Day 66- Sometimes it's More Important to Not Say Anything

Without any more holidays, these past couple weeks have been pretty low key. I have been working in the office a lot, finishing up my part in a couple projects. One thing I hadn't noticed since I have begun my internship is what kind of impact I am having at COCD. It can be difficult to see when you are in an office all day and only working on smaller tasks. However, just last week I was talking with my supervisor and she told me they had started the interview process for a new position. I got really excited at the sound of that because one of the first tasks I was given when I started as an intern at COCD was to screen the resumes for those potential interviewers. My supervisor Kimna told me that my work was extremely helpful in making the interview process run smoother. Even though it's not a huge impact, this was the first time I could actually see what role I have played at COCD so far and it made me feel good about myself and about my efforts in helping out the organization.

About a week and a half ago, I had the opportunity to travel out to the Kampot province again; this time for an overnight stay. I started working on a project with COCD's Executive Director, Mr. Pola, to implement a preschool in one of the communities in the Kampot province. For this visit, we were checking out location options and speaking with local authorities to see what their specific needs are. Unfortunately because of my limited communication abilities in the Khmer language, I mostly observed and followed along.

The language barrier can be frustrating many times because it can feel like you are wasting your time and other people's time. However, it is definitely a motivator in wanting to learn the language. Also, sometimes we all need to take the time to just SHUT UP and take in our surroundings and to just think. I love socializing and chatting with people, but I think it's important to take a step back from that world every once in a while. 

At one site location we checked out there was a bunch of children getting ready to attend an English class. The class was free for all ages, taught by a young local woman my age, 21. I spoke with her briefly to learn that for many people in this village, this is their only opportunity to learn English and she volunteered to teach it because she thought it was very important for everyone to at least know the basics of the language. Most, if not all of the students were children, some as young as 2 years old. They asked if I wanted to stick around to help with the class and I definitely did but unfortunately it was getting late so I wasn't able to. :(

The boy smiling on the far right kept standing near me when i was walking around the school site. I could tell he wanted to tell me something. Eventually, Thy asked him if he wanted to speak English with me and he immediately started reciting the alphabet! He also told Thy that this was his second day of class so I was very impressed he had learned the English alphabet so quickly. Can you guess his age? I was thinking maybe 8 or 9 years old. He is 13. 

What's hanging out with Khmer people without some karaoke, right? Actually no one from our group got up to sing but still... Mr. Pola had a couple favorites but said he couldn't sing without his wife haha :P

Here's a group shot at dinner with Thy (on the left), Mr. Pola (on the right), and other COCD Kampot province staff.

Before heading back home at the end of our visit to the province, we ran into a couple guys whose moto got stuck in the middle of a gravel road. They had a pretty hefty load with them (as you can see there is a RIDICULOUS amount of stuff attached to this little motorbike) so Mr. Pola, Thy, and another staff member from COCD hopped out of the car to give them a little boost.

I don't have very many photos, selfies, whatever you want to call them, of me but whenever I am with my friends out on the weekends I almost always manage to get a few!