What Peace Corps Volunteers Should Call Me

It has been a little while since I’ve been here in blog world.  A lot has happened.

The last time the Quasi was updated, we were in the midst of developing a camp for young men in our province.  Camp BUILD kicked off at the end of July and was a resounding success.  The kids came in and for three days learned new things, made great friends, and left feeling better about the future then when they came.  They learned things like how to be respectful to women, work out a small project plan, what makes a good leader and role model, what an egg drop competition is, and the basics of break dancing.  For those of you who managed to contribute, you truly managed to have a positive impact on the life’s of others and on behalf of everyone involved in the project, thank you.  Below are a few links of pictures from the camp to par ruse at your pleasure:

Myself and the volunteers in my province are putting together a project called Camp BUILD!

Camp BUILD (Boys United In Leadership Development) will be a 2 and a half day workshop taking place tentatively on Aug. 8th-10th in Pursat town.  The camp will be aimed at equipping 60 high school boys with new tools and ideas to help them become community leaders and effective learners. Also, we would like the boys to walk away with an improved incite into gender awareness and an improved ability to make decisions empowering women and improving their livelihood.

Below is a link to the Peace Corps donation page.  Please take a second to look at it and if it moves you, help.  We need a dolla.  Cheers!

Camp BUILD

Yard work for my, and most, families simply means keeping the dirt cleaned and organized.  Most mornings the family spends khmer squatting around the yard and neatly brushing up the dirt and leaves so nothing may blemish the clean yard.  To reinforce this before the rain starts, they had 6 truck loads full of dirt brought in which I, not so eagerly, helped the distribute around the yard.

Our cleaned dirty lawn

Our health center, much to my surprise, also bought countless loads of dirt to cover up the lush grass and flowers around the complex to give it a more “clean” look.  It is a good thing they did this too, because without clean outdoors around the complex, it would make it more difficult to keep the indoors sanitized with the maintenance and cleaning materials they can’t afford…

Anyway, the rains have now started for the season and I don’t think I can describe it better than what’s been said before:

This post will be dedicated to my counterpart, Mr. Hong Leng.  To be honest, I don’t know how I’ve managed to get this far and not bring him up.  He has become the single most important person to any success I’ve had here, and an integral part of my daily life.

Mr. Hong Leng and Myself

Volunteers in Cambodia are expected to find someone, either at the schools or health centers, who will work closely with them and help them integrate into the community.  For the education volunteers this is a little more straight forward as you are assigned a khmer co-teacher from the beginning.  As a health volunteer there is a little more wiggle room, and thus it can be difficult to find one quickly.

My director immediately asked me to go with Mr. Leng out in villages to give out vaccinations.  Little did I know how lucky I got.  After our first day, he came over to my house, uninvited, with a jug of wine, whipped my ass in ping pong, then left laughing.  From that time on through our time out in the villages and in the health center we have become very close.  So close in fact, that when he introduced me to his wife he asked me, “Corey, this is my wife.  Do you like her?  It is okay if you do not, I like you.”  Luckily he was just kidding…

During our time he has helped me with every project I’ve decided to go forward with, and pushed me with some I haven’t.  He guided me through the alleys of our provincial town in an epic quest to find guppies for a farm (and I do not use the word epic lightly).  He learned how to assemble a bio-sand water filter to teach our staff after I arranged to get the materials.  He stuck up for me during our first volleyball matches when, little did I know, the other khmer staff were placing bets on when I would screw up (my khmer has gotten better since then, and I am proud to say I can stand up for myself now).  When I’m watching a soccer game, he bets (in cans of beer) against any team I’m rooting for whether he cares or not.  He taught me how to effectively slap babies in the affectionate khmer kind of way.  And when I suggested building a garden, he stole the idea from me and built a massive one in his back yard.

Our garden in progress

Now, on his own, he is talking with me about setting up a stand in front of his house to use the vegetables he has grown and teach children how to eat nutritious food.  Peace Corps has even honored him with a certificate after he attended a monitoring and evaluation workshop to improve his professional skills (a practice not to common here).

Him and his family have been an outlet for me since he decided he liked me.  During the times when my host family are off traveling, he insists I eat with him and gets me good and drunk on palm wine.  This is a habit I’ve recently had to stop though due to the fact that I learned the hard way that palm wine can eat away at the lining of your stomach.  He gives me beer instead now.

In more recent news I had two dear friends, Carrie and Brian, come and visit me in my local village.  They met the locals, toured the sights, touched my leg (reference)… it was great.  You may or may not know them.  In any case, let them serve as an example to all you lazy bums who are merely “contemplating” visiting the Kingdom of Wonder and/or myself.

So, here’s a cheers to them, my counterpart, and his family.  Making life in the hot hot heat a bit easier and infinitely more enjoyable.

1.  Just Dance.  If there is one thing Khmer people love more than dancing, it’s watching you dance.  Whether you try their style or add your own flair, any attempt will provide complete vindication for any previous transgression or faux pas you may have committed.

