Morning Calm

I'm not sure which begins first, the birds chirping, or the monks chanting.  The mornings and evenings are my favorite times because it's so peaceful.  That's probably because there aren't 365 students running around screaming. 

The students make me laugh with their constant imitations of me.  Today, I tied my sweater around my waist, and within seconds, five students had their jackets tied around their waists too.  My first graders have learned my phrase, "Get out your book and your pencil."  When they think it's time for me to say it, one of them will beat me to it. 

Buddha & Butter

Sisophon doesn't have much to offer, but one of the monasteries features a beautiful mural of reclining Buddha.  The most exciting part of my day, however, was finding a tub of butter.

Ramble On

“How to Overthrow the System: brew your own beer; kick in your Tee Vee; kill your own beef; build your own cabin and piss off the front porch whenever you bloody well feel like it.”                                         - Ed Abbey

Treat or Trick

Sokum gave me a clump of fluorescent green goo and told me it was food.  Sometimes you can just look at something and have a pretty good idea what it's going to taste like.  That was the case here.  The texture was reminiscent of a Gummy Worm, but there was no discernible flavor. 

Happy Merry Christmas!

I had no idea what to expect on Christmas.  I was informed just yesterday that we wouldn't have classes, but the students were showing up for something.  Although they do this every year, no one could explain what was going to happen.  It turned out to be an all day party.  Mr. Thang wrote "Happy Merry Christmas" on a large board outside and wrapped a strand of garland around a tropical tree.  That was as close as it got to anything remotely resembling the Western holiday.

A rice tractor pulled up with a bunch of audio equipment, including d.j. station and six massive speakers.  There was an ever-present cluster of boys surrounding it.

The students danced to tunes including:  Jingle Bells, Gangnam Style, What Does the Fox Say, and Time of My Life (from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack).  Of course, I joined them and showed off my sweet dance moves.  I was surrounded by my first grade groupies who copied everything. 

The students played games.  There was a muffin eating contest, balloon popping contest, and rice sack races.

There were plenty of activities during the day.  Socheata entertained us with his magic tricks, and the girls performed a traditional Khmer dance.  We also celebrated Laum's birthday with a cake.  After lunch, some of the boys strutted down a walkway like the male models on t.v.  Then, Laum's friends made him put on his new shirt and show off his stuff too.  Of course, it didn't take much convincing for Laum, the big ham.  The students thought it was hilarious to see their principal attempting to look cool. 

I wasn't expecting to receive presents, but I got quite a few, probably because I'm the only Christian in the province.  The gifts from my students were adorable.  I got hair ties, candy, a scarf, a slightly used birthday candle, an opened box of soap, an origami star made out of riel, and what I fear is a taxidermied mouse wearing a bowtie.  From the teachers, I received a rhinestone broach, pink and black plastic necklace, and a decorative swan that lights up and changes colors. 

Big Shot

A doctor and nurse showed up today to give the students a vaccination.  I asked Sokum what disease it prevented, and he said it was for "red spots."  I think it's for measles and rubella because I read an article last month about a nationwide campaign to vaccinate all school children.  The kids knew exactly what happening when they walked into our classroom.  Some of the students actually seemed excited and jumped up, hoping to get inoculated first.  A few others tried to hide and cried when it was their turn. 

When they were done, the doctor dipped their finger in purple paint, so they knew who had been vaccinated. 

A New Generation

Haylisa is 16 days old now.  It only took Laum 8 days to name his daughter.  He liked the American name Haylee, and put a Cambodian spin on it by adding 'sa.'  She is a big healthy baby with lots of hair.  She looks like Laum.  I told him that's unfortunate, but luckily, she has some of her mom's genes too. 

Kim is pregnant, and her husband, who works in Thailand, is coming back to stay with her until the baby is born.  Today, she was telling me stories about how they met and fell in love.  She said that her husband gets very jealous and doesn't want her to wear make-up or go around town by herself.  After they got engaged, he burned all of her sexy clothes. 

