Superstitions in the Bode

In Cambodia, superstitions pervade almost every aspect of society. I have yet to meet a Kmai person who does not believe in ghosts and the routine discussions of spirits at my house further solidifies the considerable amount of attention Kmai people pay to superstitions. When I told my host mother that I had visited Koh Pich Bridge, the site of the stampede, her eyes grew very large and she asked me if I was scared of the ghosts that were lingering there. I told her I wasn't and she was shocked that I wasn't quivering with fear. Along with ghosts, there are other beliefs that I have learned about that Kmai people swear by. Here are some of my favorites:

*You know those little white marks you get on your nails when you have vitamin or mineral deficiencies (according to Wikipedia they are called Leukonychia. Go here to read more about them)? Well, if you have them in Cambodia, it means you are soon going to be rich. My host sister had one a few months ago and the whole family was so excited that she was soon going to get some money. We're still waiting.

*If you feel cold during "cold" season and you are single, it means you want to get married. This was told to me by my single co-teacher who gave a creepy grin afterwards. He is desperately trying to move to America...

*When your left eyebrow quivers, you will soon be receiving a gift from someone. But if your right eyebrow shakes, WATCH OUT, trouble is coming your way.

*Geckos are everywhere here. I am never truly alone because there is always a gecko crawling up my wall, in my bathroom, on my mosquito net, etc. They make these little chirping sounds and according to Kmai people, if they chirp more than 7 times in a row, you will soon have a lot of money.

*If a single daughter sings while she is cooking, she is destined to marry a man who is already married. This also applies to sitting on stacked chairs and beginning a meal at one location then switching to finish it somewhere else.

*A pregnant woman must wake up early every day during her pregnancy or she will have a very difficult birth.

*A pregnant woman cannot drink ice while she is pregnant or her child will be hairless.

*If a pregnant woman walks over the legs of her husband when she is getting out of bed in the morning, she will transfer her morning sickness to her husband, thereby inducing vomiting in the man responsible for her nine months of misery.

*A mole on your face means you cry a lot. My sister does cry a fair amount and she does have a mole below her eye...

*If a woman is pregnant and a lunar eclipse occurs, the child will not be very smart.

*If you dream about a lot of fish, you will be very lucky the next day (this is especially true for sellers at the market).

*If you dream someone dies, you will be lucky the next day.

*If you dream about a snake wrapped around your body, you will soon find someone to marry.

*You cannot take a picture with 3 people because it is unlucky for the person in the middle. The more rural you go, the more people who believe in this photo rule, as I learned during training in the boonies of Traing.

The goings-ons

Updates:

*I went up to Siem Reap last week to run the half-marathon at Angkor Wat with some of my fellow volunteers. It was a lot of fun, but man I underestimated the distance I was running at site. I felt good up until the 14th kilometer, when I could no longer suppress the need to pee, undoubtedly induced by my 4 am cup of joe. So I had no choice but to duck into some bushes and relieve myself, but unfortunately picked a spot covered in thick, thorny bushes. After clawing my way out, I realized my hands were covered in bloody scratches but at that point, that didn't even come close to the pain throughout the rest of my body. I managed to finish the half without walking, which I was really happy about. But my pace was as slow as a tortoise so I know what I need to work on for my next one. I think I'm hooked on this whole half marathon thing. It's a fun goal to work towards, and now I have a better idea about what to expect. There is a half marathon in Singapore in May which I'd love to run, but the timing is really close to our last 3 months of service, which PC policy says we must remain in Cambodia for. So we shall see.

Some of the Peace Corps vols after the half!

*Teaching is in full swing! The Ministry of Education has cut the hours for English from 4 hrs to 2 hrs per week for grades 11 and 12, which I think is asinine. But then again, almost everything about the education system here is silly, so I am not too surprised. The new lack of hours has cut into my teaching time at the high school, but I have supplemented my time in the class with informal office hours. When I say informal, I mean sitting at the snack shack (literally a tin roof resting on bamboo sticks) drinking a cup of coffee and chatting with the students and teachers. It's actually been a great opportunity to talk with students I don't have in my classes who want to get some face time with a native English speaker. I'm also teaching doctors and other staff at the Provincial Health Department, which is totally different from teaching at the high school. I'm working with some volunteers in my province on getting a girls'leadership/empowerment/health camp together for March. We're in the proposal writing stage and are hoping to get it submitted in the next few weeks. Definitely some cool stuff going on.

*My host mother is pregnant! The news was casually dropped at lunch about a week ago, and I initially thought she was joking. But it's become clear that she is very serious and is already 3 months along. I am worried about this for a number of reasons: (1) the risks that accompany having a child at her age are plentiful- the baby could have genetic disorders, she could have delivery complications (especially in this country!), etc. (2) the relationship between my host parents, is well, on the fritz, to say the least. Friends of my host mom repeatedly tell me that my host dad is koich, or 'broken' in Kmai. I'll let you interpret that as you please. (3)The life expectancy of a Cambodian is about 61 years old. That would be the exact age of my host mom when this child is 18 years old. Hmmm. (4) No one in the fam really seems too happy about this new addition. My sister cried upon hearing the news. My brother asked if he was not going to be the focus of attention anymore. It's gonna be interesting to see what happens when this boy is born (my host mom insists it's a boy- she saw it in her dreams).

*Studying for the LSAT is officially under way! I am taking it in June in Bangkok, so I am thankful I have plenty of time to prep for it. My goal is not to drive myself absolutely nuts, which I am already doing and am still 6 months+ away from the actual test date.

*My host sis, Theavy, was given an award today for being the #1 student in her class last year (when she was in grade 11). I went to the ceremony (her parents chose not to attend, another issue) and I was so proud of her when they called her name! For the students who had family members attend, they stepped aside and took pictures with their family. I went to take a picture with Theavy and she leaned in and whispered "Thanks for coming Nisa. I love you so much." I had tears in my eyes and tried to hold them in as I went back to my seat. The hardest part about this experience coming to an end will be leaving my host family. But that's still 7+ months away, so I try to not think about it.

Well, I think that is about it. Hopefully everyone is having a wonderful time getting ready for the rest of the holiday season, finishing finals, and getting ready to ring in the new year. 20 days left until 2011...

The Stampede

As most of you probably already know, there was a terrible tragedy in Phnom Penh earlier this week, leaving almost 400 victims dead. A stampede broke out on a suspension bridge during Water Festival Monday night, which draws in millions of people to the city to watch boat races and celebrate the end of rainy season. There is a lot of speculation about the cause of the stampede, but from what I've gathered, the hundreds of people on the bridge (who gathered to watch a concert) were spooked after a cannon trying to disperse people from the bridge was fired, causing pandemonium to ensue. People swept up in the mass exodus were trampled, suffocated, electrocuted or drowned after falling into the water below.

Many of the people who go into the city to partake in Water Festival are from the more rural parts of Cambodia. It's the one time of the year they look forward to going into "the big city" and enjoying the many festivities of Water Festival. A city of over 1 million becomes jampacked with more than 4 million people. It was for this reason that I chose not to go to Phnom Penh for the weekend, as most other volunteers decided as well. That many people crowded in such a small space and something bad is bound to happen; but who would think it'd be a stampede?

Cambodia has a population of about 15 million people, less than twice that of NYC. It seems that everyone in this country is connected to everyone else through someone; most families have lots of kids, some of whom end up moving away to far off provinces, broadening the family's circle of friends/acquaintances. I found out that 30 people from my little province of Svay Rieng were killed in the stampede, and my host mother knew (very indirectly) someone from a different province that died. The theory of "six degrees of separation" seems more like two degrees here, so with 400 people passing, it seems like everyone I've talked to knows someone (indirectly) who was affected by this tragedy. Last night, most Cambodians put out offerings outside their house and lit candles for the ghosts of the victims who passed. The incident has been all over the news, and unlike other places where privacy rights prevail, Cambodian t.v. doesn't hide any bloody details. Faces of mangled bodies and loved ones trying to identify them are shown all over the news.

