Squatting

One day I was at the primary school and one of the teachers, a Khmer girl in her early 20s started laughing. She was laughing and pointing at me (in a friendly way, we're friends). She was amused because because I was squatting. I was squatting in a way that I learnt in China, in Australia people normally squat a different way. She said she didn't think foreigners could do that. Have a look at these photos: Squatting in Cambodia

Lost birthday

I was talking to a Khmer girl about my age and she said she didn't know when her birthday really is. Kimsoeun doesn't know what day he was born on- it was some time during Pol Pot time so I don't think his mum knew what day it was. But I was surprised that my friend didn't know. She said her mum had heaps of kids and didn't keep track. I guess in Australia you must register births with the government, I think you can do that here to, but you don't need to do it right away. Both my friend and Kimsoeun made up their own birthday when they started going to school.

Overwhelmed

Yesterday was a really intense day. Perhaps like eating a bowl of really yummy peppermint ice cream (intensely yummy) but occasionally coming across a really hot chili that somehow got mixed in (small but painful). If you like peppermint ice cream and you don't like spicy food that analogy will work. It was so exhausting but that's only just starting to catch up with me today.
Let me tell you some of the things that happened. (Keep in mind this is all happening in hot humid weather.)

"Ice cream" was the dominant feeling of the day, but I'll start with a "chili".
I spent the morning at three different hospital-like places. A friend of a friend is sick so we went to visit her and give blood for her. She's been sick for months, has three kids and a husband who is often drunk. She was lying on the bed crying and crying. As her husband drinks they don't have enough money for food. She said she didn't mind dying as her life is so hard anyway. But I guess other times she worries about what will happen to her kids.

Hospitals here don't have all the staff that ones in Oz do. If you are a patient you need family to stay with you to cook food and look after you. She had her kids and her mother with her, and my friend brought her some take away meals and fruit.

So overwhelming thinking about this sick ladies' life. Others from her church have been bringing her food as well, even thought they barely have enough food for themselves each day.

Knowing there are so many sick and poor people in Cambodia is overwhelming.



After visiting her I went to give blood, the doctor wanted 300ml so they took me to a place that does it. I've given blood in Australia, but this was the first time in Cambodia. I was a little nervous- wondering if I would understand all the instructions, wondering if the needle was clean etc etc. Luckily the form I had to fill out was an English version, although the lady who had to read it couldn't read English. When they were about to stick the needle in me I was trying to watch so I could see if it was a new clean one, but at the same time not wanting to watch. So I guess that was a bad experience as such, but a second intense thing for the day. (I went to the toilet there just before I gave blood- there was a sick but with no taps in the sink (there was another tap else where though)- perhaps a little different from medical buildings in Australia.)


And now to the "Ice cream". The Bible school had their Khmer new year celebrations yesterday. In the afternoon we had a chapel service, then games outside. We ate dinner together on the grass, then back to the hall for a singing competition and dancing.

As well as students and staff, others came including people from church, old students, my old language helper, some Aussie friends. So it was really fun to see everyone. The students had spent the last few days decorating the hall. (photos below)

The chapel service was fun for me, we sang some songs that I know some of the words to. I would have been able to sing more if I had the words in front of me, but I was still able to join in a bit.

Some of the games were so funny to watch- they had a sack race with TWO people in one sack. So funny!!!!

Other games were tug of war, and throwing black round seeds to knock other ones over.




In the midst of all the fun, someone ran into some glass Coke bottles. The next thing I knew they had picked him up- all I saw was a bloody foot in the air. He was put in a car and raced off to the doctor.

During dinner I sat with our Aussie friend and people from our old and new church. Then if was back into the hall for a singing comp. A rep from each small group got up to sing a song. It was so funny to watch- during the singing people kept running up to the singer to give them flowers. Everyone was very excitable and there was so so much cheering and clapping. (Not sure how to explain this very well, I guess you had to be there- it was so so funny.)

The boy who hurt his foot got up (half carried) to sing too, much cheering. He was given a seat to sit on.

Things got a little crazy towards the end. When people ran out of flowers they started grabbing pineapples and watermelons from the hall decorations. Students had created a centre-piece to dance around, but it ended up doubling as a source of presents for the singers.



Soeun's small group won!!! A student in his small group sang a song that he (Soeun) wrote about Romans 8.



After that it was time for dancing. Soeun and students played music and others danced around the fruit thingy. The students tried to teach me khmer dancing but mostly they ended up laughing- it was fun! I thought after giving blood I would be tired but I ended up dancing and hanging around for ages. The fun that had started around 2pm lasted until about 10pm!!!

