A Wedding, an Illness and a New Year
For the most part my life is here relatively calm and predictable. I live in a safe place, to calm my family’s fears; I have good friends and get healthy food. Yet, when something happens, everything happens.
When Gunthia (the first one) was still my teacher I would tease her about dating Noun, Charles’s host brother. I’d see them sitting together sharing fruit shakes, riding along the waterfront, or hanging out all the time at church. She would always deny it with a radiant smile of infatuation. Secretly they were dating; it wasn’t until they had their engagement party last August that they weren’t shy about being recognized together in public.
Needless to say, I was rather excited when I heard their wedding was to be at the end of December. During ‘language lessons,’ Gunthia would tell me about her Buddhist family, her desire to attend university and her faith. Her parents thought educating girls was a waste of time and money along with her Christian faith. However, Gunthia was determined to gain whatever knowledge she could by becoming a teacher and to strengthen her faith by marrying a Christian man. Noun’s parents aren’t Christian but rather atheist with a Buddhist grandmother. I knew Gunthia would give her children the opportunities she wasn’t allowed.
December was a busy month for me. After returning in November I had some work to catch up on and, of course, that meant travel. I wasn’t in PV every Sunday to go to church so I didn’t see as much of Gunthia as I normally would. However, the Christmas service was interesting and I saw Gunthia briefly afterwards. No wedding invitation. I went to Phnom Penh the week of Christmas and then Kompong Ch’nang. I came back December 28. Still no wedding invitation. Um. Perhaps Gunthia is secretly mad at me. Maybe she’ll stop by this afternoon. Nope. No wedding invitation.
The morning of the 29th I had scheduled to meet Bunrey at the NILH office in Kompong Trabek, a 1.5 to 2 hour moto ride to the southeastern part of the province. When I arrived at the office I heard the wedding music as Gunthia’s house is only one block from the office. Shortly after I arrived Watana stopped by to give me a wedding invitation! To his wedding on January 3. Wrong wedding invitation.
I went to Kompong Trabek (riding the 250cc!), came back around 1 grabbed a quick bite to eat at the guiteav restaurant and went back to work at 2. My stomach was upset by 4 and I went home at 5. After lying in my hammock for forty five minutes I decided I should find some dinner. Checking my phone first I realized I missed a call from Barb and had a text saying “Hi, we are at the wedding and the bride is asking for you. Can you come?” I replied I hadn’t been invited. After a quick attempt to call Barb and talk over the booming music Barb just texted me saying she was sending Charles after me to be ready. But Charles had also been sick earlier that day. Why in the world was Charles out riding his bike to get me? Frantically after 10 minutes Charles and I were on bikes to the wedding. Khmer weddings always have the wedding party and parents waiting outside to greet guests. As I walked up Gunthia ran to meet me apologizing that she had been busy and took my invitation to my house, but I wasn’t there, so she left it with the people downstairs. No worries I replied and entered the text. Barb had saved us two seats at her table and the others were already halfway through the meal. Glancing over my broiled fish, I saw HIM. The moto-dup driver that lives below me. Everything suddenly clicked. Instead of giving me my invitation, they had kept it and went in my place! It didn’t matter they didn’t know who was getting married the free flow of beer was the only important thing. Argh. Freakin’ Cambodian men. I was so mad; I wanted to walk up and beat the guy over the head with a beer can. But, I saved face and just smiled and ignored him.
At home later that night I had another surprise. I had eaten something bad and was running to the bathroom every hour. The next day Charles graciously brought me coconuts, oral rehydration salts and toilet paper. Around 2 he took me to the doctor who said I had food poisoning and then gave me three different anti-parasite medications to take every 7 hours. The next day I was feeling better so I went to work to read emails. I had discovered my books for my online anthropology class hadn’t been mailed until December 29; Carrie’s parents (my curriers) arrived in Cambodia on the same day. After tracking down my books in Pennsylvania, remembering Joe is visiting next week and emailing all my MCC contacts about bringing three pounds of reading materials, I think I found a way to get the books here. Unfortunately the whole route (books get delivered, Carrie’s brother picks up books and takes them to Akron or Joe’s house all in less than 24 hours) seemed a little impossible.
I’m not one to sit around and read my Bible. I never have been, though I’m sure there were people in high school who thought I did that. However, New Year’s Eve, I found a verse that will carry me through this next year. My devotions that night was based on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, a section of text I’m rather familiar with. However, reading over it once more reminded me that there’s never a time to fear. There’s so many unknowns in life, maybe some extra unknowns living in Cambodia, but there’s never any reason to fear them. Flipping through the pages I ran across Psalms 127: 2. That night, not celebrating the beginning of a new year, but rather focusing on all the things that may not happen reading “it is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved” resonated with me. How many times had I forsaken sleep for what I thought would fill me and give me comfort. I thought of the summer I worked two jobs, spending 14 hours a day earning money and never being rested. I thought of the anxiety I have for the upcoming year and how uncertain my future is. Yet, none of that mattered. That night I slept peacefully, worry free. There was nothing more I could do; God could take care of it through the night, as I slept, on the other side of the world.
And yes, my books did arrive.
