Kampong Chhnang

So, HOMESTAY. We arrived to Kampong Chhnang after just over an hour of driving. We gathered at one of the houses, while our coordinator told us all things in Khmer that I did not understand, seeing as how I have had roughly 3 weeks of Khmer. Anyway, my homestay family (3 sisters, one of their husbands, and 2 kids) represented by one of the sisters, showed up to collect me, so I had a moto ride to the house, which was only maybe a 10 minute walk from the original house (where we'd be having Khmer class). I was staying at the house with one of the advanced tutors and also one of the professor's assistants, bonus because I got to ask them vocab questions in the evenings.

The house was one of the more basic ones that we as a group were assigned to. It was a two story home, and my family had the ground level. There was a kitchen, a living room, and three bedrooms. Out front was a well, and along the side of the house were giant clay pots for storing water. There was an outdoor squat toilet and bucket bath. By this I mean there was kind of like a shed out back, with two separate stalls for squat toilets, that you flush by pouring into them buckets of water from a kind of concrete trough. Then there is a third stall/room that has a tiled floor and another concrete trough, with a plastic bucket. The water all drains out from underneath the door into the yard. Note - the only light is located outside, so if it's dark or there's a powercut, you can use a candle. Yes, I did this. Would've been slightly cool if I wasn't so worried about spiders. Another fun thing, sleeping in a room, under a mosquito net, with windows on two sides that don't have shades/shutters. Out in the country, there are WEIRD noises at night. And people seem to be walking around at all hours. And there are dogs, and chickens, and possibly monkeys, anyway it's very loud and I usually ended up with my ipod earphones in all night.

Side of the house

The food that we had at the home (lunches and dinners) was pretty fantastic across the board. We would get breakfast in town, and you can get an iced coffee with milk (it's always sweetened condensed milk, by the way), and a full plate of food, for roughly 4,500 R, which is about $1.13.

Working in the rice paddies

In the mornings/afternoons, we either did research in town, went on field trips to sites like Udom mountain and Wat Udom (which used to be the location of the capital), or had Khmer class.

Wat Udom

It was SUPER hot, and the thunderstorms in the evenings were pretty epic. At Udom mountain I also saw a memorial to the victims of the Khmer Rouge, which was a glass/metal case full of victims' skulls and bones (there is debate over whether to bury remains like these or allow them to serve as reminders of the genocide).

On the last day at the homestay, we had a big party, and then left bright and early to head to Siem Reap.