zoo+sparkly hat+cambodia=awesome

I wandered around a zoo in Cambodia yesterday while wearing a sparkly hat. What did you do yesterday? That’s what I thought. I win. Yes, there is a zoo in Cambodia. It is actually a wildlife rescue park. They have many animals that have nearly been poached out of existence. The problem with a zoo in Cambodia is that after nine in the morning it is so hot all the animals lie down for a nap. But it was fun, although we were charged $5 while the Cambodian visitors paid 50 cents. I’m still a little bitter. Why, you may ask, was I wandering around a zoo in the first place. The new group of volunteers (well, trainees for the next 5-6 weeks) arrived a couple weeks ago. Another volunteer and I got to spend the week hanging out with them. It was weird to see so many foreigners in one place. I probably spoke more English in that week than I have spoken in the past month. There were also Marines in town, building and refurbishing a hospital. They were from a unit based in Okinawa. I met them while buying a toothbrush. Apparently, they really like Fanta. The old lady who ran the small establishment which sells toothbrushes and Fanta was simply overjoyed at the sheer number of foreigners. She told me that she was giving us the Khmer price, not the foreigner price, which as I mentioned earlier is often 3-10x more. For this we were all grateful.

A word about my sparkly hat. For those of you who actually know me, you are probably aware that I tend to avoid things with glitter and sequins in much the same way a pothead avoids German Shepherds. Alas, in a great act of cultural contrition, I purchased a ballcap covered in silver glitter. The new volunteers have informed that middle school boys all over the states have taken to wearing these, so I am assured of my extreme coolness. Occasionally I like to wear it tilted to the side, just because I can. It also looks incredible when worn under my bike helmet. At this point I need you all to control your jealousy at my sweet headgear.

On a completely unrelated note, it’s funny how small things can set you off sometimes. I gave a list of things I have and haven’t gotten used to over the past year. But even the things you’re used can just make you snap sometimes. I visited my district office the other day. I needed some statistics about the district for a proposal that I’m writing, in hopes of getting funding for the girl’s camp. Every district is supposed to have a women’s community group. Every time have gone to the district office, they have told me our district doesn’t really have a women’s group. The conversation generally goes a little something like this:
Me: What do you mean by ‘doesn’t really’ have a group?
Them: We…er…uh.. don’t know
Me: Is this a community?
Them: Well, uh, yes.
Me: Do women live here?
Them: Yes, but….
Me: Well, if we have a community, and we have women, those seem to be the two elements required for a community women’s group. Right?
Them: Have you eaten rice yet?

The last time I went, there was a random dude. I got to have a whole new conversation:
Me: What do you mean by ‘doesn’t really’ have a group?
Random dude: Actually, we do have a women’s group.
Me: Really! That’s great. Who is the group leader?
Random dude: I am.
Me: You? You are the leader of a women’s group?
Random dude: Yes.
Me: (explanation of girl’s camp project), but I need some statistics about the women in the community so I can write a proposal.
Random dude: We sent all our statistics to the Provincial capitol. They haven’t sent them back yet.
Me: You don’t have copies?
Random dude: No. You see, we aren’t really concerned with helping women, just keeping track of them.

You can imagine that was a rather disheartening day. But the funny thing is, while I was unsure whether I had a stronger desire to cry or beat Random dude senseless, I very calmly walked away and went home. I was fine going home. I took a bath, read a book until lunch was ready and then sat down to eat. In order to attempt to understand my mindset, you need to know that Khmer do not take chicken meat off the bones. They take a meat cleaver to entire bird a just start whacking. While this makes a chicken soup more nutritious, it also means that it takes a few minutes to eat one bite of chicken because you have to suck all the meat off the bones. While I prefer to be able to just eat something without having to stop mid-chew and remove bones from my mouth, normally it isn’t a problem. Today was not normal. I saw what I thought was pork, put it my mouth and it was chicken. Mainly bone and gristle. As I have said, any other day, this would not be a problem. But today I didn’t want to pick out the bones. How hard is it to take the bones out before you cook something? I missed biting into a boneless chicken breast and just being able to chew without nearly chipping your tooth. I guess you learn how to deal with things, but on some level it still bothers you. Obviously it wasn’t the bone thing that was really getting to me. And I don’t think I would want to be sort of person who was okay with the district’s rather callous disregard for the welfare of half of its population. So I’m just going to have to bypass government sources completely. Oh well. It will work out. When all is said and done, I still got to walk around a zoo in a sparkly hat.
Thanks to everyone for all your support and prayers. They really do mean a lot to me.