However, being new to the whole ‘living in Cambodia’ thing
has not been without its challenges, some of which are due to the fact that I
am a foreigner, and others… well let’s face it, they are mostly because I am
not from here.
You know that awkward moment when…
You get
lost on the first day to language lessons and the moto-taxi driver wanders
around the neighbourhood while you call for directions. (note of explanation:
addresses aren’t really used here- you give a well-known landmark that is close
to your destination, and give directions from there).
You are sitting in Khmer class and
your teacher is translating a sentence into English, and asks you, the “expert”,
if it is grammatically correct to use “what” or “which”, and you haven’t got a
sweet clue. What is a relative pronoun anyway, and who cares? Prepositions of
place, superlatives, adverbs… I think some Cambodians know more English grammar
than I do!
You are
sitting around the dinner table eating with a bunch of students, oblivious to
the conversation going on in Khmer, and suddenly they turn to you and say “we
are all talking about how much we love the colour of your hair.”
You ask
multiple times for a “cell card” (this being the term used by everyone) to top
up your cell phone, and finally have to show them an old one, and then they say
“ahhh, cell card! (in Khmer accent)” and gives you one.
You reply that the food is NOT delicious when
you mean quite the opposite.
You
nearly knock someone over at the market… several times. I tagged along with
some students who were going clothes shopping at the market and was overwhelmed
by the number of young women there; the number of shops; and the never ending maze
of shoes, jeans, shirts, skirts, and PEOPLE. Those of you who know me may be
surprized to know that I felt a whole lot clumsy and even a little bit tall.
But
jokes aside, I have had a lot of time to think this week and let it finally
sink in that I am actually here for an entire year. And I don’t know how to
explain it, but being here feels right. I know that God lead me here this year.
I was thinking back to where I was a year ago- of all the thing I could have
imagined doing after graduation, never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be
going to Cambodia. Yet here I am. And who knows where this will lead me to in
the future. As I prepare to settle in to a more “normal” life living with a
host family and starting work, I hope to have more time to reflect on all that
God has done to bring me here, the gifts he has given me to share, the promises
he has for me, and pray that he would open my eyes to the ways he is growing in
me.
Yours,
RebeccaFlowers at the Royal Palace |
Dyke roads such as this are scattered everywhere. This one currently under repair surrounds the museum grounds. |
Memorial momument at "killing fields" museum we visited this week just outside of Phnom Penh. |
I am so glad that it wasn't just me that felt awkward whereby you were thought of as the English language "expert". That happened to me too in Finland.
ReplyDeleteYou feel TALL!?! And I know what you mean about what and which - no anglophones use them properly and nobody cares. Have a good time in the country!
ReplyDeletehaha, I only feel tall when I am just around women. I'm still shorter than the average guy. I've actually noticed a big difference in height between generations. People mom and dad's age are generally shorter than their children; I'm guessing that's the outcome of malnutrition in the 70's.
Delete