Love the opening. Beautiful new video, shot in Cambodia : Once again, now where do I start, dear love Dumb struck with the pure luck to find you here Every morn’ I awake from a cavernous night, Sometimes still pondering the previous plight, Seems life done changed long time no speak, Nowadays I often forget [...]
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It’s always an interesting journey from cover letter to phone interview. Discussing your past accomplishments and challenges, and the skills and experiences that shaped you. It’s thrilling to recall those experiences of personal growth. Having tough skin. Being consistent with who you are. Finding ways to diffuse stressful situations. I really appreciate the diverse experiences [...]
It’s a dish you can find in a traditional Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Lao house–among many I’m sure. I wanted to learn how to make it for a while so since coming back to America, I waited for my Mum to make it. Last night we had this: “ka thohm kim” – translates to something like [...]
After COS, I was on a plane eventually, and things surprised me: some people call it “reverse culture shock.” I just want to list some things that I found strange between Cambodia and Los Angeles, but knew in my heart it’d been normal to me for 22 years, right?: Everyone at Seoul’s Airport looked like [...]
Chicken in my village was not the most satisfying entree. Not fun to eat. I’d gnaw at a bone and wonder why I attempted to have chicken as part of my meal because it was so scrawny. Sometimes I’d end up realizing, hey, eating veggies, rice and soup is delicious. The basics. ^^^ABOVE, Wedding Food: [...]
The entrance of the market I daily walked through for vegetables to stir-fry. The rice lady was right at the front so perhaps once a month I’d go by to purchase a few cans of rice. I didn’t eat a lot of rice, but was happy to occasionally treat myself with sticky rice. Close friends [...]
Visit (http://www.cambodianculturalvillage.com/) for more information. Before I left Cambodia, my friends really, really wanted me to check the Cambodian Cultural Village. Wikipedia does not give it great reviews, but I think many volunteer friends would agree that our Cambodian friends really found this place special. It has little versions of famous buildings and heritage sites [...]
Did you know you could eat lotus seeds raw? It’s sometimes sweet and available all over Cambodia, especially on the roads as common street food. It’s considered a nice snack!
I left my village in Cambodia about 5 months ago and two of my past students figured how to use email and found an Internet connection/PC to email me! It of course made me feel warm and fuzzy. ^^^Students taking a break at the high school I taught at They told me the students really [...]
For once in my life, or the past 2 years really, I can go barefoot at work. In fact, everyone does. If we didn’t the place would be muddy and dusty… it’s a place where rainy season is half the … Continue reading →
People here are keen about the stormy weather, folding away clothes on the line a bit before I can detect anything up with the weather. It’s amazing… you see a whole street pack away their merchandise before the hear thunder … Continue reading →
It is common to not give names to pets here, as its primary use is to protect the house, not be a friend. Usually, if a dog is black, people will simply call it “Kamao” or black. If it is … Continue reading →
In Cambodia, many restaurants will kindly ask their guests to toss their toilet paper into a trash bin vs the toilet as it will clog the thing. Also toilet paper is commonly used as napkins at food stalls. Some Cambodians … Continue reading →
With the constant influx of tourists for Angkor Wat, why are high way signs in Siem Reap city written with incorrect capital letters and lowercase leters? It’s a pet peeve to notice those big white letters on green metal boards … Continue reading →
Following a Reminisce article on salutations. I want to mention that in Cambodia, people have a strange habit of giving abrupt good byes. “Leaving so soon?~” crosses my mind when people seem to be getting to know me, but it’s … Continue reading →
I was leaving the US Embassy and because I’m American, our guest speaker said good bye in the traditional Khmer way: sohm peyh (where your palms meet and fingers are pointing toward the sky. As a younger person, he greeted … Continue reading →
Adding a new category! I had my Close of Service: August 20, 2010. I’m officially a RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) now and occasionally I remember things I want to share, but didn’t blog about in particular during my service. … Continue reading →
The old books and a many dog-earred textbooks will live in the old library attached to classrooms. This new building, donated by a local family in the village, will be a library and main office. The library is upstairs. More … Continue reading →
Labeling and stamping party at the library! The book drive is finished. Book buying is over. With $2000 of new and used books in Khmer and English, we label and stamp the school name inside with a little token of … Continue reading →
This past summer, I went on an adventure to the wild west to visit my first host family. I missed them. These are my two little sisters! The one I’m sitting near by, and then the second photo, the adorable … Continue reading →
I taught 9th grade at a scholarship over summer. It was a pleasure to work with students from the Siem Reap based Jay Pritzker Academy. Creative bunch that I miss a lot. With me, they had their first introduction to … Continue reading →
Help, that’s his name translated from Khmer, drew and painted the Angkor Wat flag on the left, and began painting the Peace Corps logo on the right. He’s a bit quiet, but very enthusiastic about working on the highest drawing/painting work in the project. His detailing on the logo and flag is excellent. Many students [...]
