Cambodia Eh

I am about to close a week and half of a small part of my adventures.  I have not been top notch for the past few days, but that has not shorted the sweetest of things.  I thought I would fill you in on some of my favorite moments of this week thus far.

First off, laughing to tears with my friends - with my Barbie-Shrek dialogue.

One of the greatest parts of this experience has revolved a lot around food.  I will say that I enjoy trying new food and getting a piece of culture by plate.  But, I do miss cooking.  I am feeling more like a nomad, keeping my things in a suitcase and walking the street for some food.  A few days ago, 4 LC students and I went out to grab some dinner.  In Cambodia, most restaurants/buildings are set up looking like one or two stall garages.  So they are left open all day and typically have an outside patio in the front.  I was sitting there took a glace to my left and it was like a live commercial - the commercial I am thinking of is the one where you are asked to donate money to fund a child for a year. Then, they run the picture of a barefoot child in torn and dirty clothes before you. The 6 year old girl I say had big brown eyes and long brown hair, she stopped for a moment in her dirty clothes and sandals emotionless.  After about 10 seconds, she ran off before I could even react.  Her face stuck with me up throughout the meal. I had ordered a simple vegetable curry.  I wasn't hungry, not feeling the greatest and couldn't finish my $2 meal.  As I was sitting there two young boys, I would guys they were both around 4 or 5 years old.  They spoke no English.  They too were in dirty clothes.  They were standing off to the side of me.  The waiters were shooing them away, the two boys took a few steps back.  I pointed to my stomach as and the food and asked if they were hungry.  They just looked at me.  Typically children put their hands out for money, but these boys (and the young girl I saw didn't appear to be asking for money).  I motioned them to come closer.  I took two bowls from the table and filled each of them with my vegetable curry and gave them chopsticks.  Meanwhile, my friends are noticing looks from others around us.  The place wasn't busy.  But a Frenchman looked over the scene is disgust.  As I looked around the waiters were watching us, they were emotionless - I had no idea what they were thinking.  At this point I wasn't sure if this was culturally acceptable, but I wasn't going to change my actions.  The two boys immediately sat down next to me at the curb and ate every last bit of the food.  One boy handed me his bowl and took off.  I noticed a waiter walking my way, I was thinking to myself, 'here it comes, he's going to tell us the is not acceptable in the restaurant.'  He picked up my plate and scraped a small piece of bokchoy that I had missed, into the boy's bowl.  I smiled inside. The other boy sat there quietly holding his bowl.  My friend filled his bowl with some of her food. He sat there and ate more.  He later looked up at me handed me his bowl and walked off.  All I can say is, those boys were hungry.  I keep thinking about them.  Often kids are out late at night walking around barefoot.

It is frequent that handfuls of kids will be seen scattered around the streets, days or night.  Some wanting to feather dust window for money. Others waited along side tuk tuk's wanting money.  Obviously I can't give money to everyone.  I often turn them down.  From what I have gathered, these children's parents have the kids go out asking for money.  In America these kids would be playing, sleeping, or in school. 

Last night, some of us chose to do a night boat cruise down the Mekong. This was quite beautiful.  The weather was calm and cool, and some nightlights lined the banks.  The boat was large.  It was $40 for 2 hours - $3 each. As we set out, there was some "interesting chanting music in the distance, kinda had an eery yet awesome feeling as we set out into the darkness.  And then there were fireworks, ending the celebration in honor of the king, we picked a good night.  I may have been pulled into a California blonde conversation that lasted a beautiful 20+ minutes...I'll cut it short...it involve about 18 - So, ya like umm.....so like I (LONG PAUSE) think that darkness is super creepy, like if you look over there, how it's so dark, like ya know, (LONG PAUSE), you know what I mean like. Just look. Like don't say anything, just look at it then listen. Do you like get what I'm saying. It so like creepy.  The conversation was good because I was forced to be creative and think of 18 synonyms for "yes, ya, uh huh, yep.." She's cute, really. What will be even sweeter though, is her class of twenty or so.. that she will be teaching the hallmarks of the English language. She is a nice girl, gin or no gin.