But then I got a message from a friend. They had their bag snatched on the way home. Not pleasant. Travelling by moto or tuk tuk is dangerous at night, esp around this time of year when people need extra money for New Year things.

So that's why I'm feeling overwhelmed and tired today! Also I've been thinking about traffic accidents lately as the other day one happened in front of my as I was riding up a main street (Norodom). And did I mention it's hot and humid these days?

Arrival of Aussies!!!!

The last few days have been a whirl wind of tuk tuks, markets and restaurants. Over the weekend some friends from Australia arrived in Phnom Penh and we've been having fun helping them settle in. Its been so fun for me to have Aussie friends around, its so nice to have friends that are easy to relate to- same language, same culture, same age, have lots of mutual friends. I don't know anyone else here like that, esp anyone who has known me for as long as them, and who knows my friends in Australia. Often showing new people around is physically and emotionally exhausting, but for me the last few days have just been really fun and refreshing (even though we have spent a lot of time in Phnom Penh traffic which normally makes people grumpy- esp as its hot season). I don't think I realised before they came but I think I've missed having friends to hang out with and talk to. This last weekend was almost like a bit of a break from Cambodia, a holiday in Australia!(In the comfort of my own home- without having to go overseas.) Also its fun that they are a married couple so the four of us can hang out. Mostly I know single girls here so if I meet up with them its just the two of us, so its been nice have Kimsoeun around too. Not many of my friends and family in Australia have spent much time with him so I'm happy these guys can get to know him.

Power cuts, no water

Often we have power cuts, which can be pretty annoying. Particularity if its hot and you want to use the fan, or if you just put on a load of washing. The other morning I was happy to see that the power was on, many mornings its off for a few hours. However, just as I started the machine our water stopped! Our tap outside still worked but all the taps inside didn't. I had just been about to wash the dishes too! To use the washing machine you need to have both the power and water on at the same time.

But anyway- most people in Cambodia don't have running water or much of a power supply- let alone a washing machine. The students in the dorm next door hand wash so I all their clothes as most people do.

Many areas of PP have power cuts, but I haven't heard of anyone else having water problems. I think our problem has something to do with the water pressure on campus, cos I had really good showers when all the students were away. Also, right now the area near our local market is flooded even though no rain, I guess there must be something wrong with a pipe.

Ghosts

Last weekend I was at home by myself, as Soeun and most of the students were away in provinces. Whenever I'm home by myself Khmer people ask me if I'm scared of ghosts. They never seem to believe me that I'm not, as it seems Khmer people are scared of ghosts. My language helper has had a bit to do with us strange ex-pats. I heard her explaining to some other Khmer people that foreigners aren't scared of ghosts.
I was amused to find the next time I checked the kids blog (who live at the dump) they had written a story about ghosts! "Scaring of ghost"

"Fat"

Even though I'm well aware that many Asian women are much smaller than Westerners,and that talking about weight isn't as taboo as it is for Aussies, I still find myself amused and surprised sometimes.
Like when I overheard one women greet another by saying "Hello, I haven't seen you for a long time, you have put weight on."
My face must have looked shocked because Soeun quickly tried to calm me down by telling me the lady wasn't offended.
Also, the other day I caught up with a Khmer girl, she told me about a mutual friend of ours I haven't seen for ages. The girl told me "She is really big now- she weighs 60 kg!!!"
I think I was supposed to be shocked at how fat our friend has become, but I just started laughing. I can't believe 60kg is considered "big".

Culture shock resolution

An Australian in India called Donna has an interesting post about the "strange" things that happen around her and her reactions to them. This list of things make her angry but....? Click here.

Leaving Cambodia

I was just reading a blog of a girl who was in Cambodia but is now back in Canada. She wrote a post about what is it like to be back, some things she has had to re adjust to that she wasn't aware of before. Fun things about Canada
I thought this would be an interesting blog for you to read if you have lived overseas, or had friends live overseas. Alison has some blog posts about settling back into her country. It also tells you a lot about Cambodia.

How do you say “obstetrician” in Khmer?

An expat women we know has had trouble explaining what her father’s job is. When Khmer friends ask her she explains he is a doctor who helps deliver babies, but not a midwife.

She ask Soeun what the word for “obstetrician” in Khmer is. He said as far as he knows the midwife does it all. Our friend asked “But what happens if it’s a complicated birth?" 

I think she wanted to know who they would call if it got too much for the mid wife to handle.

