Sometimes I'm amazed at how slow time pasts but sometimes it goes very fast.. Now, if I tell you what I've been doing you'll probably fall asleep reading it. It can be pretty boring.. I suppose I should write something interesting so that SOMEONE will leave SOME comments on my blog... Come to think of it, I don't read other people's blog too often too.

So, I'm sure some of you are DYING to know what I've been doing. Well, you'll be glad that I haven't been doing nothing. It's been better than I thought. At first I thought I'd be doing nothing much in the first week. Getting settled down and all that.. Not that I've done a lot. Just.... stuff.

I've been staying at the country director, Mickey's house. Although I'm supposed to move to my new place, I can't do that until the current tenant, who's also another volunteer, moves to his new place... It's a little complicated. Something to do with putting a roof on the other house. The reason why they're putting me up at this place is because it's nearer to RDI's office so it's safer and more convenient, which is very nice of them. God is good!

Anyway, so, I've started working. Kind of. Started working on these test filters with some media in it and checked for flowrate and the removal efficiency of Arsenic. There're 2 Khmers that I work with now. One's still an Engineering student, Vorleak and the other is RDI staff, Kong Khea. The spelling is all weird so I never know the exact spelling. Only the pronounciation. Khmers are pretty friendly bunch of people.

My typical day would start with waking up at 6:55a.m. and breakfast at the coffee shop around 7:30a. The coffee shop is like the place where everyone hangs out in the morning. All the volunteer groups and all.

Work starts at 8:30 and lunch break's from 12p-1:30, and usually ends at about 4:30p. It's pretty flexible here, so it's up to your own discipline to get your work done. My favourite time of the day is to go watch soccer after work at about 5 plus. A bunch of kids (and some adults) play soccer without fail everyday, I think, at the field nearby. Some of the volunteers go there and play too, like Jenny and Caleb, who are both Americans. If I'm not wrong, Jenny's from Michigan and Caleb's from Kentucky. Jenny's been here for about 3 months, I think, but will be leaving next Friday; something which she said she's not prepared to do. Caleb's been here for 8 months and is on a 2-year term. They usually play till about 6 plus or when the sun sets. Yesterday the score was like, 14-9! Although I don't know much about soccer, I think they're pretty good. Sometimes I think I know what's going on but sometimes it's a bit confusing.. Someone said that it's jungle rules out there. Anything goes..



Maybe one of these days I'll try playing soccer with them too.

Last night I went to observe the English class conducted by Jenny. She's been teaching a few teenagers English with bible stories. Quite a relaxed and informal setting with about 12-15 of them who showed up. By teaching the bible stories, she taught some vocabs and some grammar rules and of course with the aim of building up friendships with the kids. Towards the end of the class, the wind started blowing and I and Jenny looked at each other and was like, uh oh..... It's going to rain! And looked like a heavy one too. So we quickly ended the class and rushed out to get on the bikes and headed back. It already started raining but started pouring heavily halfway. I missed a turn and almost lost my way. It's usually pitch dark at night here, so one must carry a torch light at night. Good thing I carried a super bright LED flash light from Mickey's. Even before I got home, I was soaking wet through and through. I was like, "oh no, I just put on my clean shirt!". When I got home I realised that my t-shirts and pants were covered with spots of mud. I guess a 3-5 min bike ride home can get you pretty muddy on a rainy night.

Something that you're never short of here is endless dust, as all who've been to Cambodia would know. When it rains, they turn into mud. After some time, you can care less if you're "dirty". There's no way to avoid it, so just get used to it. It's quite a norm to go around with clothes stained with dirt. But I don't mind. Finally I can be messy for a good reason. Although the girls here are pretty neat, which put me to shame...