Funny Friday

It's Funny Friday time. I was thinking of posts for next week and realized I didn't even have my Funny Friday post done, so I started looking through my phone for funny pictures and found this gem.

Some of you might not think this is funny.

I personally do. Maybe it's a twisted I lived in a third world country and know the culture kinda funny, but it's funny.

In Cambodia...men grow out their pinkie nails. Like grow out as long as possible. They pick their ears and nose and who knows whatever else with them.

One time Hal and another volutneer tried to grow out their pinkies, and I was all "I love you, but that thing has got to go."

Now this might be a little hard to see, so lean into the screen and get a good look. This is the longest I've seen a guy grow out his nails, and he didn't stop at his pinkie.

I hope I'm properly preparing you for this. This is a guy we saw on the bus. I acted like I was taking a picture of Hal. Sneaky Sneaky.

Sexy, no?

Things I don't want to forget: Memories

I'm a little sad writing this post, as it's my very last things I don't want to forget post. These posts originally started out as one post, and just kept growing as I kept thinking of more and more things I loved about Cambodia and my time there. It has been so great to write them all down to remind myself, and to share them with you. Hopefully you have a little better idea of what life in Cambodia is like. As my last post I'm just sharing memories. Wonderful memories with our host families, co-workers, students, strangers, and other PCVs.

Memories:
-That time the staff in Blue Pumpkin ice cream shop taught us to sing Happy Birthday in Khmer.
-That time we were all falling asleep in blue pumpkin over our carton of ice cream because it was 11p.m. and way past our village bed time.
-That time after a year of telling Bookie that I loved her pajamas, and wanting some, she finally bought me my very own pair.

-That time that those pajamas were way too small for me, but I wore them to greet family at the airport anyway.
-That time we took a 2 hour boat ride back from Koh Rong and the weather was horrible and half the people on the boat ended up throwing up.
-That time we took the night bus (guess I can admit it now) and it scared us into never taking another night bus ever.
-That first time we hitchhiked by accident and the very nice lady we met in the process.
-The amazing people we have met since then by hitchhiking.
-How Hal has taught other volunteers how to hitchhike around Cambodia.
-That time we started counting all of the foreigners we saw coming into Siem Reap and how we told every one else on the touri that we were Cambodian already, and not foreigners. They thought it was real funny.
-That time we went back to visit our training host family and asked my host brother to write "welcome" in Khmer on something and he ended up writing a note about how he loved us :)
-That time Hal tried to jump over a hammock and broke his elbow.

-When we found Christmas lights in our provincial town and that first time we turned off the light and turned them on.
-That time when my students and I were hanging out and they were speaking in Khmer and asked if I knew what they were saying, and I for once did!
-When my students finally sung all of the "12 Days of Christmas".
-When my students sung my dad Happy Birthday.
-When my Host family sung my dad Happy Birthday
-When my students told me that they loved Camp GLOW.

-When my Camp GLOW girls called me and asked if they could come plan their lessons at my house, right then.

-Seeing my girls teach their lessons back in our village, and being so excited to teach the information that they learned at Camp GLOW.

-The unbelievably awesomely khmer presents that my students and family gave us to take home.
-That time I taught my students to say "Supercalifajulisticexpialidocious" for my last lesson to them
-That time I had dengue.

-Spending New Years 2012 on the ocean in the Gulf of Thailand and watching fireworks over the ocean to celebrate the New Year.

-When we went to Angkor Wat for free during sun set, and no one was there, and we ran through an empty courtyard, it felt like I was in a National Treasure movie.

-That time Hal and I tried to wait out the storm in training, but dinner time came and we rode home through the heart of the storm and every inch of us got soaking wet.

-Riding the bamboo train in Battambong and getting caught in a rain storm. We also all ended up soaking wet.

-All of the movie nights we had in our room in training.
-That time we had a jambalaya party in training, and people from other villages came to hang out at our house.
-Seeing that my school director created a place for students from the elementary school across from his house, to come and read beginner English books.

-Watching my co-teacher's wonderful private school continue to expand and grow, all to the benefit of her students.

-That time we tried to learn "The Dougie" and "The Stanky Leg" from the internet.

-Creating a PCV family as the best support system you could have ever asked for, and being able to celebrate holidays and events with them as your family away from home.

I'll never forget my time in Cambodia. It has imprinted itself on me. I can't wait for members of my PCV family to finish their service in Cambodia, and for the shenanigans to continue, state side. 