It has been interesting to observe Cambodians and their reactions during this time. Some are sad, but far more make jokes or laugh when talking about the incident. I guess one might call this "their own way" of dealing with things, but part of me can't help but think it stems from their inability to deal with tragedy, a vestige from the Kmai Rouge era. If you read about some of the horrendous things that occurred during the Kmai Rouge genocide, you are left thinking that everyone who survived has got to be dealing with some serious psychological issues; how could they not be to some extent? The people who survived, who are now parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, are raising the newer generation and passing on their own coping strategies to their children, coping strategies which may employ laughter, denial and/or any other ways to avoid the real issue. I cannot ascertain that my theory is correct because I do not know how Cambodians dealt with grief in the pre-Kmai Rouge era, but it is something that I am continually trying to learn more about. Certain things can be chalked up to cultural differences but something tells me that laughing upon hearing someone was suffocated to death does not fall under this category.

The Cambodian government is paying the families of the victims $1500 per victim. As my mom tells me, "if you had a lot of family members die, you'd make a lot of money." Um, is it me or is that statement extremely dysfunctional? Like I said, there are some serious issues that need to be looked into. And PM Hun Sen- thanks for putting a price tag of $1500 on a human life.

Some pics from the NY Times of the aftermath of the tragedy:

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/11/23/world/CAMBODIA.html

The wonderful Navy

I have not yet elaborated on one of my favorite parts of Cambodia- my host mother, Navy. She is the feistiest, funniest, most awesome Kmai woman I have yet to meet. Every morning while I am out on my morning run, she is already up and doing the laundry, no small feat for a family of 6. She makes sure everything is clean (an especially subjective adjective here) and functioning properly. If she's not repairing some holes in my brother's pants, she's washing our bikes, preparing food, sweeping, gardening or doing some other activity that I'm sure I don't even know about.

My favorite thing about mae ('mom' in Kmai) is her sense of humor. She LOVES talking about anything that has to do with love/romance (another subjective concept here). She is constantly trying to find me a Kmai husband, even though I've repeatedly told her that I am not interested in marrying anyone for a long time. Just when I think I've managed to subdue Navy's interest in my romantic life, she switches to her favorite pastime: fortune telling. She tells me that I will be married with 3 kids by the time I'm 28. I initially tried to explain that her clairvoyance is lacking serious practicality, seeing as how I will probably still be busy with my studies at that age. But now I've realized it's far easier and more fun to play along with her. Not only am I a favorite subject when it comes to matchmaking, but my fellow Svay Rieng volunteers are fair game as well. For the longest time, my host mother could not stop talking about how Jeremy and Kristin were a couple. "They're both short so obviously they must be a couple," she tells me. I tried to explain that they were not a couple, and I've finally managed to drive this point home, a mere year after repeatedly having this discussion.

When the topic isn't one of us volunteers, the attention shifts to my youngest host sis, Dany. My mom jokes that she has 15 boyfriends (she is 15) and I still am not sure if this is a joke or a reality. Different boys are constantly calling the house for her and Navy always makes sure to alert me when it's one of her song sah's (boyfriends) calling. One day, her song sah from Phnom Penh came to our house to eat lunch with us. Talk about awkward. Two 15-year olds sitting across from each other and utter silence while we are eating. I tried to suppress my laughter, but I caught Dany's eyes and started chuckling. She turned bright red and made sure not to look at her boy for the duration of our awkward lunch. Afterwards, my host mom couldn't stop making fun of Dany and saying that her boyfriend was only s'aht dah (kind of cute). One of the many topics Kmai mothers are brutally honest about.

Typically Kmai women are expected to be sopheap; soft-spoken, shy and delicate. This can be really challenging, especially with getting female students to participate in class and come out of their shells. But Navy is anything but sopheap. She stands up to my slimy host dad, makes inappropriate jokes, and sometimes even has a beer or two with the boys. I love that she defies the sterotypical submissive Kmai woman; she is an extremely strong woman and doesn't put up with anyone's crap.

Some of my favorite Navy moments:

I accidentally walked in on her changing and got a full frontal view of her boobs. I immediately averted my eyes and kept apologizing, but she just laughed and jokingly asked me if I wanted to see her boobs again. I politely declined and she continued to ask me if I wanted a peek for the next week.

The words for "lady boy" (transgender person) and "vagina" sound extremely similar in Kmai, and I embarrassingly mixed them up one day when I was trying to ask if one of the characters on a tv show was transgender. The whole family erupted in laughter and I turned beet-red after I realized my blunder. Every now and then, Navy will shout the Kmai word for vagina at me to remind me that I am an idiot. I still turn red and her guffaws grow increasingly powerful every time.

Once in a while, Navy feels like talking politics. Men don't even openly talk about politics here, especially if they are not Hun-Sen supporters (which she is not), so I was extremely taken aback when Navy first confided in me. The other night, she saw Hun Sen on tv and started spewing nasty expletives about Hun Sen and his corrupt administration. She was talking so fast that I could barely follow the conversation. But I did manage to understand one of her funny observations about Hun Sen- he has one real eye, and one glass eye (not exactly sure what happened there) and Navy said that "the only thing his glass eye enables him to see are the Vietnamese and their money." His glass eye is conveniently blind to his own people. Bravo, Navy!

Navy is very curious about Westerners and kissing. She thinks it is very strange that people kiss on the mouth, as Kmai people sniff each other. No, I am not kidding. Mothers sniff their babies, boyfriends sniff their girlfriends. That is the Kmai version of affection. So it is very strange to me when I watch Kmai music videos and the point at which two people would normally kiss in a Western video always turns into a sniffing moment. So one night, Navy asked me how long people kiss for. I told her it varies from person to person, maybe a few mins, maybe an hour. I did tell her that we definitely don't sniff each other. She and my host brother now love to joke that when I get married, I will kiss my husband for 20 hours. She has been trying to teach me the correct Kmai sniffing strategy, but I told her I'll stick to good ol Western kissing.

Thanks, Navy, for always keeping things interesting!

Svay Rieng Thanksgiving

This past weekend all of us Svay Riengers (Kristin, Kellee, Jeremy, Dillon, Alan, Andrea and myself) celebrated Thanksgiving together. Yes, we are a few weeks early, but our schedules didn't align to have it during actual Thanksgiving and we thought it was more important to have everyone together. Besides, this was the most non-traditional Thanksgiving we could have possibly had, so it's only fitting that we didn't celebrate at the traditional time.

My host siblings

We decided to have it at my house, since my kitchen is pretty spacious and we have more than enough space to accommodate everyone. Little did we know we would be invading the kitchen for practically the whole day, but my family is amazing and was more than willing to watch us sweat it out in the kitchen making our weird foreign food. We decided to make Mexican food, since all of the ingredients are readily available at the market and it's pretty easy to throw together (little did we know...). Friday morning, Kristin and I went to Bavet to visit the hyper-market, the Vietnamese version of Sam's club. I honestly don't know why I don't venture out there more often- it's so close and they have everything I could possibly want. Crossing the border is a little tricky without a Vietnamese visa, but that's where our language skills come in to play. Kristin and I befriended the border guards and told them we needed to go to the market to buy a few ingredients to make our special food for an American holiday. They were SHOCKED that we could speak Kmai and had us sit down for a good 10 minutes before they waved us on through. After getting over the sheer vastness of the store, we settled on our items for our upcoming feast and a few treats for ourselves. We even found Starbuck's ready-made frappacino's, which we obviously couldn't pass up!

Kristin and Starbuck's!

Upon crossing back over the border, our new friends called us over and introduced us to some other guards. We were talking for a while and they told us they were very interested in learning English (as every other Kmai person tells me); perhaps I could come teach them? They kept us asking us questions like "Say get on the bus or get in the bus?" We answered a few of their questions when one of the guards asks us if we've arranged transportation back yet. We tell him no and he tells us to follow him, which we do right after we give all the guards our numbers (I'm just waiting to get the traditional series of stalker calls that begins after I give out my number here). Bora, the guard who asked us to follow him, starts talking to a tour bus driver (the main highway transporting tourists from Ho Chi Minh to PP runs through my town) and tells him that we are volunteers in Cambodia and we speak Kmai. He says that because we are helping his country, they need to give back to us. So the driver agrees to drop us off in Svay Rieng for FREE! Bora tells us to call him anytime we go to Bavet again and need help arranging complimentary rides to and from. Oh the perks of being a Peace Corps volunteer.

