Family in Cambodia!

Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope that everyone had a safe and happy holiday.  I hear that it was a cold one.  

My New Year was one for the books.  I celebrated a holiday with my family for the firs time since July 4^th, 2009, so this was a special New Years, and I’m not one for New Years.  But first, let me describe the whole experience…. 

My mom, brother and little sister all made the trek over and originally planned on coming in from Ho Chi Minh at about 8:00 at night, but that changed, as the Waldron travel plans frequently do.  I checked my email right before leaving Battambang for Siem Reap and assumed (wrongly) that they would be arriving at about 3:00 to Siem Reap.  I took the bus in, got to the hotel, showered and took a seat downstairs in a chair that had a perfect view of the street.  

We spent the next day viewing many of the temples at Angkor Wat and then went out with some friends who were in Siem Reap for New Year’s.  We were so exhausted, but somehow managed and brought in the New Year with a bunch of Peace Corps Volunteers, tourists and Cambodians.  It was a blast and I have to hand it to my family, after all that traveling and touring of the temples, they toughed it out.  All of my friends commented on how much fun my family is and how they were so surprised that we were able to stay out, but it was the first time that they met other members of the family (family and friends back home would expect nothing else…)

Angkor Wat

Mom and Pat in a tuk tuk 

Bayon Temple

Personal Tour Guide

Maura and I

Pat and I in a tuk tuk 

In the tuk tuk on New Years. 

We spent the next day going to the markets and recovering a bit.  We went to the Cultural village before we left, which is basically a big compound dedicated to Cambodian culture.   Siem Reap is often called Disneyland by Peace Corps Volunteers because it is a city that caters to foreigners.  The food is good, the hotels are really nice, the markets are manageable and the city planning makes much more sense than Phnom Penh.  Siem Reap and Phnom Penh were the touristy parts of our trip.  Sandwiched in the middle was Battambang, a better representation of the real Cambodia.

At the cultural village in Siem Reap

Cultural Center fun

After two days in Siem Reap, we took a taxi to Battambang, which was a total blur to me because we hardly stopped moving the whole time.  I tried to balance doing the touristy thing and seeing the sites with showing them my real life.  We stayed in a cute new guest house (for the record, we stayed at really cool hotels the whole time…) and had at least two activities each day. 

The first day, we went to Phnom Sampoe, which is a temple on a mountains and killing caves at the top.  The Khmer Rouge basically marched people to this mountain then threw them into the caves.  It is terribly sad.  That afternoon, we went to the university and my family met my English Club students.  They asked a lot of questions because they are in my American Culture class, so they were able to ask three Americans questions.  They just love to practice English. 

View from the top of the mountain

University English Club

The first time they met and they are best friends. 

The next day, we went to my high school and met the school director then had English Club with my English Club there.  Each students had a specific aspect of Cambodia that they presented on, such as food and drink, art, lifestyle, religion, geography, agriculture, etc.  They did a really good job even though they were so nervous.  They don’t have the chance to speak to many foreigners, but they held their own and made some really great presentations.  That afternoon, we went back to the university and Pat and Maura made presentations on their education.  Maura talked about health care ethics and Pat talked about cross- culture exchanges.  They did a really good job and the students came up with some really great questions.  From the university, we went to my host family house and we started to cook what turned out to be a feast.  I cooked spaghetti (or as I call it to my host family “mee Italy” or Italian noodles) and my host family made fried noodles and grilled quails.  My host siblings all came over and met my family.  We drank wine we bought in Siem Reap (maybe from Italy?), rice wine, honey wine that my host mom makes and some Irish whiskey.  My host nieces and nephews all came, as did Darlene and we all had fun.  I was relieved that the spaghetti was a hit.  At one point in the meal, I saw my family eating the fried noodles and my hose aunts and siblings eating the spaghetti.  I taught my host brother’s girlfriend how to make it because I think that it will be on the menu for holidays to come.  I will make it for Chinese New Year, which is the first week in February.

