Dollface Liar?

I am going to attempt this whole blog pre-write thing again. We shall see. Currently I am laying in bed attempting to write while being pelted every 20 seconds or so by the various bugs that are small enough to penetrate my pretty pink mosquito net. This is a minor nuisance except when one of the bugs goes for my eye, but this only happens every few minutes. I am also trying really hard to cough up a lung at the moment.

Last weekend was spent in Battambang town with all of the other volunteers in my province, in turns. I am learning rapidly that I will need to keep those trips to a minimum as I spend roughly 10-15X more money in a given day in town than I do at site (I usually spend about a $1.25 a day on food and that’s about it). It is however worth it for the occasional ice cream Sunday, plate of hashbrowns and toast, or pizza. While most of this weekend was spent eating (quite literally) it did have a purpose. On Monday afternoon all of the K3 volunteers in Battambang met with the POE (Provintial Office of Education) director. To my surprise all of our school directors were there as well. I had only met my school director once, briefly, and he had not been present for the Peace Corps meeting attended by other school directors. Thus, I was quite curious about what he might have to say. After the POE director gave us some information on the current situation with education in our province, he gave each of us and our school directors a chance to say something. All of the other school directors discussed issues they would like to see their volunteers address at their schools in the next two years, as well as mentioning bits about work don’t by previous volunteers. My school director however informed everyone that he would like to work closely with Peace Corps to change the moto policy (we aren’t allowed to ride them) because it makes transportation difficult for me. I could not help laughing at this as the moto policy is a source of irritation (necessary as it may be) for many people in more remote sites and has nothing to do with my role at the school.

The fun did not end at the meeting though, because this is Cambodia. I left the meeting with Katie (another K3) and headed to the taxi stand that heads to our sites. My site is north of Battambang town and Katie’s is west of me down a nasty dirt road. As it turned out, in the 2 days since we had left our sites, the road to Katie’s site had become conveniently under water. It was passable by large vehicle, but those weren’t running at 5:00pm. So we got to have a nice sleepover at my house. My host family generously put her up for the night, but I paid for it (figuratively speaking). You see, Cambodians (I have observed) LOVE to compare. The following day, after Katie had made it home, I got to hear all about the differences between us: “Katie knows more Khmer than you, she can listen to Khmer better and say more than you, but she has short hair and your hair is long. Why don’t you know as much Khmer as Katie?” and just in case it was not enough to compare me to Katie, they decided to dive into the comparisons with the K1 who was here before me. “Meghan, Teacher Liz knew a lot more khmer than you, you are smaller than her though. She knew how to eat more Khmer food than you. When she went back to America she cried because she did not want to leave. She will not forget us, but you maybe will forget. She ate fish and cuitio….” And so on and so on. It is just unfathomable to my family that I prefer other foods to cuitio (Chinese noodles with meat and veggies) for breakfast. Such is the lot of the first round of volunteers to fill replacement sites in Cambodia! I suppose I just need to remind myself that the previous volunteer is likely their only frame of reference to Americans, they want me to speak more Khmer because they care about communicating with me, and my choice to not eat cuitio for breakfast would be something like someone choosing to eat plain toast instead of waffles.

On a lighter note, it is always fun to compare stories of the ridiculous or amusing things that people say to us on a given day. Katie had some good ones this week. One of the male teachers at her school asked her “do you feel like a flower today,” the other morning. As we both found this puzzling I asked one of my male co-teachers what this meant. He informed me that a flower was a girl that boys liked to be around (boys are the birds and bees, hmmmm). So basically the teacher asked her if she felt like attracting men that day. Weird. She also got passed a note from a female teacher during a staff meeting which read “I want to sleep with you.” It took a fair bit to explain exactly what that would mean in America, and to decipher what the teacher had actually attempted to communicate. Language barriers, though annoying can certainly be cause for amusement as well.

This brings me to some of the more ridiculous things I experienced at school this week (though I do not think I can compare to having a teacher say they want to sleep with me). I have made the observation recently that every time I divulge my age to a class of students, they laugh. I was very confused as to why this would be the case. I have heard two possible explanations. The first, and most likely, is that some of my students are only slightly younger than I am, if not the same age. Due to failed senior exams, late starts in school, and a wealth of other reasons, I actually have some 11th grade students in their 20’s. The laughter is thus that I have finished “university” and am a teacher at the same age that some of them are finishing high school. I cannot imagine what it would have felt like to have a teacher the same age as me when I was in the 11th grade. The other possible reason I heard from one of my co-teachers was; “The students say you have a face like a doll.” So apparently they laugh at my age because I have a doll face. WHAT!?

So the other day I am in a new class and giving an introduction. I do the usual shpeal about myself and then start answering questions. One of the girls asked if I had a boyfriend. A question I have grown accustomed to getting from them (always followed by resounding laughter). So I said “no, I do not have a boyfriend.” At which point they of course laughed…but then…my co-teacher stood up and said “So, do you believe her?” and they all said “NO!” simultaneously. If I thought I could count on my co-teacher for some backup, I was sorely mistaken. He just said “I do not believe her either.” So basically I am a doll-faced lying little American.

Part way through this week I made a trip to the health center. It is only the second time I have gone as the first visit was slightly discouraging. The director had no idea who I was or that I was supposed to be working there one day a week for the next 2 years. It is tough for me to get over myself and go alone with my limited language ability and no set role. It really was quite fascinating though. They still had no idea what I was doing there but I was able to stay and observe for several hours. I watched baby checkups, various consultations, vaccinations, a malaria test…etc… all in the open waiting area of the health center. The whole confidentiality thing isn’t so much an issue here I think. The nurses seemed interested in having me teach English there in the afternoons, and while this is not how I pictured things going, it may turn out to be an excellent in. Some of the other health volunteers have had an easier go of things in terms of jumping into hands on work at their health centers, and I cannot help being a bit envious. I have to continuously remind myself that every site is different and it will take time to build relationships, to learn language, and to gain the trust of people in my community. I am reminded lately of something that my college pastor said once (shout out to M-Smith); that you can actually do more harm than good for the things you are most passionate about if you are ignorant about them (not a direct quote, but the sentiment is there). Basically, I cannot address the needs of this community if I do not take the time to learn what they are. Jumping in with my ideas of what should be done and how it should be done won’t really benefit anyone if the ideas are not generated from a genuine understanding of the needs of these people. So patience, patience, patience…not my strong suit, but I think if anything can teach it…