Really, that could be the title of just about any blog post I've written this year. I have never before encountered a country with so many holidays. I have to admit, it is good for all of our mental health, if not for covering the English curriculum.

This time around, surprisingly enough, the holiday is not a national holiday, but the annual MCC regional retreat in Laos. It's conveniently placed smack in between the two Khmer New Year holiday weeks and the King's birthday holiday week in May, which means I've taught for four days since the New Year, will leave for Laos tomorrow, and will come back on May 5 to teach for three more days before the week off. And then the week after that has two one-day holidays also. I'm not complaining, mind you. I feel incredibly spoiled. But it makes it extremely difficult for me and my students to get into any kind of learning/teaching groove. Would you believe that I actually miss my classes when I'm gone? I wonder if my students feel the same way. Hmm. No, let's be realistic. I know what it's like to be a student. They're loving the extra time off.

In any case, it's time for me to go teach my last class, so I'll sign off for now and check in again in May with some adventure stories and photos from Laos. Until then.

Indeed. Khmer New Year has come and gone, which means that it is now the Year of the Rat, I am 24 years old (everyone turns one year older at the beginning of the year), Phnom Penh is essentially emptied of people (all gone to their hometowns in the provinces), and there have been no classes for the past two weeks. I’ve been feeling unproductive during this unofficial time off and a little guilty about that, but since there isn’t really any work for me to do, I suppose I shouldn’t. Especially when I remember that the whole concept of productivity is entirely different here from in North America.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve had the incredible privilege of sharing in the New Year’s festivities Khmer-style, first with my students at the university’s celebration day, and then with two Cambodian friends who invited me to their hometowns in the provinces. These experiences have certainly been the highlights of the month, if not the year. I feel so blessed with friends like these, and their families, who take me in and show me Khmer culture from a perspective that no ordinary tourist would ever see. I’ve posted a number of my New Year’s photos with captions, and I'm sure that seeing the images will give you a better sense of the events than my words alone ever could. Enjoy them, and may this new year bring you joy, peace, light, and love.