Helloooo!

My first two days have gone by so fast. I don't actually start work until Tuesday, but I have been keeping pretty busy learning the city and culture. I bought my cell phone today to keep in touch with the other volunteers and locals. $22 got me a phone, charger, SIM card, and enough credits to last me a couple weeks at least. I am buying a bike next week, too. Tuk-tuk rides are only about $2, but it can add up quickly.
As some of my Facebook friends have seen, the markets here are AMAZING. Most everything is a knock off, but that's okay. =) I got a Burberry wallet for $7. I love it.
A few volunteers and I went to the riverside last night. It is the most touristy part of Phnom Penh. Very westernized with American food and all the hotels. We went to the Night Market over there, which is much like all the other markets except they have live music and much more food. I got the feeling that it was more of a hang out spot for Cambodians at night. I tried sugar cane juice for the first time there.
The volunteer house is in what I would call the suburbs. There are no tourists in this area. Our house has the only white people within a 2 mile radius I'd say. Haha. But, it's so great that way!! Everyone knows that we are volunteers here. They appreciate that. We get the same deals as the locals and have no fear of walking the streets to the nearby food stands and such. At the riverside, white people would pay a minimum of $5-6 for a Tuk-Tuk ride, or $1 for a soda (we pay 50 cents). Also, being in the suburbs really makes me feel like I live here. Not visiting.
I feel like this post is jumping all over the place, but I feel like I could go on forever with all the details. The food here at the house is SO good. I've been told it can get old after about 4 weeks, but we will see. It's always rice, a variety of greens I've never had before, and meat. I have yet to be disappointed.

So, the work I will be doing is helping a village that was kicked off their land try to get it back (about 600 families). There are land laws here and they are written well, just not followed. The government will grant groups of hundreds of families land and then years later kick them off of it because they've sold it to various companies. It's sad. They are literally raided in the middle of the night by local and government police. Lots of NGO's (non governmental organizations) help, but this particular situation is too politically involved for them to want to help from what I'm told by Vishnu (my partner volunteer with this project who has been here about 6 weeks). I don't know. I still have a lot to learn about the situation. She was able to get a reporter to write a story in the local newspaper though. Check it out.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012080157746/National-news/starvation-lingers-in-kampong-thom.html

Also, Vishnu was able to raise $1,200 for supplies to build this family a house. The husband is paralyzed and the mother is struggling to bring in enough money for them all. She had a meeting today to learn where to buy all the supplies and how to build this house. It's just us two on this project so we have to hire a local professional to help us build. I believe we will start working on that in the next couple weeks. That's what I'm most excited about! I really enjoyed building the roofs in Haiti. A whole house for 3 people will be a challenge. I'm so ready. Vishnu seems to really be the most dedicated volunteer. She's from Italy. I definitely got lucky with my placement and partner volunteer.

That's all I've got for now!

Daniel