Animals.

I have been thinking a lot about how animals are viewed very differently in countries.  I remember when I studied Italian, we had a whole lesson about how Italians are really interested in animal rights.  There are times when my host family turns on the TV and there is a show from America about animals.  Every now and then, there is an animal segment on “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” (a family favorite).  Recently there was a piece on this family that had pet pigs, about 5 or 6 of them, like most families have dogs.  They wore clothes, were trained and did tricks.  Now, this is silly in America.  But imagine how my family felt when they saw this.  Dogs serve a purpose here, they eat scraps and protect the house from ghosts, as Cambodians believe.  Likewise, cats eat mice, spiders eat mosquitoes and geckos eat every kind of bug.  The big geckos, called “tu-kai” because the sound they make when they “cry” is “tukai”, are considered lucky.  My family asks me about animals in America and when I tell them that sometimes animals are treated like people, sometimes better than people, they find it funny.  And it is pretty funny, actually.  My language isn’t good enough to describe the idea of adopting pets and enrolling them in school or sending them to doggie spas and hotels, and I’m actually glad that I can’t explain that.  The way that my family views animals is very practical.  When a cat lived with us for a few months until it mysteriously drowned in the water basin in the bathroom, no one really made notice of it.  They didn’t feed it; but rather it earned it’s keep by eating the mice in the house.  When I asked my brother where we got the cat, he looked at me like I was nuts and he told me that the cat chose our house, not the other way around.  Apparently, cats meander around and choose the houses with lots of mice in them and when their work is done, they move on.  The chickens that we have are for daily eggs and in case of emergency, we can sell the chickens.  I have seen only a handful of leases and zero doggie bowls. 

Now, before I get to the good stuff, I must explain about ghosts.  Yes, ghosts and animals have a relationship, but more on that later.  Most Cambodians believe in ghosts and are deathly afraid of them.  Ghosts are the spirits of people who died a horrible death and stay around to haunt.  There are constantly stories of ghost sightings near areas where people were murdered.  Many people claim to have seen them.  There were a lot of ghost stories after the stampede.  I heard a story last week that ghosts are haunting a resort in Battambang.  Huck told me that after his aunt died, she visited the house and tried to choke him, his sister and mother.  The story is that she choked to death, but there is speculation that someone poisoned her over a land dispute.  It is not really clear what happened, but all three claim that the ghost visited her to let them know, violently, that she was dead and was upset.  A volunteer, shortly after moving into her host family’s house, woke up nightly with shortness of breath.  She told her host mother and her mother responded that a ghost was trying to choke her because the set up of the room was upsetting the ghost.  They rearranged the room and then the girl was able to sleep.  BS?  I don’t really know, but regardless, it comes up daily.   There are many ghost stories, involving the ghosts of the victims of the Pol Pot regime.  There is a lesson on ghosts in the national curriculum.  When I drew a picture of what Americans think ghosts look like, the students all laughed at me.  I drew a typical floating white sheet with a circle for a mouth and black eyes.  Then the students drew for me a really creepy skeletal like black orb.  It looked more like I think the devil would look like.  No wonder everyone is afraid of them. 

When I talked to my brother about animals, we got on the topic of what animals say.  This was a very enlightening topic because some were the same and some were much more accurate.  I don’t know if I can really write down the way that they are said, but in America, what we think animals say is not exactly accurate.  For instance, pigs don’t say “oink”.  I mean, it’s cute and fun for little kids, but because most families here are farmers or have some sort of animal living at their house, the way that they think animals make noises is much less fairy tale-esque.  We don’t really see cows and pigs in America unless we go to a petting zoo.  I see them everyday.  Also, an important note is the role of ghosts. I broke it down by animal to make it easier.

