KNOM DTAU KMAE

Well, we’ve been here for a month and a half now, and I think it is safe to say that this place is growing on us. For example, consider some of last week’s events, a (now) typical “week-in-the-life-of” thewegenasts@yahoo.ca:

TUESDAY:

We woke up before 6:30 to the cacophony of roosters, cows, and screaming children. Oh well- this is a small price to pay for keeping the windows open at night. It starts to get hot here at sunup and doesn’t relent until 8 or 9 in the evening. Anyway, we crawled out from our blue bug-proof cage, got dressed, and decided to start the day with a cup- er... bag- of coffee. The walk is only a couple of kms., and besides, what else is there to do? So, off we went, dodging a couple of cows and saying hi to our kids as they rode to school, when all of a sudden a van pulled up beside us and offered us a ride. Turns out it was the ladies from Rescue off to the market to buy their daily rations, so of course we obliged. But, like any other van in this country, there were more than 20 people inside. Nonetheless, the ladies in the front seat got out to let us ride shotgun, while they piled into the back. I’m telling you, these people have hearts of gold. We got dropped off at the corner, took our drinks to-go, and headed back for a breakfast of duck eggs and mashed bananas.

Later that day I watched my wife hop on the back of a motorcycle driven by a 15 year old girl. Turns out the two of them (both helmetless) needed to pick up some Kool-Aid for the 34 kids invading our house for Bible study that night. Cool, eh? I am actually kind of jealous.

That night during Bible study we had 2 uninvited guests show up. The lizards were about a foot long with tales the diameter of a dime. One of them actually had the audacity to show up in the living room and interrupt the study. Oh well- they keep the bugs away.

THURSDAY:

Today Oye, our fabulous in-house cook, showed us how to make a variety of Khmer salad called “Kneom” (or something to that effect) and it was delicious. I’m pretty sure we consume about 40 cloves of garlic a week- no kidding. We finished off classes for the week with a little one on one tutoring with some kids who are having some trouble. Rescue has a set of rather dated children’s readers featuring a shoeless giant and some talking animals that the kids seem to get a kick out of. Kids like the funniest things.


FRIDAY:

I woke up on a mission to get a hair cut. We met our neighbour on the way and she referred me to a place “on this side of the sewer on 310 where an old guy and a young guy do haircuts for 50 cents”. With her help, I had no trouble finding the place. The barber shop was a little shack with 2 chairs and a locked instrument box where the scissors are kept. The radio was plugged in to the only outlet on the wall, meaning that the buzz cut I got was done by hand with a sort of pump-action hand clipper. Before he started, my face was dusted with some sort of powder. Start to finish, the visit was a surprisingly long 40 minutes, but that included a nose hair trim, and a shave with a straight blade. The ‘do is actually kind of funny looking, but for 50 cents I thought it a real bargain.
A bit sketchy? You bet. Would I do it again? Absolutely.



SATURDAY:

Went to the gym and immediately after Julie hopped off the treadmill the power went off, killing the American pop music blasting through the speakers and the vibrating massage belts. Nobody flinched.

Another thing we’ve picked up here is a bit more of a handle on the language. It’s fun negotiating with the tuk-tuk drivers and fruit vendors in Khmer. They actually give you a better deal if you speak Cambodian. Julie and I have fun with it too- taking turns trying to see who can get the best deal. Friday I directed a tuk-tuk driver all the way to Tuol Koak (15 minutes away) completely in Khmer, and today (Sunday) Julie managed to get 8 mangoes for a buck fifty [cp. 2 for $1.80 in the supermarket]. Khmer will always sound funny coming from a white person, but by just being willing to learn, it is interesting how the locals respect you.

Six weeks ago if you were to tell me this was what Cambodia would be like, I probably wouldn’t have believed you, but now that this is our temporary home- events such as these are commonplace, and for us, for now, it’s just dandy.