Language Family Tree

Despite the presence of the word "linguistic" in the name of my college major, I still have no idea what makes one language family different from another. (A little research on Wikipedia reveals that my confusion is shared.) English is part of the Indo-European family. Khmer, according to my books, is part of the Mon-Khmer family. But in the end, they don't seem so different to me. I mean, yes: Khmer and English have many different sounds, and Khmer verbs are conjugated differently from English ones (that is to say, minimally). But in the end, the language is made up of words and sentences, and they're even generally in the order of subject-verb-object. What kind of acrobatic grammatical contortions did I expect I'd have to put myself through?

Maybe I am simply seeing the surface similarities because my current grasp of the language is so poor. Maybe once I am more conversant in Khmer, the language will fall clearly, in my mind, into a family of languages to which my native tongue does not belong. Until then, I will look at the language family tree with skepticism.

Postmark: Battambang

So! Training is over. To sum up training: we learned how to speak beginning Khmer, practiced teaching English at a secondary school, learned how to take care of basics like traveling and eating in Cambodia, and in the process made some predictable and some unpredictable mistakes. We lived in a small rural village with Cambodian families in wooden houses with outdoor bathrooms and no electricity (although batteries and generators provided the power for watching TV with our families).

The unintentional (and therefore eerie) foreshadowing in the last post is as follows. Two weeks ago, just before I left my training village and arrived at my permanent site in Battambang province, where I'll be for 2 years, I learned that the host family at my permanent site was no longer able to host me and that I would need to find a new family to live with. I am hoping to identify a new family this week. In truth, this is an opportunity for me to exert control where most Volunteers have none, as host families are usually identified by staff and not by Volunteers. When I visited the original family, there seem to be no hard feelings on either side. Settling in will just take me longer than most folks, and to put it all in perspective, I remind myself that one month of unsettledness is short compared to 2 years of service.

Cambodia has just emerged from the holiday of Khmer New Year. America definitely ought to adopt this holiday as a model. It's 3+ days of celebration and relaxation with family and friends. The transition from old year to new year happens not in the middle of the night but in the middle of the day, when, Khmer legend has it, an angel...well, does something (my listening comprehension isn't great yet). People go to pagodas to pray and also to enjoy the company of other people. And for recreation, they throw water balloons at passing trucks and moto drivers (the American version wouldn't allow this for legal reasons but I propose pedestrians as an alternative target). Seize the opportunity, America! I expect to see a daytime holiday complete with water balloons when I return. Although come to think of it, are water balloons a good idea in January?

Dry/hot season is sighing its last raspy breaths. Now, the Cambodian countryside is mostly yellow. Think Serengeti with palm trees. We've had a few raging rainstorms, but the predictable daily rains haven't started yet. Can't wait to see what that's like.

Where To Begin?

My first post from Cambodia! (And I can't even remember now what's remarkable and what's prosaic. Many things that were initially strange and different are now simply The Way Things Are.)

Cambodians are amazing people. They are friendly, helpful, industrious, and inventive. My training family has woven me into their lives. My language teachers have taught me about Khmer culture and helped me when I was unsure of myself. Cambodian high school teachers do loads of work with few resources. And I am continually amazed at how friendly and generous strangers are to me.

Cambodian culture had my head spinning at first. The way people dress, handle status differences, eat, get married, sleep, feel about their families: all topics of lengthy discussion in my training village as we Americans navigate our lives there. I will absolutely write more on this in the future....

For now, the focus is on transitioning from being a trainee to being a volunteer. Everything I currently know about my job here is about to change. Hahahahaha*snort* *wipe away tear* *reflect on whether tear is result of joy or despair*

n.b. Good news! My mailing address will remain the same for my entire service.