Things I don't want to forget: Language and Music

Now that we've been back in America for almost a month my Things I don't want to forget posts are winding  down. I miss Cambodia a lot and posting these memories has allowed me to remember some great experiences of our time in Cambodia. Today I'm writing about learning the language and music.

Language:

my language group in training

-How every Khmer person grunts in conversation as a form of agreement
-When you tell Cambodians that you're on your way to your Khmer lesson and they tell you you don't need lessons, you can already speak Khmer.
-How you'll say something to someone in khmer and they'll just stare at you with a blank look and ask someone else what you just said, that person will then repeat also in khmer what you just said, and they'll understand them.
-That one time we were in another market and were telling the lady selling noodles the name of our town. She didn't understand and said "what", we started repeating it, but there was a chorus of probably 5 women in the surrounding stalls who called our the name of our town.
-When you say hello in Khmer, and they proceed to tell you how amazing you are at Khmer, and then bust out in a whole bunch of Khmer you don't understand while you nod and repeat the last few words they said while grunting...works 90% of the time.
-How close the word yellow is to the word penis
-How close the word corn is to the word vagina.
-Hearing stories of volunteers mixing the two up :)

The wonderful family who taught us khmer in our village

Music:

-How your house will rattle from the music going on at a wedding anywhere within 5 houses of you.

-When you get seated at a table right next to the speakers and your entire body vibrates from how loud the music is.

-How you can hear wedding music halfway across the village.

-The cacophony of two weddings both blasting music at the same time.

-Khmer music....oh khmer music, and a slightly tone deaf Moto Accident singing it all day long

-How Moto Accident watches TV while wearing head phones plugged into her phone that's playing music.
-The people that warm up for pop stars are cross dressing men...trying to sing like women. It involves a lot of voice cracking.
-The epic 8 music video series of very dramatic stories.
-How music videos almost always involve a death.
-How music videos almost always involve a car accident
-How the audio from those car accidents are still played in the audio of the regular song.
-Dancing around the pole in my living room to some sweet dance music.

-How you can just make up dance moves to songs and still look like you know what you're doing.

Here's an example of a Khmer pop song my host sister would listen to.

Things I don't want to forget: Weather and Animals

We have a few last posts of things we want to remember about Cambodia. Today's is a double whammy and we're remembering the weather and animals. It's good to remember both of these things because they're so drastically different from America, and I'm sure soon enough I'll forget them while I take advantage of the lack humidity in Utah.

Weather:
-How good the cool tile floor feels on a hot day.
-How much hotter the mosquito net instantly makes things
-How amazinly awesome the monsoons are.

-The amount of sweat a human body can produce just sitting still in the April heat.

-The amount of sweat my body can produce the moment I get off my bike after biking to school.

-Waking up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat because you tried to go an Apirl night without the fan.

-How no one goes anywhere if it's raining. Better wait until it stops.
-How after living in Cambodia during the dog wet season the cold season feels COLD. 60 Degrees means jackets and lots of blankets.

Animals:
-The deafening sound of frogs after it rains
-How dogs will howl in unison during the night and then stop all at once.
-That time a giant rat crawled down the TV cord from the ceiling when we were all in the living room and it didn't phase anyone but Hal and I.

-How roosters are the most evil animal ever and crow at all hours of the day and night.(according to me)
-How dogs are the most evil animal in Cambodia and bark at all hours of the night.(according to hal)
-How animals are in such bad shape because Cambodians don't treat them like pets.

-When students say they have cats that "eat at their house"...they aren't pets...they're just fed at their house.
-Seeing puppies down the street which look just like the dog with the icky fur next door.
-When I first got to Cambodia I remember thinking the cows were 2D because they didn't seem real, they were so skinny and their bones stuck out. Now I can't even remember what the cows in America look like.

Things I don't want to forget: Work

Today's I don't want to forget moment comes from our work here in Cambodia. My last couple of months I thought were going to be so slow work wise, since school let out, but between a camp I did (more info coming) and my private class, the last month at site was wonderful, and had mostly to do with my amazing students.

Work:
-The wonderful talks with co-teachers about Cambodians folk tales and problems that face Cambodia.
-Accidentally making a baby puke by putting the tongue depressor too far back in their throat.
-How babies cry when I look at them because they've never seen a white person before and their parents just laugh.
-The wonderful text messages filled with horrible English from students and teachers.
-When you see students helping other students to understand something, not just letting them copy.
-The sweet unexpected messages that students write to me.
-Being able to share a part of American culture that means so much to me with my students and having them love it.

