The Weisses take the Bodes

Summer vacation occurred in 3 parts. This is the 2^nd time this year I was able to take a longer trip away from my site as English Teachers only have April and August (or longer if you work at a high school) as prolonged periods of time without school. I took an unexpected trip back to America; unexpected in that when I started my service, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t return for the 27 months I committed to serving for. Then, a wedding of my dear friends persuaded me to take a quick 10 day jaunt to the Bay Area. It was a brief taste of what life might be like when I return, especially when it came to trying to explain life as a PCV in Cambodia. Many warned me that 10 days was far too short and that I was crazy for attempting such a trip bookended by 30 hour travel days, but time slowed down as I enjoyed time with friends, family, dogs, food, etc. I turned around with all members of the Weiss family in tow, minus dogs, to begin the “Weissbodes/Thaiwei” vacation. These became the hashtags (a way of categorizing pictures) for my sister and my need to contribute daily to our instagram feeds. Sidenote: I was exposed to the pretty neat technology of the instagram app while I was home and became a bit addicted (@samwisegamjee, if you want to follow me).

Maya and Alex tying the knot

From day 1, the Weisses were gung ho to try bizarre foods, tough it out in the heat and avoid afternoon naps so we could get as much touristing in as possible. Jet lag was ignored as we began our trip learning about Khmer Rouge tragedies and a somewhat treacherous half-day bike ride from Phnom Penh to the Silk Islands across the river. A few days later, we took a 24 hour trip to my Cambodian home in Prey Veng where they took Khmer forms of transportation (vans with very little air-conditioning packed to the gills with bodies) to meet my Khmer family. They ate crickets, which they thoroughly enjoyed, ongui-langed with the family and at the coffee shop in the market, and ate cow-climbs-the-mountain (goo lang phnom, Khmer BBQ) together. After saying goodbye to my town and my host family, we arrived in Phnom Penh ready to take Khmer wedding photos. Mom, Lex and I underwent 2 hour makeovers that had us looking like drag queens to produce these gems. Dad only had to get dressed for this one in a blue suit and flipper-like shoes; I was disappointed there was no make-up or hair doing for him, however, he did feel like a rap star with all the bling. The next day we headed north to one of my favorite places in Cambodia, Battambang. We enjoyed the bamboo train (think Disneyland’s Indiana Jones ride through the rice fields ending in a gift shop of children peddling animals made from grass), Phnom Sampeau where millions or billions of bats flew out of a cave for one straight hour in a swirling ribbon over the rice fields, and the amazing Phare Ponleuk Circus (featuring Khmer Heath Ledger from A Knight’s Tale). One 8 hour boat trip later, we were in Siem Reap for a 3 day tour of Angkor Wat, nearby temples , Phnom Kulen (linga mania) and last but not least the Cambodian Cultural Village. This was in actuality Disneyland for Asian tourists which meant our guide was surprised we had interest in going there. Surrounded by Chinese, Khmer and Korean tourists, we enjoyed the dances and campy performances that were meant to depict different cultures and regions of Cambodia. There was also a stupendous wax museum of Cambodian figures through the ages and live animals found in Cambodia (probably endangered) that the visitors were happy to feed their cookies and crackers to. To speak for the Weisses, we were exhausted from early mornings and non-stop travel, and we were all ready for vacation in Phuket, Thailand. I believe they got a taste of the real deal in Cambodia in only 10 days and my job as tour guide was finished.

