Sabai Dar

I was reading the news online when I heard, knock-knock, "Teacher Kerri!"  My fan club had arrived.  We took a walk through the village, holding hands, and singing songs.  It began as a tribe of four, but the collection quickly grew to nine.  We walked to the park where there are many trees and small bamboo shacks with mats and hammocks over a small creek.  It was the perfect breeding ground for malaria and dengue fever.  Lots of people were hanging out, having picnics, mostly high school students.  I bet this is their make-out spot.  I, of course, was a spectacle.  Some guy yelled out in Khmer, 'I like you!" which caused the children to erupt into a fit of giggles.  When we returned, I handed out watermelon slices and sent them on their way.

My Personal Chef

On weekends, there are always children around watching me do mundane activities like laundry, lesson plan, and mop.  Tonight, I was making dinner, and I figured I might as well put them to work - after washing their hands of course.  It's not slave labor if they want to help. 

The Stork has Arrived

Kim called me this morning, and said, "Kerri, would you like to see your Godson?"  Oh...I thought we were just kidding about that?  She had her baby at Mongkol Borei Hospital, the same place Cynthia went the first time.  The maternity ward room held 16 beds, jammed together with pregnant women, crying infants, and relatives sprawled out on mats.  A poster of a woman breast-feeding her child adorned one wall.

His name is Daniel.  I think it's becoming fashionable to give children an American name.  In the next ten years, they'll all be called Ashley or Trevor.  Kim joked that he looks like me because he has a wide nose.  I said, "Yeah, and you can't tell now, but his eyes are blue."

Kim said, "He poo and pee all the time," in a somewhat shocked manner.  I watched Kim's mom remove the cloth diaper and try to scrape it off with a dry paper towel.  I'm pretty sure Daniel was thinking, "Jeez lady, I'm one day old, and my bum is already red.  Can someone please tell her about the invention of  baby wipes?"  When she was finished, she threw the paper towel on the floor.  No point in washing your hands here, especially since there's no soap at the one sink, which may or may not even work. 

Kim informed me that after giving birth, Cambodian women can only eat certain foods.  No bananas, raw vegetables, or pork from a male pig.  But porridge, cooked vegetables and pork from a female pig are ok.  I asked about the pork.  She explained that female pig pork hurts the hands, knees, and back.  Oh, well, of course.

Love Shack

I never know what someone is going to bring to my doorstep.  A giant coconut with a straw, some jicama, flavored ice perhaps.  Socheata showed up, carrying am armful of bamboo stalks and a machete.  He said, "Kerri, I find stick.  I give to you.  There are many fly in Cambodia."  He tied the bamboo to my bed frame with plastic twine and attached this lovely hot pink mosquito net. 

Battambang

I used to say to myself, "Well, now there's something you don't see everyday."  Not so much anymore. 

Although it's much bigger than Sisophon, this Colonial style city still retains its charm.

The social conventions are different here.  Men can hold hands while walking down the street.  They can hug one another without being called gay.  It's quite sweet.

Harvest Season

Last season's crops are being harvested this month.  It takes long days and a lot of effort to complete.  Families rent a rice harvester, gather all the rice, and separate it from the stalks. 

The rice is spread out over tarps, either in the field or in front of a house.  The drying process takes about a week.  Meanwhile, they walk through the rice with their bare feet, creating zen-like lines, and chickens wander about and peck until they're content. 

This particular field is adjacent to our school.  The family sits outside, under a tree, and stares at their crop.  Soon, they will shovel all the rice into bags, load it on a truck, and sell it. 

The rice in my province is good.  Really good.  It has actually won the "World's Best Rice" award for multiple years.  It makes sense when you realize that 70% of the country's labor force is working in this field.  Field.  Ha!  Good pun.  Says the dorky English teacher.

I don't know how to explain how the rice is different than the bags of rice we buy in the States other than to say it's more fresh and flavorful.  Even if I get a little tired of eating rice every day for lunch, at least it's the World's Best Rice I am sick of.  Says the snobby rice expert.

A Very Liberal Education

I walked into the 2nd grade classroom today and found this sentence written on the board.

There are many ducks in the porn.

The Khmer teacher and I had a good laugh about that. 

 

Eggxellent

The lesson topic of the day was E.  Big E.  Small e.  E sounds like eh, eh, eh.  E is for egg.  I showed a Sesame Street youtube video, and let Elmo share his knowledge on the subject.  I do this by standing in the front of the classroom, holding my laptop in the air.  The students made eggs out of paper, and we practiced counting to three.  I brought in some real eggs for a demonstration and held them up in the air while saying, "One egg.  Two eggs.  Three eggs."  At that point, I dropped one, and all the children cried out, in unison, "Two eggs!"  Then, they laughed hysterically at their clumsy teacher.  Dang.  I knew I should have hard boiled them.

 

Visitor

Hello.  My name is Vannya.  Sometimes I stop by cha's apartment to see what she's doing.  We read books and do cartwheels.  She's crazy.  I smell kind of bad, but at least I don't have lice.

