So, it looks to be that this blog is more of a once every six month update. That's about the time it takes for me to sit down at a computer and look back at everything that has happened in between. I really think that pictures are more informative, but some text can't hurt.
Let's see. In the spring we were able to tile the English Resource Room and have found interest in the students for running workshops through the new center. Books will be put in at the end of this month after the paint dries and bamboo furniture from a local NGO will be ordered and arranged before August. I would love to have a big party at the beginning of the school year next year to send off the project running. The involvement and interest of the students, teachers and my director has really been surprising and inspirational in the planning and development stages of this project.

During this time, wedding season was in full swing and I attended many a Cambodian wedding around my village and a special one in Phnom Penh. A lot of rice wine drinking and dancing around bushes. All in all very successful celebrations.

Now, the rains have started. Don't get me wrong the day is still burning, but now there is something to look forward to come 4 or 5 in the afternoon. Pounding rains and cool wind. Evidence of rain is seen in all the rice fields saturated with much needed water. With this water, plowing season has begun and water buffaloes and their owners can be seen in the early mornings tilling the land getting it ready for the rice planting.

In April I was able to visit the northern province of Rattanikiri over Khmer New Year, a celebration that is scheduled to last 3 days, but persists for 3 weeks. Rattanikiri is a perserved province that is home to most of the hill tribes of Cambodia. The market of the main city, Banlung, has everything from bat hides to precious gems... and avocados!!! Very interesting treks and adventures to be had up there. We went and explored a tribal village across the river and around 40 k outside of the town. The tribal village had its own dialect of the language and believed in animism. We walked through the village and saw the burial grounds of the small villages families. Unlike Cambodian culture, this tribes ritual is to bury their dead while sacrificing an animal to the Gods. The elders of the village have a dream the night before that decides which animal must be sacrificed for the funeral. We arrived the day after a water buffalo was sacrificed for a 16 year old girls ceremony. The horns and hooves of the animal were hanging over her canopied cemetery plot. Memorabilia of her life were decorating the area... a bicycle tire and boquet of pencils described her dedication of riding to school every day to study.

In May, two other volunteers and I developed a workshop to give ideas of different teaching methods that English teachers could use that would work in the large numbered and material-less Cambodian schools. After three workshops we were pleased with the response and are planning on implementing them through different outlying villages later this year.

After a long flight, June brought me home to Alaska to see my family and friends. The trip was a blast and am glad that I was able to be in Juneau and fall in love again with everything a beautiful home town can offer. Familiar smiling faces, endless summer nights and the feeling of cold ocean air rejuvinated my senses. As much of a homecoming it was, it was also a good bye. I am happy to be back here in Cambodia and motivated to get into the projects that are in progress right now.