Families meet for Khmer BBQ

Bats! at Phnom Sampeau, Battambang

Boat ride to Siem Reap

"The Happiness Family" at the Cambodian Cultural Village

Landing in Bangkok was a bit of culture shock for my parents as they saw the abundance of American food chains and shopping possibilities in the airport alone. Our arrival in Phuket was no different as our taxi drove down the highway and we passed large scale developments and many malls. Finally arriving at our modest resort on a quiet bay, we could all breathe a little easier. We quickly found out that our resort had a detox center offering daily yoga and a kitchen with plenty of raw food, so basically we were back in Berkeley. Lex, the master tour planner, found some excellent tours for our few days that would take us away from the seedier, backpackery and Russian parts of the island. We went on an excellent tour of old town Phuket with Chaya (Heritage Walking Tours) who took us to places no tourists tend to end up. We visited a pagoda during the time offerings were given, a Taoist temple, a mansion popular for wedding photo shoots, saw Phuket town from high up above, Lex fed monkeys (who also tried eating a box of tacks a motorist left in their bike), Mom and Dad tried about 10 different Thai dishes that they really enjoyed, a sea gypsy village and the architecture and shops of the Portuguese influenced old town. I learned that Phuket is one of the most expensive places to live in Thailand (more so than Bangkok), and that Thailand is truly a melting pot akin to the United States. Thailand is a relatively new country whose inhabitants come from neighboring countries, which helps to explain the diversity in their appearance. This contrasts sharply to Cambodia, a place with ethnic homogeneity, and explains why foreigners aren’t quite as intriguing in Thailand as they are in Cambodia. Chaya also explained how strongly Buddhist beliefs are engrained into Thai culture. She explained that people are free to do what they want and express themselves because judgment is withheld. This fits with the experiences I’ve had in Thailand thus far, and contrast to my experiences in Cambodia which is also a majority Buddhist country, but I do not see as much Buddhism embodied in everyday culture here. This might also be a result of living in a post-conflict society where the importance of religion was diminished for a period of time. In other words, Thailand is a much more comfortable place to be different, as a foreigner or a Thai person. We ended the trip on an afternoon to nighttime sea canoe trip. Upon mention of “John Gray’s Sea Canoe”, any local spoke of how amazing this trip was and the man who created it. However, he is too busy being an “entreumaneur” (check his website) to attend most of the trips. His excellent Thai staff showed us a good time, made great Thai food on a boat, canoed us safely through openings that almost scraped my nose when lying down and told us of the nature surrounding us. Our final day in Phuket consisted of a quick stand up paddle boarding sesh on the calm bay with a view of the giant sitting Buddha on the hill (Dad used his board as a kayak preferring the seated approach), further exploration of Phuket town (and the lack of public transportation on the island), and we headed to the big city of Bangkok that evening. I was only able to enjoy a day there before I had to join mid-service training in Phnom Penh, but true to the Weiss traveling fashion, we jammed a lot into that last day. We started by roaming the mazes of Chatuchak Market, where I ate as much as I could starting with coconut ice cream for breakfast, continued to a tea room and sampled some of the fine Bangkokian malls, followed by Jim Thompson’s house, an American who built a really nice Thai/Western fusion house and knew a lot about Thai silk.

**More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sam_wise/sets/ or on my Instagram (@samwisegamjee)**

I sadly said goodbye to the Weisses to get back to the PC life as it is true what PCVs told me: once you see your family during your service your homesickness surfaces and intensifies. I’m also not sure when we’ll have the opportunity to all take a couple weeks to travel somewhere far away all together again. Being adults means no more summer vacation as we used to have it. Until then, we’ll just have to think of the shellacked versions of ourselves you see below:

Us at Angkor Wat!

Coming up soon: I’ve been here longer than a year, crazy! And other thoughts about that. Featuring: projects galore!

milestones and evolution

I’m not one to highlight milestones as the years pass, but the short or long time I have spent in Cambodia thus far, depending on the day and my outlook, has allowed me to focus more on them.  I just celebrated my second and last birthday in the Bodes and now I must remember when asked everyday how old I am to answer differently. I have now been in Cambodia for over a year and I still feel like every day throws something new and unexpected at me. I recently had a conversation with our country director who called this phase of a volunteer’s experience the height of "ignorant arrogance". This means that at this point the volunteer tends to think they know all, but they simultaneously realize they in fact know nothing. However, some things have come to be more commonplace and I tried to compile a small list of those below. I look forward to the chance I will have this coming month to see this country through the fresh eyes of my American family. I’m not sure what the next year will bring, but I know it will be constantly changing, surprising and more intense than the past one.

