Tuesday 11/4/07
Khmer New Years Eve…
For some reason I get inspired to write on Tuesdays. It is not intentional; it just works out that way.
Khmer New Years is this weekend coming and office is pretty much winding down. No one is looking to do anything much. I wanted to talk to the boss and my counterpart about some work that I had done. They gave me a kind of tired look and said it would be better to talk about it after New Years. So now I have three days of work and nothing much to do. Which is ok by me, it is hot and I don’t feel like doing much.
Khmer New Year is a big celebration here it goes over three days. While we only get one public holiday, the office will be closed for almost a week (everyone takes leave). Everyone goes to spend time with their families and dances for three days. My counterpart, Nary, only gets to see her husband a few times a year – New Years is one of those times. A few guys from the office are also travelling back to their home towns to visit their families, but most will stay and celebrate in Kampong Thom. As for me, I plan on catching up with a few of the other guys from the AYAD program. We are going to go down to Kampot in the South near the Vietnamese border – surf, sand, trekking and no doubt a few cocktails. It will probably take me about 8 hours to get there, but it will be worth it.
Around the streets people are putting up big colourful stars, lights and decorations. The local kids have been setting off fire works…like the good old days…it’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas…
Last weekend Shin and I got to go to our first Khmer party. It was really fun. It was a house warming party for the new office and house. We received formal invites on nice paper with golden writing. I am told that it was a fairly upmarket affair in comparison to most Khmer parties. They set up a big colourful marquee at the front of the house. We had to register when we arrived and make a donation to the party. Given that it was bosses party and that I am a foreigner I was expected to give a little more than most others. I am seen as rich and close to my boss and you pay according to the respect you should give. But still I got off quite lightly. The food was great and the 
beers just kept coming. Everyone wanted to drink with us because we were the foreigners.
Khmer New Years Eve…
For some reason I get inspired to write on Tuesdays. It is not intentional; it just works out that way.
Khmer New Years is this weekend coming and office is pretty much winding down. No one is looking to do anything much. I wanted to talk to the boss and my counterpart about some work that I had done. They gave me a kind of tired look and said it would be better to talk about it after New Years. So now I have three days of work and nothing much to do. Which is ok by me, it is hot and I don’t feel like doing much.
Khmer New Year is a big celebration here it goes over three days. While we only get one public holiday, the office will be closed for almost a week (everyone takes leave). Everyone goes to spend time with their families and dances for three days. My counterpart, Nary, only gets to see her husband a few times a year – New Years is one of those times. A few guys from the office are also travelling back to their home towns to visit their families, but most will stay and celebrate in Kampong Thom. As for me, I plan on catching up with a few of the other guys from the AYAD program. We are going to go down to Kampot in the South near the Vietnamese border – surf, sand, trekking and no doubt a few cocktails. It will probably take me about 8 hours to get there, but it will be worth it.
Around the streets people are putting up big colourful stars, lights and decorations. The local kids have been setting off fire works…like the good old days…it’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas…
Last weekend Shin and I got to go to our first Khmer party. It was really fun. It was a house warming party for the new office and house. We received formal invites on nice paper with golden writing. I am told that it was a fairly upmarket affair in comparison to most Khmer parties. They set up a big colourful marquee at the front of the house. We had to register when we arrived and make a donation to the party. Given that it was bosses party and that I am a foreigner I was expected to give a little more than most others. I am seen as rich and close to my boss and you pay according to the respect you should give. But still I got off quite lightly. The food was great and the 
beers just kept coming. Everyone wanted to drink with us because we were the foreigners.Before drinking the people will designated how much of the glass should be drunk. ‘Moi moi’ translates to ‘one after the other’ which means you have to knock back the whole glass. Most of the night people kept saying ‘moi moi’ to us. Thankfully I am much bigger and quite the experienced drinker, so it wasn’t too much of a problem keeping up and remaining composed. Later in the night they broke out the Karaoke (it was nice to be on the other side of the stack of speakers for once) and everyone started to dance. Again, everyone wanted to dance with us so we were up dancing for quite a while. Khmer dancing pretty much consists of going slowly around a centre piece: stepping a few steps forward, then stepping a few steps back while contorting your hands. I was a natural and received many compliments, but it might have been the beer talking. They all knew that Shin and I weren’t married so they kept angling for us to dance near the single girls at the party which was kind of funny. We were still metres away but people were giggling and saying that we should get married. A few guys from the office, including my boss Sinal, got up and sung a few songs. They were all really good. Lucky for Shin and I, there were no songs in English and we could decline singing ourselves. All in all it was a really fun night.
