The Third Wheel

            Two things that Khmer people really love are boat races and dart tosses. Although Water Festival in Phnom Penh was cancelled this year in order to save money for flood victims, pre-water festival boat races happened on the lake in my provincial town. So I went with my brother and sister to check out the action. They put a large lacy hat on my head, because at that point they hadn’t yet figured out that I wasn’t afraid of the sun. It’s cool. I looked good.

            The boat races were pretty cool. In some of the boats there were well over 50 people. And these aren’t like.. yacht races. It’s rowing races. It was fun. And then all over the shoreline were streetcarts to buy Khmer snacks like sugarcane juice, khmer sandwhiches, fried snake, and rice cakes. Also there was a row of carnival games, except every carnival game was the same. It was all a dart toss. You throw your dart at a wall of balloons. The more balloons you pop, the better your choices are for prizes. Prizes ranged from dish soap to beer to cooking pots, to toys to giant stuffed animals. I’ve now been to a couple of events where this game was available. My sister LOVES it. We’re pretty terrible at it though. If we do manage to pop a couple of balloons, she always goes home with new cooking pots and pans.

            So as I’ve said before, my host family is a young couple. My sister is 31 and my brother is 40. Initially I was upset that I didn’t have a “mom and dad” like most of the other volunteers, and that I wouldn’t have younger children at the house. But it has been a blast.

            We occasionally go out to little events, just the three of us. Once there was a big concert down the road a bit. Another time there was a play being performed at the Pagoda. Another time we took a day trip to Kampong Cham. And another time there was a big exhibition with sellers from Vietnam, who set up tents and sold infomercial-worthy stuff.

            When we do go out the three of us, my role as the third wheel is so very interesting. They include me in all their fights.

Example:

Sister: If you keep drinking beer, I’m going to move back home.

Brother: And what about Diana?

Sister: She would come with me. She likes me better anyway, don’t you Diana?

Brother: No she wouldn’t. Your house doesn’t even have electricity!

            Sometimes they include me in their flirting, and that’s even weirder. When they're happy they're always teasing each other and hitting at each other, and then they look to get a reaction from me. Honestly, sometimes it’s like middle school.

            What really amuses me is how sometimes it’s like my brother has a second wife in me, and sometimes it’s like my sister has a second husband in me. That’s a weird sentence to write. Allow me to explain.

            When my sister begs my brother for money to play the dart toss, or to buy ice cream or something like that, it’s never for just her. It’s for both of us. So he eventually gives in and gives her money so that us wives can go play a game and get something sweet. Occasionally, my brother will come home with treats like iced coffee or something, and when that happens he always has one for both of us. And with my sister, I can’t help but get girly sometimes and revel in the gift giving and the ability to go “shopping”. At weddings and stuff, he never dances, but I always see him keeping a watchful eye over both of us.

            Even funnier is when I become like a second husband to my sister. She LOVES shopping. She could spend all day at the market picking out secondhand blouses and shoes. Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t really enjoy shopping. So many times I’m off out of the way, standing with my brother and whining about how she feels the need to try on EVERY bottle of perfume more than once in order to pick the one she likes. My sister has also taken to using me to carry her things. While she is in the thick of things doing her shopping, me and my brother are holding her wallet, her hat, and her previous purchases. Even when we go to weddings, I carry her stuff. She bought me a wallet big enough to carry my phone and my camera. I think she bought it for me more out of embarrassment of going to weddings with me carrying a big black purse, but that’s ok. She has her own wallet just like it, but she’ll still give me the house key and her phone and whatever else. The wallet is big, but it’s not THAT big! So I end up just carrying her stuff.

            Time for me to get some breakfast. A happy new year to you all! Don’t worry, I brought in the new year just right, with a boat ride on the Mekong, pizza, a countdown, and fireworks. And now starts 2012, an entire year that I will spend in Cambodia. Bring it on.