Moving Out

Hanging out on my balcony

Moving into my first apartment didn't involve searching for the perfect furniture, or picking up a free old sofa on the street, or getting sheets and towels from my mom. Instead moving into my first apartment involved searching through the Reps' house for furniture and housewares left over from former MCCers. This meant that after the big move I realized I had an abundance of some things (40 dinner plates, anyone?), a lack of some necessary items (why are there no extension cords?), and a collection of things that I don't know how to use or are not useful for me (anyone need to know how to store breast milk?). All in all though, moving out on my own has been just as much of a wacky experience as I expected it to be.

View at sunset from my balcony

I knew coming in that I was only going to be living with my amazing host family for two months, and despite loving them with all my heart I was ready to know the sound of silence again. Near the end of October, Denise helped me look for my own apartment. Back home apartment hunting would involve looking on Craigslist and other websites. Here in Cambodia, it meant driving around the city looking for "For Rent" signs. Denise and I spent several hours riding around on her moto trying to find an affordable and nice place. After looking at or inquiring about 14 different places, we decided to head back to the office and call it a day. We took one of the back roads, and noticed another "For Rent" sign. We decided to check it out.

Current bedroom decorations

The landlady came out to meet us and agreed to show us the apartments. She explained that they were just finishing renovating the house. The third and fourth floor were completely redone, and each floor was one apartment. We first checked out the apartment on the third floor. It was very nice. A little over budget though, and I really had no need for a second bedroom. So, we asked to see the one bedroom apartment on the fourth floor. I was skeptical from the moment I saw the stairs- it was basically a ladder placed at an angle. Then we stepped into the apartment. It was beautiful! A big open main room to be used as a kitchen and living room, a spacious bedroom with double doors out to the wrap around balcony, white tile flooring, lovely seafoam green walls, and lots of light throughout. Denise and I kept looking at each other with expressions that clearly said, "This is it!" We had an appointment to see another apartment the next day, so it was a few days before I could officially agree to rent to the place.

Elephants in my kitchen

Two weeks later, with the assistance of the Reps and several MCC employees, I moved into my apartment. I've been living there for almost a month now, and I love it. I'm still in the process of making it feel like home, but it's coming along and I have big plans (ok not that big, creative decorating is not my strong suit, I just want some plants and lamps and stuff).

Make-shift curtain until they're made

Living alone is very different from anything I've ever done before, and a lot quieter than living with a host family, but I am truly enjoying it. Hopefully the alone time will encourage me to actually pick up some hobbies (goals include sewing and yoga, but neither have made any headway yet).

My 1st Apartment

My bedroom, as seen from the balcony

Part of my balcony (it wraps around the front too)

Kitchen and front door

Kitchen

Living room

Host Sibling Cuteness

My host siblings are adorable little trouble makers. There are two girls who live in my house, a 5 year old and a 7 year old, and a 6 year old boy cousin who lives downstairs.

A few weeks ago we were playing outside, so I offered to buy them ice cream. It was cheap and they enjoyed it, and really I bought it because I wanted ice cream. Last week, I was in my room reading, while Maac was outside, and the three children were in the living room. I could hear the children playing around and I kept hearing the words the word "eat" followed by a word I didn't know. A few minutes later, they burst into my room, and kept repeating this phrase. I told them I didn't understand. So they told me, "Go outside! Go down[stairs]!" I surrendered, grabbed 2 dollars out of my purse just in case, and allowed them to drag me down the stairs, thinking that we were going to sit with Maac. The two older ones took me hands, and the younger one held her sister's other hand, and they marched me out past where Maac was sitting, and down the street. At that point I realized what they were doing. They were taking me to the only store on the street that has ice cream. I was being forced to buy them ice cream. The ice cream was super cheap so I bought it for them ($0.25 per prepackaged cone), and chatted with the shopkeepers while they started eating. When we got back to the house, Maac had come inside and I'm pretty sure the first thing they said to her was "Look, Hannah bought us ice cream!"