2.  Enough baby powder can make your face numb.  For a few days, the watt brings out the infamous blown speakers and, when the sun goes down, hosts a dance party in their yard.  During these dance parties people like to purchase baby powder and slap each other in the face.  Combined with the little pocket laser pointers the kids bring, it seems somewhat similar to a rave.

3.  If you don’t drink, leave the country.  Pretty self explanatory.  If you don’t want to partake, or be forced to partake (because you will), in a drink or seven it’s best just to leave the country.  It’s done all day every day.

4.  Plan on doing and/or wearing nothing during the day.  It’s hot.  So hot.

They take this holiday very seriously, and I enjoyed being a part of it.

Some man love for your day

Cheers!

Please put down the gun, and step away from the health center

So, it has been awhile since my last post.  I’d like to say it’s mainly due to the fact that I’ve been a bit busy, but I admit some of it is just plain old neglect.  With that said, I probably owe an update:

Work has led me to a health fair at a provincial high school, editing a resource manual for future health volunteers, gardening and making bacteria with my counterpart, selling fish to villagers, and the ever-present need of delivering vaccines and health lessons to people.

In my free time I’ve managed to start and finish the Sopranos, fall in to the Hunger Games trap (I was a Peeta fan), work on my hammock posture, introduce a new addiction to mangos, and contract a few internal and external parasites (may or may not be from the mangos).

More recently I was able to escape the ever-present sweltering heat that is, for the moment, Cambodia and jet over to the little country of Nepal.  There I managed to climb a bit, see some big mountains that I miss so much, jump off a bridge with a rope attached to my feet, feel some inspiration, and experience for a short while a good strong chill.

Back here in the Bode, it is now the peak of the hot season.  Weddings are finally starting to die down while all the mango trees are becoming fully ripe.  I’m told the rains will start fairly soon, which unfortunately is not nearly soon enough.  Any reprieve from the heat that makes you sweat while you sleep would be greatly appreciated.  And last but not least, today is the start of the Khmer New Year (yes, the third celebration of a new year since I’ve arrived 8 months ago).  This means that nearly the whole country will all but shut down and do a bit of celebrating for the next couple of weeks.  Which is just fine by me.

Unfortunately I can provide no more insight at the moment.  My brain is numb, my pores are open, and my water reserves are low.  Until next time I hope you are happy, healthy, well, and less hot.  Cheers.

This is a khmer squat.  This position is assumed when conversing with friends, observing sports, detailed sweeping (in conjunction with the khmer waddle, but that’s another lesson), pooping, and laundry.  As exemplified above, it is preferred to sitting on you toosh when a ledge is present.  They start training a very early age.

There are different titles for anyone who is younger than you, older than you but younger than your parents, older than you and older than your parents, and elders.  When addressing anyone in the “older than yourself” category it is customary to greet them with a sompia (putting your hands together and gently bowing your head) with their proper title.  This is a sign a respect.

As a person ages, they are held less and less to the social graces that deem someone

Hey Yay

respectful and proper during their youth.  This is nowhere more apparent than with the elder women of Cambodia, who are addressed as Yays (grandmothers).  As a woman approaches yay status they often times shave their heads and beginning chewing on a mixture of beetle nut paste and tobacco.  This mixture provides a “buzz” that keeps them flying high all day.   For younger women it is not social proper to chew or drink if they want to be viewed as respectable.  So when the time comes that it is acceptable to begin getting buzzed they embrace it whole-heartedly.  The chew turns their mouth an eerily dark red and wears down any teeth that they may have remaining.  If you have seen Lord of the Rings, think Golum.

The yays are some of my favorite people here.  They are brash and obnoxious just because they can be.  Whilst chatting with them, they will poke and prod you.  I have had to smack hands away multiple times because their prodding becomes a little too fresh…  I have watched one walk up to a friend, yank out some of her blonde hair, show it to her and laugh.  They will just as freely come up and smack you, just for the amusement of it, before they waddle back over to the sitting spot without saying a word.  But despite the physical harassment they like to distribute, they provide some of the most insightful, honest, and direct conversations you can find in Cambodia.  Some of my favorite times have been just sitting and discussing life with them.

So, be nice and respectful to your elders (I love you all my Grandparents) and soak in all the wisdom that they ooze.  Hurray for yays.

Although the road is so perilous, this is where you will find some the the most creative problem solving you’ll find anywhere.  The problem:  Can we fit this as well?

Passengers (we already had 23 and 7 children) figuring out how best to load more bags of sand in the back.

Five on a moto designed for two? No problem. They'd fit one more if someone was willing to sit in the basket up front.

Sorry PETA, they had already unloaded the live chickens that were dangling off the sides by this point.

Bravo

Cruising down the highway. They should probably add another layer of people on top of the people that are on top of the people so they can make sure no one falls off.

This game will be continued…