Things that have become normal:

- pigs on motos

- families on motos (5 or so people)

- round-about insanity and the "traffic rules"

- waiting and waiting when it comes to travel

- food sitting out for hours in the market

- kids using knives and other dangerous objects

- monks chanting on loudspeakers
- rain pausing the flow of daily life

Things that are still shocking:

- IVs on motos

- after a moto accident, the injured is thrown on the back of another moto

- physical appearance being bluntly commented on

- wedding music - volume and length

A personal project that I’ve taken on, as mentioned in the last post, is to take at least one photograph every day. This was inspired by my photography professor and mentor from college who has taken on this project since 2002 (http://dailypost.bowdoin.edu/). This has helped me to remain observant and to think about how to present my daily life to those of you who can’t see it with your own eyes. Please follow it by checking out my photostream here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sam_wise/

A milestone for Cambodians that took place in the last month was the 5th national election in the history of Cambodia. It was a time of excitement, passion and anticipation for the Cambodian people. The aftermath is much calmer out in the provinces, but the final results have yet to be finalized. Peace Corps strongly suggested that we refrain from having political conversations for safety and security purposes which I adhered to, also because it’s really challenging to have a political conversation in another language. The author of the following article said “however flawed or unfair this election, the Cambodian people have spoken” which is the sentiment I experienced as every Cambodian I know of voting age proudly showed me their ink soaked finger as proof of their vote.

NYTimes opinion piece - http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/10/opinion/global/the-cambodian-people-have-spoken.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Fellow PCV’s blogs with more history and context on the election - http://60x27.com/2013/07/28/cambodias-national-assembly-elections/

http://henshallincambodia.blogspot.com/2013/07/election-results.html

Rainy season

Cows guarding my school

Birthday festivities

one a day

I've been focusing my time on trying to capture something interesting everyday. It can all be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sam_wise/

Some highlights are...

Phnom Penh

Outside PP

Election Day - Prey Veng

Jawng Pawm - Prey Veng

My tutor, co-teacher, friend, and Khmer father

Always an artist during our tutoring sessions

Sam Ang is somewhat of a renaissance man. I met him my first week at site as a suggested tutor from a former volunteer at my site. His command of the English language was astounding as was his vast vocabulary. His resume includes teaching at the Regional Teacher Training Center, Director of a Primary School, private tutor to anyone who requests his help, English Teacher, NGO Consultant, Author/Historian (has written one book about the history of Ba Phnom – his hometown and a biography coming soon), Co-Founder of a traditional Khmer Dancing organization, Houdini at escaping death (31 times mostly during the Khmer Rouge), fisherman, water-bearer (walked miles to get water for his family), and many more jobs I’m not even aware of. Not only did he tutor me, but he introduced me to one of his free private classes which I soon took on co-teaching with him. Over the last year, he has been a consistent presence in my life, someone to ask any and all language questions, cultural confusions, teaching frustrations and reassuring company. He is a great teacher who cares about each of his students and has been offering free private classes in Prey Veng town since 1996. He would commute here from his hometown 30 kilometers every week and stay here, away from his family, to serve his students. Last week, he told his students that he would no longer be coming as it was time to dedicate his attention to his family. His daughter was married earlier in the year to a Khmer-American (the wedding he asked me to participate in as a bridesmaid) and he and his wife were getting the opportunity to visit her in the Boston area this summer. I felt the sadness and tears of the students who were losing probably the best English teacher they’ve had or will have the opportunity to learn from.  I also would miss him undoubtedly, but it was hard to grasp what these students were losing. I will definitely miss our conversations and time together, but I can find another tutor and like all things in Cambodia, I will adapt to the change as a short time resident of this community. He is an embodiment of continual learning which is something not often valued in Khmer culture. He uses every interaction with his English speaking students to learn new words and phrases. He always has reference books and dictionaries handy to learn words he has yet to encounter. He tirelessly works for a better quality of life for his family.