Kimsoeun’s face was still blank, I don’t think he had heard of such a doctor.

When his mum gave birth to his younger siblings it was just him and an old lady from the neighbourhood help at the birth. There are people who train as midwives at nursing schools, but Soeun said they probably didn’t want to go to remote villages after they study, so often an old lady will do the job as a mid wife.

 Now days there are some better hospitals in Phnom Penh where people who can afford that sort of health care go, and perhaps they do have obstetricians there? We ‘re not sure, but it’s seems like something the average Cambodian hasn’t heard about.

 So it’s no wonder that “437 mothers per 100,000 live births (died) in 2005 “ . (Phnom Penh Post jan 2009)

Click on the quote below to see the full article. 

"Maternal mortality will continue to be a problem so long as the majority of mothers are using traditional midwives [non-schooled family or community members] to give birth, especially rural people," she said.

Cross cultural toilet talk part 2

A joke I heard on a youth group trip....

A 5 year old girl was travelling with her mum, dad and grandma. She needed to use the bathroom so she said to her grandma "I need to wee".

Her grandma said "Its not polite to talk like that, a girl should say : I need to sing a song."

In the middle of the night, the girl needed to use the bathroom again. She woke up her mum. "Mum, Mum, wake up I want to sing a song."

Her mum's sleepy reply was "Don't wake me, go and sing in your dad's ear."

Cross cultural toilet talk part 1 "Sssshhh"

Today I watched a Khmer teacher teaching English to her 4-5 year olds. She was teaching them the English sound "sh". As this sound doesn't occur in the Khmer language it is a hard new sound for learners. To help them, she said- "Sssshhhhh, like when you go to the toilet."

It sounded funny to me, but seemed normal to them. I don't think I would have got what she meant if I hadn't come across this before. A few years ago I was teaching some adults English. When I wanted them to be quiet and listen to me I said "SSSHHHHH!".

This sent them into fits of giggles, I had no idea why. I told my then-boyfriend about it and he explained that sshhhhh is the sound that mothers use when they ask their kids if they need to use the bathroom!

"Ssshhhh?"

Two interesting things I read today:

The court findings about a car accident that killed someone I used to go to church with, click here.

And a light hearted look at expat life in Phnom Penh: The Western Man and the PP Barber

Cold weather part 2

While we head south on the weekend others headed north, someone told me that it got down to 16 up there! I caught up with a Khmer girl this morning who said she couldn't sleep when she was there as she was so cold, if she stayed there a few days maybe she'd be close to death. She was worried about old people and kids, with cold weather how can they survive. 

If you live somewhere where it gets even cold than this , it might sound strange to you. But most of the year Cambodia is much warmer, so people aren't prepared for these low temps. As well as people's bodies being used to much warmer weather most people also don't have the sort of clothes that we might call "winter clothes". Also houses are built with he heat in mind, wooden houses on stilts have bamboo slates for the floor, this way the air can flow. And people don't usually wash in hot water. I haven't washed my hair for awhile- its just too cold.

The cold weather rated a mention in the paper- click here.

And by the way, when my Khmer friend saw my pink beanie (see photos below) she started laughing. She said that's the kind of hat that women wear after they have given birth. New mothers are kept warm and given a special alcoholic medicinal drink.

Kampot province wedding

On Saturday we drove south for about 3 hours to go to a wedding. Its the first time I've been to a wedding so far away from the city. It was in a province called Kampot, basically in the middle of rice paddies! 

Cambodia is a bit like a frying pan, flat in the middle and hills around the outside. When we went to R'kiri last month I was reminded of that when I saw the hills- I hadn't seen hills for ages, I'd forgotten about them. It was fun to see hills again on Saturday.
On the right you can see the wooden house on stilts, I think the bride's family live there. At the colourful entrance to the wedding marquee the bridal party are waiting to welcome guests. More photos of Khmer wedding clothes and wedding traditions on Rachael's blog.
These 2 photos show the food being prepared by these "groma" wearing grandmas, out in the open on a wooden bed frame. What I call a bed anyway, but in Cambodia they are used for sitting around on and eating on. (In the photo below you might be able to see the bed behind the people, under the trees.)

Here is Soeun happily eating a ducks head.
And the ice... even if the water the ice is made from is clean the method of making it into ice cubes (glass size chunks) might not be as hygienic as one might prefer. Although as far as I know my tummy is ok.

In Phnom Penh people travel mostly by motos, I think this was the first wedding I'd seen people come by bike. We came by car and at one point we were getting a bit worried. The way there involved travelling on the ridge between rice paddies, it can get quite narrow at times!

