The Year of the Snake

While my tutor told me that not many Khmer people celebrate the Chinese New Year or those that do do it for business reasons (your guess is as good as mine as to what that actually means...) this weekend I witnessed parties and fireworks and sparklers and that general cheer that comes with bringing in a new year. And that year is the year of the snake - or my year.

About a month ago I asked a pregnant woman at the health center what year she was born. The response was chnaam say which translates to year of the horse. I was confused when one of the midwives did the math and wrote down 1991 because I knew myself to be a horse (born 20 January 1990). So of course I did so investigative work and found out that for all my life I had thought I was a horse when in actuality I am a snake. (The Chinese Zodiac follows the Chinese New Year of course, so February to February.) And now life makes sense.

Although some might say that this past year was one of my finest - accepting my invitation to serve in Cambodia exactly a year to the day, graduating from Kenyon, and now 7 months in country to the day - I am excited to say that there is much more ahead. Because yesterday was the first day of the year of the snake - my year. Cheers.

Cremated King and Kenyon in Cambodia

As January came to a close, I found myself in Siem Reap with my friend and fellow volunteer, Neysa, attending an agronomy training conducted by USAID. After four days on everything from soil preparation to irrigation techniques we were rewarded with a four-day weekend. The occasion: the King Father's cremation.

Three months after the King Father passed away and his body was on display outside the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, he was cremated yesterday in front of millions. Here is a link to BBC's coverage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21318842. I watched the events (the processional of the body started on Friday the 1st) on the TV from Siem Reap because PCVs were not allowed to travel to the capital (i.e. safety reasons). Although Siem Reap was not quite Phnom Penh, there was a processional, plenty of flags at half-mast, and billboards to commemorate the King Father.

 

While millions State-side poured over their TV's wondering if the 49ers would pull off a post-power outage comeback, millions in Cambodia were saying a final good-bye to their beloved leader. My friends, Neysa and Trophie, and I might have been able to catch the game from our guesthouse room at 7am Monday morning...

Oh Neysa.

So February started with quite a lot of excitement, but to add to it all I also spent the weekend at the 2nd Angkor Wat International Film Festival (http://www.angkorwatfilmfestival.com/index.html) and reminiscing about college and catching up with Leigha and Madli (my Kenyon classmates) who were traveling from southern China where they are spending the year teaching English. Here we are at the entrance of one of the many night markets in Siem Reap on Sunday.

Leigha, Madli, and me!

And now I am back at site where I am cursing the Punxsutawney Phil for not seeing his shadow. I was really hoping for 6 more weeks of "cold" season (70s), but alas as my host mom said over dinner, "the heat has begun." And when the locals are saying it is hot, you better believe that it is boiling, and I am melting. My sweat glands are getting a serious workout.

It's Party Season!

Back in late November, I was sitting cross-legged on the living room floor with some members of my extended family stuffing over 1000 envelops with invitations to a party that my host grandmother would be throwing in mid January. At that time it seemed like a long way off. But then it happened. Two weekends ago. On numerous occasions I asked numerous family members (and my Khmer tutor) what the party was for - a birthday, a holiday, a death anniversary, etc. - to which the answer was: she, my host grandmother aged 67 - has the money and just felt like it. So there you have it, a party for the sake of a party (of course there were monks that came to bless everyone and everything, but really a party). Full of eating and dancing.

So me and 1000 Khmer people? No, I decided to bring in back-up and invited (after asking my grandmother) my friend to stay for the 2-day celebration. Oh yeah I forgot to mention it wasn't just a one day, 5 hour type thing. Try 2 straight days! There was no RSVPing and no official guest list - although there is a gift lift since at the door/gate/front of the tent that was set up in the driveway everyone had to give some money - so I can't say exactly how many people showed up, but my friend and I estimate that over the course of weekend about 300 - 400 people came and went. Loud music at all hours, Khmer dancing circles, and plenty of rice sums up the event - and man was it a blast! Here are some photos:

family, neighbors and friends helping with food prep - it really was the work of a community.

MEAT!

video of dancing outside the police station, across the street from my house - my host dad was the MC.

