Two months early and only 2 kilos, my host mother gave birth to a healthy baby girl on May 29th. What is her name? Well the title of this post would suggest she is named 'Lucky' which ironically would be a very unlucky name. But the good news is that she is not named Lucky. This is just a temporary placeholder while my host family waits for the drunken grandfather to give her a name, a tradition that my host family has followed for all of the other four kids. Problem is that he's been too drunk to name her. So while we wait for the name, my host mom has been calling the baby Lucky, which I guess is some kind of Kmai humor that I don't really get, as Lucky is a common name for dogs here. Speaking of things I don't get....
The baby wasn't bathed for a few days so I kept asking when she was going to be bathed, to which my host mom responded tomorrow. So finally bath time came, with the assistance of a midwife. But the baby was not bathed in water- she was bathed in ICY COLD Anchor beer! I couldn't believe my eyes and am pretty sure my jaw dropped to the floor because my sister told me "You must think some Kmai traditions are very strange." I think I managed to gather my words and mumble "A little bit" in response. Apparently bathing babies in beer is supposed to ensure beautiful skin for the baby. Um, I don't know much about babies, but I am pretty sure that bathing them in beer is not a good idea nor guarantees nice skin for the baby in the future. Then there are other things that are absolutely ridiculous and make no sense, like my host mom telling me she can't eat bananas for 3 months because she will die. Urban legends run amok.
Last week was my last week of school! I had a small goodbye/end of school year party with some of my students, which was really nice. Everyone brought snacks to share and we listened to some American music on my ipod/speakers and said our goodbyes. It was definitely a bittersweet moment, but I am ready to be done with teaching, especially teaching English. Among shouts of "Goodluck cher" and "Don't forget me," one student told me "I wish good luck and you have a boyfriend soon." Yes sir, you and me both.
I have friends coming to visit in less than a month, a trip to Bangkok in a few weeks, and about 5 weeks left in Cambodia overall. WOW WOW WOW. It's almost all over.
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