My Crib, Mi Casa, P'tayah Knyom

And a bit about cookin’ in Cambodia

            I’ll tell you a little bit about my house at permanent site.

            This house is a very traditional wooden house. It is built up on stilts, so you can walk from the front yard to the backyard (why is front yard 2 words and backyard one word?) under the house. There is a small cement room under the house that functions as a garage. At night, the motorbikes and my bicycle are locked in there. It also stores large bags of rice and a wheelchair. I understand the rice.. I couldn’t tell you why we have a wheelchair. To the right of the cement garage is the kitchen/eating area. My family eats at a small round metal folding table. In the “kitchen” there are two main surfaces. The first is a large short table that my sister sits on and does her preparation and cooking. The other surface is where clean dishes and cooking sauces are stored. Then behind both surfaces there are 3 fire pits. There is also a stone basin where my sister does dishes. The fire pits are used, but we also have a small portable gas stove that my sister uses a lot.

            Behind the kitchen area are 2 more tiny cement rooms. One is a shower area and the other is a toilet area. I don’t use these though. My brothers and sisters use it, and my neighbors use it. Now we’re at the back of the house. There are cubbies back there for parking the cars in the shade. Behind that is a small pond (with surprisingly big fish). This is everybody’s favorite place to hang out. It is the coolest part of the house, and it’s the farthest place away from the noisy roads. There are 2 hammocks hung right next to the pond. Perfection.

            All around the grounds of the house, there are fresh vegetation, fruit trees, and flowers. We have an orange tree, a coconut tree, another fruit tree with icky fruit I forget how to say, and probably more I don’t know about. When my sister makes food, she always makes her way around the house, picking fresh greens to add to her soup.  

            Alright, let’s head upstairs now. There are cement stairs at the front of the house leading up to the porch. The porch is quite nice. There are wooden benches and chairs (unfortunately without any cushions. This whole country is seriously lacking cushioning). I do a lot of my lesson planning here, because it is cooler than inside.

           

            The room to the left of the porch is mine. I’m happy that my room can be accessed from the porch, because I have my own lock and key and I do not have to go through my family’s part of the house to get to it.

            My rooms pretty basic, but I love it and I made it my own- particularly with some photos I was lucky enough to have with me, medical-taped to the wall. To the left of the door is my hamper and my trunk. There are nails all over my bedroom on the walls, which are very helpful. Hanging above my hamper are my bags- a purse, a small backpack, and a messenger bag. I also hung a handkerchief there for me to dry my hands when I come back from the bathroom. Hanging above my trunk is a stack of hangers, a knitted bag where I keep my sunglasses, and also my instruments- a ukulele, a violin, and a music stand. Next to that is my bed, complete with a pillow, a sheet, and a mosquito net. Continuing around the room, we are now at my desk, which my family so generously put in my room. It’s a nice sturdy wooden desk. On my desk I keep a large stack of books, my computer, my water filter, pens and pencils, my photo albums, my binder, etc. Three is a small cabinet on the left side of my desk, where I fit as much clothes as I can. The rest are in my trunk. I have a small highly uncomfortable wicker chair to sit at my desk with. Next to my desk, I hang my towel and my sarong. I also have a small mirror I put there, so I can see just how red and sweaty my face is whenever I want to. Then on the floor I have the giant pot that Peace Corps gave to us so we can bleach our water. In that I store my toothbrush, toothpaste, antibacterial, sunblock, mascara, floss, etc.

           

            I do have a door connecting to the main part of the house, so at night when the front door is already locked I can still go join my family watching TV. The walls in the living room are covered in GIANT slightly scary pictures of family members dressed up nicely and not smiling. There are 2 extra beds for if company stay over. There is a mattress on the floor where my brother and sister lay when they are watching TV. I sit a few feet away either on the floor, or on one of the extra beds. Unless of course my brother is away. Then it is perfectly acceptable to cuddle with my sister and watch bad TV, debating over what we think makes a male actor handsome. My brother’s and sister’s room is connected off the main living area as well.

            There are large doors that lead to the rest of the house at the back of the room. As you go through the doors, you are perpendicular to a hallway, facing 4 more small rooms. All the way to the right is the bathroom. This one I use. The other 3 rooms are the living space of the rest of my family- an older couple I also call my brother and sister. They have a small indoor kitchen, a bedroom, and an office space. There are stairs at the back of the house leading up to the hallway as well.

            And that’s it. What a boring blog. Sorry.

            Would you believe me if I told you my family thinks I know how to cook? Haha, everyone in America knows better. Before I came to Cambodia I was invited to a dinner party. I was bringing white rice- a joke, poking fun at my upcoming diet for the next 2 years. I ended up burning the rice. Bad. How do you screw up white rice? Who knows.

            Well, I’ve cooked a couple times for my family. The most successful dish I made was pasta! I bought bowtie pasta at a supermarket in Phnom Penh before I moved to site. I made garlic pasta with baby shrimp and broccoli. It was good. Success. Before that I made oatmeal. I made enough oatmeal to feed about 20 people, just for 3 people. Woops. It didn’t look like much in the bag. Anyway, I put banana, peanut butter, and sugar in it. It was okay. My sister loved it, but she doesn’t understand how delicious oatmeal is actually supposed to be.

            Today I was telling my sister that we have soup in America- but it very rarely has whole fish in it. It usually has chicken, beef, or pork, noodles, vegetables, and sometimes rice. She asked me to make it for her one day. Sorry sister. You have too much faith in my cooking skills. It’s okay, she wouldn’t like it anyway. Soup here is not “delicious” unless it is sour or sweet. Never salty. I like salty soup..

            Work is going well. I'm getting really fond of some of my students. Especially my grade 10 class. I wish I could just teach them every day. They make me laugh so much. I love em to death!
           My English class for beginner adults is up and running and is quite successful. I have about 7 or 8 students. They really want to learn and are appreciative. I try to make it as fun and relative to their lives as possible. There are 2 random guys who come who already can speak English fairly well. But I'm not going to change the level of the class for them. I labeled this a beginners class. If they want to sit in, great, if not, sorry. So far they're fairly patient. One even bought me some markers.
            Yesterday I came downstairs to an exciting change in furniture. They made a little classroom for me! I love it. They put my whiteboard on the wall. Then there are 2 large wooden desks lined up facing the board. I don't understand where the desks came from and how they got her. My second brother said he got them from the backyard (???). Whatever, I think its so cool!

Pictures.

1.2. and 3. These are pictures of the lake/river in Prey Vang town, about 15k from my house. I love the little boy sittin on the edge. By the way, this was before the flooding. When the flooding was at its worst, the water was lapping over the edge of the concrete.

4. The market in Prey Vang town, fairly empty, surprisingly. And almost as muddy as the market near my house.

5. My house.

6. The pond in my backyard. This was taken before the hammock was put up. Now the hammock hangs from that post right there.