The wall in his classroom where he writes down vocabulary he learns

At 63 years old, he never stops, waking up at 5 am (or earlier) everyday to write, work on his farms, teach or whatever else comes his way.

Visiting Sam Ang in Ba Phnom

I asked some of his students to describe why Sam Ang is important to them. This is what they said (with some edits for grammar by me):

“He asked me to show my ability to my classmates. He made me know who I am…He would travel far from his family in order to teach us. If he could keep teaching me, my destiny would be brilliant. He always makes me feel happy even if he’s in the USA or any particular place.”

“He’s a strict person also, when he is angry. So all of his students love him and miss him when he goes. He’s very friendly and funny with his students and other people.”

“I was a lazy student before, but when I came to study with him, my habits changed…He’s a highly knowledgeable teacher and his high morality.”

“Sometimes when he is sick, he still teaches me if he can. I also learn from him about living. He never blames me when I did something wrong, he always corrects me…I learn a lot about history of Cambodia from him. I think he is the best teacher.”

“I think that teacher Sam Ang is very important for me. Why I say like that? Because he is a best teacher. And he always gives a lot of advice for me, taught grammar, gave new information to me, encourage me all the time, taught about social fabrics of today and pronunciation like a native. One more thing is he always respects time, respects other and himself all of the time. And he is a man of his word.”

With a couple students in front of his classroom, he's been teaching here since 1996

baby you're a firework

I will divert your attention to my fellow PCVs blog that I guest blogged on this week: http://60x27.com/2013/07/07/happy-birthday-america/

Check out some additional pictures below from the same event. Happy Birthday America!! Man, you're getting old.

The tent for the official reception

Ryan posing with the contortionists blending right in

Meg and I at the photo op with the Ambassador's armored Suburban

Garrett trying to consume all 3 ice creams because PCVs never let free food go to waste

Mike and Ryan at the Harley Davidson photo op

Peace Chorus buddies: Maria, Garrett, Leah and Ryan

when people stop being polite...and start getting real

We feel fairly safe entering the world everyday without brutal honesty and judgement hitting us in the face. We do our best to project ourselves confidently through our actions, speech and appearance, and hope to receive mostly positive responses. Most of us desire critical feedback, but only when requested, in order to grow and make improvements.

I was working on a post about the things in my current life that I have become accustomed to living in a foreign culture that would still sound rather strange to others, but I put those thoughts on hold to address one of my biggest challenges I still face living here. This is something that I have not been able to get used to as merely a cultural difference. I have addressed appearance and image in prior posts, but it’s often on my mind and I believe my thoughts on the issue to be evolving the longer I am here. I hope that looking back on this blog, it will be representative of reflections that dominate my mind as will the frequency with which I address the most pervasive themes in my everyday life.

I realized recently that I have become more self-conscious when it comes to my physical appearance than I remember being in the last 8 or so years of my life. This has become more dominant in the past month or so, whereas at the beginning of my time in Cambodia and at site the constant comments about appearance didn’t quite penetrate my subconscious. When I first arrived, entering the market meant comments on my pointy nose and white skin (highly desirable traits) were coming from every which way contributing to how sa-at (beautiful) I was considered. While this got tiring and I even complained about constantly hearing how beautiful I was, it never quite bothered me the way it does when I’m told I am toe-at (fat). Other than being a rather unfortunate sounding word in Khmer, the labeling and judgement I assume comes with this comment is troublesome. Here being called fat is not the same as if a stranger were to do so in America, but coming from American culture, it doesn’t hurt any less when this word is slung at me. At first, I would always explain that I’m just bigger than Khmer people and I’m normal sized in other cultures, but when you hear this word often enough, it makes you wonder. I should explain that it’s not meant as an insult here; people would prefer to not be so skinny but their childhood nourishment of mostly rice stunts their growth quite a bit. Another thing to note is one day you may be fat, but the next you could be skinny again. I even start to believe that it’s possible I visibly gained 5 pounds from one day to the next.

