Movin' on up!!!

This morning I took the 6 part exam to complete Level 1 Khmer. I really wasn't worried about passing on the next level, but I wanted to do better than just pass. I wouldn't call myself a perfectionist but I'm definitely competitive with myself and always want to ace things.

It went really well!
On vocab, I got all the words correct with only 1 mispronunciation. I ended a word slightly different than how it's supposed to be.
On listening, I got every single thing correct both times! Twice I was given a worksheet with several statements and 1 question and the examiner read a story in Khmer. I had to mark each thing on the worksheet as true or false and answer the question. They almost got me with one detail at the end of the second story, but I actually caught the trick and got the answer correct.
On speaking, I got the best mark, which is "strong", on pronunciation, comprehension, sentence formation, and fluency. On accuracy, I got "good", which is the second highest mark. I made 2 mistakes on how I said things, but I was okay with that because they were actually both things that I had not learned to say but was trying my best to answer questions.

I have a break tomorrow and all next week because Mon-Wed is a national holiday and then I'll begin level 2 on Monday, May 21. I'm excited to be making progress!

My class has been really fun and we've learned a lot! Most of us are moving on and continuing in full time. I know one person is switching to part time. Here are some pics from our level 1 class.

Group study sessions were always a blast and so helpful!

Field trip to the market to practice shopping in Khmer.

We found plenty to buy and got lots of practice with speaking.

mnoah cieng ke  ("pineapple is my favorite", typed as close as possible using the English alphabet)

I'm not the only one!

We also have lots of "inside jokes" now.

And enjoyed getting mocha frappes or pb & banana smoothies at the street stand outside the school.

As part of the review on our last day, we had to dress up and speak as Khmer characters. 

It wasn't pretty, but it was fun and a good review.

John, in the center, frequently got harassed. He was the only guy in class for the more than half the term. He's a good sport (and he might have brought it on himself). ;)

Since Raegan has been here for a visit, I've been going to class, studying, and then enjoying family time as much as possible. Raegan did go to work with me one day last week and took a tour of our ministries out in Svay Pak. We even got to pop in on Floyd because he happened to be in his office on that side of town on the day that Raegan was touring (Floyd has multiple offices because there's so many aspects to his department. You never know where he'll be each day.).
With so much going on, I haven't gotten any blogs posted since the day Raegan landed. I've got a few things I want to share, so I will work on getting that done over my break for the next 10 days. Raegan returns to the states on Sunday!