Everybody must happy happy

Highlights of the week:
1)While I am beyond sad that Katie is leaving, our trip to Angkor Wat was definitely a highlight of my service to date. Now, had I gone to Angkor Wat 5 or so months ago when I first arrived in Cambodia, the day would likely have looked different. We would probably have enjoyed the anonymity of being in a sea of foreigners, and felt very much at home with them, we would likely have had a strict itinerary and stuck to it, we would likely have gotten annoyed when our driver stopped at random places we did not ask to stop at, and we probably would have been completely overwhelmed by the children trying to sell us stuff. As it was we ended up spending a good portion of our trip to Angkor Wat talking to kids about when they went to school, where they went to school, and why they were not currently getting ready for school. I spent a good chunk of time over my morning coffee helping an 11th grade Khmer boy with his English homework. We spent a good amount of time meandering through random temples we had no intention of stopping at, we took lots of obnoxious photos with complete disregard for silly things like ropes, and we both felt completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of foreigners.

2)After receiving several Christmas packages (thanks to all who sent them!) I have a new appreciation for exfoliating soap. In America I never really understood the appeal of exfoliating soap. I mean I got it in principle but I did not appreciate it. I received a bar of exfoliating soap in a package of miscellaneous goodies from my aunt Kris and my grandma, and I have to say that bathing with said bar of soap left me feeling perhaps the cleanest I have felt in this country. Dirt has a way of getting into your pores and the creases in your skin here so that you can bathe and still rub dirt off of yourself. Not so with the exfoliating soap. This handy item also provides mosquito bite relief while bathing. So, a special thanks to my aunt and grandma, and anyone who wants to send me exfoliating soap in the future is more than encouraged to do so :)

3)Favorite Foo moment: I was sitting on a table outside my house watching TV with the fam when Foo (the 2 year old) spit into a small toy (kind of looked like a little plastic drum with one of the sides missing) and handed it to me. I took it and looked at him and he stared up at me with his tiny little adorable Khmer child face and said “niam at?” which loosely translates to “are you gonna eat it?” Thanks Foo, but no. I think I will pass on eating spitty plastic toys.

4)Favorite quote of the week: After church last Sunday one of the members of the congregation who knows pretty good English asked if I wanted him to tell me what the pastor had been preaching on. I said yes and he began to break down the message which was on Philippians 4:4-7. He helped me translate a bunch of stuff into Khmer and talked about the points the pastor had made about them but the best one was this: his summary of Philippians 4:6, “God says dear brother sister, everybody you must happy happy.” Now the pure simplification of this is funny but I think you may need to live here to fully appreciate the humor in this. Another volunteer here recently asked some Khmer people why they listened to music over loud speakers SO ridiculously LOUD so often and the response was “Kampuchea jole jchet supbai supbai” which translates to “Cambodia likes happy happy.” So of course God would command all of the brothers and sisters to be happy happy.

5)Text message of the week: "Uh Vatana just called me about stool samples. Maybe I don't want to et (early terminate) afterall..."

A couple more serious notes: I had a b it of a heart wrenching moment at school this week. There is a grade 9 boy at my school who appears to have cerebral palsy. I have seen him around all year and have asked all the teachers who speak English what his disability is and no one seems to know. They always just tell me that he cannot speak but he can learn. The other day I was sitting with one of the teachers at my school and this student walked up with a note asking her to ask me whether we have people “the same as” him in America. I know it is beyond anything I can understand or identify with, and difficult anywhere, but I cannot imagine how hard it must be to be like him in a place where the majority of people do not understand much if anything about it. To not even know if there are other people around the world who are experiencing life in the same way he is. It does present an interesting issue as far as the importance of names goes. We are so focused in the western world on what a condition is called. We want to know what we have. It isn’t enough to just recognize the traits exhibited and address those; we need to have a label to smack on it. While it has been confusing for me that no one here seems to have names for such things, in some ways it does not seem to matter. They recognize what his abilities are and have found ways to work with them thus allowing him to get to get an education as a non-verbal teenager. It’s pretty impressive!