                                   (Watching Harry Potter and eating spaghetti and garlic bread)
-The reaction of my students when I told them I was going home. It made me feel loved.
-Telling my students that they were getting a new volunteer a month after I leave, and having them tell me that they would still miss me very much.

-Finally remembering most of my students names, and how to pronounce them!
-Having my school director be so supportive of any of the projects I want to do.
-Having a female assistant school director who is so sweet.
-When my assistant school director remembered my love of puppies and let me play with her brand new puppies.

-So many of my students showing up to my goodbye party and just hanging out and dancing the night away with us.

Things I don't want to forget: Clothing

We're finally back home, but I'm going to continue these posts coming because there are still so many things about Cambodia that I don't want to forget. Today's post is about the clothing in Cambodia and how sweet and ridiculous their clothes are.

Clothing: 

-How popular angry birds is
-How tight mens pants are

-How men grow their nails out, especially their pinkie nails.

-How men use those long nails for picking at their ear wax.

-Their love for anything sparkly, bright, or bedazzled.

-How they wear pajamas as regular clothes. And if they've worn them as regular clothes that day of course they don't wear them to bed, they put on their regular pajamas.
-How they'll bejewel their canine teeth. They super glue a jewel to their teeth.
-Engrish shirts that often don't make sense or are very inappropriate, and they wear them even though they have no idea what they actually say. ex. we saw a teenager who definitely had no idea that his trucker's had said "eff off" on it...but not just eff...

                                                            (her shirt says Jesus got)

-How Bookie will walk around the house in the tank top she's wearing to bed, but if I try and take a picture, she immediately puts another shirt on.

-How Bookie and Moto Accident wear towels to cover their chests with a towel when wearing a tank top around the house.

-Towels = blankets. You will constantly see people wrapped up in towels in the cold season
-The 8,000 uses for a Kroma (a traditional scarf)
-When Cambodians are planning on being outside, they don't want their skin to get even darker so they cover every inch of their bodies. Sweatshirts, gloves, hats, socks and long pants, no matter how hot it is outside.

Things I Don't Want to Forget: Pure Joys

Todays memories come from things that bring pure joy. These are often the moments that keep you going when Cambodia is really rough. This probably will give you some insight into the things that matter a lot to a volunteer.

Pure Joy:
-How the day can be suffocatingly humid and then all of the sudden you hear that thunder or that first trickle of rain which suddenly turns into a deafening monsoon and takes away the heat of the day.

-The pure joy you feel when you get a phone call from the post office saying you have a package. JOY.

-The pure joy you feel when you find someone in your town who has a washing machine, and that person is Hal's counterpart who won't even accept money for us to use her washing machine. After 9 months of hand washing increasingly dingy clothes, it's a MIRACLE.

-The excitement you feel when you share a bit of western food with your host family, and they actually like it! It's rare, but Silenceor loves anything sugary we bake, and Bookie likes pizza!
-When you walk out of what felt like your hot room and go into the bathroom to shower, and when you come out of the shower, your room feels nice and cool.
-When you finally get all of the ants out of the food you're trying to eat
-When you're out of western food and another PCV offers to give you a bite of their delicious western food

Things I Don't Want to Forget: Transportation

Today my memories come from transportation in Cambodia. Any Peace Corps Volunteer will tell you modes of transpiration are big parts of their lives. Between biking around town and the 8 hour bus rides into the capitol, different modes of transportation, and finding the cheapest ones has definitely been a part of my service here in Cambodia.

Transportation:
-How 5 people on a moto is no problem.
-Toyota Camry = a taxi.

-How 10-11 people in a 5 passenger Toyota Camry is also no problem.
-How the driver often shares his seat in order to fit more people into the car or van.

-How there's no limit to the amount of people who can sit in a touri(a 12-16 passenger van) 25 people? Oh sure, we can fit a few more.

-How often Cambodians throw up on bus rides. They keep plastic bags on hand, just for this.
-How freaking loud they play movies, music, and comedy shows on the buses. Hands down the comedy shows are the worst.

-How monks ride side saddle on motos because their robes are like dresses.