Mom introducing herself to the club

Vida presenting on Buddhism

The Club and my family

Navy and I cooking

Pat and my host cousin's baby

Maura and Chun Liap, instant best friends

Ma

Milk fruit

The feast

Pat and my host niece, Lisa.  Such hams.

The third day, we went to a party at my school.  I didn’t know that there was a party even taking place, but the day before, when I came with my family, the school director told me that it was happening (school was cancelled because the students were setting up for the party), so we had to go, we really had no choice.  My host mom was there with my aunt, which was kind of a surprise, but my host mom is really involved in every religious party, so I suppose I should have known that she would be there.  In Khmer, the word for this kind of a party is “bun” and it means that almost every monk from the surrounding pagodas was there and people make offerings, about 250 monks in total.  I still don’t really understand what the party was for; some students said that it was for National Victory on genocide Day (which was the day when the Khmer Rogue was overthrown by the Vietnamese army), but there were monks there blessing the school and government officials making speeches, so I think that I will chalk that one up to something that I just don’t understand.  I don’t add as many things to that list as I did before, but there are still additions.  After the party, we rode the bamboo train and they were able to see the countryside.  Because it is the rice harvest, most people were out in their fields, including many kids who have to skip school to help their families.  After lunch, we went to my host family’s house and my host brother drove us to Kamping Puoy, which is called a resort, but it is a reservoir that was built during Pol Pot.  There is a damn and huts that were built in the water.  We rented a section of a hut and relaxed in hammocks.  It’s a beautiful place and my students are constantly telling me to go there, so I can cross that off my list of places that I must go before I leave.  

Mom and Ma

Ridin the bamboo train

View from the front of the bamboo train

The next day, I woke up and went to church with my mom.  It starts at 6:30 and there is a fairly regular crowd.  It’s a short mass all in Khmer, but I enjoy seeing those members of the community that I hardly see outside of church, but it is kind of a cool feeling to see someone that you seemingly have nothing in common with, but we still practice the same rituals once a week.  As a person who feels weird, awkward and out of place most of the time, church is probably the most consistent place where I can come and just be another Catholic reciting the Our Father (granted I am the only one saying it in English…)  After church, Maura, Pat and I went to a pagoda in town and got a tour around with my star student Vida, the boy who lives there, and a few monks.  We all kind of paired off and Maura was able to talk to a monk in English and Pat had a different monk to talk to.  I walked around with Vida and he informed me of a few things that I didn’t know.  We stayed there for about an hour and everyone walked away feeling like they accomplished something.  The monks all study English and were able to share their religion with some curious foreigners.  Pat and Maura were very curious about the pagodas and Buddhism, so they each were able to get a tour with a monk.  Vida was also on cloud nine because there are very few westerners who are interested in visiting the pagodas and learning about Buddhism.  For the amount of foreigners that I see in Battambang, the pagoda and the public school are the two places that I can go and know that I will not see another foreigner.  He was proud to bring us there and show us off because he can’t really see his family and works hard around the pagoda.  I was happy to get to see that part of his life, because I was always curious.  The monks chanted one part of a prayer that usually takes 30 minutes to recite, but thankfully it was only a few minutes.  I love the sound of monks chanting, although I don’t like it at 5am on horrible speakers, it’s always awesome in person.  They chant in Malay, so I have no idea what they are saying, but the message is very similar to any prayer in any religion.  When we got back to the hotel, we got packed up and got in our taxi.  We stopped by my host family one more time to say goodbye and then we were on our way.  We stopped at the half way point, which is where my friend Keiko lives.  We went to her house and picked her up.  We went to eat lunch and toured around the crocodile farm behind the restaurant.  It’s pretty scary but the family is really nice and it’s cool to see those huge animals so close.  We then went out to the floating village.  Keiko’s host dad asked for the day off and arranged a big boat for us.  The floating village is exactly what it sounds like- houses, restaurants, shops, etc on the water.  Everyone has a boat, but there are many problems there- there is a high rate of HIV/AIDS, the crime rate is really high and alcoholism is common.  Our tour skipped over those things though- we went to a house that catches and sells fish and a place that makes ice and sells it to everyone in the village.  I was really concerned that our taxi driver would be annoyed that he had to stop or try to get more money, but he was in the back of the boat, loving every second of it, taking videos and making jokes.  We ended up getting into Phnom Penh pretty late, but we went out for dinner and called it an early night.