Our American breakfast

So yesterday was a day of cooking, eating, cooking, eating, and more cooking. I have a newfound respect for my host mother who cooks for a family of 6 (7 including me) and does it with such effortlessness, always serving up a delicious meal. First we made a delicious breakfast, which consisted of banana pancakes and maple syrup, fruit, veggie omelettes, fresh bread, juice and coffee. Kristin manned the pancakes, while I prepared the huge omelette. My host mother stood by and watched us make everything and was quite perplexed by all of this mystery food. After devouring our very American breakfast, we started prepping for lunch. Kristin and I volunteered to make the tortillas, which we had no idea would take as long as they did. If there's one thing Cambodia teaches you, it's how to improvise and be creative. My job was to flatten the tortillas out, but we were lacking rolling pins. So my family had the brilliant idea of using Angkor beer bottles, which worked perfectly! We underestimated how long it would take to make 50+ tortillas and we ended up spending hours making them. My family even joined in to help; talk about a cross-cultural experience. American PCVs teaching Cambodians how to make Mexican food in Cambodia. Meanwhile, salsa was being prepared, as was seasoned ground beef (thanks to Alan's fine chopping skills), black beans, and a fajita stir fry. I gave my host family some cheddar cheese to try, which they thought was absolutely disgusting! It was the same expression I had on my face when I first tried the Cambodian cheese, prahok, which is basically fermented fish paste. I can see why Kmai-Americans have a very difficult time adjusting to the food when they immigrate to the states.

Kristin and I making tortillas

I invited some of the VSA volunteers (from New Zealand, or 'kiwis' as they are commonly referred to) in my town to join in the delicious feast. I especially loved watching my host family eat the food. I asked my mom what she liked the most and she said the black beans. Of course. The most basic thing that is already occasionally part of their diet. After cleaning up, Alan and Kristin teamed up to make pecan pies and brownies. Alan used a recipe all the way from his native Georgia, and Kristin, being the baking pro that she is, whipped up some brownies basically from scratch. How did we bake these, one might ask? My neighbors down the road have the one oven in Svay Rieng (I am pretty sure it's the only one), which they use to supply the market with fresh, delicious bread. Kellee went over in the morning and asked them if we could use their oven to bake some stuff in the afternoon and they happily agreed. Despite the fact that the oven is probably not the most sanitary of ovens, it did the trick and we were able to have delicious pecan pies (with crusts made from scratch) and chocolate brownies! We shared them with my host family and the kids that were at the house where the oven was, and everyone seemed to love them! Note to self- sweets are a universal delicacy. I've never had a meal that was (a) so hard to prepare and (b) so enjoyable.

My neighbor's oven

Our pecan pie and brownies

As it's around Thanksgiving, here are a few things that I am thankful for:

*My health
*My amazing 2 families- My incredibly kind and loving host family in Cambodia, to which I largely accredit my happiness/sanity in this constant journey and my real family back home, who have been incredibly supportive and inquistive about all the things I see, learn and feel.
*My wonderful friends, both in and out of Peace Corps.
*Coming from a country where I am not only taught to critically think, but have the leisure to ponder more abstract ideas.
*The Economist
*My Svay Rieng PCV's (fam). We are lucky we have such a good vibe.
*My french press.
*Speaking English as a first language.
*Obama as our president.
*Being sent to Cambodia for Peace Corps. I couldn't have picked a more amazing place to serve.

Svay Rieng volunteers

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home! The next time I celebrate it, I'll be back home with family and friends!

Harvest time

Rice fields not yet ready for harvest

So it's that time of the year again- the transition of lush, verdant rice fields to cracked, dry and barren land, which means it's time to harvest rice! Harvest season usually begins in November and goes through January, depending on the type of rice that is being cultivated. I have been repeatedly asking all my co-teachers to help with rice harvest, but none of them have taken me seriously. "Why would you want to do that? It's boring and not interesting," they tell me. But I think it's really interesting and such an intrinsic part of life for most Cambodians. So finally, I convinced my co-teacher Pilot to let me help him harvest rice. So I met him this afternoon ready to get down to work. But the sky was an ominous gray which I figured would prevent any serious labor from taking place. When I met him, the first thing I noticed was that he was absolutely trashed. I don't think inebriation is a prerequisite for harvesting rice, but you just never know here. It was the afternoon so I am guessing he had a mini-party before meeting up with me. I was a little nervous about learning how to use a sickle (a very sharp and scary object used to cut the rice stalk) from a drunk man, but there were others nearby, so I figured it'd be fine.

So stumbling a little bit, Pilot showed me how to use the sickle to cut the rice. It's not very hard, but I can't imagine cutting an entire field of it. Gives new meaning to the term "back-breaking work." I cut a few stalks and all the Kmai spectators gave a few cheers. Then it started pouring, which was probably a blessing in disguise. I don't think I would have enjoyed harvesting for a prolonged period of time. Afterward, we sat under Pilot's house, where I was forced to take a nasty shot of rice wine out of a questionably-clean bowl. We'll see how my stomach feels tomorrow...

My co-teacher Pilot



I highly recommend rice harvesting to any of you who have a chance. It's one thing to hear about the laborious work farmers must do day in and day out, but it's a whole other experience to actually do it yourself.

Pilot tells me I'm slow at harvesting...

Doing my best

The normalities of my life

I've realized that I have yet to share some of the most basic peculiarities of living in the Bode, which have now become completely normal to me. I have to really try to think about it to even distinguish the difference between what might seem odd to you but doesn't even elicit a reaction on my part. So here is a list of the some of the things that might interest/shock you. I am sure I am forgetting some very basic things, but as I feel I am becoming more and more Kmai every day, I can't decipher everything. So without further delay, the list of oddities:

1. I see more men with their shirts off than on. This includes men of all ages- old, young and everything in between. The only exception to this rule are the male teachers at my school; I have yet to see a shirtless male teacher teaching. But I'm sure it has happened before.

2. While disruptions during class happen in America, I am pretty sure they do not happen for the same reasons as they do here. Some of the most common disruptions interrupting my lessons are: cows and/or dogs entering the classroom, random babies trying to play hide and seek (they are mostly the children of teachers at my school; in Cambodia, everyday is bring your child to work day), powerful rainstorms that block out every single voice in the class due to the crashing sound against the shoddy tin roof, and other students at the school creeping in the windows/doors trying to get a sneak-peak at the weird, sweaty, foreign teacher who is desperately trying to teach the present continuous tense.

3. There is no such thing as trash collection here. Disposing of trash means gathering it into a huge pile and lighting it on fire. This means a mishmash of everything- food, clothes, plastic, cardboard, more plastic. Light it up and you're likely to get a very unhealthy wafting in your bedroom, depending on which way the wind is blowing. The smoke from trash burning is EVERYWHERE. Sometimes, I am tricked into thinking it's fog during my early morning runs, which leaves me gasping after I run through it. I should know better by now.

4. There is no such thing as a tub or a sink here (at least for PCV's). I am fortunate enough to have a shower in my room, which most volunteers do not have. When I shower, the water just goes on the floor, the toilet, the mirror- it pretty much gets everywhere. The floor is slightly tilted downwards to allow the water to drain. I forgot all about tubs and enclosed shower areas until Steph came to visit and pointed out how strange this was. Also, when you brush your teeth, since there is no sink, you just spit on the floor. How will I ever go back to using a sink?

5. I have yet to see a police car in this country, so I've been curious about how the police arrest people here. Well, luckily for me, I found out just the other day. As I was walking to the market, I saw a disheveled man in handcuffs with two police officers standing by. I actually had to stop and watch the drama unfold because I really wanted to see just how this man was going to be transported to jail. Now for all of you who don't know what a cyclo is, it is a common form of transportation throughout SE Asia. A little cart that can fit one Western person (maybe 2-3 Kmai people)is attached to a bicyle that is pedaled by a hardworking Kmai man, using all his power to cycle his passenger(s) to their destination(See pic below). Little did I know that the cyclo is the bona fide cop car of Svay Rieng. The prisoner was placed in the cyclo (barefoot) as a random cyclo driver steered him toward the prison, the police officers trailing behind on their motos. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself- the method of transport for prisoners here would be a cyclo.



