I arrived in La Palma in late afternoon of May 14th. It was not easy trying to drag my super heavy suitcase together with two super heavy backpack on unpaved road. As I was 5 steps away from my house, my host dad came out and helped me with my stuff. Less than an hour of my arrival in my room, a colegio student (high school student) came to ask me to help her with her English. My co-teacher also dropped by to talk to me about my work that will start the next day.
School Celebrity
My first day at school started at 7am. It seemed to me that the students had expected my arrival. It was obvious that my co-teacher had told them about me, especially about my origin. I felt like a celebrity in my classes. The students were all thrilled and asked a lot of questions about Cambodia rather than the U.S (I’m sorry Peace Corps, I promise I will definitely reach goal 3). Some of them even asked me to write my name in my language in their notebooks. I observed 6 classes that day, and I was overwhelmed mainly because of class management. I couldn’t help but thought back to my high school time when I saw what happened in the 6 classes. I remember how noisy we were inside our classroom. My 11th grade math teacher often got irritated. When we never stopped talking, she put down her chalk, grabbed her stuff and walked out from the class. One time she walked out with tear rolling down her cheeks. It was supposed to be a two hour math session. Thus, when she decided to skip teaching us, we had 2 hours free of class. We didn’t care much and indeed were happy that we had two hours free of school. Now as a teacher myself, I could imagine myself doing the same thing. At the same time, I could imagine that my students would care less if I decide to walk out from the class. Thus, I have made a promise to myself that doesn’t matter how irritate I will get, I won’t walk out from my classrooms. There are 12 teachers at my school, including the director. There are 8 classrooms in total at my school. Two classrooms are for special need students and those students who are falling behind. There is a separate building with 2 classrooms for kindergarten. There are 11 English classes with only one teacher. The students are divided into morning and afternoon group, and they rotate every week. The rotation gives me a chance to meet all of the students since I normally don’t stay until the last afternoon classes.
Host Family and Things in General
I have a nice host family. They have been very helpful to me adjusting my life in a new place. At first I had a lot of hard time understanding thier Spanish accent. Nevertheless, having spend a month and half with them, I begin to understand their Spanish accent better. My host brother and his wife, who used to be quiet with me, have begun to talk to me a lot. I moved to a new room that has a bathroom attached to my room. This means that I don’t have to share bathroom with others, probably one of the coolest thing of my life here :). My host parents also helped me to put up a shelf both in my room and my bathroom. My room has a window that gives me enough sun light during day time and air during night time. As for my appearance, being the Asian-American it helps to distinguished myself from being seen as a tourist or gringo where occasionally foreigners present in my community. Still, it can get complicated trying to explain to people about my identity. With my skin color, some people were surprised when I introduced myself as American. At the same time, I am often generalized as Chinese because of my appearance. I was event mistaken by my host family that I know how to speak Chinese because I told them that my grandmother is half Chinese. There are a few things that I llike about my life here. Either I walk or bike around town, there are always students who know me from school call out my name. This really makes me feel like La Palma has become my home. Another thing is that I love to see Lapas (Scarlet Macaw) flying around town. It’s so amazing to see them. I also love to bike around town. There is a beach that is about 20 minutes bike ride from my house. Also, there is a look out to the sea that is about 7 kms from where I live that I can bike to.
Weather
It’s the beginning of rainy season. Thus, it’s been raining almost every day and almost at exact same time since I’ve been to La Palma. Normally, it rains for hours in here. I sometimes can’t help but worried that the town would go under water which actually it’s never been the case although I have seen it rained for 6 hours. Still, it can get so hot here most of the time, and when this happens I always ask myself how could I survive in Cambodia for 17 years.
rattanaadventure 