On a sad note; my closest friend here has decided to go back to the states. There were a number of things that played into her decision and while I will certainly miss her I think that her leaving holds some important lessons. Katie has many qualities, not the least of which is a huge giving heart for other people that made her an awesome volunteer. However, there is an economy to time and every time you make a decision to do something, you are intrinsically making a decision not to do something else. If in the things you are doing you find that you cannot be at your best, than perhaps your time can be better given, and your life a greater service to others, in a context in which you can be your best. There are certainly trials in most anything you put your hand to but learning to assess whether those trials are growing your character or breaking your spirit is an important lesson and knowing when to push through and when to say enough is invaluable.

I thought I would start off my first blog entry of 2010 with a list of resolutions for the year. That way you all can call me out on them :) :

1)Be better at life. Pretty general. More specifically I want to be more bold about seeking out resources and pursuing projects/opportunities in my community. I want to be more enthusiastic about teaching crappy curriculum to students who could not care less half the time. I want to work on finding a good balance between caring for myself and giving of myself for the sake of the people I came here to serve.

2)Learn to resist the RAGE that boils up in me whenever there is a “biti” (celebration) in town. I hate loud speakers, but I have got to learn to fight the BITI RAGE.

3)Grow out my finger nails. I say it EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Never happens. Oh well, lets try again 2010.

4)Vomit less. I want to learn to master my slightly inane tendency to become ill when extremely nervous or emotionally stressed. Not sure if this is physically possible, but I am going to give it a go. I give anxiety too much of a stronghold in my daily life.

Now for a short list of favorites:
1)Favorite slogan: “It’s America time!” Miller Beer

2)Favorite question from a co-teacher: “What do you call it in English when you stand in a line a put one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of you? What do you call it when you stand with your hand behind your back and one foot forward?” I have also been asked rather important burning questions like “what is a magnetron tube, duvet cover, corn dog, caramel corn, safety product recall, etc…”

3)Favorite misuse of the English language: One of the teachers at my school does not understand that the word “especially” is meant to go with an adjective. That outfit is especially pretty. You look especially nice today. Etc… She uses it like an adjective itself and I refuse to correct it because it makes me unreasonably happy when I hear phrases like “your hair looks especially today” or “beyonce dances especially.”

4)Favorite conversation with a stranger: This is a toss up. Both come from New Years in Siem Reap. We had a great time (me and a group of female volunteers) in the market in Siem Reap shopping for dresses for new years eve. There are a ton of tourists there so it is especially (haha) shocking when a foreigner speaks some Khmer. We of course had fun with this and made friends with lots of the sellers in the market. My favorite conversation was with a woman I bought a dress from who spent a good while convincing me that it was okay to buy this rather short tight dress because “sexy girl ok Siem Reap.” I told her where I actually live and she laughed and kindly informed me that maybe “sexy girl not okay battambang, but ok New Year Siem Reap." She also more than cut the prince of the dress in half when she found out I lived in Cambodia. Nice bonus. That night we were out at a fine drinking establishment known as “Angkor What” celebrating the new year when a random norweigan man asked me if he had seen me in the market earlier. I said yes probably, and he inquired whether I knew Khmer. I said yes a little, and his response was “that’s hot.” Another group of guys informed us that being in the Peace Corps is also “hot.” Who knew?

5)Favorite host family moments: I came downstairs the other day and my little sisters/nieces I guess, had tied leggos to the bottom of their shoes and were “ice skating” on a wooden table top. It was precious. They then serenaded me with a number of English songs they had learned in school. Foo, the 2 year old, is one of my favorite humans. This week my favorite Foo moments included him getting PISSED that I cannot understand his tiny little voice, him crying when we left for English class at the health center (me, one of my health center nurses, and the 4 girls), and coming outside in the morning to find Foo squatting on the side of the main highway in Cambodia outside the family shop taking care of business. This phased no one.