When people are constantly commenting on my appearance or clearly sizing me up with their eyes, my gaze turns inward more than ever. Comments like these have felt more noticeable as of late because the receiving line of housewives and yeays (grandmas) that keep my host sister company as she works have become more vocal. The front of my house is my host sister’s tailoring business. She sits at all hours of the day at her sewing machine working. The front of our house thus serves as a gathering point for women, babies, yeays and anyone else who’s looking for a place to gossip and ongui lang (sit-play). Any time I exit the house, I am subject to their comments which used to me more asking where I was going and at this point are strictly regarding my appearance. This can get old quick and obviously kind of frustrating. My host sister is very understanding of difference and Western culture in a way that most Khmer people aren’t, so she is not one to launch these comments at me. However, this doesn’t lessen the onslaught from the others. Fellow PCVs and I have expressed concern that we will also lack the filter expected in American culture upon returning home and will blurt out blunt judgements as we have become accustomed to receiving here.

I started to think back on the last year before I moved to Cambodia and how my perception of my body image could have changed so drastically in this transition. Prior to this, my vanity was under my own control. I was never big into mirrors and didn’t spend too much time in front of them. I would spend 5-10 minutes getting ready every morning; I would dress myself without a mirror (maybe a bad choice), put up my hair and add some jewelry. I used clothing and jewelry to express myself and my individuality to my students, within the limits of business casual, who were my audience everyday. I would spend the next 12ish hours focused on my work, my students, my lessons, my co-workers, food (Canto6), and daily tasks. My own appearance didn’t enter those 12 hours as I wouldn’t hear comments (aside from the occasional 7^th grader pointing out a zit on your face) about my looks and my mind and body were completely consumed by my job. Besides, in American culture, friends and co-workers are expected to compliment rather than insult. This weekend on a bike ride, I was listening to a TED talk titled “What is beauty?” where a model was giving her thoughts on the modeling industry’s standard of beauty. She remarked on how the public is unaware that models are in actuality the most insecure women on the planet. She said she feels insecure because she has to think about what she looks like everyday. This comment resonated with my current situation because I effectively have to put on armor before exiting my room each day in preparation for what someone might say about me. Their looks and opinions, whether or not they are founded in truth, are the reality of my life as a strange foreigner in a superficially homogeneous culture. My difference draws attention and interest everywhere I go; I’m still trying to figure out how to accept that.

This is my response for the time being

"j-factor": velociraptors and girl's empowerment

You may wonder what these things have in common. The genius volunteers of Prey Veng province found a way to join them together, while some remained skeptical. When planning our province's first Camp G.L.O.W. (Girls Leading Our World), we decided to keep it as simple as possible: we kept it to 1 night and 2 days and tried to utilize the resources PV has to offer us. We invited an American volunteer with Mennonite Central Committee to show the girls how to use art to illustrate their strengths, a KOICA (Korea's PC) volunteer to lead a session on healthy habits, Youth Council of Cambodia to discuss leadership, Khmer friends and counterparts to explain healthy relationships and signs of domestic abuse, a nearby Youthstar volunteer (Khmer volunteer organization) to discuss the importance of volunteering in their own communities, and an American friend working for KHANA in Phnom Penh to lead a session on reproductive health. Where needed the volunteers jumped in to lead sessions on exercise, yoga, nighttime games in the park (water balloon toss and an intense game of soccer), "girly bonding" (friendship bracelet making and painting nails extravaganza), career and educational opportunities and the highlight for many - a newspaper fashion show which took place within the last 30 minutes of the camp. The 5 volunteers from across Prey Veng province came with an entourage of 10 girls each and a counterpart to help facilitate activities as the majority of the camp was conducted in Khmer.