Long ago, I dreamed of a speed bump on the road. It’s like, “hey, people here drive by too fast and even at the turn-around will zoom by without thinking to look at both corners.” And then my prayers were answered. Even a yellow sign is posted to warn drivers, “Hey, Driver, a speed bump [...]
This past week! Students are helping each other find countries on the grid and drawing it from the small country it was on the page to a 3 by 6 meters large map! On a Sunday (the only day where school’s not in session) the math teacher, in green, Miss Ka Sy, came to help [...]
Grandpa decides he’s going to have a ceremony. So all the old people visit his house, and upon meeting him again, give him some money. The eldest monk at the nearby pagoda is also coming to chant and pray for him. I made sense of this ceremony as a “getting old cermeony” or “retirement fund [...]
Thsi post was supposed to be for April 2010, discussing New Year customs in my site. I really like how sublime a pagoda looks with old archietcture. The suns make it feel welcoming and close to nature, as opposed to other places where the statues are tigers, apsara dancers, or even angels pulling on a [...]
This blog was supposed to be posted a while back. April 2010. I found these notes off NyoNyum magazine (Free! Coupons. 45th issue Feb – March 10 – Cambodian Life Navigation in Japanese and English). Indian epic poem, Ramayana, morphed into Cambodian lit as Reamker. “The former story praises Vishnu, while the local version contains [...]
^^^ABOVE, throwing a 2 sign because we’re the precious and happy K2! We’re group 2, serving in the Kingdom of Cambodia! I think of compassion, adventure, and enthusiasm and a lot of fond memories with all these people, and of course from individual staff and I really hope to remember the stories of our everyday [...]
Battambang province is a very cool place, except that the vendors have collaborated somehow or all agreed to sell their water at a slightly higher price, 100 riel more than usual. As I was thirsty trying out of principle to get the normal price for water, walking with Leah, we stumbled upon a gun-metal naga, [...]
Lots of construction projects going on. Especially in terms of bricks, paint and concrete bags. I’ve been in my rural village long enough to witness these changes. It’s on the main road to Angkor Wat, Cambodia’s magnetic and amazing tourist site. Nowadays, people are obliged to destroy their front yards (being government property) to enlarge [...]
In the morning, in the city or the rural village, usually an elder monk — maybe with a cane, no shoes — will appear with a slouch from old age, standing and waiting to receive a donation in cash. It happens almost everyday. People typically donate $.12 or $.25, the ritual goes like this . [...]
Vietnamese noodles! Very tasty, not sure if it goes with cold sugar cane juice all the time, but I love it.
You can have rice porridge or vietnamese noodles at this stand behind campus. It’s a very busy place, sometimes the wait is 10 minutes.
The rice porridge and noodles pretty much comes with shreds of [...]
Two guys are going home.
One guy wears the helmet that later saves his life! His friend, no helmet. It’s very typical to see a driver with the helmet and the passenger, just a hat or hair that doesn’t want to be helmet hair (esp among youth).
The two are going relatively fast, their lights are lowered [...]
Some people are resilient and inspiring, not knowing they’ve changed a worldview in a few minutes.
I was impressed how being a mine victim or losing the lower half a leg in some other unfortunate accident didn’t keep most of the staff at Handicap International from having fun, keeping up a good rally of feathered hackey [...]
