Hot and Uncomfortable 12/09/09

Khmer word of the day: Hael teuk ( to swim...yes please!)
Weather update: Really very hot! The clouds have cleared and it hasn’t rained for a couple of days so it is boiling. I have forgotten what cold feels like again! It reminds me a lot of Greece but the heat here is a lot more humid at the moment.
So another day in Kampong Cham learning the Khmer language...
It is great here and I love learning the language, however, there has to be a but here...! As I keep being reminded ‘nothing worth doing is easy’ well no, but sat in my office in the UK doing the VSO applications I never imagined it would be this hard either!
The home sickness and culture shock are all encompassing and fairly crushing to deal with. Although I know it is going to get easier every day, it is still really very upsetting right now!
Anyway, enough of my moping! Our language teacher, Dara, is a really nice guy and has been teaching VSO volunteers for nearly 20 years. He really doesn’t like it hot when he is teaching and it is about 30 degrees at the moment and I’m sure it is worse in the classroom. Dara says that every year he has worked for VSO they have provided air conditioning, except this year. From what I understand, this is a result of the recession and the weakness of the pound against the dollar, VSO are getting a lot less spending power from their DFID (Department for International Development) funding. So no air conditioning for the classroom! However, if it continues being this hot the we are thinking of putting some money in every week so we could get it for him. This affects us especially as we are in the afternoon class, when the heat is really starting to sap energy.
During one of the breaks yesterday Jen and I cycled and bought a green coconut with a straw in to drink. We had seen a little shack place selling them and decided it might be quite refreshing, so to get out a bit, we cycled down there and a nice lady cut us a couple with a massive machete. These then when in our baskets (much to the locals amusement) and we cycled back with them to the school.
When we returned we all sat at our desks just chatting and I don’t know how it began but Dara started telling us about his experience of life under the Khmer Rouge. That is one thing you have to remember here, everyone over 30 has some kind of memory of that time and their lives. Dara was working in the fields for exactly 3 years 8 months and 20 days, he remembers the dates exactly. He fought in the civil war before that for 5 years and was 17 when he went to the fields. Dara explained how he and his fellow prisoners (he referred to it as a prison without walls) were set to work at 6am when they would watch the sun all day until 12. They would then get a 1 hour break to eat a spoonful of rice and work again until the sun set about 6 when they would get another spoonful of rice. Everyday he would watch the sun move across the sky and couldn’t wait for another day to be over. His entire family was killed apart from 3 of his brothers, who still live today, all together in Siem Riep.
After the war Dara was moved to a refugee camp in Thailand (he called it ‘the cage’) where he lived for 10 years in the rough conditions of the camp. He remembers when it was cold, putting hay over his body to keep warm. It was also here where a group of Americans taught him English and he was given a certificate showing he could teach English. This was his way out and shortly after this he began work with VSO.
It was a very moving story and I don’t think I moved a muscle the entire time he was speaking; I was so riveted by what he was saying.
When you hear stories like that from just normal people it really helps to put into perspective what we’re doing here and helps me to deal with my low feelings. We are helping a country which is desperate to recover after a gruesome, crippling and very recent conflict.
Last night, after dinner, Jen and I went and chilled out with Sarah and Kirsty in their hotel room and watched a bit of BBC world news. All it had on was the live footage of the Memorial Day in the US for the victims of 9/11. It was strange to think that just as the USA was waking up we were getting ready for bed!
It is 7:30am here (it is impossible to sleep late unless it is drug induced owing to the lady chopping things outside my window at 6:30am and the general massive amount of noise early in the morning!) and I have just looked outside the window. It is another cloudless day, which also means a very hot one! The electricity has also gone off and I am really hoping it comes back on soon as I am using my laptop battery to write this and the fan has gone off! Jean has just informed me that this might be due to some guys arriving in the street with loads of new cables. No nice informative letters here...!
I’m also hoping that a couple of volunteers might be up for staying up late tonight and having a few drinks as we don’t have class tomorrow!!
I think I might even try and do some laundry today, not sure how I’ll hang it but will give it a go!!
Love :o) xx