On lessons from history, navigating the road, and food Cambodia style.

Our second week in Prey Veng vanished just like that! We have been busy learning the language, visiting some MCC’s partner organizations in the area, and learning more about history and culture.

One of MCC's partners that helps set up water use committees and build canals.

I am really fascinated by the history in Cambodia. Last saturday our Khmer teacher Sam Ang took us on a tour of a nearby village called Ba Phnom. He talked about how Buddhism and folk traditions are mixed in Cambodia. The folk tales he told about heroes of old were fascinating! He also talked about his life growing up during the Khmer Rouge. He was in his 20s at the time and nearly died many times. He constantly had to work hard and show his support, though he never felt it in his heart. He showed us a secluded location where 1000 of people were killed; there is now a monument in that place, but no one takes care of it anymore. People want to forget the past and leave it behind. Sam Ang also took us to a small but very old Hindu (turned Buddhist) temple built in the 5^th century, but it was torn down by Khmer Rouge because of mispronunciation of the name- they thought it was muslim. He is one of the few people that know what the place looked like before the Khmer Rouge era, and is sad to see how people have moved pieces incorrectly when trying to reconstruct the site. His wife was chosen for him by the Khmer Rouge, and they are still married with 5 children. He also showed us ruins from the french colonial times that are being torn down and built over- another part of the history that most Cambodians don't want to put effort into preserving. He is truly a wealth of knowledge, and his passion for the history and culture of the area is catching. I have posted pictures of this excursion on Facebook, with more explanations of what we saw.

Centuries old temple, partially restored

Local heroes from an old legend

 

The thing that really made me interested to learn is how recent this history is; many of those that survived are still living here, all around me. And they have amazing stories to tell. The leaders of the Khmer Rouge are only now on trial for their war crimes. I am not sure how you can pick up and move on after such pain and suffering. In the grand scheme of world history, it is such a small piece- never makes it into history class in Canada now, but it has shaped these people so much, and affected their society and culture and government so much. It is good to understand, at least in part, the history of this area, and why things are the way they are.

Bones of Cambodians who died in a "killing field" in Ba Phnom

 
In other news: people of Prey veng beware! This week I take to the streets on my moto! We have actually been so busy this week that I have only had 1 day practice driving a motorcycle so far. Most SALTers won’t have access to their own, but since I will be living out in a more rural area, it will be easiest to have my own transport. A word about the roads here in Prey Veng: the roads are shared by cars, pedestrians, bicycles and motos, in order of increasing frequency. As far as I can tell, there aren’t any “rules” as such. You pass whoever, whenever. The horn is used liberally, but more as a warning: “watch-out, I’m beside you” or “watch out- I’m going through the intersection and I’m not slowing down”. There aren’t any traffic lights here, though the town is a decent size, but things seem to run smoothly. 

I also want to say a word about the food in Cambodia, before it becomes so commonplace to me that I forget to write it down. I have really been enjoying the food here so far. Thankfully my host family hasn’t tried to feed me anything more foreign than pig intestines. Normally for meals, there is a soup and a dish of meat fried with veggies or fish. These sit in the middle of the table. Everyone has their own bowl of rice, and you take small portions from the common dishes many times throughout the meal and put them on your rice. You eat with a spoon in the right hand, and a fork in the left to push food onto the spoon. The only thing really eaten with chopsticks is noodles.

As I finish writing this post a few days after starting it, we have just arrived in Phnom Penh for the second half of our orientation. I am not too optimistic about enjoying the city, but I am sure that it does have a lot to offer, and even though it doesn’t feel like it, it IS still the same country. There was not rooster to wake me up, I’ve eaten three meals in a row without rice, and the toilet can flush- already this seems strange to me! I even got to play lego starwars on the wii with Chase, one of the boys in the family we are living with this weekend. It reminded me of all of the fun times I spent with my own brother Trevor at home this summer playing wii. We got to go to the only Mennonite church here in Phnom Penh today. The service was in Khmer, but a young man translated for us- we is a previous MCC IVEP student who went from Cambodia to work in the USA for a year. It was really nice to get to talk to some of the people from the church.

I hope you all gather from the tone of my message that I am really happy so far, and am enjoying my time in Cambodia immensely. Of course there are challenges, and some things are easier to get used to than others, but we are well supported and looked after by MCC. Well, I should probably get back to studying Khmer and review all that we have learned. I feel like we’ve learned more these past two weeks than in an entire semester of Spanish class at university! Now that we are in Phnom Penh, we begin language lessons with a new instructor on Monday, so we’ll see how that goes.  

Me on our climb up the "mountain" to see the buildings, spirit houses and temples at the top

 Please pray for the country of Cambodia as they are experiencing drought here in what is supposed to be the rainy season. Crops are at risk, and some farmers are turning to pumping groundwater for irrigation, but this has become very expensive as the water table is dropping. Additionally, there is fear of damaging floods later in the season due to excessive rains in countries up river.

 

Sincerely yours,

Rebecca