Rice is important!

At church today we ate these cold noodles with herbs like basil and mint,with veggies like lettuce, with sauces like sweet chili sauce, coconut milk, meats like stir fried mince beef and crushed peanuts (and other things but I don't know what they were). So yummy! There was left over so we got to take some home. At dinner time I thought we would each have a bowl (they gave us two bowls to take home.) But Soeun cooked some rice and ate it with some preserved radish (the one that in Chinese is called "white carrot" because it looks like a white carrot, but it does not taste like a radish or look white when its preserved).

He said he needed rice- he didn't want to just eat noodles for a meal.

Where Elephants weep is a new (maybe the first) Cambodian American Rock Opera that has been showing here.

Our house stinks!!!!

Fish.......... it stinks!!! And so does our whole house.

On being Barang (Life as an expat in international communities)

“I’m good at Khmer (language). I can speak better than my dad.” A girl at Sunday School said this, her mum is Khmer and her dad is Aussie. I was glad to hear this as I was teaching an international (English language) Sunday School class and there was a Khmer girl who didn’t understand English.

Also in the class I was teaching last month there were kids from Sri Lanka, Singapore, a Canadian/Khmer and the UK. And the teacher in the next room is from Nigeria.

There are so many expats in Phnom Penh, from so many different countries. Where I lived in China there weren’t many foreigners (or foreign bookshops, food shops).

“You don’t look like a foreigner now,” a Chinese friend said to me one day. I was a bit confused- was I starting to look Chinese? I think what she meant was she could recognise my face, as she could recognise Chinese peoples faces. Whereas, other white people all look the same to her, as she is not used to seeing them.

Whenever I left my house people stared at me, asked me if they could take a photo with me, came to ask me to teach English to them/their child/at the Uncle’s school/ in their cousin’s company etc etc.

“Hello, yes, no, one, two, three” a man in the street said to me once, then kept walking along. I guess he wanted to practise his English.

I bought food from the nearest market. When I was there I could hear the other customers asking the veggie seller about me. “Where is she from?” What does she do?” “How old is she?” The sellers I went to regularly knew all the answers as they had asked me before.

It could be quite stressful being “famous”, sometimes I had to psych myself up just to go out, even if it was just a walk across the road to the shop.

If I ever saw a “weiguoren” (person from an outside country) I didn’t know I would go and say hi, and find out what they were doing in China. I think that happened about twice.

So when I first got to Phnom Penh, I felt excited one day as I was going along on a motorbike taxi- I saw a person with brown hair and a pointy nose walking along the street! If I had been walking too, I would have said hello to them. I thought it was strange the expats showing me around weren’t that excited.

But after a few weeks I realised that there are sooo many people here who are “barang” (literally French, but has come to mean white people in general) and other nationalities. The random white person I see walking down the street wouldn’t expect me to talk to them.

Another thing about living in the capital city with lots of expats is that the English language level is much higher. More people know some English and they know English better.

In China the market was a good place to learn Chinese language. Many people in the town I lived in wanted to practise their English, so didn’t want to speak Chinese when they had the rare chance to speak to an English speaker. But the sellers in the market didn’t know any English so if I wanted to communicate with them I had to learn some Chinese.

So I was very surprised when a Cambodian fruit sellers held up a some fruit and asked me in English “What is this?”

Although I now live in a city with more expats than my previous Asian city, I actually have less to do with other foreigners. I guess when there are less of a group you get to know each other better. In Phnom Penh there are international schools, international churches, shops, restaurants, lots of options for expats.

Westerners in Asia

We watched a movie called Outsourced which showed an American man going to India. We enjoyed watching the interaction between the two cultures. We've never been to India or America but there was lots of stuff we could relate to. I reckon it would be good to watch if you were preparing some people from Oz to go to Asia. As well as the particular cultural differences it shows, you also get to see the main characters culture shock journey. When he first gets there everything is strange and new and he doesn't know how to act, but then when he gets back to the US he misses India. We can tell because he puts lots of spoons of sugar in his tea. The first time he had tea in India he found it strange that they put so much sugar in.


On Sundays I have been watching a show called Somewhere in China. (On the National Geographic channel, we just got cable when our new neighbours moved in.) These 2 American guys who lived in China when they were little and are now photographers made a set of shows in different parts of China. I liked the Yunnan one. Yunnan is close to SE Asia so lots of similarities to here.



Some blogs by ex-pats living in Asia can be found here.