I titled this post Party Season because that is just the tip of the iceberg (by the way "cold" season ended after 2 1/2 weeks... and we are back to sweating profusely). The next day I went to the ceremony for the opening of the new library at the high school. After the ceremony was lunch and dancing and school was cancelled and all the male teachers started drinking (a lot). The following day I attended the "hair cutting ceremony" and the party for my neighbor's niece's wedding. Weddings are 2-day events so of course I got up the next morning - despite having not slept well because of the pounding bass until 2am and then back on at 4am - to walk in the wedding processional and then went back for the reception later that day. Most people change clothes for each ceremony, which is a great excuse to leave and come back after a nap, but alas I only have one fancy wedding outfit. 

the library ceremony

the new library

my host sister did my make-up and hair - so not quite a wardrobe change but close 

the hair cutting ceremony - my host parents performing the fake hair cutting ritual for the bride and groom

the wedding party ready to process the 200m followed by guests carrying plates of fruit

the wedding ceremony itself is MC'd by a group of performers who regularly embarrass the wedding party and guests

After all of this partying, I was looking forward to celebrating my 23rd birthday when my good friend from middle school and high school, Jen over the weekend in Siem Reap. Unfortunately, I got a bad case of amoebic dysentery (yes many people on the Oregon Trail died from that... glad I was in 2013 Cambodia!) and Jen spent the weekend taking care of me instead of partaking in Party Season. I am at 100 percent now and looking to soldier onward with the many more parties to come (wedding season after all goes from November to April I have been told).

Celebrating a New Beginning

It has been over 2 weeks since my last post in which I described the 3 days of darkness that I would (probably not) be experiencing. In that post I also promised that I would write another post soon after to say that I made it through sans sunlight. Since it has been so long since I last wrote you must be wondering what happened. Well let me tell you... The Darkness Did Not Descend. As I predicted, I did not have to hibernate because the sun did in fact rise each day. And I was able to spend the those few days with other PC friends cooking and baking delicious food and opening presents around a make-shift Christmas tree.

the beautiful Christmas tree @ Katie & Tim's

Despite the nights getting down to the mid-60s, the weather here has not been anywhere close to producing the snow that I have been begging for...

I had a snowflake crafting session with my host sister

It was quite an unusual Christmas, especially as I got done-up to go to 4 different ceremonies for the same Khmer wedding (more on that later). But at least I saw (the Khmer version of) a "one-horse-open-sleigh."

Seen on my way to a Khmer wedding... that is a whole other post. 

I was fortunate enough to ring in the New Year with two of my friends from middle and high school, Jen and Cori. Jen is living in Cambodia for the year working at an NGO in Phnom Penh. Cori, an aspiring lawyer, made the long flight out to spend a week exploring Battanbang and Siem Reap with me. To sum the week up, we went to a circus performance, hiked up hundreds of steps to multiple hill-top wats, visited the only winery in Cambodia, explored caves and markets, got blessed by monks (twice), biked around the Angkor temple complex stopping for pictures, and had a traditional Khmer dress photo shoot (among other things).

Cori in a cave in Battanbang

Can you recognize me?

I formed some New Years resolutions over the course of the trip, but none more important than the challenge that a monk set for us on New Years Eve. And that is to smile from the heart at least 30 times per day. While the world celebrated the beginning of another year, the Khmer New Year is a few months off (April). However, the beginning of January does come with it's own celebration. Today I sat surrounded by hundreds of government employees - all of us wearing an issued white collared shirt and baseball cap adorning the government symbol - listening to a district leader talk for 3 hours about the victory over the Khmer Rouge. That's because today is brawm-pul makara (or the 7th of January) which is Victory over Genocide Day. Thirty-four years ago today Vietnamese troops arrived in Phnom Penh and overthrew the Pol Pot regime (also known as the Khmer Rouge). Because the country is still in the 3-month mourning period for the Father King, Victory over Genocide Day 2013 was more of a subdued - although undoubtedly joyous - day of celebration. I was still able to smile from my heart as I look forward to another peaceful year and bright future for Cambodia. 

3 Days to the End of the World... Oh Wait that's Not Right...

So in 3 days time the world will come to an end and I spent today making paper snowflakes to put on my door in the hottest holiday season that I have ever experienced and biking around to 7 different villages in my commune on outreach to promote IUDs. (Needless to say I can tell you A LOT about birth spacing methods!) But what is the point of telling women about a device that can prevent them from having children for up to 10 years if the world as we know it is fleeting? Well because the Mayan calendar got it wrong... instead it looks like we are just going to have a worldwide blackout. (And I am not talking about something like the Kenyon College blackout of fall 2008...)