The higher education/career planning workshop

During the abusive relationships session, the girls completed the phrases "Love is..." and "Love is not..."

It was a whirlwhind 32 hours; the high of being surrounded by fifty 10th-12th grade girls, working with 4 other volunteers and various counterparts and facilitators, coordinating materials for sessions and keeping to a tight schedule was a huge change of pace from the last 10 months of work. I had some flashes back to the last two years when I took my 7th graders in Boston on their year end trip to Philadelphia. The stresses were different, but the youthful exuberance of working with a large group of engaged students was very reminiscent. Although we taped the doors of our girls as we did our good night check, I wasn't concerned they would try to sneak out to explore the town like my rambunctious middle schoolers. Similarly, it was the first time many of these girls had been to Prey Veng town, which is only roughly 40 km from the farthest village, and it was the first time many of my 7th graders had seen a city beyond Boston. It was an opportunity for the girls to step out of their comfort zone as most have never spent the night away from their home. They made new friends and demonstrated trust  for them within hours of meeting one another when it came to discussing sensitive topics and sharing a hotel room. Most importantly, it was a rare environment separate from male students, siblings and parents to be themselves and talk about topics that are not usually open to discussion. They had the opportunity to have their voice be heard and to receive answers from adults who are there to answer their questions and support them.

A student explaining her strengths from her "power collage"

My crew of girls, 8 come from the orphange I work at and 2 are my teacher trainees

Often times I wonder how my experience as a trained teacher specifically for American "No Excuses" charter schools comes into play in the Cambodian education system. The style of teaching and learning the students are accustomed to is far from my Boston classroom for the last 3 years. Something my colleagues and I would try to incorporate into every lesson and the structure of our class in America is something called "J-factor" which stands for "Joy Factor". It always seemed kind of sad that I had to plan joy into my classes because I always thought the joy they should get from learning should be sufficient. I used my stuffed animal (his name is "Tray", you can see him below) as a student in my classes to show them that I'm not always so serious. The idea is that this "J-factor" should keep the students interested and engaged because they're having some fun with their learning. I often forget that Cambodian students, like all kids, just want to have some fun as they are very obedient and respectful of the teacher (for the most part) seemingly naturally. Nonetheless, that's where our friend the velociraptor comes in...Some of us in Prey Veng call ourselves "the Prey Veng velociraptors" for alliterative purposes and because who doesn't love dinosaurs? When designing the shirt we decided that the dino should be included somewhere in a subtle fashion. Although I for some reason see pink as an evil color, I gave into this "Barbie" pink which the girls were thrilled about. I think the combination of the subtle dinosaur on a background of hot pink lava turned out rather well. Initially we didn't much consider how the girls would take to our beloved dinosaur, but within the first few minutes of the camp, Diana began to explain the velociraptor to the girls. Some quickly embraced it by drawing it onto their name tags while others said they were afraid of it even though we tried to explain that they are extinct. We started making velociraptor roars intermittently throughout the camp and the girls quickly followed suit mimicking our dinosaur cry. I think of it as one of those camp "inside jokes" that the girls will take back to their communities and laugh over with their friends. It was also a chance for the girls do get a little weird in an environment where that was encouraged.

Tray came to Cambodia to meet his friend the velociraptor, even my 20 year old teacher trainees like him

The G.L.O.W. Velociraptors doing their best dinosaur cry

I want to send the gratitude from all the girls, the volunteers and our Khmer counterparts to the friends and family who donated to make this camp possible. It was a very memorable weekend for us all and it wouldn't have been possible without you.

I will be adding all the pictures from the Camp to my Flickr this coming weekend, until then my friend and fellow blogger, Kirk, kept a "live blog" of the action as it occurred. Check out his blog for many entries of succinct explanations (something I'm not good at) and great visuals. http://60x27.com/