How To Drive - Cambodian Style

 

It's easy to drive in Cambodia, just follow these simple rules:

1.  Drive like you're the only one on the road.

2.  Ignore stop signs. 

3.  If you wear a helmet, don't bother to buckle the strap. 

4.  Don't use your turn signal because that would just confuse other drivers.

5.  Make it your mission to pass everyone.

6.  Go ahead and drive on the wrong side of the road when it's convenient.

7.  Honk at random times.

 

Bird Brains

A couple birds have made a nest in my front room, up high where there are some openings in the bricks.  It's not the best location since the ledge is small, and everyday the nest falls down, I throw it away, and they have to rebuild it.   

Wat a Day

Today is the holiday Victory Over Genocide Day which commemorates the day that Vietnamese soldiers entered Cambodia and began their assault on the Khmer Rouge regime who wanted to create a totally agrarian society.  During the red Khmer's four years of control, two million people (over 1/4 of the population of the country) died. 

I weighed my options for the day:  Evict spiders from my apartment.  Wander the rice paddies.  Collect plastic water bottles around campus.  Shave my legs...  I ended up driving my moto south on Highway 5 and conducting a self-guided tour of some wats.  This isn't difficult considering that there is one about every 5 kilometers.  There isn't much else to do around here, especially when you are a barang travelling alone.  At least I know my helmet won't get stolen at a monastery. 

The monks are always kind and want to talk.  When I pull up, the place starts buzzing, and they are quick to offer me a bottle of water or practice English.  I met a group of older monks at Big Mountain Monastery, and after five of them scrunched over onto one cement bench and offered me the other bench (They're not supposed to sit next to or touch a female), we chatted.
Me - How many monks live here.
Monk - 18.
Me - How long have you been a monk?
Monk - About 8 years.
Monk - How old are you?
Me - As old as the rocks.
Laughter.
Monk - Do you have Facebook?
Me - Yes.  Do you?!
Monk - Yes.
Well, now we're "friends" via Facebook.  Go figure.  They wear the same robe everyday and only eat rice, but they have online profiles.

Important scenes from Buddha's life were painted on the ceiling of the pagoda.  The top, center mural shows Buddha sitting under the lotus tree where he experienced enlightenment.

Wat Sopheak Mongkol

This wat is also in Sisophon, and has a beautiful, new pagoda in the center.  The wooden doors and windows are elaborately carved and painted sky blue.  It's surrounded by the monastery and stupas.  In the corner of the site is a ghastly genocide memorial with a bunch of skulls and bones encased in a glass box.  They might have been removed from on of the mass graves around here. 

An old government lookout tower is perched just across the street.  They used it to track the movements of the Khmer Rouge.  I read that visitors can still go up there to look at the view, but the walk alone through dense trees was not appealing. 

Phnom Chogn Charng

I decided to explore the numerous wats that dot the countryside.  This one rests atop a hill with about a hundred steep steps leading to the pagoda and various statues.  I liked the pretty mural of reclining Buddha on lotus flowers.

The peak offered a panoramic view of Sisophon.  It's really flat here, so I had fun climbing up and exploring the rock caves. 

Getting Mooned

Cheshire Cat Moon.  Wet Moon.  Whatever you want to call it, it was outstanding last night.  This angle occurs in the winter as a result of the earth's orbit.  I couldn't help but smile back.

Goodbay!

There was a half day at school since many students and teachers had to prepare for the performances in the evening.  Kim helped apply make-up on the girls and said, "Kerri, do you want me to do your eyebrows?" 

We road the school bus with the students and headed to town to celebrate their first ever New Year's Eve party.  It was held at the Night Market, and since we got there so early, Cynthia and I went to the city center and wandered around for a while.  We received lots of attention, of course.  A little boy who was standing on the sidewalk with his pants down peeing waved with his free hand and said, "Hello!"  A toddler bounded over to us and said, "Hello barang!"  His mother laughed and shook her head.

Many important people attended the event.  I met the governor of the province, the mayor, the Night Market manager, and lots of other business owners.  I think they got a kick out of hanging out with the white girl. 

The students performed Khmer dances and acted in a play.  It was a Cambodian folktale about an actress who is supposed to marry the King, but she falls in love with a singer. 

Since it was so late, we stayed at a hotel for the night.  A notice on the table listed all the rules including, "No having sexes in our rooms." 

Birthday Wishes

We went to a birthday party tonight for a student at a nearby high school.  She turned 17.  About 20 of her friends and family were there for the celebration.  They served rice, fried fish, and onion rings.  Since Bop and Sophert helped prepare the food, they made a special dish of fried rice for Cynthia and me. 

Afterwards, we gathered around to sing, clap, and watch her blow out the candles.  They sing the same birthday song here (in English even), except the line, "Happy Birthday dear ______" is just "Happy birthday.  Happy birthday."  Then, everyone blew silly string and glitter all over the place.  They love that stuff!  After cutting the cake, the birthday girl fed both of her parents and grandmother a piece of her Hello Kitty cake before serving it to everyone.  Nobody seemed to mind that the top of the cake was covered with a layer of glitter and foam. 

Not surprisingly, Pheak managed to get the majority of the cake for himself.

As soon as everyone stuffed some cake in their mouth, they left.  That's typical of Cambodians who are not in the habit of sitting around and chatting after dinner like Westerners.