Num Koum

Sticky rice cakes have different fillings like pork, coconut, or egg.  But they all are covered in sticky rice, and wrapped in a banana leaf.  On the weekends, I buy a few from a woman in the village.  Hers are the best.  She makes them with a banana inside and grills them.  They are flavorful and have a nice chewy texture.  The price is three for 1,000 riel (25 cents). 

Morning Ritual

The monks who live in nearby monasteries rely on the compassion of the community to survive.  Each morning, they walk through town, stopping at houses and shops to collect alms.  The people put rice or other food offerings in their bowls and receive a blessing.  They must finish by 11:00 am, and that's all the food they get for the day.  Not only does this benefit the monks, but it gives the people the opportunity to show their respect and gain spiritual merit. 

There are rules in the monasteries, but it is up to the monk to decide whether or not to follow them.  They are subjected to the same kinds of yearnings as everyone else, so it's not uncommon to see a monk catching a ride on a moto, eyeing a trinket in a shop, or watching a bit of t.v.

Flip Flop Socks

The temperature spiraled down to the high 50's this week, and I was unprepared.  I thought this was the tropics!  My meager wardrobe contains one pair of pants and one sweater which I also wore to bed because my pajamas are shorts and a tank top. 

Thida bought me two pairs of socks.  Everyone wears this kind because there is an indent between the big toe and the rest of the toes.  It looks dorky, but I crossed that line a long time ago when I started wearing a surgical mask while driving my moto. 

Ding! Ding!

Luuunnch!

Our lunch ladies don't wear hairnets or serve sloppy Joe's on Fridays.  We have mystery meat day though.  It's every day.

This is where the magic happens.  The kitchen has a wood burning stove with two giant pots, one for rice, and one for everything else.  The bus driver often makes a special meal for me with just vegetables. 

The average time for a student to eat is seven minutes.  Once they are done, the teachers can eat.  I usually make my own breakfast because they serve porridge with meat.  Sometimes, they make about 150 packets of ramen noodles instead.  I get more excited than I should on those occasions. 

When I eat with the teachers, they closely monitor my eating habits.  Cambodians think the rice tastes bad if you mix the rest of your meal with it, so they fill their bowl with rice and continually dip their spoons in the communal bowls to add bits of meat or sauce.  "Kerri, why you mix it together?"  I explain this is how Americans do it, as they shake their heads in disapproval.

The students rinse out their bowls with water and scrape off bits of food with their hands before placing them back on the shelf for the next meal. 

The canine clean-up crew mops the floor.  Sometimes, they can't wait, and I catch them on the tables, eating out of the bowls.  Each day, the students wipe the tables with dirty rags.  When it's a special occasion, they dampen the rags.  One time, I saw Mr. Thang pick up a broom and walk over to a messy table.  I thought, "Is he?  Oh!  Oh!  No...."  Then, he brushed spilled rice off the table with the broom. 

Kerri's Cafe

Somehow, I ended up teaching over the weekend.  It wasn't English this time, but cooking.  Kim and one of her students, Rathana, came over Saturday night for spaghetti lessons.  Why spaghetti?  It's exotic, and Cambodians only order it at restaurants.  Of course, I didn't tell them that this was a dish Americans threw together when they didn't feel like cooking.  I just let them think I have amazing culinary skills. 

A party of four showed up on Sunday.  Sophert, her son Pich, Mum, and her friend, Mik Nai gathered around my little table.  It's a good thing I borrowed a couple chairs for the occasion. 

I learned a couple things about hosting dinner in Cambodia.  First of all, expect unannounced guests, so prepare more food than you think you'll need.  Second, only put a half a chili in the pot.  Cambodians can't take the heat like their Thai neighbors. 

Spaghetti Sauce:
1 tbs. oil
6 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 chili pepper
1/2 tbsp. oregano
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
*serves 4

Not Eggxactly

Eggs in Cambodia are slightly different than their cousins in the U.S.  The yolk is bright orange, and the taste is stronger.  Maybe it's because most of the chickens are raised in someone's backyard.  Maybe it's because they don't live on a diet of genetically modified corn.  I don't know.  Now, I am used to eating day-glo yolks.  Although, I just have to make sure that I don't accidentally buy the eggs with partially developed chicken or duck embryos inside.  Yuck.