• Chickens- My first time hearing a chicken impression was from my host sister.  She asked her daughter what chickens said and her daughter couldn’t make the noise, but it sounded like a pigeon impression.  It was much better than my “bahk bahk bahk”.  When I asked my brother about it, he made a weird chicken noise, but he told me that Cambodians translate this from chicken language to Khmer.  They say “ma chak p’dai vuyiek crow” which, in English, means, wake up people of the house and feed me.  This is said by the roosters.  When they say “koh-kee” that means get up.  Also, when a hen lays an egg, she says “ar tuk adoit” which means that she has laid an egg and she is announcing to the family “one more” but usually she says “koh kee” as in get up.
• Dogs- the way I wrote this is pruh with a rolled r.  It’s like a growl and it makes much more sense than “ruff”.
• Cats- We usually just say “meow” in America and Cambodians say the same.  But there is a cry for when they are in heat and a cry for when they have babies. 
• Goats- it is similar, but Cambodians think they “ma”, which means mom here, so it’s the goat calling for his mom.
• Cow- we think they say “moo” but Cambodians think it’s “ah-moh” and they translate that from cow directly to English for “one more”.
• Pigs- They name for pig in Khmer is “cheruk” which comes from what they think the noise is.  So for this animal name= sound it makes.
• Geckos- In English, we only have one name for this animal- big or small.  But in Cambodia, the small ones are “geen jaw” and the big ones are “tukai”.  They are literally everywhere and while the small ones are enjoyable for everyone to look at, most people are afraid of the big ones, even though they are considered lucky.  The belief is that if a “tukai” (the big one) falls from the wall or ceiling and gets stuck on you, 7 married women much come to remove it.  And when they make their noise, it is called “tukai yom” which means “the big gecko cries” and they make the “tukai” noise a few times.  They sort of gargle first a few times and then make the noise.  If they make it 7 times, that is considered bad luck.  I have to be honest, ever since the “tukai” moved outside of my room, I have counted his cries and so far, so good. 
• Owls- Many people think that when they see an owl at night that it is actually a ghost because you can only see it’s eyes. 
• Vultures- Although there are no vultures in Cambodia (or so I am told) these animals are believed to eat ghosts.  After the stampede, my brother told me that vultures came to the site and were circling around the bridge where the stampede happened.  Hopefully they ate all the ghosts. 
• A black bird that we couldn’t identify- When this bird crows someone dies.  It must be the bird of death.  It’s not a crow, not a vulture, not an owl.  What could it be?  Not sure. 
• The word in Khmer for dinosaur is "big camel".  

Between the noises that the animals make and their function, it’s an interesting topic. I think that the functionality of the animals in Cambodia is very appropriate to the culture.  Cambodians are very practical.  For a Cambodian, keeping an animal that doesn’t serve a purpose, but rather takes, is a silly concept.  I don’t like to dwell on the differences between our countries, but this may be one of the very few things that I will chalk up as a difference.  It makes for a really great example of our cultures though.  Every pet that I knew in America was described as the best, groomed, bred, primped and trained.  “Isn’t she just the cutest dog?” “Fido is the most beautiful dog”.  I always knew, but now I can really see the indulgence that we have as Americans.  We can’t just have a dog, it has to be a member of the family.  It has to have its own house.  It’s own food, identity, even name.  I’m not knocking it at all, I will have a dog when I get home, and that’s for sure.  But for Cambodians, animals have a purpose.  Everyone in the family serves a purpose, and when a family does something, everyone does it.  Dave, a fellow volunteer, has a host father who catches fish all day and when he comes home, no matter what time it is, every helps him unload the fish, regardless of what they are doing.  In my family, when my mom comes home with the groceries for the day, we do whatever we can to look busy so we don’t have to make ten trips to the care.  Animals are the same.  If this animal is going to stay here, it’s going to have a purpose.  A watch dog, an mouse eating cat, an insect eating gecko, etc.  I love pets and animals, I think that they are great.  But that is a sort of luxury that most Cambodians can’t have. It’s very aesthetic in America, but in Cambodia, dogs aren’t bred, or even spade and neutered, which actually is kind of gross and makes for some really ugly dogs.  We aren’t really an agricultural society, so I’m sure that this doesn’t apply to the animals in the countryside.  But most Americans aren’t farmers, they are suburban or urban and maybe have a patch of herbs in the backyard.  An American dog that catches a rabbit in the backyard is seen as a trophy dog but in Cambodia, it’s an expectation because that’s dinner.