The other night I was again in my room reading. Maac was out and my host sisters were in the living room playing. I'd go out and join them periodically, but not as much as they wanted. Suddenly, I heard the younger one scream. Not a play scream either but a scream that said something was terribly wrong. I hadn't heard a crash or bang or anything like that so my actual first thought was that they had set something on fire, since the 7 year old is allowed to use the lighter. I jumped out of my bed and ran into the living room. The two girls were laying on the floor, they took one look at me burst into giggles. I tried to impart to them that doing that kind of thing was bad, and returned to my room. Upon my return, the youngest started screaming again. I mumbled about the boy who cried wolf to myself while I settled onto my bed.

I'm so glad to have these children in my life. They love to mess around, and have now gotten into the habit of begging me to buy them ice cream ("Me, me, me, ice cream?!"), and I can't imagine doing this host family thing without them. They love to practice speaking English with me and are delighted when I speak to them in Khmer.

Goal for the coming week: to get them to stop asking me what I'm doing when I'm in the bathroom.

Khmer Letters

The ones in blue I got right on the first try

Today was a milestone moment in my Khmer writing class. I have officially finished learning all the consonants and vowels! I even was able to write most of them without help.

Nyam Baay! Eat rice!

In Khmer, you would never just say "I eat" (knom nyam). "I eat" must have a food or drink attached to it, for example coffee, or cake, or fruit. If you mean to describe eating a meal though you say "I eat rice" (knom nyam baay), because it's not really considered a meal if there's no rice (rice noodles sometimes count). Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are, respectively, morning rice, afternoon rice, and evening rice. Rice dishes are typical eaten with a spoon. If you have a fork it is used only to assist in putting food on your spoon, it is not put in your mouth. I have yet to be given a knife to use during a Khmer meal. Noodle dishes, though, especially soups, are eaten with chopsticks. I have no ability to use chopsticks, so whenever I eat noodle dishes I end up using them like a fork. I think I'm getting better at controlling them though!

Kuy teav, picture from Wikipedia

For breakfast most days I go out to a haang baay (rice shop aka restaurant). Many people eat breakfast at restaurants here- because it's cheap and cooking breakfast is labor intensive. Common breakfast dishes include rice porridge, rice with pork (or chicken, or egg), ramen noodle soup, or a rice noodle soup (the soups can be with or without meat). I haven't gotten used to the idea of eating rice for breakfast, so I order the rice noodle soup, called kuy teav, without meat everyday. I told one of my Khmer teachers that I get it without meat and he told me that the staff at the restaurant must think I'm very strange. I really love this soup. It's a light broth, thin rice noodles, green onions, a little lettuce, bean sprouts, and something else that I haven't figure out what it is. Most mornings I add lime juice, sriracha, soy sauce, and fish sauce to it to add flavor. I've also seen people add hoisin sauce, salt, and pepper to it.

Lok Lak, picture from Joy Ceira Cooks

I generally eat lunch at the MCC office, with the other service workers and staff. The housekeeper cooks all of us lunch everyday. Lunch normally involves rice, some stir fried vegetables with either fish, chicken, or tofu (most often fish), a soup, and fruit. I have been unable to get myself to like the soups that aren't based around rice noodles, but I do enjoy the rice dishes. One that we had earlier this week, called Lok Lak, included beef, raw veggies, french fries, and an egg, all topped with black pepper sauce. To add any wanted flavor to these meals there is always soy sauce, fish sauce, hot chili sauce, and fish sauce with extremely hot chilis.

My host mom makes dinner in the evening. Dinner usually involves one or two stir fried dishes, normally veggies with a little bit of meat (usually chicken or pork). Often my host mom will also serve some shrimp or small crabs. We all gather on the floor of the main room in the house to eat. Everyone has a spoon and a bowl (well, I'm always given a spoon, a fork, and a plate), and we serve ourselves food. Since I am a guest, my host mom always insisting on serving me rice (adult women normally get their own) and serving me way more than I could ever eat. I always smile and laugh and tell her that she has given me too much, then I either give some of it to my host sisters or return it back to the rice cooker.

