Bi-Weekly Update

Hello All,

Just wanted to give everyone my regular update. Things are going good here for me. Had a little bit of a rough Turkey Weekend, for a few reasons, but really overall I was surprised at how resilient I have become and in reality I survived my first real holiday away from home without any huge scares.

So you are probably wondering, “how was your turkey day Ryan?” Well it was a huge success. The volunteers who live in the south were able to congregate and have a giant feast at the house of a married couple who are volunteers with us, complete with a turkey (cooked in a dutch oven), apple crisp, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, stuffing, mashed taters, green beans… so yeah, regular feast.

The next day after that, we went into Kampot town. Probably my most needed and deserved break from “work” I have had in a long time. The town itself is very cool. Positioned right on a river, next to some of the best mountains in the country, and has some beautiful sunsets every night. The riverside eateries are good, and cater to the expat crowd, so it was a lot of fun to be there, eating recognizable food, and savoring every minute of it.

Since in reality, I am working pretty much every minute I am here (I did the math, the amount of hours I will be here are the equivalent to working 8.5 years on a forty hour a week schedule) because if im not at school, i am at home where i am still representing u.s. citizens. so if i wake up screaming in the middle of the night, my host family will know and think all americans do as such.

Anyway, I hope everyone is well and had a good holiday. I do miss everyone and everything, so much that I have even started a list right now of the top five things that I miss. #5 – Dairy Products specifically cheese, they just dont make em like we do, #4 – Good Beer, see above, #3 – Washing Machines – handwashing everything gets old after about the third time
#2 – Friends and Family – you are the only ones I have! #1 – Lauren, its incredibly hard to be away from her, and shes so good with it all even with how tough it has been.

I hope everyone is alive and awake after eating copious amounts of turkey, and I am constantly thinking about you all.