Happy Merry Christmas and a Whole lot of Change

So I moved. I refrained from writing about it until the issue had resolved itself. Now, after two months, it finally has. As you all know, I really enjoyed the family I was placed with at my permanent site. There was just one big problem. My bedroom did not have real walls. Two of them were plastic siding that you couldnt even lean on and didn't even block out light, least of all noise. One of them was actually a curtain which separated my room from a drop off into the living room below. This also was not so great for sound proofing. While I loved the family it became more and more difficult to continue living with them with no means to get away and have a retreat from the constant noise of living with a large family. When I began realizing how much it was effecting my sleep and health, I realized a change would be necessary. This is something I felt a large amount of anxiety and guilt about. Not only did I want to avoid offending the family and be able to maintain relationships with them but I was also battling feelings of failure and selfishness that I just could not maintain my sanity, health, and happiness in that living situation. Slowly but surely I have come to make peace with the fact that I do have needs and that is okay. I don't need lush accomodation. I do not need running water or toilet paper. I can do without TV and internet. Etc...and so forth. But, I need to have space to think. I need a quiet space to get away to. That is not something I will ever be able to compromise and stay healthy. And that is okay.

I moved a few days before Christmas into a home with two yays (grandmothers) and a 2 year old boy. I live next door to one of my health center nurses and 4 darling girls (8-12). The space I have been provided to live in is large, clean, and lovely, and most importantly, peaceful. My new family has made me feel welcomed into their home. They even had a surprise "welcome to the family" dinner party for me my first night there. I feel so fortunate to finally have this issue resolved in such a positive way and feel ready to really dig in after the holidays.

My first Christmas away from home was spent with Jayne, one of my closest friends from the states. We spent Christmas eve with another volunteer at my site then headed into Phnom Penh on Christmas afternoon. We spent some quality time eating cheese and crackers watching really bad Christmas TV movies then proceded to meet up with some other PCVs for dinner and drinks. I can honesly say it was my first Christmas at a night club experience. As much as I missed my home and my family during the holiday it was a huge blessing to have Jayne here and it was great to finally have "lock down" over so that we could meet up with other volunteers for a few days of R&R.

Now back to the real world. Well until New Years :)

“New information buy two give one”

I this week I decided to try something new. I gave an actual creative assignment to one of my classes. After they got over their shock and rage however, they turned in some great work. The assignment was to make their own advertisment. It has to include a title for the product, a picture of the product, price, and one persuasive "if...must" statement. The folowing is a list of some of my favorite quotes from the assignment:

1)" WElcome! Welcome! every body who is the customer that always want light teeth and beauty; dont forget number 1 special toothpaste for every body's tooths and mouth called "toothpaste herbal natural" it made frome nature really! really!...if you have bad smell in your mouth nobody want to near you, so you must buy toothpaste and that toothpaste is "herbal natural" that make you life to be happy, don't worry about problem of mouth and teeth.”

2)“If you have wedding or join the party you always need jewelry to make more your beauty.”

3)“...if you want your teeth have healthy teeth you must use toothpaste to recive what good in your life and future. It has polite cost for you. Moreover when you used toothpaste produce SARAHA you must get what good to others. And when you say with someone makes them like you because you have smell good teeth nice and they are interesting with you so much.”

4)“Wellcomes! Wellcomes! All of customers that have an attention to buy clothing...if you want to make your body so good and you want a modern or ancient clothing. You must buy them in our shop...”

5)“It have a good smell for you if you used it your hair must will smooth all time. Harry up hary up will not hopeless.”

and my personal favorite,

6) “New information buy two give one” (somehow not quite what I think this student meant to say)

While the english in these may be in need of a little help, I vastly appreciated the critical thought my students put into advertising their products :)

And here are a fwe assignment quotes from students of a fellow volunteer:

"If I met the president of the US, I would say “love.”
"If I was a bird I would fly to see your face every day and all night…”
"I wont take a bath unless you near me…."

Things Cambodia Does Better...

So most of my blogs to date have been either random stories or updates on the daily occurrences of my life, or sarcastic musings about the ridiculous things I have encountered in this country. Thus, I think it is time that I provide a little insight into those things which Cambodia does better.