A leader in the village, the same speaker as last year’s, came to our school once again to talk about culture in Cambodia, to not forget the ways of tradition. Her catchy question, “Is this nature? Or is this culture?” — pointing at a tree, fake flowers on the desk, instruments on the corner of [...]
Is it just me or when trash (paper, leaves, styrofoam boxes from fried ramen cart sellers) are burned.. it leaves other people dizzy as well? There are no trucks or workers who deal with the trash. Students on cleaning duty, usually as a group–a class, they burn trash from the cans on campus, but the [...]
They’re itchy, sparkle-rific, tinted in sometimes gold or silver, colorful, usually at your ankles, or like how I like at half-calf, to not trip. They’re formal, for teaching, for ceremonies, for weddings, for funerals, usually a village outfit, in the cities, it’s more of a wedding outfit, rather than one’s teaching outfit–as westernization of the [...]
Studying always makes a kiddo hungry. Here’s some photos of food I’ve seen around lately. Yum.
- The smallest watermelons and corn I’ve ever seen in my life.
- Spaghetti made from scratch, far better than any $4 mix at Angkor Market or Lucky Market
- Hard rice at the bottom of the pot. Cambodians are great [...]
Second time meeting the Provincial Office of Education! It was nice, there was a new director so it was everyone meeting everyone for the first time. There was some surprise again that I was Asian and not White, like the former volunteers. He asked me about my parents and if they were well, but by [...]
Turn the corner and you’re in a shopping area for silk products in any tourist area in Cambodia.
These puppets I wonder if folks can ever sell. But they’re as ubiquitous as motorbikes in the evening. The fabric is designed and stitched into cute animals from Ratanakiri province.
It’s a textile world at the Night Market [...]
After new years, I started sending individual text messages to close friends to wish them happy holidays. I didn’t go party in town, to relax in the shimmering and tourist heavy Bar Street on New Year’s Eve.
It didn’t feel like New Years actually because I had just missed the bunch of holidays with my family [...]
^^^ABOVE, town style ice cream
But you know what? This rare treat made me cherish the real stuff more more.
the ice cream that gets to be sold around 4pm, before mosquitoes swarm and dinner is served and school is almost out.
Ice cream back home is 1000 riel ($.25). It comes in a slightly larger [...]
In Cambodian, coconut is “dohng”. If you get it a classifier, in this instance, fruit, it becomes “plai-dohng.” But forget the classifier, for now.
When you say heart in Cambodia, it’s “beh-dohng,” and it sounds very close to coconut! When I give kids riddles that have to do with hearts, an answer guess is always… [...]
Albeit Asian-American, living in Cambodia for 14 months, I forget the many levels that my host country nationals, my students especially, have a more heightened sense of the collective spirit. Sure, my family and I ate food family-style, and value our relatives the older they are, and so keeping them close for always. But even [...]
The bus stop in my village is located around 3-4 restaurants, but what else is cooking?
English grammar and vocabulary skills! You know it…
Some of my best students brave the elements — much dust, much debris. Despite such things, there is much delight only the younger generation appreciate with that bus stop place.
They smile and [...]
Take a stand against violence towards women.
There were many posters. And there were advocates holding posters with sticks glued to them, a peaceful protest. Sorry, to lack a clear picture of the poster, but I’ll tell you about the drawing I saw. A depiction of a family, where the husband is washing dishes. He [...]
I’m good friends with many of the tailors in town. I get a 100% sure answer from all of them that you can have some fabric in your hands and overnight! it’s a wedding blouse.
And you’re ready to party, dance the night away with hands curved among the other bright outfits galore.
And my [...]
Hands down Preah Khan is my favorite temple. I think it’s there in the photo below, … just 10% sure! Because it lacks Bayon faces, isn’t immensely tall, isn’t Angkor Wat, and isn’t Ta Phrom with the larger than bodies tree trunks…. It looks like I can’t depend on my memory of the outside! So [...]
Hope yáll had a beautiful Christmas with family and friends! Have a safe and successful 2010~!
I had dinner with a full house of local educators and some friends from across the world who came to bike through the roads and temple trails of Cambodia. We had a MC, a teacher friend, who wore [...]
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