I went to my first official Khmer wedding and have all the Cambodian stories to tell you with in bc I know your all on the edge of your seating needing a good laugh. Well first I got dressed in this crazy traditional khmer wedding alfit that was a like green shirts with flowers rolling down the front inside this shirt where cones to make all khmer womens boobs uniform I guess who knows. I opted out for the 10-dollar Khmer makeup and hair I was to poor for that and didn’t feel like having a pound of make up on my face for the night. So a few other volunteers were also invited this was a volunteer’s older sister in my provenance the wedding was a big wedding anyways we thought we could go around this back way and by pass the whole show in front yeah right lmao. We mange to get in back but not before they bring us out the front doors to make us walk in again so the video camera can get us all then of course we had to get in a picture with the bride so that spectacle they naturally put us at a table where the most amount of people can see us. A few major differences in khmer weddings food being one they are not a one type of meal deal they will keep bring out all these dishes which if family style and beer and sodas they just keep it all coming. The bride has like 8 alfit changes as do people in the wedding party most of the time the groom to, its funny they do try to copy one alfit that is western however both bride and groom wear white. There is no cake but big mound of fruit and a lot of the festivities include both sets of parents like its less about bride and groom and more about them and their parents for instances instead of that cutting the cake deal they take their favorite fruit and feed it to the parents. Also music plays from the time the bride gets up in the ams till late at night. Everything is massively colorful pinks gold’s etc when the bride and groom kiss its only a peck on the cheek never a real kiss bc that’s to sexual in Cambodia. They have sparklers and you get flowers to throw at the bride ist it funny that in America we used to throw rice a lot and that’s so common hear they don’t use it but instead flowers just a side note anyways which ever hand you pick up flowers in your supposed to switch to make it good luck. Dancing is a big part of weddings in Cambodia they really want everyone to dance so if I was sitting to long some guy would come over and bow to me to ask me to dance pretty much they do it all polite I guess but I get board of khmer dancing its just walking and moving hands and I dunno just not my cup of tea I guess however I put forth some effort bc I knew it meant a lot to their culture. Then there is the gift which is money but they believe if guest eat a lot they pay their full share so they get actually get mad if you don’t eat a lot bc then they will not get the money they want also note they write down in this book to keep track how much families give and only will give the same amount. Also there are all these little kids at the wedding who go around to collect the cans to make money which is sort of sad to watch bc they tend to have no shoes and there just all scratched up from I guess their life and when people get up to dance and their not looking they will eat the food its somewhat odd to watch bc everyone is awear this is happening but no one goes out of their way to be like o hear is something we don’t need. However one of the kids stole all the beers from our table not that I give two shits bc I don’t like beer however I was sort of unsure about leaving my bag at the table with my wallet just hope he was stealing the beers to make money not just drink them cuz he was like 7. I think I have said before sometimes you never know if they are being exploited and by that I mean I just hope they get to eat that night from the can money and hope that some a hole doest take all their money to drink and leave them hungry but I cant control that I guess. Well around 10 they stop serving beer that’s when all the volunteers decided to leave and go to this big carnival going on right down the street this is the part of the night I will refer to ask the freak show with out a due let the freak show begin. Okay so we were the only brongs insight however to make things a bit more fun then usual we were all wearing Khmer wedding clothes like literally we would walk past and peoples jaws would drop ad if I was standing still they would start to talk about me and sometimes for shits and giggles I would replay to them in Khmer to let them knew they were talking about me to throw them off there game. This event did have a rides and games one of the more popular games seemed to be ring toss with a twist u could aim for liquor bottles and if you get the ring around it you won it. Cotton candy and then some khmer food they really do like to sell corn in Cambodia more so then I thought I would ever see in an Asian country for some reason corn just seems very native American pilgrims and Indians sort of a deal. The next day I had a meeting about our dv project and then the ride home brings about yet another story for your enjoyment so we always eat at this place to have our meeting so we can have coffee and figure out what to try next anyways as I am leaving to get a taxi back to site these two dudes start to talk to me turns out these random men where immigration officers who were going to Phnom Penh would I like a ride with them. I know your all like did you say no well sadly know I risked my life because they said I didt have to pay them haha that’s how poor I am as a volunteer and that wedding was drain on the wallet as you can see im still hear to tell the tale. Never the less I thought about if I they kill me they might be to high up in gov this might have been a bad idea but then I didt want to think the worst and they ended up being nice enough just wanting to practices speaking eng with me one of the dudes was pretty piss ass drunk so he amused me enough he had me talk to his friend on the phone who works in customs. All I could think is they work in the shady part of Cambodia up by the Thailand border however while it might not have been a good idea it worked out for the best so until next time peace out from the other side of the world.
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