Well, I've officially left Cambodia. Of course, the 4 days I spent in Siem Reap didn't exactly feel like Cambodia anyways. Yes, the language and food and traffic were the same but it wasn't the city and the places and the people I was used to. Siem Reap was definitely a different experience than Phnom Penh, for a number of reasons. First of all, I was a tourist instead of a volunteer. I stayed in a hostel with lots of other White people versus living with a family on the outskirts of town. I had my map on hand at all times and consulted it enough in the first 2 days to cause a few holes to form in the creases. I spent more time sightseeing and going to performances and talking with other foreigners than taking in the simple pleasures of Cambodian life to which I've gotten so accustomed. The other big difference: I was traveling alone for the first time in 4 months. I was excited about some Risa time- living each day by my own agenda (well, God's of course but you know what I mean). I'm not usually one for being by myself as most of you know, but after 4 months of being with people nonstop even the most extroverted can use a little quiet time. Ha! That only lasted a couple hours at a time. In the span of 4 days, I made two American friends at the bus station (Nate and Nathan), a Cambodian (Lim) and an Italian (Peter) on the bus, a French girl at my hostel (Leslie), a Cambodian waiter (Pen), two Americans (Jen and Joan) at Angkor Wat, an Australian (Cheryl) and two more Americans (Jess and Andrew) at a cooking class, an Australian (Dane) who had been to Zambia and commented on my Zambia soccer jersey, and a Filipino couple at the airport. My definition of "friend" may be loose by your standards but I can tell you what each of these people is doing in Cambodia, how long they have been here, what they do back home, and a variety of other facts about each. Friends? I think so. So much for solitude. Let's be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way.
The short vacation was nice. Quick recap (the pictures I eventually post on Facebook will probably do a much better describing my time in Siem Reap better than my words can.)
Friday (my last day in Phnom Penh): finished up final things at work until 3 pm when I was kidnapped (not exactly but kind of) by my co-workers. They wanted to "take me out" so we went to the mall and had a feast of pizza, wings, and breadsticks to celebrate the past 2 months and to say goodbyes. I had made each of them a friendship bracelet- thanks for the practice Camp Oak Hill. The directors had made me a certificate, my co-workers all signed a card, and Daden got me a krama (Cambodian scarf). Then "Band-aid goodbyes"- quick and painless as possible- and I went to meet some other volunteers for a final dinner (which turned into ice cream).
Saturday: I said final goodbyes to my host family and Michael (the Australian volunteer living there too). Seven hour bus ride to Siem Reap. Street food for dinner (75 cents for a full meal) and the Beatocello concert- a free (donation-encouraged) cello concert put on by Beat Richner, the founder of Kantha Bopha Children's Hostpital, every Saturday night.
Sunday: Explored town, found a map, rented a bicycle and visited Pre-Rup (a temple) for sunset. Unfortunately, it was cloudy so it was anti-climatic but leaving early meant I got back in time to go to the Apsara Dance Performance (traditional Cambodian dancing) at this one restaurant called Temple. I finally tried Amok- a very Cambodian dish made primarily from cauliflower and sauce with all sorts of other stuff, served in a banana leaf bowl.
Monday: Headed to the temples at 5:20 am on my bike to catch sunrise. I wanted to go to a less popular temple but I underestimated the distance from my hostel to the temple route and as it inched closer to 6:10 (predicted sunrise time), I had to "settle" for watching the sun come up at Angkor Wat. Rough life, right? It was absolutely beautiful and a great way to start a day visiting ancient ruins. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves as far as my visits to all of the temples are concerned. I'll just add that 1. biking the 29 km, aka 18 miles, in 90 degree weather is quite a challenge. 2. I don't know that I've ever seen so many people from so many countries speaking so many languages in such close proximity in my life. 3. It was probably better that I was alone because it would have been very difficult to suppress the urge to play hide-and-seek had I had someone that would encourage such behavior (namely Jeff Basey). That evening, I treated myself to some hard-earned ice cream and got some more street food then called it an early night.
Tuesday: Packed and check out of my hostel. Biked around town, went to the market. Cooking class, which was probably my favorite part of the trip to Siem Reap. I learned to cook fresh spring rolls (all of those summers of practice making wraps at Subways made me look like a pro!), Cambodian curry, and this banana dessert. So fun! Eventually, I headed to the airport with Teach (my hostel's tuk-tuk driver), dealt with all of the airport stuff and arrived in Manila at 3:23 am Wednesday morning.
When I got here, I was greeted by Rosario who has been a family friend since her daughter, Raisa, and I were 5 and 3 months old respectively. Yes, we are Raisa and Risa. Yes, it's been known to cause some confusion. It's so nice to finally be with family after so long. Rosario has planned out tons of fun and relaxing things to do. Just to give you a little taste, day one consisted of sleeping in in an air-conditioned room, cereal for breakfast (which was really at lunch time), a hot shower, a massage by a lady who comes to their condo, tacos for dinner (with homemade tortillas), a walk around town with a stop to get bubble tea, and lounging on the big comfy sofa watching television. Life doesn't get much better than this! Especially in 2.5 days when Mama and Daddio walk off a plane to me!!!
TALKING THE TALK: Surviving and Thriving Part Three
I was only able to learn a little of Khmer, it is a very difficult language and even uses a different alphabet. One of the most fun things was to say one of the few phrases I knew to a Cambodian and watch their face light up because they didn't expect the White girl to know any of their language. Sometimes they overestimated me and started to say all sorts of things that I couldn't understand. That's when the charades came out and we navigated the language barrier in broken English, pointing, and facial expressions.
Hello: sua s'dei
Goodbye: leah sun howie
Have a nice day: reek re-ay tenai de-awe
Good morning: a-ruhn sua s'dei
Good night: ree-uh try sua s'dei
Tonight, have sweet dreams: you-up-mee soh-bun-duh-ho
How much does it cost?: tuh-lei bon-mahn
I miss you: nhom nek nak
Thank you: aw kuhn
See you tomorrow: joo-up knea s'ei
eat: nyum
noodles: mee
rice: bye
market: phsar
sister/brother/affectionate way to refer to someone: bong
friend: meut
work: gaa-ngee-a
mango: swy-ky-wo-miet
grandma: maht jyay
finished: jop
1, 2, 3, 4, 5: muay, pii, bye, bu-en, pram
6, 7, 8, 9: pram muay, pram pii, pram bye, pram bu-en
10, 11, 12...: dop, dop muy, dop pii...
That's all I can recall for now. Sorry for a poor attempt at spelling the words phonetically. Cambodians' mouths and throats make sounds that mine is incapable of making and therefore difficult to spell. Also just a little taste of written Khmer...