6. I have to be really conscious about what I throw away because it will ALWAYS be picked through by my host mother before it is set on fire. For example, on more occasions than I can count, I've thrown away an empty food container that later appears in our kitchen as the newest storage container for a number of things- my old peanut butter jars become salt containers, an old ziplock bag holds MSG, a container of cashews becomes the newest water bottle. Nothing goes to waste here. You might think that's good, but (a) I don't know how healthy reusing plastic bottles is for an extended period of time and (b) it's kind of creepy.

7. Any time Cambodians watch comedic tv shows, the funny characters always have mustaches. If you see a Kmai man on tv with a mustache, you know it's a funny show. Kmai men can't really grow facial hair, so you know when you see one on tv that something funny is going on.

8. Eating dog meat actually happens here, and it's actually considered a delicacy. I don't think I've eaten it, but my host mother likes to trick me into eating a variety of things. So actually, yes, I probably have eaten a dog at one point or another.

9. I get called "French" everyday here, since the word for foreigner, barong, literally translates to French person. It can get really annoying, and if an unsuspecting Kmai person catches me on a bad day, I will respond to their "Hello barong" with "Hello, Vietnamese." They're not too crazy about Vietnamese people in my town, so they quickly get the point.

10. Animals are NOT considered pets here. They are mangy, disgusting, and flea-infested. Dogs are used to enforce property rights- when a different dog starts barking you know you are on someone else's property(or they are eaten). Cows/buffaloes are used for labor. Cats, well, they are around, but so emaciated that you wish you could personally put them out of their misery. Pigs are purely for eating, a fact which the slaughterhouse down the road constantly reminds me of. I hope that on return to the states, I can once again begin to lovingly think of animals instead of shooing them away and constanly living in fear of catching rabies.

These are just a few of the entertaining parts of life in the Bode, but I will add more once I think of them.

Yay, I am employed

Although I've tried to limit this blog to Cambodia-specific content, I can't help but share a few of my thoughts about some stuff going on in Amerik (as we say in the Bode):

* I just read this article in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/business/economy/13econ.html?pagewanted=3&hp

It seems like every time I peruse the news, there is something about the doom that is still yet to come for America. I've never felt so lucky to be making 5 dollars a day in my life. I am employed, and reading these articles reminds me of that fact every time.

* Mid-term Elections

Between Christine O'Donnell's financial troubles and fraudulent degree, Alvin Greene's mysterious and unqualified Senatorial run, and Sharron Angle's oblivious understanding of, well, everything, I've never been so happy to be away from what I can imagine are never-ending YouTube clips and discussions. Although laughable, these daft figures certainly make me question the state of American politics if these are the candidates deemed worthy of representing their constituents. What a joke.

*Climate Change

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/11/101011fa_fact_lizza

This was a really interesting article about the failure of what looked like a chance to put forth something to address global warming. Remember when Carter tried to get the ball rolling on addressing climate change? Nothing radical, but he did try to install solar panels on the White House, devoted millions of dollars researching alternative energy, and produced oil-reduction reforms. He knew what we are all finally acknowledging now: we can't just pollute pollute pollute and expect nothing to happen. But then, in came the Reagan administration, and along with tearing down the solar panels, eliminated any hope that we would seriously address global warming. And the downward spiral continued...or perhaps upward spiral, if we're using the mercury to measure this calamity. We really need to get our act together.

These are my soapbox rants for this week, but I foresee more to come. These midterm elections are just too tantalizing to not divulge my opinions, which have plenty of time to amalgamate as it's rainy season- obviously no one comes to school when it rains.

To Hell and Back

A typical turi

I visited hell and narrowly escaped, so thought I would share my worst travel experience in Cambodia thus far. Traveling in this country is always a huge pain, so for this to be the most terrible ride in 15 months truly speaks volumes.

I made an impromptu trip to Phnom Penh earlier this week because I had to buy new running shoes. I'm training for the half-marathon at Angkor Wat in December, and my year-old running shoes have taken quite the beating. So to prevent future injuries, I decided to go to PP before the Pchum Ben holiday so that I could return to site to celebrate with my family. "Just a quick, simple trip to PP" I naively thought. Nothing is ever simple when it comes to transport here.

I normally take taxi cars, as opposed to the vans (lahn turi in Kmai) because it's just a better overall experience; although I'm cramped, I have a seat, it's air conditioned, and it's usually faster. But yesterday I was forced to take a turi because the taxis were charging ridiculously inflated prices due to the approaching holiday. So I reluctantly hopped in a decrepit van stuffed with WAY too many people. There were no open seats, so I was forced to sit going backwards on a makeshift "bench" that had tools and other miscellaneous items underneath. This bench (directly behind the driver and overstuffed passengers in the front) was maybe 5 inches wide, and I was sitting face-to-face, knee-to-knee with a sweaty Kmai man. To my right was a policeman with some indiscernible protuberance in his lap. 10 minutes into the ride and I was already extremely uncomfortable, both due to random shooting pains and chronic staring from the 30 or so passengers analyzing and conversing about me in Kmai.

20 minutes or so into the ride, the policeman next to me takes out a plastic bag and reveals the mystery item in his lap, which turns out to be a live chicken. GREAAAAAAT. He ties the chicken's feet together and places him in the bag, with the head left out to get some air. The chicken, also curious about the mysterious foreigner in the van, decides to peck at me to get a little better acquainted. I tried to shoo the chicken away, but his curiosity couldn't be quelled. I hoped the van would move faster, but it was the day before one of the biggest holidays in Cambodia and we were stuck in major traffic. There I am, just trying to maintain my seated position in the least pain possible, inappropriately intertwined with the legs of the Kmai man sitting across from me while the chicken next to me relentlessly pecks and his owner thinks it's the funniest thing he's ever seen. Live comedy show.

We finally get to the ferry and I am eager to get out and stretch my legs, but sure enough the passengers on the roof beat me to the punch. They decide to get their own circulation flowing and lazily extend their legs over the window, preventing my escape from the van from hell. So now I'm stuck in the van, in my warped position, with absolutely no breeze. I try to forget about the fact that I've had to go to the ladies' room before we even left.

We make it across the ferry and continue our voyage back to Svay Rieng. But of course there are passengers and packages to drop off along the way. We make multiple stops, but just when we are so close to Svay Rieng that I can visualize myself crawling into my mosquito net and passing out, we have another setback. The door to the van has fallen off and the driver/roof passengers attempt to reattach it. I am sitting directly next to the door, hoping that the door somehow doesn't crush me in the futile attempts to fully seal us off in the doom-mobile. The driver realizes he is facing a losing battle, so we continue with the door ajar. Meanwhile, the chicken is now aware that his window of opportunity for escape has arrived. He is furiously cooing and thrashing about in an attempt to not become Mr. Policeman's dinner. Unfortunately for me, I am the barrier to his getaway due to my placement next to the open air that would normally be prohibited from entering by a door. His pecking becomes increasingly violent and I can see the anger in his eyes. Get me out of this van.

We are so close, but have to stop to pay off the policemen, a routine occurrence in Cambodia. My new best friend across from me has been smattering his limited English vocabulary throughout this expedition, and is inspired to string together his observations about Cambodia- "Corruption traditional in Cambodia." The entire van erupts in laughter! So funny! So funny that the poorest people in the country are the ones that always seem to have to pay the police the most during these routine cash transfers. Tired, frustrated and uncomfortable, I was the only one not laughing in the van. Aside from the fact that a police officer with a gun on his holster was sitting next to me with his devil chicken, I didn't feel like getting into a long discussion in Kmai about why corruption jokes are not particularly funny here. So I held my tongue.

The icing on the cake was when the van refused to drop me off near the market. Instead, they left me on the side of the road on the highway, which is a hefty walk from my house. However, I couldn't have been happier to get out of that van and stretch my legs a bit. After a 5 hour journey which normally takes 2.5, I was finally home.

