Phnom Penh, Day Two:
Some people love parades. They love them so much that they even write songs about them. I am not one of those people. Next week is the Water Festival. This is when dozens, sometimes hundreds of boats race on the Tonle Sap. The population of Phnom Penh will double over the weekend. Festivities have already begun. Namely, these are parades. These parades take up the entire riverfront road, blocking traffic for blocks. Good times. So now, I’m in a café, unfortunately the TV has stopped working, so I can’t watch election coverage at the moment  Oh, it’s working again. Woot. So I will probably spend the morning here, I have to go shopping in the afternoon. Maybe buy a camera, exciting stuff. It is very interest watching all the expats (i.e. expatriates, foreigners who live abroad) during election season. When we went to another café earlier this morning, the Democrats Abroad were having a big party. I felt like a spy. It was pretty fantastic. I forgot how weird it is too be around Americans again. Phnom Penh just doesn’t even seem like Cambodia to me. The feel is completely different than it is in the provinces. I almost harbor resentment to foreigners when I see them in the city. “Who are you? What are you doing in my country?” I feel almost Khmer sometimes. The problem with foreigners is that they tend to exemplify the worst traits of the West. They are tourists, impatient and demanding. I love the fact that when I say one word in Khmer here, the people get really excited. In the café this morning, there were dozens of people, but I was the only one who waited patiently and spoke Khmer to the staff, they definitely appreciated it. I do not speak Khmer well, by any means, but they totally appreciate the effort.

I find myself thinking in Khmer and English simultaneously. Sometimes on the weekends, I don’t use English at all. There are many words that come to me more quickly in Khmer than in English, and there are some words that just don’t really mean the same thing in Khmer that they do in English. For instance, the word “mui tuk” is translated “to bathe.” But in my head, taking a bath involves sitting in a tub, a shower involves running water, but “mui tuk”is flinging a bucket of cold water on yourself. This would be a typical thought for me “After I nyam some bai I should probably ting plai chu before I deit” Which means: After I eat some rice I should probably buy fruit before I nap. Also words like sraleinh and nuk, to love and to miss, are not used at all the same way we would use their English equivalents. Someone might ask you if you love someone after only knowing them for an hour. The same is true with miss. Often Khmer people will call you to say they miss you a lot, ask if you’ve eaten rice yet (if so, was it delicious?) and then hand up. So if you talk to me, and I use a random word you don’t understand, it’s probably just my linguistic ADD. Jonathan, good luck at OIL, I know you will do fine. And I will personally beat whoever has been pulling the fire alarms at night. Trust me. I know people.