Weekend Update

So, things have been pretty slow here the last week or so, but I thought I would update on what is going on. I have about 3 weeks left in my internship, then I plan on traveling in Thailand for about 10 days until I fly home a month from now.

Work has been somewhat slow as my HIV/AIDS group is finishing up our manual. However, we are planning to meet this week with some other organizations involved in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. We are also planning to teach some of our lessons to see how they work, hopefully at some of these organizations.

I am headed to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday with about 8 other interns for a long weekend. It will be excited to check out a different city, see the world's second-tallest building, catch the new Harry Potter movie, and watch an Asian Cup football match between Malaysia and Uzbekistan hopefully.

We finally made it to the Killing Fields on Saturday. There were actually many Killing Fields all around Cambodia where the Khmer Rouge executed people and left them in mass graves, but this was the biggest one, called Choeung Ek, and also where a memorial site has been set up. Choeung Ek affected me in a different way than the Tuol Sleng prison. At Tuol Sleng it was easy to imagine people being tortured and killed, as things were essentially left as they were during the genocide. However, at the Killing Fields, the setting is very peaceful, it is very green, and there are a lot of trees around. It is hard to imagine that thousands and thousands of people were killed there. There is a big shrine in the middle of the site which has many skulls of people killed by the Khmer Rouge, and that is emotionally affecting, but the rest of the site is not as intense. I think it is a very nice site to remember all those people who were killed by the Khmer Rouge and reflect on the horrible effects of the genocide.

Finally, a few lessons learned from a Friday night in Phnom Penh:
A) Do not go ride home from a bar by yourself
B) Do not carry your credit card, bank card, and driver's license out with you if you don't need to (and you almost never need to)

Yep, I was robbed on Friday night. Two guys pulled in front of my moto just about a block from my house and took my wallet and watch. I was not hurt and the guys were clearly just after my cash, but obviously it was a very scary incident, and I was very stupid to be headed home alone. Anyway, ultimately I realize it is just a big inconvenience and the most important thing is that I am OK.

So that was a bummer and definitely a crappy way to end off what was a long and somewhat boring week. But, there is a lot to look forward to, especially the Malaysia trip, so I am very excited for the last few weeks of my internship!!