Sarah giggles, about what?

Rolands bar became the dancefloor

Another very productive thing to do was meeting up with DED (Deutscher Entwicklungs Dienst), who are doing exactly the same thing then me and Carol. They also developed a program to support the preceptors but they are based in the hospitals, not in the Nursing schools like we are, and not active in the North East of the country.
In the evening, me, Carol and Charlotte (who was sick in PP whith Dysentry), had a nice eveing together.

mmhh, whine with ice?

Charlotte(from VSO) and Natalie(from Australia)

thank you for standing there!

Carol and me liked the "Pop-cafe"

going out with Charlotte and Carol

I think the american flag on top made it so expensive...

although ill, who can say no to an ice-cream?

in PP infront of the Royal Palace

So everything seems to go into the right direction and I still love it being here.
The Mango season is about to start, lots of Mangos hanging from the trees, some are ripe already and so sweet and delicious, that all you want to eat is Mango.

too many green mangos keep you on the toilet for a long time!

And it is hot hot hot. Since I am here it feels like the hottest so far. I am sitting and dripping sweat at work. I am lying at night in my bed and can feel water running down my body. No fan helps, even my precious lipstick in my handbag finally melted.

Don't mess with me!

On the way to work when we cycle, Carol and me wear a face mask now against the fine dust. I have an ongoing chest infection and cold which might be a result of feeling too embarrassed to wear one.