The crocs.

Phone stop

On the boat

The next day, we booked a tuk tuk for the whole day and we kicked it off with one of the saddest places in Cambodia.  Tuol Sleng, or S-21, was a school that was converted into a torture prison during the Khmer Rouge period.  Estimates are that 14,000 people died there, mainly those accused of being spies or former government officials.  The museum is really graphic and sad, so we decided that we didn’t want to be genocide tourists and cut out the Killing Fields.  Instead, we went to the market right around the corner and finished up the shopping for those back home.  We went to the mall (which is called the “modern market” by Cambodians, which cracks me up) and got frozen yogurt and DVDs.  We then went to Wat Phnom, which is a pagoda on a hill, where Phnom Penh began, according to the legend.  We then went to the Royal Palace, which is very similar to the golden Palace in Bangkok.  We made it in time for happy hour at FCC and went back to the hotel to back up and eat dinner.  We went to sleep early, like every other night. 

In the morning, everyone woke up and got ready to go.  They took a taxi to the airport at 5:45, so it was an early morning for all of us.  We decided against me coming to the airport because I couldn’t get inside and it’s not a good idea to take a tuk tuk alone at that hour.  So, we said our farewells at the hotel and I went back inside to sleep.  When I woke up, I was overcome with sadness because it was the first time that I woke up alone in almost two weeks.  It made me feel awful that they were gone.  I decided to start my day though because nothing gets accomplished when I feel bad for myself.  I took advantage of the awesome shower, free delicious breakfast, stopped by the Peace Corps office and was on the 10:00 bus back to Battambang.  I decided against staying in Phnom Penh because it just makes me spend money and be lazy.  On the bus, I was thinking about my family, but it dawned on me that I went over a year without seeing my parents and about a year and a half without seeing any siblings, the last six months won’t be bad because the tough part is over.  I have about 6 months left, give or take. 

I blogged about this shirt before, but we actually got a picture of it!

Now that I am back at site, I am planning the last few months.  The way that Cambodia works is that soon, it’s going to be much more difficult to get stuff done because the weather will start getting hotter.  There are tests in February, holidays in March and no one does anything in April because of Khmer New Year and the heat.  The school year ends in early June and I will be leaving in July. So, now it’s crunch time.  I have a lot of stuff planned- planning for International Women’s Day starts on Friday,  Martin Luther King, Jr. presentation on Monday, Yahoo and gmail workshops on Thursday and Friday next week and a workshop on the Cambodian genocide on the 24^th.  I have a wedding next week, Chinese New Year In February, my host sister’s wedding in March, John and Catte visiting in April and so on.  It’s weird to be at the point where the end is in site.  Before it was a point in the very distant future, but now is where plans start to get made.  It’s the home stretch. 

I also was thinking about the idea of karma.  I believe in something called traveler’s karma and I saw it a lot when my family came to visit.  My family was so sympathetic to the working kids, men and women and I think that it really helped us.  There are some times when the tuk tuk drivers have no idea what they are doing or are rude, but the ones that we got this time were so nice and hard working.  They all took care of us and moreover seemed to enjoy showing us Cambodia.  I think that a lot of that has to do with how interested in everything my family was.  They were so curious and open to learning about anything and everything that we were paired up with people who wanted to show us their country.

All in all, it was a great trip.  I was so happy to see them and show them Cambodia.  While I was so sad to see them go, I understand that this is how things work.  I made a commitment to Cambodia and my work and I need to be serious about it until the end of the year.  I will have plenty of breaks, but the worst thing that could happen is to get homesick.  I’m in this for the long haul and plan on going out with a bang.  Six months?  That’s nothing.  It continues to get easier the longer that I am here, so I think the best strategy is just to enjoy my time left.  I should be doing that anyway, but it’s hard to remember that sometimes, no matter where we are.