Prey Veng

I have now lived in Prey Veng Town for one week, and what a week it has been! As there is no way I could even try to cover all of the events of the past week, I will try to post the highlights.

First, I am definately feeling the brunt of being the only young, single, white girl (key word white) in the village. Every day my host family tells me how beautiful I am because of my white skin. Ming, which means aunt (it's what I call my host mother), loves to touch it and look at me. It still unerves me to have people stare at me just because I am white. As a result, I have been pondering the many reasons why it's not so great to be white, and then I think of all of the harm and injustice people with the same skin as me have caused to those with darker skin. The French were once the oppressors here and in America, well, need I mention it? Frankly, it depresses me.

As I was unpacking, Jendai, my host sister, was helped me hang up my clothes when she causually said, you have nice clothes. Later, I realized that her comment embarrased me. Every article of clothing I brought carried a brand name and was made in a foriegn country in a garmet factory. My host family is rather affluent and definately middle class. They all wear gold jewelery and have a large, clean comfortable house with western toliets. But their clothes don't have name brands, even though they are clean and somewhat stylish. But I have realized the utter wealth I have. I could never tell my family everyone in my immediate family has his or her own car, or that we have air conditioning and two fridges and a deep freeze for they have none of these luxeries. However, I see the positives in their lifestyle too. Riding a bike is much more convienent on narrow roads and keeps everyone in shape. I appreciate the cool breezes in the afternoon and enjoy taking three showers a day. Everything we eat is fresh from the market.

Communication is my biggest hurdle. I only know rudimentary Khmer and when I try to convey a thought to Ming, she usually doesn't understand. Her nephew who lives across the street speaks fluent English so she usually calls him to translate. This is very frusterating to me because I want to speak Khmer, not English. However, I have been able to help with the dishes and make dinner. I am trying to learn how to cook the Cambodian dishes she makes, but alot of the ingredients are foriegn to the American cook. But Ming is a wonderful cook and I have liked everything she has made so far. I have also noticed that I get the biggest serving of rice at dinner. The 17 year old son is probably half the size of me and eats maybe a third of what I eat. But there is always plenty of food.

Um, what else? Charles and I have been trying various resturants in town for breakfast. The traditional breakfast here is noodle soup with bean sprouts, liver, intestines, and chopped meat in it. The best I have had is here in Prey Veng. Also, the iced coffee, sweetened with sweetened consendsed milk, is very delicious. The other option is french bread and fruit from the market.

Life has still been interesting. Jendai and I were followed by the police Sunday afternoon because they wanted to know who this white girl was and why she was here. They told Ming they wanted a copy of my passport and visa. Unfortunately, I didn't have a copy of my visa because all of the important duties, such as photocopying it, were not done by those responsible to do them in Phnom Penh. So finally, they left with a copy of my passport and said they would return. I have definately sugarcoated this version of the story because I was terrified. I couldn't understand what was being talked about and Ming's reactions were not positive to the men. But, I was not taken to the police station which was their orginial plan, or deported as I thought I would be. But since then life has been its usual self.