American Aboard

So I have to admit before coming to Cambodia I did have my hesitation on how would I be treated as an American considering our past with them, Incase they didn’t cover this in history classes for most of you (I think my teachers most of forgotten to talk about it???) year right anyways with the Vietnam war we also went into Cambodian territories and helped with the over throw of there gov which soon became the Khmer rouge which in turned killed millions. Knowing that in American people still re in act the civil war and the south still hold some what of a weird grudge I for sure thought the people here would have there options however if they do I see no sign of it this could be due to my poor communication skills in Khmer or just the fact that they are to nice to tell me to my face. However I did have the opportunity to talk to another foreigner from Australia who happened to have asked flat out (im pretty sure she speaks Khmer) her story goes like this she was riding on a tourist bus in phom phenn the bus driver has scares in his head from where the bullet hit him so she ask how did that happen and he tells her the war and in turn she ask how can you stand being so happy when half the people on this bus are American tourist? Besides the money he tells her well we won the war haha and then says that when everything happened that the Cambodian gov told the people not to blame the Americans it is not the people it is the leaders and then proceeded to show protest clips on the news of Americans protesting the bombs of Cambodia. I just wonder if it were the other way around would our gov show clips of the opposition and try to defend them? Well after this lady had the balls to ask I decided to ask my lcf and he was just no we love Americans they help us so much so I feel its almost the fact there all so Buddhist here its like they very easily forget the past and move on to the future and I think after the atrocities they have faced and can do that so should the rest of us, I really do admire how open Cambodian people r. I would have to say I don’t think they care so much as I am American is that I have white skin which is some what hard for me to deal with for instances yesterday I went to the market alone and I kid you not some old Cambodian lady grabs my arm and starts to slap it point to how white it is screaming this to the lady across the way this went on for what felt like forever but in actuality was about 2 mins then to let me know I could go she smacked my ass I think by American stands I was harassed lmao in Cambodian however I made a friend. I would also say more important then me being American is that I speak eng so I take the same bike rout everyday where I know my chances of getting hit are less (no traffic laws in Cambodia a volunteer was actually already hit) so there really is no deviating from this path needless to say so the word is out I think Cambodian kids get up early to say one word and one word only to me HELLO HELLO HELLO its like they learned this one word incase they ever met an eng speaker and now that it has happened they stand outside there fence to say this every morning, however when I try to speak Khmer back to them you can forget it this scares them to death they have no idea why I know Khmer and they scatter away. There is also this misconception that because I graduated college I am a dr or maybe they get health volunteer edu mixed up but I keep telling my host family I am not a dr but im starting to feel maybe this is away for them to brag there is a whole status thing in Cambodia and perhaps I should just play along? Needless to say being an American in Cambodia has many benefits as far as people will just listen to whatever I say but the down side is I am always in a fish bowel and believe me the neighbors let me know how funny I am or what is wrong with me (many occasions they come and pick up my fat rolls and laugh) in return I just motion that I am huge American this makes them laugh harder but what can I do next to them everyone is huge! However sometimes being fat equals being happy almost like Santa clause or something like fat equals jolly or maybe more like Buddha I dunno but somehow fat means you are happy. This weekend I will be going on an adventure to see different volunteers site where I will have Internet so I hope you all will be happy to see 5 new blogs at once! Till then joom reap leah!