So what are the lessons learned?

-no more vans
-no sitting next to people with mystery surprises in their lap
-no traveling before Pchum Ben (easily avoidable since this is my last Pchum Ben in Peace Corps!)
-corruption is hilarious (to Cambodians)

Just another day in the Bode!

Correction

In my last post, I said there was an opening-school ceremony today. Nope, not even that. I biked 4 km in the rain to discover not a single person occupied school grounds. Even the cows knew not to come to school! Glad the school year is starting off on a good note!

School Year #2 Begins

My sincerest apologies for the lack of updates. I haven’t really been in the writing mood, plus I was busy with Steph’s visit, the new volunteers, materials development stuff, and a little vacation time.

Steph and I in front of Angkor Wat

At Ta Prohm

I have now been at permanent site for over a year, and am entering my 15th month in Cambodia! The past month has been a whirlwind, and now the new school year is here. Steph’s visit was incredible; we packed in every sightseeing thing possible in the allotted time, and had a great time! One of the things I am not looking forward to about finishing my service and going home is that virtually no one will be able to understand this chunk of 2 years of my life; but having visitors actually see my life and experience it for themselves (albeit briefly) provides me with more of a support system for when I get back. PLUS, I think it’s great that many of my friends/family members are taking an interest in a country that they may never have even thought twice about had I not been here. Check Peace Corps Goal #3 off my list (sharing knowledge of Cambodia with Americans).

Banteay Srei


All the goodies Steph brought me!

Steph with my host fam

Last week was the swear-in of the new volunteers in PP. 5 of the new volunteers went home before they even swore in; guess squatty-toilets and profusely sweating wasn’t for them. Out of my group, we’ve had 11 people quit already and I foresee more in the future; we started with 45 and are now down to 34 volunteers. Peace Corps definitely isn’t for everyone and I completely understand leaving if your heart’s not in it- no reason to be miserable for 2 years.

Svay Rieng with our 2 new volunteers! (minus Kristin)

I went to Kampong Som (more commonly known as Sihanoukville) over the weekend with Keiko, Kealan and a few other Peace Corps volunteers. I’ve heard mixed reviews about this beach town; some love it, some think it’s trashy. But I thought it was really beautiful, especially this private section of the beach that we only had to pay $1.50 to hang out on and not be badgered by the ever-present “Lady, you want manicure? You want bracelet? Buy from me, buy from me!” I always enjoy my little getaways from site, especially anything involving the beach. Despite being such a tiny country, Cambodia really has a myriad of landscapes to satisfy almost everyone; beaches, forests, flat lands with never-ending rice paddies (eh hem, sounds familiar), mountains, waterfalls. There are so many places I have yet to see and am trying to figure out when I can squeeze in some more sightseeing. There just never is enough time, even in this land of languor.

Sokha Beach


Keiko, Kealan and I in Kampong Som

School supposedly starts tomorrow. I’m pretty sure this involves some boring opening-of-school ceremony which will take 30 minutes, after which we’ll just go home. I’m not sure why we are even wasting time pretending we are starting school tomorrow because there is a major holiday next week; oh wait, I do know why. This is Cambodia. And I say this only with love and affection. It’s just the way things work around here. Like I mentioned, next week is Pchum Ben, a celebration on behalf of the dead and for one’s own salvation. Before it begins, people are supposed to accomplish a seven-wat duty to please their ancestors. This involves worshipping at seven wats or performing seven moral good deeds (or a combination of both). This also involves going to the wat at 4 am, which my family is trying to convince me to do with them. Sorry guys; been there, done that. I’ve been to the wat enough to know that it probably isn’t that different at 4 am than it is at 10 am. So, we shall see when the students decide that school starts. After all, we can’t start having class until the students start showing up.

I’ve finished the test-making portion of my materials development. Next is the EFC- made easy part, which is basically developing lesson plans for one of the books. I need to have this complete by December because I am presenting at a conference in February with the other volunteers I have collaborated with. The conference is the same one we went to last year- CAMTESOL. It’s basically a conference for anyone involved in education in Cambodia, and has different workshops that are useful for Cambodian and foreign teachers who are teaching here. We will discuss what we’ve put together and how it can be implemented in the classroom and are hoping to distribute some of the books to those participants interested.

I’m sure I’ll have much more to post once school starts (your guess is as good as mine). Hope everyone is healthy, happy and staying cool (that’s for all you Los Angelino’s)!

Dengue Strikes

August is here, and before I know it, it’s going to be over. What a nice contrast to the extremely sluggish months of June and July. The new volunteers arrived last month and have been split into 3 different training villages in Kampong Cham province, about 3 hrs NE of Phnom Penh. I went to help with training at the end of July, and what was supposed to be a few days turned into 2.5 weeks! I was initially scheduled for a few days, to meet all the volunteers for a seminar day and be kind of a support person. But I ended up staying to help with some technical sessions, presenting the EFC books to the volunteers and conducting mock classroom lessons with Kmai co-teachers. When I came back to site, I had some of the new volunteers with me to show them my site (PC has all the trainees visit current volunteers’ sites to get a feel for what it’s like living out on our own and with Kmai families). The volunteers were supposed to stay at my house and I was really happy to get back and see my host family and give my host sister some maps I had bought her for her birthday. But when we arrived, we discovered my host sister, Theavy, had contracted Dengue Fever and Typhoid- at the same time! Some birthday present!

I contacted our medical officer and she told me that it’d be best if we stayed at a guesthouse rather than my house. Although Dengue is not transferred person to person, it can still be transferred by mosquitoes that may have bitten her while she was sick. The incubation period in mosquitoes is around 4 days, so it was likely there were Dengue mosquitoes flying around my house. What is Dengue, you may ask? Well, Dengue is also known as Bone Break Fever. It causes severe pains in the joints and muscles and drains any remnants of energy you may have. Symptoms also include an all-encompassing body rash, fever, nausea, headaches and vomiting. Apparently, Dengue comes in waves, with certain years seeing especially high numbers of cases. Just my luck, 2010 is one of those years and people with Dengue seem to be everywhere. 3 of the new volunteers have already contracted Dengue, so I am kind of freaking out about it. But no worries- I’ve been slathering on the deet. Which is worse- Dengue Fever or possible bodily harm due to the toxicity of a repellent I am slathering all over myself? Ask me in 10 years…

So after showing off my site for a couple days, I headed back to help with training as they needed someone to help and I needed to avoid my house until my sister’s symptoms subsided. The juxtaposition of me and these new volunteers really made me realize how much I’ve learned and how far I’ve come in a year. While everything seems new and confusing to them, everything seems normal and comfortable to me. I am so happy I am not in their shoes- you couldn’t pay me to go back to training. Such an awkward time. Hours of language. Learning how to use the bathroom and shower. Never-ending technical and cultural sessions. Awkward glares to and from your host family. Mosquito bites covering every exposed portion of your body. Digestive issues trying to adjust to the new food (although I still have this issue, but now only when I eat Western food). Never feeling like you have a moment to yourself. Life as a Peace Corps volunteer is so much better and easier than it was being a trainee. Helping out definitely gave me a little perspective and served as a marker of my progression into becoming a more integrated member (albeit temporary) of Cambodian society.

So what’s next on the agenda? Actually, quite a bit. I just found out the best news ever! My amazing friend Stephanie, who I went to USC with, is coming to visit me in Cambodia on September 8th! She will be here for a week, and we are still working out exactly what we’re doing, but I imagine it will involve some combination of PP, Siem Reap and visiting my site. Next week, I am going to Kampong Cham to help with training again (I have a joke with some of the staff that training has become my secondary project for the summer), and I will be there for site announcement, when the newbies find out their permanent sites…oh the tension, the nerves! After that, I will head to PP to work on some materials development stuff and meet Kealan’s parents, who will be visiting. After Steph visits, we have swear-in for the new volunteers in PP in late September. Word on the street is Prime Minister Hun Sen will be in attendance- perhaps a photo op? School starts sometime in October; if you’ve read any of my school-related blog entries, you’ll know that I never really know what’s happening here when it comes to school. So I’ll start when I start. Life is srool- literally translates to “easy” but means going well. I am s’bai na (very happy) and hope everyone back at home is as well!

