Cambodian music lesson

In the picture above, landmine survivors play the tro, a Cambodian traditional instrument similar to the violin, near a temple to raise money.  This blog tells the story of these musicians.  

I looked around Russian Market, a main tourist market here, for souvenirs and gifts yesterday, and amidst the hand-painted teapots, Apsara keychains, and Angkor beer t-shirts, I saw a few traditional instruments, including the tro.  I saw two different types of tro: one with a wood and snakeskin base and one with a coconut shell and leather base.  Two small strings run from the base to the top.  The sound changes depending on the type of base, the movement of your fingers, and the way you stretch the bow across the string.  The vendor showed me how to play, but somehow when I tried, it sounded like a cat dying.  

Back at it

I'm more than two months into my second trip to Cambodia, and I keep meaning to post to my blog again - so here goes!  Some factoids about my current life (both boring and silly):

1. I'm two-thirds finished with my last of two research sites.  This one is located 30 km southwest of a town called Battambang.  Battambang is located around 300 km northwest (towards Thailand) from Phnom Penh, the capital where I spent the first half of the project.  The commute to my current research site involves a ride on a motorbike past picturesque rice paddies and a beautiful temple built on a craggy rock, not to mention the wind in my hair.  (Don't worry, Ma, I wear a helmet and I'm not driving!)  The research itself involves discussion groups with adolescent girls; in the picture above, tenth grade girls are discussing ways to improve the school environment for girls if they were given a million dollars.

2.  The research site includes a vocational training center, whose name translates to "Forest for Baby Tigers Vocational Training Center."  At the entrance gate, there are two roaring tiger statues.  Some days it takes everything in me not to pose for a picture doing my best Tony the Tiger roar.  

3.  I spent last Saturday night hunting and killing a baby cockroach that appeared behind my hotel bed.  After forcing it from behind the headboard with a folder, I committed animal-cide with an air conditioner remote.  I turned away for a few minutes, then looked back at my kill.  It was moving, despite being completely flat.  Don't worry, I crushed his squirmy little body into pieces.

bai: kind of a big deal

Worldwide, rice is the most important crop for human consumption. It seems as though calling rice ("bai" in Khmer) the staple food here in Cambodia is an understatement. As in many countries where it has been cultivated for centuries, rice has invaded the culture and the language here. The word for kitchen literally translates to "rice house;" breakfast, lunch and dinner are morning, noon and night rice. More than half of Cambodians are farmers; almost all of them grow primarily rice. Rice is grown by flooding the plot during planting, and below are some photos of harvesting. It's a muddy job, requiring strong arms for pulling the plant and a knife to chop off the stalks, which I believe are used to feed livestock during the hot season. As the workers pulled up the rice plants, flying insects crowded the air in search of new swampy homes.

The point of the last picture is just that woman's smile, and the mesh tank top her baby is wearing - not just for 80s pop singers anymore! She's definitely a rice farmer though, so it's kind of related.

un, deux, trois

My language skills are slowly getting better, thanks to my extremely kind and patient tutor Sokan. I'm not about to discuss Buddhist philosophy in Khmer, but I can direct a tuk-tuk or mototaxi driver. How to count to ten in Khmer:

1 - mouy (moo-ee)
2 - bpee
3 - buy
4 - boon
5 - pram
6 - pram mouy
7 - pram bpee
8 - pram buy
9 - pram boon
10 - dop

Not too difficult, right? Well it gets more complicated, but instead of getting into that, here is Angelina Jolie's tattoo of a Buddhist incantation written in Khmer in honor of her adopted son Maddox:

It translates to: "May your enemies run far away from you./ If you acquire riches, may they remain yours always./ Your beauty will be that of Apsara./ Wherever you may go, many will atend, serve and protect you, surrouding you on all sides." Don't worry, Ma, I'm not planning to get a tattoo in Bangkok!

language pains

Thida, talking about planting basil.

I am currently a couple hours north of Phnom Penh, at a sort of training-of-trainers for the homestead gardening project. These trainers (also called Model Farmers) receive agricultural materials and training from the NGO where I am interning, and they then facilitate trainings and provide support for 20 community members each. They expand their own gardens, raise poultry, and practice the improved techniques they've learned. With 150 model farmers in this region alone, spread among 3 districts, that totals 3000 households exposed to improved gardening techniques. The idea is that improved gardening will mean more available healthy vegetables and, in combination with nutrition training, will lead to better nutrition, especially for women and young children.


So that's the basic project. Obviously, these trainings are conducted in Khmer, and I currently know how to say only "water," "one," and "thank you." Granted, weather.com predicts 90 degrees and high humidity every day for the next couple months, so these are important words, and my role in these trainings is merely as an observer, so no one is suffering besides me. But I'd forgotten how frustrating it is to be inadvertently left out of almost every conversation. There are so many things I want to ask and so much that is lost when everyone sounds like Charlie Brown's parents to me. Like in that photo above, I want to know how she explained planting the basil. Did she use an analogy? What did she assume that the farmer already knew? Everyone has been very accomodating, and those who know any English smilingly engage me in conversation. This is a hard language to learn, I think, as it sounds nothing like English, French or Spanish, and the alphabet is new to me. Click here for a rather monotone video of a very important Khmer phrase!

UPDATE: I will be starting tutoring sessions Thursday!