According to my host family, people in my village, Cambodian pop culture magazines, and other such reliable sources, starting on Sunday December 23rd the sun will not rise for 3 straight days. That's right folks, the saying "the sun still rises if the rooster doesn't crow..." will be proved dead wrong. When I first heard about this phenomenon, I thought that it was just not understanding the Khmer and that they were telling me that an eclipse was scheduled to occur. But after more of the same conversations and some investigative research, I found that my ears did not deceive me: the sun would be taking a vacation. It gets better. My 12 year old host sister explained to me that I should, in essence, hibernate for 3 days. I was planning to visit fellow PCV friends to celebrate Christmas, but my sister logically pointed out that I will not be able to see anything and was thus adamant about me not leaving the house (despite that electricity and flashlights will still function...). 

So buckle up folks. Start hoarding food and enjoy the sunlight while we have it (sorry to those in the polar regions who don't have much anyway right now... then again you are probably better prepared than the rest of us...), because our stamina, survival skills, and tolerance for adversity will be tested in 3 days time. I will report back after the 3 day blackout, when the sun has risen again and we can all go about our lives. Good luck to all. Happy holidays and happy hibernation!

Keep the land safe!

Yesterday, marked the 15th anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty (also known as the Ottawa Convention - signed in Canada). This anti-personnel mine ban resulted from collaboration of NGOs, INGOs, and governments and has been signed by over 158 countries to-date. The treaty prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and their destruction. Weeks after the document was signed in December 1997, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and its spokesperson, Jody Williams, won the Nobel Peace Prize. The treaty went into force on March 1, 1999 and was signed by the Cambodian government that summer. Work to clear Cambodia of mines and other unexploded ordinance (UXO) began in ernest January 1, 2000 however mine clearance in Cambodia has been happening since late 1992 and the near end of the civil war.

The Mines Advisory Group in Battanbang -
one of the main mine clearing INGOs in Cambodia. 

"MAG’s clearance and Mine Risk Education activities helps local populations reclaim ownership of their land and provides them with the knowledge to help reduce accidents in the future."

After a long history of war, Cambodia is still recovering. People hear call 1993 "Year Zero" - as in the year that they started from scratch. The scars from that history emotional and physical, individual and infrastructural. The work being done by the government, INGOs, and NGOs, to help those affected by landmines and to ensure that more are not affected is apparent. There are plenty of stories of people who have lost limbs because of landmines and/or UXO. (I have been told to avoid specific areas and how there were four or five deaths or accidents in my village as a result of contact with these dangerous objects.) And there are numerous rehabilitation centers and landmine clearing teams. I hope that these efforts to clear Cambodia of mines and UXO continue so that the next generations will be safer than their predecessors - playing, living, learning, and thriving in areas where those before them could not.

A good friend (thanks Mike!) passed this article and video along to me before I set foot in Cambodia. The article gives a good account of Cambodian landmine history and the video is pretty neat too. Be inspired.

Chasing History

This morning I ran in the 17th Angkor Wat International Half Marathon (http://www.angkormarathon.org/?lang=en). At the 6:30am start, it was announced that 58 countries were represented by over 5300 runners (38 of whom took potty breaks along the trail - yes I was counting! - and a good many more were running with cameras, myself included).

Me at the start with part of Angkor Wat at sunrise behind me

Waiting for go time!

The course took us around and through a number of the famous temple complexes including: Angkor Wat, Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, Sarah Srang, Ta Keo, Bayon, Angkor Thom, and Phnom Bakheng. The temples are currently in varying states of disrepair (they are temple ruins after all), having been completed anywhere from 900 to 1218. My favorite temple views as I sped by - well kind of - were of Ta Keo and Bayon near the end of the race.

Ta Keo Temple
a sand stone temple dedicated to Branmanish and built from 960-1000 under Jayavarman V's rule

Bayon Temple in Angkor Thom complex
a 3-story high sand stone temple mountain of giant sculptures of Jayavarman VII's divine face built from 1181-1218

The temples together made up a vast city until the Jayavarman dynasty before the decline of Khmer Empire and now are popular tourist attractions. We ran by souvenir shops and monkeys along the trail all the while dodging between tuk-tuks, motos, and on one occasion I had to give an elephant a wide berth. It was a beautiful run that I highly recommend no matter the level of training, because really it is about being with friends and seeing the sites, absorbing the history as you chug along.

3 PCVs nearing the East Gate of Angkor Thom complex

Me and my friend Sam after the race :)