Halfway

This week marks the completion of my first year in Cambodia, and for lack of an original remark regarding the passage of time, I’ll stick with the common adage “Wow, time has flown!” The new group of volunteers arrived yesterday, and I can fully identify with the innumerable emotions they must be feeling upon arriving in this land that is so different from the comfortable world they came from. I can’t really remember specifics about what I did those first few days after arriving in Cambodia, but I can recall powerful sentiments of anxiety, excitement, exhaustion, and bewilderment. For the most part, I have overcome the once prevalent feelings of anxiety, exhaustion and bewilderment, and have maintained a more carefree composure with spatters of excitement. I can reflect on my past year and truly say that I have come a long way. A pat on the back is in order.

So, now that I’m no longer a newbie in Cambodia, there are a few things that my first year in Cambodia has taught me:

Patience

Before coming here, I was probably your average American when it came to patience. I’d get pissed off when sitting in traffic and curse under my breath at the idiots who didn’t use their turn signals or slammed on their brakes. But I’d also smile and not get frustrated when my order got messed up at a restaurant or my friend was an hour late to meet me. My tolerance for inanity fluctuated given the situation.

All that changed when I learned how things work (or don’t work) in Cambodia. If you don’t have patience- or quickly develop it-, there is no way you can make it here, not happily at least. I learned quite quickly how efficient things are in America, and what an ingrate I was for not having patience in my pre-Peace Corps life.

The leisurely pace of life definitely required an adjustment, but now I have more patience than I know what to do with. When I sit in my taxi for 2 hrs waiting to cram in as many passengers as possible to go to Phnom Penh, I squeeze in some reading time. When my students take 20 minutes to answer a question that I thought would take 5 minutes, I jokingly chide them to study more. When the entire neighborhood crew of kids chases me and shouts HELLOOOO, I smile and shout hello back. When I get asked the same 10 questions every day, I use it as an opportunity to throw in some new vocabulary I learned. Life is so much more pleasant when your threshold for petulance is abnormally high.


My beautiful host mom, Navy, in wedding attire

Imitation can be a good thing

Cambodian society is full of mimicking. Their fashion tries to copy the bizarre style that is all the rage in Korea and Japan, but they add a few too many sequins, so it just looks tacky. Almost every popular song in Kmai is a cover of a song from somewhere else, usually the U.S. (I mentioned in an earlier post about the omnipresent Kmai version of Pitbull’s “Calle Ocho,” which is just one of the many). The most unfortunate example of mimicking would be students cheating on anything and everything. However, this week I discovered that imitation isn’t always a bad thing. While at a neighborhood wedding with my host mom, I was forced onto the “dance floor,” which is essentially a table with flowers on it that everyone dances around. In general, Kmai people are very reticent when it comes to “letting loose” at weddings, so the dance floor stays empty until everyone gets drunk and inhibitions fade away. But this is not true of little kids- they couldn’t care less about what people think of them (which I guess is one of the universal virtues of children). Since I’m stared at all the time, I don’t really mind making an ass out of myself on the dance floor. Once my favorite Korean song came on, I started dancing with a group of about 15 kids and doing the most ridiculous dance moves I could think of. Immediately, I had a cult-following mimicking my every move. It was single-handedly the best dance experience I’ve ever had. These kids were so happy to get some new dance moves (even if they were ridiculous), and so fun to dance with! It’s crazy that the more outlandish I am here, the more I am esteemed. I’ll keep this in mind for future situations.

My host mom and friends at a wedding

Best dance party ever

Eating with a spoon in my right hand and a fork in my left

Before I came here, I thought I’d be using chopsticks all the time. Sure, I use chopsticks once in a while, but not nearly as much as I use my beloved spoon. The spoon goes in your right hand, and the fork stays in your left hand while you eat, so that you can push food onto your spoon. Knives are only used for cutting things and are not meal accompaniments. It makes total sense since I’d probably be sitting around for hours trying to pick at each little morsel of rice with my unrefined chopstick skills if it weren’t for the handy spoon.

We are fools in the Western world when it comes to what we’ll pay

I can buy a shirt at the market for $1. I can buy a delicious cup of coffee for a quarter. I can stay at a clean, relatively nice guesthouse in Phnom Penh for $15/night. I can get to Bangkok from Phnom Penh for $18 by bus (granted I’m sure it’s not the most pleasant of conditions available). Paying $50 for a shirt when it costs a tiny fraction of that to make? Never again.

You can never be bored with books around

At first I was nervous about all the free time that the previous group told us we would have during the many holidays and “summer” (it’s always summer here) vacation from school. We are lucky to have a pretty sizeable, decent library of books at our office in Phnom Penh, and my eyes are bigger than the time I have to read. I have so many books that line my bookshelf, and there is nothing quite like the satisfaction of reading a good book and knowing you have a great deal more at your disposal. I will never again have this much time to read, and I am enjoying every minute of it.

Kmai people are incredibly helpful

I’m sure this can be said about many people around the world, but Kmai people will go out of their way to help you with anything from the smallest to most complicated issue. You might think this to be a vast generalization, but I have found this to be true in almost every situation I have encountered, whether with strangers or friends. Here are just a few examples:

• If the phone shop I go to to add more money to my phone doesn’t have the card that I want to buy (our phones are prepaid and can be topped off in increments of $2, $5, $10, or $20), they will hop on their moto, go to another shop to get the card, and bring it back to me.
• My host mom will load my plate with the best cuts of meat, vegetables and other food items anytime we go to a wedding before anyone can get to it first. This also applies at home. She takes care of me without me ever asking. I could go on and on about the multitude of helpful things she does- she’s the best.
• During Kmai New Year, one of the Peace Corps volunteers in my province got stranded in my town and couldn’t find a taxi to take her back to site, as it was a huge holiday and there weren’t a lot of taxis running. My host mom’s brother called every driver he knew to make sure she got home safely, and helped her negotiate a price so that she wasn’t getting ripped off. This was 5 minutes after he met her.
• Every time I go away for a few days, I come back to find my room much cleaner than I left it. I’m pretty sure this mystery elf is my host sister, Theavy, who is always spoiling me with random acts of kindness, from drawing beautiful posters or writing up joke stories for me to read on my journeys to Phnom Penh.

While these are just a few of the things that occurred to me while writing up this blog, I am unable to truly capture the essence of my experience here thus far. It is something that only other Peace Corps volunteers and I will ever understand. I can honestly say that I am looking forward to what’s to come in the next year- the new school year, the ceaselessly awkward conversations with my host mom about why I probably won’t marry a Kmai man, seeing more of Cambodia, and enjoying my time with other Peace Corps volunteers. The first year has been such a great experience, so I am ready for what’s next!

Progress

I have (successfully?) completed my first year teaching at the high school! Yay! The year flew by, and despite the number of frustrations that I’ve faced, I am very pleased with some of the improvements I have seen.

This past month has been a confusing hodgepodge of semester tests at my school; some weeks I didn’t have to come to school, while others I did. Last week, I gave my semester exams to my 10th and 11th grade classes, which went pretty smoothly, besides the 0’s I had to give out for cheating. I don’t think I have fully explained the extent to which cheating saturates the education system here, so I will give you a brief overview. From observing and talking with teachers, I have concluded that cheating is an inseparable attribute of the education system in Cambodia, students having never been taught the concept that cheating is something they should avoid. On the contrary, from an early age, they are allowed to look at each other’s papers, talk, use their books or even buy the answers for a test from their teacher. Students here are inherently bad cheaters; they blatantly glance at other student’s papers, create cheat cheats which they don’t even try to conceal, and loudly confer about answers. They’ve never had to worry about getting in trouble for cheating, so why would they be secretive? In Cambodia, cheating is not a bad thing; it’s the only way students know how to take a test.