In other news, I took a trip to the orphanage to check on the hygiene station and things are looking really good.  The builder decided to build two different stations, which makes more room for the kids to wash their hands and brush their teeth.  There was some controversy about the height, but we will be building a little step for the younger children, so they can reach the station.  I met with my team of youths involved in the workshop this weekend.  We made our plans and will purchase the supplies on Saturday and deliver the workshop on Sunday morning.  The two students from the summer workshop (Vida and Kimny) are taking the lead and training the two new girls (Sothea and Sophy) and the new boy (Rong).  They each have a daily task at the orphanage.  Because the children eat every meal together, Sothea is managing every child washing their hands before the meals, Sophy is in charge of leading the teeth brushing after each meal and Rong is in charge of maintenance to the station, which involves cleaning and making sure that there is always soap and that it is working.  Each child will get a toothbrush, but Sophy will be in charge of keeping them, because a three year old orphan will lose that toothbrush immediately.  This will ensure that they stay clean and not lost.  We will put tape around each brush so that each child has their own.  I think that the system is pretty good and Kimny, Vida, Sothea, Sophy and Rong are really excited about it.  Youth empowerment is one of the most important tasks as a volunteer, and one of the most rewarding. 

The kitchen is near where that car is in the corner

3 faucets each

Two stations.  Those are the bathrooms. 

I also found out, and this is embarrassing, that the name I have been calling my host sister is wrong.  How does that even happen?  Well, allow me to example this year long mistake.  I picked up on the fact that Chun Lai was calling Huck, ---- Huck.  I heard it a few times, but he said it fast so I assumed it was one of those small words like, “there” or a little kid word.  Then I asked Huck about it and he said that the word is “jake” so Chun Lai calls Huck, “Jake Huck” and when I asked what it means, he said that it’s uncle in Chinese.  Apparently in Chinese there are two words or aunt and two for uncle, differentiating between a parent’s siblings.  It’s pretty confusing, but let’s take Chun Lai and Young Uh for an example.  Chun Lai’s dad is the oldest in the family and Young Uh’s mom is the second youngest, Chun Lai calls my sister Sokeit “go Keit” and Young Uh calls her “ee ee Keit”.  So, the children of the boys in my family use the same words for aunt and uncle and the children of the girls use the same words.  It’s really confusing.  I very slowly put two and two together and realized that I have been calling my sister the same thing that Chun Lai calls her, which is “go Keit” which means Aunt Keit.  So I have been calling my sister Aunt Keit.  This actually came to me in a dream a month ago when Keit was mad at me that I don’t call her “bong srey” for older sister.  I wanted to be like the family, and I (wrongfully) assumed that Chun Lai was calling her by her first name and because I call Huck only Huck, no brother in front or anything.  I actually think of him as a twin, but we don’t do the older brother/sister thing.  And I’ve never heard them call each other older brother/ sister.  Lesson learned. 

Here are some pictures from a wedding I went to last weekend.  I have another this Saturday.  

Ma and Me

Ma and Chun Lai

Older sister and Ma

Our table

Me and Bong

The bride dancin

I have also solidified my holiday plans.  I will spend December 23^rd shuffling my family and students from the city center to the orphanage to get check-ups from the Canadians doctors.  I want the doctors to look especially at my brother, who is my age and has arthritis in his feet, my host mom, who I think is going blind and my host niece, who is almost three and I think has Downs Syndrome.  But obviously, I want all of them to get a check-up.  On Christmas Eve, I will teach in the morning at the high school (probably about Christmas) then do the same at the university, or have a Christmas party with them.  At night, I will go with Darlene to the orphanage where they will be having a Christmas Eve party.  There will be music and dancing.  It sounds like a blast.  I will sleep over with Darlene and we’ll wake up and have a pancake breakfast (thanks Mom!) then ride to church.  I will then travel to Siem Reap on December 30^th and meet my family at the airport.  I am so happy that I will be spending New Years Eve with them.  Should be a fun filled and busy two week trip for them (and me).  Right after they leave, I will be turning 24, which is a very scary thought. 

I wish you all a happy and safe holiday season and a happy and healthy new year! Quickly approaching are my three New Years- International New Year on January 1^st, Chinese New Year February 2-4 and Khmer New Year April 14-16.  Only three more New Years then I will be home.