What'd You Say?

Sounds are described differently depending where you live.  In France, the cat purrs, "Mee-ooh."  In Mexico, the rooster squawks, "coko-rico." 

In Cambodia:
The cow says, "ma."
The frog says, "dtee-uh."
The baby cries, "yum."
A sleeping person goes, "coo coo."

Tastes like Chicken

Grilled Gecko Recipe:
1 medium sized gecko
2 tbs. oil
1 pinch of salt & pepper

This gecko was really pushing him luck when he jumped in my pan.  He's lucky I'm a vegetarian. 

Changing the Channel

Now that the water has receded enough, the neighboring farmers can prepare their land for planting rice.  It's not easy.  First, grandma has to tromp around in the mud and inspect every square inch.  Then, father and son till the soil and level the field.

When my students heard the plow, they rushed to the window.  I told them to sit back down.  They were in my way, and I couldn't see anything. 

There are two crop seasons each year in Cambodia.  This is the dry season crop, and it will take about three months until harvest time.  That means I get to watch the rice slowly mature through my classroom window every day.  It's like nature's t.v.  It may not be as exciting, but there are no commercials. 

Interesting Ish-shoes

Welcome to my front patio.  It looks like a truckload of plastic sandals had a collision with the stairwell.  The students remove their shoes before climbing the stairs to the classroom as per the custom of the country.  Personally, I think it's a little unnecessary given the classroom has a cement floor which is covered with a perpetual layer of dust.  But this is coming from someone who wears flip flops inside her apartment.  Gasp!

International Human Rights Day

Yesterday was a holiday, and we had the day off.  Kim asked me if we celebrated the international holiday in the U.S.  I said no and refrained from explaining that most Americans don't know the day exists, and they don't think about human rights that often.  It takes an outrageous act by the government to raise peoples' awareness of this issue such as a ban on the sale of 32 ounce Thirstbusters.
                                
Loud Khmer music drew me out of my apartment this morning.  I am used to the monks chanting at 4:00 am and the cows mooing, but this was different.  I located the source in a classroom - a cassette tape blasting from a dust covered boom box.  A couple of older students were teaching some younger girls the traditional Cambodian apsara dance.  The girls practiced the signature move of twisting their wrists around in circles and pressing the thumb and index finger together.  The dances are not only beautiful, but they tell stories. 

Creative Play

With few store-bought toys, the children learn how to make their own fun.  The girls tie rubber bands together into longs strands and play jump rope or limbo.  The boys pretend a chunk of rock or brick is a car and build roads in the dirt for them.  Some children piece together sticks and discarded plastic to make kites.  They bring them to the schoolyard on breezy weekends since it's wide open, and there's less chance of snagging their line on a tree. 

Green Mango Salad

This is a popular side dish in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.  The recipe varies slightly depending on the region and personal preference.  After shopping at my local market, this is what I came up with.

Ingredients:
1 unripe green mango, shredded
1/2 cup carrots, shredded
1/3 cup onion, shredded
1/3 cup cilantro (any greens will do)
*Mix in a medium sized bowl
*Make dressing:
1/2 lime, juiced
1 tbs. fish sauce (Not necessary if you don't have it on hand.  Use water instead.)
1/3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tbs. chili (any chili is fine), minced
*Add dressing and stir.
*Sprinkle with 1 tbs. crushed peanuts.

The end result is a sweet, tart, and spicy salad.  The unripe mango gives it a nice crunchy texture.  

Banteay Chhmar

Socheata invited us to visit a nearby temple complex built by King Jayavarman VII in the 9th century.  Although the wats were heavily destroyed by Khmer Rouge, some of the beautiful stonework, like this Bayon-style Buddha face, has survived. 

My favorite part of ancient buildings are the bas reliefs with carvings of daily life, wars, gods and goddesses.  Socheata's English is limited, so sometimes his words are a puzzle.  He asked Cynthia, "Do you have Buddha in the head?"  He was asking if she was Buddhist. 