Then I show up one day and explain that cheating is absolutely unacceptable in my class. I explain what cheating is, why it stunts educational growth, and impose an automatic “0” policy for anyone caught cheating. This elicited many blank stares and puzzled faces, even from my co-teachers. But throughout the year, students caught on (as did my co-teachers), especially after my theatrical seizing of tests while shouting “ZERO!” in front of the perpetrator’s classmates. For the most part, cheating has significantly decreased in my classes, which has encouraged students to think on their own and study harder. Unfortunately, a few students didn’t fully get the message and I had no choice but to give them 0’s on the final exam last week. Despite cries and pleas after the test from guilty students, I had to stick to my policy so that students understand the importance of doing their own work and using their own brains.

My 10th grade class and my co-teacher, Phaneou

After my 11th graders finished their exams, they presented a gift-wrapped box with a bow on it. I wasn’t entirely surprised about the contents of the box since the week before they asked me what size shirt I wore. Nevertheless, I was delighted when I found a heavily-sequined Kmai-tastic shirt that boasted “Girls Save the Earth.” It was such a nice gesture from my students and I made sure to go on and on about how much I loved the shirt. The students were beaming with their enthusiastic smiles, which put me in high spirits as well. We all took a class photo together, and I felt really proud of all of them! It’s been a challenging year, but my 11th grade class has probably been my favorite class that I’ve taught. We have a really good rapport and most of the students are very eager to learn English. I am really looking forward to working with many of them next year, as they will be in 12th grade.

My 11th graders and my school director

The shirt my students gave me

At the beginning of the school year, I did individual interviews with every student in my 10th, 11th and 12th grade classes. I used these interviews to collect baseline data and assess the varying levels of English at the beginning of the year, to be compared with interviews at the end of the year. I asked basic questions, such as: What is your name? How old are you? How many brothers and sisters do you have? Where do you live? Etc. For students who were a bit more advanced, I asked more introspective questions, like “Why do you study English?” and “What do you think is the biggest challenge Cambodia faces?” I was a bit beleaguered in the beginning, realizing that many students could not even answer “What is your name?” But a couple of weeks ago, I conducted exit interviews for my 11th and 12th graders (10th graders didn’t show up when I had planned to do interviews), which produced surprisingly encouraging results. Almost every student could answer at least the basic questions that were unanswerable in the beginning of the year! More importantly, students’ confidence had improved dramatically- gone were the nerves that produced shaking, sweating and even tears from students in the beginning of the year. I asked some of the more advanced students if they thought their English had improved, and if so, why. They all said they felt their English had improved because they could listen much more easily and weren’t afraid to speak with foreigners. This was exactly the inspiration I needed as I reflect on my first year teaching.

There are many times when I question what it is I am doing here and what effect I am actually having. The raging idealism I had before coming here has consistently been weathered and the stark realities have become very clear. Cambodia has a myriad of problems and the solutions for these problems- in order to propel itself into a more prosperous future- must come from within. Throwing money at Cambodia (as many NGO’s and aid organizations often do) is really not going to solve anything, nor am I going to bring about a revolutionary change in the education system here. But the little things that I am doing- improving students’ confidence, helping Kmai teachers improve their teaching strategies, sharing knowledge about the world outside of Cambodia- will hopefully impact the people I work with and inspire them to improve their country in the future. I truly hope that my students will aspire to create a future for themselves that brings them happiness, whatever that may be- farming, teaching, traveling. I will continue to try to encourage them on their path. I still maintain a milder degree of idealism, for if I didn’t, it’d be impossible to live here and be a Peace Corps volunteer.

On the less mushy side of things, I am enjoying my respite from teaching at the high school. I am teaching 4 days a week at the health department, and am really enjoying that. My students all have, at minimum, an intermediate level of English, so we can work on more of the nuances of the English language. Currently, I’m working on Tongue Twisters with them, to fix some of their common pronunciation errors (the “th” and “sh” sound are proving to be particularly difficult). I am working on my materials development project every day, which is driving me crazy. Basically, I am creating ready-made tests for the second English for Cambodia (EFC) book. There are 6 EFC books, the 1st book is used for 7th graders, the 2nd for 8th, and so forth. Creating tests for each of the 20 chapters, along with answer keys and review sheets, is a monotonous task that I am eagerly looking forward to finishing. After I finish the test portion of my materials development, I will move on to creating ready made lesson plans for half of book 2, something I fear that will be even more tedious than creating tests. However, when it’s all said and done, I think it will be very useful for future volunteers and their co-teachers. The group of us who are doing materials development will compile one book with our ready-made tests (books 1-6) and then our lesson plans (books 1-6), which will be distributed to all of the new volunteers (most likely in August or September) and possibly their co-teachers. So July will pretty much be devoted to materials development! Yipee.

The 4th of July is coming up and I will be heading to Phnom Penh to celebrate at the U.S. embassy with a bunch of other volunteers. I’ve been at site for over a month and am definitely ready to have a little R&R in the big city. Kealan and I are planning a pool (weather permitting) and spa day, so I can feel like the girly girl I once was in a distant life. I am counting down the days… Other than that, I am enjoying the cooler weather that rainy season has brought, sans the added mosquitoes. Only downside is I never know when I’ll be able to do laundry, as I have to factor in drying time. Still, I’d take rainy season over hell…uh, hot…season any day!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Typical

"Who is this and what is he doing?" you may wonder. Oh, it's a teacher at my school sleeping on a table in the library when he should be teaching. That phone next to him is blasting Kmai music. I wish I had a video of this so you could get the full effect. Yes folks, this is my life.

Expect the unexpected

If there is one thing I have learned as I enter my 11th month in Cambodia, it is to expect that nothing will ever go the way I anticipate. Don't expect to have school every day. Don't expect rain to come during rainy season. Don't expect your co-teachers to implement anti-cheating policies when you aren't there. Don't expect to ever truly become accustomed to anything. Although this may sound a bit defeatist, it's the attitude I've realized is necessary to maintain in order to elude constant frustration.

I didn't realize how relaxed I've become about my schedule until this past week when I showed up to school to find all of my 12th graders leaving school. "Cher, no school today," they told me, as I stood there profusely sweating after my 4.5 km bike ride. "Why is there no school?" I asked them. "No cher for first hour, so we go home." So I went to the office and asked my school director what was going on. He told me there was a 3-day conference for 10th, 11th, and 12th grade teachers. But he told me that I should come to school tomorrow and Friday just in case the conference ended abruptly and the teachers miraculously showed up for school. Instead of anger at the fact that I just biked for nothing to school (as has been the case more times than I care to count- both the anger and the biking to school for nothing), I just accepted the constant mystery of when I will have class as an inevitable characteristic of teaching in Cambodia.

The same can be said about when school ends at the high school. I have absolutely no clue. Could be tomorrow. Could be next week. When it comes to a lot of things in Cambodia, everything is a big song and dance. Cambodians never call it like it is. So even though they are 99.99% sure that there will be no class the following day, they tell me I should come anyway. So now when I come to school and no one is there, I've decided to just chat it up with the teachers and eat a snack, which recently has been ramen noodles.

It is over my bowls of noodles that I have some of the most interesting conversations with my co-teachers. The other day, after another canceled class, I sat with my co-teacher Chantah and listened to his lamentations about only having one child. He is in his early 50's and his wife is in her mid 40's. Despite many attempts, they have only been able to have one daughter, which is EXTREMELY rare in Cambodia. He always complains about being desperately poor, so I couldn't help thinking that having one child was a good thing for him- less mouths to feed. But then he asked me, "What will my wife and I do when we get old? We will only have one child to take care of us!" He brought up a very valid point. There is no such thing as "retirement" here, as there are no taxes (there is a muddled system of corrupt taxes on large businesses, but no kind of income or sales tax). There are no such things as retirement homes because children and family members take care of the elderly here. Can you imagine if there were no such thing as Social Security or pensions in the United States? Would American children take their aging parents under their wing? I can't imagine the majority of Americans doing so. Cambodians having huge families is one of the only strategies of planning ahead that I have noticed here. It's their own version of a retirement plan.

Job Updates

I started teaching an English class at the Svay Rieng Health Department last week. I teach Mon-Thurs for 1-2 hours per day. The students are all employees at the Health Dept and range from their mid 30's to mid 50's. There are varying levels of English, but a common fervor to learn is shared by all, which makes my time there very satisfying. And there is AC! Easily the best hour of my day.

