On dar-laynging, a Cambodian Chinese New Year, and the garden of life.

I have noticed that the Khmer approach to language is a bit different from english, in that they tend to use broader terms to describe what they want to say. For example, anything liquid or having to do with liquid is called “teuk ___”; teuk literally meaning water. For example, there is ‘fish water’ (fish sauce), ‘room water’ (bathroom), ‘water cow breast’ (milk), etc. Anything to do with spirituality has the word “Preah” in front, which is literally translated as god. Anything to do with people has the word “neak” in front; every sweet, dessert, snack, or chips that is not fruit is called “noom”, and so on. This has been helpful when learning because if you are not sure of a word, you can just say the general category and then the specific use, and people will understand what you are trying to say. It has also given me a greater appreciate for people who must learn English as a second language long with our very extensive and specific vocabulary. One of my favourite general Khmer words is ‘dar-layng’, and it is one for which I can think of no equivalent in English. Literally it means to walk-play, but it can be used for children playing hopscotch, going for a bike-ride, teenagers hanging out, visiting a friend in another city, or me taking my host siblings for a moto-ride. I enjoy dar-laynging with my little brother and sister a lot. We have had much fun together going to the spill-way (which isn’t really much of a spill way now as the water has receded) to catch frogs in the mud, buying chips from a little roadside shop,  visiting relatives in a nearby village, and eat caraem (another quick word lesson, caraem is the Cambodian work for ice-cream, but the stuff they hand you in a little paper cup is NOT icecream. It is a mix of milk, fruit juice, and sugar cane sugar, frozen together to RESEMBLE ice-cream. Sometimes I suspect they just use sweetened condensed milk and fruit juice). Once, we went to a nearby wat (temple) that apparently has the best elephant/wood apple tree in the village. One of the monks hitched up his robes and scaled the tall tree to pick some for us, and as such my appreciation of monks has grown considerably! The ease with which he accomplished this task that would have been difficult for someone 10 years younger suggested that either a) he until recently been something other than a monk or b) he had performed the feat many times before to the delight of many local kids. My guess is the latter.

I suppose now would be a good time to tell you a bit about my Chinese New Year in Cambodia. There is a saying here that it is the Chinese New Year, but Cambodians get drunk. No, I did not get drunk, but I was invited to eat at several different houses over the course of the weekend, and had a good time celebrating the new year with my host family. Though it is not an official public holiday in Cambodia, it is a pretty big deal for a lot of families, especially families such as mine who are part-Chinese. My family marked the new year by cleaning out the house before-hand- sweeping the spiders out of the rafters, brushing the leaves out from under the house, putting new sand in all of the incense holding pots around the house, etc. They also put food offerings in all of the little spirit houses around the house, and even made a plate of food on a banana leaf and left it by the front gate. They burned a lot of incense and prayed for good luck before taking the food and eating it. I visited the house of an ODOV staff member who did much the same thing. I was given more traditional ‘cake’ than I could possibly eat. On Chinese new year day I got a little red envelope with some money in it, and a pair of earrings from my host mother- a traditional way of giving gifts to celebrate the new year. I then accompanied my host mother and another relative to the local temple for lunch. We brought food with us (rice and several different dishes of soup, meat, vegetables, and sweets) and gave it to the monks. The monks sat on the side and ate the food while everyone else prayed- someone was at the front chanting and everyone else followed along. When they were done, we took the food dishes back and ate; everyone shared their food around. It was a nice small crowd there, not more than 30-40 people from the village, mostly women and a few children, a dozen or so nuns, and around 10 monks. Since it was a smaller crowd, I was able to talk to some of the nuns and community memberes after we ate. Later, one of the monks who knows my host mother well came over and asked if I would like to start teaching the monks English in my spare time on Friday afternoons. I agreed to do so and start this week! I don’t have much experience teaching English, but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity! Someday when I have grandkids and we are sitting around a campfire, I’ll say “did I ever tell you about the time I taught English to a group of monks while I was living in a little village in Cambodia?”   

Speaking of the future, I want you all to know that I am continuing to look into options for next year. My current experience in Cambodia has convinced me that if possible, I would really like to continue doing some sort of international development work related to the environment or agriculture. I very recently had an interview for a MCC position teaching agriculture skills to high school students in Mozambique. If this all seems very sudden and unexpected… well, it is. The interview process went well, and I am waiting to hear back, praying and trusting that God will guide my steps in the right direction as I also look into other options.

Work at ODOV is going well. As soon as one grant application is submitted, another is due just around the corner. The tomatoes are starting to fruit (there are now many “kone” tomatoes, literally meaning kid!). Today I was helping “meeng” (meaning aunt; how everyone addresses the cook/cleaner at ODOV) package seeds for distribution to farmers- there were literally hundreds of bags prepared! Yesterday I went with a staff member to conduct training on nutritious food preparation in a nearby village. We made baby food in a HUGE pot, consisting of rice (obviously), ground pork, boiled eggs, bananas, squash, potatoes, and leafy greens and pounded and mixed together. It actually didn’t taste that bad! Later, while the staff member started talking about health and nutrition, I got rather bored as I could not understand most of it, and started doodling in the dirt with my toe. This distracted the group of kids sitting around me, who started playing a game guessing what I was drawing. It was fun, and I’m not so sure they were so interested in learning about the benefits of breast-feeding babies or how to get enough vitamin A in their diet.

I just want to close this blog post with a verse I read in Jeremiah this past week. Jesus always spoke in parables that people could easily identify with, and the following image in Jeremiah really spoke to my experience as a gardener and keen observer of the natural world. I spend a fair amount of time every week weeding in the garden. As a biologist, I obviously look at, and compare, the different life strategies of the plants. Some are thorny and some are tasty. Some stretch their roots so shallow and wide that it is impossible to pull them all up; while others prefer one long straight root going deep into the soil. Some flower quickly while others reproduce through their roots. Some are fast growing and short lived; others take a while to come up. Some are long and low, others straight and tall.

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord

and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.

They are like trees planted along a riverbank,

with roots that reach deep into the water.

Such trees are not bothered by heat

or worried by long months of drought.

Their leaves stay green,

and they never stop producing fruit.”

Jeremiah 17: 7-8

Yours,

Rebecca

10 points if you know what flower this is.

In case you are having trouble with the question above, here is a hint.
Looks like we are going to have a great crop this year!

Dar-laynging with my little brother (who stood on the cross-bar while I held on to him with one hand and drove with the other), and my sister (she is takign the photo and was riding on the back of my bike.) I really felt Cambodian that day! It is much easier to take the two of them for a ride on my moto.