The motorbike ride to the wats was a harrowing 60 km which took about two hours.  The dirt road was a mixture off washboard, bumps, and ruts the whole way.  It was like riding a horse at 50 kph.  My butt spent as much time bouncing off the seat as it did sitting on it.  This is one of the most heavily mined areas in all of Cambodia.  Somehow, I managed to return with all my limbs. 

 

Teacher as Student

Last week, I taught my 7th graders 16 vocabulary words.  They were all opposites like: tall & short, loud & quiet.  After spending a week doing activities in class, I told them to study for the quiz.  It was a matching, and I gave them all the exact definitions used on the quiz.  Well, they didn't study, and all but four students bombed it. Ugh.

This week, I gave them a list of 8 verbs like: visit, hear, look, change.  To demonstrate proper study skills, I told them I would learn how to say all the words in Khmer too.  I taught them how to make flashcards and wrote an example on the board with the word "throw" written in English and in Khmer.  Of course, I had to copy the Khmer script from my dictionary.  When I finished, the whole class clapped at my embarrassing effort. 

Today, Vat Sovan quizzed me in front of the class, and I got all the words correct.  

We ended class by singing the Verb Rap.  It goes:
"A verb is a word.  It's an action word.
If you can do it, then you do it. 
If you do it, it's a verb." 

Check out the video by clicking on = Verb Rap

Fruitopia

We have a papaya (or L'hong in Khmer) tree at school.  Some of the boys were knocking down the ripe fruit, and they gave me one.  I love to cut it open and look at the beautiful, bright orange flesh filled with soft black seeds. 

One of my favorite snacks is mango (s'wai) with a chili and salt mixture.  It's the perfect blend of sweet, salty, and spicy.

Jicama a root vegetable.  You peel it like a potato and eat all the inside flesh.  The taste and texture is similar to an apple but not as sweet.  Like most food here, it is paired with minced chili peppers.

Piece of Cake

One of the teacher's sisters is getting married, and they had a wedding dinner the night before the marriage ceremony.  I don't know the bride, but that didn't matter.  Cambodian parties are huge.  Everyone is invited.  Kim came over to my apartment before hand to do my hair and make-up.  When she arrived, she looked at me and said, "Kerri.  Is that what you wear?"  Then, she picked out a different dress which was apparently more suitable.  While I put it on, she picked up my purse and started pulling everything out.  "Kerri, what is this?"  "Uh...it's Purel."  If you knew Kim, none of this would surprise you.  She braided my hair in a traditional Cambodian style and applied my make-up which I'll describe as part prostitute, part clown.  The eye shadow and rouge was really heavy, but the eyebrows were the dominant feature.  She literally took a brown eyebrow pencil and drew large, dark eyebrows onto my forehead.  I wish I took a picture; it was hilarious.  I told her how beautiful I looked and tried not to let her see me wiping off my scary eyebrows with a tissue throughout the evening.

There was not a shortage of food.  They kept bringing bowls of rice, whole fried fish, soup, papaya salad, and roasted vegetables. 

The girls in the bridal party wore lacy pink dresses, fake nails and eyelashes, and were dripping with gold jewelry.  It is customary for the groom to wear a white suit, but sometimes he may wear light green or blue.  The bride had a white dress, similar to American wedding gowns, only with a lot more lace.  Instead of a cake, they have a fruit tower.  The bridal party walked in circles around the fruit several times.  Then, they fed fruit to each set of parents and say some prayers.  Later, the fruit was dispersed among the guests, as if we didn't have enough to eat already.

The soon-to-be married couple had their first, very awkward, dance.  It was like watching a couple junior high kids at a school dance.  At the end of the night, the bride threw her flower bouquet to a group of single girls and boys.  They tried to drag me up there, but I refused and said I didn't want to get married.  However, I did join in the dancing.  We made a circle around what was left of the fruit tower and walked around it while doing the traditional dance.  Rana taught me the simple moves, and everyone made fun of the barang, as usual. 

Ta Prohm

At Ta Prohm, the stars aren't the ancient architectural wonders, but the massive fig and silk-cotton trees which appear to be growing directly from the buildings. 

Even the monks couldn't help but capture the wonders of nature on their camera and smart phone.