I will continue teaching at the PTTC through August, but I already discussed how unreliable (or non-existent) a school schedule is, so we will see what actually ends up happening. I have taken on a huge materials development project, which I have been slowly working on. I am basically adapting lesson plans for all of Book 2 of the EFC (English for Cambodia)book, which is one of the horrible books the Ministry of Education requires all English teachers to teach from. I am also making ready-made tests for each chapter of Book 2, as this has proved to be a HUGE challenge for Kmai teachers. Many teachers' idea of a test is asking a random essay question that has nothing to do with the material covered. Students have also never had any kind of practice writing essays, so you can imagine the kinds of responses I have been grading throughout the semester(s).

I am also collaborating with other volunteers in my province to put on a 3-day workshop for English teachers in Svay Rieng in August. We will have different workshops that are aimed to improve various teaching strategies of Kmai teachers. Possible workshops include pronunciation tips, common mistakes Kmai people make when speaking English (like not pronouncing s's EVER or adding an 's' when it's unnecessary), increasing student motivation/attendance, and encouraging writing in the classroom. It's all a work in progress, but I am definitely looking forward to it!

Vegas in the Bode

Today I went to Bavet (the border crossing to Vietnam) with another volunteer, Michael (who I actually went to h.s. with in Denver- small world!). Bavet is known for its casinos and huge duty-free supermarket, which I am pretty sure is technically on the Vietnamese side. The Cambodian guards initially did not want to let us cross, but we struck up a conversation with them in Kmai. After many incredulous stares, they realized we really were volunteers in Cambodia and turned the other way while we crossed the check point, telling us to come back by their gate on the way back to avoid any problems. We went to this HUGE supermarket that might as well have been Costco, except all in Vietnamese. They even had Kirkland-brand raisin bran! Michael and I were freaking out; we might as well have been kids at Disneyland. That's what Peace Corps does to you- food is the most exciting thing in our lives. We perused, made our selections, then set out to a casino to eat some pizza. The casinos are...um...interesting. Kmai people aren't technically allowed to gamble- it's illegal. So there were a lot of Vietnamese people at the blackjack and baccarat tables. But I couldn't help but notice the Range Rovers and Lexus's with Phnom Penh license plates parked outside, so I'm assuming there were some Kmai high rollers partaking in the gambling festivities inside. All in all, a really fun day! It's nice to know that I can get any western product my heart desires only 50 km from my site- basically half the distance and half the fuss of PP.

So as I'm approaching the 1-yr mark, I'm happy, healthy and really enjoying Cambodia and all of its idiosyncrasies. Couldn't ask for anything more.

Visitors!

Finally after 10 months in Cambodia, I can affirmatively answer the question I am often asked by Kmai people- “Have you ever been to Angkor Wat?” Well now with overlapping visitors, I can say I’ve been not once, but twice! Twice in 1 week, and I am pretty much Angkor Wat-ed out for the time being. A good friend of mine from USC, David, was traveling through SE Asia with his two friends from high school, Jason and Moshe. Another SC buddy, Scott, was also visiting Cambodia at the same time, so everything worked out nicely and I was able to play tour guide and reminisce about the good ole days of transitional adulthood, also known as college. Immediately following the guys’ visit, my Aunt Deanna, Uncle Kevin and Cousin Jennifer visited from Austin, which was great fun! Having visitors is a nice change of pace, and definitely a departure from my normal routine of answering the same 10 questions in Kmai and being told I speak a lot of Kmai (don’t get me wrong- I like these interactions, but sometimes I need to mix it up!). I’m actually really glad I waited until this point to visit Angkor and Tuol Sleng (the Genocide Museum) because I feel like my grasp of Kmai culture enables me to form more acute observations. So without further ado, some of my impressions...

Angkor Wat at sunrise

Angkor Wat
I still cannot get over how massive this complex is. The famous picture of Angkor Wat is the same one that decorates this blog and adorns the Cambodian flag- beautifully ornate lotus-shaped towers, which are often exaggerated by a reflection off the surrounding moat. But Angkor Wat is only one of the many temples that make up the ancient city of Angkor, which was the capital of the Cambodian Khmer kingdom from the 9th century to the 15th century. In order to get around, we hired a tuk tuk for the day to take us from one temple to the next. Each temple has a distinctive character, as the purpose for each varies greatly and the span of construction stretches over centuries. If I had to pick a favorite, I’d probably say Bayon, also known as Temple of a Thousand Faces (our tuk tuk driver, Walter, kindly informed us of its alias, along with lots of other interesting tidbits as we braved the infernal heat to see the sights). The grandness and intricacy of each temple is absolutely incredible, and I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see how it was all done.

My cousin Jen and I before our elephant rides :)

But there was something more that struck me as I sat atop each staggering temple- a surprising sense of melancholy. The massiveness of Angkor and splendor that exists just in the ruins conjures up an image of Cambodia back in its heyday- a powerful, sprawling kingdom that ruled much of Indochina and was one of the largest cities in the world. Jump ahead 6 centuries and Cambodia’s supremacy is a distant memory, overshadowed by a bruised national morale and a constant struggle to understand its own cultural identity. Cambodians seem to dwell in past greatness, rather than confront the challenges that plague their society today, which are screaming for attention. Yes, Angkor is amazing, and yes, they should be proud of it. However, obsessing over the glory days is not going to propel Cambodia out of poverty or catapult it to the same status it once held. There is a subtle sense of denial that pervades the national psyche, especially in coming to terms with the atrocities committed during the Pol Pot regime.

Bayon

Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields
Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, killed between 1 and 3 million Cambodians, about one-fifth of the population at the time. Pol Pot wanted to rebuild the powerful, agriculture-based economy of the Angkor kingdom (herein another fixation with the past), emptying cities and redistributing people to the countryside to work on collective farms. Pol Pot suppressed the Buddhist religion, destroying religious temples and artifacts and defrocking monks. Intellectuals, artists, teachers, and doctors were killed in masses. Tuol Sleng, in Phnom Penh, was a former school that was turned into a torture center for prisoners before they were transferred to the Killing Fields to be executed (if they could even survive the sadistic torture methods that were employed here). Throughout Tuol Sleng are remnants of Cambodia’s dark past- gruesome torture contraptions, shackles which kept prisoners in impossibly small quarters, and most haunting of all, photographs of each prisoner. The photographs are neatly arranged throughout several rooms, and a common expression of confusion and terror seem to encompass each one. It’s enough to make anyone wonder why history really does keep repeating itself.

Killing Fields

Our tour guide remained quite composed as she told us of her own nightmare of walking 3 months by foot from Phnom Penh to Battambang, near the Thai border. Her only surviving family member was her mother, whom she didn’t realize was alive until many months after arriving in Battambang. Drawing from my experiences thus far, most Cambodians do not openly talk about the Khmer Rouge period. It is glossed over, and if it is discussed, many Cambodians actually laugh while they discuss it because it is the only way they know how to cope with the enormity of Pol Pot’s destruction. Now, I’m no psychologist, but I don’t think laughing while watching The Killing Fields is a normal reaction to such horrific subject matter, as was the case when I watched the movie with my host family. Cambodia is still rebuilding many aspects of society as a result of the Khmer Rouge, but many of the psychological ramifications have been put on the back burner and are not being tackled. It also seems that the younger generation has been shielded from extensive knowledge about the genocide. There was a man named Pol Pot. He was bad and killed a lot of Cambodians in the 1970’s. That’s about the extent of their knowledge. They aren’t being taken to Tuol Sleng or told the whole story, which is a huge mistake. You can’t just pick and choose your history- you’ve got to take the good and learn from the bad.

Cambodians seem like the happiest people I’ve ever known. They smile 24/7, are kind and patient, which is a remarkable feat considering the recent past. But I cannot stop thinking that there are skeletons just below the surface that need to be dug up. Once they can mentally get past, well, the past, other aspects of society can move forward as well. But what do I know? I’m just a naïve Peace Corps volunteer…