1)Fruit: Not only does Cambodia have a wealth of fruit variety unheard of in America, but the fruits we have in common are better here (with the exception of apples). Oranges are sweeter here. Bananas come in like 800 varieties and all of them are better than anything you can buy in America. Most significant, to me, is watermelon. I do not like watermelon in America. I think it is a nasty gritty substance that tastes like water trying to be something else. In Cambodia watermelons are about a 3rd of the size of watermelons in America and it is as though you took all of the flavor in a big American watermelon, multiplied it by 2, and jammed it into the tiny watermelon. When they go out of season I will be very sad (my host family has had a bowl of watermelon with lunch and dinner every day for a good two weeks now).
2)Naptime: In my experience, and it varies from family to family I am sure, Cambodians nap (in hammocks generally) every afternoon, usually during the heat of the day. It is really nice to come home from work and have a couple hours of relaxation before going back to work.
3)Rice: While eating it 3 times a day every day is maybe not better, the rice itself tastes better.
4)Bathroom floors: Ok so I would most definitely prefer to have running water, and no mosquitos, and a variety of other bathroom features. However, the bathroom floor design in Cambodia (and many other countries) is in my opinion, better. All of the floors are tile or concrete with a drain. This is convenient for many purposes (not just the obvious one of needing somewhere for the water from you bucket showers to go) that are as follows: 1) When ill you can vomit on the floor with easy cleanup, this is my most appreciated advantage to the floor drain 2) If you spill anything on the floor in general, no prob. 3) When you brush your teeth you can spit on the floor. I know this is not necessary if you have a sink, but it is still kind of satisfying in a weird way. 4) You no longer need things like floor mats to keep your floor dry. It’s not supposed to be dry. It’s a bathroom. A room for bathing.
5)Wedding clothes: Not only are they way better for making one feel like an 80’s rock star, but you also get to wear like 8 different dresses for your wedding. That is the feature I like best. When you get married (a 2 or 3 day affair here) you don’t have to pick that one perfect dress, you get to pick like 8 perfect dresses and play makeover for 3 days. Sweet.
6)Text messages: They are just better. As a whole, way more entertaining and they make far less sense. For that matter, use of english is better here in many ways. Or more comical at least. Like when my co-teacher asks me if he can say "rub it out" in place of "erase the chalk board" or when one of the female teachers at my school tells me that my hair looks "especially" today. And on that note the text of the week goes to either:

1) In response to a text I sent about rats in my bed.... "Just your Cambodian snuggle buddies... You know, compliments of the Peace Corps."
2) OR "I want to ask you some questions. The sentence 'this is the color yellow,' and this is the yellow color. Which one is correct or both are correct?" This is only funny because I got it from my co-teacher at about 10:00 at night and then again from another co-teacher the following morning around 5:45am.

Cambodia is breaking me.

Not really. But there were a few significant events this past week that were just ridiculous, maddenning, hillarious, or some other extreme emotion.

#1) This week I was told I am fat for the first time in my life. I don't think I have actually gained weight here, and if I have, not much. But the other day I was sitting minding my own business eating breakfast when my host brother walked over pointed at my stomach and informed me that I had gotten fat after only 2 months here and would behuge by the end of two years. Thanks Cambodia.

#2) Yesterday I was walking down to take a shower when I get hit in the face with a bat. The animal not the sporting equipment. Thanks Cambodia.

#3) While in class earlier this week I got a phone call from an unknown number. I answered it. It was a strange man. I said "who is this." He said "I am the monk." I do not know how a monk got my phone number, but now he has it and is texting me often. I might go hang with him at a pagoda this weekend. We shall see. This brings me to the text of the week (just for you dad, since you requested that this blog feature continue):

"Hi ! Nice 2 meet u again ! Hope 2 see you anyday. ok? Because, I 1 2 make friendship with u. Because u a good person. The old wood is the best 2 burn, the old book is the best 2 read, The old wine is the best 2 drink, The old friend is the best 2 keep 4ever... G.Luck 4 U....OK....And successfully in ur life."

Seems like the kind of text one should get from a monk they have never met right? Right. Thanks Cambodia.

"Cher, cher, cher...!" and sweet potatos

As much as I may have previously been disinclined towards the teaching profession I find it is growing on me in Cambodia. There is something oddly endearing about hearing "hello cher!" wherever you go, whether you know the individual in question or not. I am finding that I am getting increasingly attached to my students and enjoying time in the classroom more and more. The following are some good "cher"statements from this week: "Cher, you are not normal." This was a statement in regaurds to my appearance. "Cher, you read good, I have made you a friend in my heart." And "cher, thank you from my heart you praise me." This occured on a visit I paid to the former host family of the previous PC volunteer. After sitting there a while a congregation of 12th grade girls formed around me and this was the response one of them gave me when I told her she spoke english very clearly.