-How you can get a bus to stop anywhere along their route, at any time to drop you off or pick you up. The routes take so much longer because they're always dropping people off and picking people up. Your 45 passenger bus could stop like 20 times within the last hour of your destination to drop people off.

-Cambodian road flares, or emergency blinkers = a bunch of tree limbs in front of and behind the car pulled over.

-Garages? Oh, you mean the living room? Yes, that's where they park their cars.
-Need to go to the bathroom while on public transportation? They'll stop pretty much any time. Men just go on the side of the road, and women bring kromas (large scarves) to cover up themselves.
-A host mom telling a volunteer to just put that kroma over their face, and no one will know it's them going to the bathroom, so it's no problem.
-The wonderful people we've met from hitchhiking around Cambodia.

Things I Don't Want to Forget: Cambodian People

Today my don't want to forget memories come from just Cambodians in general. Cambodians are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. I hope this helps you get a better picture of what Cambodians are like.

Cambodian People:
-How Khmer women click their tongues to get animals to stop doing something.
-How Cambodians have no fear of GIANT spiders or poisonous scorpions, but they are afraid of geckos.
-When you tell Cambodians what you're doing in Cambodia and they sincerely say thank you for trying to help their country.
-How a Cambodian woman can school me any day of the week at washing clothes by hand.
-How Yays (Grandmothers) are freaking BOSS. They rule Cambodia and can do whatever they want.
-The way Yay can just tell you what to do, and you do it.
-The scary black witch like smiles of Yays(grandmothers) from chewing an addictive leaf.

-How yelling does not mean you're angry. I'm not really sure what does mean you're angry, but Khmer people are very uncomfortable about crying.
-How they can step out of their flip flops as they enter a building without breaking stride.

-How they love foreigners and little kids run to the street to yell "Hello" at you as your ride by on your bike.
-How the little kids will learn your name and say "Hello, Sam" as you ride by.
-And how they're amazed if you yell back "Hello (insert their name)"

-How they'll pick their noses at any moment and any time, even when they're talking to you.
-When a baby starts crying and whomever is holding them just starts making noises equally as loud to get them to stop crying.
-How Cambodians will tell you one of two things when they meet you - your skin is beautiful, your nose is beautiful and pointy.

Things I Don't Want to Forget: Host Family

I realized that I talk a lot about what Hal and I do outside of site, but not a lot about what we do at site, or just little every day things. I've been trying to blog more about those things, but I need to get better. There are just so many little things about Cambodia and Cambodians that I don't want to forget. I'm going to try and write more about these things, the hilarious interactions we have everyday with the people in our village and the things they do that are wonderful and so different from America. It's fulfilling a PC goal right? Sharing with my mostly American readers about what Cambodia is like. Just nod yes.

There are so many things that I don't want to forget about my time here in Cambodia. Today I'm sharing funny moments and memories with my host family. Please enjoy and hopefully you can laugh and get to know my host family better.

Host Family:
-How X-Ray one very drunk night tried to get into our locked room which he thought was his room, and Bookie had to stop him.
-How when we first got to site, we had this old lady yelling at us in Khmer and directing us, and then she smiled and her one tooth showed and I thought, "hot dang, this is our one toothed yay." Seriously, that's how I recognized her.

-How Bookie sometimes steals our pancake mix to make Cambodian desserts more delicious.

-How Moto Accident sounds like she's crying whenever she laughs.
-How the moment our door is open for a significant amount of time our host mom is in our room trying to clean something.

-How X-Ray giggles the minute he sees Hal or I, at any time of the day.

-How Bookie loves to be involved in whatever Hal and I are doing - especially in the kitchen which sometimes leads to interesting pancakes or her throwing away food she thinks is bad, but in fact, has not gone bad.
-How we've had birds living in our ceiling this entire time, and our family keeps saying they'll take care of it, kind of like they said they'd put a screen on our window and put in another window...and then you wake up to them banging a piece of metal to cover the only source of light in our bathroom....we think to make it cooler? Sounds logical.
-How Bookie is very concerned about the amount of mosquito bites I get since I had dengue and lights mosquito coils when I'm in the kitchen or living room.

-How my training host brother used to pee onto the bathroom floor from standing in the doorway so he didn't have to actually go in. Found out kind of late that's why our bathroom always smelled like pee. SO glad that we always wore flip flops in that bathroom.
-When Moto Accident does my nails and does them super amazingly Khmer.