Aside from the party Shin and I also went up to Siem Reap for a night. We stayed in a good hotel which had air conditioning and a hot shower. I forgot how good a hot shower could be. It was heaven. Lainie was also in Siem Reap for work and we met up with her. We all went up to watch the sun set over Angkor, which was quite cool, but packed with tourists. I am still to actually see Angkor though, but I am gradually getting closer.
Last week I also went out with my boss to Sunden; a small town about 2 hours north east of Kampong Thom. Sunden is my boss and his wife’s home town and is also home to one of MODE’s satellite offices. I thought Kampong Thom was quite rural, but this place was more so. No sealed roads and only about two shops. It was nice to visit, but I wouldn’t want to be stuck there. Sinal told me that up until about 3 years ago the Khmer Rouge was still active in the area between Kampong Thom and Sunden, and that there were still a few hiding out in the forest. They would often hijack cars on the road that we were on and kidnap westerns. But that was three years ago, they pose no threat now (phew).
The reason we went out to Sunden was because it was the Chinese day for the dead. Sinal’s wife is Chinese in ethnicity and she goes every year to meet her family and pay respect to her ancestors. We went to a big mound where her father was buried next to his old rice paddy. There the family decorated the graves with colourful pieces of paper, lit some incense, chanted a bit and then made offerings of food, money (they burn fake money that they buy at the market) and drink to the dead. Strangely, it got me to thinking about my own family and history and I got a little emotional about the whole thing. After, we went back to her family house where we had a big lunch and played English teacher with the kids. They are quite smart and quick, so I had to keep my wits about me. They were writing words I said in the dirt with sticks.
On the way back from Sunden we visited Parsat Tao, a largely in tact temple on the outskirts of
Kampong Thom. The temples in the area are mostly made from clay bricks (Angkor is made of stone) and are located in the middle of the forest. It is quite a cool area and would make a great picnic location (or rave party). The temples are quite simple, predating Angkor by about five hundred years, and have been worn by the elements. This area use to be the capital of Kampuchea before it was moved to Angkor and it still remains quite a spiritual place for the Khmer people. The boss’s kids were really excited to see it and went running ahead; it was nice to see them so interested in their history. The other great thing was that there were no other tourists about! We had the whole place to ourselves.
I also got my first haircut in Cambodia. All I knew how to say was ‘short’, so I was pretty much at the mercy of the barber. It cost me $1, but they took a lot of care. I was day dreaming away and didn’t notice the guy pull out the razor - I have been worried about getting my haircut over here because of the high rate in HIV and hepatitis that may been transmitted via razors etc, but the guy started before I could say ‘’no’’ and then he had to even it up. Well, he didn’t cut me, so I think I am safe for now. But I had images of going to HIV/AIDS support groups and hanging out with ex-junkies and prostitutes telling them how I got HIV at a barber in Kampong Thom…” he splashed my face with windex after – I thought that would kill it’’. Seriously though – he did use windex as lubricant, after shave and gel. I smelt like a freshly cleaned window for hours! On the upside he also gave me a massage.
Aside from my meanders, not much else has happened this week. Except that our cleaner started and we found a Khmer teacher. Both should make our lives here a little easier. I think I have forgotten more Khmer than I can use.
