Catastrophes and Tiger Balm

This week I had a catastrophe. Now, on the whole these days I am doing quite well. On a day in and day out basis I feel quite content in my general surroundings and have very little cause for complaint. My one big issue with this country remains noise. Cambodia is loud. I told this to one of my co-teachers recently and was rather startled to see his confusion. He actually told me that he thought Cambodia to be a quiet and tranquil place. Surely this is because he has never been anywhere else, and having been raised here he does not register the cacophony that is this country. I do not think I have gone a single day in this country without some period of time filled with music, speeches, or chanting monks being played over loud speakers with very bad sound quality. Thus, when my i-pod died I was beyond distraught. I actually cried. It was inconceivable to me that I could continue living in this country without it! I am glad to report, however, that my father took pity on me and aided me in buying a new one. Sanity restored. Crisis averted.

The last several weeks have been fairly uneventful otherwise. I have had very little school due to exams and grading of exams and holidays and so forth. My host "sister" was visiting from Phnom Penh over Chinese New Year and that was a lot of fun. She is close to my age and knows a fair amount of english so I had a great time with her. It was also helpful in learning things about the family. For example, I finally figured out where Foo came from and why he lives with his Yays. I learned that our neighbors may or may not be peeping toms. That was a fun conversation. "Cher, my grandmother says maybe you be careful in your room because the neighbors are not so polite." WHAT!? I also learned that Khmer people think airconditioning gives them acne. I find this hilarious since Americans in Cambodia think a lack of AC gives them acne, but alas, both may be true.

Now for some of the "bests" over the last couple weeks:

Best moment at site: I was teaching english at the health center and the nurses were trying to get me to eat some treats. I told them I would only eat one because I want my clothes to fit when I go back to America to visit in April. I then told them I need to exercise more. They then dragged me into a back room where they pre-natal check-ups and turned on the tv. As it turns out that had recently recieved a "Salsa-cise" dance work out video which they are now doing twice a day monday through friday. It was one of the most hilarious things I have seen in this country. I fully intend to begin salsa-cising regularly when I get back to site (I am in PP right now for in service training).

Best PC Staff moment: I will have to give a little background on this one. Khmer people LOVE tiger balm. For those of you who may not know –Tiger balm is a menthol-esque chap-stick like substance that people use for all kinds of purposes. We barangs use it primarily to lessen the itch of mosquito bites and occasionally for blocked sinuses and headaches (a little tiger balm on the temples or under the nose…) Khmer people however, use it for any ailment you might imagine. We all joke with each other about this. When someone has a medical problem or an injury or something the immediate response from one of us is usually “oh did you put tiger balm on it?” You might think this is an exaggeration but a quote from this week’s in service training proves that it is not. We were discussing safety and security concerns and road safety was one of the topics brought up. We got onto the topic of what to do if you are in an accident or view an accident. One of our staff members started suggesting steps of things to do if you witness an accident where someone is injured. It went something like this: “First maybe you move the person out of the middle of the road. Then maybe you see if you can get anything to help them, like if they need some tiger balm.” I don’t think we all meant to laugh. But we all did. It was just so perfect.

Best text messages of the week: “sister, what do Sunbunny and Snowbaby mean?” Or "Sister, what is a meat pie?"