Meet My: Favorite People and Things

One big thing they teach you in training is called IRBig. Inter relationship building. This is a big part of what you do in Peace Corps. It's so important to build good relationships with people in your town. When you get to know a Cambodian they will look out for you and help you in any way they can.

Here are some people whom be built good relationships with and whom we enjoyed seeing every day.

First is our vegetable lady. The first time we went to the market we went to a different lady and she totally over charged us. The next time we went to a new lady and she gave us awesome prices, and thus she became our veggie lady. Her and her husband were always there and they always asked about Hal if I went alone and visa versa.

 Next is our drink lady. We would always stop at her little stall which was on our road, close to the crossroads with the main road, so we passed it a lot. Her entire family knew us and they were all incredibly sweet. She lives next door to our host aunt, so in the evenings when I would ride past on my way to teach I'd have a big crowd of waves.

 The next woman we didn't know super well, but we loved what she made. It's one of our favorite things, and I am so bummed I forgot to bring some back. She makes Skaw Tuh-nout. Or translated as brown sugar. But it's probably actually palm sugar. You could go in the afternoon and she's take down the bucket collecting sugar from the tap in the tree and you could watch her turn it into what she's holding below. This stuff was so yummy and creamy and perfect in oatmeal.

Next up is the K2, the previous volunteer's host family. They are the sweetest Cambodians I have ever met. They were our Khmer tutors, and the host dad is also fluent in french. I just love this family to death. Our host dad told us that once they asked if we could come live with them instead. They have two sons, a daughter in law who is gorgeous, and one grand daughter. The baby was never really interested in us, and was often a little scared. The picture below is our last dinner with them days before we left and we gave them some of our Cambodian wedding pictures. The baby saw them and all of the sudden her attitude towards us change. She was playful and loving towards us after that. Anyway, I adore this family.

I already told you about one of my favorite girls in town, but here's some more. These little girls lived where my favorite puppy lived. I once tried to go take pictures of him, but he wasn't there, so they went on a quest to find him. These munchkins already knew my name, and the little girl on the left is named Lisa. Everytime she was home when I rode by she would yell "Hello Sam" and I would yell "Hello Lisa" back. She would always seem so shocked that I remembered her name. 

In conjunction with this picture, is a missing picture. The woman who lives next to the family above is our Sugus lady. Sugus is a candy similar to starbursts. I am really sad that I somehow never got a picture with her. She looked out for us. Whenever we'd be walking down to the road to catch a taxi or a bus to Siem Reap or somewhere she'd always ask where we were going. She'd always notice when we came back. She is actually the one who found the dog in the above picture sleeping under her little stall. She was so sweet and we joked around with her a lot.

I figure I should round this out with at least one man. This is Muny. He is my host uncle, and he teaches economics at the high school. He speaks fabulous English and has one of the best world views of any Cambodian I've met, mostly because he lived in France for a bit. I posted about his engagement here. He is probably the best young Cambodian man I've ever met. He bought a touri (a large van) so his family could all come to his engagement in Siem Reap. Well, he was so nice and gave me the best deal and drove my girls to and from Siem Reap for Camp Glow.

I'm sure there are many more people and things which deserve to be on this list, but this is what I have so far. Cambodians are just the greatest people and I am so lucky I've had the opportunity to get to know some of them.