Bubble (Milk) Tea

Along with meals, I do a little bit of snacking. My host mom keeps fruit around the house and encourages me to eat it while I'm studying. The other week she was so concerned that I was hungry that she bought a bunch of banana's to keep in my room. There is also a shop around the corner from the office that sells deep fried bananas. I've also become a big fan of iced milk tea, with or without bubbles, so I end up buying it more than I probably should.

Knom reen Khmer*

Independence Monument

During the week I wake up around 6:30AM (when I don't over sleep). I roll up the mosquito net that goes around my bed, make my bed and go shower. As I get ready for the day I greet my host family. Once I am dressed and clean, I gather my school things and helmet and head out the door. This process generally includes a mostly mimed conversation with my host mother, her telling me that I need to cover my arms so I don't get dark and me saying that I'll be fine. I hop on my bike and head over to eat breakfast at a restaurant.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

After breakfast, I head over to Khmer Friends, the school where I study reading and writing. There I sit with my teacher for two hours practicing reading and writing khmer letters. There are 33 original consonants, 11 added consonant, and 24 vowels most of which have two vowels. I have learned to read and write all 44 consonant, though I have a hard time remembering them, and I've learned 14 of the vowels. Though Khmer is not tonal, there are many sounds that don't exist in English. I spend most of class writing and reading the letters, and combining consonants and vowels.

On Tuesdays, I ride my bike across the city (~30 minutes) after Khmer Friends to go to a program called LINK. LINK is a natural language acquisition class. The teachers only speak in Khmer and the students are only supposed to speak English. This way we get used to the sounds.

On days that I don't go to LINK, I meet with the MCC Reps to go over MCC guidelines and get some orientation to MCC Cambodia.

Royal Palace

An hour later, I head back to the MCC office for lunch with the rest of the staff, made by our wonderful housekeeper, which also includes rice and some kind of soup. Later in the afternoon, I have an hour of speaking Khmer lessons with a tutor. We work on memorizing and pronouncing words, grammar, listening and forming sentences, with some Cambodian cultures lessons thrown in. When all of my Khmer lessons are done for the day I hang out in the office, write emails and do my homework.

Fridays are my break from Khmer lessons. Instead, I get to learn about Phnom Penh and Cambodia by doing fun tourist things. So far I've gone to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, and the National Museum of Cambodia.

Around 5PM, I head home. At home I study some more, play with my host sisters, laugh with my host mother, and eat dinner (which again always includes rice). My host sisters' current favorite thing to do with me is stretch. Around 8PM everyone starts getting ready for bed (most people are awake by 6AM). I brush my teeth, arrange my mosquito net, turn on my fan, and crawl into bed.

*Khmer for: I study Khmer.

Puppy

Just so you know, the MCC Cambodia office got a puppy and it's the highlight of my week.

Homestay

So the truth is I was really not looking forward doing a home stay. I don't think I'm to the happy I'm doing it anyway point yet, but it is nice to go home to a house with adorable children.

I'm living with a multi generational family. My host mother, hence forth called Maac (Khmer for mother), has her daughter and the 2 granddaughters living with her. One of her sons and his family live in an apartment downstairs. The two nights I've been there all of us have eaten dinner together.

The apartment is small. The main room functions as a living room, dining room, kitchen, and bedroom for the family. Maac sleeps on the only bed while her daughter and grandchildren share a mat on the floor. There are 3 little side rooms. One is a bathroom, one functions as a closet and storage area, and the other was converted into a private bedroom for me.

Though I am still a bit trepidacious about this whole host family thing, I'm looking forward to the adventures these next 2 months will hold.

Oooh! I finally got a bike! I have freedom of movement... not that I know how to get anywhere...

Phnom Penh and Prey Veng

 I can't believe I've been in Cambodia for more than a week. I also can't believe it's been only a little more than a week. I spent the first week in Phnom Penh, getting oriented to MCC Cambodia and to the city, then I spent the last few days out in Prey Veng.

Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is different than any other city I've ever been it. It's very.. hectic. The streets are super narrow and dirty. The buildings are really close to the roads, with big fences and gates, and each building varies drastically from the next. There'll be a big multi-story new looking building next to a tiny tin roofed shack. There are always cars and bikes and countless motos driving in every direction. I haven't figured out geography yet. I'm normally pretty good at geography, but this city has me constantly feeling lost.