This week I started teaching english at the health center as well. Already I feel vastly more "in" with the staff. I have also found that I very much like teaching adult learners. They are far less timid than my high school students...not to mention I don't have to follow a specific curriculum. They do, however, all call me "cher" now as well.

Other interesting occurances since I last wrote:

1) Rats LOVE butterscotch. My aunt Diane sent me a lovely (and much appreciated) care package with all kinds of goodies in it. Among these was a bag of dumdums. Earlier this week I went to retrieve one of the dum dums and found that a rat had gotten into the bag. What was interesting was that it had attacked ALL of the butterscotch suckers and NONE of the others. So there you have it. Rats seem to really enjoy butterscotch dum dums.

2) While in town a couple of weeks ago we paid a visit to one of the tailors whome we had made friends with on a previous occasion. We were having her finish the ends of several Kromas (plaid multipurpose peice of fabric people use as a headcovering among other things). She had a large bag of fabric scraps and, as I love to sew random little things, I asked her what she did with the scraps, and whether or not she would sell them. She ended up giving me a large bag of various peices of beutiful fabric, silks and satins in many colors (and refused to let me pay her). I was beyond excited by the possibility of all the fun things I could make! One of my first projects was a fun silk hair flower to repay her for her kindness.



3) I got prank called by a police officer, I think he may even be my commune police cheif. Theother day I am sitting on a bench outside the teachers lounge at school, enjoying the slightly cooler weather and watching some students play soccer, when my phone rings. I answer it and no one is there...I say "Hello, hello...." then here resounding laughter and turn around to find several teachers and the officer laughing and holding up his phone. Would this happen in America...prob not.

4) The other day at school one of the female teachers started petting my arm and asked me if my arm hair was natural. Huh?

5) I went to my first funeral this past week. My co-teacher's father-in-law passed away so I went to the funeral with two other teachers. This was not only culturally facinating but also an amusing event in several ways. For starters the co-teachers I went with rode bikes since I cannot ride a moto (this was actually a really kind gesture since people tend to avoid physical exertion when possible). The funny part was this: we met at the private primary school near my house and they just randomly took some little kids bikes. So, not only were they riding bikes, but one teacher wrode a bike with tires literally a foot in diameter, and the other rode a pink "turbo fairy" bike. Following them barreling down dirt rodes (with mud pits deeper than the small bike itself!)on bikes stolen from children, was beyond funny. Now, I had expected to be going to the family home and paying my respects, then leaving. But I had in fact been invited to the procession portion of the funeral in which the family and all guests walk the body to the family's wat. Had I know this I would not have sported never before worn closed toed mary-jane shoes from the states (it was finally cold enough to wear closed toed shoes). After walking about 3 miles I had bleeding blisters on both my feet. My co-teachers FLIPPED. I believe the exact statement made was "OH Meghan, I am soooo sorry I have made this happen to you!" While I certainly appreciated their concern, I was also exceedinly amused by the level of concern shown for an occurance all too commonplace to any high-heel loving woman in America.



6) Favorite text of the past couple weeks: "I loath wedding season. And whoever brought stereo systems to Cambodia- whatn an ass-hole." I could not agree more.

This weekend we were fortunate enough to have our language IST in which about 18 of us (mostly K3s and a few K2s) all gathered in Battambang town. In a thoughtful gesture, Peace Corps planned this to coincide nicely with Thanksgiving. Thanks to the efforts of our two provintial town volunteers, we were all able to celebrate the holiday together at a local restaurant complete with American football, smoked turkey, mashed potatos and gravy, sweet potatos, string beans, pie and ice cream. It was a phenomenal mean by all accounts. What was most surprising to me however, was how entirely content I felt. I certainly miss my family and would have loved to be with them for the holidays but felt no lament or regret to be exactly where I was. There was something great about being able to celebrate an American holiday in a traditional way here with so many people sharing this common (yet varying) experience. I also find it amusing that my first experience with sweet potatos was in Cambodia.