After the cruise, some of us chose to head out to go dancing. However, we quickly found out that Wed night was the last night of silence.  So no music.  It was fine by me.  Some of us went to sit in a outside bar to visit.  A couple of us girls noticed a little girl, 8 years old, came over to our table.  She didn't get to close.  She was SO cute! She was really shy.  Just behind her were her two parents.  We quickly found that she knew English and it was obvious that she and her parents were so proud of it.  He dad was just as cute as she.  Whenever we would talk to her, she would smile and shyly look away.  Soon enough we asked her if she knew animals, she nodded.  Her parents at the table behind her/us kept looking at us smiling.  Her dad repeatedly would get up and tell her things in Khmer (I think he was telling her to talk and tell us words in English and Khmer). He must have gotten out of his chair ten times. Did I mention how cute this was. This dad was so happy.  Then, he brought his daughter a pen and napkin.  She then started writing animal names, in flawless handwriting..."deer, dog, monkey, lame (lamb), cat, etc" She was so proud.  As we asked her more questions she would say English words then say them in Khmer.  This made my night even better.  This is seriously what me being here is all about. I am looking forward to more of this.


Today I finished my last day of training in Cambodia at Pannasastra University of Cambodia (picture on L). Wow, it has been truly great.  Tonight is the seeing us off night at the LC hotel.  I was outside after getting back from class and was talking with some kids ages 6-10.  Boy 1: What is you name? What fruit do you like? What do you job? What is your dad's name? Where you live? Boy 2: Asking me know if I know the song Africa - we both sang and did some dancing with it, he laughed with me then walked away? Several little girls: What is your name? Boy3: Hey, you know Gangnam Style, this was my transition into some random dance moves with him. Hes was so cute. He laughed the whole time.  The security guards were laughing at me too.

Girl 1 (never met her before): YOU! - I make I contact with her emotionless face as she puts her hands up and out.  There was no communication.  She looked serious. I turned my head to see if my friend was outside yet. The girl turned toward me quickly said one word LOUDLY to return my attention.  Her hands out again.  We then broke into the ABCs with hand claps. It was intense. Then she stared me down again, emotionless and with no words.  We then proceeded into vertical and alternating hand-claps with the ABCs.  The song ended. We made eye contact. We both walked away in silence. - I don't think just anyone can do this..it was like I was being called upon.

What do you get when you mix some German, Swedish, SoDak, deep Texas, and a a few Khmer? ..some feather kickin' fun.  In Cambodia, it's popular to play a badmitten-like kicking game.  It looks like a feathered dart with 8 plastic rings at the base instead of a needle/stem.  It is was less arrow dynamic than a hackey-sac.  We kicked it around for a while, kinda fun! They had a BBQ for us, with the weekly Karaoke Thursday.  All of my friends have told me that I have to do Barbie Girl after my exposure in my presentation this week. I keep getting laughs about this as the week has trailed on.  I will miss my new friends as we part ways.

Tomorrow we set off for Sihanoukville, Cambodia. This is to be a fun weekend trip after intense coursework this week.  We leave tomorrow morning (Friday).  Those of us leaving for Thailand training will depart Sunday morning for Pattaya, Thailand.  I am not particularly looking forward to the overall location, but there are bound to bee good attributes.  I have been told that Pattaya is a very touristy area, run by Russians, overused beaches.  I will make the most of it as I get into my training. Come Monday, 8am I will be in teacher mode.  I will be working with English beginner level English speakers 20+ years old.  This will be for two weeks, as a part of my graduation requirements.  In about a week I will be setting up job interviews. 

I just got my Thai visa today, things are getting real. I am so ready for more.  "Oh, goodness I am being called for some Barbie Girl karaoke." Yikes, this is crazy, I don't even like the song unless Julia is singing it, what did I get myself into?  People in Cambodia are really serious about Karaoke.

Love ya all, thinking of you all everyday.

PS I am almost to 1700 page views, kinda cool. And I have 12 official blog members so far (some of you need pics on yours by the way - you don't have to use a pic of yourself).

PPS I am not proofing this because I am not as perfect as my twin. Instead I will embrace my rugged influences.