Rambling Summary of Where I've Been

My apologies for not writing more often recently! I've had a rare eventful patch and Blogger has also been kind of a brat. Time for some back story:

Cambodia's national election was held July 27 this year and to my surprise was briefly reported on in the Western media, ranging from a BBC "Yay happy democracy, gift of the UN" piece to a thoughtful and probing Australia Network one. In no relation whatsoever to this (nope, no relation) a prominent politician visited my school in June. Conveniently, this happened the week before exams were due to start, thereby abrogating any review time teachers may have thought they had. Students were tasked with beautifying the schoolyard and their classrooms by taping up posters, sweeping the rooms, and clearing out the lilypads choking the school pond.

Meanwhile, I was busy spewing nervous energy in all directions, as my normal outlet of teaching was not available. Instead, I deeply annoyed anyone that crossed my path during this week: "Why are they cutting down that tree? Can't we just have a one-hour review session? What are you going to wear?"

In addition to all the beautification done in advance, on the morning of the visit, someone actually pulled out (and dusted off) a red carpet.



Tents were erected to shade all attendees, although the angle of the sun caused those in the first row to break a sweat just by blinking.



I was one of these unfortunates, but at least I wasn't wearing a silk skirt like all the other female teachers.



My luck changed, though, since just as a speech was beginning, my cell phone rang. Hooray! I snuck off behind the school building and away from the powerful loudspeakers. Turns out it was the Sam Veasna Center, an NGO that does eco-tourism projects involving Cambodian bird life. Peace Corps had hooked some of us Volunteers up with summer projects this year to explore relationships with different NGOs and to prevent a summer cloud of ennui from descending upon us. SVC was calling me to set up a project.

So the long and short of it is, I'm going to a small remote village tomorrow to teach English in connection with this eco-tourism project. I'll be mostly out of cell phone contact until late August. This village is in what is known as a "deciduous dipterocarp forest," which judging by pictures I've seen looks like some fields with scattered trees. I hear that when you actually get there, the forest is stunning and lush so of course I'll be posting pictures when I drag myself back to civilization on an oxcart. Til then, I'm wishing you a happy Olympic season! (Let me know how it goes...no TV in the village.)

Dear The Universe

I have made my decision. I would like the situation at the Cambodia-Thai border, with all the troops and the weaponry, to go *poof* and suddenly become a happy lucky special birthday party with lots of cake and ice cream. I'm sure this is entirely within your powers.

Please do your utmost to remedy this situation as quickly as the cake can be ordered.

Love,

Liz

I Hate Entropy

You know that when the streetlights on one of the main east-west boulevards in Phnom Penh (Sihanouk) are out, you are going to have a more-harrowing-than-usual bike ride to the post office.

Controversy!

Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple has just been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I keep hearing rumors about worrisome events surrounding the inscription, but it's hard to get accurate news in my town. Apparently, Thailand and Cambodia have been disputing the temple, which is on the border of the two countries, for years. Of course, Cambodians, including the former king, claim the temple belongs to Cambodia. Many Thais say the temple belongs to Thailand. The Thai foreign minister who signed off on Cambodia's application for inscription has resigned due to this disagreement. Rumor is, the border between Thailand and Cambodia in the area near the temple was closed off for a while. I'm not sure if it's open now or even if it was ever closed.

Cambodians don't tend to express strong opinions around me, but if I ask them to explain the Preah Vihear situation, they immediately make nationalistic noises. They tell me that Preah Vihear temple definitely belongs to Cambodia and the Thais have no right to it. I've also seen fervent text messages that declare the temple for Cambodia. (Due to the poor quality of the roads that access the temple, however, I don't know many Cambodians who have actually visited it.) I think I'll get a chance to see it with my own eyes sometime this summer, and I can't decide if I should hope for the situation to have settled down by then or to still be seething...

Dear The U.S. Dollar (#2)

Wow. Thank you for your prompt response to my earlier request. 4,100 Khmer riels is a highly satisfactory exchange rate.

Love,

Liz

Mark Your Calendars

The Angkor Wat International Half Marathon and Bike Race is only 6 months away. Time to start training!

For those of you who like the idea of exercise but dislike its manifestation, there are also 10 and 5k races and, even better, a 50k bike rally! (The last is my chosen event.)

If the name alone doesn't convince you, check out the maps! You get to do athletic crap at Angkor Wat! How cool is that?

Of course, sane people would say, "I could go to Angkor Wat and *not* overexert myself at 13 latitude." To you people I have no coherent response.

Visak Bochea

OK, I'll admit that before, I didn't fully understand the theological underpinnings of Visak Bochea. But recently I was talking to a monk at a nearby pagoda, and he filled me in. First, it's pronounced Visaka Bochea, even though my calendar leaves out the final "a." Apparently, this day is the commemoration of 3 events that all happened on the same day of the lunar calendar, the full moon day of the 6th lunar month: Buddha's birthday, the day of his enlightenment, and the day of his death. Now I'm no scholar, but trying to put it into my own frame of reference, I thought that would make it like rolling up Christmas and Easter into one. A big deal, right? It turns out that the actual celebrations resemble those of a typical holy day at the pagoda: laypeople bring food and incense, and prayers and chants are offered. I guess Buddha, in the spirit of humility, wouldn't have wanted us to go to too much trouble.