It seems like ages ago that I went to my second wedding in Cambodia. This time, the wedding was in Mesang, and I got to experience it as one of the more close friends of the family instead of just barang (foreigner) guest of honour (though I was that a bit too). I didn’t attend the early morning bit where people bring cakes and fruit to the bride; I just went to the reception in the evening. I went early to the bride’s family’s house and got my hair and makeup done with everyone else there. It was 3:15 before I finally sat down to get my hair done (the wedding was supposed to start again at 3). But I figured since I was with the rest of the family, I couldn’t exactly be late. By the time we all walked across the street to the reception 3:45, I was one of the first guests to arrive. I started eating a meal with some of the other early-arrivals under a large tent that was set up in front of the house, complete with 12 giant speakers and a live band. After we finished eating, everyone I was sitting with got up, went behind the house to where huge vats of rice, soup, meat, and vegetables were brewing, picked up some serving dishes, and started serving new guests as they arrived. Not knowing what to do (and since everyone I knew from ODOV was already busy helping to serve) I also wandered around to the back. There I found “Ming” (aunt) from ODOV, sitting with a couple other mings putting together the place settings (bowl, spoon, cup, chopsticks, and toilet paper [what Cambodians use as a napkin]- all inside a pretty bag). So, I sat down and started helping as well. Later, after no more place settings were needed, I did manage to find someone I knew from ODOV not helping to serve, and sat down to take in the whole atmosphere. Not long after, several of us changed out of traditional Khmer clothing into “sexy dancing clothes”, and then the party really began! Strangely enough, the young people (late-teens) didn’t really seem in to the dancing and often sat out- maybe they just hadn’t had a chance to get out much, were shy to dance in front of the opposite sex, or maybe they just hadn’t had enough to drink (a good thing). I, on the other hand, didn’t have much choice. Every time I tried to sit down to take a break, someone else was pulling me up to join the circle of people dancing around the stack of fruit. I was afraid my eardrums would burst from the blaring music; but at least there was no need to worry about awkward silences since conversation was impossible anyway! Sorry, there are no pictures from this one; I just never found a good/appropriate time. But I promise there will be some photographs from the next time I go to a wedding!
News sure travels fast in our world. I called home last week to have my mom and dad say “we heard you were really sick! Are you OK?” It is true that last Friday I took a taxi back to Phnom Penh and went to go see the doctor. I had had a high fever all day, and MCC and I decided that as a precaution, it might be good to come into town in case things got worse over-night. Turns out it was just a mild case of good-old E. coli food poisoning, my fever went away that evening, and I felt all better by Sunday. Since there was no urgency and nothing really wrong with me, I never bothered to call home to let them know that nothing was wrong. Oops. If anyone else also heard this rumour and was concerned, please rest assured that MCC is taking good care of me. So is my host family for that matter. In fact, that is one of the reasons I decided to go into town- my host mother was so concerned, made me rice porridge, and was cooling me down with wet cloths, but eventually insistent on sending me to the doctor in Mesang. That’s where I drew the line.
I did have a good few days in Phnom Penh though. It was nice to get out to the Mennonite church, hang out with some friends, and go to the MCC office. Did I mention that the MCC office in Phnom Penh now has a rooster?? Apparently one of the guards thought the place was incomplete without having a few chickens running around. I’m not sure what breed they are, but they are the cutest little chickens I have ever seen; Cambodia’s version of our ridiculous and completely useless long-haired cats (I miss you Nugget!!)
I am now glad to be back in Mesang, relaxing on this long weekend (Happy International Women’s Day!). It is so great just to sit swinging in the hammock, writing to you all from under the shade of the house, listening to the birds, listening to the absence of noise, letting the slowness seep into my bones until time no longer matters. One of the things I’m really going to miss about Cambodia is virtually living outside all of the time. The only time we try to shut ourselves in here is from sunset to when we turn off the lights so the bugs don’t find us. The rest of the time, we are basically outside. We eat outside under the house, nap after lunch in the hammocks, hang around and prepare food on the bamboo bed/platform under the house, wash the dishes and clothes by the pump under the tree, and at night when I am safely inside my mosquito net, I open the shutters and let the cool breeze flow in.
So, I have some rather big news to share with you all; I have recently accepted a three year position with MCC working in Mozambique (south-east part of Africa) teaching agriculture skills to high school students! The rural district of Machanga frequently experiences floods and droughts, and has poor soil quality and a low diversity of crops. MCC is partnering with a church that has recently helped build a school to give students a chance to finish high school, as well as teach them some useful life skills and job skills. My job will be to work with the director of the school to develop a program for teaching agriculture to students, start teaching students next January, and help start up a small vegetable farm for demonstration and practice with the students. I am of course sad to be leaving Cambodia, but I am very much looking forward to this chance to go to Mozambique! It will be a great learning opportunity for me, a chance for me to gain experience, apply what I have learned at ODOV, and an exciting new challenge!
I will return home to New Brunswick on the first of August, and will probably be home for just a month before flying to Mozambique in early September for three years. I will also have a one-month home-leave during those three years. I’ve had a couple of weeks to think about it and let it sink in, so the shock has mostly worn off. But still, wow, I am going to Mozambique for three years! All of this has made me stop and think about just how much can change in a year. One year ago, Cambodia was not even on my radar. One year ago, I was looking into grad schools in Atlantic Canada. One year ago I was meeting with my spiritual mentor and she told me she had a picture of me living in another country working with an NGO and asked me if I’d ever considered using my interest and experience in biology to help with agriculture projects in developing countries. One year ago, I was too shy and timid to believe that God would actually use someone like me to do this kind of work. One year, and a lot has changed.
Not being the world’s greatest fan of change (I start to go antsy if people switch from their usual seats at the table, and when I was 22, my parent’s had to ask me if it was OK to not go to Grandma’s on Christmas eve like we always do), I find myself realizing more and more that I can depend on God because he NEVER changes. My piano used to be my escape, but I can no longer play whenever I need to. I used to go for walks alone to my favourite places, but there’s no wilderness here. In University, I would come home to visit once a month; now I’m ever so thankful for skype.
A lot can change in a year, and that can be a bit terrifying sometimes. But I trust in what will NEVER change.
“He is the ROCK, his works are perfect, and all his ways
are just. A faithful God who does not wrong, upright and just is he.” Deut.
32:4
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| I had drawn a series of pictures of some of my favourite every-day Cambodia birds for my family for Christimas. The Pied Fantail is one of my favourite birds to watch as I sit in the hammock under the house. They love to flit around the banana trees and flash the white tips of their tails. |
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| Yup, kids play peek-a-boo in Cambodia as well. |
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| My huge, furry, useless, and absolutely adorable cat Nugget at home who I am sure is missing me just as much as I miss him. |