Prey Veng

Prey Veng is a town out in the country. It's a beautiful town, with grass and trees everywhere, only a few of the road are paved. It is surrounded by rice fields, which are flooded this time of year.

I went out to Prey Veng with this year's group of SALTers, MCC Cambodia's Yamen participant, and their Program Coordinators. While there I stayed with two of MCCs Service Workers. We explored the town, climbed a very small mountain, visited a Wat, had Khmer BBQ, tried dog meat, visited Monkey Island, got an introductory moto driving lesson, and talked and talked. It was interesting to get a quick glimpse into rural Cambodian life. I hope to be able to visit Prey Veng again soon.

Ba Phnom

Later today, I am moving in my host family, who I'll live with for two months. Then tomorrow morning I start Khmer (pronounced ka-mai) lessons. Here's looking forward to a busy, intense week.

Visiting the Killing Fields

Stupa at the Killing Fields in Choeung Ek.

As I sat on the bench, looking out across the gravel path at the pond, it could have been easy to forget. It could have been the simplest thing to pretend that this was just what it appeared to be: a beautiful garden, with trees and green space and little chicks running after their mother hens. But the voice in the audio tour around my ears and the shards of bone and cloth poking out of the ground forced me to face reality. This was not a beautiful, peaceful place. This was a place of horror, where thousands of people were brutally murdered. This was a Killing Field.

From 1975-79, Cambodia's government, the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, imprisoned and killed anyone seen as a threat to their strict communist ideals. This included, but was not limited to, anyone with connections to the former government or foreign governments, professionals, intellectuals, ethnic and religious minorities, religious leaders, and their families- including children and babies. Over a million people were arrested and many were tortured into confessions. They were then brought to what we now call Killing Fields, where they were blindfolded with their hands behind their backs, made to kneel next to a pit that would be their graves, and then bashed in the back of the head and neck until they were dead.

After the Khmer Rouge fell from power, these Killing Fields, covered in mass graves, were discovered by the public. The graves were excavated so that the victims could be buried with dignity, in the Buddhist tradition. Still today though, they are still finding fragments bones and clothing scattered throughout these mass killing and burial sites.

One of the first things I did upon arriving in Cambodia, was visit the Killing Field in Choeung Ek, which has been establish as a memorial to those who were killed under Pol Pot's regime. It was a chilling and heart breaking visit to say the least. It was a reminder of why I am interested in the work that I do. Humans, despite their great ability for love and compassion, can, and have over and over again throughout history, enacted horrors upon each other for little or no reason. I hope that the work I do can contribute to a world where events like this one will never take place again.

I remember and pray for the victims of genocide and war and injustice in Cambodia and throughout the world. I pray for all those who have been effected by such devastation. And I pray that we all work towards a world where such things are unimaginable.

Here We Go!

Well today's the day. Here I am sitting in the Philadelphia Airport, waiting for boarding to start. I've said my goodbyes to my friends and family. I guess this is really happening!

Here we go again

Sometimes I think there must be something wrong with me. These times tend to be when I meet someone and have to answer the question "So, what do you do?" or when I tell my friends what's going on with me. I mean, who gets back to the States after living in Jordan for a year and a month later leaves to go to Cambodia for three years?

Apparently, I do.

I returned from Jordan on July 22th and in the first week of August I  accepted another term with Mennonite Central Committee this time in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I am the Peace Program Support Worker, and I have committed to a three year term. For the first few month of my term I will be doing intensive language study (in Khmer), and living in a homestay. After that I will begin my work with two Cambodian NGOs, Women Peacemakers (WPM) and Returnee Integration Support Center for Conflict Reduction (RISC). WPM works with women who have been victims of domestic violence or rape. RISC works with former refugees returning to Cambodia.

I leave on September 3rd, and will be landing in Phnom Penh 25 hours (and two layovers) later. I get to attend my first MCC Cambodia staff meeting on September 8th. I hope I'm awake by then.