Tomorrow we are going to be giving out rice to the needy for New Years celebrations. That should be pretty cool. Aside from that I have finally been given some work to do, although, they have given me over a month to complete it. They want me to conduct a review of the local governance and decentralisation program. I am hoping I will be able to do some surveys and stuff with the villages, so I can gauge how much they understand about democracy etc, but I think that money will probably be an issue. On the up side it good to have something to concentrate on. Shin has nothing to do at work and has been amusing himself creating posters.
That is all for now.
Take Care.
Aside from the party Shin and I also went up to Siem Reap for a night. We stayed in a good hotel which had air conditioning and a hot shower. I forgot how good a hot shower could be. It was heaven. Lainie was also in Siem Reap for work and we met up with her. We all went up to watch the sun set over Angkor, which was quite cool, but packed with tourists. I am still to actually see Angkor though, but I am gradually getting closer.
Last week I also went out with my boss to Sunden; a small town about 2 hours north east of Kampong Thom. Sunden is my boss and his wife’s home town and is also home to one of MODE’s satellite offices. I thought Kampong Thom was quite rural, but this place was more so. No sealed roads and only about two shops. It was nice to visit, but I wouldn’t want to be stuck there. Sinal told me that up until about 3 years ago the Khmer Rouge was still active in the area between Kampong Thom and Sunden, and that there were still a few hiding out in the forest. They would often hijack cars on the road that we were on and kidnap westerns. But that was three years ago, they pose no threat now (phew).
The reason we went out to Sunden was because it was the Chinese day for the dead. Sinal’s wife is Chinese in ethnicity and she goes every year to meet her family and pay respect to her ancestors. We went to a big mound where her father was buried next to his old rice paddy. There the family decorated the graves with colourful pieces of paper, lit some incense, chanted a bit and then made offerings of food, money (they burn fake money that they buy at the market) and drink to the dead. Strangely, it got me to thinking about my own family and history and I got a little emotional about the whole thing. After, we went back to her family house where we had a big lunch and played English teacher with the kids. They are quite smart and quick, so I had to keep my wits about me. They were writing words I said in the dirt with sticks.
On the way back from Sunden we visited Parsat Tao, a largely in tact temple on the outskirts of
Kampong Thom. The temples in the area are mostly made from clay bricks (Angkor is made of stone) and are located in the middle of the forest. It is quite a cool area and would make a great picnic location (or rave party). The temples are quite simple, predating Angkor by about five hundred years, and have been worn by the elements. This area use to be the capital of Kampuchea before it was moved to Angkor and it still remains quite a spiritual place for the Khmer people. The boss’s kids were really excited to see it and went running ahead; it was nice to see them so interested in their history. The other great thing was that there were no other tourists about! We had the whole place to ourselves.I also got my first haircut in Cambodia. All I knew how to say was ‘short’, so I was pretty much at the mercy of the barber. It cost me $1, but they took a lot of care. I was day dreaming away and didn’t notice the guy pull out the razor - I have been worried about getting my haircut over here because of the high rate in HIV and hepatitis that may been transmitted via razors etc, but the guy started before I could say ‘’no’’ and then he had to even it up. Well, he didn’t cut me, so I think I am safe for now. But I had images of going to HIV/AIDS support groups and hanging out with ex-junkies and prostitutes telling them how I got HIV at a barber in Kampong Thom…” he splashed my face with windex after – I thought that would kill it’’. Seriously though – he did use windex as lubricant, after shave and gel. I smelt like a freshly cleaned window for hours! On the upside he also gave me a massage.
Aside from my meanders, not much else has happened this week. Except that our cleaner started and we found a Khmer teacher. Both should make our lives here a little easier. I think I have forgotten more Khmer than I can use.
Tomorrow we are going to be giving out rice to the needy for New Years celebrations. That should be pretty cool. Aside from that I have finally been given some work to do, although, they have given me over a month to complete it. They want me to conduct a review of the local governance and decentralisation program. I am hoping I will be able to do some surveys and stuff with the villages, so I can gauge how much they understand about democracy etc, but I think that money will probably be an issue. On the up side it good to have something to concentrate on. Shin has nothing to do at work and has been amusing himself creating posters.
That is all for now.
Take Care.
Liea Ta.
Erin
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