I'm back in the provincial town that has internet...

Hey everyone, my last message got cut off. We had to move out to our training site. I'm living with a host family that speaks almost exclusively Khmer and learning to shower, do laundry, and use the squatty potty without running water. Today is my day off, they work us 6 days a week at least 8 hours a day, so it's been a bit intense. After work yesterday a group of us went and played soccer with some of the locals. It was really fun! I scored a goal and had two assists! Funniest moment so far: I was sitting down right after dinner and my kmouy srye (niece) Nita, who's about a year old, (and who's been scared of me this whole time) starts doing laps around me. She continues to run around me in circles, stopping occasionally to smile at me briefly, and then continues. This lasted for about 15 minutes. Later that night, we danced to Khmer tunes upstairs. Today, a few of my friends and I biked to the bigger city (14 km ) to get online for a bit and relax. Bye for now...

I can't believe i've been here less than a week...

Ok, so exciting news, I am going to move into a host family tomorrow!

Safe and Sound

Just a quick update... I''m in Cambodia. I'm safe. We started learning Khmer today. I'll put up some pictures when I get my camera back (I left it with my other luggage which i'll have access to Sunday?) The food has been amazing thus far. I had something today that reminded me of orange chicken and we had Chinese soup for breakfast. The humidity reminds me of Costa Rica and the geckos remind me of Hawaii. We have a few more days with our whole group (54ish) people and then we move in with a host-family and split into smaller groups. The country is beautiful.

Peace and Love,
Peter

P.S. Some people tried fried tarantula today.

View from Hotel and Taxis in Hong Kong

P.S. Camera cord was in my bag...

Hong Kong Airport

Hey everyone, I'm about to fly out to Phnom Penh. We start training today. I may or may not have lost my camera cord that connects to the computer. There's a good chance it's with my checked baggage, because of this, I can't throw on any pictures just yet. Needless to say, organization was never my strong suit... I almost lost my baggage tags earlier too. Wish me luck.
Love, Peter

Hotel Kabuki

I've safely arrived at the hotel in sf...and so it begins :)

Brilliant BBQ

I had so much fun at my barbecue. I feel so loved. Thank you so much for coming everyone. It was the perfect way to be sent off.

Isn’t It Pretty To Think So

When I go, I want to go like a cat. To be there one moment and gone the next, on my own terms. I now understand why my friend Connor would never say goodbye. He would be there with us one moment and then leave. Sometimes we wouldn’t see him and wouldn’t know he’d left until we missed his presence. It wasn’t sad or disruptive. We just knew that he’d moved on to another engagement or gone home. I saw a sign this morning offering a reward for a black cat that looked like my recently (deceased / wandering / enlisted) pet Mocha. I remember getting a call one night and Sarah plainly explained that he hadn’t come home in awhile. A few nights later, the story was the same, and that was that. Without concrete proof of death, and no way of knowing, even if 99.9% sure of the realistic outcome, Mocha evaded the certainty of death. He just moved on, to another house, to begin another life, to become reincarnated as a kitten, to give another child the gift his presence brought to me, and to get them through tough times by making them laugh as he rolls around like a lunatic in patches of catnip.

Contact Information

My address in Cambodia / (the address of the peace corps head office which will hopefully be able to forward things to me) is :

PCT Peter Cooper
P.O. Box 2453
Phnom Penh
Cambodia

Predeparture Preparation

In lieu of packing, I decided to go climbing all day with Daniel at Pinnacles...